se, to this complete self-satisfaction. Since
the workman has triumphed in the person of Mr. John Burns, the working
class would do well to follow his example, and heed his advice on all
matters affecting its welfare, Mr. Burns argues. The failures of
working-class life and the misery of the poor are due to the lack of those
virtues that he possesses, he is apt to maintain. Hence Mr. Burns is hated
as a Pharisee in certain quarters when he extols self-reliance and total
abstinence as essential to working-class prosperity, and points to gambling
and strong drink as the root of all evil in the State. It is sometimes
urged that Mr. Burns over-praises his own merits; but the fault is really
in the opposite direction; he does not appreciate sufficiently that the
gifts he possesses--the gifts he has used so fully and so freely--are
exceptional. These gifts are a powerful physique, a great voice, a
tremendous energy, and a love of literature; and they are not the common
equipment of the skilled mechanic and the labourer. True, they are often
wasted and destroyed when they do exist; and in the case of Mr. Burns a
strongly disciplined will has made them abundantly fruitful. But from the
first the physique, the voice, and the untiring energy were far above those
that fall to the lot of the average workman; and the love of books stored
the mind with rich supplies of language to be drawn upon when speeches were
to be made. Not as an administrator at the Local Government Board has Mr.
Burns become famous. His fame as a champion of the working class was
established by popular ovations in Hyde Park and at dock gates. Battersea
has been won and held by the speeches of its member. It is not the mighty
voice alone, silencing interruption often enough by sheer volume of sound,
but the plainly pointed epigram, the ready jest and the quick repartee that
endear Mr. John Burns' speeches to the multitude. His sayings and phrases
are quoted. His wit is the wit of the Londoner--the wit that Dickens knew
and studied, the wit of the older cabmen and 'bus drivers, the wit of the
street boy. It is racy, it is understood, and the illustrations are always
concrete and massive, never vague or unsubstantial. Apt Shakespearian
quotations, familiar and unfamiliar, embellish the speeches. Personality,
vital personality, counts for so much in the orator of the market place.
The speaker must be alive to his audience, he must convince by his presence
no less tha