Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1889)
THE HESPERIAN. I v i i ti In his message lo congress President Harrison recom mends that congress should give special attention to the combinations or capital commonly called "trusts." This is eminently proper. It seems as if the great corporations would, if unrestrained, soon control the politics of the country. While, as a rule, vc believe that the more liberty that can be given to any person or combination of persons the better, yet if capital must control the people or be controlled by them, then vc prefer the latter alternative. Hy the death o! Jcflcrson Davis one of the most conspicu ous actors in the late civil war has passed away. One by one those who participated in that great strife disappear from the stage of life and soon they will be known only in memory. As yet party strife has not cooled enough for many of us in the North lo view with deliberation the actions ol this man or to consider the causes that urged him on to take his stand with the southern confederacy. Many of us arc too apt to regard the name Jcfi Davis as a synonym for treason; but then we should remember that the question of stale's rights never was settled until in the civil war, and that Davis chose his path as duly seemed lo point it out to him. Wc were told in chapel the other morning that some of us needed to take more physical exercise; that in our hurry to gain mental culture we should not forget to train tnir bodies in athletic sports; that several of us should not spend quite so much time in laboring over lessons but should go out and en gage in the cxhihrating garae ol foot-ball. Now while we do not flcny that foot-ball is on the whole a very desirable sport, yet there may be a lew of us who feel that such sport is a lit tle tao rough, lhatjthcrc is danger of getting maimed or other wise injured when one is knocked down and fallen upon by a dozen or more big fellows. Wc also believe that wc should not be limited lo one single athletic sport and long (or the time when wc can have a gymnasium in which advantage for phy sical culture may be enjoyed by all the students, the weak as well as the strong and vigorous. MISCELLANY. In glancing through a magazine the other day wc ran across an article that seemed to sound familiar, in fact it was an extract from an address delivered on the "Causes of Pov erty" in the chapel last spring. The lecture when first de livered set us to thinking. The strangest part to us, at least, was the method of showing that neither Karl Marx nor Henry George nor Malthus is right when he proposes a single rem edy for all our social evils. That no single cause produces all poverty is well enough shown when we suppose a Robin son Crusoe on an island all alone by himself. If he makes wine from the berries and drinks too much, or is lazy or not careful and shrewd in the selection of a place for his abode he may starve to death or so injure his body that he is unable to support himself. But suppose that when Crusoe first comes to the island he gets posscssession of all the land ; it is his because he first occupied it; then suppose another Crusoe should accidentally be cast upon the same shore, would not Crusoe No. 2 be compelled to support Crusoe No. 1? The first Crusoe could then afford to be lazy; he could drink all the wine he pleased and vet there would not be the slightest danger that he would starve lo death. Thus it may be shown that in one case laziness, or intemperance, or lack of foresight might cause the destruction of one person while in a second case all three of them combined could not cause even the slightest degree of want to another. Students, you can save money by buying your boots and shoes of Webster & Rogers, 1043 O street. Exams are nice things. Some of the Seniors have as many as four set for the same hour of the same day. It this continues wc fear that our alumni will not receive so great an addition next June as wc anticipated. A belter man than Mr. Wilron could not have been select ed lo start the prohibition ball rolling among the students. He is an alumnus of our university, who has always kept up a relationship with his alma mater, so that he is almost uni versally known and honored by the student body. This frieiylly sympathy wit'i the student hotly politic, made it very appropriate for him to launch the student league into existence. Wc arc creditably informed that one of the Freshmen, who has had several encounters with the Sophs and second preps, after his last encounter a couple of weeks ago, went down town and invested four large shekels in a gun. He now ventures out occasionally after dusk, without a policeman, guarded by his faithful "special" and his gun. We would respectfully recommend his tactics to the several Seniors who are now trembling so from fright at the threats of a Soph, who is going to "do them up" the first time he "catches them out alone." Verily these are great times at the Uni vcisity of Nebraska. The address of H. H. Wilson before the students' non partisan club last Saturday evening was the most candid, con cise, and convincing talk wc ever had the pleasure of listen ing to, upon the subject of prohibition. Mr. Wilson, after admitting all the points that the other side of the question could in any justice claim, proceeded to conclusively prove that prohibition would be a good thing for this state, from a moral, a physical, or from an economical standpoint. His address covered more ground completely, and answered more arguments against prohibition than anything we have ever heard or read upon the question. A rumor was floating about the halls one day this week that the secretary of war had recommended that a battalion be added to each regiment of the United States' army, and that the second lieutenants of these new battalions be ap pointed from the alumni of our state universities, who hold commissions from the military departments thereof. It was rumored that that scheme had assumed considerable import ance, that it was before a committee, and that Lieutenant Dudley of Fort Leavenworth had been asked for his opinion upon the matter and had replied strongly favoring the scheme. The matter has not received a sufficiently tangible form to warrant comment, but wc mention it merely as a matter of news. We have been informed that there is supposed to be a watchman on duty about the university buildings until mid night each night. If so he must be of the pattern of the pro verbial policeman who is never to be found on his beat, or, when found there is always asleep. A valuable fur lap-robe was stolen from a buggy directly in front of the main hall on Friday night last duringthe society programs, and on Saturday night an unsuccessful attempt w - .iade to effect an entrance to the boiler house by prying orn window. A week previous a fellow was discovered b jeiger in the act of purloining a lap-robe from a buggy in irontof the main hall at just about