The Kansan.
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOLUME V.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS, JANUARY 26, 1909
WISCONSIN'S EFFICIENCY
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE IS CONNECTED WITH UNIVERSITY
Service to State Is Cheaper and More Efficient than in Separated Schools.
That the Agricultural College of the State of Wisconsin owes its remarkable efficiency and a record for service to the people of that state which makes the work of many other state agricultural schools seem puerile in comparison, largely to the fact that it is a department of the University of Wisconsin, is the opinion commonly held by the people of Wisconsin. Prof. Robert Kennedy Duncan when on his recent mission to Wisconsin, made special inquiry into the work of the Agricultural School. He found that that department was organized in the closest harmony with the other departments of the university, and all co-operate to render a maximum of service to the state for a minimum of cost.
Professor Duncan inquired of high officials and instructors of the agricultural school, and of outsiders, to find the explanation of the school's efficiency. The answer was always the same: "It is because of our connection with the University." The instructors explained that being free from instructional duties in general subjects, the department is able to devote itself intensively to teaching and research in agriculture, and all funds received by the department are devoted exclusively to that work. Owing to the University connection, the department has been saved the expense of developing engineering courses or any other that would have distracted it from its sole business: agriculture.
Because of its connection with the University, the school is able to attract a superior grade of ability in instructors and researchers which it could never secure if it were an independent institution. With the efficient laboratories of the university at its command, the students in the four years' course are given an efficient training which could not be approached if the school were separate. The students have additional advantages in being participants in all the larger interests of the University.
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In the service accomplished for the farmers of the state the agricultural college has received efficient aid from the University. In increasing the yield of corn and potatoes per acre, improving the quality of tobacco grown in the state, and in making an exterminating
NAISMITH BACK FROM EAST
Visited Many Schools and Gymnasiums on His Long Trip.
Dr. James Naismith returned from his eastern trip Saturday. During Christmas week he attended the meeting of college physical directors held in New York City; since then he has been visiting the gymnasiums of different universities and colleges in the east.
The system of class competition in athletics which Dr. Naismith discussed at the directors' meeting was received favorably. A few colleges have already adopted systems similar to this.
The new gymnasium which Northwestern is building is the greatest one in America, says Dr. Naismith. It has besides regular rooms for gymnastic work an indoor baseball diamond with a dirt running track around it. The building is to cost between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000.
While in Philadelphia, Dr. Naismith made a study of professional basketball. The professional game is played under a set of professional rules and is slower than the college game. The particular feature of the game is the good feeling existing between the players. New York is the center of eastern collegiate basketball.
Magill, Toronto and Ottawa Universities in Canada were visited by Dr. Naismith. It is at these institutions that the great sport of hockey is played so much. According to the doctor it is the fastest amateur game in the world. The University of Toronto is arranged like the University of Iowa. The sports of the northern colleges are hockey, socket, rugby, lacrosse.
NUMBER 49
Dr. Naismith says he would not trade the University of Kansas gymnasium for any one he saw on the trip for accomodating the different branches of work.
Miss Cottlow's Piano Recital.
The recital Thursday evening by Miss Augusta Cottlow in Fraser Hall will be of special interest to students. Not only is Miss Cottlow the best known perhaps of the younger American pianists, but her program includes Mac Dowell's "Heroic Sonata," which is considered the greatest of American piano compositions, being an interpretation of Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur." This will be the pianist's last appearance in Lawrence for some time as she is going for a long concert tour in Europe this fall.
Professor Erasmus Haworth is away on a short trip to the western part of the state in geological interests.
DES MOINES THE PLACE
CONFERENCE TRACK MEET IN IOWA CAPITAL JUNE 5.
Training Table not taken up at Yesterdays Meeting—Number of Contests Limited.
At the meeting of the Missouri Valley Conference in Des Moines yesterday that city was decided upon as the place for the Conference track meet to be held on June 5. The Iowa city is not so centrally or conveniently located as Kansas City, but the inducements offered were fair and far the best submitted to the representatives.
Haskins Stadium in Des Moines is a natural amphitheatre. It is one of the best arranged athletic fields in the West and is an ideal place for the big track meet.
The matter of retaining the clause permitting training tables was not taken up. A vote will be taken at some future meeting of the conference before the next football season and the table will then be formally eliminated or retained.
A rule as to the number of games each conference school could play was also adopted. Only eight contests in football, and eighteen in both baseball and basketball are hereafter to be permitted.
The representatives at the Des Moines meeting were W. C. Lansdon of Kansas, C. W. Hetherington of Missouri, R. G. Clapp of Nebraska, L. M. Byers of Iowa, F. M. Beyer of Ames, C. P. Waldon of Washington, and D. W. Morehouse of Drake.
Talked of Woman Suffrage.
Miss Caroline Lexon, of Bernard College, New York, and secretary of the College Equal Suffrage League, spoke in chapel this morning. In a short address she gave a general view of the woman suffrage question, showing four reasons for the movement. She said that there is a great need in every state for a modification of the common law where it concerns the interests of married women; and that, as a democracy, we are not playing fair when we exclude half of the people from voting. Women should have a voice in regulating laws for human welfare. Lastly, Miss Lenox thinks, a reform is needed from the point of view of the working woman, who should have some voice in determining the conditions under which she works. College women are especially interested in this movement because they are the first to receive its bene fit in coeducation.
BLAKE SIGNALS USED.
Submarine Signals Helped Locate the "Republic."
In locating the damaged steamer, Republic, which was wrecked on the New England coast Saturday, the Blake system of submarine signals, invented by Professor Lucien I. Blake, formally of the University faculty, played almost as important a part as the wireless telegraph. This is the first time the signals have been used in an accident, and long after the wireless signals on the Republic had failed to work the rescue ships were enabled to continue the search by means of the submarine signals. The principle of the system is the transmission of sound through water. The signal enables vessels in a fog to make their presence known to similarly equipped ships in a radius of five miles.
Professor Blake became the professor of physics in the University in 1888. He remained the head of the department of physics until 1905. He now lives in Boston and is consulting engineer for the Submarine Signal Company. Last winter Professor Blake spent a week at the University, giving a series of lectures on physics.
WASHBURN WAS SWAMPED.
Jayhawkers in Good Condition for Nebraska Trip.
The Jayhawkers beat the Washburn basketball five Saturday night in Robinson gymnasium by a score of 46 to 17. The game was a poor exhibition of playing in which roughness predominated. The Washburn men made twenty fouls while the Kansans made thirteen.
The large court and fast work of the Jayhawkers bewildered the Congregationalists from the first. "Tommy" Johnson threw eighteen free throws out of twenty chances. In the last part of the game Captain Woodward was retired on account of a temporary injury.
The Jayhawkers are in good condition for their tangle with the Cornhuskers Friday and Saturday nights of this week. Martindell is unable to play yet but will probably take the trip with the team.
Miss Watson Entertained.
Miss Carrie M. Watson, the University librarian, entertained the library assistants last Saturday evening in honor of her niece, Miss Carrie Nicholson, of Chicago. The evening was spent in an entirely informal way and light refreshments were served.
T. A. Lee, a junior in the college spent Sunday at his home in Topeka.