Evening star., 1926-10-15
ORATORS READY.
FOR INTERNATIONAL
CONTEST TONIGHT
President Coolidge to Speak
Before Youths of Five
Nations Compete.
AUDIENCE WILL HEAR 4
THREE TONGUES SPOKEN
Magnificent Silver Loving Cup to
Be Awarded Winner at Wash.
ington Auditorium.

The First international Oratorical
Contest starts promptly at o'clock
tonight in the Washington Audi
torium.
Five schoolboys, representing five
flags. are ready to uphold the tradi-
t1ons OF their countries for youthful
eloGuence before an audience which
will include the principal dlgnitaries
of the United States, as we'll as the
leaders of the diplomatic corps. Presi.
dent Coolidge will speak from the
same platform.
Upon the slender shoulders of Her
bert Wenig, Hollywood (Calif.) youth.
, falls the honor of representing the
United States. Herbert Moran of To-
ronto will speak for the sister Eng
disappearing Canada. William Meades
Newton of Liverpool will defend the
supremacy of the motherland of Eng
lish speech. From Mexico City comes
Jose Munoz Gotta to uphold the ancient
eloquence of the Castilian tongue, and
from France. noted for it's fiery ora,
tory, comes Maxine Raymond Puel of
ANdIISN dClcI lIllllcu upOII IIlc II
of the tri-color.
Contrasts i'm Culture.
1t will be a clash of the old world
against the new. of Anglo-SaXon cul
ture against Latin culture.
For the first time today these five
boys spent the day together. Young
Puel reached Washington only late
Yesterday afternoon and his oppo
nents met him at the station. The
others have been in Washington for
some time and have become fast
friends during the busy days of
sightseeing about the Nations Capt.
tai and of placing the finishing
touches on the orations they will de-
liver tonight. All five were together
last night at dinner given at the
home of John Hays Hammond, o3O1
Kalorama road. Mr.. Hammond will
formally open the contest tonight.
The day is passing slowly indeed
for these schoolboys. All are accus-
toned to speaking before large au-
diences, but never has any one of
them spoken before an assembly con.
tanning the President Of the United
States, Ave or six of his cabinet Of
fcers. the diplomatic representatives
Of their own countries and an impos-
ing number of legislators, judges,
educators and military and naval
officers.
Silver Cup as Trophy.
The winner tonight will carry home
with him magnificent silver loving
cup. donated by the committee of
American newspaper publishers which
is sponsoring the contest. This trophy
will be presented on behalf of the
publishers by Frank B. Noyes, pub
Usher Of The Evening Star and presi-
dent of the Associated Press.
The great event of the evening. of
course, will be the contest itself. The
night belongs to these eloquent school
boys. who not only have prepared
polished orations. but have dug deep
ly into the histories and the funda-
mentals of government of their ma.
tive lands for a background.
But Of equal Importance will be
another oration-by the President of
the United States.
Mr.. Coolidge is an enthusiastic spon-
sor OF such contests. In past years he
has taken a deep interest in the Ma
tional Oratorical Contests conducted
every Spring in Washington. Few
things are closer to the President S
heart than the education of youth in
the fundamentals of government. and
that is the primary purpose of these
contests. There are certain fundamen-
tai principles of good government
common to ALL civilized countries. A
great deal of the unrest of the world.
the President believes. is due to ig-
nora nee or misunderstanding of these
principles.
Orators Have Backers.
On the stage with the boys will be
their national backers-grOups OF dis
tinruished statesmen and educators,
who feel with President Coolidge that
such a contest is laying the founda
tions Of good citizenship. The pres
ence of these men is calculated to
give each boy more confidence. He
will not be standing alone in strange
land before a strange people. a great
man who thinks and speaks In his
own tongue will be with him.
Wenig will speak on THE Amer
lean Constitution" Moran's subject
will be. Canada S Part in the New
World" Newton's subject is, THE
British Empire" Gotta goes into the
stirring history and traditions of the
Latin American republics for a sub
iect, and will speak on Bolivar and
the Latin American Peoples Puel
will speak on The French Govern
ment."
An unusual feature of the program
will be that each national champion
will be introduced by strains of his
national anthem rather than by
words of the chairman. The chair
man will. however make a group
presentation of the orators, stating
their subjects and their speaking
order Then President Coolidge will
speak, after which will come the
five orations.
Three of the contestants will speak
English, one in Spanish and one in
French. They will be judged by a
group of multi-lingual judges from
leading universities of this country
and abroad. headed by Ambassador
Padilla of Spain. Others are DR..
Richard F. A. Muller. an engineer
born in Belgium, who has spent much
of his life on projects in Central
formerly connected with the Uni
versity of Quito. Ecuador; DR.. Rob-
ert NJ. Sugar of McGill University
Montreal: DIR. Louis j. A. Mercier
of Harvard University and DIR. Rich
ard Henry Wilson of the University
of Virginia.
An English translation of the
speeches of the Mexican and French
champions will be available to every
one in the audience.