154 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



three men met the affiriiuitive team from Purdu-e University in our college 

 armory on April 20, 11)17, and won a unanimous decision. The members 

 of our negative team were K. R. Trangniar, W. G. Retzlaff, and H. E. 

 llemans. 1 had the pleasure of accompanying these three young men 

 to Ames, Iowa, and of hearing them win a two-to-one decision over the 

 team from Iowa State College. This is the first time we have won 

 both debates; but of more importance than tlie winning of decisions is 

 the training which the men are getting, the thinking and speaking ability 

 which they are showing, and the increasing interest in debate manifested 

 by those who attend our debates as well as by those who take part. 

 I am glad to speak here of the intelligent and thorough work of As- 

 sistant Professor C. B. Mitchell, to whom it falls to manage these 

 contests and to coach our debaters. 



This year we held two freshmen debates — a dual contest with Hills- 

 dale College and a triangular contest with Kalamazoo College and Albion 

 College. In the former we pitted a freshman team against an all-college 

 team from Hillsdale and lost. In the latter, freshmen from M. A. C. 

 met freshmen from the other institutions. We defeated Albion and were 

 defeated by Kalanmzoo. The students representing us in these debates 

 were A. J. Mitchell, (Hillsdale), S. M. Powell, (Hillsdale), H. M. John- 

 son (Hillsdale), E. C. Hach (Hillsdale), J. W. Sims (Hillsdale and 

 Albion), W. E. Fowle (Hillsdale), L. J. Bateman (Kalamazoo), C. J. 

 McLean (Kalamazoo), F. F. Rogers (Albion). Mr. Burkett, instructor 

 in public speaking, did effective work in coaching our students for these 

 debates. 



The Eunomian-Holcad contest was won this j^ear by Mr. R. S. Clark, 

 a junior. The winning production, a poem entitled Chores, has been 

 accepted for publication by the American magazine, one of whose editors, 

 Ray Stannard Baker, was a judge of the contest. Mr. Clark has the 

 unusual distinction of having won the Eunomian-Holcad contest twice. 

 Second and third places went to Mr. A. J. Patch, a senior, second place 

 for a poem entitled The Hills, and third place for a poem entitled The 

 Question and Answers. Miss Katherine Hume, a junior, won fourth 

 place with a jjoem, Barbara, and Miss Ruth Musselman, a sophomore, re- 

 ceived fifth prize for a story entitled A Hindu's Choice. 



I am much pleased to be able to announce the establishment of the 

 George E. Lawson prize essay contest. This contest was established 

 by a friend and classmate and as a memorial to Mr. Lawson (class 1882), 

 who died February 15, 191G. The annual income from the fund, amount- 

 ing to |25, will be awarded annually to the male undergraduate student 

 whose essay, submitted in competition for this prize, is adjudged to be the 

 best. Public announcement of this comj^etition was first made in the 

 fall term of 1916, and the contest was first held in the spring term, 

 1917. The Lawson prize was won by Mr. I. B. McMurtry, a special 

 student in agriculture. His essay was entitled. Education : To or Away 

 From the Farm? I am confident that this annual contest will serve as a 

 stimulus and incentive to many of our students who are interested in 

 writing. As the quality of material submitted in competition for the 

 Eunomian-Holcad prizes has improved steadily from year to year, I 

 believe that we may expect similar results from the George E. Lawson 

 prize. The former contest is for poems and stories, the latter for essays. 



Though the Department of English is in no way directly concerned 



