Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-08-31

HraQudtcS Oh INC university OF NC
braska are in every town of the state,
and scattered to the four corners of
the earth, and thousands more who
attended the institution, but who did
not graduate, are located from one
boundary of Nebraska to the other.
The good which this institution has
accomplished is tremendous. 1t has
been most wholesome and most wide
spread during the last several years,
it will be even more so in the fu
ture.
The claim has been made, in other
states, that their state universities did
not get close to the people, that they
did not give the training that the
bulk of the people desired their sons
and daughters to have.
That charge cannot stand against
the University of Nebraska. That big
school has met every requirement
most admirably, and the board of re-
gents and the faculty of the insti-
tuition have at all times co-operated
with the end in view of serving the
people in the most efficient manner
possible.
The fact that these officials have
adhered to that course is responsible
for the signal success attained in this
respect. In law, in medicine, in all
the arts and sciences, the courses
have been strengthened from time to
time as new lines have developed and
as modern ideas have come into> edu-
cation from year to year. The Uni
yersity of Nebraska has keep apace
with the demands of the hour. The
institution has been shaped to meet
the growing needs of the state.
There is a direct connection be-
tween cause and effect, too, in the
fact that legislatures from biennial
period to biennial period appropriate
more money for this institution than
for any other single activity in the
state. The people demand that the
big school shall be we'll provided for
and that nothing needed to give the
students greater opportunity shall be
kept from them.
1t is the peoples mandate and the
legislators therefore in making huge
appropriations are doing only the bid
ding of their employers, knowing that
for every cent expended there will be
great returns reaped in stronger cit
izenship, and i'll happier and more
contented people.
The old school has few traditions
when compared to some of the older
schools in the east, but if there is one
which may be said to have been ap-
parent during the last few years it is
that of casting decided influence
over the affairs of til state. It's in
terests have been more firmly joined |
to the best interests of the state than |
any other activity.
The men it has released to the
world have been among the states
best friends. They have been among |
those who gave most to the state in |
effort, and while few of them are
listed as pioneers of this common
wealth, they have continued the work |
which their fathers started before
them in a way to draw forth praise !
from their predecessors.
Admittedly, in the realm of public |
life, the state of Nebraska has done
much more for its people than any
other state of the union and more |
genuinely advance steps have been
taken here than in any other state. |
The university influence has been at
the root of most of these movements.
University graduates or attendants |
have advocated them, and university
men have helped battle for them and
carry them into effect after they have
been enacted by the lawgivers.
Where there is ground yet to cover
there are found university men ad-
vocating the changes which the people
most need, and to which they are
most entitled. The university ele-
nent is in no sense factional nor even
partisan. 1t is unselfish. 1t is eager.
1t is possessed of the desire to do the
best things for the greatest number.
1t is altruistic in the highest sense.
Nor have the university inflences
been restricted to this realm. In
business, in law, in medicine, in fine
arts, the men have made good-and
the women in those lines, too.
But more particularly have the
"co-eds" made happy homes in the
state To homestead cabin among
lonesome sand hills, to mansions in
Omaha and Lincoln there have been
university girls sent, and they have
made the homes just little brighter, !
just little better because of their
contact with the university.
They have strayed far from do
mestic science classes during their
college years and the fine art Of bring
ing up babies may have been utterly