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THE CRISIS

ing at the last moment that an appointed judge has misunderstood the date for the debate or that while no "official" connection exists, one or more of the judges are intimate friends of the school faculty.

III. Those schools which are having the greatest success from a disciplinary standpoint have their debating activities directly under faculty supervision. Just as the coach has become a necessity in football and baseball, the coach has become a necessity in debating. When under student direction the details are in most cases inefficiently managed, subjected to trickery and to favoritism. Under the direction of a permanent coach, the drill is made the important feature, a large number are trained through inter-class debating, and a permanent system is developed. 

THE school athletic year of 1916-17 has been a poor one from the standpoint of competitive athletics. Football and basketball are the two sports that suffered least as a result of the perturbed state of national affairs. Although competitive sport has met with upsets, yet athletic training has received an impetus that has placed it in the front rank of educational activities. Schools and colleges have been persuaded to give definite credit for such work towards promotion and the equipment, facilities, and time for gymnastic and athletic work have been greatly increased.

Coaches and physical directors who have received training in accredited professional schools and colleges are displacing the old time trainers and coaches who were employed to turn out winners at any sacrifice of health or character.

Morehouse and Hampton were victors in collegiate football in their localities. Morehouse eleven established an enviable reputation by decisively winning a championship in Southern football. Hampton as cleanly demonstrated superiority over big Eastern rivals. Howard University took a long trip around the country and wound up by defeating Fisk University. Lincoln University was runner-up in basketball, with Hampton as top man. 

In secondary school circles, the football and basketball games have been played unmindful of war, but all succeeding sports have been in chaotic state. Armstrong Manual Training School proved to be the best athletic school in he District of Columbia, with football and basketball honors gracing her efforts. The Baltimore High School not alone won the city Public Athletic League championship, but in post-season basketball defeated Armstrong Manual Training School team in two or three games played. Mott School landed basketball honors in the Washington Public Schools Athletic League.

Swimming bids to become a feature of the competitive athletic world shortly, since on large school in the East, Dunbar, has a modern tank. 

It is devoutly wished that the behind-the-times executive heads of so many of our schools in the South bestir themselves and place athletics in right proportions in their school courses.
 

ETHIOPIAN MAID

By WALTER EVERETTE HAWKINS

I MINGLE my goblet with oil of the vine, 
And drink to the health of a maid most benign;
No less do I drink to her beauty and youth
Than to her meek innocence, virtue and truth;
And meekly arrayed in thy modest brocade,
I drink to they health, Ethiopian maid.

'Mid noon-tide and moon-tide whatever my themes,
Thy vision creeps in the enchantments of dreams;
The pipings of skylark and trills of the wren
Are mixed int he midst of the melody when 
Thy laughter rings out in the vine-scented glade,
As I drink to thy health, Ethiopian maid.

When Sun of the Tropics turns westward and dies,
The magics till lingers in light of thine eyes;
I mingle my goblet with oil of the palm
Where spices hang over and Summer smiles warm,
And there 'mid the magic of forest and shade,
I drink thy sweet health, Ethiopian maid. 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The Spingarn Medalists.
Three men have received the Spingarn Medal: a biologist, Dr. Ernest Everett Just; a soldier, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Young; and a musician, Henry Thacker Burleigh. These men have much in common. They are all modest and retiring, they are hard workers, and they are men of excellent training in their lines of work. They represent the higher education and not a training merely vocational. In these three recipients the institution of the Springarn Medal justifies itself.
The Washington Conference.
The bestowing of the Springarn Medal on Mr. Burleigh was the chief interest of the annual conference of the N. A. A. C. P. held at Washington, May 16 and 17. The medal was bestowed by Senator Wesley L. Jones of Washington after two excellent speeches by our National President, Moorfield Storey, and Mr. William Pickens. There were seven hundred persons present. On the next afternoon a conference of some three hundred visitors and delegates from out of town was held at the Colored Y. M. C. A. Perhaps fifteen or sixteen persons spoke, representing many states and many shades of opinion. Without exception, the speeches were short, pithy, to the point, and pervaded with evident earnestness. It was unfortunate that the conference could not have been prolonged one or two more days. Resolutions drawn up beforehand and sent to prominent Negroes all over the country have been to date signed by about two hundred persons, including William H. Lewis, E. M. Hewlett, Dr. Francis H. Grimke, Archibald H. Grimke, James A. Cobb, John R. Lynch, William Pickens, Miss Nannie H. Burroughs, Ralph W. Tyler, Bishop J. Albert Johnson, Victor P. Thomas, Walter H. Loving, and Bishop John Hurst.
One of the most interesting matters brought before the conference was the situation at Charleston, S. C. Immediately after the declaration of war, the government arranged to double the capacity of its plant for making clothing at Charleston. Another building was started, to be opened in June, and the navy yard advertised for one thousand workers. Charleston has an unusual number of good colored seamstresses because few other avenues of work are open to colored women. When, however, colored women attempted to register for the new factory they were at first put off by subterfuges and finally told that no colored women would be employed. Our local branch immediately took up the matter and, led by the Secretary, Mr. Richard H. Mickey, an appeal was made to Washington. Mr. Mickey came in person and with Mr. Grimke interviewed officials of the Navy Department. They have been unable as yet to get any satisfactory answer. We trust that all interested persons will appeal to the Navy Department and stop this discrimination.
The Great Lakes District Conference.
A conference of the Great Lakes District was held at Detroit, May 30 and 31. The following branches took part: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Springfield, O., Toledo, Buffalo, and Detroit. The National Office was represented by Mr. James W. Johnson, the Field Secretary. The Conference was successful and well attended.
Our National Officer.
Dr. J. E. Spingarn has entered the training camp at Madison Barracks, N. Y., and will probably enter active service in the United States Army. Mr. Roy Nash, our Secretary, is on leave of absence to attend the training camp at Fort Sheridan, Ill. 
Mr. James W. Johnson, the Field Secretary, has been visiting branches and holding meetings in St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. He is at present investigating conditions in Memphis, Tenn.
The Officers' Training Camp.
After much hesitation and incited by the enthusiastic activity of the students of Howard University and other places, the United States War Department finally granted the training camp. Twelve hundred and fifty men, including colored appointees from the Fifteenth Regiment, N. Y., and from the Harvard University regiment and other bodies were sent to this camp, which is located at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The camp opened June 18. This has been a great triumph for sound thinking and persistent agitation.

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