STATE COLLEGIAN
Published on Thursday of each week during the
college year in the interest of The Pennsylvania
State College.
Entered at the Post Office, State College, Pa.
as second class matter.
EDITORS,
ALEX. HART, Jr., *O5, Chief,
F. M. TORRENCE, ’O5,
T. F. FOLTZ, ’O6,
W. J. DC7MM, ’O6,
ED. FAWKES, ’O6,
F. K. BREWSTER, ’O7
F. B. GARRAHAN, ’O7
BUSINESS MANAGER.
W. G. HECKATHORNE,
CIRCULATION MANAGER.
P. A. RAINEY, ’O7.
ASSISTANTS.
H P. DAWSON, 'O7
W. N. LE PAGE, ’O3
SUBSCRIPTION.
$1.50 per year or $1.25 if paid within 30 days after
date of subscription.
Thursday, Feb 9, 1905
EDITORIAL
The following extract from an edi
torial in the Princeton Tiger can be
very aptly applied to the situation
here at State: —
The American is above all things
a faddist, a man who rushes to ex
tremes. What could be more mer
curial than the temperament of a
people who make a hero in one
day, and unmake him the next day
because he gives his wife a house
which they have presented to him ?
The yellow journals with their sky
scraper headlines see to it that the
American people change their fads
almost as rapidly as the EXTRA
pursues its first edition in the mad
race for news. An author, practi
cally unknown, is taken up by those
high in power, and soon his mode
of living becomes a household word,
only to sink into oblivion at the ap
proach of a newer fad. With such
characteristics as these it is no won
der that our particular community of
the American people is too prone to
rail at the injustic of those in power
over the university. But is it not an
extremist community in which a man
is voted the most popular professor
by a graduating class, and then three
years afterward almost universally
condemned on account of some
slight of-fence which he may have
given to the ultra-sensitive university
.feeling ? Not that we condone the
of-fence in question, mark you, but
it is such a small thing, taken all in
all, that we are inclined at .least to
investigate both sides of the matter.
And that is seldom done by the radi
cal student. As soon as he sees any
change in our university world that
he does not like, he jumps right in
and condemns it, without trying to find
out the'reason for its being. The
men in power are criticized simply
because they are in power, but surely
they have as high an ideal for Prince
ton as the man who sits before his club
fire and rails at their inefficency. It
is a sad fact that a professor who is
strict, be he ever so square, is not
so popular with the undergraduates
as his more lenient colleague. And
when the faculty bring forward a
measure which makes tor a higher
academic standard in Princeton, such
a howl is set up as one might im
agine came from the throats of the
despotized Russians when another
of their liberties was taken away.
One great trouble with us is that we
are (following too much the line of
least resistance. Too many of us
are looking for a diploma, and not
caring how easily we get it. An
other mistake is our not giving the
powers that be credit for thinking
before they act. It is quite evident
that they are every bit as wise as
we, in our man-of-the-worldliness,
and furthermoie they aie paid to run
the university in the best possible
way. And so when some change
is made which seems to interfeie
with your luxury or your schedule,
don’t get cut your hammer and
knock the men who have brought
such discomfort upon you. The
thing for you to do is to go out and
try to arrive at their point of view.
Find out why they did it. They no
doubt have some more worthy end
in view than your enjoyment of your
after-breakfast smoke 1 And don’t
condemn a professor because he is
strict, but respect him because he is
a man. Above all things, don’t be
a faddist. If you honor a man to
day, don’t entirely cast him off to
morrow because he happens to of
fend you in some small way. And
in everything take not so much
thought for yourself and your pleas
ure, as for Piinceton, which will be
come more and more dear to you
every day, until that final June even
ing when you sing tne last song and
drink the last loving cup cf your
Princeton days.
A New Magazine,
The Librarian has called our atten
tion to a new periodical of unusual
interest to students. It is the Inter
collegiate Debating Journal, known
as Both Sides and published at
Cambridge, Mass., by an Inter
collegiate Board. It is issued in the
interest of college debating in Ameri
ca, and will consist of reports of de
bates, lists of questions, with anno
tated bibliographies, etc,
Vol. I No. 1, contains a very
readable article on the Debating
Method by Ex-Governor L. F. C.
Garvin of Rhode Island, reports of
the Yale-Princeton, Pennsylvania-
Virginia Debates; editorials and an
nouncements of plans for the further
issues of the journal. The first
number is brought out by the De
bating Council of Harvard Univer
sity, but it is the intention that a
permanent board of inter-collegiate
editors, chosen on account of the
interest shown in “Both Sides,” will
be responsible for the conduct of the
Journal.
Single subscriptions are $l.OO, in
clubs the rate ranges from 50 cents
to 15 cents depending upon the size
of the club.
E. E. Society,
The Electrical Engineering Society
held its regular weekly meeting in
the Engineering Building last Wed
nesday evening. A paper on ‘ ‘ Elec
tric Lighting in Trains ” was read by
J. C. Chrisman. B. C. Butler and
G. L. Christman, presented a paper
on the “ Maximum Distance to
which Electric Power can be Trans
mitted. ” Part of the proceedings
of the American Institute of Elec
trical Engineers was read and dis
cussed on this topic.