THE BOLYSTON CONTEST

The closing of registration for the annual Bolyston and Lee Wade Public Speaking Prizes on Monday begins a contest of interest, practical and traditional. The need for public speaking ability in all walks of life, is now more generally recognized than ever before. No longer do Chatauqua orations and famous trials make the prominent demands upon public speaking ability. Business men are now compelled to be more than amusing in their after dinner speeches. Engineers are more frequently forced to face large gatherings of experts and to unfold the advantages of the plans they are submitting. The surgeon in his clinic is called upon more frequently to discourse while operating. In every profession public speaking ability has come to the fore as a primary need. Progress is the result of action, and one must often be able to speak well before others will act, or allow him to act. The Boylston and Lee Wade Competition furnishes a trial of this practical ability.

Traditionally too, the Boylston Contest is of peculiar interest. The Boylston competition is in its one hundred and eleventh year and may be fairly regarded as a Harvard tradition. Added to this romantic aspect are the names of some of the country's most distinguished men such as Holmes, Eliot, Norton, and Dana who were attracted as judges or competitors in these contests. Noteworthy is the fact that men of such as these so highly regarded these prize speaking competitions as to give their time and efforts to them. In furthering a Harvard tradition and in furnishing an incentive toward a practical accomplishment the Boylston and bee Wade Contests have become of increasing value.