THE REALITY OF DEBATING INCE I always read The Outlook with Sgreat interest, and am very much interested in debating, I of course gave especial attention to your number of September 13, containing the editorial on "Debates and Beliefs" and the article on "Where Men Debate Beliefs-Not Statistics." Because of my observations and experiences from four years' debating at college, I should like to take exception to most of your assertions in your editorial and article. But for the present I shall confine my attention to your statement that American college debating "lacks actuality" and to the inference from your quotation from Roosevelt's Autobiography that American college debating does not "turn out of our colleges young men with ardent convictions on the side of the right." Your editorial writer asserts on his ipse dixit that our college debating "lacks actuality." Unfortunately, he does not inform us what he means by "actuality" or why this debating "lacks actuality." The assertion is "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." If the editorial writer had only slight debating training, he would have learned to define his terms and give his reasons or "beliefs." Does he mean by "actuality" that the subjects chosen for debate are academic or archaic? Does he mean that the present methods of preparation and speaking are "unreal" because they give the debaters no training helpful in any way? Or has he something else tucked away in his mind? I must confess that my strong "convictions" are that your writer never debated or attended a debate. Of course I may have been a young man who had visions and dreamed dreams, but debating seemed very real to me during my four years' contact with it. The subjects were always interesting and vital. I felt that I had "sincerity and intensity of conviction." While I may not have "moved the hearers," I thought that I was "moved." At any rate, I have "ardent convictions" that my American college debating experience was the most valuable training that I have thus far received in my young life. While I shall not relate all of my reasons for this statement, I shall trouble you with a few. I am not so foolish as to believe that I possess all the qualities that debating teaches, but it has pointed them out to me and demonstrated their inestimable value not only in my effort to be a citizen but a lawyer also: ease; poise; self-control; courtesy; ability to stand on one's feet before people and think and speak clearly, concisely, accurately, cogently; a knowledge of human nature; the value of diligent and thorough preparation not only of your own side but of the other 354 fellow's; an appreciation of the fact that there are generally two sides to a question and that it is a great mistake to be cocksure that you are always "on the side of the right." I must confess that often, after a debate, into which I entered believing myself "on the side of the right" and the exclusive apostle of justice, I found the other team were not such insincere, "glibly" talking assignees and had some "right" in their case. I have strong convictions that American college debating has made me a better citizen and lawyer. To Before closing, I want further to expose myself to the elements by giving you my reasons why "college debates do not evoke the interest of the general student body nor do they call out the talents of the real college leaders." To one group of undergraduates the studious preparation necessary for debating "smacks too much of the curriculum," and the average student pays no more attention to the curriculum than is required to attain a "gentleman's grade." Consequently anything calling for very diligent, thorough study is taboo. another group, debating interferes too much with many undergraduates' ideas of a college as a social clearing-house and country club. Again, the "rockingchair fleet" is sufficient to anchor many who might otherwise hazard the debating tempests. Then there are the countless hosts who have never debated or attended a debate and consequently have false notions about it. Finally, there are those who often before they left "prep school" have set their eyes on the traditional college "honors" regardless of what college activities and opportunities possess the most value to them as future citizens. LINCOLN L. KELLOGG. Oneonta, New York. A MAGNIFICENT N my message last Sunday it was my your entirely reason able interpretation of the recent poll upon the Eighteenth Amendment, and to emphasize your judgment as expressed in the editorial of September 27, that Nation-wide prohibition is a magnificent and unique experiment, achieving most favorable results. As casting light upon the situation in an ordinary town, and in the center of the country, I present this interesting fact. Formerly this town was, like all small towns, saloonridden. This summer we have had three "big events." A Fourth of July celebration brought five thousand people here; a circus day, another five thousand; and our county fair has had an attendance of twenty-five thousand. In all there was but one arrest for intoxication, and that on circus day. Our county fair has closed without even one breach of the peace. The splendid American crowds, full of happiness, enjoyed the event without the former disturbances due to the presence of the saloon and the sale of liquor, and the testimony seems unanimous that the conditions now enjoyed are here to stay. S. M. CAMPBELL Macon, Missouri. "DEAF" OR "DEAF-MUTE"? HE Outlook for September 27 con TH tains an excellent illustration of the Gallaudet statue on the grounds of Gallaudet College for the Deaf at Washington, D. C. The explanatory foot-note accompanying the illustration is in error when it says that Gallaudet College "is the only college which gives degrees to deaf-mutes." Gallaudet College is the only college in which the methods of instruction are adapted to meet the special requirements of the deaf. Any college or university will give degrees to the deaf otherwise qualified and several have done so, among them Yale, Washington University, and the University of California. The Gallaudet of the statue at Washington is known as the "founder of deafmute education in America." His first school at Hartford was known as "The American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb." It was located on "Asylum" street. So much for the corporate title and the public view-point of the education of the deaf at its beginning. The word "Asylum" soon gained the disfavor of educators of the deaf and of the educated deaf. Schools of the era following the one at Hartford took as their corporate title "Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." Later on the teaching of speech to the deaf began to be stressed. The fact that every deaf child otherwise normal could learn to talk more or less made the word "dumb" appear inappropriate, so schools began to take the title "Institution for the Deaf." The most up-to-date title is "School for the Deaf." Gallaudet College originally was "The National Deaf-Mute College." About thirty years ago the alumni of the college inaugurated a movement which culminated in a change to the name it now bears. In so far as the general public is concerned, the terms "mute," "deaf-mute," and "deaf and dumb" are practically synonymous; but among the instructors of the deaf, the educated deaf, and wellinformed people the words "mute," "deaf-mute," and "dumb" are looked upon with disfavor and their use is discouraged when referring to the pupils and graduates of schools for the deaf. Following the line of least resistance, the deaf young man or woman seeking a higher education will go to Gallaudet College, where the method of instruction is designed to circumvent the hearing defect. Some have gone directly to colleges and universities for the hearing and have graduated. A few have entered universities for the hearing after graduating from Gallaudet. A talented architect residing in St. Louis is a graduate of Gallaudet School for the Deaf, St. Louis; of Gallaudet College for the Deaf, Washington; and of Washington University, St. Louis. I do not believe there is a college or university in existence where one who is a "deaf-mute," "deafand-dumb," or "deaf" will be denied a degree provided he is otherwise qualified. Gallaudet College does not confine its degrees to the deaf. Persons not deaf, among them graduates of various State universities, of Yale, Harvard, Amherst, Trinity and many others, who have made notable contributions to the department of education of the deaf have been the recipients of degrees from Gallaudet-among them the late Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.. R JAMES H. CLOUD. A "FAKE" REVIVED ECENTLY in an impassioned speech upon the floor of Congress reference was made to "the burning of witches" in Salem, and within a few months something of the same sort has repeatedly appeared in magazines of supposed intelligence and of such high grade as the late "Unpopular Review"-still later the "Unpartisan Review." People with any familiarity with New England history know that the victims of the lamentable witchcraft delusion, nineteen in number, were put to death in the usual official manner of the time-that is, by hanging-though one was under English law pressed to death with heavy weights, not because he was accused of practicing the black art but because he refused to plead, his motive perhaps being that his family would thus save his property from forfeiture. It is reasonable to believe that in England the same fate would have befallen him under the same conditions. The persistence with which this idea prevails that the Salem victims suffered at the stake suggests the ease with which historic myths get started and the difficulty of uprooting them-especially when they are damaging to the good name of the Puritan clergy of New England. The foregoing considerations are submitted because another New England myth seems in a fair way of general acceptance, in spite of its absurdity. Last year the Houghton Mifflin Company published a book by Mary Rogers Bangs entitled "Old Cape Cod: The Land; the Men; the Sea," on pages 78-9 of which occurs the following statement in apparently the best of faith: Quakers held parsons in light esteem, yet not one of the Cape clergy could have conceived such a plan as Cotton Mather, in 1682, spread before Higginson of Salem. "There be now at sea a skipper," wrote he, "which has aboard a hundred or more of ye heretics and malignants called Qua kers, with William Penn, who is ye scamp at ye head of them." Mather went on to recount that secret orders had gone out to waylay the ship "as near ye coast of Codde as may be and make captives of ye Penn and his ungodly crew, so that ye Lord may be glorified, and not mocked on ye soil of this new country with ye heathen worship of these people." Then the astounding proposition: "Much spoil can be made by selling ye whole lot to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rumme and sugar. We shall not only do ye Lord great service by punishing the Wicked, but shall make gayne for his ministers and people." The precious scheme somehow miscarried, the threatened engagement off "Codde" did not take place, and Philadelphia was founded. Now the very archaisms of this preposterous letter, so laboriously wrought, would arouse suspicion, the effort to imitate a seventeenth-century style of English being fairly apparent. Moreover, if such a letter really existed, the almost universal disposition to deride the Puritan clergy would have long since made its phrases almost household words among the present generation, and it would not have been left to be drawn from its obscurity by a rather negligible book in 1920. From the point of view of the modern unregenerate, the "letter" with its delicious suggestions of "rumme and sugar" and "gayne" for the clergy is altogether "too good to be true." Furthermore, it is a fair supposition that if Cotton Mather had heard that a ship-load of Quakers was on its way to such a distant point as what was to be Philadelphia, he would have thanked God that such ill-disposed persons were not headed for Boston-to insist on being hanged. At any rate, he certainly would not have suggested the selling into slavery of so influential a person as William Penn, the personal friend of the Duke of York, brother to King Charles and heir apparent to the throne itself. As a matter of fact the "letter" went the rounds of the American newspaper press in 1891, and, strange to say, actually imposed upon persons of intelligence. The Rev. Dr. Heber Newton read it from his pulpit as genuine, and the editor of the Albany "Evening Times," T. C. Callicot, could not make up his mind to reject it as a forgery. But the New York "Sun," which justly described it "as the work of a humorist rather than of a deliberate and mercenary impostor," in its issue of June 19, 1891, in a half-column editorial, gave the history of this engaging fraud on the evidence of an unnamed Easton, Pennsylvania, correspondent. It first appeared in the Easton "Argus" of April 28, 1870, and was the concoction of its editor, James F. Shunk, son of a one-time Governor of Pennsylvania and son-in-law of Judge Jeremiah S. Black. It was introduced as having been discovered by "Mr. Judkins, librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society," among the papers "of the late But the full humor of the "letter" can be best exhibited by a transcription of Mr. Shunk's effort as originally printed, premising that the text that went the rounds in 1891 was slightly abridged, a few lines of the 1870 version being omitted: September ye 15th, 1682. There be now at sea a shippe (for our friend Mr. Esaias Holcroft of London did advise me by the last packet that it wolde sail some time in August) called ye Welcome, R. Greenaway, master, which has aboard an hundred or more of ye heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penne, who is ye Chief Scampe at ye hedde of them. Ye General Court has accordingly given secret orders to Master Malachi Huxett of ye brig Porposse to waylaye ye said Welcome slylie as near ye coast of Codde as may be and make captive ye said Penne and his ungodlie crewe so that ye Lord may be glorified and not mocked on ye soil of this new countrie with ye heathen worshippe of these people. Much spoyle can be made by selling ye whole lotte to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rumme and sugar, and we shall not only do ye Lord great service by punishing ye wicked, but we shall make great gayne for his ministers and people. Master Huxett feels hopefull and will set down the newes he brings when his shippe comes back. Yours in ye bowells of Christ, COTTON MATHER. And to think that this sort of thing should be treated as history! FREDERICK J. SHEPARD. Buffalo, New York. JUST THIS ONCE WE PUT A WANT AD IN THE MAIL BAG In Jail, Deland, Florida. The Outlook Company: If you learn of lawyers who are honest and competent, and are hunting work, I want 5. R. [This is the kind of letter which editors like to receive. It is terse and yet it covers the situation completely. We are sure that this correspondent, if he wanted to criticise an editorial, would not take three times the space required by that editorial to do it in. If all our correspondents had a like faculty of brevity, the Mail Bag could hold a dozen subjects where now it holds one. And we would have more room for editorial replies like this one, which is twice as long as the letter which called it forth. -The Editors.] BE STRONG! BE HEALTHY Men, women and children should develop health and strength through pleasant daily exercise st home. Because it gives them the be development features of wall machin rowing machine, chest expande grip exercisers and massage r lers combined in one-they use a praise PEERLESS Five-in-One Exerciser FREE instruction chart with each e erciser. Light tension (for childre $3.25. Medium (for men and women) $3.50, Heavy (1 developed adults) $3.75, Extra Heavy(for athletes)84.0 SEND NO MONEY. On arrival pay postman abo price plus few cents postage, Satisfaction guarantee Literature free. 354 357 A Portrait Study of Lyman Abbott.. 358 By Henry Hoyt Moore $2.00 $2.00 The Death of Lyman Abbott 359 360 360 361 362 362 That Good Old Gulf Stream !... 363 For Better Race Relations.. 363 The Coming Election... 363 Lloyd George in Eclipse... 364 365 The Third Degree... On the Eve of Election Day: I-The Revolt Against the Yankee. 366 II-Political Topsy Turvydom in 367 Special Correspondence from an Okla. homan Observer III-Something Brewing in the Middle West... 368 Author of "Boys and Girls," etc. $2.00 By Frederick M. Davenport The Shadow Witch By GERTRUDE CROWNFIELD A companion to "The Princess White Flame" and equally fine in spirit. By Everett P. Wheeler $2.00 BE COMFORTABLE-Wear the Brooks Appliance, the modern scientific invention which gives rupture sufferers immediate relief. It has no obnoxious springs or pads. Automatic Air Cushions bind and draw together the broken parts. No salves or plasters. Durable. Cheap. Sent on trial to prove its worth. Never on sale in stores, as every Appliance is made to order, the proper size and shape of Air Cushion depending on the nature of each case. Beware of imitations. Look for trade-mark bearing portrait and signature of C. E. Brooks which appears on every Appliance. None other genuine. Full information and booklet sent free in plain, sealed envelope. BROOKS APPLIANCE CO., 471J State St., Marshall, Mick School Information FREE Catalogs of all Girls' or Boys' boarding schools (and camp in U. S. Expert advice free. Relative standing from personal-ups inspection. State fully kind wanted. Maintained by American Schools' Assoc. No fees. Write 1100 Times Bldg., Bes New York, or 1515-A Masonic Temple, Chicago BE AN ARTIST Comics, Cartoons, Commercial, Newspaper and Magasine Ilustral TEACHERS' AGENCIES The Pratt Teachers Agency 70 Fifth Avenue, New York Recommends teachers to colleges, public and private schools. Advises parents abont schools. Wm. O. Pratt, Mgr. TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR NURSES St. John's Riverside Hospital Training School for Nurses YONKERS, NEW YORK Registered in New York State, offers a 2% years' course edite Cro tur Best R B for in ady a as general training to refined, educated women. Require in ments one year high school or its equivalent. Apply to the Directress of Nurses, Yonkers, New York. stitut and Stan profes Henny and Penny By BERTHA PARKER HALL The adventures of twin girls and their brother. Verotchka's Tales By MAMIN SIBERIAK Russian tales through which runs a thread The Story of a Cuckoo's Egg A book for any bird lover. With 8 plates in colors and other illustrations from photographs. The Book of Giants By HENRY C. LANIER A gathering of giants, real and legendary, from all lands and books. $2.00 TO SCHOOL PROPRIETORS HE OUTLOOK each week goes into 100,000 substantial, refined homes. It is carefully read by parents who desire the best possible school facilities for their children, and who possess the means to send them to the best private schools. Your advertisement in The Outlook will reach a selected and interested audience. THE OUTLOOK each The Special School Rate is 85 cents a Lin Write for further informatiom THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 381 Fourth Avenue, New York Futh pre rab b ring Frably 2nd to MO of crimi CONTRIBUTORS' E VERETT PEPPER RELL WHEELER, lawyer and author, was born in New York in 1840. He was educated at the College of the City of New York, and in 1859 received his A.M. degree from there and his LL.B. from Harvard University. He has peen prominent in various local and National Civil Service Commissions, a member of the New York Board of Eduation, and Vice-President of the American Bar Association. He is the author of "Daniel Webster, Expounder of the Constitution," "Sixty Years of American Life," "A Lawyer's Study of the Bible," etc. T HOMAS MASSON is one of the best known of American critics and essayists. He has been literary and man. aging editor of "Life" since 1893, and is the author of several volumes, including "A Bachelor's Baby, and Some Grown-ups," "A Corner in Women," and "The Best Stories in the World." has edited many collections, such as "Humorous Masterpieces of American Literature," "Humor of Love in Verse," and "Best Short Stories." His home is in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. J He OHN BALLARD is a newspaper and magazine writer and a native of Wis I consin. He did newspaper work in that State for several years and was later a correspondent in the Northwest for New York and Chicago papers. While engaged in that capacity he began to make a study of the radicalism that has steadily gained strength in the granger States, and from 1920 to 1922 he was engaged in making investigations and writing on the subject for the American Constitution League of Wisconsin. Mr. Ballard does not view radicalism from the standpoint of either a politician or professional economist, for he is neither one nor the other. His chosen work is that of a writer on outdoor life, and he is a regular contributor to the "Outers-Recreation Magazine" of Chi a Stark-Lyman Co. Bldg., Community Heating Residence of D. A. Phillippe, is Logical UPPOSE each city family had to Smanufacture gas and electricity and pump water! Ridiculous ?-Yes. But, no more so than our present system of buying coal at retail, having a "heater" for each apartment or house, every man tending his own little fire and wheeling out his own ashes. The most logical way is to heat groups of buildings from a Central Heating Plant, distributing the steam through underground mains, buying it as needed, by meter. We have assisted many hundreds of communities, institutions, industrial plants, and other groups of buildings to the enjoyment of the advantages of Adsco Community Heating. They have ample heat on tap at each radiator 24 hours a day, as easily controlled by an Adsco Graduated Packless Radiator Valve, as water at a faucet. We have prepared an interesting booklet on Adsco Community Heating; ask for Bulletin No. 20-0. Bulletin No. 158-0 describes Adsco Heating the coal-saving system-for individual buildings with any make of boiler. AMERICAN DISTRICT STEAM COMPANY ADSCO HEATING The Fasts of ummer lingers in our JAMS JELLIES FRESH FRUITS |