Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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THE ASHBURIAN U, I DEBATING SOCIETY HE first meeting of the Society took place on 29th October at 8 pm. when L. Chapman was elected President and R, Boutin Vice-President. Mr. Harrison at his own suggestion agreed to act as Secretary. The meeting was largely attended by the members of those forms qualified to attend, and adjourned at 8.55 pm. The Second meeting of the Society took place at 8 pm. in the Library when P. Horben moved that in the opinion of this House tu be born poor develops a better character than to be born rich. J. C. Mocnobb opposed The Hon Mover, drawing both personal and national examples from those of Abraham Lincoln and ancient Rome, emphasied the importance to character of having to sweat and fight for the advantages of life otherwise denied, when Rome was poor she had the character to create a great empirel when she grew rich she grew lazy, dependent on mercenaries and slaves, and these things led inevitably to her decadence and final collapse. A boy born to wealth is padded and shielded from the hard things of life and as he has no need of a strong character, he will not develop one. He admitted the advantages of a formal education in the building of character, but would not admit that a rich background gave a boy a better chance to take advantage of such an education than a comparatively poor one. Those who are born poor may sink even lower, he said, but it is equally true that those who are born rich waste their lives: 'in fact,' said the Hon Mover, 'to those who say that there are more poor vagrants than rich wasters, l will reply that there are a great many more poor people than rich ones' This was a good speech and confidently delivered. The Hon Opposer supposed that nearly all his audience would ultimately be at least moderately successful in life: in imagination therefore we were rapidly whirled to a school in Hull, Quebec: the members of the Debating society there, he said, had less chance of becoming successful, Why? Poverty. The jobs that awaited the poor were monotonous, in which the spirit was held down and hope smothered. The Hon. Opposer knew what he was talking about because he had worked in a job all summer in a factory, He was amazed, he said, by the simple-mindednes of his fellow workers' their minds were at 5th form level: and don't suppose, he added, that these people led exemplary lives. Not a bit of it. Two of his acquaintances there had deserted their wives and many did not appear on the morning after the night before, which seemed to happen often. The rich man has character which he has had the chance to build up in a good school: the rich have so much character in fact that the Hon. Opposer was able confidently to attribute the fall of France in I9-40 to the French revolution in l789 when all those with money land therefore charocterl were so unfortunately destroyed The only Free French leader of any consequence is De Gaulle, an oristocrat. And then what about Churchill and Roosevelt? Both rich men Consider, said the Hon. Opposer, how exceedingly lucky you are not to have been born in the slums.

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l32l THE ASHBURIAN The President then rose to encouroge the l-louse which might hove been in some donger of sitting without o world for some time. l-le did not core for the quoting of the nomes of outstonding men who hod influenced the world os there were exceptions to every rule, ond the orguments were inclined to be dongerous: but he did feel thot the people thot you might hove to consort with in the circumstonces of poverty hod o good chonce of leoding you to some Corrective Institution. This would not be true in Russio of course but in Englond ond the North Americon continent money still counted for o lot. lopposedl Mr. Walsh, whom we were very glod to welcome os o visitor, procloimecl himself on the side of the opposition, The world is not normol. The world hos forgotten the ethics of Christionity ond until it returns to them it connot be so: under the circumstonces of the present doy, therefore, however undesiroble it might be, the odvontoges ore heovily on the side of the rich. chill penury repress'd their noble roge ond froze the geniol current of the soul Greet weolth, he concluded, imposes greot obligotions, but the lock of weolth imposes greot hondicops. lopposedl PEGRAM would hove none of the ideo thot people in foctories ore without hope. This wos o nonsensicol stotement ond the world is full of exomples of men who hove risen through the vorious stoges of lorge business to come out ot the top os President. lsupportedl HATCH told us he hod two points to moke ond thot they concerned respect for poverty ond respect for outhority. ln the cose of the former it wos obvious thot if you were born poor you hod fewer things to woste ond took more core not only of your own things, but of other peoples: in the cose of the lotter he felt thot the eorlier-thon-school stoges in the cose of the rich hod been over- looked: there you hove the curse of the Nonny who hos no respect for honesty ond truth ond doesn't teoch such things to her chorges who grow up with little respect for their porents whom they seldom see onywoy. lA truly gloomy picturel lsupportedl ELIOT I osked members whot they thought the object of their existence wos? Are we brought into the world to moke o nome for ourselves, ond to get to the top of the tree? ls not the emphosis on chorocter? l-le left us with the feeling thot the people thot he liked were those who hod to moke o fight of it ond so presumobly ..... he supported. THE SECRETARY expressed surprise thot there should be such o dismol view of the effects of youthful poverty on this continent ond in this lond of opportunity, AND in this the century of the common mon . l-le osked members too keep in mind thot the words of the motion must not be thought to refer only to grinding poverty of the most extreme type but to on obsence of riches. Since he hod been so recently shocked by the effects of weolth ond oll the concomitonts of weolth on the persons of De Morigny ond Lonergon, he felt he must support the motion. BIRCHWOOD brought us bock ogoin to thot school in l-lull: he would hove none of the contention thot its pupils would not be successful. In com-