The Oskaloosa herald., 1907-04-25
ANNEXATION OF CUBA
Girls Win Victory For Penn---Boys
Defeated At fndianola

The first ladies' intercollegiate de-
bate in the history of Penn college
was held last evening in the chapel
and was great success, resulting in
a unanimous victory for Penn. The
Isubject under discussion was that
I.The immediate annexation of Cuba
would be both profitable and benef-
cial to the United States" Penn, rep
resented by Miss Hazel Painter, Miss
Cora Mattison and Miss Alice Cole
man, took the affirmative, and Simp-
son college, represented by Miss Ruth
Baker, Miss Harriet Best and Miss
Vera England, took the negative. The
three judges were Mr.. Crozier, anfat.
torney from Knoxville; Lewis T. Hill
superintendent of schools at Morning
Sun; and Prof Schilling, head of the
oratorical department Of Parsons col
lege at Fairfield. ps
The program opened with a pleasing
instrumental solo by Miss Caffie Con-
|ovle, after which followed tine debate
with Mrs. L. e. Corlett presiding. Dur
ing the decision of the judges a snort
vocal selection was rendered by Miss
Grace Duboc. The college enthusiasm
was demonstrated throughout the
evening and ended in a short reception
given by the Euphemnian and Argo-
naut societies to the debaters and
judges. the Simpson girls nad been
laboring under some difficulties in
their preparation, as two of their
number have been i'll up to a snort
time ago, but both sides deserve much
credit for the depth of their argu-
ments and all received hearty con
gratualtions after the decision had
been announced.
In substance the arguments for the
affirmative were that the present gov
eminent of Cuba is unstable and not
the most advantageous and our pres
ent policy is insufficient to give her
the independence which we have
promised. In annexing Cuba as a
territory it would only be preparatory
to her becoming state which would
give her true independence. Cuba
would make good state and her peo-
pie would make desirable citizens. The
they contelded, would be
vastly profitable to the United States,
both commercially and politically, on
account of the strategic position which
she holds at the cross roads of the
worlds commercial routes.
The plea of the debaters on the neg
alive side was that it would be i'm
possible to annex Cuba without break
ing our oath, for in our declaration OF
war against Spain the president plain
ly stated that the result of the war
would in no case be an appropriation
of land, and we did not go into the
war to free Cuba for any commercial
or political benefits, but for the sake
of humanity alone. The population
of the island is largely of the latin and
negro races and as slavery was only
abolished there in 1887 they would
make an undesirable addition to the
population of our country where edu-
cational and race problems already
abound. We are not in need of any
more territory at present, for we al
ready have abundant resources all
around us, and the annexation could
oaly be a menace to the trade of our
southern states.
Boys Lose Debate.
While the girls were fighting for
their honors at home the boys de-
batting team were in a hotter contest
over the same question at Simpson
college in Indianola. The decision
was given for the Affirmative in this
case also, but Penn was on the oppo-
site side of the question. Enrol Peck
ham, Stacy ]. McCracken, Ernest A.
Zelradt AID Glenn Mitchner were the
boys from Penn who denied the ad-
visibility of the annexation. The de-
cision was two to one in favor of the
affirmative.