University of South Carolina Libraries
t!jI CasserrocA PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE LITERARY SOCIETIES. TERMS $1.50 A YEAR. Entered at Columbia S. C. postoffice November 20, 1908 as second class mail matter. Columbia, S. C., Feb. 19, 1920 Herbert R. Smith Editor-in-chief J. R. Bryson ....... Business Manager Elsewhere in this week's Gamecock appears an article entitled "The State Magazine," which is the presentation of a strong and forceful argument against the establishment and publication of such a maga zine to be edited and published by a staff selected from the several colleges of the State. The editor feels justly hon ored with the privilege of pub lirhing in the first issue of The Gamecock gotten out by the new staff, such a sane, clear cut argument, since it expresses his exact sentiments. The au thor points out that the plan would be an utter failure finan cially, and that the benefits to be derived from such a maga zine are incommensurate to the time and effort spent in its publication. We trust the members of the association will think twice before expressing themselves as favoring the rat ification of the plan. The ad vocates of the scheme must, sooner or later, see that it can come to nought; that it is a hindrance or "liability" instead of a forward step or "asset" in collegiate journalism. Why should not the campus of the university be the most beautiful spot in Columbia? It, indeed, now has a natural charm, but impresses a visitor with an air of unkeptness and neglect. The unmown grass reminds one of a man who has neglected too long to visit the barber, the edges of the walks are ragged; the roadways are rough and ridgy, and withal, there is too much trash, incluc ing waste paper, lying about. Of course, some permanent improvements, such as concrete walks and roadways, are high ly desirable, but can we wait indefinitely for these things, when we have it within our power to do much to remedy present conditoins? We have an abundance of unused labor right here on the campus--in deed, as The Gamecock be lieves, the kind of labor that cannot be purchased with money. If every student of the university should give a little thought to keeping the campus clean, and be willing to con tribute a little manual labor now and then, the old campus would soon become what every Carolina man would have it be -the most beautiful spot in South Carolina. The recent action of the stu dent body in determining to celebrate Arbor Day, not only as a time for planting trees, but also as a time for a general clean up, is a movement in the right direction. Why not or manize a permanent Campus Improvement Association ? THE STATE MAGAZINE. One of the projects pro posed at the South Carolina College Press meeting last De cember was the establishment of a State magazine to be sup ported by the publications com prising the association. A com mittee was appointed to inves tigate the proposal and to lay its findings before the staffs of the various college magazines. This committee came forward some time ago with a plan for' the magazine which, as we un derstand it, must be ratified by three-fourths of the member publications. Frankly, we hope that the plan will not be ratified, and we do not believe it will pass after the facts are known. On first blush, we must ad mit, the plan looked promising. Perhaps this was due to the fact that it was sponsored by a charming and enthusiastic edi tor from one of the girls' col leges. At any rate, in the plain day-light of reflection, aftei the intoxication of the press as sociation meeting has passed away, we grudgingly confess that the scheme has very little to challenge our support. From a financial standpoint, the magazine would be a dead load on the colleges; whether the literary high-browed want to or not, they must condescend to consider the vulgar money side of the question. It seems certain that the amount of ad vertising which could be se cured would be neglible, the sanguinary opinion of the au thor of the proposal to the con trary notwithstanding. The cost of printing a magazine in these days of high prices is al most prohibitive, except for those whose necessity is clearly established. Most of the col leges already have considered trouble in financing their own local publications, without be ing taxed to assume the addi tional burden of supporting a State per'iodical. !Who will "pay the piper"? The editorial board would be confronted with problems equally as menacing as those to be encountered by the busi ness staff. The necessity of de pending for one's material on a staff as widely separated as are the colleges of the State, is enough to stagger the most dauntless editor. The experi ence gaines in the annual press association contest is enough to cause us to pause: letter after letter had to be written before a minimum num ber of colleges to make the contest possible responded, and those articles submitted were delayed long after the date they were due. In addi tion, there is the problem of finding judges to select the ma terial and good judges are hard to secure. The machin ery for editing the magazine seems very unwieldy on the whole. At the risk of being thought pessimistic, we venture to pre dict that when the editor gets ready to publish, articles from many of the colleges will be chalked up "A. W. 0. L." The burden of furnishing the mate rial will largely fall on a few colleges, and, at best, the mag azine will fargely be a reprint of clipped articles-a "scis sors" publication, if you please. Perhaps it would be possi ble for the association to pub lish a sort of annual bulletin containing the prize articles in the press contest, and also the second best in all five branches. Such a bulletin published only once a year would not be very cmtlv and would obviate the editorial problems as the arti cles published would be only those selected by the judges in the press contest. The advant age of such a publication would be to give more pub licity to the winners of the con test and to show the various colleges what outside critics re gard as the best work done in the magazines of the State during the year. But the ad visability of having even this unpretentious publication is questionable. J. N. AN INVENTORY. Every business man knows what it means to his success in business to make an inventory. It is an essential to his progress and profit. Every year he must determine where he stands in order to plan his work and to attain success. lie must know his assets a'hd lia bilities, his strength and his weakness to act intelligently and to secure the desired ends in business. The inventory is no less im portant to the college student. lie too, ought to know his as sets and liabilities. He, too, ought to seek to weaken his weakness and to strengthen his strength. The securing of a college ed ucation is a business proposi tion and cannot be undertaken in a haphazard manner. The college student is not only in vesting money; he is investing that which is more valuable time. During his college years he is a non-producer. He is a receiver, not a giver. The world is feeding him, clothing him, furnishing him the means of play, the means of work. For these the individual and society naturally and rightly expect returns commensurate to the investments made. And here is our point: The college student needs to make an inventory of himself and his activities. Have you, fellow students, taken yourself seri ously? What are your assets; what are your liabilities? What are you doing to increase the former and to decrease the lat ter? Are you equipping your self to render to society just dividends for its investments in you? If you are, you are a giver, if you are not, you are a beggar, a parasite. The world owes you nothing; you owe the world everything. It is not our purpose to mor alize or to preach a sermon. We are not theologians ,but we believe that while life for the college student is and should be full of joyful abandon, it should nevertheless contain a degree of serious endeavor. To be and not to seem to be, is our goal. Don't be an echo; be a voice. Don't be a shadow; be a man. EXCHANGES. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on your self.-Furman Hornet. Willie: "All men are born free and equal, aren't they, daddy?" Father: "Yes, but some men marry."-Agonistic. Professor: "Does the moon affect the tide?" Louise: "Nope, only the un tied."--College Coyote. If life is one fool thing after another, then love is two fool things after each other.-Em ory Wheel. Wife (as door bell rings) "That woman always comes here just before dinner." Hub-"Then its evident that she comes here after dinner." Boston "Transcript."