The Art of Public Speaking
maintain it. One speaker found that his reputation as a magazine writer
was a splendid asset as a speaker. Mr. Bryan's publicity, gained by
three nominations for the presidency and his position as Secretary of
State, helps him to command large sums as a speaker. But--back of it
all, he _is_ a great speaker. Newspaper announcements, all kinds of
advertising, formality, impressive introductions, all have a capital
effect on the attitude of the audience. But how ridiculous are all these
if a toy pistol is advertised as a sixteen-inch gun!
Note how authority is used in the following to support the strength of
the speaker's appeal:
Professor Alfred Russell Wallace has just celebrated his 90th
birthday. Sharing with Charles Darwin the honor of discovering
evolution, Professor Wallace has lately received many and signal
honors from scientific societies. At the dinner given him in
London his address was largely made up of reminiscences. He
reviewed the progress of civilization during the last century
and made a series of brilliant and startling contrasts between
the England of 1813 and the world of 1913. He affirmed that our
progress is only seeming and not real. Professor Wallace insists
that the painters, the sculptors, the architects of Athens and
Rome were so superior to the modern men that the very fragments
of their marbles and temples are the despair of the present day
artists. He tells us that man has improved his telescope and
spectacles, but that he is losing his eyesight; that man is
improving his looms, but stiffening his fingers; improving his
automobile and his locomotive, but losing his legs; improving
his foods, but losing his digestion. He adds that the modern
white slave traffic, orphan asylums, and tenement house life in
factory towns, make a black page in the history of the twentieth
century.
Professor Wallace's views are reinforced by the report of the
commission of Parliament on the causes of the deterioration of
the factory-class people. In our own country Professor Jordan
warns us against war, intemperance, overworking, underfeeding of
poor children, and disturbs our contentment with his "Harvest of
Blood." Professor Jenks is more pessimistic. He thinks that the
pace, the climate, and the stress of city life, have broken down
the Puritan stock, that in another century our old families will
be extinct, and that the flood of immigration means a Niagara of
muddy waters fouling the pure springs of American life. In his
address in New Haven Professor Kellogg calls the roll of the
signs of race degeneracy and tells us that this deterioration
even indicates a trend toward race extinction.
--NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.
From every side come warnings to the American people. Our
medical journals are filled with danger signals; new books and
magazines, fresh from the press, tell us plainly that our people
are fronting a social crisis. Mr. Jefferson, who was once
regarded as good Democratic authority, seems to have differed in
opinion from the gentleman who has addressed us on the part of
the minority. Those who are opposed to this proposition tell us
that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank, and
that the government ought to go out of the banking business. I
stand with Jefferson rather than with them, and tell them, as he
did, that the issue of money is a function of government, and
that the banks ought to go out of the governing business.
--WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
Authority is the great weapon against doubt, but even its force can
rarely prevail against prejudice and persistent wrong-headedness. If any
speaker has been able to forge a sword that is warranted to piece such
armor, let him bless humanity by sharing his secret with his platform
brethren everywhere, for thus far he is alone in his glory.
There is a middle-ground between the suggestion of authority and the
confession of weakness that offers a wide range for tact in the speaker.
No one can advise you when to throw your "hat in the ring" and say
defiantly at the outstart, "Gentlemen, I am here to fight!" Theodore
Roosevelt can do that--Beecher would have been mobbed if he had begun in
that style at Liverpool. It is for your own tact to decide whether you
will use the disarming grace of Henry W. Grady's introduction just
quoted (even the time-worn joke was ingenuous and seemed to say,
"Gentlemen, I come to you with no carefully-palmed coins"), or whether
the solemn gravity of Mr. Bryan before the Convention will prove to be
more effective. Only be sure that your opening attitude is well thought
out, and if it change as you warm up to your subject, let not the change
lay you open to a revulsion of feeling in your audience.
_Example is a powerful means of suggestion._ As we saw while thinking of
environment in its effects on an audience, we do, without the usual
amount of hesitation and criticism, what others are doing. Paris wears
certain hats and gowns; the rest of the world imitates. The child mimics
the actions, accents and intonations of the parent. Were a child never
to hear anyone speak, he would never acquire the power of speech, unless
under most arduous training, and even then only imperfectly. One of the
biggest department stores in the United States spends fortunes on one
advertising slogan: "Everybody is going to the big store." That makes
everybody want to go.
You can reinforce the power of your message by showing that it has been
widely accepted. Political organizations subsidize applause to create
the impression that their speakers' ideas are warmly received and
approved by the audience. The advocates of the commission-form of
government of cities, the champions of votes for women, reserve as their
strongest arguments the fact that a number of cities and states have
already successfully accepted their plans. Advertisements use the
testimonial for its power of suggestion.
Observe how this principle has been applied in the following selections,
and utilize it on every occasion possible in your attempts to influence
through suggestion:
The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the
North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our
brethren are already in the field. Why stand ye here idle?
--PATRICK HENRY.
With a zeal approaching the zeal which inspired the Crusaders
who followed Peter the Hermit, our silver Democrats went forth
from victory unto victory until they are now assembled, not to
discuss, not to debate, but to enter up the judgment already
rendered by the plain people of this country. In this contest
brother has been arrayed against brother, father against son.
The warmest ties of love, acquaintance, and association have
been disregarded; old leaders have been cast aside when they
refused to give expression to the sentiments of those whom they
would lead, and new leaders have sprung up to give direction to
this cause of truth. Thus has the contest been waged, and we
have assembled here under as binding and solemn instructions as
were ever imposed upon representatives of the people.
--WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
_Figurative and indirect language has suggestive force_, because it does
not make statements that can be directly disputed. It arouses no
contradictory ideas in the minds of the audience, thereby fulfilling one
of the basic requisites of suggestion. By _implying_ a conclusion in
indirect or figurative language it is often asserted most forcefully.
Note that in the following Mr. Bryan did not say that Mr. McKinley would
be defeated. He implied it in a much more effective manner:
Mr. McKinley was nominated at St. Louis upon a platform which
declared for the maintenance of the gold standard until it can
be changed into bimetallism by international agreement. Mr.
McKinley was the most popular man among the Republicans, and
three months ago everybody in the Republican party prophesied
his election. How is it today? Why, the man who was once pleased
to think that he looked like Napoleon--that man shudders today
when he remembers that he was nominated on the anniversary of
the battle of Waterloo. Not only that, but as he listens he can
hear with ever-increasing distinctness the sound of the waves as
they beat upon the lonely shores of St. Helena.
Had Thomas Carlyle said: "A false man cannot found a religion," his
words would have been neither so suggestive nor so powerful, nor so long
remembered as his implication in these striking words:
A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a
brick house! If he does not know and follow truly the properties
of mortar, burnt clay, and what else he works in, it is no house
that he makes, but a rubbish heap. It will not stand for twelve
centuries, to lodge a hundred and eighty millions; it will fall
straightway. A man must conform himself to Nature's laws, be
verily in communion with Nature and the truth of things, or
Nature will answer him, No, not at all!
Observe how the picture that Webster draws here is much more emphatic
and forceful than any mere assertion could be:
Sir, I know not how others may feel, but as for myself when I
see my _alma mater_ surrounded, like Caesar in the senate house,
by those who are reiterating stab after stab, I would not for
this right hand have her turn to me and say, "And thou, too, my
son!"
--WEBSTER.
A speech should be built on sound logical foundations, and no man should
dare to speak in behalf of a fallacy. Arguing a subject, however, will
necessarily arouse contradictory ideas in the mind of your audience.
When immediate action or persuasion is desired, suggestion is more
efficacious than argument--when both are judiciously mixed, the effect
is irresistible.
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
1. Make an outline, or brief, of the contents of this chapter.
2. Revise the introduction to any of your written addresses, with the
teachings of this chapter in mind.
3. Give two original examples of the power of suggestion as you have
observed it in each of these fields: (_a_) advertising; (=b=) politics;
(_c_) public sentiment.
4. Give original examples of suggestive speech, illustrating two of the
principles set forth in this chapter.
5. What reasons can you give that disprove the general contention of
this chapter?
6. What reasons not already given seem to you to support it?
7. What effect do his own suggestions have on the speaker himself?
8. Can suggestion arise from the audience? If so, show how.
9. Select two instances of suggestion in the speeches found in the
Appendix.
10. Change any two passages in the same, or other, speeches so as to use
suggestion more effectively.
11. Deliver those passages in the revised form.
12. Choosing your own subject, prepare and deliver a short speech
largely in the suggestive style.
CHAPTER XXIII
INFLUENCING BY ARGUMENT
Common sense is the common sense of mankind. It is the product
of common observation and experience. It is modest, plain, and
unsophisticated. It sees with everybody's eyes, and hears with
everybody's ears. It has no capricious distinctions, no
perplexities, and no mysteries. It never equivocates, and never
trifles. Its language is always intelligible. It is known by
clearness of speech and singleness of purpose.
--GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE, _Public Speaking and Debate_.
The very name of logic is awesome to most young speakers, but so soon as