Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-04-18
AGAIN VICTORIOUS
Local High School Debaters Win
Second Contest With
Davenport
HERE LAST EvBN1r
HELD
Large Audience in Attendance and
Great Enthusiasm
shown.

evening again clearly showed superb
ority in debate. over the Davenport
high school. The local team, com
posed Of Hale Graham, Oscar Frazer
and Guy Munger, supported the af
firmative of the question, Resolved,
That the present tendencies of the la
Dor unions are iniInical to the indus
trial welfare of the American peo-
pie" a large crowd gathered in the
large assembly room to hear the de
bate, and that the program and de-
bate were appreciated was shown by
the hearty appliance which followed
each number.
Preceding the debate a program
consisting of piano duet, by the
Misses Edna fischer and Katharine Won
Ach, of Davenport; piano solo, by
Miss Elsa Simon, of Rock Island; vio
lin solo, by Miss Phebe Brooks. of
Rock Island, and piano solo by Miss
Katharine Won Ach, of Davenport, was
given.
Debate Opens
Principal II. f. Brown then an
nounced the rules to govern the de
bate Introducing Hale Grahain who
by the way. is a 9eolored lad, as the
first speaker on the affirmative! Ora.
ham, after first stating that the afs
firmative in no way were opposed to
labor unions, but to their present ten
denotes, gave an account of the labor
unions in the United States. George
| Spirk was the first speaker on the
negative. His main argument was
that the present tendency of unions
! is toward the betterment of the
workingman, and, therefore, could
not be inimical to industrial welfare.
He was followed by Guy Munger.
on the affirmative. Munger brought
forth his argument to show
that the present tendencies We're OPP
posed to the general welfare. citing
cases from the recent coal strike, and
quoting largely from the report of
the strike commission. Frank Ingra-
ham, the next speaker for the Dav-
export team, brought up the ques-
ton of shorter hours, squoting from
well-known labor leaders, and from
other recognized authority.
Produce Statistics.
Oscar Frazer then produced stats.
ties to show the increase in strikes
4 within the last fey. years He. declary
I cd that this increase gRould be charge
led to the labor unions, and that even
this increase was enough to prove
that the tendencies are inimical.
Realf Ottesen was the third of the
negative side. His speech was main
ly devoted to the great benefits from
factory legislation brought about by
\ the efforts of the labor unions. The
negative side then closed its argn-
ment by rebuttal by George Spirk.
Graham then closed the debate by
Summing up the argument for the
affirmative, making several good
points that had a good deal of weight
with the judges.
Produced the Proof
Though the Rock Island boys had
the unpopular side of the question
their clear statement of important
points in support of their argument
was quite convincing. During the
first part of the evening it seemed
that the Davenport boys were destin-
ed to win, but they were unable TIC
show conclusive proof of their state
Tments, while the home team in every
case had unquestionable authority
for each important statement. They
had their facts in better arrangement
than their opponents, and also were
superior in oratory.
While the judges were coming to
Edecision an instrumental trio by Miss
Katharine Won Ach, Ernest Oberholt-
ger and Oswald Stark, and a piano
solo by Miss Marie McGinnis, were
rendered.
Judges Divided.
The judges, who were f. ID. Sween-
ey, of this city; F. ID. Let's. of Daven-
port, and w. j. Entrikin, of Moline,
stood two for Rock Island and one
for Davenport, Mr. Sweeney being un-
derstood to have constituted the mi
nority.
The result of the debate was very
gratifying to the Rock Island stu
dents, a number gathering in the hall
and showing their satisfaction by
giving the school yells, with the
names of the debaters in prominent
accents.