The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1909-03-26
'ENNEW|CK WINS DEBATE
UNANIMOUS DECISION over PROS
sfR..-STRONG ARGUMENT
| GOOD TEAM WORK

he Kennewlck Hish ochool ae-
So,;ng team wus victorious over the
prosser High School team in the de-
.ta in the high school gymnasium
pro.,er last Friday evening. Our
sookers convinced the judges and
he large part Of the large audience
that local option was the best solu-
t;on Of the. liquor question. The
.r.ct wording of the question was:
Resolved, that the elimination of
brivate profits is the best solution
ftbe LIQUOR traffic problem. Pros
cor for the affirmative presented
the advantages of the Gothenburg
system and the state dispenSary
laws and attacked the efficiency of
oohibition, high license or local op
t;on as methods OF controlling the
Anfic. Kennewick strongly ex-
nOsed the weaknesses of state con-
|t,ol and presented elaborate argu-
ments that the attendant evils of
line traffic were increased rather
han minimized where the state
control plan was i'll force in Sweden
Norway and Finland. The wide
prevaiing corruption in South Caro-
lima when the state dispensary plan
was in vogue in that state, was
clearly shown.
The Pr0SScr team was composed
Of Gertrude Smith, Kate Severyns
and Walter Smith. Our team was
Margaret Hamilton, George Rich
arlson and Cora Sercombe. They
.lpoke in the order named and each
lspeaker was forceful, with clear and
pointed argument and each one
talked from a sense of firm convic-
zion that the position taken was
crrect, and this carried weight
r with the judges and audience. The
chief points were pounded home
Hgain and again and yet no time
was wasted on unnecessary repeti-
ton.
j The first named presented the
Weaknesses of the Gothenburg sys--
tenn and the increase of pauperism,
crime and drunkenness in the period
Of state control in the Scandinavian
countries. George Richardson
showed the failure in Finland of the
same system and knocked the South
Carolina dispensary plan as hot
bed Of corruption. He showed that
local option was right in that it fol-
\ lowed the fundamental American
principle of majority rule, and Miss
Secombe made the most of the ad-
vantage that local option was sweep
Ing the states as the best tried and
tested method of control. George
Richardson's closing re b u t ia |
speech was also good, summing up
the argument in good shape.
The Judges were l.. @. Meigs,
speaker of the House, Prof. Saun-
ders, of the Ellensburg schools and
d. ii. Scudder, Yakima Valley
correspondent of the Spokesman
review. They awarded a unani-
nous decision to kcnnewick. The
ffosser school loyalty chcered each
Vi their speakers and gave all the
support possible with their ''Nic-
pry' school yell at every interval,
oul the small crowd of Kennewick
@ekers. on the principal that He
laughs best who laughs last" gave
iof'h a sweeping cheer after we had
won. Besides the team, Rosella
'amllton, Jessie Perry, Bernice
nlfeth, Alfred MorS, G. II. Shana-
'ei'' Il. +. Reed, Geo. F. Richard
Son and L. W. soth accompanied
'ne team and cxulted over the vic
ury and congratulated the victors.
ihe spirit Of the kennewick school
VIII be strengthened by the result,
which was achieved by hard work.