The Commoner
JUNE, 1921
THIS EX-SERVICE MAN DIDNT LOAF JLONG.'
Force in Simple
Speech
William Jennings Bryan stripped public
speaking of its many myths in a lecture in the
Grand Avenue Temple last night. Naturalness,
confidence, a vocabulary of meaning words and
enunciation, he said, were all that were neces
sary to an orator's store.
There was no trick in the art of speaking
Mr. Bryan said. Gestures must be natural and
he had no opinion as to what constituted a
carrying voice. On more than one occesion he
has gotten up before an audience not knowing
whether his voice would hold out. His only
remedy for a bad voice is to punish it. It has
never failed him when he needed it.
Timidity is the only difficulty he has had to
overcome. When he is confronted with the neces
sity of making a great effort such as the Cross
of Gold speech, by which he won the presiden
tial nomination in Chicago, or at the Baltimore
convention when he forced the nomination of
Woodrow Wilson, he confesses that he feels
weak before he rises to speak.
NO MODEL IN HIS CAREER
Unlike some orators who have studied ora
tions with the deliberate purpose of learning
oratory, Mr, Bryan has taken no model. He
was warned against this by his father, who
urged him to strive for originality.
It was Mr. Bryan's mother, who, more than
any other, , induced him to become an orator.
She held the example of his lather before him
and only a few years after he learned to walk
would go to the courtroom and, sitting on the
steps, would drink in the words of local advo
cates at the tbar aid dream of the day when he
would be an prator, too.
His. mother taught him to declaim before he
was G years old, and" his years at school and col
lege are records of triumphs of declamation that
must have been dearer to him than his great
est achievements in after years.
' A. JEST THAT LED TO 'AN ALTAR
"Once when I was preparing for a declama
tion I went offf to a clump of woods and held
forth," Mr. Bryan said, as. his face lighted up.
"Two. ladies passed nearby on the way to picnic
grounds. A man rushed up to them.
" 'I do think an insane man must have escaped
rom the asylum overthere,' he exclaimed.
"They knew that I was there and made a good
deal of sport at my expense. One afterwards
became my wife."
Mr. Bryan said that audiences respond much
the same in different sections of the country.
Blindfold him. and he would not know in which
part of the country he was.
FINISH A WORD, THEN GO ON!
He warned against overemphasis. The speak
er often tires himself and his audience as well.
His own method of enunciation is to speak dis
tinctly and finish one word before beginning an
other. 'He said that he could make his voice
heard at a distance of a quarter of a mile.
"The two fundamental things in speaking
are: to know your subject and mean what you
say," Mr. Bryan said. "Some men seem to
know a great deal more about a subject than
they can say about it. They cannot express
themselves clearly. A young man increases his
vocabulary until the day of his graduation. His
graduation address represents his vocabulary
at its maximum. From that time on he finds
it more and mpre necessary to use simple words
that people may understand him.
; CLEAR SPEECH LINCOLN'S FORTE
"Lincoln had a remarkable gift of clear
speech. He owes his rise in life to that gift.
When the Battle of Gettysburg was to be cele
brated a committee asked a recognized orator to
deliver an address. It was debated whether the
committee should ask Lincoln to speak also.
'After the orator of the occasion had spoken
Lincoln used a few simple words, which have
served as a, model ever since. We recite his
Gettysburg speech on Memorial day even as the
Declaration of Independence is spoken on the
Fourth of July.
"I spoke at Chicago university while Einstein
was discussing his theory of relatively there,
yet I had a good audience. To understand
him a man had first to know German. Then he
had to know some kind of a language that is
unintelligible to most men.'' Kansas City Star.
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Chicago Daily News.
DISARM U. S. EVEN IF- WORLD STAYS
ARMED
(From report by Rev. G. A. MacWhorter, in
Chicago Daily Tribune May 20.)
"Disarmament by agreement if possible, but
disarmament by example if nec2ssary." That
is the platform with which William Jennings
Bryan startled his hearers at a mass meeting in
Medinah Temple last night. It was the closing
session of the sixth annual meeting of the World
Alliance of International Friendship Through
the Churches.
"Through militarists and naval ists may con
trol other nations, God forbid that such men
shall tie our hands by holding back their own
countries from joining in an universal disarma
ment congress," he said. "War is the business
of some men who live on carnage and grow
on blood, and disarmament will put them out
of business.
"No one in the United States read the news
papers more carefully than 1 did during the
peace conference and I was anxious to see
whether the treaty was going to be written In
the spirit of Neitzche and Darwin or in the
spirit of Christ. The statesmen of the world
had followed the devil's advice and we had to
pay the devil's price in the great war.
"I was willing to accept the treaty with the
league, with or without reservations, in order
that the United States might 'get in' and change
things afterwards, for I believe that our coun
sel, which is sorely needed by the world today
is worth more to the world than an army.
"There are three classes of people today with
regard to the question of disarmament; first,
the few who would wait and see what other
nations will do with regard to the reduction of
armaments; secondly, that very large group
who would be willing to take r. stand for dis
armament provided the other nations would join
in with us; and thirdly, that group who have
faith and belief enough to come out bodly for
leadership and would be willing to say to the
world, 'We will if encessary lead the way alone
in disarmament,' and let the world follow our
lead."
THE KEY TO DISARMAMENT
The meeting of the Armaments Commission
of the League of Nations, postponed from May to
June, is again postponed until July 10, because
the commission desires to take whatever ad
vantage may be possible of the Borah amendment
to the Naval Appropriation Bill.
Enemies of the league may sneer at these suc
cessive postponements, as an evidence of irreso
lution and a confession of lack of power. But
what else could the commission do? Men like the
eminent delegates, Orlando, Viviani, Marshal
Fayolle, Admiral Calthrope, know their business'
quite as well as the critics. No delegates are to
represent the United States. The Borah resolu
tion may provide in another manner for tho
participation of this country in disarmament
discussion limited to the sea.
For the fact is that the United States is the
key to any, proposal of international argreement
to disarm. The wealth of the United States, ita
resources and its variety of products make it
potentially the first war power of tho world.
There can be no effective plan for the limitation
of armament until the nations know what tho
United States is to do. New York World.
BRYAN URGES U. S. TO LEAD PEACE MOVE
(Indianapolis Star, May 18.)
Advocating the disarmament of the nations
of the world by agreement if possible, but with
the United States setting the example if neces
sary, William Jennings Bryan, before the dele
gates to the twenty-eighth conference of tho
United Brethren church in Tomlinson hall last
n ght,' urged the Immediate entry of the United
States into active co-operation with other nations
for world peace as a means U that end.
Approximately 1,500 delegates to the confer
ence filled tho front seats of the hall. Tho re
mainder was filled with residents' of Indianapolis.
Officials of the church made every effort to re
serve seats for the delegates but those io came
late were compelled to take their chances with
the rest.
Mr. Bryan received an enthusiastic reception
when he entered the hall at 8 o'clock. Many of
the older mebers of the gathering had hoard him
speak many times before in various parts of the
country.
An old white-haired man, In the rear of tho
hall, provided an element of humor for those
about him when he stood up on his chair, peered
at the platform. When he, sat down, he re
marked: "It's the same Bryan. I've voted for
him three times and I'll vote for him again it
he runs."
ADVERTISE PRICES
A Washington special, dated May 19, says:
Surprise was expressed by Secretary or Com
merce Hoover today over the fact that the buy
ing level remains as high as it is despite 4,000,
000 men being out of work. Secretary Hoover
also discussed the differences between retail and
wholesale prices, saying that if retailers are sell
ing their goods at a figure proportionate to the
drop in wholesale prices, they should prove it
by publishing in their advertising matter a com
parison of present prices and those of a year
ago.
The information is wafted from Russia that
Premier Lenine has reached the conclusion that
communism is an absolute failure and that ho
has invited the social Democrats to return and
help organize the government along the lines
of a democracy. Communism turned out to DO
just as autocratic as capitalism, and just as
fatal to the growth" of the nation. Russia has
tremendous possibilities as a republic, if the
people are really given a chance to rule.
Labor has spoken in most emphatic tones
against the substitution of the sales tax for tho
excess profits tax by congress. The farmers had
already taken a strong position against it. La
bor and agriculture form the two largest units
of producers in the country. Congress will hard
ly dare defy their expressed will.
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