Show For Prizes r STUDENT life fosters the ideal The student sees existing realities dimmed s and distorted by the misty phantoms of his brain He lives in the art of Greece fights in the w wars rs of Rome is saddened by the ineffectual struggles of his heroes and e exalted alted by their suc suc- In his striving for the ideal idea he heis heis heis is too apt t to forget th the necessities ties of the real The matter of awarding prizes in the II c coming ming inter inter- inter college contests has provoked provoked pro pro- yoked much discussion of late On one i hand are arrayed the forces of theory t and s sentiment on the other those of practical day every common sense The committee having the matter in inI I charge is so divided in opinion that it is probable that the question will be referred referred referred re re- to the students for jor final decision It is therefore my object to present to them a few of the points on the practical cal side of the case The The Field Club of f th the the- University has embarked on n. n a perilous undertaking in attempting to get up contests among th the schools of Ot Utah The very nature of the schools themselves is a great obstacle These schools are all young they have absolutely no traditions and little if any of that college spirit that patriotic loyalty to Alma Mater which is so characteristic of many older institutions institutions institutions and which is so effective in infusing life and enthusiasm into any inter-collegiate inter contests The students as a rule are studying to prepare themselves themselves themselves them them- selves for the battles of life and not to acquire refinement or polish So that each at the beginning of the year has mapped out for himself all the work he can do and he will not be willing to neglect part of this or take on the extra burden of preparing himself for any of these contests merely to win honor for his in institution in which h he would h would not be if he had the means to g go go elsewhere For it is a well known and discouraging fact that most of of the young people of Utah who can afford it go to the Eastern Eastern Eastern East East- ern schools and colleges to finish their education The students' students time is valuable we cannot expect them to give us their j I time unless we offer them something in return If we are going to erect a large b building we offer a prize for lor the best plan and allow all the architects to present present present pre pre- sent their plans and we pay the one me who presents the best plan Shouldn't we treat our students fellow-students with equal fairness We Weare are asking them to give us much of their valuable time much of their ir best thought and work Is it right to say to them that in return for all this they shall have only the satisfaction of having won honor for their schools Are not these schools sufficiently honored honored honored hon hon- ored in having so trained these pupils that they are able to win such pr prizes zes It seems to me that they are There- There fore foret let the s student r reap PI any mat material i l benefit which may have hav been won by his efforts j Then again the project is a new one and though the students as a whole may seem to approve of it even enthusiastically enthusiastically enthusiastically yet when it comes to getting the individuals to enter for the contests they may be diffident about it and afraid to have their names connected with what may turn out to be a farce It lt would seem from the above considerations considerations considerations con con- that the Field Club should use all the tre means in its po power er to arouse enthusiasm and stimulate individual effort One of the ways of arousing individuals to work is to reward individual individual individual indi indi- vidual merit Of course the Field Club itself cannot offer any large prizes but it is rumored that certain spirited public-spirited citizens who are interested in us can be induced to offer the prizes prizes Then hen let letus us not allow allowa a sickly senti sentiment ment an idea that has been abandoned as impracticable since the time of the early Gree Greeks s to stand between us and the success of our en en- deavor Of course if any of the contestants contestants contestants contest contest- ants have any qualms of conscience at winning a prize over the heads of their students fellow-students they will have a perfect right to donate it to the Field Club the Athletic Association or any other organization which they may may choose The plan of having all the prizes that may be offered belong to the Field Club and not to the contestants seems to me meto meto meto to be bt both impracticable and unjust Unjust because it defrauds the contestant contestant contestant contest contest- ant of the fruits of his labor Impracticable because many of the students will not enter any of the contests contests contests con con- tests under such an arrangement and b because cause no one will offer prizes to be given with such a string to them They will think it merely a sharp scheme to get them to give their money to student organ organizations s. s The champions of sentiment and theory speak with c contempt of the low selfish motives that are appealed to when cash prizes are offered if we had hadnot hadnot hadnot not limited ourselves to the practical side of the case we would stop right here to prove to them that th the selfish motives are by no means the lowest motives motives motives mo mo- tives that can be appealed to but are rather the very highest th the best and the strongest We all an all know that the man who respects res respects re- re s himself will not sto stoop p to do a wrong or mean act But without dipping farther into theory I am of the opinion that cash prizes will offer an inducement to many of our brightest students who would not otherwise feel able to spend any time in preparing for such contests and to whom the money won in these contests would be a welcome help towards defraying defraying defraying de de- fraying school expenses Among these students are many of our brightest and best scholars and to tomake tomake tomake make these contests a success we must have their help But if it should appear that money prizes cannot be raised or if the students students students stu stu- dents should decide not to offer any cash prizes then at least let the medal badge banner or whatever it be be belong belong belong long without any conditions whatsoever to the pers person n whose work has has won it if so that long years hence he may point with pride to this memento of his early achievements Joseph Edward Hall 1 r j 1 |