The debate to be caged this afternoon at the Liberal Club on the question of whether power resources should be publicly owned, offers an exceptional opportunity to politically inclined students to familiarize themselves with the pro and con arguments of an increasingly discussed national problem. The speakers at this afternoon's debate are preeminently qualified to present their respective views of the case. Norman Thomas, who upholds the affirmative arguments, has for several years been an active campaigned for the cause of public ownership of natural resources in New York State. His opponent, Professor Philip Cabot served for eight years on an electric public utilities commission, and at present conducts a course in public utilities management at the Harvard Business School.

To the mind of the layman the subject of public ownership recalls to memory the Muscle Shoals controversy, Governor Smith's long and ardent battle for state control of various water power resources in New York, and the charges current last year that university professors were being privately paid on a large scale to spread propaganda against the idea of public ownership of utilities. In recent years these and other items relating to the same topic have frequently been featured as front page news in the newspapers. But more than an issue of the day the subject represents a phase in the development of the trend toward socialization of the state, which many people believe will, in retrospect, be regarded as the characteristic movement of our century. At any rate one of the chief planks in the 1928 Socialist platform dealt with this matter and the Republican and Democratic parties both devoted considerable attention to it at their conventions of last year. In view of the unusual complexity of the problem the Liberal Club is particularly fortunate in being able to offer interpretations of its extreme aspects by two so well qualified authorities as Mr. Thomas and Professor Cabot.