Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-29
Radios Effect ON Speechmalking
Emphasized by Oath Incident

Much food for thought Is found by
the press In the exchange of letters
between Chief Justice Taft and Helen
Terwilliger. the 13-year -old schoolgirl Of
Walden, N. " who caught over the
radio a miSquotation of the Constitu-
ton as the, Chief Justice administered
the oath to President Hoover. Nearly
all comment appreciates the ever
gracious kindness of Mr.. Taft and
notes the inevitable effect of radio
broadcasttng on modern public speak
ing;
effect radio has had, is having and will
have in the direction of almost liter
ally forcing, speakers to be painstak-
ingly accurate" says the Nashville Ban
ner, adding that "the letter from Justice
Taft to the child who took him to task
reflects the mans kindness and good
humor, as has everything else he has
said or written" The Des MoineS Trib-
une-Capital feels that the Chief JUS
tice proved that age had not wasted
his shrewdneSs by observing that radio
is going to make public personages a
lot more particular about what they
say"
Readers of public speeches and con-
gressional oratory,'' remarks the New
York Times, ARE aware that abso-
lutely exact quotation in an extempore
or even in a prepared address is excep-
tional Literary critics are not exempt
from the falling. In one of his essays
on British poetry Mr. Saintsbury quotes
from Tennyson, apparently by way of
Illustrating felicitous use of words, the
passage Such tide as moving seems
asleep. too full for sound and foam,
and renders 1t too full for noise and
foam thereby spelling the entire eu-
phony of the line"
webster was Fortunate" according to
the New York Sun, mot to have had a
hundred thousand Helen Terwilligers
listening in when in his address on
Hamilton he spoke of the dead corpse
Of public credit Letters indicting him
for redundancy would have covered his
doorstep"
The Williamsport Sun says: "These
mediums Of broadcasting events of ma
tional Importance have a twofold effect.
just as Taft said, they will make those
exercising a public duty more careful,
and at the same time they will instruct
and keep the mass of the people abreast
of the times, supplementing the daily
press in this respect"
1T is hard to say" remarks the To-
peka Daily Capital, whether this Incl
dent is a greater tribute to Walden's
public school civics or the graciousness
and good nature of the only man who
ever held the highest executive and
judicial Offices of the United States"
The Belllngham Herald suggests that
"the head of the Supreme Court might
easily have stood on his dignity and
ignored the matter altogether" but that
paper recognizes that he has ever been
loved for his frank, human qualities"
The Kalamazoo Gazette thinks that ION
the whole the public may feel rather
pleased by the incident, for it has given
us another demonstration of the fact
that 13-year-old child in these United
States need not feel too humble to call
the Chief Justice of the Nations highest
tribunal to task for cause and that
the man who holds one of the two
most exalted positions within the gift of
the people does not feel too big to
stand corrected by 13-year-old child"
The. Springfield News-Sun sees fur
ther evidence of Mr.. Taft's genial and
kindly spirit"