Chapter XII: Appendix: VI

A LIST OF DEBATABLE PROPOSITIONS

SCHOOL QUESTIONS

Many of these, because of their local application, will be found useful for class practice where time for preparation is necessarily limited.

1. Coeducation in colleges is more desirable than segregation.

2. Textbooks should be furnished at public expense to students in public schools.

3. The adoption of the honor system in examinations would be desirable in American colleges.

4. Final examinations as a test of knowledge should be discontinued in X---- High School (or college).

5. All American universities and colleges should admit men and women on equal terms.

6. The national government should establish a university near the center of population.

7. The X---- College (or High School) should adopt courses which more definitely fit students for practical careers.

8. Intercollegiate football does not promote the best interests of competing schools.

9. Intracollegiate athletic contests would be a desirable substitute for intercollegiate athletics.

10. Secret societies should be prohibited in public high schools.

11. National fraternities do not promote the best interests of American-colleges and universities.

12. A college commons would be a desirable addition to X---- College.

13. A lunchroom should be established in the X---- High School.

14. Athletic regulations should not debar a student from playing summer baseball.

15. No student in an American college should be eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics until he has begun his second year's work.

16. All studies in the X--- College (or High School) above those of the Freshman should be entirely elective.

17. In all public high schools training in military tactics should be required.

18. Public high schools should be under state supervision.

19. Admission to American colleges should be allowed only upon examination.

20. Academic degrees should be given only upon state examinations.

21. The library of X--- College (or High School, or city) should be open on Sunday.

22. A plan of self-government should be adopted for the X--- College (or High School).

23. The terms "successful" and "failed" as the only indication of grade work should be adopted by the X--- School in place of the present plan or working.

24. Gymnasium work should be required in X--- School.

25. Training in domestic science should be required of all girls at X--- School.

26. Manual training should be a requirement of all boys at X--- School.

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

27. The influence of the five-cent theater is beneficial.

28. A state board with power to forbid public exhibition should exercise stage censorship.

29. Children under sixteen years of age should be prohibited from working in confining industries.

30. Children under fourteen years of age should be prohibited from appearing on the stage.

31. A minimum wage for women employees of department stores should be enacted by the state of X---.

32. Public ownership of saloons would be a desirable method of dealing with the liquor problem.

33. The English system of old-age pensions should be adopted by the United States government.

34. Vivisection should be prohibited by law.

35. The publication of court proceedings in criminal and divorce cases should be subject to a board of censorship.

36. Education under the direction of a state board, should be required in the state prisons of X---.

37. The laws of marriage and divorce should be uniform throughout the United States (constitutionality conceded).

38. Local option is the best method of dealing with the liquor question.

39. The army canteen is desirable.

40. A system of compulsory industrial insurance should be adopted by the state of X---.

41. An eight-hour law for all women workers should be enacted by the state of X---.

42. Immigration should be restricted according to the provisions of the Dillingham-Burnett bill.

43. Free employment bureaus should be established by the city of X---.

44. Free employment bureaus should be established by the state of X---.

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

45. A permanent national tariff commission should be established.

46. The constitution should be so amended as to make more easy the passing of amendments.

47. The restrictions on Mongolian immigration should be removed.

48. The President of the United States should serve one term of six years.

49. Complete public reports of all contributions to political campaign funds should be required by law.

50. The Monroe Doctrine as a part of American foreign policy should be discontinued.

51. The interests of labor can best be represented by a separate political party.

52. The naturalization laws of the United States should be made more stringent.

53. Aliens should be forbidden the ballot in every state.

54. The state of California is justified in her stand against land ownership by aliens.

55. Permanent retention of the Philippine Islands by the United States is not advisable.

56. The United States navy should be maintained at a fighting strength equal to any in the world.

57. Direct presidential primaries should be a substitute for the present method of presidential nomination.

58. Corporations engaged in interstate business should be compelled to operate under a national charter.

59. The Panama Canal should be fortified.

60. The initiative and referendum in matters of state legislation would be desirable in the state of X----.

61. From the standpoint of the United States the annexation of Cuba would be desirable.

62. The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States should be repealed.

63. The President should be elected by the direct vote of the people of the United States.

64. Proportional representation should be adopted in the state of X----.

65. The plan of proportional representation in present vogue in the state of X---- should be abolished.

66. The use of voting machines should be required in all elections in cities having a population of more than 10,000.

67. Public interest is best served when national party lines are discarded in municipal elections.

68. Suffrage should be limited to persons who can read and write.

69. Ex-Presidents of the United States should become senators-at-large for life.

70. Ex-Presidents of the United States should be pensioned for life at full salary.

71. The United States should adopt a plan of compulsory voting.

72. The national government should purchase and operate the express systems in connection with the parcel post.

73. Federal judges should be elected by direct vote of the people.

74. Two-thirds of a jury should be competent to render a verdict in jury trials in the state of X---.

75. The state of X--- should adopt a plan for recall of state judges.

76. The state of X--- should adopt a plan allowing a referendum of judicial decisions.

77. The appointment of United States consuls should be under the merit system.

78. American vessels engaged in coastwise trade should be permitted the use of the Panama Canal without the payment of tolls.

79. All postmasters should be elected by popular vote.

80. The bill requiring ----, which is at present before the X--- city council (X--- state legislature, or Congress) should be defeated.

ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS

81. The Underwood tariff bill of 1913 would be a desirable law.

82. The federal government should undertake at once the construction of an inland waterway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf (or from X to Y).

83. All raw materials should be admitted to the United States free of duty.

84. A state law should prohibit prison contract labor in the state of X---.

85. Federal government control of all natural resources would be desirable.

86. Municipal ownership of street railways would be an advantage to cities.

87. The Henry George system of single tax would be practicable in the United States.

88. A graduated income tax would be a desirable addition to the federal taxing system.

89. The boycott is a justifiable weapon in labor strikes.

90. The federal government should enact a progressive inheritance tax.

91. The coal mines of the United States should be under federal control.

92. Employers of labor are justified in demanding the "open shop."

93. Irrigation projects to reclaim the arid lands of the West should be undertaken by the United States government.

94. Courts for the compulsory settlement of controversies between labor and capital should be created by Congress.

95. Industrial combinations commonly known as "trusts" are an economical benefit to the United States.

96. The United States should establish and maintain a system of subsidies for the American merchant marine.

97. No tax should be levied on the issue of state banks.

98. Permanent copyrights should be extended by the national government.

99. The judicial injunction as an instrument in labor controversies should be made illegal.

100. A law gradually lowering the present tariff, so that in ten years the United States will be committed to a policy of free trade, would be economically desirable for the United States.