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Kansas University Weekly.
and prepare for a new and greater effort. To some the term just ended was the first day of their travel on the higher way of learning, and many have been the steep and stony places of the road. But they ought not to be discouraged. There are promises of smoother walks and broader prospects on ahead. To others the term just beginning is the last day of the little journey which they used to think would bring them to the top of the hill. But the hill has expanded into a mountain, the heights are far far beyond. Yet they should not be discouraged. To live is to climb and toil.
THE FIRST report of the proposed reduction in the University appropriation was not taken seriously by anyone except perhaps by those who were so situated as to know something of the blind and unreasoning character of some of the men who exercise a considerable power in the lower house. The danger is now apparent to all, and perhaps before this reaches our readers the narrow minded policy of false economy will have triumphed and the cause of higher education in Kansas will have suffered an irreparable injury. In the face of the earnest recommendations of the Govenor, and in spite of the plea and arguments of the press of the state and all parties interested and disinterested who really know anything about the administration of the University's affairs or have the ability to take a broad view of things; in spite of it all certain members of the legislature have stubbornly clung to their little theories of finance and their short sighted policy of parsimony, and the crowd of "reformers" have blindly followed them. But at this writing hope is not yet gone, calmer reflection and a more open minded investigation of facts may yet serve to avert the danger, and establish the University more firmly than ever in its position of pre-eminence among like institutions of the country.
THE GREEK students of Drury College are going to take revenge on Sophocles for the months of weary toil which he and his compatriots have caused them. They are making preparations
to perform his play Antigone.
Latin Notes "to promote in general the establishment of scholarships in the University and in particular to benefit the D. H. Robinson scholarship fund" could not have a more worthy object. Western universities have been slow to get hold of the scholarship idea, in fact they have been busy doing things more necessary for their establishment on a broad and enduring foundation. But the time has come when more attention can be paid to the founding of scholarships. Some Western states are already ahead of Kansas in this matter. Missouri has a state law by which two per cent of all estates not reverting to direct heirs is applied to a scholarship fund for the students of the state university. And only recently several thousand dollars were added to the fund in this way. Some such law as this is probably what Latin Notes means by its motto on the first page: "The state ought to establish scholarships in K. U."
There are now three scholarships in the University: the one supported by the Alumni Association, and the two for post-graduate work in Latin secured from Lawrence citizens by Prof. Holmes. If the matter were brought to their attention the people of Topeka would probably make up a scholarship for the benefit of the students from Shawnee county who are attending the University; and so with other cities and counties. While it is true that Kansas University virtually gives a scholarship to every student, in that it makes no charge for tuition, yet it is also true that the expenses of attending school here, while below the average, are more than many can afford. Moreover it often happens that those who graduate from the University with honors and who would like to take post-graduate work are prevented from doing so by the feeling that they ought not any longer be an expense to others. The scholarships are especially for such students. They will increase the demand for advanced work, and encourage the taking of higher degrees, and thus cause an improvement in the work of the University.