ADMISSION TO LECTURES.

From time to time lectures are delivered at the Union which are open only to members. The students who are excluded by this rule may be divided into two classes: those who can not, and those who do not join the Union. As a matter of fact, those who really stay out are those who do not wish to go, those who do not want to borrow members' "non-transferable" tickets, and those who can not borrow tickets. We suggest a plan for helping those who can not pay ten dollars for membership, are unwilling to borrow tickets, and yet wish to hear a particular lecture. We want at the same time to levy a tax on those who do not care to "waste" ten dollars on an institution which can be of "no use" to them, who yet want to hear the lecture and are not unwilling or unable to borrow a member's ticket.

The plan is this: charge an admission fee to non-members. The man who cannot afford ten dollars all at once may be able and willing to spend several dollars each year on interesting and enlightening lectures. The man who can afford ten dollars but does not consider it his duty or advantage to become a member and who will borrow a ticket if that is the only way, will be willing to pay an admission fee several or many times during the year. There is only one real objection to this plan. Will it not decrease membership? It seems to us that students join the Union for one of two reasons: either because they think it their duty, or because they think that they can use it profitably. No man becomes a member merely for the sake of the lectures, especially when it is so easy to borrow a ticket. The suggested plan would bring a considerable sum of money into the Union treasury; it would enable the deserving student to listen to lectures which he could not otherwise hear; and it would extract something from the conscienceless non-member who might otherwise borrow a ticket.