THE HESPERIAN.
I
l
P.W
m
to all interested in science whether students or
residents of the city or state. In case any person
.sends with a question, a statement of inability to
attend the club meetings an answer will be for
warded by mail. j. v. m.
For sometime past the cadets have been on the
tiptoe of expectancy concerning some changes, or
ra her innovations to be made in the battalion. The
various rumors that have been circulated concerning
them were verified when the commandant selected a
company composed principally of non-commissioned
officers. Besides their regular drill this company
will have two extra drills a week which are to be
conducted by the commandant himself, and will be
supplemented by a critical study of tactics. There
w..s some talk of competitive drills with the "crack"
companies of this and neighboring states, but upon
investigation this was found to be unauthorized and
lo be merely the supposition of some of the cadets.
Tu the meantime the company has settled down to
hard work and is doing everything in its power to
increase its proficiency in the manual. Should the
company adopt any of the various schemes suggested
there is no doubt but that it would acquit itself in a
manner that would reflect credit on itself and upon
tile military department of the university.
An attempt is being made to induce the legisla
lature to donate ten acres of the college farm to the
home for the friendless as a site for the re-location of
that institution. The college farm is the private
property of the university and its rights of owner
ship are to be respected fully as much as those of any
individual, and any talk of the legislature donating
a part of it to any other state institution is ridiculous.
(J i account of the rapid growth of the city around
i: die farm is becoming quite valuable, and it is
already being looked upon with covetous eyes by the
.spjculators who are trying, by every means in their
p .wer, to frighten or cajole the university into sel
ling the property. Their plan of making, in an
indirect way, the home of the friendless a party to
ihi'ir schemes, shows the questionable means these
ap.'c'ulators will employ in order to force the uni
versity to sell the farm at a sacrifice. This scheme,
ai well as the one to build a boulevard through the
farm, should be effectually squelched by the legislature.
There is much complaint among the higher class
men, concerning the gradual increase of work in the
military department, The cadets have been formed
into two, battalions, for the purpose of competing for
the Griffith prize in battalion drill. Extra work has
also been added in artillery practice. The battalion
drill is all right, but we would suggest that it be held
on a regular drill day instead of being made extra
work. This extra work is all nominally voluntary,
but as a matter of course, those who take it will be
preferred in all lines of promotion. Thus students
who are doing conscientious work in other lines must
double up in military work or be left behind in pro
motions, while those who neglect university work
will be preferred. This is not right. Although the
work is not compulsory in name, it is yet practically
so to a student ambitious of promotion. There is no
disposition among the students to remonstrate against
a reasonable amount of work.. Quite the contrary,
the boys have always done their work faithfully and
uncomplainingly. If persisted in, this extra work
must necessarily lower the standard of work done in
other departments.
The work done by the experiment station is
attracting considerable attention. To answer corres
pondence alone demands the attention of one man.
Communications are received not only from exper
iment stations in the United States,England, France,
Germany, Canada, and Australia, but also from the
formers of the state of Nebraska. It may seem a
little odd to put so much stress upon communications
from the farmers of this, or any other state. The
great problem before university men for solution now
is, how shall the people be made to feel the healthful
influence of the university, an institution in which
the majority of men and women have not the least
interest; an institution which in the minds of the
working and especially the farming class, uses large
sums of their money, and gives them nothing in
return. Communications, then, from the farmers,
an indication that they are beginning to feel that the
university is working for them, are especially
cheering to university educators of this state.
Teachers, too, as the farmers, are this year showing
increased interest in the university of this state.
They ask that instruction be given them this summer
in the sciences. This interest, small though it h now,
has cost considerable effort. The professors have
given lectures from time to time in different parts
of the state; the doors of the university have been
thrown open to state associations of every kind and
those in attendance have been shown every courtesy.
Some of the professors now meet and address a body
of men some where in the state nearly every two
weeks.
All these efforts are in ' the line of university
extension, a movement begun in England. The
universities of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Indiana
are already at work. The University of Nebraska,
with nearly every other university in the United
States are just ready to begin. The faculty of our
university see full well what is needed; but they are