Commerce High School - Commerce Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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aljr IFiital Btrtory HELLO, old man, congratulations again this morning. We did shake hands over it last night, but the fellows’ cheering drowned anything we might say, so shake again. We won the debating championship, all right.” With these words a tall, muscular lad of about seventeen years, greeted his chum, a handsome youth, about the same age but somewhat smaller and stouter. “Thanks, Will, we did the best we could and we won. They gave us some sound arguments, all right, but our rebuttal weakened them at every turn.” “By the way, Frank,” and the speaker glanced inquiringly at his friend, “I heard some of those Judsou Academy people were up to a little crooked game. Any truth in the report?” “Yes, I’ll tell you, but keep it on the quiet. When I got home last night, I called up the “Daily Mail” and told them 1 wanted to report the championship debate between the York High School of Commerce and Judson Academy. They told me they already had the report that the negative had won unanimously, and that Judson had the negative. I was astonished beyond expression, I told them that the report was not true at all, that I was one of the speakers of the High School of Commerce, and that we had the negative and had won.” “What do you think of that for nerve?” Will exclaimed in astonishment, which quickly turned to indignation. “The man on the Daily Mail said to me, ‘Is that straight goods,’ and I answered, ‘Yes,’ and they kindly took my word for it.” “Sounds like the villain in a melodrama, doesn’t it?” said Will. “Indeed it does and I couldn’t believe my own ears; I thought that the newspaper office might not have heard the report correctly as it was over the telephone. So I called up the other morning paper and it was the same story there; but they would not take my word for it and as a result, as you must have seen by the papers, the Daily Mail has only a small report while the other has nothing.” “Some mean work, all right,” his chum indignantly said. “Of course, their school is in no way directly responsible for it. It was probably some outsider or some mean cad that may have done it for pure malice.” “Say, Frank, I have my suspicions about that,” Will said as he suddenly raised his head and looked questioningly at his chum, “I think it was that cad leader of theirs who made that very gentlemanly remark last night at the debate. He ought to have been made to take it back there and then.” “Well, I don’t know. He probably isn’t responsible, but I believe that he is capable of doing such a thing,” Frank reluctantly admitted. Anyhow, we won fairly and that’s all we want. I have to go home now and get to digging into my Law, for I’ve got to pass those exams. So long.” “So long. I’ll meet you at school Monday, old chap.” “All right.” 118

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The above conversation took place between the two chums as they accidentally met in a downtown street in Yorkfield, New York, one Saturday morning. It was the day following a decisive debate between the High School of Commerce of that town and the Judson Academy of Judson, N. Y., deciding the championship of New York State, whereby the winner was to receive a silver cup, offered by a magazine to the championship team. The debate was a hot and strong one as championship contests of that kind are wont to be. Both teams were almost equal as regarded their speeches, but the rebuttal decided the winner. The Commerce team went at them with vigor closing in on their opponents slowly but firmly, until Frank who was leader came up, acquitting himself brilliantly, and utterly destroyed their arguments. However, the affirmative, that is the Judson team was to be reckoned with. They came back at them with equal vigor, but they were cornered. They soon became so desperate as to lose all their coolness, which is one of the most unfortunate things for a debating team to do. Their leader, instead of sticking to his arguments, began to slander the other side. The bell rang; the time was up. In a breathless moment the judges wrote their decisions, handed them to the chairman who slowly opened them. “The decision is two to one in favor of the negative,” he slowly pronounced. An uproar greeted the decision. The Commerce delegation cheered and cheered. Everybody shook hands with the winners. All the Commerce admirers were happy beyond expression for the High School of Commerce had won the championship of New York State. n. Three years later we find Frank holding a high position in the First National Bank of New York City. There we see the following scene enacted: “Frank Webster, here is a letter for you.” “Thank you, sir,” our friend from Commerce politely answered and added to himself, “Looks like an epistle fr 5m Will.” He opened the letter and read it. Looking over his shoulders we can see the following: Syracuse, N. Y., Feb. 5, 1915. Dear Frank: I received your letter, and you can be sure I was glad to hear that you were advanced to Second Assistant Paying Teller. I tell you Commerce is a fine school. It can well be proud of itself when it turns out fellows that succeed so admirably. You asked me concerning what I am doing at college. Well, outside of work, nothing much. However, I made the basketball team. I am getting along pretty well in my studies. T tell you. some of the things I learned at Commerce have made the work in college a great deal easier. But let’s get to the most important part of my letter. I’ll bet you’d never guess whom I met here at college; Robert Morganheimer, the fellow that was leader of the Judson Academy debating team, the one that made that remark about your being a “mercenary bookkeeper,” the night of our debate with them, for the championship cup. 119