THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
HESPERIAN STUDENT.
Issued semi-monthly by tlie IIfbpkiiiak Siwjkkt
Pulittsh1nr Assnciniion of tho University of Nebraska
C. S. ALLEN, '86, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
ASSOCIATES:
A. G. WARNER, '85. C. G. McMILLAN, '83.
WILL OWEN JONES, '80. S. D. KIL.LEN, '87.
ilUSINKSS MANAGER, -
- - O.B.Polk.
TEltMB OP StmSClUITION :
One ripy, per college your $1.00
One copy, one half yew, .150
Bin pic ropy, .' .10
Single Copy to Member of Association . . .05
ADVKllTIRINO KATES ON APPLICATION.
All communications should be mlriiessed to tbu II rs
pekian Student. Stale University, Lincoln, "Nebraska
Pkess of the University Pjuntikq Company.
jgditorial otc,
We have received an article for publication which
the writer assures us is written as an editorial, which
js accompanied by the modest request that we insert it
as such in these columns. We do not care to have
other people write our editorials for us, even when
we are assured by them that what they have written
js' 'appropriate and timely;" but had we not already
made other arrangements for filling this issue, should
have inserted the article as a communication. The
writer dwells upon the difficulty of getting good
judges for oratorical contests, and speaks feelingly of
the dearth of sound criticism. Certainly those hav
ing the choice of judges in the local contest that is
to take place shortly, should do the best they can to
secure persons thoroughly competent to decide fair,
ly. We fancy, 1 itcr, th they appreciate the sit
uation. The legislature has been fairly liberal with the U.
of N., but what has been received is looked upon by
many as though it were so much stolen from the
treasury, by Lancaster Co. wire-pullers The amounts
asked for were cut down not because of educational
but because of geographical reasons. In the biennial
log-rolling, this part of the state has so many logs to
be rolled that some are necessarily neglected. Many
of our legislators go back to their homes feeling that
this institution amounts to little more than a leak in
the state treasury. Those who feel this way are cer
tainly fools, but yet they may be of the class that can
exert considerable influence, and their apathy or hos.
tility may almost neutralize the' good c fleets that
should come from the expenditure of the money ap
propriated for our use. If it could only be every
where understood that this University is preeminently
an institution designed to benefit every precinct, and
directly or indirectly, every individual in the state
we should have less nonsense about getting our appro
priations, and less ill-humor to contend against after
they were obtained.
The local columns of this issue give an .account
of a thrilling entertainment given by five scalawags
who also happened to be the editors of this paper.
Having advertised a most enchanting programme but
being "gone back on" by some of the principle per
formers, they merely ordered up their reserve force of
cheek and went on with the advertising. They told
people to stay away, but as each person heard of this
warning he simply gave himself credit for a great deal
ol shrewdness, because he discerned at once that it
was merely an advertising dodge, and straightway
prepared to go. When the assembled audience, after
getting wofully sick of orchestra music, at last, found
out the flight and subsequent "scatteration" of the
rascally five, there was a chance for a student of hu
man nature to have filled a very fat note-book in a
very short time. Every passion from the direst thirst
for revenge to the most abject sheepishness was given
expression in the faces and language of the disappoint
ed crowd. The fact that the managers of the per
formance could not meet their engagements may be
an explanation of such a trick, but it certainly can
not be its justification. If justified at all, it can only
be by the fact that it was a good joke well carried
through. That it was well carried through we leave
our opponents to confess. Whether or not it
was a good joke cannot be properly decided by those
who are at present so very decided in their opinion
that it was not, until they have further recovered from
their chagrin and from the loss of their admission fees.
The press being omniscient it would, of course, b-.
perfectly in order for us to settle thy question at once
but owing to our unbounded modesty we prefer to
wait until our editorial impartiality shall be less biased
by the remembrance of how much fun it was to slide
down the rope while the orchestra played "Many are
the friends that are waiting to-night!"
One of our Iowa exchanges has been inspired by
the recent Sate Oratorical Contest to make some
observations on the subject of college oratory. The
conclusion reached is that it is a peculiar sort of shift",
that is practically worthless, except by affording a
.certain chance for discipline while being got into
existence. After Macauley had taken the .prize for
the best English poem he felt free to remark that a