The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-28
DEBATING AT YALE.
Increased Interest In the s~uhjcct-The Team
That Is to Meet Harvard.

80 ~ ~
NEW HAVEN, Nov. 27.-The football fever
having subsidized somewhat tho great subject Of
undergraduate interest at present is the inter
collegiate debate with Harvard. 1t will take
place on Dec. 80 at the College Street Hall.
The question will be the proposed annexation Of
Hawaii. Harvard will argue in favor Of the
treaty now before the Senate, while Yale will
oppose 1t. The presiding officer will be DR..
Chauncey NJ. Depcw.
1t Is five years since oratorical contests be-
came regular features of the college year.
Yale first met Harvard In the spring OF 1892
making atssthat time n rather unfavorable dis.
play, and it has been only within the last two
years that any great degree Of general interest
has been taken In the contests, Before thai
time the bi-weekly debates were not especially
popular. Prominence on the platform did
not pave the way to the choicest distinctions Of
Yale social life. A society election was never
bestowed because the candidate cNcelied his
fellows in the unpracticed art of talking on his
titude has changed. Debating received its
hrst social recognition three years ago, when a
young man whose principal recommendntion
obtained an election to u senior society. The
same distinction was conferred upon his sue
Sessor, who, unaappily for tho fortunes of de-
During the last few weeks several men have
been taken into junior societies because OF
Rether probable that similar triunphs will be
scored next, May. 1t only needs a Jew things
standing at Yale. The membership Of the
union now numbers some $50 men, a majority
s sste sde IN the lesu Work a''fTh he prcli mi "a ,n triai lni for
tho great debates call out as generous a re-
saSS Sc, as i.. the appeals for foT csnd hdn5s 5 Of tho
for example, contested for the honor Of repre-
sonting Yale against Harvard. There is much
work still to be done, both in the way Of i'm
proving the quality of the 6DeakinH. and In
the way Of increasing the interest in it. Yale
is stu painfully deficient in %rebuttal, owing to
emit team recently acknowledged. .
The team for the present year Is regarded
a isu %odsn in ints sreohe; sia ta, debates at sh sef %sa f Hore
bort Westcott Fisher. as the winner Of the
Hssseh nag! pFiHHs s Is IS a F' gsotssr 81 81 f hs1s'i ir fore;
n nIs1t and 3 WAS sss S SsRsfs at PsaS Ss hiSi'' 4. IT, se 6sS;
ii. 1879. His father was n congregational
Of 80. Mr.. Fisher was prepared at tho Hill;
Yale in the class OF 1893. He was the winner
Of the Mclaughlin freshman prize in English
l liz sonbn%oS and S.S Of the i. Bets 5ebs,s sd9m nIs;nt, Rrise
ton in 1896. He Is also somewhat athletically
INCLINED. especially in the direction of football.
Divinity School, of the Junior class OF which
he is n member, was born At Albany. He pre-.
I Rar Shi tGr be seiI msde az t record AdiO Ss q ad,s a seAqTGi c
entered Amherst College in the class of 90.
captured Latin prizes in his freshman and sophor
more years, was a Phi Beta Kappa man, and
was graduated with the first Ave of his class.
lie also acquired a college reputation as u
writer in prose and verse.
John kirkland Clark Is the youngest mem.
Der of the team. He. was born at Springfield,
Mass. He prepared for Yale at the Brooklyn
Polytechnic. He was on the Yale fire. sh,nan
team that met the Harvard freshmen in 1896.
at Cambridge. He took a first prize in Latin
composition In his freshman year. and repeated
the float q year later. lie is q Phi Beta kappa
man, and has just won the Waterman scholar
chip OF '90-amounting to $70c. He is a MEM
Der of the junior class.
Paul Erwin Richardson was a member OF
the freshman team in 1895 that scored the first
success against Harvard. He was born at
Lancaster, n. H., Jan. %. 1869. He engaged
in business several years before coming to
Yale, which he entered in the fall of 1894, hay
ing received his preliminary training at st.
Johns Academy in Vermont.