The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-06-26
WINNING ADDRESS
At MOREHEAD

1t the annual debate at NOrehead City
Saturday, Mr. Stewart Plummer, of Mon.
roe, one OF the representatives of Trinity
college, won the debater's medal. The
question was, Resolved, That Characters
Make Great Events, and That Events
Do Not Make Great Characters" The
following i a short synopsis Of his
speech:
If the negative is right he who gets the
medal will deserve no more credit than
we who miss il, for it will Ce the result
of circumstances. No time need ever 10
have gone to confusion if it could have
produced a man great enough, which ii
could have done from the standpoint Of
the opposition. The present crisis needs
a great man. If the times make great
men, then according TO logic, the major
lty of men of any particular age ought
to be great. 1t is said that sOmemen are
born great, some achieve greatness, and
some have greatness thrust upon them.
But in each case it is labor that cOnouers
all things and leads to greatness The
economic, political and social conditions
are but the aggregate of individual ac
t~ivities. The mass of people in making
these conditions are governed by lead
ers, illustrated by the present discomfort
and the slavery question.
Some Of our greatest men live when
things are most quiet and the people
mast c0rtopt III ,.,.ol H. Nh
the Reformation, Shakespeare, Dante,
Milton, and Tennyson. Man is the ar.
chiteCt Of his own fortune, and where
there is a will, there is a way, are as
true as the eternal ages. The reason that
some school teachers makes greater sue
cess than others is to be explained by a
difference in the man and not the circum-
stances. If the negative is right, the
only thing left US is to grab as things
pass by. If the negative is right, the in
junction to improve our talents is a farce.
Why is it that DR.. Talmage, Tom Dixon,
and Sam Jones each breaches to his thou
sands, while your congregations numbers
only two or three hundred
Why is it that the ROthschi.ds, the
AstOrs, the Dukes and the Cars are sur
rounded by their millions, while the
Irish peddler and the Turkish tramp 90
begging for bread
Why is it that you have better posi-
lions as teachers, judges and lawyers
than many Of your friends 1t is a diff.
ference in the man and not the circum-
stances. Our opponents poetry reads:
The lives of great men all remind us
Circumstances makes our lives sublime,
And, departing. leave behind us
Footsteps in the sands of time"
Man can not be held responsible for
conduct over which he has no control. l
the negative is right then must we &C !
cept the only logical conclusion, that our
lives are governed by chance, accident
luck. The doctrine is pernicious.
1t teaches man to sit still till the waves
Of time roll him on to succc sOr greatness. r
1t is that which would make beggars, |
Daupers and criminals that which would
destroy all law and order that which
would teach destruction, not life; despair, |
lot hope. Il
1t end force to the Epicurean appetite I
md induces mankind to eat, drink and
'e merry, while it supports the master
'urse that a young man should SOW wild l
'ats in his youthful days. In its devilish :,
'auIts man can store away all wicktdness {
nd plead inability. 1t teaches that man II
; a fragile barque, tossed about by every
ipple on the ocean of time. 1t bellies i
very grand and noble aspiration that re
wells in the human breast But We be- ~
.eve in the supremacy Of man, that he is ar
Ord Of the earth, the greatest Of Gods
~reatioE, that he is TO work out his own
aviation, that bythe sweat OF his brow
he to live, that he can make or destroy =
is opportunities. We believe in in 70
iyidual worth and character, that not an
need necessarily deter man -
ON doing the right; that he is not a.
re dumb brute, driven TO slaughter
rises and ages witness the impress Of
reat mcn in originating and solving their ..
reatest problems. .