The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1914-03-10
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1919.
is COLLEGE DEBATING. HARM
FJL"

IL the Influence Of college Ne eatinc,
or OF informal debating III senorai.
harmful. Colonel Eoosevelt thinks
that ii NAV be. and What it IS IN very
man. cases. The subject $ discussed
III a recent issue VI the Ncw York
Times, whlcl, says:
Critics who are Wont 10 sec much
OF bot)l physical and moral c%il In col
i'eGe athletics usually have nothing hui
COMMUNICATION for the competitive dc
hating, inter and mira collegiate, Of
large and important questions by tho
students.
These contcsts are praised as far
better calculated than sports and
,sa1ncs to develop and reveal tho in
tf"|'ectual ability OF those participate
,in- III them and To show both the
amount. of information they possess
sApd their skill IN using IL. Moreover,
thu debates are good training in pub
lie speaking, and therefore can io
acallcd "voeational,' since the mower
ltu address audiences with readiness,
igor, and grace IS directly valuable
sin most of the professions and oucu-
Hrations entered by college men. Attn
Nctlcs. on the contrary, Great" bodily
conditions that arc distinctly injurious
for the man following a scdcntary ca
1r"or and unable or unwilling to give
.hiS hHpertrophied muscles tho amount
II exercise needed to save them from
r particularly dangerous form of de-
hcrioration.
Iiut college debating. AS conducts
90. also has its pcri1S, and attention
has bcen called to them by, among
~eii',crs. tn3t ardent advocate of attn
%,ctics. Colonel Roosevelt. In his ATT
i1hineraphy' the colonc! insists with
characteristic vchemencc. hut not
without reason. that tho only COM
1n"ndahlc speaking is sincere speak,
tvs. and that the boy W II gets or tries
" set a prize because with clouuence
md adroitncss he has attacked or do
.'cnded a proposition under an assign
1ucnt or selection made without re-
;ar! To his OWN convictions. is in
Fraj'ling to hc. not II good citizen or an
"'onest man, but 4 lawyer Who takes
Si.a7cs re=nrdlcse of their merits or any
nhi,s els" except the fees involved.
c This Is a severe" arrangement. IT L.
sa""res Tic fact that. as the provcrh puts
r.. There arc two sides tn cvcrr STORY"
pp.l that each has q right tn be pro
"'ied and heard. tnuucstionaoiy.
E'""ever. H. is NOT we'll Cor boys 10 got
.K|c notion that tine answer To q oucs-
"'"; is 4" l'c Judged 10y It's oratorical
rIncriority to another answer rather
nam by its richtnrsS or
Fnd while There may he EXCUSES for
oaakjns tho best of :: had case. the cS-
t,"scs wear terribly thin whom the
-ankinc of that best involves the de-
~cai nf Justice. the c~otrculrcnt of
weak logic, or tho triumph OF a fall
,cv."
No one will deny shat there is dan
or in any practice which t"nls tn
Ereate q sorhistical habit in the minds
e T the young. Eut. if tho dangers of
II ,phistry are to nc avoided on tho one
Il land. those OF domatisln arc equally
e be avoided on the other. IL is adj
q fitted that argument tends To create
E,nviction. whether or not in The
lind OF the person addressed. al leaet
= the mind of him who makes the
kgument. and thot tho habit Of rca-
e,nipE. FIRST on one side Of q rropo-
scion and then on the nthcr, may
reate such a confusion of mind that
,ere is no conviction whatever. Eut
ar one were permitted 10 reason nnly
'sn The side of a question whore his
1A,nvict,ons lay. the tendency would
D. to shirt his mind 10 arguments OH
.u,e other side. and to deprive him of
ii, we'll balanced Judgment as to tho