DEPARTMENT REPORTS 123 



department are (1) a wiiiter-terin play in the Armory and a spring-term 

 play in the Forest of Arden, {2) the Lawson Essay Contest, (3) the 

 Eunoniian-Holcad contest, Avhich is for poems and stories, and (4) the 

 training- of men and women for onr several intercollegiate debates. Since 

 the last three of these are contests, it has been my cnstom to report the 

 names of students winning honors in them. 



The Lawson Essay Contest was won this year by Benjamin V. Halstead, 

 a junior in the course in Ai>])lied Science. His essay, entitled *'The Offer 

 of the College," will be published in the Commencement nuniber of the 

 M. A. C. Record. It is interesting to note that in 1021 Mr. Halstead 

 contested unsuccessfully for the Lawson prize. Ajtparently he has in 

 two years developed the ability in analytical thiidving and in literary 

 expression which the Lawson contest was instil uted to encourage. 



First prize in the P^nnomian-Ilolcad contest was awarded to Robert 

 H. Powers for a story entitled "White Bones." Mr. Powers is an Agri- 

 cultural freshman. Tliis is the second time in the history of this compe- 

 tition that a freshman has won it. It has not been uncommon, however, 

 for a freshman to win one of the several pi-izes below the tirst. 



Since the men and women (often eminent writers) who are chosen from 

 year to year to judge this contest tell us that it is very difficult to judge 

 justly between such different t\'])es of literature as the poem and the 

 short story, and since the offering of a separate first prize for the best 

 poem and of an equal prize for the best short story will greatly encourage 

 contestants, it will be much better if this single contest can be broken 

 into two, with separate judges and prizes. I hope to have this done 

 within a year. I think that I can bring to ))ass an arrangement by which 

 sufficient funds will be available for supporting botli contests in a 

 modest yvay. If you will consult the Report of the Secretary of the 

 State Board of Agriculture for 1921 (bottom of page 122 to middle of 

 page 123) you will find mention of some of the excellent and def- 

 inite results which this competition has brought about. The proi)Osed 

 l)lan should make it possible to get even better results. 



Our debate ])rogram for ll)22-'23 was the most extensive of our history. 

 We took jtart in many debates and won nearly all of them. Oue of our 

 teams made a trip through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Massa- 

 chusetts and Maine, meeting a number of institutions and being beaten 

 but once. Such strong and such various schools as Marquette University, 

 Purdue University, Massachusetts Agricultural College and the T^uiver- 

 sity of Maine were among those which our boys defeated. The three 

 debators who made this trip represented three divisions of the college. 

 The men were Douglas V. Steere, Division of Agriculture ; Harry G. 

 Smith, Division of Engineering; and Earl H. Chapman, Division of 

 Applied Science. 



Separate mention should be nuule of our winning of the annual Tri- 

 State Debate. A team consisting of Fred M. Johnson, Virgil O. Braun, 

 and Everett Bristol defeated Iowa State College here, and this victory, 

 added to that won over I'urdue by our traveling team, gave us the honors 

 of the Tri-State League, which I organized soon after coming to the 

 college. 



Mr. Milne organized, this year, debating for women. The students 

 representing us were Dorothy Snyder, Elsie Geliuas, Mrs. Susan 



