, 1901-09-23
GROSSLY UNJUST.

we are proud OF our UNIVERSE
ty at Laramie. The building is
one of the finest in the west-of
ample proportions to accommo-
date 500 to 1000 students. 1t is
finished and furnished throughout
III a. manner calculated to do credit
to any commonwealth. II sports a
campus which laps over into Idaho
and Montana, almost. A few years
ago a mechanical building was con
structed at considerable cost. and
now we are cheerfully paying for
an imposing science hall. Fine
furniture and the latest and most
costly instruments; expensive ma
chinery and elaborate parapherna-
lia-we have il. A handsome cat
alogue is issued yearly. wherein
the fact is set out that in this
educational sanitarium are cured
all the Ills to which the ignorant
are heir, from primer to diploma
comprising as it does the Col
lege of Liberal Arts, the Graduate
Course, the Wyoming State Pre-
paratory School. the Wyoming
State Normal School, the Wyo-
ming State College of Agriculture.
the Wyoming State College of Me-
chanical Engineering, the Wyo-
ming State School of Mines, and
tit Wyoming State School of
Commerce. We have a full corps
OF instructors-most of whom are
the peer of those employed by
Harvard and Yale, | believe, and
all of whom are well paid. We
have everything, in fact, that goes
to make a successful school-ex-
cept scholars. OF the sixteen who
comprised the graduating class
last June, nine we're from points
,antside of Laramie; next years
class will comprise Laramieites
alone l have been reading the
state papers closely the past few
weeks, and in almost every one
mention is made of Wyoming boys
and girls who are leaving home in
search Of an education, and of
those 80 mentioned only one goes
to Laramie. Utah, Idaho, Nebras-
ka. and the east r all set down
as the Mecca of these pupil pill
grims. One only of them all has
faith and patriotism sufficient to
remain at home. There may be
others; but the fact remains that
under present conditions our state
university is SO only in name, and
is really little else than a high
school for Laramie.
During the one term DR.. F. p.
Graves served as president of the
university the institution took on
new life and vigor, and a great
many outside students were enroll
ed. But the state of Washington
wanted him and offered more than
We thought we could pay, and he
is now at the head of a school
which boasts of 500 scholars. He
was succeeded by Rev. f. E.
Smiley, u Cheyenne clergyman
a good man in all that the term
implies, and an educated nan
but a man nevertheless who is no
more fit for the position than | am.
Fifty students are sent to eastern
schools every year from Cheyenne,
and last year the town wasn't
even represented at Laramie-al-
though at the time DR.. Smiley was
an applicant for the place bis
hackers urged his employment on
the ground that they wanted a
good man III charge so they could
send their children to Laramie in
stead of an outside state. Mr..
Smiley can well; but he has
yet to learn that young people
think more of life than they do of
religion, and that a sensible and
liberal recognition of this fact is
essential if he would gain and re-
tain their confidence, friendship
and esteem. For instance, Mr..
Smiley deems it sinful to dance.
The weekly school hops-Friday
nights and closing at IL sharp
hurt his feelings. He couldn't
stop them although he did bring
about a reorganization of the club
under another name. Without
really meaning to, l presume. but
as a NATURAL result of his incli-
nation and training. he has inject
ed this sort of a soul-saving serum
into every feature of his school
work to that extent that it virtu-
ally controls most of the faculty
and is recognized by everybody
connected with the school. More
over. l know that of the two
classes who have graduated under
his administration almost every
student left the institution filed
with a positive dislike and In many
cases something more than that
for him, and his school. And,
naturally, this hasn't helped to
swell the attendance from over
the state. And Mr.. Smiley has not