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THE HESPERIAN.
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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.
