Speakers in large assemblies.

[19thOhio]

History books describe meetings such as large political meetings, national conventions, speakers outdoors such as at Gettysburg, with up to 20 or 30,000 people, sometimes for an hour or more. How were things managed such as rest rooms and how could the speakers be heard without modern public address systems? I am reading The Triumph of William McKinley (Carl Rove) and it describes speeches as up to, in two months, 13,000 miles by rail, 19 states, 300 communities and 375 speeches heard by an estimated two million people.

 

[JOHN42768]

Guessing rest rooms were behind the nearest hay stack. Hearing on the other hand had to be a disaster. Just the ambient noise of a crowd of people of these numbers is enough to distract even the closest of the audience. Anyone from 100 feet on was probably a lost cause.

 

[mofederal]

I would assume the crowds were somewhat quieter as they came to hear the speakers, not visit with each other. They had manners, still the speaker's voices would not have carried any great distance. I am sure any nearby outhouses would have quickly become overfilled. The point is unless a researcher could find the diary of one of the organizers or a letter written by someone we have no idea of how an event was organized back then.

 

[19thOhio]

Maybe this question will shake some obscure information loose. I might think that several hundred people with good hearing in a proper acoustical setting might be able to hear, but political events where sure to have an opposing voice that could control an opponent's speech. The aforementioned book has an interior picture of Madison Square Garden (1890s?) that looks like it could hold a football game with the floor and three balconies filled with people. And those on the floor are mostly standing except for about 30 rows of tables.

 

[jackt62]

In the 19th Century, assemblies of people expected and in fact demanded, that public speakers deliver lengthy and boisterous speeches, lasting not minutes but often hours. It was certainly a different time and creature comforts like rest rooms, and air conditioning that contemporary society can not live without, were not on the minds of most folks then.