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with the programs, in order to attract new students.
On the other hand, when the society is crowded-with
members, it ceases to be aggressive. The spirit of
rivalry no longer exists. When that time conies,
the members become more disinterested in society
matters. With six or seven literary societies, each
one would be more active. No one of them could
afford to have poor programs. If it did, its rivals
would soon get all the best students. It is rivalry
that makes societies prosperous. Without it, they
will die.
If no new societies arc lormed, next year, there
will be four or five hundred students in the university
that will be denied the training these organizations
give. This will be a fact to be deplored. The Hes
perian believes that a college education is incom
plete without literary training. It is in our socie
ties, that we learn to put into practice what we learn
in the class room. Every student that leaves our
college, should be able to get up before an audience
and speak without becoming embarrassed. We learn
to do this in our literary societies. Every college
graduate should be competent to debate with anyone
on any question of which he has any knowledge. In
our societies we learn to debate. We believe that
these things are indispensable in a college education.
Hence, the question that must be answered by the
students and the faculty, for we believe the faculty
is as much concerned as 'the students, is, how and
where may new societies be formed?
The first thing to be done, is to find places for
holding the meetings. This, apparently, is the great
est barrier in our way. The Hesperian asks the fac
ulty, in all sincerity, to try and find rooms for us.
At present, the rooms above the Palladian and the
Union halls are vacant. Why may they not be
repaired, and used for thkt purpose uutil the new
library building is built? Of course they will not be as
good as we should like, but they will be better than
nothing. This is surely a matter of great conse
quence, to the whole university. Let us all do every,
thing in our power, towards devising any feasible
plan.
The University of Nebraska is not alone in its
denunciation of secret societies. The late barbarous
practices of the D. K. E. fraternity of Harvard uni
versity have received severe criticism, not only from
the college press, but from the public press as well.
Harpers Weekly and The Nation have pronounced
the actions of that fraternity inhuman and brutal to
the utmost degree. They go farther than that.
They declare all secret societies a menace to college
life. We quote the following from The Nation, of
February 1 1: "There was a time, some thirty-five
years ago, when, secret societies having been abol
ished by the action of a class that deserves to be
remembered, the faculty ought to have resolved never
to let them invade college again, as it ought now, in
our opinion, to repress every new one that raises its
head. Societies whose end is secrecy have no place
in college life and produce incomparably more evil
than good. They prolong both the childish age and
the childish code of morals, which is essentially a
savage code. The 'running' and fagging. exacted by
the D. K. E., as illustrated in a late issue of liar
pcrs Weekly, was submitted to from a perverted
sense of honor, such as small boys exhibit when they
have pleged obedience to a domineering spirit among
them. This 'honor' led to public behavior such as
dishonored breeding, family, and common gentle
manliness; and social prizes were actually awarded
foi rowdy dress and bookish antics."
Secret societies have a tendency not only to pro
long the "childish code of morals" but to cultivate
the animal nature of man. We maintain that any
body of men, who bind themselves together, both
heart and soul, and swear to stand by each other
under all circumstances, will have a tendency to
become immoral. "Secrecy," written across the
face of any organization of men, is an omen of evil.
Did you ever hear of a society that had for its main
object, the cultivation of refinement, the broadening
of the intellect, the ennobling of the, soul, or any
thing else which tends to elevate man, that made its
meetings secret? Such an idea is absurd. An organ
ization that is formed for a good purpose, whether
it be in college or out, will publish its proceedings.
What inducement do secret societies offer to get
students to join? In the first place, they ask you to
swear, to uphold the actions and doings of an associ
ation that you know absolutely nothing about. After
you have taken the oath, they reveal the great secret.
Of all the ridiculous things we ever heard, this is the
most ridiculous. What sane man will swear to
defend an organization, the principles and work
ings of which I e is ignorant? Nevertheless, there are
a great many that do this. The fools, evidently,
are not all dead yet.
What college student is so sorely in need of a
friend as to ask a man, whom he has known only a
few days or weeks, to swear to be his chum for all
the time to come? The Hesperian believes that
true friendship means something more than that. It
belongs to a higher and nobler sphere. We believe
that 'true friendship exists only where hearts meet of
their own free will. Who can cherish a friend that
must be respected under all circumstances, and at
all times, irrespective of changes that may take place
in the future? We believe a friendship that is not
natural and purely voluntary, if it were possible, is
not to be desired. We believe that a man's personal
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