Evening star., 1927-05-22
100000 TAKE PART
IN ORATORY CONTESTS
Finals Friday Will Represent Crest of
Great Wave That Is Sweep
ing Country.
BY RANDOLPH LEIGH. NJ. A.,

BY RANDOLPH LEIGH. NJ. A.,
oIsanizer and Director. National oratorical
Contest,
IN the last four years more than
.O00. 600 high school boys and
girls have taken part in the Ma
tional Oratoricai Contest on the
Constitution. That fact, rather
, than the thrilling national finals to be
held here next Friday. gives signifi-
cance to the movement. 1t can be
taken for granted that the seven ma
tional finalists, the Victors in two
months of grueling competitions be-
tween the winners in schools, coun.
ties. cities and States, will give an eX-
cellent account of themselves as they
battle for the national championship.
But the finalists are to the entire
movement merely what the sparkling
crest is 10 wave.
They are the heirs to the drive and
surge and enthusiasm of 5000 600
minds-nav, more than that. of 6,000,-
O00 youthful minds.
Stated in its simplest terms. the Ma
tional OratoricaI Contest is an agency
for taking the Constitution to the peo'
pIe through the children of the people.
In the act Of informing and inspiring
themselves on the subject OF the Gov
ernment of the United States, they
also quicken and enthuse their elders
and associates.
Theory Is Different.
There have been many attempts at
populariZing governmental principles.
Most of them have proceeded on the
theory that the older and more long
winded and more pompous man is,
the better fitted he is to inspire en-.
thusia SIN for the Government.
This contest has operated on an alb
solutelv different theory-namely, that
only the young can be truly enthu-
siastic and that therefore the young,
rather than the mature. should be the
quickeners of the Nation.
The object of the contest is TO in
crease interest in and respect for
American institutions. but very little
emphasis has been placed on the ele-
ment of respect in the actual admin.
istration of the contest, and for An
obvious reason. Whoever becomes ln'
terested enough in the Constitution to
study it and to learn the part which
il has PLAYED in our development al
most unconsciously comes to have
profound respect for it. Likewise, con-
testants are not asked or encouraged
to devote the short 10 minutes al
lotted to them TO denouncing the in
dividuals or organizations desirous of
overthrowing the Constitution.
Project Is Affirmative.
The National Oratorical Contest is
an affirmative and not a negative
Government and not anti some
other system or systems.
The contest has another interesting
and significant side. 1t brings the
newspapers and the schools (the two
most important factors in the life of
q self-governing peopie) into close CO.
operation and emphasizes the vital
connection which each must have
with the problems of intelligent citi-
zensnip.
We live in a Nation in which every
man. through the ballot, can make
his thinking count. What, therefore,
could be more important in such
land than that every man be en-.
couraged and taught to think Alright?
School Called Threshold.
The school is not merely the thresh.
old to business or the professions.
Tt is the threshold to citizenship as
well. And the newspaper is not mere
~ the mirror held up before the fol-
lies of a Nation. 1t is the peoples
university . well, charged with a
responsibility of guidance and instruc.
tion which must not be disreSarded
if our Nation is to achieve its high
est possibilities.
The contest represents. from the
standpoint of the schools, tremen-
dous donation of time and effort on
the part Of already hard.worked
teachers. On the part of all of the
participating newspapers, 1t repre-
sents an aggregate outlay, without
any attempt at financial recovery. OF
well over $1,000.000.
Nor is that ALL The schools have
drawn closer to the newspapers and
the newspapers to the schools. / feel
that both have been quickened by the
new contact Both Of them have
L do with the formation and growth
and vagaries of the public mind. Both
have a compelling responsibility in
the matter of building citizens. l
marvel not so much that they have
come together so naturally and effec-
lively in this project as that, having
so much in common, they have, in the
past, so often moved in apparent
obliviousness to one another in their
almost inter-locking spheres.
Inviting Pathway Opened.
There is one other possibility in the
contest which opens up inviting path
ways for the Imagination. Suppose
that, by that delicious element Of the
ironical which makes life doubly in
teresting by filling it with SO much
that is incongruous and startling, the
printing press should become the
agency for reviving the power OF the
spoken word,
The newspapers doomed the old,
stilted oratory by faithfully repro
ducing it, The newspapers are now
helping TO revive oratory Though in
A new, terse and vibrant form
through this contest!
And the revival Is a genuine one.
because men cannot afford perma-
nently to neglect one of the oldest and
most potent Of the arts--ths art OF
the living, as contrasted With the
printed. word.
Newspaper Is Cited.
II Is only necessary to take an il
Iustration from the newspaper itself
10 prove the difference in driving
power between the printed and the
spoken word. Eully 30 per cent OF
what the public reads in newspapers
is unsigned, and yet almost no one
asks who wrote it?" Let some re-
markable idea be flashed before n
throng, even in letters of fire. and
very few Of the beholders will inquire
as. to the author.
But let an unknown man arise in
any gathering of people and speak but
q dozen words and the entire audi.
ence begins rustling for programs and
whispering "Who is he?'
Why this difference? Simply be-
cause the printed word is personality
twice removed; the spoken word is
nersonalitY. present and compelling-