Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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S K A T T L K COL L K C K A A’ XU A L who was among the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, gives us a glowing example of the earnestness with which he prizes his liberty when in addressing his fellow countrymen, and exhorting them to fight to the last, he exclaimed: “But as for me give me liberty or give me death.” We, who share the blessings of a beneficent government, who live in the land of tolerance. should guard as a priceless heritage 21 this freedom, which has cost the world so dearly, and be ever wary lest some retrograding step be taken, lest some of the work accomplished be again undone, lest the fanaticism of a misguided coterie of individuals prevail upon the weakness of a notoriety-loving legislature. pervert the ends of justice and threaten the very existence of those relationships which the eternal laws demand shall remain sacred among men. Lovell Spellmire, '16. SNOQUALMIE FALLS A silent moon entranced ’mid pleasant skies In wondrous awe gloats down upon the sight The falls aglow with kisses of the night. Before me beckon to my feasting eyes A seething mass whose onrush never dies. It fumes and roars and tumbles from its height As twere to burst the manacles of might And rend asunder Nature’s lasting ties. What clouds of hoary mist and foam rise i ow From off the eddies of that troubled brow! And yet how soon this agitated sea Shall turn from surge to raptured streamlet’s claim, Whose only course, and solitary aim Allures the brambled dingle, vale and lea. Raymond Beezer, ’17.

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20 T II E P A L E S T U A and spiritual slavery, recount in each some well defined recognition of the right of the human mind to exercise untrammeled the form in which the Deity should be acknowledged. In the earlier days the struggle was Between master and slave, but the betterment of human conditions as the years rolled by, wrought the emancipation of the human body from the thralldom of slavery; even pagan Rome produced a Brutus, who slew his Cesar “Nor that he loved Cesar less, but Rome more.” When the yoke imposed by the confederation of titled nobility under the feudal system became so galling that it was to be no longer endured, when property rights were made secure only by the power of the sword and even the sacredness of family ties were subservient to the whim of the feudal lord, the downtrodden subjects of the English realm arose en masse and demanded that King John secure to them that freedom and those rights, which the immutable laws of God accorded them as creatures endowed with body and soul, with material necessities to be satisfied and spiritual rights not to be denied. Then was the Magna Charta penned and the greatest stride made in modern times to secure to the Anglo Saxon race and their descendants those fundamental principles of liberty, which today arc writen in all the laws of the civilized world. The constitution of our own glorious land is the next milestone we behold along the pathway leading the human race to the haven of greater freedom and although pointing with unerring hand the road to civil liberty, it was not erected without commingling the blood of patriots with the soil in which it stands. These bulwarks, securing to the individual the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are also cast about his relationship as a creature to his Creator, and now with equal freedom he worships according to the dictates of his own conscience, his God, who is his beginning and his end and the Giver of all good gifts. Some one has said that religious liberty is antagonistic to civilization. True civilization, the reverse of decadence and retrogression signifies the advance of mankind as much with regard to morality and .intelligence as to material well-being. Perfect civilization is comprised of the material and moral elements in the same manner as the human nature consists of body and soul; and as the body is subject to the higher and nobler part of man, namely his soul, so likewise in civilization the material element is subordinate to the moral element, which is the intelligence. Religious liberty is not inimical to the enjoyment of prosperity or to the proper exercise of governmental functions, as it at no time implies the indulgence in vagaries or fanaticism on the part of a few as against the common good of the many. Thus the constitutions of many of the states provide for a guarantee against abuse by declaring that liberty of conscience shall not be construed to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state, and the supreme court has held that liberty of worship, as understood in the United States extends only to relations between the individual and an extra-mundane being, and not to relations among individuals themselves. Therefore, liberty is not the absence of all restraint, bur the absence of undue restraint. Ever since man first departed from the confidence of God, and it became incumbent upon him to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, the struggle between ruler and subject. between masses and classes, between poverty and wealth, between the tyrant and the oppressed, has continued almost without interruption, down to the very eve of today; sometimes waged with greater fierceness but ever continuing without cessation, leaving its crimson trail behind. Patrick Henry, that renowned statesman

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TII E P A L E S T U A i batFH OWING to an increase in membership and to the zealous co-operation of our Reverend Moderator, Father Oliver, the Debating Society had an exceptionally successful year. The debates were carried out in strict parliamentary form. The excellent way in which the debates were delivered, speeches carefully prepared and thought out, the freedom with which each side took up the opponents’ arguments, have rendered the meetings instructive and agreeable to all present. We publish a partial list of the motions that were discussed during the year 1914-1915: October 16. “Resolved. That the illiteracy test is unfair to immigrants.” October 23. ”Resolved. That it is for the best interest of the state to vote against the prohibition amendment.” October 30. “Resolved. That it would have been wiser for the United States to have recognized Huerta at the time of his presidency.” November 13. ”Resolved. That Congress should immediately provide for further strengthening of the Navy.” November 20. Resolved. That the presidential form of government is preferable to the parliamentary form.” December 11. Resolved, That our government should own and control the telegraph and telephone systems.” January 15. Resolved. That the Chinese should be excluded from the United States.” January 26. Resolved. That the jitney bus is a better mode of transportation than the street car.” March 12. ”Resolved. That the Federal Government should own and operate all railways in the United States carrying interstate commerce.” March 26. Resolved, That the states should establish a schedule of minimum wages for unskilled labor constitutionally conceded.” April 16. Resolved, That the power of the Federal Government should De paramount to that of the states in the conservation of natural resources, limited to forests, water power and minerals.” April 23. Resolved. That the rapid awakening of the Mongolian race is perilous to the Caucasian supremacy of the world.” J. McAtebr, Secretary. 17. « (£ljr (0ratur If we consult the history of nations we find that oratory has been a powerful element in the shaping of their destinies. For the orator holds within him a power that neither statesmen, warriors or kings were capable to wield for the welfare of the multitudes. ‘‘It is he,” says Cicero, “who can hold enchained the minds of an assembly by the charm of speech, who fascinates their hearts, impells their wills whithersoever he pleases, and diverts them from whatsoever he desires.” We could multiply examples, both ancient and modern, to show that the speech of the orator has had even more power over the wills of a nation than the laws of statesmen, than the tactics of generals, or the mandates of rulers. Cast your eyes upon the past and sec there a proof of the magic influence exercised by the orator. By the power of his speech Demosthenes rouses the Athenian people from their national torpor to an enthusiastic love of their country till they cried out: “Lead us against Philip.” It was the eloquent word of O’Connell that lashed into