Balfour

Among present-day speakers in England Mr. Balfour occupies a leading place.  He possesses the gift of never saying a word too much, a habit which might be copied to advantage by many public speakers.  His habit during a debate is to scribble a few words on an envelop, and then to speak with rare facility of English style.

Bonar Law

Bonar Law does not use any notes in the preparation of a speech, but carefully thinks out the various parts, and then by means of a series of “mental rehearsals” fixes them indelibly in his mind.  The result of this conscientious practise has made him a formidable debater and extempore speaker.

Asquith

Herbert H. Asquith, who possesses the rare gift of summoning the one inevitable word, and of compressing his speeches into a small space of time, speaks with equal success whether from a prepared manuscript or wholly extempore.  His unsurpassed English style is the result of many years reading and study of prose masterpieces.  “He produces, wherever and whenever he wants them, an endless succession of perfectly coined sentences, conceived with unmatched felicity and delivered without hesitation in a parliamentary style which is at once the envy and the despair of imitators.”

Bryan

William Jennings Bryan is by common consent one of the greatest public speakers in America.  He has a voice of unusual power and compass, and his delivery is natural and deliberate.  His style is generally forensic, altho he frequently rises to the dramatic.  He has been a diligent student of oratory, and once said: 

“The age of oratory has not passed; nor will it pass.  The press, instead of displacing the orator, has given him a larger audience and enabled him to do a more extended work.  As long as there are human rights to be defended; as long as there are great interests to be guarded; as long as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will public speaking have its place.”

Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most effective of American public speakers, due in large measure to intense moral earnestness and great stores of physical vitality.  His diction was direct and his style energetic.  He spoke out of the fulness of a well-furnished mind.

Success Factors in Platform Speaking

Constant practise of composition has been the habit of all great orators.  This, combined with the habit of reading and re-reading the best prose writers and poets, accounts in large measure for the felicitous style of such men as Burke, Erskine, Macaulay, Bolingbroke, Phillips, Everett and Webster.

I can not too often urge you to use your pen in daily composition as a means to felicity and facility of speech.  The act of writing out your thoughts is a direct aid to concentration, and tends to enforce the habit of choosing the best language.  It gives clearness, force, precision, beauty, and copiousness of style, so valuable in extemporaneous and impromptu speaking.