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Show Berrett, Hicken, Edmunds The Oxford Debate December 13th of the present school year marked an extremely important occasion for Utah, for on that day the University entered its first international contest. Wm. Edtwin Berrett, Nymphus F. Hicken, and John K. Edmunds, representing the University of Utah, met Malcolm MacDonald, M. C. Hollis, and J. D. Woodruff, representing Oxford University of England, in a formal debate on the question: "Resolved, That this house condemns the policy of France toward Germany since the war." Oxford represented the affirmative and Utah defended the negative. Both teams gave a display of argument and wit that was all that could be desired. Not only was it a clash between the personalities and issues of the debaters and their cases, but was a contrast between the British and Western American types of culture and training. The English speakers carried with them the essence of the Oxford tradition of keen sarcasm and subtile irony and combined this with sparkling wit and logical argument to build a very formidable affirmative case; while the University team evidenced the clean, forceful thinking and logical reasoning of western training, building their case reasonably from point to point, using fact and argument skillfully, speaking freely and clearly, and giving excellent accounts of themselves in answering the thrusts of the Britishers. Never before did Utah do better work. Never before did she stand compared with a team of a standard as high as that of Oxford, traditional school of world fame in forensics, and never was the comparison more favorable to her. The audience, record breaking in size, cast ballots as to the effectiveness of the two teams. And these votes indicated that a greater number of people were influenced by the Utah speakers than by the Oxford men. Page One Hundred Eighty-eight. MacDonald, Woodruff, Hollis |
