THE HESPERIAN.
UNIVERSITY of NEBRASKA.
Vol.. XV.
LINCOLN, NEB., NOVEMBER 22, t8S6.
No. IV.
"SiVTRENOUS."
The habit Of garbling the President's massages is the most
serious fault of our newspapers. It falls very little short of
a thrust at the patriotism of a people to misrepecsent. in fine,
to slander, their chief representative.
Col. Ingcrsoll, always alive on questions of contemporary
politics, remarks on "Labor in Politics" this much on the re
publican party. "I think tbatifthcrcpublicanshad bad wisdom
they would have voted for II. George forniayorofNcw York;
but the republican party seems nolongcr to have a definite aim;
hcems afraid to grapple with the questions of the day, afraid
to express an opinion". Wc heartily agree with him in his cs.
timatc of the republican party of today, and moreover arc ful
ly convinced that the democratic party reached that stage in its
decline some years ago.
The two hundred and fiftieth aniversary of the founding of
Harvard college was celebrated November ninth. The occa
sion will long be remembered by those interested in educa
tional matters as one of the most famous in the history of
American colleges. Many distinguished men were there as
invited guests to the exercises of commemoration, and the el
egant banquet spread in Memorial Hall. The President and
Mrs. Cleveland, James Russell Ixnvcll, Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, George William Curtiss, Timothy Dwight,
President of Yale College, President James IJ. Angell, Dr.
McCosh, Dr. Mark Hopkins, members of the president's cab
inet, and many others of wide renown as men of literary and
and political note were among the visitors. The conclusion
that wc all must draw from the great and general interest
manifested in the colleges of the country by men of such
note, is that America is preeminently the land of colleges and
universities; and her legislators, her statesmen, and her ex
ccutivc officers are not only university men as a rule, but
when without a university training, as President Cleveland,
arc nevertheless in full sympathy with the progress of our
educational institutions.
Statistics fiom Amherst show that the last graduating class
from that institution expended during its college course about
$200,000. The average yearly expenditure per man was
$682. The average expenditure per man during the Fresh
man year was $625; Sophomore year $640; Junior year $790.
The greatest total expenditure for any one member of the
class was $5,650; for one year $1,800. The least total expen
diture for any one member was $875; for one year $150. The
average price paid for board was $4 a week. The average
highest price paid was $5.25; average lowest, $3.75. One
man boarded himself at $1 per week; one at $2, and several
as low as $3. The highest price paid for board was $7 per
week. Students of the University of Nebraska by a compar
ison of their own expenses with the above statistics will no
doubt discover quite a difference in favor oi themselves. But
eastern students do not as a rule feel the need of economiz
ing. There J re men who attend for pleasure and the oppor
tunity to spend their money, and those who spend most ex
travagantly have generally the least literary attainment to
show lor it at the end ol their course. Such a time will come
in the history of our own institution; indeed we think wc can
note a change of this kind within our own experience here.
There is, however, this compensation, wc will at the same
time gain in the number ol better matured "minds and abler
students.
With the change in the management of the Stus Demo
crat, we anticipated a more favorable policy towards the Uni
versity. We have now a direct evidence of interest and
friendship in the editorial here republished:
Amid the hurry and bustle of politics there are some other
things that must not be forgotten. Among them, one of the
most important is the state University. There is one thing
connected with it to which wc wish to call the special atten
tion of the people of this city. There arc among the student
classes of young men in this state a large proportion who arc
partially or wholly dependent upon their own labor lor a liv
ing and for whatever advantages they may be able to obtain.
Some of these attend the University and work their way
along by doing something at such hours as they are not com
pelled to devote to study .
In most of the private and sectarian schools and colleges of
the east there are scholarships and other beneficiary arrange
ments by which young men are suppoitcd and educated with
out cost to them. This is demoralizing. As a rule such
young men arc not the strong manly men the country needs.
In no valuable way do they compare with the man who has
worked his way through with his own good hands, and who
is continually spurred by combined ambition and heccssity.
Wc do not want the beneficiary system here. Hut what we
do want is a systematic and vastly increased opportunity for
young men to support themselves while pursuing their studies
at the University. There arc in the city, no doubt, quite a
number of men who have about their houses rough and out
door choring to occupy an hour or two nights and mornings,
but not enough to justify the employment of a hired man.
This is the opening most frequently desired by the student.
He needs the out-door air and exercise. He can care for
cow and team, keep the lawn, do all the work of that sort
about that place, thereby earning his board cither as a mem
ber of the family or paid in cash. If a little thought were
given to the matter we have no doubt that a hundred such
places would develop. The work we have indicated is of the
best sort and comes at the best hours. There are young men
now in the University desirous of such places.
Iet it be once given out over the country that the Universi
ty is the cheapest as well as the best place for young 'men to
gel an cdncation, as in fact it is, and the attendance will be
greatly increased. Let it be understood that any number of
poor boys can have a chance to work their way through anil
they will come. The boy who goes through that way may be
depended upon to make a good citizen. Only the worthy ap
ply. People who hesitate about admitting an nnknown boy
or young man into their homes need not fear that the vicious
or indolent will attempt to enter.-