92 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



at home on June Sth the affirmative of the question was upheld by 

 Messrs. G. Cochran, '14; E. Hart., Jr., '14, and A. I. Margolis, '14, all 

 agricultural students, the negative being defended by Ypsilanti. The 

 decision of the judges at this debate was favorable to our team. The 

 judges were Superintendent F. B. Buck of St. Johns; E. F. Bishop, Esq., 

 of Lansing, and Hon. L. T. Hemans of Mason. To these gentlemen we 

 wish to express in this public way our appreciation. 



The annual oratorical contest was won by Mr. A. I. Margolis, who 

 represented the college at the state contest held at Olivet. The Annual 

 Peace Contest was won by Mr. W. Aisenstein. Through a misunder- 

 standing, however, he did not speak at the state contest, which was 

 held at this college. The State Peace Contest was won by the repre- 

 sentative from Ann Arbor, Mr. P. B. Blanshard, who was also success- 

 ful in winning the Interstate contest. The freshman oration contest, 

 which was participated in by eight young men, was won by Mr. G. J. 

 Warnshuis. The sophomore contest was unfortunately called for at a 

 time when students were very busy, with the result that it was found ^ 

 wise not to hold the contest this year. An attempt was made to bring 

 about a contest in reading, open only to freshman women. It was found 

 impossible, however, to hold this contest for a reason similar to that 

 given just above. It is certainly to be hoped that these contests may 

 be continued in the future. 



The new arrangement by which the State Board hsis agreed to finance 

 the public speaking contests through money appropriated to this de- 

 partment will certainly add very much to the possibility of holding- 

 successful contests. When the probabilities were that the instructors 

 or the students would have to pay any bills incurred in holding a con- 

 test, the enthusiasm to bring about contests was far from great. Every 

 student representing the institution in an intercollegiate contest should 

 receive a fob or some kind of award corresponding to the monogram 

 bestowed upon athletes. In like manner students winning local con- 

 tests should receive a less valuable fob or other suitable reward. 



Perhaps one-third of the freshmen coming to us from the high schools 

 of the state have been too carelessly trained in the use of oral and 

 written English. They regularly make the common grammatical errors 

 in the use of irregular verbs and unwarranted contractions. They do 

 not spell well. They do not use quotation marks and the apostrophe 

 properly. At least one-tenth of the freshmen are not sure about the 

 use of terminal punctuation. 



This condition is difficult for the department to handle. The hours 

 of the student here are so fully occupied that it seems impossible to 

 get together students thus deficient and give them the kind of drill 

 which they need. The department has endeavored for two or three years 

 to make arrangements that would care for this deficiency. So far no 

 satisfactory plan has been devised. If such students could be condi- 

 tioned in their freshman English until these errors have been perma- 

 nently corrected, and if a time could be found when they could be 

 brought together for the drill necessary to bring about this aim, we 

 should less seldom have seniors graduating who in some respects are 

 little honor to the college in their use of oral and written English. I 

 urge that next year the faculty co-operate in some way with my suc- 

 cessor to bring about a reform in this matter. Throughout the year 



