Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-30

draft get cold before he began to
eGit and revise it.
He went at this task as merciless
Iy as an enra2ed cOpN-reader gwen
a sophomore GRAFTON to prepare foc
Il crowded last edition. He would
nutilate it--cutting out great col
lops. Then he would begin to re-
write The result was, and I think
T heard all of his speeches, that he
never used a hackneyed or a stero-
typed phrase in the whole course OF
his journey.
His impromptu speeches, and many
Of them were impromptu, were. II
ANYTHING. better than his prepared
addresses. He has a large Voca bu-
larly and complete command OF 1t.
He much prefers the freedom OF
speaking without manuscript. Even
when he had prepared a speech he
had no heSitancy, when delivering 1t,
in leaving the manuscript, rephras-
ing, putting in new stuff, or ampllty-
ing what he had written. And in
every case he improved his written
speech.
Davis is a better indoor speaker
than an outdoor speaker He is
more falicitous in small hall than
in a large one. Some of his most eff
fective work was done before ait
diences of six hundred to fifteen huit-
dred a. Iuncheons and dinners.
The Real American
BY way of illustration, here is
bit from a luncheon speech he made
at Denver !:
1--WE have some great landmarks
in American history: Washington s
farewell address,; his testament to
his countrymen; Jefferson's first in
augural; the exposition of lis polltl-
cal philosophy; Monroe's message
charting the course that our foreign
policy has followed ever since; the
first and second inaugurals of Lin
coin, and the Emancipation Procla-
nation itself, that spoke the word of
freedom to ten million men ana
women. We have the great mes
sages of Grover Cleveland, with the
sturdy honesty that breathed in ev-
cry line. We have the vigorous preach
ings of THEODORE Roosevelt, calling his
countrymen to q higher morality and
drawer deeds. We have the majestic
messages of Woodrow Wilson that
will live s long as American pOlitl-
cal history fill the printed page.
"And yet We're l called upon to
choose the words [ have suggested,
should take none nor any of those.
[ think the great words that spoke
the American nation into life. and
that have sustained it and exalted it
ever since that great day, are the
opening words of the great Declare.
ton itself:
We hold these truths to be self
evident: That all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalien-
able rights; that among those rights
are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness; and to secure these rights
governments were instituted among
men, drawing their just powers from
the consent of the governed
I'm that language the founders of
this nation baptized the national
child, in the name of trinity Of
great ideals: human equality, person
al liberty; and popular sovereignty.
And the man who believes in those
things is an American-and TO
other man is
This brought his entire audience to
its feet shouting and cheering. T.
Is simple enough bit, and in sub
stance recitation from the pre-
amble of the Declaration of hide
pendence, yet it was precisely what
his audience wanted to hear, and
what all of his audiences wanted to
near, since they were as much in
terested in Davis, the man, as in
his POLITICAL views.
20 Acres of People
Of all the meetings that Mr.. Davis
had, the great rally and barbecue
at Eastwood farm, near Bunceton,
Mo-, was the one that will be remem-
bered the longest. To speak pre-
cisely, there never has been such
another political outdoor meeting in
the United States. Twenty acres of
people, conveyed in forty acres of
motor cars (when parked came to
hear him. 1t was unlike anything
the oldest campaigner had ever
seen. These people had come for
miles; they had been two days in
assembling them; the crowd num-
bered $4,000 or more. They came
to have a good time, and they did.
Three or four thousand could crowd
into the tent where Mr.. Davis spoke:
the others massed outside and heard
him from the amplifiers