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TAR Vol. 13, UNIVERSITY OF NOHiH C4R0L15A, CHAPEL HILL, K. C, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19. 1905. No. 24. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION. A GREAT DEBATE. Carolina Loses to Washington and Lee in a Debate That Was Full of Interest from Begin ning to End. The first intercollegiate debate between the University 01 North Carolina and Washing-ton and Lee was held in the college chapel Fri day night, and resulted in a victory for Washington and Lee. This being the first debate engaged in with Washington and Lee the out come of the contest was doubly in teresting, and Washington and Lee's representatives showed them selves worthy opponents. Carolina s representatives were I. C. Wright and A. II . King, who had the affirmative side of the question. T. D. Sloan, of West Virginia, and W. F. Semple, of Indian Territory, were representa tives of Washington and Lee. The judges of the contest were Con gressman R. N. Page, Dr. M;' D. Hardin and Prof. I. W. Cranford State Senator A. M. Scales, u s- 1 t 1 .11 lireensooro, presided over me ue- bate, ard while the judges were out delighted the audience with some reminisences of his college days. Mr. Wright was the first speaker and developed the following- ideas: Every action and reaction in the world is the result of the working out of some absolute law. Wre don't believe in miracles any more. This age is the reign or law. 1 lien mint !o fti to r nf nrnnrrpiivi? A tirl , f o i-1 o t, and ot political lire. And we re does the fact of the Solid South the most good, this has been the secret of our growth, and this is what the fact of the Solid South will have none of. ' Competition is the life of trade the life of thought, the law of life In the "Solid South there is only one applicant for the government and he practically inherits the job L he same principle which condemns an absolute monopoly which is be nin,(i an tins trust regulation and the Sherman law, demands- compe tition in the public life of the South, demands the dissolution o the "Solid South."" 1 ne laws or congress are passed with espe-ial consideration for the wishes of the doubtful States. Then let the South be doubtful and her claims will receive greater consider ation. Then and not. till then wil she reach her fullest, growth. Then what is the good of staying "Solid?" Slaverv, w:ir, recon struction, force bills and negro domination made her solid. They have vanished. But we are told mat we are tne nest people on earth anyway, why change? But the cry of negro, negro, drowns every sensible argument and policy or good and hence the South stays 'solid when all necessity for it has vanished. 1 TT 1 1 , 1 O T . vv nat doe-- tins mean: it means mat sue 11a s tailed to recognize changed conditions. It means that one phase of the Southern white man's life controls his action and thinking on ever' question of good under present conditions conform to it or nqt? It isv an evolutionary process. Nothing- is complete and perfect The South can not sit still without going backward. China thought she could, but we see the result. Never have Kng land's institutions or politics of government been too sacred to be spectfully submit that this keeps him from being free, restrains him, stifles all competition as to govern mental policy, violates the absolute laws of progress, in that it is op posed to any change, and is detri mental to the highest development of the South. FIRST FOR NEGATIVE. Mr. T. I) Sloan, of Washington changed when conditions demand and Lee, spoke first for the nega it, and that is the secret of her tive side in the debate. His argu- growth. Russia thought she could ment was a demonstration ol the sit still and develop, but we see the fact that the educational and social result. progress of the South were not be- Until about thirty years ago ing retarded by her political uni- Japan thought she could, but she forniity, and also included a treat saw she couldn't, so she obeyed the ment of the negro problem, showing law of progress, threw aside her its over-shadowing importance and old ways of doing- things, and the unfitness or the Republican changed her customs-and practices party to deal with it. where necessary, and as a result In his argument to establish the she has become a world power. educational progress of the South, Stagnation kills progress. Then Mr. Sloan after admitting a greater how do we prevent stagnation and percentage of illiteracy in the South secure progress? It is by change, than existed at the North, pro- competion and rivalry. Kites fly duced statistics to show that the against the wind. You can not de- illiteracy was due to the fact of a velop a football team without an op- negro population of 8,000,000, and posing team, and if we are to have the financial ruin, caused byt the the best teams to lead the South on Civil War and the subsequent mis to progress, we must have an op- rule of reconstruction days. He posing- team. We must have two then spoke of the remarkable strong- political parties. growth of public schools and This is the foundation principle showed a corresponding decrease in of American life. Two strong par- illiteracy in the Southern States. ties, each trying to do the best for The negro, he said, has received the people and for improvements, far more than the legitimate share all knowing that the people will of appropriations tor education in has furnished less than $5,000,000 of the $140,000,000 appropriated by the South for negro education. While negro illiteracy is decreasing rapidly in the South the. report of Hon. Sidney J. Boone to the South ern Educational Conference in 1904 showed that there was a decided in crease in this illiteracy in the West ern section of I the United States, while in the North Atlantic divis- ions the decrease in illiteracy would not compare with the South. Hence Mr. Slo an concluded that educa tional progress1 in the South was greater than in the Republican and doubtful Statej; of our Union. In his treatment of the social con ditions Mr. Sllan showed that there is a well defined determination on the. part of the Southerners to erad icate the crime of lynching from the South. But lynchings are not con fined to the South. Mob law knows no section. It is peculiar to no party. Democrats and Republi cans are alike guilty. Is a man restrained from murder by his views of the tariff? Will a man's views of currency incite him to commit arson? I have no patience with those who are too blind to see that lawlessness is not an affair of the head but of the heart. The cause and cure of such crimes lie far deeper than a man's political pre ference. He said that the solving of the negro problem, iOy till the present tad failed bec;e of Republican nterference. 'V'his he illustrates by the most recent and promising of ill the solutions yet attempted, the adoption ot the State Constitution practically eliminating the most objectionable negro vote. "But for Republican interference the negro would quietly and contentedly have accepted this new condition of af airs This party is unwilling- to ose his vote. Consequently their repeated agitation of this question in Republican journals. The negro is beginning to feel that he has been unjustly treated and is becom ing restless and insolent. To com plicate the situation still further there is an increasingly larger ele ment in the Republican party clam oring for a reduction of Southern representation." In conclusion Mr. Sloan showed that it was not ignorance nor preju dice which kept the South a politi cal unit, but the interest of self-preservation. What use to tell her of retarded progress when the most wonderful development is going on under her very eyes? ol what avail is it that i t 1 1 1 , it .1 I tne ixepumican party cans tne ne gro problem a political constant pressure on it? "In spite of direful warnings' of Republican politicians the South continues to prosper as she rapidly advances toward that high station to which the Cod of tlieNation has destined her. May Irt progress be SECOND FOR AFFIRMATIVE.. Mr. King-, second speaker for Carolina, spoke in substance as fol lows: "Not only the causes which in the beginning modified the South have passed away, but new condi tions which demand dissolution have arisen. "Before the war the South was chiefly an agricultural people. The abolition of slavery wrought won derful changes in our industrial life. New industries have sprung up. Some of her people seek live lihood on the farm, some in the mine, some in the factory. The South is no more bound solidly to gether by a oneness of interest than any other section of the Union, yet the South is the only section whose entire electoral vote may be depend ed upon with absolute certainty. No other section is solid all the time. What is it that holds the South solid? Is it the status of things with the causes all gone? Such a condition directly opposes the fundamental law of progress, throws competition to the four winds of heaven, and forms a party monoply for which there is no sub stitute. "In favoring- the dissolution of the "Solid South" we neither con demn nor commend any particular party. We simply advocate the ex istence of two strong political par ties as the exponents of Southern life. "The people of the South, in fluenced by a fond recollection of the past, advocate the govern mental theories of the past, theories that were then constructive, but now are ultra-conservative. 1 ne last campaign is proof of this. "What will force the South to ,1 1 1 1 , recognize tne cnangeu conuitions and destroy the party monopoly? It is competition. Competition is the law ot life. I he competition of two strong political parties would give us the best administra tion possible, would drive the petti fogger from his profession, and would enact the laws most condu cive to the progress and develop ment of the South. "People may say what they please about the Populist admin istration in this State 8 years ago, ut it has been a blessing to dis- rr t . t it .... .-. a guise. vvnentue i A'mocr.us vveic thrown out of power tiiey went to work to get back in, not by cor ruption and bribery, but the repre sentatives ol the party saw tne woeful ignorance of the State and seized the opportunity of crediting ;i rond dpod to their oartv. Com petition had come. The pool of political stagnation was stirred, and from the moving of the waters came the healing virtue which is fast curing the ignorance m our State. "The 'Solid South' robs South ern statesmen of the highest posi tions of trust and honor in our gov- unimpeded by discord in her ranks 1 ernment, Before the boutii became as she advances to the forefront in ' solid her statesmen filled the chief support the oue which does them ' the South as seen by the fact that he the sisterhood of States. Coutiuued on 4th pm,'o.J 8
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 19, 1905, edition 1
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