The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-26
YALE DEFEATS PRINCETON
oLD ELI'S SONS VAN0UIsH TIGERS
 IN ANNUAL DEBATE.

IN ANNUAL DEBATE.
 The Event Held at Alexander Hall in
 Princeton Before a Notable Catherine
 Ex-President Cleveland Presides-
 Princeton Chose the Subject and Yale
 Had Choice of Sides-The Arguments
 Sketches of the Men.
 Princeton, N. J., March 25.-Yale won
 the fourth annual intercollegiate de-
 bate between Yale and Princeton this
 evening. The scene of the battle was
 Alexander hall, Princeton's spacious
 college auditorium, and the gathering
 was notable one. Ex-President
 Grover Cleveland was in the chair and
 Hon. William l.. Wilson, one of the
 members of MT. Cleveland's last cab inet, off1ciated as one of the Judges of
 the contest. The other judges were:
 Hon. Everett Post Wheeler of New
 York, and Professor F. H. Jameson of
 Brown university. The subject under discussion was:
 8 neSOlNCu, luuC udLlOQul eDdrJy uUe6 should, be disregarded in the choice of councils and administrative officials of American cities"
 Upon the proposition Yale took the affirmative, her representatives speak ing in the following order: N. A. Smyth, New Haven, Conn; J. K.
 Clark of Brooklyn, N. r., and c. H. Studinski of Pueblo, Col. Princeton's
 speakers on the negative were H. H.
 Yocum of Columbia, Pa; William M. Schultz of Danville, Pa., and N. Mat thew Lowrie of Warriors Mark, Pa.
 Each of these young orators was al- lowed twelve minutes for an opening speech and five minutes for rebuttal. At 8 o'clock Alexander hall was we'll filled, and when a few minutes later MT. Cleveland led the disputants on the rostrum there was a perfect storm of applause In opening the exercises, ex-President Cleveland announced the object of the debate and stated that Princeton had chosen the subject and Yale the side. He insisted that the
 debate be decided alone upon the mat ter and manner of presentation of the arguments. T congratulate myself said MT. Cleveland, "upon the small
 part I am to take in the programme this evening. I am glad am not to take part on one side or the other of this question and am still more hap py that I have not to undertake the delicate and dangerous duty of decide ing this debate. now take pleasure in calling upon the first speaker, N. A. Smyth of Yale"
 MT. Smyth for YaIe
 Mr. Cy,oufI, c,o3d e,,I,r+o sfylS aim of Yale's proposal was to get better men into office in our cities The evils which exist in our cities are due not to bad systems but to bad men. The cause of bad men in office is boss-rllle in the parties The problem then is how to attack the boss in his most vulnerable point The choice of lines of attack is between party regularity and independent vot- ing Yale's proposal to disregard party lines does not involve giving up the fight at the primaries. The right to vote at the primaries depends on the last state and national elections. The man who will vote independently in city elections Is feared and respected by the boss. But the man who will vote the straight ticket'' at the polls no matter whom the machine nomi- mates is laughed at in the primaries. Independent voting in cities means not the giving up but the strengthening of control over nominations. Yale's proposal favors municipal parties as an emergency measure--when the reg- ular machine fail to nominate satis- factory candidates. The efforts of in dependent voters are no less spasmodic than the efforts of good citizens within the organization. The problem is whether the existing moral forces can be brought to bear more effectively within or without. Working solely from within they are divided. The bosses can unite against them and they leave no second line of defense at the polls. Working from without they can join forces, play one machine off against another strengthen their infiu- ence in caucus, and make a final stand for good men at the polls.
 MT. Yocum for Princeton.
 H. H. Yocum then spoke for Prince ton in the negative.
 Mr. Yocum claimed that this question meant that national party lines should be disregarded in all the stages of mu- nicipal elections, conventions, primaries
 and elections. Corruption in our cities,
 he said, was not due to adherence to
 national party lines, but to a commer-
 cial spirit and a multiplicity of elective
 officers. This commercialism denied to
 our cities the services of the ablest
 citizens and it was necessary for the
 affirmative to meet this condition in
 their position. The negative held that
 parties were inevitable in our cities and
 claimed that adherence to national
 parties would secure the best interests
 of the cities. City parties must be
 strong to insure to the city officials
 strong and consistent support.
 Mir. Clark for Yale.
 The second speaker for Yale was J.
 K. Clark, who dealt with the past ex- perience of cities in which partisan-
 ship prevailed and the failure of all eff
 forts to reform municipal government
 so long as party lines have not been
 disregarded. In most of our cities one
 of the national parties always has a moral majority of considerable size, and this party's municipal candidates are usually sure of winning. The
 choice of these nominees is made at
 the dictation of the party boss or the