It should be the rule that before a man attempts to speak he should have something to say.  This is apparently not always the case.  Many a man tries to say something when he simply has nothing at all to say.  Recall the description of Gratiano’s talk, quoted earlier in this book.

A speaker then must have material.  He must get material.  The clergyman knows that he must deliver about a hundred sermons a year.  The lawyer knows he must go into court on certain days.  The lecturer must instruct his various audiences.  The business man must address executive boards, committees, conventions, customers.  The student must address classes, societies.  The beginner in speech training must seize every opportunity to talk.  Certainly the natural reserve stock of ideas and illustrations will soon be exhausted, or it will grow so stale that it will be delivered ineffectively, or it will be unsuitable to every occasion.  A celebrated Frenchman, called upon unexpectedly to speak, excused himself by declaring, “What is suitable to say I do not know, and what I know is not suitable.”

Getting Material.  There are three ways of getting material.  The first is by observation, the second by interview, the third by reading.

Observation.  The value of securing material by observation is apparent at first glance.  That which you have experienced you know.  That which you have seen with your own eyes you can report correctly.  That which has happened to you you can relate with the aspect of absolute truth.  That which you have done you can teach others to do.  That which has touched you you can explain correctly.  That which you know to be the fact is proof against all attack.

These are the apparent advantages of knowledge gained at first hand.  The faculty of accurate observation is one of the most satisfying that can enter into a person’s mental equipment.  It can be trained, broadened, and made more and more accurate.  In some trades and professions it is an indispensable part of one’s everyday ability.  The faculty may be easily developed by exercise and test for accuracy.

Everyone acknowledges the weight and significance of material gained by observation.  In America especially we accord attention and regard to the reports and accounts made by men who have done things, the men who have experienced the adventures they relate.  There is such a vividness, a reality, a conviction about these personal utterances that we must listen respectfully and applaud sincerely.  Magazines and newspapers offer hundreds of such articles for avid readers.  Hundreds of books each year are based upon such material.

With all its many advantages the field of observation is limited.  Not every person can experience or see all he is interested in and wants to talk about.  We must choose presidents but we cannot observe the candidates themselves and their careers.  We must have opinions about the League of Nations, the Mexican situation, the radical labor movements, the changing taxes, but we cannot observe all phases of these absorbing topics.  If we restrict speeches to only what we can observe we shall all be uttering merely trivial personalities based upon no general knowledge and related to none of the really important things in the universe.