The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-04-14
IN ANNUAL DEBATE
Winfield and Wichita Discuss
City Government
MINORITY REPORT MADE
HonorS Now Even Between
Two Colleges.
MINORITY REPORT MADE

Wichitas great institution Of learning,
Fairmount University, suffered defeat at
Winfield Friday night, and the South
western Kansas College. at Winfield, was
the victor. Honors are now even, and
next year Paramount viii win and keep
the lss1rels forever. One judge out of the
three made a minority report in favor Of
Paramount, and 1t is said that the audi
ence were decidedly OF the opinion that
the Wichita boys were the better orators.
At any rate. the decision OF the judges
was the o1her way, and Paramount is
taxing its medicine gracefully. The
Cou1.ier's report Of the debate is as fol-
..The debat,srs on the affirmative were
y F. Burton Charles c. Isely and Ste
phel A Chase. Those on the negative
were ". J. Weber, Myrtle Rose and
Robert Hamilton, and considering the
vav the question was stated the negative
had bv far the hardest side to prove.
The affirmative was the popular side and
consequently the negative was obliged
10 tear down popular prejudice and then
build I'D stable argument which would
be both logical and consistent A chart
used by Nr. Weber, was most enecJlVe
Re- showing party divisions and the way
in which the good men in either party
will Join the reform movement in the
other party. while the evil Will lnYaT1a Dly
hang together in each on account of the
party aileSiance. Thus the evil vote in
each side win cancel the other, and the
good win carry with a sufficient mar
gin.
Mr.. Burton, the speaker on the affirm
affve asserted that the city was not a
politfesl institution. but business cor
poration. and therefore officers should be
selected on their ability to run the city
affairs This argument, which was the
rrincipal one the affirmative made, was
fully answered by Mr.. Hamilton. the
third debater on the negative side. he
said that the state had Vita interests IN
the city. and that cities are most import
ant agents in state government Ihls
he proved by quotations from men Of
authority, and by q decision OF the su-
prerne court He said that the a1IlrTna-
tive would have to OVerrule the decision
Of the supreme court before they could
prove that the city was only and purely
a business corporation. He said that no
great reform, prohibition for example,
could ever triumph without the chaIn-
pionship of some national party. just as
slavery could not be abolished IN the
s1ties until the Republican party made
it an issue OF the campaign.
ct is not so much a need OF local par
ties but a need Of interest on the part
of our best citizens that is requisite for
the best government.
The affirmative spent much time cit
ing numerous instances and quoting sta
tistics which grew rather monotonous be-
fore the debate had ended. Mr.. Isely
maintained that the non-partisan cities
have better government than the part-
san
Mr. Nease reviewed quite thoroughly
the politics of the cities of Europe. show
ing that their officers were elected al
most exclusively on the non-partisan
plan. and that their police system and
IL. yas@s .-
far above that OF the average American
town He also resorted to many statis-
tics. but used very little solid argument.
Mr.. Isely closed the debate for the
affirmative and he was without doubt the
best speaker they had. He was witty and
rather sarcastic in repartee, but on the
whole he brought out numerous good
points.
Miss Rose on the negative, asserted
that local parties gave chance for more
corruption than national parties do. Men
do not sell their votes because 1t is in
their nature to do so. London developed
municipal government and it has a de-
based rule. Miss Rose turned to her
opponents and said: Gentlemen, 1 defy
you to ind any city in Europe or America
whose good government IS actually due to
6iscarding OF national party lines
she also said: History is against you;
reason is against you. the most visionary
idealist would not attempt what you do
Miss Rose had splendid delivery and
her voice was in excellent condition. Her
debate showed careful preparation and
earnest thought.
mir. Weber created a sensation in his
closing speech, when ne allowed to fall
handful of postal cards received from
prominent officials in our largest cities to
when he had written asking concerning
the question. In every case the answer
was that party lines should not be dis
Carded in the municipal elections. As
soon as Mr.. Weber appeared for his first
speech a spirit of victory seemed to
pervade the Winfield portion of the aud
fence. and success was assured Mr.
Weber showed great earnestness and per
feet self-control His debate was logical
throughout and well delivered.
Mr.. Hamilton clinched the argument
previously made and added more fuel to
the fire. He has an excellent delivery.
and is most enthusiastic IN his utter
ances