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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1892)
R1RW ..i.Jl-i. ., .....' HTM ..--g THE HESPERIAN. r& tar mm.ra i "- .- i .1 u stronger every day. The officers and those aspiring to office next year have their hands tied, but outside of those, the kick is almost unanimous. Even the students' Saturdays are now taken away from them. We do not care whether the crack company is "bloodthirsty" or not; that service is voluntary and lasts but a sliort time. All the students ask is exemp tion from compulsory drill after two years of faithful service. If it is not granted, then every cadet will do just as little and just as poor service as possible. The organization of the three political clubs during this term shows that the students are taking a lively interest in the coming campaign. If the great political questions are studied from a non-partisan standpoint, much good may come of these organizations, but if a student goes into one of these clubs and accepts everything his party leadeis tell him, then he had much better stay out. All of us will become partisan soon enough after leaving school. One really is not prepared to join a polit ical party today until he has taken a thorough couse in economics. Students who become well known, or leaders in their different clubs, are likely to take one side or the other on the tariff and other ques tions, not because they have made an independent study of the question but because their party is on side or the other. Indeed this tendency is even now noticed in some recitations. Students will search for hours for a single point or sentence that may be construed in favor of their party, while within reach is abundance of evidence on the other side of the question. If these political questions are ever stud ied calmly and without prejudice it must be now. Hence, these clubs or organizations may tend to pre vent an independent study of these questions. In so far as they do this they are injurious. In so far as they tenicl to awaken greater interest in political ques tions and make us better and more responsible citi zens they are beneficial. The world needs men today that regard the exercise of the franchise as not only a privilege but a duty. It needs men that will Vote as their conscience dictates and not as their party dictates. So let both sides of these political questions be studied and if you find your party is on the wrong side have the courage and manhood to get out of that party and gel into one that believes as you do. If this is done no harm will come from tlies'e clubs in college. ,Wl; understand that the gieat colleges of the .United States are again trying to draw from us some pf our best professors. This goes to prove that the , University of Nebraska ranks high among the educa tional institutions of America. Our university is situated in almost the center of he United States, and in the heart of one of the great est agricultural states in the union. Nebraska is des tined to become a very wealthy and populous state. The rapid strides that she has made in the twenty five years of her statehood shows that her citizens are wide-awake and ambitious. The farming class are an intelligent, progressive people. They are improving their farms, fixing up their homes, and adding to their possessions, culture and refinement. The rapid increase of the number of students from the farms, in the past two or three years, means that the number will be multiplied, yea quadrupled, as the farmers become more prosperous. As the state becomes richer it will be more willing to make large appropriations for the State University. When that time conies, and it is almost upon us, the university should be in a condition that will merit, not only the attention, but the help that the state will so freely give. It is our duty to prepare for the future. The regents should exhaust every means within their power to keep our professors of national repute from leaving. We must not only keep abreast of other colleges but we should surpass them in the race for leadership. To do that we must hold the .great minds that are in our faculty. Let it not be forgot ten that students alone cannot make a college great. If we expect to become one of the leading educa tional institutions of the country, we must have a faculty composed of great men. If our faculty is made up of men that have made themselves famous in their work, the university cannot be held back. It is bound to come to the front. Let us 'hope that only such changes are made in the faculty , tor next year, that will make it stronger and abler. K Indu.strliil Freedom. Jkan Ni:i.son, DePauw University, Indiana. I Winning Oration at Interstate Contest, All that is self-active, self-determined, originates in the world of spirit. Opposed to mind or spirit is the world of matter. As in the material world, the movement of the plan ets, the swing of a pen.lulum reveals a law of matter, so in the world of mind, the founding of a state, & social revolution, a religious reformation, manifests a law of spirit. As the high est law in the material universe is gravitation, so the highest law in the world of spirit is freedom. The idealization ol freedom is the inalienable right, the ultimate destiny of the race. Inherent in the very nature of man, the desire for freedom has been the motive force back of all human activity. Embodied in the teachings of Socrates and Christ; speaking through the lives of Luther, of Hamp den, and Lovcjoy; inspiring the words of Sumner, Garrison, and Phillips, this spirit of Ireedom, tearing down and re-mod-cling institutions as they fail to meet its demands, creating parliaments, writing com titutions, has been the cause of all human advancement, the power behind every reform. Freedom does not arise from external causes. Governors cannot confer it; legislatures and judicial councils cannot create it. It originates in the human mind. In proportion as the mind of a people is free, its institutions will be free.