Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

Page 151 text:

REED COLLEGE ADUtUAi law should be adopted in Oregon and XVashington, constitu- tionality waivd. The try-outs for the two teams to represent Reed wer held upon this subject. Preparation for the discussion of so comprehensiv a subject ment real work. Information was gath- erd from every possible source. Thursday evening labor eon- ferences wer held at the college and the question of the minimum wage was discust from every point of view by practical author- ities-employers, skild and un- skild laborers, trade-union repre- sentativs, social workers, and members of the Industrial XVel- fare Commission. Some of the debaters wer also fortunate enuf to be able to attend the minimum wage hearings before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations which wer held in Portland last summer. None of the Reed debaters ARTHUR HAUCK had had any previus experience in inter-collegiate debating, but they had learnd from debates at college that nothing is so essential as thoro knoledge 0f the subject. The tryouts were held in November and the men 1915 inn fmally chosen to represent the college wer Lowell Bradford and Arthur Hamek for the afhrmativ and Harry tVembridge and Clarence Young for the negativ. In accordance with the usual custom, the affirmativ team debated at home and the negativ team Visited. The debates wer held 011 the night of January fifteenth. At Reed the afhrnmtiv team developt the point that eight thousand men in Oregon and XVash- ington wer receiving lea than two dollars 21 day. They pointed out that 21 minimum wage law was the Only means of ensur- ing these men a living wage, social insurance, industrial education, re stricted immigration, em- ployment agencies, and labor unions h a V i 11 g proved ineffectiv to help the unskild workers. It was further shown that the minimum wage was economically sound and would not increase the HARRY WEMBRIDGE

Page 150 text:

t1361 R E E D freshmen who defeated the sofomores in a preliminary con- test wer Charles Cohn and Edward Shears. Robert Sabin and Delbert French represented the seniors, and Clyde Beals and Horace Miller wer the sofomore team. Dr. Fosteris courses, too, hav become larger from year to year, and his second-year students hav many opportunities to debate. Each week open debates hav been held in the Chapel upon disputed questions of the day, folloed by a general discus- sion from the Hoot. Among the questions considerd hav been the subject of intervention in Mexico by the United States, commission government for Oregon, ttWhen in dout vote no, and government ownership of railroads. Dr. Foster 'has insisted that a debate is not merely an intellectual exercise for those taking part in it, but on the contrary, should be one of the best possible means of gaining reliable, all-round information upon a subject. But this benefit is lost unless the questions chosen hav to do with topics of current interest. By folloing this plan in the selection of subjects for debate, the student body has been interested in the subject matter of the debate, rather than in the winner. INTERCOLLEGIATE DEBATE This year the great interest in debating centerd around the first inter-collegiate contest. Near the close of the 1914 spring semester a permanent contract was drawn up between COLLEGE ANNUAL + 1915 the University of Washington and Reed College providing for two debates to be held between the institutions each year, one at Seattle and one at Portland. The contract provides that in CLARENCE YOUNG LOWELL BRADFORD one year one of the institutions shal submit three questions to the other, and the latter shal then select one of them as the subject for debate. For the first debate Reed College submitted the questions and of the three, the University of Washington chose to discuss the proposition, Resolvd, that a minimum wage H'

Page 152 text:

i188j R E E D cost of commodities manufactured in Oregon and VVashingtou. The XNashiugton team sought to. sho that the real labor problem on the Pacific coast was not a matter of lo wages but rather one of unemployment. They did not, however, clearly demonstrate that the minimum wage law would increase that evil. The University of XVashiugtou's affirmativ team at Seattle effectiv pointed out the evils of low wages, but placed the min- imum wage as high as nine hundred dollars. Such a wage in- Volvs a large number of men in the two states and made such negativ arguments as driving out industry and increasing un- employment particularly effectiv. So in reply to their argu- ments the Reed uegativ team pointed out the radical nature of the law and its impracticability. Particularly emfasized was the fact that no source of production would yield the required COLLEGE ANNUAL + 1915 increase in wages, and that the increast cost of production re- sulting from the passage of the law would drive many much needed industries away from Oregon and NVashiugton. The judges at Seattle wer James A. Haight, Mr. Vivian M. Carkeek, and Reverend Sydney Strong; those at Reed Dr. George Rebec, Mr. F. D. Morrison, and Judge XV. B. Gilbert. The debate is, of course, past history, but history which for us stil holds a thril. Reed was awarded the unanimus decision in both debates. When news was receivd from Seattle of the result there, the campus exprest its joy in torchlight proces- sions, appreciativ yels, and hilarius congratulations. XVhiCh was after all as it should be, since there wil never again be a next time with quite the same zest to it. For this was Reed's first inter-collegiate debate! ..a.....-.-.-.;.:.:-.,.,-..e.-.. -..ZK4.' ..---..i...-.- - v. . ......