The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1909-01-21
Third Successive Victory in Inter.
Society Debate Large and Enthus-
iastic Audience = The Decision a
Close One.

Close One.
The annual debate between the Col
lege mems literary societies Of Berea
last Friday night resulted for the
third successive time In a victory for
Alpha Zeta-this time by a vote by
the judges of two to one. The con-
test was exceedingly close. the mark
ings OF the judges showing that there
was only about ok per cent differ
ence between the ranks Of the two con-
testants. This difference, too. was al
most entirely due to an advantage
Of appearance, delivery and English
held by A. z. turnout, rather than TO
any superior argument
The debate was listened to by one
of the largest and most enthusiastic
crowds ever gathered for the occasion.
The lower floor Of the Chapel was
filled, and there was the greatest
enthusiasm for the speakers, combined
with great good feeling. Each speak
er as he rose was greeted with loud
cheers and the waving of bright color
ed banners by the partisans OF his
society, and was applauded in closing
not only by his friends, but by his
generous opporerts, led each time by
the opposing debators themselves. As
the debate progressed and the close
ness of the contest was seen the ten
sion became great, and when all had
finished and the result was still in
doubt, the strain all over the house
could almost be seen. The breaking
of this strain in the announcement OF
A. Us victory, resuitei, as was to be
expected, in a correspondingly VIC
lent scene of enthusiasm.
While the debate was an exceedingl
creditable performance to both con-
testants. there were as must always
be the case, several points which
presented themselves for criticism. In
the first place, none OF the speakers
made enough effort to gain the SYM
patty OF the house-several of the
speeches contained references which
only highly educated men could grasp,
and there was thruout a failure 10
get IN touch with the mass of the
hearers This was shown by the fact
that at no time did any of the speak
ers move the audience out OF its
attitude OF cold criticism-there was
no enthusiasm and no speaker receiv-
ed that sympathetic inspiration which
leads to real oratory. Also. there was
no applause in the middle of the
speeches-and TO tell the truth, no
attempt was made by the speakers TO
elicit II. II was as II the men had
decided TO appeal to the judges only,
and forgot that the judges were TO
give their decision on the basis of
the effect OF the speeches on the au-
dience there assembled. Greater sim
plicity in all the speeches would have
strengthened them, and greater adap-
ton would have given them weight.
There was for instance, but one flash
OF wit, humor or sarcasm in the Who'll
debate, with the exception of turning
back on the speaker an expression
he had himself used, and the one
sarcastic onslaught was borrowed al
most word for word from a leading
Congressman. In other words, the
debate was dull.
The second point of criticism was
the weakness OF the rebutal on both
sides. Many arguments were advanc-
ed by each side which the other made
really no attempt to answer, and the
result, so far as really convincing any
nearer as to the justice of the pro-
position advanced, resulted rather In
confusing than In clarifying the sit
uation. Each side took a strong line
OF argument and carried it thru-each
side let the others argument stand
there. There were some attempts
made by the negative to meet few
of the smaller points advanced, but
neither side really attacked the main
position of its opponent. The only
point where they really met was
over the defination of the word dan
ger and in this case the effectiveness
OF what might have been a good de-
bate was destroyed by the affirmative
taking position which all the judges
agreed was untenable. In fact, it
seems likely that the position of
the affirmative on this point lost the
debate.
Aside from these two points, the
debate was all that could be desired.
The appearance Of the men, the de-
livery, and the arguments advanced,
all showed hard work, careful pre-
paration and long reading and study.