Evening star., 1927-04-22
BOYS ARE WINNING
ORATORICAL FEATS
Randolph Leigh Predicts
Only Two Girls Will Enter
National Finals.
It's a great year for boy orators
Rapngeta coming ia National Gra

It's a great year for boy 0ratorSt
Reports coming to National ora
torical Contest headquarters indicate
that young men are winning In the
elimination and seminal contests
throughout the Nation i'm about the
same ratio that they have won i'm the
o districts of The star region, in
which seven boys and three girls were
the yictors.
And now Randolph Leigh. director
of the national contest, assumes the
role of prophet in predicting that in
the nat nal meeting, May e7, five
contestants will he boys and two girls.
Mr.. Leigh bases Ills prediction upon
the reports from contest Ceuters IN
the various States which tend to
show that more boys and girls are
winning the minor contests Of the
whole series, for in 10 region has
q nationalist vet been chosen. The
Star area will be the first Of the
seven regions 10 determine its repre-.
sentative in the national meeting and
that section viii be made by May T.
Phophecy Goes Awry.
Early in the contest Mr., Leigh. in
the role Of prophet, declared that The
Star fnalists would result in q 7-3
score in favor of the young men,
But he was not so successful last
year, hence his prophecy concerning
the national contest may not be taken
as a mentor Of accuracy. In 1926 the
national director haZarded the pre-
contest statement that five boys and
two girls would make up the con-
testant field, and when the ncwspa-
per finals were held in the seven
regions Mr.. Leigh saw his prophecy
go a-1luttering away before field OF
Fa1g iFfe. hfN-G
In the "boy and girl" competition
it is interesting TO note that the big,
broad-lniaded West" where woman
suffrage was so strong in its infancy.
and in the 'chivalrous South a girl
never has won State or regional
championship. Further, the national
championship has been won each year
nv a representative from that very
territory - west Of the Mississippi
River and south Of the State Of Ten
nessee.
Commenting upon the oratorical
81 owing made by the boys and the
girls in the contest, Mr.. Leigh said
today:
perhaps the success of the South
hnd West can be explained on the
theory that they adhere strictly to
masculine standards OF oratory, where
as Northern and Eastern States have
Sietu6G somewhat TO Iut lGALihAitS ~ RC
OF speaker As a speaker q woman
differs radically from a man in vocal
appeal and in the technique Of com
position"
In summarizing the situation, he
added:
Thus the East and North being
divided between the points Of excel
lence in the two distinct types, possess
no uniform standard to judge by, and
being uncertain, may, while selecting
Il girl, fail to select even the ablest ex-
ponent Of the feminine type of oratory
in a, given competition. 1t becomes a
broken field proposition when a selec-
tion is being made where the stand
ards are not generally agreed upon.
Sought Masculine Type.
In those sections where one ideal
OF excellence is widely, even if erro-
neously, accepted, the result is likely
to be the selection Of the best avail
able exponent OF that ideal.
Heretofore the West and South
lave sought the masculine type to rep
resent them--and have won the ma
tional championship each year.
THE North and East have sought