Daughters of the American Revolution and their guests of honor, at the Y. M. C. A. building.

In the rooms of the Illinois Historical Society, an imposing exhibit of Lincolniana was opened to the public. The negroes of the city held a separate meeting of their own in honor of the day, while at the various churches and schools the Centenary was reverently observed. The Springfield Commemoration was an achievement and a tribute, of most significant proportions.

L

LINCOLN AS AN ORATOR

HON. WILLIAM J. BRYAN

INCOLN'S fame as a statesman and as the nation's

chief executive during its most crucial period, has so overshadowed his fame as an orator that his merits as a public speaker have not been sufficiently emphasized. When it is remembered that his nomination was directly due to the prominence which he won upon the stump; that in a most remarkable series of debates he held his own against one of the most brilliant orators America has produced; and that to his speeches, more than to the arguments of any other one man, or in fact of all other public men combined, was due the success of his party-when all these facts are borne in mind, it will appear plain, even to the casual observer, that too little attention has been given to the extraordinary power which he exercised as a speaker. That his nomination was due to the effect that his speeches produced, can not be disputed. When he began his fight against slavery in 1854, he was but little known outside of the counties in which he attended court. It is true that he had been a member of Congress some years before, but at that time he was not stirred by any great emotion or connected with the discussion of any important theme, and he made but little impression upon national politics. The threatened extension of slavery, however, aroused him, and with a cause which

justified his best efforts he threw his whole soul into the fight. The debates with Douglas have never had a parallel in this, or, so far as history shows, in any other country.

In engaging in this contest with Douglas he met a foeman worthy of his steel, for Douglas had gained a deserved reputation as a great debater, and recognized that his future depended upon the success with which he met the attacks of Lincoln. On one side an institution supported by history and tradition, and on the other a growing sentiment against the holding of a human being in bondage-these presented a supreme issue. Douglas won the senatorial seat for which the two at that time had contested, but Lincoln won a larger victory-he helped to mould the sentiment that was dividing parties and re-arranging the political map of the country. When the debates were concluded, every one recognized him as the leader of the cause which he had espoused; and it was a recognition of this leadership which he had secured through his public speeches, that enabled him, a Western man, to be nominated over the Eastern candidates-not only a Western man, but a man lacking in book learning and the polish of the schools. No other American President has ever so clearly owed his elevation to his oratory. Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson, the Presidents usually mentioned in connection with him, were all poor speakers.

In analyzing Lincoln's characteristics as a speaker, one is impressed with the completeness of his equipment. He possessed the two things that are absolutely essential to effective speaking-namely, information and earnestness. If one can be called eloquent who knows what he is talking about and means what he says-and I know of no better definition-Lincoln's speeches were eloquent. He was thoroughly informed upon the subject; he was prepared to meet his opponent upon the general proposition discussed, and upon any deductions which could be drawn from it. There was no unexplored field into which his adversary could lead him; he had carefully examined every foot of the ground and was not afraid of pitfall or ambush, and, what was equally important, he spoke from his own heart to the hearts

Bronze Bas-Relief of Lincoln by C. Pickett

(The sculptor worked with Leonard W. Volk, of Chicago, known for his famous death-mask of Lincoln)

of those who listened. While the printed page can not fully reproduce the impressions made by a voice trembling with emotion or tender with pathos, one can not read the reports of the debates without feeling that Lincoln regarded the subject as far transcending the ambitions or the personal interests of the debaters. It was of little moment, he said, whether they voted him or Judge Douglas up or down, but it was tremendously important that the question should be decided rightly. His reputation may have suffered in the opinion of some, because he made them think so deeply upon what he said, that they, for the moment, forgot him altogether, and yet is this not the very perfection of speech? It is the purpose of the orator to persuade and, to do this, he presents not himself but his subject. Someone in describing the difference between Demosthenes and Cicero said that "when Cicero spoke, people said, 'How well Cicero speaks,' but when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us go against Philip'." In proportion as one can forget himself and become wholly absorbed in the cause which he is presenting, does he measure up to the requirements of oratory.

In addition to the two essentials, Lincoln possessed what may be called the secondary aids to oratory. He was a master of statement. Few have equalled him in the ability to strip a truth of surplus verbiage and present it in its naked strength. In the Declaration of Independence we read that there are certain self-evident truths, which are therein enumerated. If I were going to amend the proposition, I would say that all truth is self-evident. Not that any truth will be universally accepted, for not all are in a position or in an attitude to accept any given truth. In the interpretation of the "Parable of the Sower," we are told that "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the truth," and it must be acknowledged that every truth has these or other difficulties to contend with. But a truth may be so clearly stated that it will commend itself to anyone who has not some special reason for rejecting it.

No one has more clearly stated the fundamental objections to slavery than Lincoln stated them, and he had a great ad