The Indianapolis times., 1924-09-19

simple recital Of his vote on impor'
tant measures. For more than TWEEN
| " years have been speaking or lee
turing in all parts of the country on
! the same subject, Representative
! Government" But in that time I've
seldom made the same speech. 1t
nearly always has included what has
come 20 be called the roll call" |
! have made it point to read from
! the Congressional Record the vote on
| mea sures in which the audience is
interested. This roll call. naturally,
| includes Congressman or Senator
| from that section. How effective this
method is was illustrated once in
the case Of Senator James A. Hemen-
way Of Indiana.
was TO lecture before a Chautau-
qua near Evansville, Ind. Senator
Hemenway came to my hotel with
some friends and announced that he
had a hack waiting to take me out
to the grounds.
I'm going to preside and intro
duce you" he said.
I drew him to one side and said:
you don't want to do that. Why.
I'm going to peel your hide off today
and you'll feel mighty uncomfortable
sitting up there without your skim
He laughed and said, "Go ahead
Bob, You can't hurt me. This IS
my town"
So we rode out together and he
introduced me to the audience in a
nice speech. He was well received
and applauded. Finally, In my
speech, I came to the first roll call.
I read II exactly as a reading clerk
in any legislative body would read
il. in a monotone, without emphasis
on any name. I could see that the
throng was waiting for Hemenway <
name. The first time hearing his
name listed among those voting
wrong. the people turned and looked
at one another. As this happened
again and again. the crowd began TO
get warm. The atmosphere grew
tense. Presently the people were
hooing and kissing Hemenway's :
name. They drove him from the
platform
found him at the back OF the
tont. at the end OF the lecture, walk
ing back and forth l reminded him
that I had asked him not TO preside.
Tie was a good sport.
That's all right" he said i've
no complaint. You were perfectly
fair. but If I had known how hot It
was going to be I'd never have gone
up there
/ used to make many speeches be-
fore schools and teachers meetings
within a short radious Of Washing
ton and was engaged one time by the
county superintendent Of schools in
Allegheny County Pennsylvania, TO
speak before the tecahers institute
in Pittsburgh. The contract was
made FOR speech on Representa-
tive Government" A few weeks be
fore the date set I received a letter
seeking to cancel the engagement. l
replied that would be on hand to
carry out the contract
After arriving I'm Pittsburgh. hav
ing taken special pains to get there
well ahead Of time. | called on the
superintendent He was in an un-
pleasant frame OF mind.
"You can't make partisan speech
here, he told me.
I explained that my speech was
quite non-partisan, not hint OF par
tisanship in It.
well" he said, ~you might as
well understand that you can't read
the roll call"
I explained I read the roll call in
an unbiased way, following a judi
cial. impartial presentation Of the
measure voted upon; that I never
mentioned any ones name, save as
il came in the course Of the roll call
you can't read It," he said.
"You apparently don't know about