From where I SIT
By CLARE IGOE
Fraternity Reporter Bill Scot t
relates the tale of one Carl
Jantzen, Phi Delt. Tt seems that
Carl struggled diligently for
three terms, a model of neatness
with his housework, a demon
at his books, with one goal in
mind initiation.
With the greatest of equanim
ity he endured the trials of hell
week and finally all was over
and Carl was hailed as brother.
Hastily shaking hands with the
hoys, Carl elutehed his new pin,
made a reeord-hreaIcing dash
to the Theta house to offer his
heart and pin to the love of his
life. Well, we must admit
truthfully, even if it doesn’t
sound so romantie, that it. was
some four hours later that ttie
pin ehanged hands. Tint even
that’s not imd.
# «J *
Perhaps even more touching
is the story of Jack Gavin,
Kappa Sig. Jack, the minute
initiation was over, jumped into
his car, drove lickety-split to
Corvallis, planted his pin upon
Betty Cleator, Alpha Chi Ome
ga, formerly of the University.
And that, we feel, is carring de
votion to a fine point.
* * *
Speaking of pin-plantings,
Who, of all people, should ven
ture into the field romanee hut
Scandalmonger Boh Pollock.
It seems that Boh, after three
years, finally honored Florence,
llaydon, Alpha Gam, with his
heart, hand, and jewelry.
That foresighted girl, know
ing Pollock for I he Borneo he
is, asked Boh to have the pin
engraved so that it might wan
der no more. But alas, when
the job was done the inscription
read, with touching simplicity,
“From Boh.’’
» * *
Who would ever think that
the sparsely-furnished, garish
ly-lighted browsing room of the
library would be a spot to nur
ture romance. But there must
be something about the atmos
phere of the place, or maybe
love really is blind, because it
was here that George Hall
planted his pin upon Winona
J*islow.
Well, shucks, some people get
married in airplanes.
'i
Pollock's FOLLY
Ey BOB POLLOCK
THIS DEPARTMENT is com
pelled by the editor and circum
stances to blush with shame. It
seems we were mistook. It all
happened when we reported
what we thought was a fact
about the boys down at Phi
Kappa Psi sending a telegram
to “Brother” Tex Oliver.
Well, we had the dope as far
ns it went, hut the trouble is
we went too far. The Phi Psis
sent the WU all right hut there
was nothing about brotherly
love in it. In our brash inno
cence we took casual conversa
tion and made a column out of
!f. * *
TAKING THE STATE of
Washington, all of Canada, and
half of Alaska in our stride, we
land our readers in an Alaskan
village who’s title we have for
gotten. This village is located
on a river something like our
own Willamette, and every win
ter this river freezes solid and
everybody stops fishing.
In the spriug, naturally, the
ice goes out. Now it seems that
the citizens of this village, most
of the residents of Alaska and
a province or two in Canada
have established a sort of game
—it consists, briefly, of betting
a dollar you can guess the
month, the week, the day, the
hour, and the minute when the
said ice is going out.
SO POPULAR IS this pas
time to the Alaskans who can
not fish in the winter time any
way, that they sometimes get
together a pot as high as ninety
thousand bucks. Which is a lot
of iron men.
To check the time of the de
parture of the ice, a tripod is
set up in the middle of the riv
er and connected by a wire with
a sealed electric clock on tin'
shore. When the Ice goes out,
blooey goes the wire, the clock
stops and the fun begins.
ALL OF ALASKA’S sour
doughs are, of course, honest
but there is always a possibil
ity of a cliechako from Califor
nia coming in to hook the pot
or monkey with the clock. To
take care of this eventuality a
gentleman with a thirty-thirty
across his experienced knees
stands guard night and day
over the ticker with instruc
tions to forget Christian mo
tives and shoot to kill. Usually
he is not bothered.
All this is preliminary to the
main story of the evening. Har
old Shearer, Oregon sophomore
who s|Mint three years in the
land where Dan Me.Grew got
what was coming to him, al
most walked off with the kitty
in 1937.
USING THE BRAINS the
Lord gave him, consulting such
of the stars as peeped through
Alaska’s snow clouds, Shearer
finally concluded the ice was
going out May 12 at f> :2G p.m.
Steadily the weather grew
warmer, the snow came out of
the hills and the ice groaned
preparatory for the big break
up. At last came May 12th.
The river was high, the lee was
shifting a little. For miles
around people came to watch.
Three men tried to borrow
some of Shearer’s prospective
winnings—the pot was $35,000.
One sourdough offered the al
most winner a thousand bucks
for one-lialf of his ticket. Shear
er refused to sell.
ALL DAY SHEARER paced
the bank of the river, one eye
on his trusty Elgin the other
on the river. Noon came and
passed'. Two, three, four and
five o’clock went by ... the ice
was shifting slowly ... it was
evident that it would go any
moment . . . Shearer accepted
congratulations as well as all
offers of liquid refreshment . . .
in his mind lie could see himself
chartering an airplane in Fair
banks and flying out to the
states . . . why, there was noth
ing he couldn’t do with $85,000!
Suddenly, with a roar of ten
thousand e n r a g e d Tarzans,
the ice broke . . . Shearer looked
at his trusty, sweat-stained El
gin ... it said two minutes af
ter five . , . he had missed a
fortune by 24 minutes!
“What did I do? What would
you have done? You would?
Well, that's exactly what 1 did!”
In the Mail
QUICK HENRY!
To the Editor:
I hardly know how to begin!
I’m utterly confused. Probab
ably you'll all think me just
another sour puss. Well, maybe
I am, but having written this
letter, I hope to recapture, once
again, my placid state of mind.
I used to be happy; now I only
brood.
Everyone is talking about di
luted water and blue milk. I
wish that were all 1 had to talk
about. We (I must include the
others) would gladly drink any
thing if we could exterminate
the sinister abnormality which
looks as though it would com
pletely annihilate the Kappa
house.
I am speaking about the little
men. They're everywhere. And
they have beards. Usually they
come out at night around 12:45,
but yesterday a girl saw one in
the ironing room. We don’t
know what he wanted. This un
usual occurrence began about
two weeks ago, anil we deckled
not to tell a soul let alone the
newspaper. Hut I guess these
little men multiply rapidly;
there are at least three times us
many now.
We wouldn’t have appealed
for help if we were not worried
about our next year's rushing'.
However, as the days go by
and the army of little men gets
stronger, we’re afraid we will
have no pledges. And, Mr. Ed
itor. we just have to pledge
somebody.
As to the purpose of these lit
tle men, we do not know. Some
people think they have been se
cretly driven from the Theta
house; if this is true the occu
pancy of our hostelry was in
evitable. We are almost sure
that they come up through the
plumbing. Further details con
cerning this cannot be printed.
But, from this brief resume,
you can appreciate our dilem
ma.
I could relate unbelievable
The Fraternity--an Institution With Duties, Obligations; Does It Have a Future?
'T'TTE subjects which engage an editor's attention year in
and vepr ont are limited in number. There are. usually,
a variety of approaches to those problems.
The problem of housing and fraternities—the term is
used as ineluding social living organizations for both men
a * * *
and women—is not a new one. Tt has been approaehed from
many angles and, recently, by several groups. Unfortunately,
critieism and aelion has seldom eome from within—fraternity
officials have shown a reverence for the sanctity of their
system and apparently cannot conceive of its ever being
wrong.
T>Ef"AUSE: (1) living organizations, and especially frater
nities, seem to have lost sight of their obligations to the
individual; (2) the University, which has so long disregarded
its own obligations to students in the matter of housing,
shows inclinations of “taking over” its responsibilities at
last: (3) fraternity men have condemned deferred pledging
on grounds it would cut Ihe number of men “living in”—
despite the fact that they are now over-crowded; (4) over
crowding is more acute at present than before because enroll
ment is up. The Emerald has attempted this year to strike
at the heart of the situation by investigating housing condi
tions. Tt has not chosen to skirt the fringes by “reforming”
hell week or concent rating directly on pledging and rushing
problems. Either action would he more simple and, in 1hc
near future, more successful.
But concentrating on such points means failure to raise
issues which are gnawing at the roots of the fraternity sys
tem, for, while council and house managers muddle along—■
in all fairness il must ho said the managers are making pro
gress on some problems, such as cooperative buying—the
whole system faces extinction.
# i» # #
TT is not difficult to prove the immediacy of Ihe fraternity’s
problem. An analysis made by Dean of Men Virgil D. Earl
reveals, roughly, that five years ago two per cent of Oregon’s
total entering enrollment was made up of students with pre
vious college training.
This year 25.8 per cent of now students had matriculated
elsewhere. And about 20 per cent entered with adavneed
standing.
This, it will be seen, is the real threat to the fraternity’s
existence. It means the percentage of men and women who
can profit from fraternity membership has been seriously
limited—that there are of necessity, more independents on
the campus in proportion to Greeks than there were five
years ago.
♦ There is a distinct trend in this state towards putting
education on a “junior college-’ basis. This, obviously, lops
more material “off the bottom-’ of 1he list of possible pledges
than deferred pledging would.
'^^’TTTTTN the University there has also been a tendency
to cut down tlie number of years students can spend in
houses. Professional schools such as law and medicine—and,
more recently, even journalism and business administration
—encourage, consciously or unconsciously, 1heir senior stu
dents to move out of houses into an atmosphere more con
ducive lo concentration and study. The demands of these
schools are so heavy ns to almost prohibit any great stress
on extracurricular activity.
These things are the factors, not competition from school
owned dorms and houses or from cooperatives, that have
reduced so greatly the importance of fraternities at eastern
colleges.
The next ten years are going to put challenges to the
fraternities o nthis campus which they will have to face to
continue to exist. Their problems, recognized by the Oregon
dads, the faculty housing committee, Dean Earl, and, possibly,
even by the state board, are at present so acute that they
cannot much longer be ignored. If the fraternity has any
thing to advance to make it worthy of retention it must take
action to prove its worth.
It must consolidate its position. Every house must face
its obligations and duties and cease to blind itself 1o them,
failing to see beyond its bills.
« * * *
r£>IIE easy solution to the fraternity and housing problem,
from the fraternities’ standpoint, is for them to cease to
exist. But this would increase rather than abate the Univer
sity’s problem and would mean the loss to student life of
something valuable and colorful.
It is obvious that nothing can be accomplished by refusing
to recognize the problem.
But, granting recognition, what can be done to meet and
defeat it ?
# « # #
'J~'IIERE are three points from which the problem can be
met. Two of them focus around the interfraternity
council—the council should work externally to solicit, accept,
and utilize every bit of “outside” help to improve the finan
cial position of I he organizations. The main points in the
battle to retrench and strengthen 1ho Greek s position would
be: (1) tax reduction; (2) refinancing: (3) a building and”
remodeling problem to make living quarters adequate and
attractive.
The second point of departure also involves the council.
Tt should work with the houses and the administration: (1) lo
improve relations between them; (2) to raise fraternity
scholarship standards; (3) to make arrangements whereby
the fraternities avoid defeating the University’s ends.
The third approach should be made bv fraternities. They
should endeavor to re-evaluate their ideals, investigate their
position, work toward fulfilling the duties which have been
delegated to them in matters of scholarship and molding the
iinderlass student. Of course, bills must be met. Hut they
should not be met by over-crowding houses, promiscuous
pledging, and a disregard of living conditions and the ends
of brotherhood and scholarship.
MAKING fraternity stock at its face value, pledging is a
good investment. The market value of “Greek Corpora
tion Bonds, University exchange” has been dropping.
A score of years will see it off the Oregon market if the
hoard of directors and the stockholders can t see their ob
stacles and work out an effective reform.
'T'TIE fraternity can help Ihe University immensely in com
batting the “junior college” tendency, for it has a phase
of University life to offer which is denied the transfer student.
But it cannot hope lo survive when Ihe test comes if it
has been a failure with everything in its favor. To justify
its existence today the fraternity could not point lo scholastic
achievement, for it has failed miserably in this respect, com
parative GPA figures show. It cannot point with pride to
evidences of cooperation with the administration, for the
facts of the case are that it has often worked to defeat the
ends of education.
Always its approach has been negative as shown in the
ease of deferred pledging. Deferred pledging is easily damned
on some grounds although it has obvious strong points. There
are other systems, however, such as open pledging or summer
pledging which might solve some of Oregon's rushing prob
lems. But the deferred method was not rejected because of
the weak points in it as a system. It was never considered
seriously because it might limit over-crowding in over
crowded houses.
The fraternity’s neck is on the chopping block. It may
provide solace but it will not mean reprieve to ignore the axe.
LEROY MATTINGLY, Editor WALTER R. VERNSTROM, Manager
LLOYD TUPLING, Managing Editor
Associate Editors: Paul Deutschmann, Clare Igoe.
The Oregon Daily Emerald, official student publication of the University of Oregon, published daily during the college year
except Sundays, Mondays, holidays and linal examination periods. Entered as second-class mail matter at the postffice, Eugene,
Oregon.
Editorial Board: Darrel Ellis, Bill Peace, Margaret Ray, Edwin Robbins, A1 Dickhart, Kenneth Kirtley, Bernardine Bowman.
Sewers to Scriptures—or—the 'Profits' of Humility
'julH grammar hounds have got us squelch
ed. Even eonfidenee will not withstand
tlie death blow which they dealt us today,
i.e., thMr somewhat caustic eoniment on the
unusual manner, even for us, by which, in
our opus yesterday on semantics and eonfi
denee, we spelled or misspelled “ignominy.’’
We have a furtive suspicion that once
more we must admit our error—whether in
spelling or copyediting we decline to say—
instead of placing the blame on the proof
reader.
Housing conditions in the shack demand
comment—in fact thoy have been reeking (not
shrieking) for it for several days. Tin* situa
tion over here in the journalism building and
especially in The Emerald editor’s office liter
ally “smells”—and has ever since the sewer
burst.
Operative lfll.'l reports a fly in the butter
at the 1 beta ( hi house. William F. Lubersky,
1he limnorous fellow whose name is so often
garbled, suspects his water, received in the
dorm, is more or loss than 11(2)0. A Kappa
reports seeing things around tin' Kappa house
besides Kappas. Ah, the possibilities for com
ment are unlimited—they come right up to
our own door (the sewer again) but we, still
fools but fearing to rush in anyway, hesitate
and are lost.
* «= *
JJFMILTTV is a wonderful thing. If we
can't have confidence, at least we can
still be humble. Besides, the bible says, “The
meek shall inherit the earth.”
liven that isn't altogether true, for it
was expressed before the New Deal. The
meek might still inherit it but the govern
ment is the only one which would profit.
Remember the inheritance tax.
stories. We dare not go alone
into a dark room. We are forced
to retire at It o'clock. No more
midnight repasts for us! Wher
ever ve go, we have the uncom
fortable feeling that eyes are
peering at us from behind pic
tures and radiators. Isn’t it
awful? It's almost as bad as
the Rinesmith complex every
one is developing. In fact, it
looks as though it will be worse
than the Rinesmith complex!
To whom could we appeal but
you ?
EN
Editor's note: We feel, some
how, that the initials on this
letter should be B.H. or I.L.—
only partly because of the way
Rhinesmith is spelled. We might
suggest, however, that the girls
try Flit. It's wonderful for spi
ders, and it just might work on
the Little Men, too.)
re et it (f m e ratfi
UPPER NEWS STAFF
Reporters
Elizabeth Ann Jones Dorothy Meyer
Leonard Jetmam Eugene Snydei
Nj oriel Heckman Dorothy Burke
Hill Scott Patricia Erikson
Catherine Taylor Betty Jane Thompson
Merrill Moran Bill Grant
Friday Night Desk Staff
Paul Deutsehmann Hill Ralston
Gordon Ridgeway Tim Tait
Phil Hladine Eugene Snyder
Friday Night Staff
Chief Night Editor this i>>ue:
John Higgs.
Assistant Chief Night Editor:
Eugene Snyder
Hill Phelps Adelaide Zweiiel
Gerald Norville Janet Still
Boh Knox Jean Crjtcs
Fiances FLotli
SIDE SHOW
By Bill Cummings and
Taul Deutchmann
Campus
Handling class elections is a
big job, but not too big to be
taken care of by one efficient
group of upperclassmen, such as
the ASUO board. Putting all
elections out of the way on the
same day would be an especially
good step, and under ASUO
supervision there is little reason
t odoubt that a combined elec
tion day for all organizations
on the campus could be run off
smoothly.
Main objectors are Prexies
Litfin and Payne of the sopho
more and freshman classes, but
there is a plan whereby even
these worthy class officers may
be satisfied. They want to try
out a proposed system of direct
primaries, to precede class elec
tions and to be held for the pur
pose of narrowing the field of
candidates. Demi Earl has ex
pressed his support of the plan,
and it does seem as though the
direct primary should at least
be given a try.
So the solution, it would seem,
be to hold direct primaries a
week or so in advance of cam
pus election day, under super- LC
vision of the ASUO, and then !
proceed with student body and
chiss elections under the same
supervision of an experienced
and well organized election
board.
The main idea of holding all
campus elections on the same
day is to eliminate as much pre
election ballyhoo as possible. It
only leads to unfair elections,
disputes, and hard feelings, and
if the two major blocs on the
campus could get it over with
for the student body and the
classes at the same time, so
much the better. Herein lies a
weakness of the promary sys
tem; it would mean a prolonga
tion of the ballyhoo, at least for
the freshman and sophomore
classes.
What the campus really needs
is a panacea for the whole elec
tion system which has been in
use (or rather misuse) on the
campus for some time. The bloc
system inevitably leads to foul
play, and if blocs could be abol
ished. maybe the students could
elect their officers on a non
partisan basis free from petty
vote - dickering, mud - slinging,
and high pressure politics.
ST—Glasses in brown case with
Jell Bros, inscribed. Return to
Joen Jenness, Chi Omega.
MYSTERY
HISTORY
iiiiiimiimiiiiiiiuiiinimimimiiiiiiiiiniiimniiuiimiiiiiiHmumimtiinmnn
By
GLENN HASSELROOTH
“Boundary Against Night,”
by Edmund Gilligan.
For once the blurbs are right.
Here is a novel that really
means something to American
literature. It is beautiful, terri
fying, and brutal, a book that
is at once a hurt and a joy to
read. Sometimes it stings and
burns like salt in a cut, then
it gladdens the heart and brings
new hope, again it makes you
gasp at the barbarisms of un
guided human beings, lost in a
melee of lawlessness.
The story is of Benjamin Cov
entry, the sailor who returned
from war duties, blinded in the
bombing of the submarine, Or
ca, just off his beloved Massa
chusetts coast. He has money,
and not embittered to the ex
tent one would expect, becomes
in his lonely darkness the
friend of Hargedon, a lusty, in
domitable policeman. A strange
comradeship arises between the
two: the blind man; sensitive,
seeing the weaknesses and the
strength of the poverty-stricken
cop; the policeman, trying to be
a friend, not quite knowing
how, succeeds in being one.
Many of the moments between
•them are tenderly and under
standingly told.
But this is a novel of Boston,
and the people of Boston. You
will remember Pansie Raven,
who married John Michael Har
gedon, but was too much like
him to be happily married to
anybody; Olivia Bannon, who
sent a son to war, and saw him
return from it; Calvin Coolidge,
who sucked maple candy in the
Boston state house, had the
newspapers read to him, and
squirmed in his chair when |
things began to happen; "Na- '
poleon” Farrington, who knew
all about strikes; Laura James, !
who loved Mrs. Bannon’s son, !
Gabriel, found her heart as well j
as his scarred by the war, and j
fell in love with Benjamin Cov
entry.
The shadow of the war was
over them all, but they had oth- !
er problems to face. The low j
wages of the Boston policemen
turned into strike, and fury
writhed among them, twisting,
breaking, and destroying. Now
there is no turning back. Here j
the novel reaches its highest j
pitch, and it is potent, candid, j
and fatal. j
“Boundary against Night" ;
fulfills its expectations; Edmund ;
Gilligan is not a new .writer J
who “will bear watching.’’ He
has made his place firm with a
red-blooded novel of America
that carries a strong punch, and
does not falter. There has been
nothing so good of its kind in
the 30’s.
Our only wish is that the
public (and the critics) will like
it as well as we did. They all
should agree on its readability,
because it is unlaydownable.
Leads to read. Sinclair Lewis,
in his new novel, “The Prodigal
Parents,” proves himself to be
as adept as ever in developing
characterization of the bour
geois mind. ... If you read
“Wake Up and Live” and still
think it helped you to get out
of a rut, you had better not
bother about Dorothea Brande’s
“My Invincible Aunt.” It might
make you think that heretofore
Mrs. Brande has had her tongue
in her cheek. . . . The people who
gossip are not the only ones
who don’t know what they are
really saying. If you don't be
lieve it, get a copy of Stuart
Chase’s “The Tyranny of
Words” and find out how much
all of us blab-blab. . . Gertrude
Stein tried to tell us more about
her life in the oh-so-modestly
nametl “Everybody's Autobiog
raphy.” Miss Stein still admits
she is a genius. Breathless on
finding it out, we can only add,
in what might be her own
words, but aren’t: Miss Stein is
a genius is a genius is a gen
ius is a genius. Which sounds
nice when you say it fast, but«*
means absolutely nothing. May
be Mr. Chase could give Miss
Stein some lessons.
Mileage service at Pomeroy’s
Associated.
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Dainty, Fresh and Pure as their
name implies.
Phone 245 82 W. Broadway
YOU WILL BE SURE OF:
at—
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