Nobby Cutaway and Sack Suits at Steinberg's Clothing House.
The Weekly University Courier
The Largest College Journal Circulation in the United States.
Published Every Friday Morning by the COURIER COMPANY For Kansas University Students.
CHAS. LYONS.
President.
O. B. TAYLOR.
Secretary.
EDITORIAL STAFF:
FRANK G. CROWELL, EDITOR IN CHIEF
ASSOCIATES
JOHN PRESCOTT,
F. C. KEYS,
M. EARL, M.
W. R. ARMSHONG,
N. AAR, M.
M. WEISTER,
H. F. STERBINS,
H. F. M. BAE,
GEERT DE HUNCIUTI
H. F. M. BAE,
BUSINESS MANAGERS:
EARLE L. SWOPE. | WILL A. JACKSON.
From the Press of P. T. FOLEY.
Entered at the post-office at Lawrence, Kansas,
as second-class matter.
Neglect of Public Speaking.
Only too many students who enter our colleges and Universities are prone to undervalue many of the advantages which are offered them.
It is only after several years or, perhaps, all of their course has been completed; when they begin to look back and sum up the results and benefits of all their long hours of toilsome study; when they compare what they have accomplished with what they might have accomplished, that they fully appreciate the value of the golden opportunities which they have left untouched.
In one direction especially do many of the students of K. S. U. neglect self development and culture, and this is in the art of public speaking and debate.
Public speaking, perhaps does not, as a means of reaching and influencing the people, now occupy the place it did fifty or one hundred years ago, when there were fewer newspapers and their circulation was not so broad as it is now. But, nevertheless, the ability to express one's thoughts in public in a clear and effective manner, is something greatly to be desired. The number of men who can do this is every day increasing. In fact it is expected of almost any man of culture, that, when an opportunity is offered or the occasion demands, he should be able to take his place upon the platform and acquit himself in a pleasing and creditable manner.
It is not to be supposed that very many young men, when they enter upon their college career, will show any especial taste or talent for oratory. But this should not discourage them. Even Demosthenes, one of the greatest orators that the world has ever known, at his first appearance utterly failed and left the bema in disgrace. It is only after long and patient training and close study that the brilliant qualities are brought out.
There may be but very few, perhaps, who possess sufficient talent to become prominent as speakers. But there is scarcely anyone whom nature has so poorly endowed in this direction, that he is incapable of improvement if he apply himself properly. Though he may at first be awkward in appearance and slow of speech and timid, all these obstacles may be overcome, and what he will gain will fully repay all the time and effort expended.
The opportunities offered to the students of K. S. U. are numerous. The literary societies, the prize contests and the oratorical association all encourage cultivation of the art of public speaking.
The new students are all inclined to neglect these chances, at first thinking, probably that they will take advantage of them later in their course, when they have become better accustomed to college ways and have acquired more information and more confidence in themselves. But this is a great mistake. The young man who neglects his first opportunities will be very apt to neglect those that follow until it is too late to reform.
The student should begin his training in his Freshman year by taking an active part in the literary societies. He should be present at every meeting and never fail to appear when his name is posted on the program. In his Sophomore year he can take part in the prize contests and when he reaches his Junior year, if he has done well the work of the two preceding years, he will be well prepared to enter the oratorical contest in the spring. To have won this series of contests is an achievement of which any young man might well be proud.
Many hesitate to enter into the debates of the literary societies and into the prize contests because they fear that they may be beaten. But he who cannot gracefully bear defeat in a college literary contest will but poorly stand the severer contests and disappointments of after life, for which he is supposed to be here preparing.
For the Freshman, the field of work lies all before him. All the golden opportunities are his if he will sieze them. Let him not pass them by and be compelled, when he becomes a Senior and is about to leave his alma mater forever, to regret, as many a Senior has regretted, the chances which she has offered him but which he has left unimproved
The growth of the University of Kansas in the past six years has been remarkable if not phenominal. Every department has been improved. To our thorough collegiate departments specialties of great importance have been added. Instruments and collections of great value have been procured. Our library has grown from about five thousand volumes to ten thousand. Our pharmacy, law, music and art department now equal any in the west. With all this progressiveness we have neglected one important factor, one chief necessity in elevating an institution to the standard of a first class University or college. This great delinquency is in our lecture course.
Lectures in the Universi. y.
For the past four years we have been favored with but few first class lectures and those at irregular intervals. No contract has ever been
made with any lecture bureau,the result, few men of national reputation as lecturers, have been brought here and we have been deprived of the privilege of listening to many first class addresses.
A most excellent lecture bureau has been established through the energy of a number of our faculty, consisting of leading men of the State. Some of these lecturers will undoubtedly be presented to the students of our University and will be instructive and much appreciated.
What we also desire are lectures from some of our leading scientists and popular lecturers. Men who make lecturing more or less a business and who are able to and do spend a great amount of time in their preparation. Such lecturers as Wendling, Wallace, Burdett, Ingersoll, Kate Field, etc., would be very acceptable.
Our University has no endowment to draw from in order to procure these lecturers. The State should make some provision for securing lecturers of this type. Should give us an appropriation or some financial aid in securing these persons for our lecture course just as they make an appropriation for our Natural History department.
The students of our University will also gladly bear their share of the expense and by so doing they will add greatly to the present high standing of our University.
The Topeka Commonwealth in a sluring article in a recent issue states that there are a dozen young men, former students of the University of Kansas, engaged as collectors on the A. T. & S. F. railroad, and desires to know whether a course of study at the University is conducive to that line of business. In the first place there are not twelve collectors on the Santa Fe from this institution and we doubt whether there are four. In the second place, it is no disgrace if there are, all of them are undergraduates; and it shows that great respect and confidence is placed in them by so great a corporation. The Commonwealth we had thought had become more lenient toward the University but it seems that the same bull-dog, ravenous and spiteful spirit which constitute the disposition of all individuals when their views are rejected by the people on account of their onesidedness, and biased prejudices still cling to the editor of the Commonwealth and he lets no occasion pass which will permit him to throw slurs at the University. This is to be regretted, for with the exception of this paper there is not another in the State which is hostile in any respect to our institution.
As he sat on the steps on Sunday night he claimed the right to a kiss for every shooting star. She at first demurred, as became a modest maiden; but finally yielded. She was even so accomodating as to call his attention to flying meteors that were about to escape his observation. Then she began "calling" him on lightning bugs and at last got down to solid work on the light of a lantern that a man was carrying at a depot in the distance, where the trains were switching.—Ex.
Cost of Higher Instruction.
Cost of Higher Instruction. New building, the latest improved apparatus for the study of the sciences, departments for comfort of the students, immense libraries and costly gymnasiums are being acquired and established by colleges of note and those with a progressive spirit throughout the United States.
For the past fifty years a great revolution has occurred in our college curriculum and a graduate of twenty years ago would find to-day an immense difference in college training, a broader field of study and greater requirements than when he left his alma mater.
The United States is proud of her educational system and facilities and yet in the amount of money placed in the various departments of our institution, in the endowment of special departments for special study we are inferior to the great German Universities which will be seen by the following article from the pen of Prof. Walters, of our State Agricultural College. In an article in the Industrialist we find the following:
"The Chemical News, in article on college buildings, compares the cost of some of the English and American college buildings and those of Central Europe, and refers to the new University of Strasburg, Alsace, as an illustration of the liberal spirit for higher education in Germany.
The charge is often made that American colleges are too much stone and brick and not enough faculty and students; but whatever the latter may be in trasburg, there are also stone and brick there. The capital of Alsace is quite a third rate city as regards wealth and size. It had no University until the Germans reoccupied it in 1871; yet there were expended up to 1885, in less than twenty-five years, over $3,200,000 at this institution alone.
Of this sum the German Empire has contributed $950,000; the remainder was raised by the city and by donations. The college building proper has cost $575,000; the chemical laboratory, $175,000; the physical laboratory, $145,750; the institute of botany, with its gardens, $130,000; the astronomical observatory, $125,-000; the institute of anatomy, $280,-000; the surgical clinical hospital, $130,000; the institute of physiological chemistry, $80,000, and the institute of physiology, $70,500.
The institutes of geology, zoology and meteorology have yet to be erected and fitted up. The cost of the library of 560,000 volumes is not included in the above estimate, and has reached $357,000.
Following these statements, the Chemical News, which is an English periodical, says: "May we be permitted to say that, if we wish to be on an equal footing with Germany in the cultivation of science, we ought to have Universities at least equally well equipped, in ten of our cities, besides an institution in London of far greater caliber, and a vast development of the ancient Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is to be deplored that wealthy men in this country are willing to give thousands for the purpose of faction, rather than for institutions to promote the general prosperity of the whole country."
Views.
Dissatisfaction arises with the management of various departments of an institution, sometimes justly and at other times unjustly.
Our faculty and librarian endeavor as much as possible to place at the disposal of our students the books on our library shelves. And for this they receive the hearty thanks of our students. They endeavor, so they say, to render the greatest good to the greatest number and in this they are upheld by all. But when a rule is enacted that books in certain departments cannot be taken from the library, a gross injustice is perpetrated on the students in that department.
Students pursuing a special course of study, writing some special theme, essay or forensic, must necessarily have a large number of reference books at his disposal.
A table has been placed in the library for the use of such students, but it is of little value to one who has to investigate certain works thoroughly and do an immense amount of writing.
One cannot concentrate his thoughts on any one subject with his attention continually called to something else, and with visitors, students and professors continually walking, talking, and unconsciously interrupting him in his work.
We ask, why cannot we take the book to our rooms and pursue our investigations in quiet and solitude? We are immediately handicapped with the answer that it will interfere with the work of other students.
Is this so? All students do not desire to use the same books at the same time. One student writing on a certain topic and desiring to take a book home for an evening, will not interfere with another student, if the book is returned on the following day.
In some departments, in some studies, text books are not used. All studying is by means of reference indicated to the student through lectures. And yet we cannot consult such books only amid the confusion of the library. The result is that the great amount of reading designated to us by the various professors is neglected. It is of such a character that it cannot be accomplished during library hours, for reasons cited. Saturdays we are also deprived both of the use of the books of the library and the library itself except for two hours. Is this just, is it right? Even under these conditions we are accountable to our professors for all citations, readable matter, etc., given to us.
Some of the students have been threatened with being deprived of our library facilities, for taking books home for the evening without permission, which if asked for would be refused. They cannot and should not be censured for this, for in my opinion any rule should be broken which is unjustly oppressive and which tends to deprive them of the duties to their studies, professors and themselves. This rule should be abolished and some other plan inaugurated in relation to the removal of of books. X.Y.Z.
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