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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1892)
THE HESPERIAN. other Saturday evening. This club will be an entirely distinct organization from the other debating clubs, and will elect its own officers and carry on its busi ness independently of the Saturday evening debating clubs. It is not the intention to displace the three debating clubs already in existence but merely .to supplement them. The question for debate will be chosen from two to four weeks in advance, and at the same time two leaders for each side selected. These leaders will be thoroughly prepared before coming on the program and will each be allowed perhaps ten or twelve minutes in which to discuss the question. The debate will then be open to the house and any members of the club will be allowed to discuss the question not to exceed five minutes, and no person will be allowed to speak twice until all who wish have spoken. Each speaker will be called down promptly on time. A movement preparatory to the organization of mis ciud nas already assumed large proportions and we sincerely hope that the efforts that are being made will result in the speedy formation of this much needed club. The meetings of the club will be open to the public, and the advantages over 'the ordinary debating clubs are at once apparent. The value of such training is incalculable. Let us by all means organize a university debating club. During the past two years the university has suffered greatly by the loss of many of its best pro fessors. At the beginning of last year, we had A. G. Warner, now superintendent of charities in the Dis trict of Columbia, as professor of political emnnmv Geo. E. Howard was professor of history. To-day he holds the chair of history in Leland Stanford Jr. University. Professor A. H. Edgren was at the head of our modern language department. He is at pres ent Chancellor of the Gothenburg University of Swe den. Professor E. W. Hunt has just resigned on account of ill health. Professors Caldwell and Sher man have received propositions from higher educa tional institutions. We understand that Professor Wolfe is being considered by Leland Stanford. All of these men have made themselves, as it were, here. rouroi mem were born and raised on Nebraska farms. We certainly are progressing rapidly in the sense that we are furnishing professors for institutions of learning greater then our own. Is that the mission of the University of Nebraska? Must our own college be converted into a training school, so to speak, to educate professors for other colleges? The Hesper ian is not of that opinion. When the university has a man like Howard or Edgren, we believe that some effort should be made to keep him. Will a great multitude of students make our university great? We may increase the number of our students as much aa we wish, but unless we have men here to instruct them, our university will never rank among the first educational institutions of the land. While we think the number of students should be multiplied, we feel that we know that the university should try to hold the great men she has in the faculty. We think nothing should be left undone to impress upon the minds of the regents the fact that the salaries of our professors should be increased as their mental facul ties are developed. The matter should not stop here. The idea should be carried to the hearth of every home in the state, ft should be instilled into the heart of every legislator that comes to Lincoln next winter. The matter should be made so plain that they cannot help seeing its expediency. The sci entific departments are being strengthened all the time. But, we are sorry to confess, that the lit erary course has been neglected. That is why so small a proportion of the new students of this year oecame literary students. We believe it would be a good plan to use a little money in building up the literary department as well as other departments. To the Members of the Local Oratorical Association: You doubtless know what defeat means by this time. You have again heard the familiar fiat, "Wcsleyan first, State sec ond." Will the long night of our sorrow find no end? In this hour of deep affliction I feel it my duty to administer to you what consolation I may, though I am aware that I shall not be thanked for so doing. It is cruel, I know, to probe the freshened wound. I also know that it sounds familiar to exhort you to come to your senses, and to Innvi. th,. ct cc ciation. IJut it is not half so nainfullv nhPc,,..ti ... ... defeats in succession, with the prospect of as many more in the iii-Ai tjuiiuiciiimim, . You cannot attribute your defeat to the ill-will of the judges. If you do, it is a reflection on your own shrewdness. In the various state contests, particularly in the last one, you had your say, equally with the other associations, as to who should be judges. Nor do you, I understand, consider your successive defeats as caused by the weakness of the orators you have sent up to the state contest. I hope for the sake of the university that none of you will insinuate that our orators deserved defeat. They have been the best orators in the uni versity, if the winniim of the lolcon .....,o i. 10 DC SUCll. IJn VOII exnent tn c.,,1 ., l .. ' i " up ucucr orators in the tuture? You may, or you may not. It is follv fnr vn lnW to win a state contest, with the ideal you have in view-folly if you lose, for reisons that are plain; folly if you win, since you will not do it without sacrificing the ideal you cherish. If defeat concerned the local association only, things would be different. Hut you go under the name of the Local Orator ical Association of the University of Nebraska. When your representative on the state contest is defeated, the associated press spread the report that the university is defeated, and the honest grangers of the state smile and say, "The university isn t in it." You men, who constitute barely five per cent of the student body, persist in a course that brings discredit on the university annually, and yet you consider it a point of honor to stay in the state association till you win one victory, as though one victory could atone for defeat after defeat, and 1 SESHP
