Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1896 — ORATORS IN THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ORATORS IN THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

REPUBLICAN conventions haye furnished many orators to the world-- Men have gone to these quadrienniul gatherings of statesmen and politicians unsuspected of eloquence and have achieved fame before adjournment. Some have made their reputation on a phrase-. Col. Ingersoll’s name as a speaker was established, of course, years before he referred to Blaine as “the whiteplumed statesman,” but’fbr all that the expression will endure years after the snme ornfor's imputations of various errors to Moses have been forgotten. Blaine furnishedgexcuse for many fashioners of phrases,-but the man who first called him magnetic statesman has been lost in the press. Webster Flannagan is immortal. His matter of fact inquiry “What are we here for?” has become a classic. It was in the convention of 1880 that Mr. Flamuigandistinguished himself. An eni'inent person was addressing the convention.- Who it was has been forgotten, bqt that it was a great man ho one may doubt, for the Garfield convention had a larger percentage of fame according to pumbers than any that has ever met since the nomination of Hdnry Glay in 1844. A personage was addressing the multitude, and in much the same language that is always used. He had reminded the-dele-gates of the importance,of the work before them; he had said they had not gathered for a jiqlitieal holiday. “We are not hete,” he went on, “to divide the spoils of victory or to provide for such division pf spoils.” He paused to let this important proposition sink in. " The profound silence was broken by the question of the delegate from Texas: :.L “3£fe®t are we here for ?” __ , , __ Who will live in history - for "epigrammatic description or terse, vigorous expression of policy in this convention? Chauncey Depew, T. C. Platt and Warner Miller, all of them possessors of rich vocabularies, will sit in the New York section. Among forty-eight delegates from Illinois one spellbinder may be found.

lowa has one man in its delegation whose qualifications as an orator are unquestioned. That is Congressman D. B. Henderson. He is also ornamental in a general conversation and the House will adjourn any time to hear him tell a story. Clarkson and Gear, of lowa, ahe both able to offer a..good example of American ability to talk, although their acquaintance with the vernacular may not be so wide as that Of Gen. Henderson. One of the venerable and respected figures of the Republican party is Col. Richard W. Thompson, of Terre Haute,' who leads the Indiana delegation. He is 87 years old, and his public life began more than sixty years -ago as a member of the Indiana Legislature. He was a member of the Congress that convened in 1841 and was returned to Washington again in 1848, He is the only member of the first Congress in which he sat. The last important public or semi-public office he held was the presidency of the American committee of the Panama Canal Company. Prior to taking this position he was Secretary of the Navy for President Hayes. Col. Thompson has personally known all the great American orators, and is himself a speaker of much renown. The passage of years has not taken his eloquence, and he can still hold

an audience by his words. Associated with Col. Thompson on the delegation is Gen. Lew Wallace, whose ability to make the best use of an unrivaled vocabulary is well known. Wisconsin should furnish one of the orators. At the head pf the delegation are Philetus Sawyer and exGov. W. D. Hoard, who may be reckoned as convincing talkers. Then there is Robert La Follette, who has a practical and also attractive manner of shaping his thoughts that will give longevity to his ideas. Gen. Russell A. Alger is the most considerable figure in the Michigan delegation, which he leads. He has been Governor of his State, grand commander of the G. A. R.„. and has hgd his claims for the first office the republic laid before national conventions. He has long been known outside of Ohio, where his early training was received, and Michigan, where he has made millions. Montana will send a pair of Senators to the convention, Carter and Mantle. Both are breezy talkers, and if either gets the floor and silvqg is the subject a great forensic event will take place at that juncture. Carter says the sound money men are persons educated beyond their ability to comprehend. Senator Fred T. Dubois, who heads the Idaho delegation, attracted more attention in the upper house of Congress than the ordinary new member can command. He held precedents lightly, and when he figured his time had come to talk he proceeded to make his speech. It was the custom of. the Senate for the new members—the amateur law makers—

Gossip of Prominent Men Who Are Delegates to St. Louis.

to Listen to their elders, but-Dubois caused a reversal of the rule. It is almost hopeless to" add any biographical fact to the mass pripted about Senator H. M. Teller, who will represent the Colorado *iew in the convention. Mr. Teller may be regarded as the principal figure of the white money men' in the Republican party. Archie Stevenson, who is with Senator Teller as a delegate from . the First district, is a lawyer of great renown, and is an organizer whose fame has journeyed far to the eastward of the Rocky The Arkansas tale of delegates begins with the name Powell Clayton, with which newspaper readers and politicians are familiar. Gen. Clayton, although an Easterner by birth, has always been identified with the West. He was Governor of the State and also

United States Senator. He has frequently loomed up in Republican conventions, and the Arkansas papers have mentioned him often and with much approbation for the position of Vice-President. Major William Warner is the best-known man in the Missouri delegation, with Chauncey I. Filley barred. He is at the head of the greatest law firm, up or down the Missouri valley, and is himself one of the brightest, ablest lawyers in the West. If rarely happens that a good advocate such as Wa~r-iier is hak-theMeep learning of the_. jurist, but he has found time between campaigns and out of court - te—perfect himself in the text and theory of the law. He has been mentioned, not loudly, but audibly, as a vice-presidential possibility. It would scarcely be a legal convention if John M. Thurston were not present. The eloquent man of Nebraska has not a reputation to make as a public speaker. He’ earned that some years ago, and many an epigram which political speakers use to puncture the understanding of their audience might have been preserved for Senator Thurston’s own use had he cared to take advantage of the copyright law. Of the Ohio delegation, ex-Gov. Foraker has gained some celebrity as a sayer of things that are remembered. He is a

true orator, with the natural magnetism and the polish of education and experience that the word implies. He is now United Spates Senator-elect, to take the seat so long filled by that eminent citizen of New York, Calvin S, Brice. Gen. Foraker’s voice has been heard in many Republican national conventions before, and at St. Louis he will use it to place the name of McKinley before the delegates. John D. Spreckels, one of the delegates-at-large from California, is the son of Claus Spreckels, the head of the sugar industry. John D. aherits his father’s business ability and upon the death of the head' of the house will succeed to the mani gement of the vast interests under his control. U. S. Grant, Jr., represents the iiepublicans of southern California. As -is known he tried stockbroking, magazine editing and is now owner and manager of a hotel. From the territory of Cushman K. Davis, the good land of the Minnesofas, the country of lakes and rod wheat, wilt come an able band. R. G. Evans, who heads the list, may have an opiirortunity of sending his voice down the ages, as there is a strong disposition to make him temporary chairman of the convention- Senator Carter, of Montana, chairman of the national committee, will call the great body to order, and the temporary presidrag officer will no doubt be chosen by. the committee- fi-wwC among its members. William R. Merriam, at one time

Governor of Minnesota, represents the Fourth district. He is affable and happy in address and speech, as is also Charles A. Pillsbury, his neighbor from the Minneapolis district.

LEW WALLACE. SENATOR DUBOIS.

R. W. THOMPSON. MAJ. WM. WARNER.

ULYSSES S. GRANT. M. LA FOLLETTE.

POWELL CLAYTON. JOHN M. THURSTON.

D. B. HENDERSON. JOHN D. SPRECKELS