This is War...
jpOR the first time in the lives of most Uni
versity of Oregon students, the United
States is at war.
Unlike the 1917 beginning, there are no
bands playing nor holdiays parades. The cam
pus is blanketed with a deathly calm, a silent
seriousness. The College Side is no longer a
gay gathering place for juke-playing colle
gians: instead they assemble there to listen to
war news. Youth today is forced to take a
realistic view of the war, and they know7 ex
actly what it all means.
But the lack of collegiate enthusiasm does
not indicate a lack of resolution to do the job
ahead. Each student knows that it is his war,
that he will fight it, that he will pay for it,
and that his whole life may be changed by it.
But he knows that no sacrifice . . . and the
president rightly declares that it is not a
sacrifice to give your best for your country
. . . is too great when it is made to protect the
inherent right to live as a free people. No
effort is too great to insure a decent, civilized,
Christian world in which our children may
grow up by the same democratic standards
which govern our lives.
* # * #
inhuman crime which Japanese war
lords committed when they attacked with
out warning American soil at a time when
both nations were at peace will not go un
answered. The challenge to truth, love, free
dom. and learning' which the Axis nowers have
flung at democratic-thinking people who re
spect these ideals as the basis for their very
life, is not one to be taken without resistance
by America, old or young.
Today we are at war. It is a war to the end,
a war that will end only when right conquers
might, and the world is made a decent place
in which to live again.
The task at hand is not an easy one. Am
erican young people have never had to face
such a situation before, and the struggle will
be long. Every man, woman, and child will
suffer equally. Hysteria, cynicism, and fear
have no place in the present crisis. Each per
son must take upon himself the job of keeping
his head held high, his part accomplished, his
emotions held within him.
* W *
JT is no time for tears, for that person who
must do the comforting is just as sorely
hurt as the tearful one. It is no time for panic
stricken withdrawal from school until the in
dividual is called upon to make his contribu
tion. It is no time for a bitter “What does it
matter?” attitude of resignation. It is a time
for sure determination to look ahead toward
final peace. **#$1
The war can be won. The war will be won.
It will be won by a united people working for
a common purpose that transcends all other
objectives: the right to their very existence
as a free Deonle.
The Road to Reform
• • •
ON CRETE promise that the students’ de
mand for investigation of the dormitory
situation would be granted was extended yes
terday when President Donald M. Erb laid
plans fora careful study of the situation early
in January.
A committee composed of interested stu
dents and administration leaders close to the
problem will meet early in January to delve
into the food situation, the wages and hours
problem, management, morale, and breakage
disputes. The decision they come to will be em
ployed in an attempt to improve relations in
the dormitory.
On page 3 the Emerald today carries a letter
from the president explaining the difference
between sorority and dormitory costs. The
Emerald's previous editorial statement did
not specify that the rates of the two were on
an exactly equal par, but that the slightly
lower costs charged by the dormitory does not
overbalance the more favorable advantages of
the fraternity.
* # * *
pRESIDENT Erb’s effort to alleviate the
dormitory situation by open and frank dis
cussion of the ills of the present arrangement
is in line with the Emerald’s purpose in be
ginning the campaign. We restate our pre
vious declaration that no problem can be
solved until every angle is brought out clear
ly, each side of the question is thoroughly
studied, and the real problem cited and ana
lyzed. In January, this will be possible, and
an honest view of the dormitory problem will
be obtained.
'l'lie road to better dorm morale is ahead.
Christmas Carol of IQUI.. .
•VCILKNT night” . . . for Japanese airplanes
i may he lurking above.
i“Iloly night” ... a feeling of the super
natural hovers over the artifioially-qniet
stjreets.
| “All is calm” . . . onty^'ili the hearts of the
bravest as they wait news of their island
station brother, son, or sweetheart.
• ‘‘All is bright” . . . but black drapes and
blue lights keep the secret of the town from
enemy scouts.
“ J^OUNI) yon Virgin Motlier and child” . . .
may they hear our prayers.
“Iloly infant” ... our nation is in your
care.
‘‘So peaceful and mild” . . . this land of
ours five short days ago.
‘‘Sleep in heavenly peace” . . . the lads in
their sailor-blue and olive-drab are the guard
ians of America’s life.
‘‘Sleep in heavenly peace” . . . you infants
of today. . . . May you not face another world
war in 24 years.—B.J.B.
lhe Oregon Daily Emerald, published daily during the college year except Sunday, Monday, holidays,
periods by the Associated Students, University of Oregon. Subscription rates : $1.25 per term and $3.00 per
class matter at the poatoftioe, Eugene, Oregon.
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HELEN AND ELL, Editor ^ ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Hal Oluev, Betty Jane Biggs
Kay Schnck, Managing Editor Bob Frazier, News Editor
ERED MAY, Business Manager
James Thayer, Advertising Manager
Jonathan Kaahnanui, Lee Flatberg, Co-Sports Editors
Corrine Nelson. Mildred Wilson, Co-Wome's. Editors
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UPPER NEWS STAFF
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1941 Member 1942
ftssocided Colle6iate Press
At Second Qlancc...
By TED HARMON
Thursday, December 11—(Spe
cial)—Somewhere on the Oregon
campus:
Sunday was cold and damp; a
thick, colorless fog that melted
treetops and buildings into emp
tiness. It was a typical Oregon
Sunday morning. Fires blazed
happily on dry logs, funnies were
scattered over rugs, late risers
were slowly getting up. Why not!
It was Sunday.
At 11:27 the Columbia Broad
casting system broke its usual
diet of Sabbath symphonic music
with an announcement that didn’t
drive home its impact until min
utes later. “Japanese bombers
have just attacked Pearl Harbor,
Honolulu, according to the navy
department.” The announcer's
words were clear, brisk and force
ful.
We recall someone stirring on
the davenport before the fire and
asking, “What is this? Orson
Wells?” “Probably some more
Texan propaganda after the game
Saturday!” said another. "Hell’s
bells!” someone else muttered
and slumped back into the com
fortable reaches of an over
stuffed chair.
Somehow we missed further
flashes and not until after dinner,
with the radios blocked with re
ports, did we begin to recognize
the ominous view of things. Mo
mentarily as well as temporarily,
we forgot our assignments. There
was a certain tenseness hovering
over the campus along with the
fog; something electric, some
thing charged that couldn’t break
through the atmospheric layer.
Maps were brought out from
dusty shelves, eyebrows crawled
crazily upward on serious faces,
newspaper extras lay crumpled in
heaps, out-dated already by the
ladio flashes.
That was Sunday, December 7.
By Monday morning, the fu^l
realization of what had happened
filled the early-morning air with
a chilly, biting bitterness when 9
o’clocks were dismissed to Ger
linger to hear Roosevelt’s mes
sage to congress.
Students carried portable ra
dios along with their books to
class . . . many fellows had for
gotten to shave . . . local cam
pus book stores were sold out of
maps . . . class discussions turned
into topics of war . . . the Pioneer
Mother looked sadly dismayed as
long lines of students wa'ked
towards Gerlinger ... a winter
robin perched on the hat of ttm
Oregon Pioneer, hiding his bin
under one wing.
After the assembly, and most
students had returned to their
classes, a radio blaring in the
Side brought the strains of “The
Star-Spangled Banner’’ to every
(Please turn to page eleven)
in the nation's defense effort
•
— a type of carrier telephone circuit — is now being
built into many miles of Long Distance cable lines
to increase tbeir capacity.
Engineers at Bell Telephone Laboratories developed
this circuit which enables two pairs of wires in parallel
f / cables to carry as many as twelve separate conversations
I at the same time.
/ ^ carrier is one of the ways we have found of adding
‘ a lot of long circuits in a hurry to meet defense commu
V nication needs. Such problems constantly challenge Bell
^ System men with pioneering minds. #