Speaker Joseph G. Cannon placed himself on record last night in favor of a revision of the tariff in accordance with the promise of the Republican party platform and declared that so far as his vote was concerned he would see to it that the announced policy of revision would be written in the national laws as soon as possible. The words of the speaker came at a luncheon given to six rear admirals of the United States navy by Alexander H. Revell of Chicago in the Union League Club, at which the need of 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 lead.
The body of the report should consist of direct quotation in so far as possible. The reader is interested in what the speaker said and it is impossible to make a summary in indirect discourse as convincing as the actual quotation of his words. Be sure that the quotations are the speaker's exact words or very nearly his exact words, so that he cannot accuse you of misquoting him. The spirit of his words must be in the quotation, anyway.
In these quotations nothing less than a complete sentence should be quoted. Do not patch together sentences of indirect and direct quotation, like the following—He said that some of us are prone to let things be as they are, "because the philanthropic rich help in our times of trouble and in sickness." Such quotation is worse than no direct quotation at all. Of course, this does not mean that one cannot add "said the speaker" to a direct quotation, but it means that "said the speaker" can be added only to quotations that are complete sentences. Furthermore whenever it is necessary to bring in "said the speaker," or similar expressions, they should be added at the end of the quoted sentence—the least emphatic part of a newspaper sentence.
Obviously a condensed report of a speech can only quote sentences here and there throughout the speech—the high spots of interest, as we called them before. These must not be quoted promiscuously and disconnectedly. The original speech had a logical order and set forth a logical train of thought. These should be followed as far as possible in the report. Bring in the quotations in their true order and fill the gaps between them with indirect discourse to knit them together and to give the report the coherence of the original speech. But do not carry this indirect explanation to the extent of making your copy a report of the speech in indirect discourse with occasional bits of direct quotation to illustrate. Remember that, after all, the direct quotation is the truly effective part of the speech.