The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-04-04
try 10 the aid OF the troops in the
To Prepare for Another War.

department unuef Int 0dllOIul ne1euSe
act for the Industrial mobilization of
the country if war involving the Uni
ted States again shall loom. In part.
the plans have Just been made public
by Col. J. NJ. Wainwright, who until
March 4 was the assistant secretary
of war, but who left that Office be-
cause last November he was elected as
a representative of congress.
Colonel Wainwright in his public
statement says that the work In hand
Is to ENSURE so far as foresight may
provide, that our Industrial establish
ments and factories may be prepared.
upon an outbreak of war, to turn as
rapidly as possible from their peace
time tasks to the production and crea-
ton of those things that snail have
the primary call and preference upon
their facilities for production.
"This call and the load so placed"
Colonel Wainwright continues, should
be so nicely adjusted that the es-
sential needs of the people shall be
disturbed only SO far as is necessary.
-AeRhJ vi inCHC iC4ui tiiChio u "
met without great dislocation of bust
ness or i~ndustry-that Is to say. the
clothing, subsistence, and other ele-
ments of supply which do not differ
essentially from the peace-time re-
quirements of the people generally"
Disregard Army c%hleftains.
Army men say hat our industrial
unpreparedness at the time of our en-
franc into the last war was on the
plane with our military unprepared-
ness. The army chieftains had been
urging preparedness along all lines
for years, but they never could get
a hearing. The word was always
mo great wal ever will come" and
then when the great war did come the
word was, 1T is not possible that the
United States will become involved"
Army men were certain that the coun-
try would become involved but the ex-
preston of their certainty made little
apparent impression.
But Few Brilliant Speakers.
In an article recently published in
a Washington newspaper George Roth
well Brown, discussing generally the
subject Of eloquence in congress, says:
"Oratory in America has been
starved by the steady encroachment
of the material upon the cultural
things of life. There are but few bril-
liant speakers eve in the senate"
Washington seems to think that
what Mr.. Brown has written is the
truth. 1t may be that readers Of
the Congressional Record who peruse
speeches which never were delivered
but which simply are remarks extend
ed in the Record may believe that
some of the fine sentences were deliv-
cred with true e%loquenee. Most Of
them never were delivered in speech
form at all. OF course, some OF
them were, but 1t is the truth
to say that the gift of true oratory
seems no longer to be in the posses
sion of the American lawmakers.
Representative Bourke Cochran was
an orator and a compelling one. He
died only a few days ago, having made
a speech in the house of representa-
tives the day before his death, a speech
which had the true oratorical ring, and
more than suggested the possession of
the birth gift of eloquence. Cochran
was the only great orator in the last
congress, although there were some
senators and representatives who had
a modicum of eloquence.
No Time for Eioquence.
The house of representatives today
is so big and its work is so heavy that
the old-time debate no longer is pos
sible. Ordinarily speaking, a member
has but five minutes in which ito say
his say" a fact which is not conduc-
i've to preparation Of eloquent dis
course nor for preparatory study m
the school of oratory. One must go
back through the years to know the
days of true e%loquence in house and
senate, eloquence which was not al
ways employed in behalf of construc-
tive legislation, but which nevertheless
had its effect on the hearers.
Immediately after the Civil war
there were many orators in congress,
some of them of the %flamboyant school,
or rather what was known as the
spread eagle school, but at that they
were we'll worth listening to, and many
of the speeches then made have found
their way into the books of oratory.
Blaine of Maine and Hill Of Georgia
we're orators of the old days in con-
gress, and they debated n with the
other after a manner which stirred not
only the emotions bat the passions of
men. OF course, back in that day was
the time of the most compelling or
atory. Speeches made by Calhoun,
Clay, Webster, Hayne, are today part
of the literature of the language.
Attempts are made in congress by
certain men TO make names for them
selves as orators, but these attempts
are those of men who only think that
they are orators, or that possibly they
may possess a gift of which they are
not quite sure and cannot be sure until
they have tried TO find 1t through civ
ing it expression. Mostly these at
tempts result in failures. However,
some of the senators and representa-
tives who speak on every opportunity
and who hold the mistaken thought
that they have at least the makings of
oratory in them, keep at their talking
task while others, partly but not high
" gifted, refuse to make an effort to
get a reputation which they inwardly
feel Is impossible to attain.
Thnrn nra In conprpSS fndav manu-