Evening star., 1926-03-28
VIRGINIA ORATORY
JUDGES SELECTED
Alexandria viii Be Scene of
Final District Contest
April 20.

Senator Hubert D. stephens of Mis-
sissippi and Representative r. Walton
Moore of Virginia and Joseph w.
Byrns Of Tennessee will serve as
judges in the national oratorical finals
in the competition among the high
schools in the Virginia section adja-
cent to the District of Columbia, which
comprises a district in The Star area.
The final contest in the Virginia
district, which includes the high
schools of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun
and Prince William Counties and the
city of Alexandria, will be held at
Alexandria beginning at II o'clock the
morning of April 20. Many pupils
from the high schools of the territory
indicated nave entered the contest
and much rivalry has been engendered
among the competing schools over
which shall produce the champion ora
tor to compete in The Star area finals,
the winning of which carries With 1t
total awards OF $500 and Summer
tour Of Europe With AL expenses
paid. in addition to the honor of rep
resenting Washington and the entire
Washington area in the national
finals, which will be held here June /.
Records of Judges.
Brief mention of the records of the
selected Judges gives assurance that
this feature of the contest among the
Virginia schools will be in excellent
hands
Senator stephens is the successor in
the Senate of John Sharp Williams,
whom he was elected to replace in
1922. following the noted Mississip-
plans retirement to private life. Sen
ator Stephens served five terms in the
House before his election as Senator.
lie is a graduate of the University of
Mississippi law school and is a mem
ber of the bar of New Albany, Miss.
Mr.. Moore, who is a resident of
Fairfax County, has been a member
OF the House since 1919. He has been
honored with the presidency of the
Virginia Bar Association and is a
graduate of the University of Fir-
Einia. Mir. Moore has appeared in inn
portant legal matters for many years
before the Interstate Commerce Com
mission.
Seventeen Years in Congress.
Mr.. Byrns has represented the
Hermitage or Nashville district in the
House during the last eight sessions,
his services covering Il period to date
Of IT years. During this time he has
held many important committee as
signmentssa is at present a member
of the committee on appropriations.
Before serving in Congress he was a
member of both houses of the Ten
nessee Legislature and one session was
speaker of the lower house. He is a
graduate OF Vanderbilt University and
q member of the Nashville bar.
4 modern young "Demosthenes,
hnut on overcoming a natural defect
IN speech that he may gain honors
in the National OratOrical Contest
IS reported in Southern California to
the contest manager of the Los
Angeles Times a description of this
incident in the Times says: At the
CoaCheua Valley Union High School
there is a modern Demosthenes in the
person of Gordon Gibbs. Young
Gibbs has q slight impediment in his
speech, which he is striving to over
come. Having no ocean with pebbles,
as did the great Greek orator, Cor
don goes out into the vineyard and,
as he sprays the grapevines. he seeks
to train himself in clear enunciatiOn.
Gibbs has chosen Jefferson and
the Constitution as the subject of
his Grafton and the majority of his
SchOOlmates, moved to admiration
by the young mans perseverance in
seeking to overcome a handicap, are
roofing for him, confident that the
results of his emulation Of Demosthe.