Evening star., 1927-05-27
CHAMPION ORATOR
TO Be DECIDED IN
CONTEST TONIGHT
Girl and Six Boy Students to
Compete in Finals at
Auditorium.
FIVE SUPREME COURT
JUSTICES TO BE JURY
Three Service Officers Will Enforce
Time Limit-John Hays Ham
mond to Speak.

A lone girl and six boys from widely
scattered regions will meet in the
Washington Auditorium tonight at
o'clock before an expected audience Of
5000 to contend for the high school 4.
oratorical championship of the United
States in the final meeting of the
Fourth National Oratorical Contest.
Champions of their respective areas,
and representing the 100000 high
school and secondary school students
who participated in the contest this
year, the seven contestants, in the
order in which they will speak, are:
Carl Albert of McAlester. Okla, rep
resenting the Midwest, witE an ora
ton on THE Constitution"
William Alexander Loker Of Leon
ardtown, Nd, representing the Dis
trict of Columbia, Maryland and Vir-
ginia, with an Grafton on THE Con-
stitution."
DE Lisle Crawford of Oak Park. H.,
representing the Illinois region. with
an Grafton on THE Evolution of the
Constitution"
Jefferson Meagher Of Binghamton,
n. Y. representing the New York
ANuILISIH NEW JeTSey y-COllHeCllCuL
region with an grafton on 1.-The Con-
stitution."
James NJ. Tunnel, jr., Of George
town, Del, representing the Pennsyl-
vania-Southern New JerseyDelaware
region with an grafton on 1.-THE Mean
ing of the Constitution"
Maxwell Lancaster of Birmingham,
Ala, representing the Southern region
with an oration on "The Constitution"
Miss Dorothy Carlson of Salt Lake
City, Utah, representing the Western
zone with an oration on What the
Constitution Should Mean to an Amer
ican Citizen"
Five Justices on Jury.
The task of selecting winner from
this high calibered field is vested in a
jury of five Supreme Court justices,
each of whom will render an in
dividual ballot from his isolated seat
without conference with his fellow
jurors. The winner then will be de-
termined by the compilation of the
five separate ballots according to the
Eow-point total system.
Those members of the Supreme
Court who are to be judges in the
contest tonight are Justice Willis Van
Devanter, Justice George Sutherland,
Justice Edward Terry Sanford, Justice
Pierce Butler and Justice Harlan r.
Stone.
Time-that element which governs
the contest from it's opening at
o'clock on through each of the con-
testing orations-will be enforced with
deadly accuracy. Promptly at 8
o'clock the contest will be formally
opened and at that instant all tickets
become void in their right to a seat.
For that reason, ticket holders, who
more than a month ago obtained their
passes, are warned to arrive at the
Auditorium at 1880 or as soon there
after as possible, for il for any reason
they are not within the building be-
fore the opening of the contest they
will, in all probability, lose their seats.
On other years hundreds Of persons
who had not been able 10 obtain
tickets crowded about the entrances
to the Auditorium and when o'clock
struck they merited by the ticket
holders tardiness by taking rightful
possession of all unoccupied seats.
The same policy will be in force to-
night and for that reason this warn
ing is given.
Three Will Time Contestants.
The 10 minutes allowed each con.
testant for the delivery of his grafton
will be timed by trio of United
States service officers. Their ruling.
which will be announced by the clap
of bell, large enough to be heard
throughout the auditorium, must be
accepted by the young speakers and
one word spoken by any contestant
after "time-up" is so announced, will
a iaaI w he lar 70 a
bottom of the rating list. The time
keepers, who will be armed with a
brace of chronometerS. are Maj. Gen.
Amos A. Fries, u. S. A; Rear Admiral
Luther E. Gregory, U. S. N. and Rear
Admiral Richard Henry Leigh, u.
S. N.
Persons who are in their seats at
1880 o'clock need not fear boredom DUR
ing the wait of 80 minutes, for a con-
cert by the orchestra of the United
States Marine Band will begin half an
hour before the curtain rises for the
oratorical battle of the year. The or.
chestra, under the direction of Second
Leader Arthur A. Whitcomb, will have
its part on the official program also
and it will be one of the evenings
features.
Every effort will be made to obliter.
ate confusion in the identity of the
winner of the contest. A definite plan
of announcing the victor has been
and it will be adhered to at
the Auditorium tonight. Randolph
Leigh, founder of the contest and now
its national director, will make the
declaration of the winners of the first
three places in the reverse order of
their caliber. That is, as soon as the
judges ballots have been totaled and
the winners thus determined, Mr..
Leigh will announce first the winner
of third honors. The second name he
pronounces will be that of the second
place winner and lastly, as he pre-
sents the silver loving cup, exemplary
of the championship, he will an
nounce the name of the champion
high school orator of the United
of first place in the
contest.
Hammond to Be Speaker.
John Hays Hammond, International
Iy famed engineer and honorary
president of the Constitution Club,
will be the only other speaker on the
program. Mr.. Hammond will make
brief Introductory address at the OPEN
ing of the contest meeting and will
be the presiding officer who will pre-
sent to the vast audience each Of the
seven contestants.
Herbert Hoover, Secretary Of Com.
merce, who was to have made the
formal speech of the meeting, will not
be present, 1t was announced yester-
day afternoon. The Secretary's work
in the f1ood-wrecked Mississippi River
Valley will not permit him to journey 4
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