|more battleships and increased efficiency|
|of the fighting forces of the republic |
|were the principal themes of discussion. |

This example was chosen because, while it is written in accordance with
the rules of the speaker beginning, it is obviously too long and
complicated--over 110 words. It would be better to gather it together
and condense it as in the following:

| Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot opened |
|the second day's session of the national |
|conservation congress yesterday by an |
|address in which he expressed his entire |
|satisfaction and his confidence in the |
|attitude of President Taft toward |
|conservating the national |
|resources.--_Milwaukee Sentinel._ |

| ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 10.--Booker T. |
|Washington of Tuskegee, Ala., in an |
|address at the People's Church tonight |
|predicted that within two years the |
|liquor traffic would be driven out of all|
|the southern states but two.--_Milwaukee |
|Sentinel._ |

There are obviously other beginnings that cannot be classed under any of
the above heads. Some of them, much like the "freak" leads that may be
seen in many newspapers of the present day, may be called free
beginnings for want of a better name. These free beginnings are quite
effective when properly handled but the novice must use them with fear
and trembling. They may be witty or they may be sarcastic, but they are
usually dangerous. The difference in the eight beginnings discussed
above is mainly one of grammatical construction; the same fundamental
ideas govern them all. Their purpose is always to play up a striking
statement or a summary of the speech report and to give at the very
outset the necessary explanation concerning the speech.

THE BODY OF THE REPORT

The body of the report of a speech is not so distinct from the lead as
the body of an ordinary news story. In the news story it is safe to
assume that many readers will not go beyond the lead, but in the report
of a speech this is not so true. It is less possible to give the main
facts in the lead of a speech report and the rest of the story is more
necessary. Hence it must be written with as great care as the l