The Agricultural and Technical College register [February 1927]

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The Agricultural and Technical College
REGISTER
GREENSBORO, N. C, FEBRUARY, 1927
FRESHMEN DOWN  SOPHOMORES  IN  FIGHT  OVER
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
On Friday evening, February 4, the Freshman and Sophomore classes engaged their wits in a battle over the many
issues which should determine the justification of the death
penalty in the scheme of our present judiciary procedure.
The proposition was framed: Resolved, '' That Capital Punishment Should be Abolished." This statement of the proposition was affirmed by the Sophs and was denied by the Freshies,
giving rise to the interesting and thoughtful battle which
followed.
The Sophomores contended for the judges' decision upon
the grounds that capital punishment offers no chance for the
prisoner to reform and that prisoners are a productive class
of individuals. They called attention to the prisoner who
wrote the "Prisoner's Song" and gave astounding figures
of its enumeration. They painted and presented to the view
of the audience and judges a picture of an innocent convict
seated in the electric chair awaiting electrocution. This
picture, coming at the close of their argument, produced a
telling effect upon the audience, especially the more sympathetic.
The Freshmen risked their chances of winning the judges'
decision upon the following issues, to wit: first, the security
of society demands a penalty of criminals that is sufficient to
deter crime; second, that capital punishment is the only
effective deferent to crime and consequently the best safeguard to society. The Freshies frowned upon life imprisonment as an effective deferent to crime. They mentioned
states that had abolished capital punishment and had to
resort to it again because of the increase in crime wave. They
said there were men who could not be kept in prison, such as
Gerald Chapman, Otto Wood and the Candy Kid.
The substance of the arguments on both sides were almost
equally weighty, but the interjection of oratory, especially by
the last speaker for the negative, justified the risk that the
Freshies had taken and won the judges' decision.
0. N. Whitfield and J. W. Broadhurst were main speakers
for the affirmative, E. C. Debnam and Jesse Connor Were
main speakers for the negative. W. E. Pitts offered the
rebuttal for the affirmative and M. E. Patterson for the
negative.
An aggregation of little co-ed Freshies from our sister
institution, Bennett, were present and added spice to the
occasion by timely yells to their kind. Our Freshies responded
nicely.
The chapel was divided into two sections, on one side the
Sophomores and their supporters and on the other side the
Freshmen and their supporters.
It is well wished that this clash of wits in an inter-class
debate will be the beginning of a new tradition and find its
place in the long list of annual classics here.
FISK UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT
A. AND T.
Is Accompanied by Fisk Jubilee Quartet
Dr. Thomas E. Jones, President of Fiske University,
visited A. and T. Saturday, February 12, 1927, and delivered
an address to an audience of some five hundred people.
Dr. Jones was introduced by Mrs. Charlotte Hawkins
Brown, principal of Palmer Institute, who, in her usual
eloquence, prepared the audience for an address different
from anything it has ever heard from the tongue of a white
man whom, it seems, God has placed as an instrumentality
to save Fisk University.
As briefly as important facts would permit, Dr. Jones
reviewed the financial plight of Fisk University. More than
once his sincerity and candor so embodied in his aim brought
tears to this strong man's eyes as he pledged his life to the
preserving of an institution which has meant so much in the
life of our race.
Approximately twelve hundred dollars were raised in cash
and subscriptions following this appeal.
Dr. Jones was accompanied by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet,
which is well known for its excellent and attractive presentation of Negro spirituals, and the program was enlivened by
several vocal selections, which were enjoyed by those attending the meeting.
REQUEST ADDITIONAL $50,000
President F. D. Bluford, of the A. and T. College, Greensboro, N. C, appeared in Raleigh January 20, before the joint
committee on appropriations for maintenance and permanent
improvements of state institutions, in request for an additional
$50,000 increase for maintenance and improvements of the
College.
The earnestness of Dr. Bluford's appeal indicated great
affect on the members of the joint committee and no interruption was made.