4 : i wAT ED ALUMNI WHHEHEKLY YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY SUBSCRIPTION, - $2.50 PER YEAR. Foreign Postage, 40 cents per year. PAYABLE IN ADVANCE, Checks, drafts and orders should be made payable to the Yale Alumni Weekly. All correspondence should be addressed,— vale Alumni Weekly, New Haven, Conn. The office is at Room 6, White Hall, ADVISORY BOARD. H. C, Ropinson, 53. J. R. SHEFFIELD, ’87. W. W. Sxippy, 658. J. A. HARTWELL, ’89 58. C. P. Linpsitey,’75 8S. L.S. WELCH, ’89. W. Camp, ’80. E. VAN INGEN, 7918. W. G. Daaeztrt, ’80. P. Jay, 92. EDITOR. Lewis 8S. WELOH, ’89, ASSOCIATE EDITOR. WALTER CAMP, ’80, ASSISTANT EDITOR, E. J. THOMPSON, Sp. NEWS EDITOR. FRED. M. DAvriEs, '99, PRESTON KuMLER, 1900, Athletic Department. Davip D. TznNEY, 1900, Special. Entered as second class matter at New Haven P. 0. NEW HAVEN, CONN., Marcu 17, 1898. . GETTING THE WEEKLY PROMPTLY. We again make an earnest request to all subscribers to let us know at once of any delay in the receipt of their: WEEKLY. The papers are in the mail promptly, and every facility is fur- nished for their quick transmission through the mails. The postoffice at New Haven is co-operating with us in remedying any errors, but we must be informed in order to keep the service up to the proper standpoint through prompt investigation of every error. New Haven subscribers, within any reasonable distance of the postoffice, should receive their papers Thursday and New Yorkers should receive their papers not later than Friday morning. Everything is in the mail in good sea- son Thursday afternoon. Let us know, please, if things aren’t as they should be in your case. =~ BLACKMAIL IN THE NAME OF COLLEGE ADVERTISING. With the opening of another ath- letic season may be expected pub- lications in the name of this or that athletic organization of the University. These publications are issued simply for the purpose of securing as much money from advertisers as can be drawn out of them by almost any means. The publications rest for reve- nue largely on blackmail. The man who has business with the students of a college is told indirectly or directly that he is liable to boycott and loss of trade if he does not appropriate gener- ously for advertising space. The threat is not always brutally frank, but more often implied. Whether the University organization has sold its interest in a particular publication for an exorbitant sum or has simply appointed an agent to do its work for it, the effect is the same. The man works and levies in the name of Yale, and the average advertiser good-naturedly or in fear yields, to a greater or less extent. The original score card or program was more or less of a convenience and necessity, and there was small space on it available for a fairly profitable advertising announcement. Somebody saw the opportunities for infinite de- velopment and increased the conve- nience into a complete nuisance, added infinitely to the advertising space, de- ‘stroying its value entirely, and in the name of the particular organization controlling the particular branch of sport, secured the monopoly of sale on the grounds and forced the monstrosity upon the spectators of a game or a race for a sum far in excess of any value. The souvenir program nuisance ought to be abated. By continuing it, the athletic organizations are playing fast and loose with the dignity and even the honor of the University. Yale athletes have gotten a reputation for extreme commercialism, to say nothing of ex- tortion, among a large number of busi- ness men whose good will is worth retaining. Aside from that, those who have legitimate business operations with the College are unjustly treated and are forced to consider some means of reprisal by which all members of the University suffer. Worse yet, the financial morals of the Campus suffer badly. To not only permit this black- mail to go on but to sanction and en- courage it, is to encourage false and mean ideas of business among College students. We trust very much that the offi- cers of organizations will take the initiative in this matter and wash their hands of it. It would be better for them to do this than to be forced to the abandonment of this custom by the business men themselves, with whom these dealings have been had and who have come to the point where they will not stand very much more imposition. A good deal of interesting matter can be printed on the subject, if there is ever occasion for thoroughly whipping it out in the public prints. ee THE ELECTIVE PAMPHLET. People have sometimes asked us to tell “more of what is going on at Yale in the way of strictly educational work. It is a pleasure to print matter on this line, but the opportunity of describing change or interesting incident is not as common in connection with other departments of College life. In other words, the great main business of edu- cating goes on along established prin- ciples. But there is a constant development; that is the interesting thing about Yale to-day, and one to fasten the attention. This development has not only been - uninterrupted now for thirteen years or more, but it has been remarkably. fast —how fast very few people appreciate. The appearance of the elective pamph- let this year has given us the opportu- nity to show some of the phases of this: development. One of the tables pre- pared has never before been made up. The analysis is made by one who has followed the elective system here for many years. We commend it to the attention of those who have any doubts that Yale is considerably alive and growing. WW, ae Inasmuch as the records of indivi- dual undergraduates are not always well known to alumni, it is in order to say that Mr. Merrill and Mr. Baldwin, letters from whom appear elsewhere, are men who are prominently identified with the literary life of the College. Mr. Merrill is a member of an unusu- ally able Courant board, and Mr. Bald- win is on the Board of Editors of the Yale Literary Magazine. March “ Outing.’ March Outing has for its opening article a very readable paper on “The Fox Terrier,” by E. W. Sandys. It is, as usual, very fully and well illustrated. Two sports not accessible to the average man, ‘Hunting the Fur Seal” and “Pig-Sticking in Northern India,” make the usual contribution of this journal to the very widest fields of sport and pastime. “One Bear Story” by John K. Johnson, “A Naturalist in Nicaragua” by J. B. Crawford, the con- clusion of “A Week With the Singha- lese” and the conclusion of the story “Doris” are some of the other features of the magazine, which still do not exhaust it, yachting and wheeling being given careful consideration in special articles. Of course, all the fields of sport are well covered by a monthly review. ,™ _—. PROF. BEERS'S WORK. Two Yale Seniors’? Modest Testimony of Its Value. <> >A To the Editor of YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY: Sir: If I may assume that the pres- ent controversy in regard to the study of English in Yale College was opened by Mr. Chamberlain in the interests of present and future undergraduate stu- dents of English, some expression of undergraduate feeling on the subject, and especially in regard to his attack on Professor Beers, may not, perhaps, be out of place here. Mr. Chamberlain says that he has attended and induced three others to attend two recitations in Professor Beers’s class room, and apparently on the evidence of this testimony alone (for he offers no other) brings in a verdict: “namely, that in all our expe- rience we had never seen so great failure, so little hold on the attention of the students, so little attempt to hold their attention, so little said worth attention.” This “first-hand information on the subject of English at Yale during the last twenty years, and particularly dur- ing the last five years,” I cannot claim, yet perhaps the privilege of having had, throughout Senior year, four hours a week of class room work under Pro- fessor Beers may furnish fair grounds for an opinion as to the value of his instruction. I have the full assurance -of those who, with me, enjoy this privi- lege that I am speaking for them as well as for myself, when I say that in few recitations have we seen so great success, so much said worth attention, so little said that is not of permanent value. | : Furthermore, I know of no instruc- tor in Yale College more eager to recognize the interest on the part of a student or more unfailingly generous of help and sympathy in his work, and this I am sure has been the experience of every man who has taken Professor Beers’s courses. Yours truly, CHARLES E. MERRILL, Jr. New Haven, March 12, 1808. FROM MR. BALDWIN. © To the Editor of YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY: Sir: I presume it may be taken for granted that the average undergraduate is qualified to judge whether or not he is well taught. At any rate it seems to me well to set up against the views of Mr. Chamberlain in regard to the teaching of Professor Beers the very different views held by us, who for a year or more have been Professor LIBERALITY JN LIFE INSURANCE. A case in point is the recent an- nouncement of the New York Life Insurance Co., concerning the effect on policies in this company held by those who might enlist in the army or navy of the United States, in case. of war. The company has sent out a notice that all those now holding its policies and all who may secure its policies between now and the actual outbreak of hostilities, if that time ever comes, would receive the full benefit therefrom, without the pay- ment of any other than the regular rates now in force. NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. JOHN A. MCCALL, Pres’. slightest evidence of — ‘to the members of BROOKS & COMPANY. MAIL ORDERS. That results may be obtained satisfactory alike to our customers and ourselves, insur- ing the careful attention which would accrue from a personal call, those who find it more convenient to order by mail, are requested to state age, height and weight. Postal orders are executed with the utmost care and faith- fulness, and where the selection is left to the Company the amount paid will be returned if the goods are not approved. In stock, aside from our regular Silk Hats and Derbys, are included the proper shapes in Walking, Cycling, Golfing, and Hunting Hats and Caps; the latest designs in Livery Hats. Tourist and Traveling Caps of all descriptions. _ The firm name is a guarantee of Style and Quality. Chapel, cor. State Street. Yale Law School. For circulars and other information apply to Prof. FRANCIS WAYLAND, ‘Dean. Beers’s pupils. I think that we, having had so long an acquaintance with his teaching, in contrast to Mr. Chamber- lain’s attendance at two recitations, are competent to dispute the statement that he neither holds our attention, nor says what is worthy of it. There is perfect agreement of opinion among all mem- bers of his classes at all interested in literature. They resent Mr. Chamber- lain’s charges. They assert, and surely they ought to know, that Prof. Beers’s courses are among the most valuable offered. ARTHUR D. BAtpwin. & set The Only Yale Monopoly. The Yale Alumni Association of Washington, D. C., held its annual banquet at Rauscher’s in Washington on the night of March ist. W. C. Whittemore, President of the Associa- tion, acted as toastmaster, although there were only informal speeches. Among the more prominent guests present at the dinner were Justice D. J. Brewer, of the United States Su- preme Court; Senator J. R. Hawley; Senator W. M. Stewart; Hon. John Dalzell; Mr. Cochrane, of New York; Mr. Chung Mun-Yew, of the Chinese Legation, a graduate of Yale; Mr. F. D. Head; Philip G. Rupelt; James H. Hayden; Morgan H. Beach; James F. Rice; T. Edwards Clarke; Rev. Isaac Clark; Walter Wilcox; H. K. Wil- lard; Dr. W. T. Harris; A. P. Sawyer; Ralph Petwelt; Messrs. Poole, Brut- ley, and others. Justice Brewer was introduced as the first speaker. He said that for many days past he had sat on the bench at the Capitol and listened to the evils of trusts and monopolies. “We people from the West,” said Justice Brewer, * “don’t believe in trusts or in the oppression of any of the people. There- fore it seems rather strange, indeed, that I should stand here to-night in the defense of a great monopoly—the mono- poly of old Yale, which is a monopoly of brains and success. Old Yale has a magnificent record that appeals to the bravest young men of our country to enter her classic walls and there pre- pare themselves for their honorable career in life. From her gates go hun- dreds of well-trained, disciplined, and cultured young men who become famous in their vocations in life. This is the monopoly of old Yale. It is a monopoly that no law can put down, and that is the only monopoly which she has. “Yale has a record that is not sur- passed by any college in this country. In spite of some vicious attacks that have been made upon her by unreason- able people,-I believe with the man who said that Old Yale will go ahead and prosper, and continue to draw unto her the bravest and-best young men of the country, despite the fact that every old maid declares that she will not send her sons to such a school. The old Bap- tist lady who said she would rather send her boy to hell than to Yale prob- ably knew which place was better suited the family.”