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THE II ESP ER I AN.
f r seems to us that the students do not take suffi
111 cient interest in athletic spjrts. They should see j
to it that by the beginning of the spring term the Un
iversity has a base-ball nine in the field that will be a
match for any college nine in this or the neighboring
states. They should take steps towards organizing a
foot-ball team. Perhaps there is already a sufficient
number of good players, but then it would not be
well for us to engage in a game with any other col
lege until our men arc provided with suitable wear
ing apparel. It would not look well for us to send
out eleven men, as representatives of this University,
and have no two of them dressed alike. Let some
enterprising person take up a collection and sec if he
can not raise sufficient mouey with which to pur
chase suits for our foot-ball players. We are sure
that the faculty will be generous, and that the
students will perform their duty. All that is needed
is for some one to make a beginning.
jID you ever stop to consider how enthusiastic
the students grow over some matters and then
how suddenly all interest in those same affairs dies
out? If you have not noticed this we may be per
mitted to call your attention to the students' amend
ment league. There were a few meetings of this
body held last term. A well known lawyer of this
city addressed one of those meetings. A constitu
tion was adopted and officers elected j but here the
matter rests. Now is it right that this state of affairs
should continue? We believe that a great majority
of the students are in favor of prohibition, but if
they ever expect to accomplish any good for the
cause of temperance it will be necessary for them to j
take more interest in the league. It is only by hard
work that any good results can be accomplished.
We have no fa'.th in the man who attempts to carry
all before him in a wild rush. We believe that the
slow, deliberate man isthe one who always succeds.
Let us then get to work in the interests of temper
ance and that too without delay. Be assured that
thesaloon element is not idle. Bribery, fraud, in
fact all means will be employed by the enemies of
temperance to defeat the prohibition amendment.
What will be the fate of the amendment is
beyond the power of any man to say, but one thing
is certain, the contest will be very close. Each one
of us may be able to accomplish some good. Let us
then take action and united action at that. If noth
ing better is possible then let each of the literary
societies have an amendment program, say once a
month. Give the opponents of prohibition an
opportunity to present their side of the case in those
meetings if they so desire. At any rate let us do
something and not remain quiet until it is too late. j
CtHERK is one old slock argument used by fra.
'w ternity members in attempting to persuade peo
ple to join them, that the friendihips formed by the
members of a fraternity for each other are stronger
than those formed in any other manner. Now it
seems to us that this argument is rather weak and
that in most cases the friendship existing between
fraternity members is, to say the least, highly artifi
cial. A person enters school, he is here for a week
or two when some fraternity decides that he would
be a desirable acquisition. He may join that frater
nity. Now he has only a slight acquaintance with
his new brothers and they know very little about
him. But the ties of brotherly love are supposed to
bind him strongly to the other members. Suppose
he does not find his new associates congenial and
thai in turn he is distasteful to them, then wilKhe, be
cause he happens to wear the same pin and to have
vowed eternal fidelity and friendship to his lately
found brothers, play the part of a hypocrite? From
experience we know that one should exercise the
gieatest care in selecting friends. It is only by
long trial that one is able fully to discover who are
his friends.
For our part we prefer to enjoy that ficc, open
friendship that we know comes from the heart than
that which comes simply because one happens to be
long to a fraternity. We prefer to be free to choose
new friends if old ones are not all that ma be de
sired, rather than to be bound for all lime to any
such organization as a college fraternity. We be
lieve tint any specimen of humanity to whom the
name man may be rightly applied, will assist a
triend just as much as possible whether they happen
to belong to a fraternity or not. Lei the new
students then choose their friends, but at the same
time they should be careful lest they may have the
misfortune to enter upon a course which they will
ever afterwards regret.
The literary spirit in the K. S. U. seems this year to have
died almost completely. - - - s it because there is
no talent in the university? Arc vc to say, and arc wc lo
believe, that there is not as much literary talent in the univer
sity at present as there was in the good old days of yore?
- - - What, then, you will ask, is the cause of the de
cline oflitcrary work? Why, if there is material, do you not
have live societies? The principal cause may be looked for
in this our clement the social clement. It is surely and ef
fectively killing all literary interest in the university - - -Do
you wish to graduate from an institution like this - - -and
yet be unable to give utterance to your thoughts in public
- - - Have a clause inseitcd in the constitution of the
oratorical association that in order to enter a contest the as
pirant must be a good and efficient member of a literary so
ci e ty. Review.
And thus foi a couple of columns our Kansas
friend bewails the fate of the literary societies in
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