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