The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902, September 27, 1900, LANCASTER COUNTY EDITION, Image 9

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    flfii
I 1
LANCASTER COUNTY EDITION.
VOL. XII.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SEPTEMBER 27, 1900.
NO. 19.
-Mas; Ml
Village News
I -TIM . Y.
r . i tj.!-s'li3 oj--w!' I'.'Jirr-ss: -t
.- ir oa iit-t Tu--1 . :.
--' A. Ml'- r f I'-tt'-. K .' i i:r.t
" - 1 or, r : 4 - f ' I -'' ' !-'...-
--.. H- -i;T."?s u .:- :
r r ? N j r "s. , r .
.r Jo-.f A ;f tin fr..:;- ? - '1
r .-;, s It.-: . ar- r .ji, jf .- t r 5 r-
' - aT.-I. r:u-i !-. u-
r ; t- si " j t j,.; .! x1 i. '
- ::.-- I? F. A"-?':. :. !'-
7 -'dav . s :.;.. ' :
f.-r- itt ..'- .t .! -it; '. - j
,sr w-i.ii4K Tin !iv:, -
, i i' j h Jaj'-lti--' i t
? ;... ;tO of r-?;j'r V 1
-,..'." ; -r " .?. 'net Fr. 1 - v
-..-- v jj ';. - a Ii 1 - 1
'.'', . . & . r -, W
, ! -
' . t.-. : t5-.il t .;..' '
.;--,: Is.-' ": .-irs t -
. ,t.-i : '- art:; ..: :
J. Z,. !
A '.No V."
..... .1-, ; .
5 .
,1 , ' .i . . .
.-, -r , : -;
' ?i '. ' i .,
: rr " f
.Jt;i 0-
'" !:!.- r:r f r Sat
. " : ' : ; :-.w'.r.r;g To
' I :. n r
ii 1 . ; 'i 1 j i r:'.:t rii
. r . . : . ' i j ii
T, . . 1 i . . . . . .
. . if
i.Oi'i"-
i .
, ' - " v.
L "I:.. t-i5, j ... !-::-
i r c :;-.--
,.i tt.- ar ! fj:!.--!. -.-t -1. z
r.: i- r -'w 7 7 i1-j f ti. .-n e
t h j '. c :s :. !
s or. !h- .:.'. (A :h Hiu : . . .
""At--- :t fT r. ti-r, u in r-i.h an i
'- p -ir- toar.1 rjiiifj. the I'niun
If; O? f- -T:tnisa pit- a
mozzh il-'J s.r.d s.Doth-T l.-
If. c.y.-. If th- r-t of th.- in
" t!:tr.-t tiitctary to Vrt ,' Coume
: il !!, th- 4-L-t ii!l ircu be can-
f Zilzsx ar ;tv -xros tart V
, s - - - . T -
ra iowa i;a t-ken rooms in the Pe- j
-'.son Lou.--, corner I'rr'sp rt strc? !
!!e avi Th y xpfct to i
h-r until tiselr son completes a j
UviT --rs' -nnrff in coilc?!.
M :r ' y K. Hirzor and Charley Mra;i" '
ff Hivrton. !?.. were un.ted in mar-j
t I j.? t Monday evf-r.inp. The briiie ;
a v n j..io-A n youne lady or this
a
I ho groom, m-ho resided
f-ra! yt-ars a?o. :s :avoraoiy
i.: :.r i.
o a goodly number of
our
onrr.ol it? dcnrs for its
v ork H -rur-i-iber 10. One
if. - fit-nir-T's nresentt.d
i .i. ar of
thi !!:t dav for classifica-
Tl - r':r";)"r ha r. w increased
. t-r C,i-' hundn.. and ten of
in :.. hall
r :mio,v and tt. ri-t board with
. fan'iiif- in tli- x"il!::.e.
, - r. J,
v - -
l -..ii ;
l ii
wilt:
' . W l
!!;(
i - - V ( ;
Of .t.
ho:
tt-
: I. ST t
; r"'t"
' Ir, :
a cell?: -a
.5. Me
iim-!-
t a-
Mx 14 f.-t.
i ii'oin tit
i.ooin" of
-j".
a ii
sub
- 1
It- i!
-n
.... .
h. :
'. o:u
tl f hoi. -st-s
r- f.
1 !...
utxr.o
a -.a
a parity and
i-it !y.
in t'"" f! ipa-y of ti e
n ". . er.- in town
w-. k .? rin ;in an-!aii;o-n
to ."'i,r;iska
;::vi;!tK!TV 1 1
a i .".J a-!'iit.)'i.
AC!:.
M i
(da ;
in N
') -ly
:s pla
Task a
pastor
was
11-
.h for
i 't t!
Mr.
i kIi:
U.
in tin-
1, 1 r . X- :
V ci.-.yan
.. r '
1.
num.
-. received
M . t.i'iiioa
T,: -(ilnt'c;.
ha?, fiiird
t i is state,
o'.e vrar in
io.;on
a !
piiip.:s :
for a 1
!, iircb
;;. d
'-nion
i
Lincoln,
i for this
i.
as
y.r, I: y . ii pasrd tb'O!;!!
l::-t at ri: rnonin i: ar,
:' n r.ut- to Wav.-rly.
: -u-i : ; jat he will -p' ::k
:!:-- ( it v
a ii . o. lic
it is 1111-
in Have-
in k arday eteninvr Sintemi er 21'.
Th l,anr;ister prf lncr liryan club
a:.i J thi- fw-ion forces of H.'thany ia
organizing a similar c!u last Satur
day night. Though it was under
stood in Ht'thanv th:u th day had
iw-K-n postponed, yet a strong delega-
tson from this city bejnjr pre-'-nt the j
orr4ni?:ition was perffcit d. I r. Unb
.rls was elected permanent president.
Frof. Kvans secretary. The club en
rolled twenty members in this purtly
extern peraneous manner arid over for
ty rti.,-ri- will join ar soon ;
come aware- that the club
ornicd. SHri speeches w
made by
ri r.
? of tlie Lancaster
i'l
m M. Morning of Lincoln will
. h ! - hail
S ..r: r 1.
net Thursday
W LSI. K V . N NOT V.
' 17. at ''. vk p. iv... was
a I r p' ;oti t t h" st u
"'!.. - 1 . ' ! e i b a'itlfuii V
( ( - !
'"' -7
; 1 e :
a.-
odd
oiors. Spv
h! into iso-
("jia;
Crap -i
il :v
. ' . ) v
a
!
(
- :;ri1
1 !-
browr. .
"ham i-
i e- i-
) :
O i'...-"'i
: !a e.e
I t.i
I
r:
a "U :o
'. of ic-!
. r f
o.p tu
l! L d
r-
-- e
lie
' a-
tnn
to :
)i t
Iv
i'(i-
.? :
pn-'s:
. t;".e
11
'7 re a
a i
it
-s. 1'
ol
v,.-. ta!
it.-.
ml s
I a: d
ia'
io.iy
re-.iir nf
th- fam--.s
feri--l
! rived
ru.idly
i I'auire!.
:V--
Moiiday
ditor of
'iVIi na ?
;o,;. I)i.
.t
i r
; ) .-
b:-
: i - s
I.. I
Nil , e
O
Oii HI-
i mil.i ii
TANAMA.
t. -.:
e;!i. .c:
:tiT, i::c;
at bal of
hreshin:.
h.
ivd a
ing
i;:i -r of
. F.rm :
Fan in
peeeii
a pt'oph3
at Firth
his fin?
a r i.i .
!-i '!
.:bt or
'.;' iV
:.! nis.
All elljov.'d
Ml .
tip r o'. Fan una and
Falrbeiy w.-:e married
tie- l.o.e.- of tha
The o"iiic eov.ple re-
To his hcrae near
W".
1
: oi
'ai :
r of Lincoln is
V I
LP.IVIN'G HORSM WANTKD. j
Wu:: i to buy horse for light driv- i
::.j. ..! iM l young and so snd with
-Oi'-! s-p' d. For particulars address ;
"A ", are The Independent.
(itliee of the Nebraska Mercantile Mu-
! tual In. ursn;e Company is 1251 O St.
! D.C. IVrkin-: i-- UlY 31acjrex,
4
THE STATE UNIVERSITY
i iulfr the Fusion JManageineiit It Takes a
New Start ' umber of Stmleuts In
creased II Stumling iiained
Fearful warnings;, continued from
month tc month, were given by the
Srate Journal and many other republi
can papers in Nebraska of the awful
j consequences that would result should
i the fusion iorc-s succeed in electing a
! majority cf the board of regents of
j tr ftat? university. It is useless to
i rt'l,rint tho?e awful prophecies, they
! aip v.-ell known to all the citizens of
the state. The people, notwithstand
ing those warnings, did elect a fusion
majority of the board and the result
ha? been that the university has taken
a boi.nd forward in eery department.
Tr.f number of students has increased,
at w buildings have been added and
tin re i? a vim. a vior and enthusiasm
around the university never before
"quailed. What may be expected of it
in the future can be gathered from the
inaugural address by Chancellor An
d"r w, who was selected to preside
over it by th" fusion board of regents.
In his inaugural a blress delivered in
Lhe Lincoln auditorium
on Saturday
Dr. Elisha
rnorninc. September 22
Benjamin Andrews said:
Mr. President. Regents of the Uni
versity, Colleague?. Students and
Friends, LimIh n and Gentlemen: In
common with all the newcomers pres
ent, whether instructors or pupils, I
thank those- of you who have been here
beiore for the welcome you extend to
us who now appear for the first time.
A-ready domiciled among you. we
shf-ll scon be naturalized in the com
munity and have oar vote. May the
year now ope:iin;.7 be richer than any
piece-ling oik- in all the university's
history' It can be. it should be, I
know you all join me in vowing, it
shall be.
To be permitted to address you to
day affords me tare pleasure. For
years I have cherished an ambition to
tx-vome a Nebraskan. laying plans to
that end long before I had any expec
tat;on of membership in this univer
sity. What seemed to me a peculiar
solidity of character in the people
of the commonwealth powerfully at
tracted me. If the proverbial enchant
ment of distance possibly helped orig
inate this liking, the liking has been
confirmed by all that I have seen dur
ing the weeks since 1 set foot upon Ne
braska soil as a resident.
When the foreman of an educational
establishment like this begins his
work people more or less naturally ex
pect from him some sort of a pronun
ciamento touching the policy which
he would like the institution to pur-
they ije- ! sue. It is impossible for me to an
has. been ' nounce any such policy in detail. If
I had a new university policy bristling
with particulars I should not wish to
set it forth publicly, for the reason
that, provided it contained novel mat
ter enough to be worth announcing,
the publication of it would be thought
to threaten a sudden break in univer
sity growth. If I wished radical
changes. I should wish to introduce
them gradually, producing an evolu
tion, not a revolution. But I say
frankly that 1 harbor no plan for any
changes in the university save those
involved in its natural. rapid and
h
th sts
I i
a! thy grc.wih. Some things which I
;i:k the univcrsiiy ought to hope and
ive for will emerge as I proceed, but
iave no detailed piogram. I think so
tr-mely well of what others have
ic-d here foi nie t iii.it I am quite
".!( at
to
b-t it '
can on
e
df
eming myself
Mill
if I
Id
more of tin;
an word escaping me in this ad
s seem like criticism on tilings
'e
that are or have been, on the doings
of any of my predecessors or col
leagues. I beg to assure you before
hand that it is not so intended I am
Iinpivssc-d by the honorable and use
ful history of the university, the very
high rank it has won among institu
tions of its class. the sanity of its or
ganization and the careful methods
by which it has been administered.
The bailders have built well. I feel a
profound sens? of indebtedness toward
all my predecessors in the chancellor
ship, including my esteemed colleague
who sat in the chair last year, for the
w:sdom :-nd lhe unselfishness with
which they have wrought. So far as
I can discover, nothing has been over
looked, nothing h is been mismanaged.
It would have been impossible for the
business of the office to be turned over
to a ;.ii:-ce;-:'cr in more perfect order
than when I took it up
It is fitting on an occasion like this
to review the prfr,eiit condition of uni
versity life in the Fnited States in the
Ught of current cii tic-isms thereon.
Such criticisms, you know, are fre
quent and various. Many "bogy" men
are abroad, whom not a few people be
'ieve to hail from the university. The
infidel, the "rake." the "dude." the
shaggy athlete, the spectacled pedant,
ihe pale recluse, and many more, are
supposed to frequent every university
walk and pretty accurately to rt-pre-?vcu
university life. Very sober men
and women are of the opinion that we
pay too little attention to the moral
and the esthetic side of students' de
velopment and too much to the physi
ca' side, and that in dealing with the
mind itself, the part of our work on
which they say we lay all the stress,
we are guilty of grave faults of aim
and method, training our pupils to
pedantry, mental pride mental de
pendence and a number of other faults.
Xo doubt these critics greatly exag
gerate the evils which they allege, and.
; so f?-v as such evils exist, many-wise
I misrepresent them; yet it would be
rank unwisdom for the friends of uni
versity education to ignore those stric
tures. Probably each of them is more
or les.? deserved by all universities and
deserved without much abatement by
some. It will be seen that part of the
information lodgea against us relates
to the sphere of general university in
fluences, declaring ".Lings done that
ought not to be done and things left
undone that ought to be done, said de
iects being connected in a rather re
mote way, if at all, with any class
room work: and another part of it-to
alleged malfeasances in or concerning
the university's teaching office. Let
i.s consider first the statements affect
ing our general wrdk and conversation.
Regarding the charge that American
university life is weak in influences of
the moral order, the case is far from
being so bad as it js often represented.
Irreligion in institutions of learning is
rarer than formerly, and is decreasing
rather than increasing. It is certainly
less prevalent in university circles
than in other large aggregations of
youth, and not more prevalent in state
uniyersities than in denominational
colleges. To read the religious statis
tics of this university for last year you
would think we were the collegium de
propaganda fide for the entire western
hemisphere.. Explain it how you will,
the fact is that the religious element,
in a community is the part which fur
nishes most of the university and col
lege students. Moreover, owing to a
happy change in the spirit of science
and in . the spirit of religion, the
schism between those two vital in
terests at universities as in the gen
eral world of thought is less and less
angry as the years pass,, science grow
ing devout and religion comprehensive
and sweet.
What has been said in regard to re
ligion is nearly as true of morality. It
must be admitted that forms of im
morality flourish in certain universi
ties. This is due, however, not to any
cause intrinsically connected with uni
versity life, but to dangerous influence
of our time in society at large. The
vast fortunes possessed by many fam
ilies foster aristocratic feeling and
other vicious sentiments. When
scions of such families enter the uni
versity they not only bring with them
whatever vices they may already have,
but often use the freedom of their new
life to nurse those vices into greater
vigor. But such manifestations of evil
are local. With all due allowance for
them where they exist, it will still
have to be admitted that the main ten
dencies at 'work in the university do
main make for morality.
A well known fact shows this. Very
few college graduates permanently go
wrong. Find a graduate of an Ameri
can university anywhere and you are
nearly sure to find a pillar of society,
a man or a woman who is upright,
trustworthy, public-spirited, philan
thropic, a good example for youth to
follow. This fact is explained in part
by the large proportion of vice proof
characters among 'the- young people
who enter upon advanced study, but'
the generalization could not be so
sweeping as it is did not university in
fluences themselves reinforce morality
rather than break it down. Were uni
versities hot-beds of vice, as they are
sometimes represented,1 did they in
any degree approach this character,
their graduates, however exemplary on
entering, would not turn out so well
as they actually do in their mature
years.
After all, while a youth in a repre
sentative American university is sub
ject to no moral strain which he would
likely escape elsewhere aud .is likely
to be by his university experience
morally strengthened in many vital
points, it cannot be denied that most
of our educational institutions come
short of utilizing fully the advantages
which they naturally posses for the
creation of noble character in their
students. Considering the plastic age
during which they have young people
in charge, the much which they
achieve for them morally is far less
than they might achieve. I intensely
reprobate the view, said to have been
expressed by the bead of one univer
sity, that we are not responsible for
the moral welfare of our pupils, our
work for them being purely intellect
ual. This university president may
have had main reference to graduate
students engaged in technical and pro
fessional study. Even so. I think him
wrong. With undergraduates, at any
rate, we fail in duty unless to the ut
termost of our power we aid them to
form right and strong characters. The
public expects this service of us and
has a right to expect it. How quickly
rnd fatally our patronage would fall
off should we renounce this part of our
task! University authorities do not
renounce it; they dare not: they try
to fulfill it. I do not underestimate
the efforts they are making here, but
I feel that they ought to accomplish a
great deal more.
The university must be as free from
narrowness and partisanship in its
moral attitude as in its presentation
of scientific truth. No one wishes it
turned into a Sunday school or into a
Salvation army corps. But there are
certain moral resources not objection
able to any, on which universities
might draw far more copiously than
most have yet drawn.
Instruction in ethics could be made
more inspiring, practical and concrete.
Professorships could be created for
giving instruction, of course in a pure
ly scientific and non-sectarian way, in
Old and New Testament literature
that series of ancient tractates
rammed with moral life far beyond
most else which men have written.
I have often reflected, moreover, on
the valuable moral lessons latent in
many present courses of university in
struction and waiting only to be col
lated and made patent. I wish that ev
ery student were obliged to pass an
examination on the chapter entitled
"Habit" in William James' Psychol
ogy. Political economy likewise has
many deep moral bearing, particularly
on the subject of temperance. The
science abuts upon ethics at various
points. The question whether an op
eration is ecdnomically'rroductive or
the reverse often turns wholly on the
answer you give the other question,
whether or not the operation conduce's
to man's moral weal. Certain physi
ological facts and certain deductions
from vital statistics speak eloquently
for morality in weighty personal and
social particulars. Every now and
then occur within the university or
near enough to arrest the attention of
all students events furnishing impres
sive texts for momentous lessons in
conduct. Such occasions should be
utilized, it seems to me, by earnest
worrds from the university rostrum.
Let each member of the teaching
force interest himself personally in
the pupils whom he instructs or knows
and encourage them to resort to him
for advice in affairs of conduct. When
they come, as most of them will, do
not fear to counsel them in detail
about right living, sound habits and
solid character those conditions on
which so infinitely more depends than
on mere scholarship.
If I dwell on this subject it is be
cause of its general, not because of its
local importance. Far from regarding
the means of moral grace unusually
necessary here. I consider them mucn
less needed here than at most univer
sities. . The earnest character of its
students draws me to this university
as hardly any other consideration
could. Our students have through
out the country a high reputation for
their zeal and sincerity in pursuit of
university aims. Whereas in the more
'"effete" parts of our land, if I may so
speak, many pupils in institutions of
this grade have to be coaxed and urged
to their tasks, the students of the uni
versity of Nebraska are ii possible al
most too serious in their determina
tion to profit by their residence here.
They use the university for genuinelj'
intellectual and moral aims, not for
any of those more or less reprehensible
side purposes which so attract young
people to college in some localities.
Air have heard of "salt water col
leges" and "fresh Avater colleges." Un
fortunately there are also "cologne
water colleges," which many patron
ize; institutions of learning where de
votion to mental growth has far less
to do with giving tone to student life
than sociality, even conventional so
ciality and conventional sociality of
doubtful character. The social side
of life is certainly important, and I
should be the last to disparage the
proper furtherance of it; still a uni
versity career ought not to be pri
marily dedicated to social development
however good, but to interests which
are directly mental or moral, or both.
The evil sociality complained of is
not to be put aside by decrying social
ity, but by proper attention to social
ity of the right sort. Co-education is
fulfilling a great function in produc
ing this. Our studies in sociology are
helping to the same result by another
path. Cultivate the democratic, by
which I mean the republican, tenden
cies in every student body so that no
sharp separation of social classes shall
ever appear therein. We do not want
levelling, but we do want the most
perfect possible sympathy among hu
man beings, however variously born
into life or circumstanced in life. At
tention to music and the fine arts, hap
pily encouraged now in and about all
our progressive universities, is valua
ble both socially and morally. One
need not be a virtuoso or a connoisseur
in the fine arts to feel the influence of
their neighborhood in elevating and
enriching his nature.
Critics of university life not seldom
sneer at the zeal, now so ardent in
most American institutions of learn
ing, for physical education. This en
thusiasm for physical training I regard
as almost wholly good.
Nothing of course can be more ridic
ulous than the folly of such students
as make gymnastics their main busi
ness at the university. If any have
come among us with such a purpose
let them this very day change it or
else buy tickets for home. College
sport is good within limits and in its
place as a means of physical and men
tal health and to large life. In this it
is like eating; we eat to live, we do
not live to eat.
It is a great mistake to suppose the
benefits of physical exercise by stu
their health and mental alertness for
the time being. These benefits reach
incalculably far and are of the most
varied value. Systematic bodily ex
ercise in college often cures grave and
even congenital ailments. It relieves
many complaints which cannot be
cured. It wards off physical and men
tal iils to which persons of a sedentary
life are especially prone. It lengthens
the active years and the total years of
men and women who are free from
specific diseases. It lessens in vio
lence, in frequency and in duration
such attacks of illness as befall quite
strong people. It puts ease and cheer
into hard work and good temper into
all the relations of human beings. It
tends to impart permanent strength,
sanity and order to the mind and to
develop that firmness of will without
which, particularly in the great crisis
of life, the most gifted of mortals be
come the sport of fate.
In schools whose pupils are mainly
from cities careful physical training
is certainly necessary. City youth are
very apt to be ill-developed in their
vital parts. Even if they romp and
play much, which many of them will
not do, they rarely engage in the
strenuous exercises needed to steel
the muscles of heart, lungs and dia
phram. For most farmers' sons and
daughters this result is produced by
the hard work they do. making that
work a blessing for which they ought
to be devoutly grateful. Most city
young people coming to the university
still have time to perfect their physi
cal condition, but not one in a hun
dred of them will take the proper
means to this end save under some
sort of university impulse either from
a faculty rule or from a student cus
tom. Let not country youth imagine that
they need no prompting of such a na
ture. The young man or woman from
the farm requires to continue and to
systematize bodily exercise; else bane
ful if not fatal weaknesses will occur
in special parts, or a general break-
Premium No. 20
For a club of three campaign sub
scriptions at 15 cents each we send as
a premium a genuine photograph but
ton, elegantly finished and durably
mounted of the size shown in the cut
above. It is the best quality of button
that can be obtained the kind that
are retailed everywhere at 25 cent3
each. If you want one invite your
neighbor to subscribe. We can fur
nish them with pictures of Mr. Bryan
alone or with both Bryan and Steven
son as shown, in the cut. Why not help
to increase the circulation of The In
dependent? There is no more effective
campaign work that you can do.
Lancaster county neonle can nowhere
get so much reading for th mnnev n
in The Independent with the Lancaster
County bupplement. From now until
November 10 for 15 cents.
down, recovery proving impossible. I
have known many cases of early death
on the part of Titans who came to
college from rural homes. Strong,
they fancied that they must continue
so. Sad illusion; they had been ac
customed to taxing exertion and the
sudden and total remission of this
proved fatal.
Regular drill in the gymnasium is of
course to be highly prized. All stu
dents should utilize the gymnasium
long enough to be taught where they
are weak and to obtain the idea of
system in schooling the body. But
outdoor exercises should always be in
dulged in as often as possible for the
benefit of fresh air and partly to se
cure the invaluable zest of play. To
perfect this zest of play a certain num
ber of match games, duly regulated,
are not only admissible, but" desirable.
I therefore approve under reasonable
regulations all the usual forms of col
lege sport track athletics, tennis,
baseball, basket ball, football and row
ing though rowing is not to be spe
cially commended, partly because few
can engage in it and partly- because
it is not a safe sport for matches.
At the risk of being thought queer,
I am going to commend, particularly
to such as do not play ball or tennis,
certain outdoor exercises which per
haps cannot be made very popular, but
can be made exceedingly useful. It is
not golf or cycling that. I have in
mind. Both these I dare say are praise
worthy, but each requires an outfit of
some cost, and also, most seem to
think, its own uniform. The exer
cises which I should like, to "boom"
are slow running, walking, especially
with some object in view aside from
mere exercise, and the accurate throw
ing, either of balls or of pebbles. I
wish these exercises might become
fashionable like golf. They .. call for
no outfit, no special uniform, no ele
gantly graded and kept grounds, and
they are suitable for well people of
either sex, whether older or younger.
As already hinted, the benefit of
sound physical education reaches be
yond the body. Many sports prevalent,
in universities are of extraordinary
intellectual value. Football excels in
this respect. Good play proceeds much
more from brain than from muscle.
The same is true to a considerable ex
tent of baseball and tennis. Nearly all
earnest sport properly carried on also
has immense moral value for all par
ticipants. It develops independence of
action, the sense of individual respon
sibility and at the same time fits for
joint activities co-operation and
obedience to authority. It cultivates
the will, particularly the power of
instantaneous decision. It trains the
sense of fairness. It imparts moral
poise, the ability to be fair when un
der powerful provocation to take ad
vantage. On the whole, then, while the non
intelectual features of higher educa
tion are to some extent out of order in
universities, the shortcoming is less
serious than many suppose, while the
best institutions are rapidly remedy
ing and removing it. Meantime a good
part of what is blamed is not blame
worthy, but deserving of praise.
There are some criticisms of an
other stripe which perhaps we cannot
quite so successfully meet, those,
namely, alleging faults in the mental
work done at universities; teachers'
halting and wry modej of presenting
truth, errors into which pupils are
suffered to fall in connection with
their choice of studies; and various
distempers mental and moral of which
it is said pupils are permitted to be
come the victims through their intel
lectual pursuits.
There is a widespread belief that
university teaching on certain subjects
is here and there biased, perverted,
dishonest, not reflecting the best re
sults of scientific investigation, but
shading. Ignoring of suppressing these
at the behest or poweiful interests,
social, monetary or political. That a
university may get pus in its blood in
this way professors need not be thrust
out of their chairs or formally muzzled
therein. Pressure so silent that the
victim is unconscious of it will suf
fice, and it is in this quiet way that
freedom in teaching is most otten de
stroyed. This evil has not gone far
and there is no danger of its becom
ing general in the United States; but
the malady is in its nature so terrible
that a single case of it or even the
threat of such may well prompt-precaution,
like the rumor that a chol
era ship has cleared for America from
a foreign port.
How ineffably important, how vital
liberty of teaching is I need not set
forth here. Even the most arbitrary
governments have sought to puard It
In their schools. The argument has
been ably gone over point by point
hundreds of times. But there are two
remarks which I beg to emphasize.
One is that the entire community
needs to have university teaching un
biased and cannot but suffer from a
gag policy. When shall we learn what
all history so clearly teaches, that the
real foe of progress Is never the in
novator the man wishing to force
Into belief and practice his mistaken
fed idea. The quack, the hafe'-bralned,
gab-gifted fellow has little power.
Like the wind, he bloweth where he
listeth; ye hear the sound thereof,
but cannot tell his point of departure
or where he will bring up. Why should
such a man be tormented before his
time? The real foe of progress is the
well-meaning, stolid, insightless, leaden-minded
conservative, who deems
each new idea a crime the creature
against "whom Shakespeare warns it.
In the passage:
"What custom wills, in all things
should we do't,
The dust of antique time would lie
unswept
A.nd mountainous error be too highly
heaped
For truth to o'erpeer."
The professor's privilege of declar
ing in a proper manner what he be
lieves to be the teachings of science
this personal prerogative is therefore
not the main thing. The regnant, the
towering consideration is the public
welfare. The world cannot afford that
any truth or any representation which
an intelligent and honest teacher be
lieves to be the truth should be forc
ibly kept under cover. Part of what
professors teach may be false of
course. All the more let it be aired
that It may be refuted and we know
its untruth. If the teaching is tha
truth, all agree that it ought to bs
published, though the whole world at
first deride the prophet who lifts his
voice to proclaim It. The more any
theory snubs our preconceptions th3
more ought we to wish it opened to
the world and put to proof.
My other remark is that sthte uni
versities are more than any other
bound to stand for academic liberty
against whatever influences threaten
to lessen this. Says Henry C Adami
In his recent work on the "Functions
and Revenues of Governmenti":
"It is essential for the modern stats
to support public Instruction, because
mere is no otner way to guarn against
the fading of its Ideals through thai
rise of an aristocracy of learning. It
Is natural that institutions that look
to the'wealthy for further endowments
i - -1 a i. - a i il .i i i
buuuiu ue jimueuuea m ineir aamiu
istration by the interests "of ths
wealthy class; and it requires no great
insight to perceive, that the final re
sult of exclusive reliance upon privat-j
benefactions for 'any phase or grad-j
of education will be that the instruc--
LlOil piUVlUCU Will UUL UlUJf J Vcilt'd lll'J
interests of. a class, but. will be con -Sned
to a class. A statu
-. ..II AW I . . . n ft.
which aims to perpetuate democracy
cannot decline to make ample provlv
sion at public expense for all phaseu
and forms of education In no (jther
way can a system of public instruc
tion, which Is by far the most -potent
agency in shaping civilization, b
brought to the support of democracy."
Another indictment relative to uni
versity teaching touches the manner
lather than the matter of it, and it
has, I must say, i, good deal of justi
fication. If college and university
teachers could be brought to honest
confession nearly all would in sack
cloth and ashes plead guilty to one
monstrous sin, that of inatientJon to
pedagogical principles. The recent
flood of pedagogical Interest, which
has so refreshed the whole field of
common school teaching, has appar
ently left the sand-wastes of higher
instruction-giving as arid as ever. I
do not mean that we have not re
formed the curriculum, for we have.
We have also improved our scholar
ship, our acquaintance with our sev
eral departments. But a capital short
coming continues in th. fact that w;
resolutely spurn the art of imparting
knowledge. The few who teach thor
oughly well do so, I fear, more by
nnate knack" than by rationally ac
quired method, while those of uh
gifted with no such k;ack, however,
well we do, fall far short of ideal
success.
How few instructors cultivate good
voice or expressive gestures; how
many enunciate poorly and use the
nose as a vocal organ: There is in
m'ofct university leaching litlle effort
duly to intersperse serious wkh light
er matter in order to aiouse and con
serve interest, little planning to util
ize to the utmost every class-room per
iod, not wasting a second.
Suppose o;i of us selected by lot
were to be Hiked questions like, the
following? What is the psychological
order of presenting your several topics
in such or such a course taught by
you? Which among these topics do
yon most emphasize and why? How
and how frequently do you have the
class review? What is the true end
or aim to be had in view in an examin
ation, and. what sort of an examina
tion ought to be set In order to com
pass that end? I am afraid that many
a. nrofpssor thus catechised would be
found rather badly at sea.
Again, at what stage in the average,
pupil's advancement does the general
use of inductive teaching become safe?
I have a feeling that in work for the.
bachelorship inductive teaching, that
is, the investigator's method as con
trasted with the expositor's method, 1b
too common, and that this accounts
for much of students' inab-lity to
grasp large or complex subjects firm
ly. I should be only too glad to havo
he suspicion confirmed or refuted, but
can find few who have given the
problem thought. We are, to be sure
devoting much time possibly toe
much to graphic methods, projection
and the like, but the general subject
(Continued on page 10.)
71