University of Kansas School of Law - Shingle Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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FRANCIS HUNTINGTON SNOW, Chancellor of the Kansas State University, is a native of Fitchburg, Mass., born June 29, 1840. I-Ie comes of the class of men who settled along the Kaw River in the lifties, and made-the name of Lawrence a synonym for liberty. Prof. Sno'v's first connection with Kansas State University was in the capacity of Professor of Mathematics and Natural Science in 1866. Uniting his life work with this in- stitution, he has striven ever for its best interests, and in 1890 was elected to his present honored posi- tion, a just reward for his ever-unending labors for Kansas State University. Chancellor Snow's most conspicuous work has been in his chosen Held of labor, Natural Science, one of the results of which has been the building up of the large natural his- tory collection belonging to the University. While Mr. Snow's position does not bring him in as close association with the Law students as do those of our Lecturers and Instructors, yet deep down in the heart of every Law student there is a reverence for the quiet, unassuming, business-like man and Kan- sas is proud to have him at the head of this great body of schools, her State University. K7-

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These little instances and the return of the Laws to quarters in the Main Building soon opened the eyes of the other depart- ments to the kind of material of which the Laws were made. The Law Students began to try for athletic, literary, and social dis- tinctions, till to-day they are equal to any in the athletic, social, and forensic life of the University. True, we are not on equal foot- ing with the four-year men in the matter of the annual oratorical contest, the conse- quence of an arbitrary rule- of the State Ora- torical Association, a rule the injustice of which our friends in the Art School acknowl- edge, but one easily overcome by the Law student applying himself to some work in the Collegiate Department. I, In athletics we proportionally surpass the remainder of the Universitly, supplying to football such men as Hamil, Wfoodward. Hess, Smith, and a dozen others. The cap- tain of the team for 'next year, Wilcox, is at present in the Law Department. In baseball the list of names, in numbers as well as in strength, will equal that of the fall sport. The interstate debates are one unbroken record of victories for this department. Our class-rolls are filled with the names of the graduates of the Art School, of nor- mal colleges and high schools, men who have been County.Superintendents, men who have spent years in educational work, men who have already been admitted to the bar. Our standard of admission has been raised, and the despised two years lengthened to three. In last year's annual, into which the Law students were inveigled by a few oily- tongued college politicians from the other end of the hall, was a coat of armspurported to be those of the Law School. It repre- sented a shield upon which, alongiwith 'fUn- cle Jimmie's physiognomy, was portrayed a sack of Duke's mixture, a pipe, a Battle Ax tag, and several other emblems suggestive of festive occasions in rented up-stairs rooms. It was a creditable piece of art, but its fal- lacies were in picturing the extreme. The true coat-of-arms of the Law student, the one he brings to the University with him, bears the motto Fight, It is the shield he bore while battling to gain means to enter school, the shield he bears here, be it in the class-room or in a tussle around a May-day flag-pole,and he will bear if with him out into the world without the class-room walls. Individually, and with few exceptions, the Law student, like his brother in practice, is a good fellow to know. His close association with classmates wears away the sharp C01-. ners of his nature and polishes off his lit- tle conceits and prejudices. The very study with which he is occupying himself is pro- ductive of a broader nature. .8 .99 .29 .3 As one brings this survey to a close, one is tempted to offer a few suggestions. Uni- versities are not ends in themselves. They must help the people of the State collective- ly. The most direct way that this is done is through the teacher, the mechanic, and the professional men, here made. The teacher does his share, and it is a noble one, but he seldom accomplishes anything outside of his narrow line, and when one has once gone into teaching it is easy to stay. The luxury of a salary is not quickly abandoned for the uncertainty of hustling. The ,best invest- ment then for the State is the professional schools. And they must not be inproficient ones, for from the weakness of the profes- sional schools the common man is the chief sufferer. The highly educated man can judge of the best, and the wealthy man can buy the best, but the common man is left to choose where he may. Cheap education is dear at any price, if it be poor education. The Fates charge compo-und interest on every blunder, and they have their own way at last. Now to apply these thoughts to our Law School. It is daily bringing a larger offering to the lawyer's office, and through that to the State. The man of law brings his quick crop iirst to market. He is becoming the court of appeals on all public questions. We have here a University of splendid construc- tion- and proportions, with a Law Depart- ment almost' deserving mention in prece- dence. There are great schools in the East: philanthropic men have endowed them Gian- sas University, too, has received a small sharej. But is it not a shame that a mill- ionaire should outdo a commonwealth? W'hat University is not always in need of more money than it can get? It must draw its revenues from the governmental chest. The whole University belongs to the people, so no part of that University has a proper right to make an appeal for funds to the people, unless it exhibits to the people some return either to itself or the people, for the funds already received. T'he Law graduates of Kansas University have never once denied their time, influence, or money, when their Alma Mater demanded them. They have ever been her most numer- ous and ardent supporters. And to the peo- ple of Kansas her Law School has and will ever keep its obligations. R. E. E. -6-

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PROF. W. E. HIGGINS, AB., LL.B. WM. L. BURDICK, P1-LD., LL.B