Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-24
By
J. HASk.IN
THE STUMP SPEAKER PASSES.

field for emotional appeals, but even
when such a theme is being expounded
audiences grow FESTIVE under a flood of
sentiment. Facts and figures are ex-
nected now in political speeches. Even
sneakers who have always been masters
of the art of evading definite state
ments are finding that language in all
of it's sonorous beauty fails to the
modern audience.
A stump speaker used to be as much
of an entertainment feature as the
circus. People would sit entranced as
long as a speaker would wave his
arms and go through his list OF tricks.
Rut ever since the movies began to
nrov;de more regular entertainment,
audiences have been less ready to be
spellbound.
Women Demand Facts
The entrance of women into politics
NAV be cited as one of the most recent
contributing causes to the change in
oratory. At the headquarters of the
League of Women Voters they tell you
that the questionnairee which have
been sent out to candidates have af-
fected political speechmaking indirectly
at least. These qu~estionnaires inquired
the candidates definite stand on i'm
portant issues. Refusal to fill out an
answer to any question was taken by
the women questioners practically as
an admission that the candidate held
views Of which he was ashamed, or
that he was not sufficiently acquaint-
ed with the subject to express himself.
A few candidates baked at the idea
| of such an inquisition, but only at first.
The necessity of pleasing the suddenly
powerful woman voter soon turned the
most evasive candidate into a supporter
of the QUESTIONABLE system.
Then, too, candidates have been ask
led frequently to speak at women's clubs
and women's meetings. Women as q
class have not had the background OF
political knowledge that men have.
They wanted to remove that handicap
SO they sent for political speakers to
explain important situations. AT first
lblarney and hokum were %sprinkled plen'
tifully through the speeches made a
these meetings. But the alert poll
tician soon found that the women were
not used TO the glittering generalitiet
and that they waited politely but eager
" for the point of the speech. The
speaker who seemed anxious to explain
his viewpoint in plain English was th'
candidate who scored.
Altogether, the orator of the oil
school. who banked on his dignity ans
his sonorous voice to impress his pub
lie, is nearly extinct. Conditions arr
not favorable for his development an.
more. Even the recent war did no
produce any startling examples of ma
tional orators to join Webster M Hen
ry Clay as silver-torgued persuaders
With all the stirring and emotiona
themes that the war provided, the typ
ical Grafton that swayed the countr.
was the brief four-minute talk, gener
ally crammed with facts.
Congressman and other men in tn
public eye still like to make lon
speeches. Some even go quietly T.
schools of expression to learn hoT
to hold an audience. But the embry,
L~orator is no longer taught to site
one hand in his vest, put his right foo
forward six inches. and let HIS voic
run the entire scale every few min
utes. The modern speech is less flam
boyant. The speaker gets closer to Ri
audience and talks to them instead o
declaiming over their heads.
The silver-tongued orator has been
great tradition in this country. Til
eloquence of our great speakers is re
sponsible for many of the thrills /
our history. They used the technlQu
of their time, and they used it wit
discrimination. Impassioned orator
fitted into the atmosphere of thei
time. Now it has about joined tn
batwing collar and the broad brir
statesman's hat.