THE OPEN FORUM

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1780, 8 July 1926, Page 6

THE OPEN FORUM

THE STREET-CORNER ORATOR

Every dog has his day, and the street corner orator is at last coming into his own (says "A Candidate" in an 'English paper). He was regarded formerly as the most despised of speakers ,and a request to address a street-corner gathering was computed to be the meanest compliment possible to one's abilities.

But the enlargement of the electorate, the decline of oratory as a bait for indoor attendance, the disrelish for politics that has grown among the people in recent years, all conspired to increase the importance of streetcorner meetings.

For one of the advantages of an open-air gathering to the audience is that you can leave such a meeting when you have had enough of it. In a hall you are entrapped and cannot escape without causing a commotion, which many lack the courage to risk. In short, it is the dullness of the average political meeting and the boredom of the speeches delivered that have brought about the decline of platform work. But the street corner is an open forum where all may take their chance and present-day elections are turned more at street corners than by any other means. The result is that the requirements of a successful street corner-orator-have risen with his opportunities. The notion that anything will do at an open-air meeting has only to be put into practice to discover its futility. If you doubt this, watch an open-air meeting that takes place during an election. The inadequacy of.the oldfashioned political paid speaker, with his stock-in-trade of catch words and phrases, has been demonstrated painfully in recent years, and a candidate would waste his money on such a service. For the crowd take street-corner oratory with seriousness if the speaker talks with sincerity and intelligence. These are the primary qualifications for a successful street-corner orator. You must arrange a few outstanding points in a logical way and. present them in simple, direct language, using illustrations drawn from the- everyday experience of the audience. You must deftly take advantage of the inevitable interruptions you will receive. Above all, you must inspire your audience with the conviction of your sincerity. You will be warned by the recognition of 'their approval. For street-corner oratory is a vital means of political -advocacy. And many shall fail therein.