At the time of the establishment of the Boylston Speaking Prize in 1817 Harvard was a small community in which oratorical vociferations were much in vogue. Even up to 1915, when the Lee Wade Prize was established, strutting and fretting across the platform was still a la mode, although on the decline. But these, along with other hoary traditions, have all but succumbed to the ravages of time. Not only has formal speaking suffered but dramatics and debating have progressed far along the path towards oblivion.

The speaking prizes, nevertheless, represent the continuation of a literary tradition which, although temporarily in eclipse, has justified its claim to an annual observance. Last night's appearance of the Debating Team at Symphony Hall and the recent renaissance of the drama at Harvard, are testimonies that some fire still exists in the decaying corpse of speaking. The fact that the Lee Wade and Boylston Speaking Prize no longer draws a large number of entrants is not an indication that the contest should be discontinued, but rather that it should be encouraged as a means of retaining a valuable literary form.