CHAPTER II.

HOW TO BEGIN WORK.

The immediate purpose of the Democratic Volunteers is to organize and carry on in the most effective way the campaign for 1900. They seek to build up and foster the Democracy of Jefferson, Jackson, Bryan and the Chicago platform by seeing, first, that the common people remain in control of the Democratic party; and, second, that the Democratic party, representing the common people, gets control of the country in 1900. It is further hoped that the Volunteers thus organized and trained, will become a permanent force in the history of our Nation; a power in the guidance of the forces behind the nation's progress; a means of uniting the best intelligence of our race with that faith and deep religious purpose which permeate the common people, and of expediting the conscious co-operation of individuals with those giant forces that are slowly but surely destroying the old, and building up the new civilization. Our plan appeals principally to young men. Our methods are new, at least to this generation, and as we believe that the great battle in which we are engaged must be led by the most vigorous, active and courageous amongst us, we depend principally upon young men for leadership and work.

Knowing that our principles are eternal, and that in proclaiming them we have the support of the great common people of posterity, and of God, the Volunteers are expected to assume, upon all occasions, an attitude of absolute confidence.

We are to utilize every force and every means that perception can discover or ingenuity devise for the forwarding of our movement. We are to proceed, not only by usual, but by unusual methods, taking possession of resources never before thought of in political campaigns or religious crusades. Our principles are to be declared both in public and in private, and propagated methodically and persistently in every existing institution, organization or association of men and women.

The church is the center of activity for many. This class can be reached best by having our truths come to them through the channel by which they usually receive their opinion and ideals, namely, the church. There are other hundreds of thousands whose lives center about the liquor saloons. To reach these our speakers must go to the saloons. In many agricultural communities, it is customary to hold meetings in school houses, while in good weather, picnics, barbecues and all day gatherings take place in the woods. To these various customs our speakers must adapt themselves. In some sections the camp-meeting lasts for a week or two, in great tents, or in special woodland resorts, permanently constructed and kept for that purpose. Our Volunteers will find here opportunities for effective work.

But for reasons of economy, the greater part of our work will be done outdoors. Plutocracy can afford to hire a dozen halls where one drawing speaker can be secured. Our movement has a dozen speakers to every hall we can afford to hire. We will consider first, therefore, methods of outdoor speaking.

OUTDOOR MEETINGS.

The easiest, the most economical, the most fruitful of the Volunteer speaker's work, will consist of unadvertised outdoor meetings. There is probably not a city, village, or town in America in which a man with a strong voice, mounting some emergency platform and calling out that he has something important to say, cannot, in a short time, attract a considerable crowd. If his message be direct, condensed, sincere and well delivered, he can hold the crowd in any except the most inclement weather. Coming as a surprise does not lessen the effect, if the words are well directed. People who could not be induced to enter a hall to hear a lecture, people who, if the meeting had been advertised, would purposely remain away, will stop and listen to an outdoor speaker; they will be interested, and may even be converted if the truths are well presented.

Of course, many passersby will listen only for a few minutes and proceed on their way. An outdoor crowd is always a changing one, but this merely necessitates a special outdoor method of treatment. Indoors, an address is expected to be continuous; one point must lead up to another; a line of thought must be followed so as to produce interest cumulative to the end. Outdoor speaking, on the other hand, must be made up of short, concise points, each complete in itself, so that no person can listen for a single minute without getting something to carry away with him. Anecdotes should be freely interspersed, but in condensed form.

As the audience is compelled to stand, often on damp ground, and in chilly or excessively hot weather, it is necessary that outdoor speaking should never, under any circumstances, take upon itself the qualities of a pedagogical lecture. On the other hand, it must be made up of illustrations, word pictures, and pungent assertion of those fundamental truths known to be most essential.

HOW TO ARRANGE SUCH MEETINGS.

The speaker arrives in a strange town, having entered afoot, by horse, or by rail. If he have friends in the town, his work will, of course, be less difficult, and it will be comparatively easy to procure a horse and carriage (or a wagon).

The vehicle secured, let him drive to the principal street, stop at the corner selected as the meeting-place, and, standing on the seat, let him announce (his voice pitched high, but not strained, dwelling for at least two seconds upon each word) that a meeting will be held in a few minutes at which "the people will be told how our country can be freed from the curse of Hannaism and monopoly" (or some similar striking expression). Then proceeding to the next corner let him repeat the announcement, and so over the village, or, if it be a city, over as large a section as he can conveniently cover. By making a dozen or more of these announcements he can always gather about him the nucleus of an audience.

If unable to secure a vehicle he may go afoot, carrying a chair to serve him as a speaker's platform. As efficient work can be done in this way as in any other.

In addressing the five or the fifty men, women and boys who compose this audience, it is requisite that he should begin in the same high key and the same deliberate manner and tone in which he made his announcements, addressing himself not to the few in front of him, but to the listeners in front of their stores half a block away. After speaking thus for five minutes, more or less, and arousing the enthusiasm and interest of distant listeners, he should suddenly turn his eyes and attention from all who are more than fifty feet away, and proceed in his natural tone of voice. Very often persons standing in front of stores and shops, lining the streets for two or three squares, when the speaker changes and lowers his tone and directs his remarks to his immediate audience, will come near to hear, if possible, the completion of some interesting point.

In large cities where there is much noise from street cars and wagons, this work is more laborious, and from start to finish the speech will require all the energy the speaker possesses to keep his crowd together and to increase its number. But in smaller places, or in quieter neighborhoods of large places, after the first announcements, outdoor speaking can be reduced to a very moderate exercise. The average man, after a month's practice, can speak outdoors two or three hours a day, divided into three or four speeches, without any great fatigue, and keep it up the year round, resting only upon days so rainy, stormy or bitter cold, that men will not, for any inducement, stand outdoors.

PRE-ARRANGED APPLAUSE ONE-HALF OF ORATORY.

If friends can secure the free service of a drum corps, a brass band, or a quartette of singers, to help draw the people together, the speaker's work will, of course, be greatly lessened, and much will be done toward saving the voice and energies otherwise necessarily expended in attracting an audience. He will thus be enabled to concentrate all his powers, convincing and teaching his hearers.

But in the absence of drums or music, there is nothing so helpful to the speaker in getting a crowd and in holding it after it has congregated, than a little skilfully pre-arranged applause. If several men, helped by a dozen boys, take their places around the speaker, and from the start take off their hats and cheer lustily about every three sentences, not only does the noise attract attention and draw listeners, but it impresses deeply those who are present, so that each word of the speaker has its effectiveness multiplied. A few men, starting off in this way (if the speaker is bright and forcible), will be joined by half the audience, and, in outdoor speaking, generous applause doubles the effect of oratory. It not only adds weight to the speech, but it strengthens and cheers the speaker, stimulating him to his highest efficiency. It infuses new blood into his veins and new breath into his lungs. It quickens his heart beats and helps clear his voice. It at once establishes a rapport between the talker and the talked-to, and converts what might otherwise be a number of isolated units into a sort of organism, the vital principle of which is one central enthusiasm voiced by the speaker.

To convince the friends of the movement of the necessity for loud cheering from the start by pre-arranged, conscious effort, is often quite difficult, although it is important. Much tact and skill are required to select a dozen young men before the meeting, and train them in a few minutes so that they will follow the cue of the man who is to lead the applause and cheer when he gives the word.

A very important point, where young boys are concerned, is to stop their cheering when the leader stops. Unless you have a confederate of tact and personality there is danger that the boys, once started yelling, will enjoy it so hugely that they will keep it up in a disorderly way, and injure the meeting much more than they help it. But properly drilled, a dozen young boys are worth almost as much as a drum corps. Under proper leadership, they will stop instantly at the pre-arranged signal, and enjoy the military precision. Ten minutes training by an experienced man will suffice to complete their education in this regard.

REPETITION NECESSARY.

The outdoor campaigner should never fear repetition. The average outdoor listener is not averse to hearing something that he has heard before, but is averse to anything dull, statistical or requiring laborious mental effort. In fact, from the standpoint of economy, three or five addresses made on the same street corner for three or five successive days, will accomplish much more for the cause than the same number of addresses delivered each one in a different town or locality. The apostle of the New Democracy, traveling from place to place, should stop at least two or three days in each village, even if he has only one speech and must repeat it over with variations each time. If he is resourceful and has a few anecdotes and illustrations for each day, it will pay him to stay a week in each town, as it takes two or three days for new hearers to become familiar with his objects, aims and attitude of thought. The writer has often found that more real, direct converts are made to the people's cause on the sixth or seventh day in a town, than during all of the previous days combined.

Thought is like seed. Whatever be the soil, like all vegetable life, it must undergo three stages, planting, developing and fruit bearing. With the majority each stage of development requires a season; one speaker sows, another waters, and another gathers the ripe fruit. But a brain adjacent to an empty stomach, idle arms or a bankrupt business, offers a more fertile soil for new ideas, and there are some such minds in every town wherein all these processes can be carried on under the tutelage of one man; some such persons in despair at the beginning of the week, who can, by the close of the week, be brought to the light, their gloom dispelled, and a nobler civilization ever after clearly pictured before their eyes, the object of their life's endeavor. There are many persons who, by one series of meetings, are actually converted from ignorant participants in existing injustice to active workers for the true state yet to be. The whole tenor and ideals of their lives are transformed by knowledge vitalized by faith.

When a week's meetings are contemplated in country towns, experience suggests that the best time to start is on Monday and that the meetings all week should lead up to one or two grand demonstrations on Sunday, when the largest crowd of the week can be gotten together, and when, by the aid of a Scripture lesson, a prayer and a couple of patriotic songs, the enthusiasm can be carried highest.[3]

[3] Special suggestions for Sunday work see chapter IX.

LITERATURE THE BASIS OF THE MOVEMENT.

No outdoor meeting can fill its mission nor make use of half its opportunities, without the sale of literature, which enlarges and completes the points touched on by the speaker. The object of an outdoor speech is to interest, to stir the emotions of men, dispel their lethargy and despair, plant in them hope and faith, and prepare them to think out, read out and study out the great National problem. The attention of men, that is, the real, serious concentration of their minds upon great things, is so rare that when you once have it the opportunity should be utilized fully. Those who are interested by the outdoor speech should be urged to develop that interest into knowledge, conviction and action. This can only be done by inducing them to read some book or pamphlet, explaining in detail the points suggested by you and backing up your assertions by careful arguments. Ten pamphlets, or books, sold at a meeting where men's hearts have been opened and their prejudices melted by enthusiasm, are worth more to the cause than ten thousand books and circulars distributed from door to door. The sale of ten small ten-cent pamphlets at a meeting is at least half the value of the meeting. In this movement one chicken raised is worth more than a whole brood hatched; one fighting rooster is worth three dozen eggs. One campaigner, armed with facts and possessing contagious faith in our creed, necessarily becomes a permanent, creative force in the community in which he lives.

Literature is one element in the production of such centers of power, not literature scattered wildly, but literature placed carefully in the hands of those who have been prepared by the personal appeal of a sincere advocate to see and understand the points enunciated. So bountiful has free literature become and so ocean-like is the flood upon political subjects, that it is difficult to get men to open a pamphlet on political or social subjects when distributed to them in their normal condition. But first arouse them by a stirring address, and they will willingly study what otherwise they could not be induced to consider even superficially.

Not only should the speaker try to sell as many books and pamphlets as possible at the meetings, but he should try to leave in every community or section of a great city covered by him, some worker who will get a stock of such literature and continue its sale until another impulse is given the movement by the visit of another Volunteer.

ADVERTISED OUTDOOR MEETINGS.

Very often a little coterie of enthusiasts will think that with the aid of a few handbills they can get a great crowd of their stupefied, over-worked and discouraged fellow beings to give up their other engagements and walk to some out-of-the-way place or corner of the town to listen to their speaker. Our friendly promoters do not know that to the eye of the multitude the bills suggest only an uninteresting harangue or the visionary proclamations of a dreamer that in no way concern them. The result is that very often instead of a thousand greeting the speaker, all eager for information and ready for a change of heart, as anticipated, there are a dozen or so already familiar with his teachings and sharing his opinion on all important subjects and half as many idle curiosity seekers without influence in the community. The speaker is discouraged and the ardent reformers are chilled to the bone and despairingly admit to each other that the citizens of their particular community are more perverse and hardened against new ideas and reforms than the residents of any other locality under the sun.

If, instead of the preparation for an out-of-the-way meeting and the laborious provision of seats for people who never came, a few circulars announcing the meeting and containing two or three gems of thought had been distributed and the speaker had mounted a wagon or box in the center of town as heretofore suggested, the meeting would probably have been a success.

Except on occasions of great excitement, when men are drawn together by some celebrated orator, or on holidays, when they expect, under any circumstances, to leave their homes and work and betake themselves with their families to the woods and fields, it is important to hold outdoor meetings where an audience can be gathered largely from passersby.

THE NEWSPAPER.

A speaker talks to one hundred, one thousand or more hearers, but by proper co-operation on the part of the press his words are often carried to tens of thousands more. Where the press is not absolutely united for the purpose of maliciously misrepresenting or suppressing the speaker's words, at least half of his work consists in the silent appeal to auditors he never sees, those who read his words as reported in the papers. A few suggestions may, in this connection, be found of value.

First, have printed, typewritten, or copied by hand, all the essential points of your speech, ready to be handed to the newspaper representative. Properly prepared manuscript, written on one side of the paper only, will often be published in full. It may be thrown into the waste basket. But any paper will publish more of a man's speech, if he has neatly prepared his manuscript beforehand than otherwise.

Next, get personally acquainted with each editor, entering into a pleasant conversation with him and trying to make him your personal friend. By this means a Volunteer can often use the press of the opposite party to propagate his views. The original purpose of a newspaper was to give news, and very often, even in these degenerate days, the instinct of a newspaper man to give news, if encouraged and stimulated a little, will become strong enough temporarily to overcome his prejudice, and possibly overcome his appreciation of the plate matter supplied by Mr. Hanna's agents free of charge. He may even give a column or a half-column, describing the meeting of the New Democracy, quoting freely the words of the speaker.

In dealing with Democratic, Populist and other friendly papers, there is a secondary opportunity for useful work. It is to show the editors how they can force the plate matter and ready-print establishments to furnish news concerning the Democratic Volunteers to all their customers, by simply demanding information on that subject. Even request the editor to write a letter, telling of the intense interest of his constituents in the Volunteers, and urging that his ready-print matter contain something weekly from the Volunteer's National office. A sufficient number of such letters cannot fail to have the desired effect. Let every Volunteer aim to secure the co-operation of a few editors, and the work is done. The ready-print establishments that remain stubborn should lose their patronage.