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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1934)
University of Oregon, Eugene Sterling Green, Editor Grant Thuetnznel, Manager Joseph Saslavsky, Managing Editor EDITORIAL BOARD Doug Polivka and Don Caswell, Associate Editors; Merlin Blais, Guy Shadduck, Parks Hitchcock, Stanley Robe UPPER NEWS STAFF Malcolm Bauer, News Ed. Estill Phipps, Sports Ed. A1 Newton. Dramatics and Chief Night Ed. Elinor Henry, Features Ed. a \r rviTTrujc . reggy Chessman, literary U.d Barney Clark, Homor Ed. Cynthia Liljeqvist, Women’s Ed. Mary Louiee Edinger, Society Ed. George Callas, Radio Ed. ('ini Tons Tanlfina Kolnb Mocnn Bob Moore, Newton Stearns. EXECUTIVE REPORTERS: Ann-Reed Burns, Ha ward Kess ler. Roberta Moody. » FEATURE WRITER : Henriette Horak. REPORTERS: Miriam Eichner, Marian Johnson, Velma Mc Intyre. Ruth Weber, Margaret Brown. Eleanor Aldrich. Leslie Stanley, Newton Stearns. Fred Colvig. Clifford Thomas, Robert Lang. James Morrison. SPORTS STAFF: Bill Eberhart, Asst. Sports Ed.; Clair John - son, George Jones. Dan Clark. Don Olds, Bill Aetzel, Charles Paddock, George Jiikman. COFYREADERS: Elaine Cornish, Dorothy Dill, Marie Pell, Phyllis Adams, Margery Kissling, Maluta Read, George Rikman, Virginia Lndicott, Dorothy Dykeman, Mildred Blackbtirne. WOMEN’S PAGE ASSISTANTS: Mary Graham, Bette Church, Ruth Heiberg, Pauline George, Betty Shoemaker. NIGHT EDITORS: George Bikman, Ralph Mason, Rex Cooper, Tom Ward, Orval Etter. ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Henryetta Mummey, Irma Egbert, Margilee Morse, Jane Bishop, Doris Bailey, Alice Tillman, Eleanor Aldrich, Margaret Rollins, Marvel Read Edith Clark. Mary Ellen Eberhart. RADIO STAFF: Howard Kessler, Eleanor Aldrich. SECRETARY: Mary Graham. UPPER BUSINESS STAFF wmiam Meissner, y\av, ivigr. Hop Rew, Asst. Adv. Mgr. William Temple, Asst. Adv. Mgr. Tom Holman, Asst. Adv. Mgr. Eldon Haberman, National Adv. Mgr. Fred Fisher, Promotional Mgr. ireari JYiarpny, Asst. iNattosa Adv. Mgr. E<1 Labbe, Circulation Mgr. Kuth Kippey, Checking Mgr VVilla Bitz, Checking Mgr, Sez Sue, Janis Worley Sea Sue Aasiiitant, Jean MoCuBkei*. Alene Walker, Office Mgr. ADVERTISING SALESMEN: Hob Helhwcll, Jack Lew, Hob Crrunwell, Habile Callistur, Jerry Thomaa, Thll Gil etrhji, .luck McGirr, Gertrude Hoyle, llluine Ballah, Mary anne Sldrvinp. OEI'ICE ASSISTANTS: Gretchen GrepK. .Janet Hall, Dokn-er Belloni, Doris Oulund, Mary Jane Moore, Cynthia Cornell, Mae Schellbachcr, I’at Nelson, Thelma Cook, Betty Gallaher, Vivian Wherrie, Jean Finney. BUSINESS OFFICE, McArthur Court. Thoue 3300—Local 214. EDITORIAL OFFICES, Journalism Bldg. Phone 3300—News Room, Local 355 ; Editor and Managing Editor, Local 354. A member of the Major College Public»tio*s, represented by A. J. Norris Hill Co., 155 E. 42nd St., New York City; 123 W. Madison St., Chicago; 1004 End Ave., Seattle; 1206 Maple Ave., Los Angeles; Call Building, San Francisco. The Oregon Daily Emerald, official student publication of the University of Oregon, Eugene, published daily during the college year, except Sundays, Mondays, holidays, examination periods, all of December and all of March except the first three days. Entered in the postoffice at Eugene, Oregon, as second-class matter. Subscription rates, $2.50 a year. MILITARY TRAINING MADE EASY ONE of the big features of compulsory military training is that it supplies the advanced scholar-warriors with a body of men on which to practice. It is argued, and justly, that optional military might create a sort of Mexican /army with more officers than officered. But the local Sons of Mars are not alone in their difficulty. Even the Nazis have trouble of the same sort in their Reichswehr, in which some 200,000 officers are under training. They too are without sufficient charges to steer about the drill field dur ing great maneuvers. They get mound this by the devilish clever de vice of having one man march in straight lines and square corners bearing a sign proclaiming “I am a platoon,” or ‘‘I am a scouting patrol,” or “I am a machine-gun nest.” These rate gentlemen who comprise the practice army, we imagine, practically have to elbow their way through the throngs of officers. It is presumed that anyone caught snick ering at this spectacle is escorted to a concentra tion camp, , Might wc suggest a similar procedure for the R. O. T. C. ? Spring parade would find Our Boys lined up on the drill field going through sort of a Greek chorus of commands while half a dozen C. W. A. employees marched and countermarched hearing placards reading: "I am Company C: three guys are out of step, one is at port arms when he should be at present arms, and five of us couldn't find our belts”; and "I am a seventy-five piece mili tary band: TARANTURA! TAKANTURA! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!” PLIGHT OF THE A. S. |T. O.—II S discussion progresses on the plight of the *■ A. S. U. O. it becomes increasingly evident that the state board of higher education will prob ably wish to maintain student activities ut virtually their full strength there is little doubt that most of them can easily be justified as having "instruc tional" value. Considering the unpaid debts of the University and college student body, it will prob ably seek some method of continuing a compulsory fee payment plan, which it approved last term. Reorganization of the A. S. U. O., then, will un doubtedly tnke the form of some extension of fac ulty control over student activities. Upon the amount of faculty control imposed depends the fate of student government. We are not inclined to stand up and shout for the sacred principles of student self government, lor we are well aware that self government at Ore gon has long been more a name than a reality. The most important decisions and lines of policies are laid down by the graduate manager, who is hired for just such services. In this light, student gov ernment has simply not existed at Oregon. Nevertheless there are many who would object to pls.cing control of student affairs entirely in fac ulty hands. Under the present system the students are well represented in every administrative unit of A, S. U. O. organization, and are in a position to exercise final authority if they care to do so, in any affair of importance. They can even rid themselves of their chief administrative officer, the graduate manager, if they so desire. Rarely have student body elections been used to promote any reforms or change in policy, yet under the present representative form of student government it is quite within the realm of possibility that students might express their will by the election of officers on the basis of a definite platform. The state board will do well to consider this point in reorganizing the new A. S. U. O. Students have become accustomed to the theory that they are entitled to a strong voice in student affairs— and any change, however salutary in theory, must take into consideration the fact that students will; feel they should have a voice in the administration 1 of the extracurricular activities for which they are I paying. Note: The two editorials following are writ- j ten by candidates for the editorship of the Emerald. Their authorship is indicated by number, and will be revealed to the publica tions committee before it makes its selection of the new editor. APRIL, FOOL? By Candidate 1. TJERHAPS it was merely a coincidence that fed eral authorities set April 1 as the date when all students working under the CWA educational program would find themselves without jobs. On the other hand, it is singular that the historic All Fools’ day should be chosen as the time to snatch promised employment from needy students through out the country only to re-establish that same em ployment on the following day. Nearly 200 students, on this campus alone, found themselves with scant hope Sunday when they were informed that no longer could they count on the federal work to aid in meeting the costs of text books, meals, room, and so forth. In many in stances they had borrowed the money necessary to pay the initial fee installment and were depending upon the opportunity provided by the CWA pro- , gram to meet this debt. Many of them could not and would not have returned to school this term without such a promise of aid. But somewhere along the line a mistake had been made. The relief program was not to be halted as had some other federal projects, and Mon day frantic officials kept wires hot informing their subordinates in every corner of the nation to con tinue with the relief as planned. As a result, 200 University students are again with a means of earn ing tlieii expenses of higher education. But how do they feel about it? After the first exhilarating realization that once more they were in a position to continue their edu cation, a new fear assails them. Can they be sure of their reacquired jobs ? Can they depend upon an employment so fickle and an employer so ca- : pricious that they do not know from one day to the next if they are to be able to meet the innumer-' able costs of a higher education ? These students are not asking for nor do they expect charity. What they do want is a chance to avail themselves of a college education. A gov ernment that would provide an opportunity for such students is to be commended, but in doing so it likewise burdens itself with an obligation—an ob ligation of sincerity of purpose. Without such sin cerity and without a definite plan which can im- | plant faith in those who must needs have faith in it, no organized plan of relief can succeed. OSWALD GARRISON VILLAUD SPEAKS I By Candidate 3. THE none-too-proapercus Oregon slate system oC higher education has been given national prominence through the medium of the Nation, | whose contributing editor and motivating force, | Oswald Garrison Villard, visited the campus last i month. He has penned briefly his observations in | an article entitled “The Plight of Higher Education" m the current issue of tbe Nation. As the son of a father who had saved the Uni versity of Oregon in its period of infancy, Oswald Garrison Villard is proud, but he describes himself as filled with dismay at the chaotic situation exist ing now in the higher educational structure of the state and especially at the University. He tersely and sympathetically describes the tribulations of certain students in their efforts to obtain an education and points out the utterly in adequate facilities of an institution serving in the capacity of a university. He indicates the tragic incongruity of a nation which spends money on military training and war ships instead of using it for the more beneficial purpose of aiding struggling colleges and universi- | ties throughout the country. He poses this significant query: "Mr. Roosevelt declares that he is freeing industry from inmuner- ! able shackles. Why not strike a few from the 1 wrists of university professors?" Oswald Garrison Villard never writes idle words, j That he should have been so impressed by the sub normal conditions of Oregon's higher schools and J have told the whole country about his observations is highly significant, for hitherto the matter was primarily for Oregon consumption and thought. He has raised the question to a national level. Perhaps it may lead to some badly needed action. Optional A.S.U.O. Membership By DOUG POLIVKA T'HEHE remain many students "*■ who are entirely in ignorance is to the significance of the ruling >f the attorney general affecting student fees. Numerous queries eaching the Emerald show that some explanation of the affair and ts history is in order. At the beginning of winter ,erm, a group of graduate stu ients paid their student body dues inder protest. Following this ac ion, a petition was prepared, and i brief setting forth the ease ot he protesting students was pre sented to the state board of high ir education. The petition to the otute b. 4rd, 1 which asked that the student body fee be declared optional, was not confined to the graduate stu had later decided to include the undergraduate fee as well and some undergraduates signed the new petition. In the petition the group contended that many unnec essary expenditures of student funds could be eliminated. The stale board of higher edu cation ruled in favor of manda-, tory payment of student body fees. | Leaders of lire group which held that the payment of the student hotly fee of j>d per term worked a , hardship on many students were I Janies T. Landye and Richard L. : Ncuboigv r. Others were Ju.-^phiue Kice. Eugene Laird, and Carl [ Coad. Opposed to the optional j payment plan at the state board meeting were Hugh Kosson. grad-1 uate manager, and Tom Tongue. After the uoard refused to make : the payment of fees optional, the opinion id' the state attorney-gen eral was requested by Art mg Sec retary Charles D. Byrne of the state board of higher education. Although the attorney-general submitted his decision to the state board of higher education sohn af ter the board requested it. Attor ney General 1 H .Van Winkle did not make public the following de Cb-ioa* which tu, iu anwvtrr (*■ specific questions, until Saturday, March 17: 1. The state board of higher ed ucation has power to levy and col lect fees. 2. A designated portion of such fees may be legally allotted to the maintenance of student govern ment and student activities inso far as they are used in the pay ment of expenses incidental to the courses of instruction. 3. The state board of higher ed ucation has no authority to collect money and turn it over to a sep arate corporation such as the as sociated students for disburse ment. 4. An act of the legislature would be necessary to legalize compulsory payment and the dis bursement of such fees. The opinion was requested only for the University of Oregon, but Oregon State cohege has a similar system of collecting student body fees so both schools were affected similarly by the attorney general’s ruling. Following the ruling of the at torney-general, the Eugene Morn ing Nev/s said editorially March 22: “As to the probable effect of the attorney general’s ruling, there is not nearly so much cause for worry as the official campus gloom would seem to indicate. It is difficult to see why any adult person would want to perpetuate an illegal financial set-up on the campus. In many respects the stu dent petitioners have shown them selves more grown-up than the persons who opposed them. The University will not collapse as a result of optional tax payment. The chances are other coast insti tutions will turn envious eyes to ward Oregon. If the University may offer leadership in such a matter, thousands of students will have cause to thank the handful (Continued on Page Three) Innocent Bystander By BARNEY CLARK WrpiHE GREAT TRUNK MYS ^ TERY,” OR “THROUGH McARTHUR WITH GUN AND CAMERA,’’ OR, “THE CARE AND FEEDING OF PLEDGES”? OR? “HOW TO STUFF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS,” Or— As you may have noticed, we are not quite certain what we should call this thing. Maybe we ought to call it off! No, we’ll go bravely on. If you can stand it we can. Anyway, the scene of this little tragedy is laid in McArthur court. The principal characters are Mad eleine Gilbert, fearless editor of the Oregana, George Godfrey, movie magnate and chief opera tive in the insidious University In formation Service, and an uniden tified man, who is a trunk toter. Ralph Schomp also appears in a brief scene. The play opens as Gilbert en ters, walking on her heels. She locates Godfrey lurking in a cor ner, brooding over the proposed architectural changes in McArthur court. Going to him, she explains that she is hot on the trail of a cut for the Oregana, and that she intends to penetrate to the fast nesses of the cut room below stairs, taking with her only her faithful native guide, Abou Ben Hecht. Whitefaced, Godfrey exclaims, “What, you would venture into the very lair of the fierce Unclothed Trackmen?” He makes a face like Charles Laughton. Undaunted, Gilbert turns to set forth. “Wait,” says Godfrey, “I have a plan. I will procure a trunk, in which you can be secreted. Then, with a faithful friend, who will be sworn to secrecy, I will tote you through the hostile tribes. They know us and we shall not be harmed.” No sooner said than done. The trunk was dragged forth; Gilbert climbed in; and the two white men set off through the shower room, bearing the White Man's Burden. Weeks passed (well, five min utes, if you want to quibble), but at last we see them arrive at their goal. With victory almost in their grasp, they see an ominous figure in their path. It is Chief Schomp, supreme ruler of the Ubangis, and sworn enemy of all white men. In terror they drop the trunk and flee down tlie trail. Chief Schomp folds his arms with hauteur and stalks up to the trunk. There is :i muffled knocking, like Dick Neuberger at a student body meeting He leans closer. Sud denly. a strangled scream lifts the trunk lid; a voice wailing. "I CAN'T BREATHE!" The chief jumps a foot; and. overcome by superstitious awe, oee-lines for the brush. After a time, Godfrey and the runk-toter steal timorously back, •eize the trunk, and trek past the laked tribesmen to civilization. I’pon their arrival they throw >ack the lid and Gilbert emerges, iale but triumphant, clutching to ler bosom a tiny bundle engrav ng plates! o Once again virtue triumphs, and he old adage is borne out—"The age, of gm to breath.' He’ll Talk Turkey By Stanley robe suggest. I think that the entire life of the university should he built around the existing econom ic crisis; that the first function of such an institution should be to keep the students and the fac ulty currently aware of the mo mentous changes that are going on in our economic, social, and po litical life. Does that sound ridic ulous? Well, if we think back to the year 1917 it was not consid ered ridiculous then to rebuild the whole life of the universities and colleges around the business of teaching youth to go overseas and slaughter fellow human beings. Schools were made merely institu tions of hate and misrepresenta tion. Every scholarly protest was abandoned or subordinated to the great task of making the world safe for democracy, and profes sors were drafted in large num bers for service in Washington or abroad. The crisis is pregnant now with far greater consequenc es for the future of American life. Is it really foolish to suggest, therefore, that the universities busy themselves primarily with what is happening in Washington? Dean Russell of Teachers college has admirably pointed out that if the electorate is to have any hope of saving America from a perma nent dictatorship, it must become sufficiently well informed as to what its rulers are doing to be able at least to criticize and con trol them. He thinks, and I with him, that the colleges and univer sities of the country have a spe cial call to furnish the public with the necessary knowledge to keep its rulers in check. He believes that our entire education must be reoriented for this purpose. “At least somebody ought to call President Roosevelt’s atten tion to the dire distress of so many of our schools of higher learning, which ought to be the most cher ished institutions in our entire na tional life. It is all very well to build concrete roads and dams and put young men into the forests, but it is an infernal outrage in this na tional emergency to approve a bill for the expenditure of $5,000,000, 000 for warships when the price of even two battleships expended upon our universities would bring hope and cheer, yes, decent suste nance, to students and teachers on a thousand campuses. Can there be any question which ex penditure would really make for the true preparedness of this coun try for the tasks and dangers and infinitely difficult problems of the future ?” Ill l a The Plight of Higher Education Note:—The following article is reprinted from the Nation of March 28, 1934. It was written by Oswald Garrison Villard, contrib uting editor to the Nation, fol lowing his recent visit to the Uni versity campus. By OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD Portland, Oregon, March 14. y, ■ HAVE just spent 24 hours 4 within the precincts of a uni versity with whose activities I have been more or less familiar for so long that I am afraid to say when that acquaintance be gan. I found it enormously im proved since my last visit. New and attractive buildings have add ed tremendously to the develop ment of a campus whose glorius trees and wonderful lawns arc not surpassed, I am sure, by those of any other. But what I heard about the plight of education in this state filled me with dismay. The student body has decreased from about 3,300 to 2,000. Many of the present students are contin uing with the greatest difficulty, and there are cases of real under nourishment. I heard of' one stu dent whose work improved enor mously vvhen it was arranged that he could get one square meal a day, and of another who was try ing to live by an expenditure of only $1.35 a month. It seems to me that as long as there is one such student attending a univer sity its existence is justified. “But the students are not the only ones who are suffering. The university itself is in straits as a result of the tremendous decrease in its revenues. The instructors and professors look with envy upon teachers in other states who have taken only a 10 per cent cut in their salaries. Some of those here have had to accept a decrease of more than 50 per cent. The li brary has only the slenderest means, chiefly an endowment fund established by my father some fifty years ago. Some of the most important books can there fore not be purchased. It is hard to see how the university can keep up with the newest developments of knowledge in any field. "Again, the teachers are ap palled by the fact that many Ore gon schools were actually closed for the rest of the school'year at Christmas time I mean small, rural public schools. They ask themselves whether, if this contin ues long, there will be enough stu dents sufficiently trained to take a university course. But while they are suffering, the United States government continues to waste money upon military train ing, and compulsory drill is still enforced, although the faculty up held it by only four votes when they voted on it a few weeks ago after a vigorous undergraduate campaign against it -a campaign that ought to have succeeded if only because from the point of view of modern warfare every cent -pent upon the old-fashioned drill m our colleges is absolutely wast 'd. If the government wanted to ielp where help is needed it would turn these wasted funds over to the underpaid faculty. "The picture I have presented caries only in degree from what I lave seen on other campuses on his trip through the West. It has -et me to wondering whether the eachers m our higher educational nstitutions ought not to come to jether and demand in this hour ■t code, a code lei uunerjtLCc. if the president thinks it necessary to fix a minimum wage for mine workers and factory workers and laborers in the oil industry, why not a living minimum wage for college professors? Why not es tablish an ethical code for the conduct of boards of trustees of universities in their relations with both students and teachers ? Above all, college teachers in a state like this—yes, in every state—ought now to organize in unions, follow ing the example of editorial writ ers and reporters. Is not this hour of revolution the time for them to demand representation upon the boards of trustees, to acquire some voice in how much freedom there shall be upon the university cam puses and what shall be taught and not taught ? Mr. Roosevelt declares that he is freeing indus try from innumerable shackles. Why not strike a few from the wrists of university professors? “I have something further to Vital News ! Nothing so vitally concerns you in every-day life as the urge and necessity to buy or sell—to give or take—to bor row or exchange, Look through the advertisements of the Emerald and you will find that they embody the chief impulses of living. The nation s life is clearly depicted in the national adver tising. Our individual lives depend upon this advertising to a re markable degree. A newspaper is a clearing-house for ideas and commodi ties. Reports of the shifting phases of life come to you through its news and editorial columns. But reports of the material things upon which you depend for susten ance, comfort and happiness come through the advertise ments. If you read only one side of the paper, you gain only a half-knowledge of the activities, the aims, the character of our college community. Read all and learn all. The advertisements are NEWS which concerns your everyday life Oregon Daily Emerald “Influencing Moderns”