KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
UNIVERSITY COURIER
VOL. I.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS, SEPT. 22, 1882.
No.2.
University Courier.
A SEMI-MONTHLY PUBLICATION DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.
BOARD OF EDITORS.
EDITORIAL,
C. C. DART.
TOPICS,
J. D. McLAREN.
LITERARY,
E. A. BROWN, ANNA MURPHY.
SCIENTIFIC,
L. L. DYCHE.
NORMAL,
G. E. ROSE.
EXCHANGE,
A. S. RIFFLE.
LOCAL,
GLEN MILLER, MARY GILLMORE.
PERSONAL,
CLARA GILLHAM.
MISCELLANY,
W. S. WHIRLOW, ELLA V. KEIST.
BUSINESS MANAGERS.
EDMOND BUTLER, B. K. BRUCE.
Subscription, One Dollar per Year, in Advance.
EDITORIAL.
The time is again at hand when, we presume, in accordance with the usual custom, the collegiate students will begin to appear upon the rostrum. Original orations are usually required of the Seniors and Juniors, while the Sophomores and Freshmen need only render declamations. There was considerable complaint last year because more time was not allowed in which to prepare and render the orations. No doubt two or three weeks are sufficient for the writing and memorizing of an oration, but we think the orator should not only be permitted, but required, to write a speech that will occupy more than five or six minutes in its delivery. To be sure, brevity is often a good thing, and when we were required to "cut down" our productions until they contained fewer words by half than when first submitted to the Professor of Elocution, no doubt we were benefitted in learning to clothe our thoughts in as few words as possible. But while conciseness is not to be ignored,
it cannot be denied that six minutes is too short a time in which to treat any important subject in an intelligent and comprehensive manner. It seems to be the sentiment of a goodly number that the speaker should have the privilege of occupying at least ten minutes in rendering his production. No one is ignorant of the fact that the devotional exercises and incidental matters that need attention consume so much time, that if the oration be very long it will encroach upon the regular recitation hours. Probably the only way of obviating this difficulty would be to convene chapel at an earlier hour than a quarter to nine. We are not of the number of those who think that the Faculty our worst enemies, that they are continually working against the best interests of the students, and, we may be in error, in thinking it would be better if more time were given to original productions. We believe, however, that the error, if it be such, is shared by a large number of our best students.
THE COURIER is not a political paper, and consequently it is neither supporting Gov. St. John, Judge Glick, nor ex-Gov. Robinson. We presume all these men have good qualities, and also, in common with the rest of mankind, some failings. But fearing that we may drift into politics we will not discuss the merits of these gentlemen further. There is one question, however, that belongs to no party, and yet it addresses itself to Republicans, to Democrats, to Greenbackers, to all men. Yes, every individual who has seen the evil effects of strong drink, the lives that have been ruined, the hearts that have been broken, the hopes that have been destroyed by this monster, cannot fail to have some interest in temperance. Our business, during the past vacation, has called us to different parts of the state, and and hence we have had quite a good opportunity to observe the workings of the prohibitory amendment. It is needless to state that liquor is sold openly in our larger cities. This fact is patent to everybody. No one will deny the statement. Bnt while in Leavenworth, Atchison, Topeka and Lawrence, whisky is free as water, in many of the smaller towns prohibition prohibits to a great extent, if not entirely. Although liquor is not sold openly in the average sized Kansas town, a good deal is dealt out on the sly. One day, when sitting for the space of an hour in a hotel located in a certain county seat not two hundred miles from here, we observed at least a dozen men enter the room at different times, go through a door into a hall-way, thence pass into a back room, from which they emerged in a short time, wiping some sort of liquid from their lips. But in spite of the fact that liquors are still disposed of both openly and secretly, the amendment has been productive of great good. It has closed the saloons in