The announcement of the judges in the first trial to choose Harvard's representatives in the Princeton debate, that the number and ability of the men who tried was insufficient to choose the required number of men from, brings out forcibly a very disheartening condition of our debatting affairs. Owing to the act of interest in the trial by the students an other debate had to be arranged for Monday night.

If the number who spoke Tuesday night included all the best speakers in the University there would be nothing to do but go ahead. But it is well known that there are many speakers of ability and experience who were not interested enough in the very important Princeton debate to appear at the trial.

Some of these men, out of rather selfish motives, are no doubt waiting for the Yale debate trials, thinking that that debate is the more important of the two. But it is not. If either of the debates is more important than the other, it is that with Princeton. The more convenient time at which the preparation for the Yale debate will come and the fact that it is the only dual contest Harvard has with Yale will assure large and successful trials. Everything will be done to win it. But if we lose the Princeton debate we shall have had two defeats in succession, one by each of our rivals; and the combination will strike a very hard blow at our reputation in debating. If, on the other hand, we won the Princeton debate and lost to Yale it would be thought that Yale had come up in debating rather than that we had gone down. And if we won both debates this year our old supremacy would be re-asserted and the defeat of last year would be looked upon in the light of an accident.

With this view of the importance of the Princeton debate the very unsatisfactory trial last Tuesday is exceedingly discouraging. At the supplementary trial next Monday night let every former intercollegiate debater and every speaker of experience as well as every man of even the slightest ability do his plain duty by taking part in the debate.