Oregon If Emerald
ANNE CRAVEN
Editor
ROSEANN LECKIE
Business Manager
ELIZABETH HAUGEN
Matiaging Editor
FRANNIE MAIER
Advertising Manager
MARGUERITE WITTWER
News Editor
LOUISE MONTAG, PEGGY OVERLAND
Associate Editors
Jane Richardson, Phyllis Perkins, Vingima
Schell, Maty Margaret Ellsworth, Norris
Yatevdty Desk Editors
Bjorg Hansen, Executive Secretary
Betty French Robertson, Women’s Editor
Flora Furrow, Assistant Managing Editor
Winifred Remtvedt, Assistant News Editor
Darrell Boone, Photographer
Betty Bennett, Music Editor
Phyllis Amacher, World News Editor
Gloria Campbell, Mary K. Minor
Librarians
EDITORIAL BOARD
Norris Yates, Edith Newton, Carol Sibutsky
PuJalisked daily, during the college year^except Sundays, Mondays, and holidays and
final examination periods by the Associated Students University, of Oregon.
Entered a§ second-class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon.
/1 fyiUitUf. Memorial, . .
When the campus war board was established in 1942, a ser
vice scholarship fund was also set up. The living' organizations
contributed war bonds to it to assist veterans of this war with
their college expenses.
Now the G.l. bill of rights provides for that assistance so that
the fund will not he necessary. Servicemen are assured a year
of college if their education was interrupted by the war. Under
certain conditions, the. veterans can receive this aid for a longer
time.
Since its real purpose is now well taken care of, the fund
could become supplementary to government assistance or an
ordinary scholarship fund, or it could he applied to some other
worthy end.
One possibility is its transfer to,the Student Union cause.
The Student Union building has been a dream for years at the
University and under post-war building plans, it will become
a reality. The committee is collecting contributions now to add
to the existing sum.
By transfer to the Student Union the scholarship fund could
retain its original purpose of “doing something for the hoys.”
The money could be used to finance one special room which
would he dedicated to the University students who were in
military service during the war.
Jl would not have to he a shrine-like room. It would probably
he more fitting if it were one of the rooms already planned—
a social hall, reading room, or game room. The Student Union
committee could decide what would he most appropriate.
Such a room would he both a lasting memorial to Oregon
servicemen and a real contribution to the University.
If the fund should he used for service scholarships, it would
he ;i duplication or addition to government aid. Applied to the
Student Union building fund it would keep all the sentimental
as well as practical value for which it was started.
The decision rests with the student government as to how
the money should he used. It's a good time to make that
decision.
/■1 New 'IfeaSib. Qlft. . .
The new year is always ushered in by resolutions — the
promise to turn over a new leaf, break away from bad habits,
acquire some new good ones. We declare our intentions to
study harder and longer, to buy more war stamps and bonds,
and perhaps spend a little extra time rolling bandages. We set
new goals for ourselves as we become fired with ambition
to do big things, to really get somewhere.
In line with this general atmosphere we are suggesting a goal
which we would like to see attained in the very near future. At
the beginning of fall term we were promised a new president
as a 1945 Xew Year's present. The new year has rolled around,
as years have a habit of doing, and the state board of higher
education is still interviewing prospects.
Acting President llollis is doing a fine job but the situation
'till stands—no permanent president has been selected. We
realize that the board has interviewed innumerable men for
the position and that the board members are working indus
triously in an effort to find a new University president, but
it lias been a year ami we are getting anxious.
W e would like the state board to make a new t ear’s resolu
tion to the eftect that it will do its utmost to secure a new
president for the L'niversitv SOON.
We want the board to make a careful selection, yes, but at
this point we also wish the board would hurry things up so
that a permanent president will be obtained during this term.
^^^^4'4,4'l’4'TTTTTTTTTT't,TTT1
JletteAA.
To the Editor
Dear Webfoots:
Present scene of inactivity is
England. What a country. Weather
here is a dead ringer for Oregon—
only more so. This is one place
where The Rains Came to stay.
This must be where Pearl Buck
got her start. For my money she
should have stopped.
Have had a couple of brief so
journs in London. London—that’s
the English word for Ringling
Brothers. It’s the birthplace of the
aggressive female.
Social hub for the G.I. is Pica
dilly Circus. It isn’t a circus as we
know one in the U. S.( but no bet
ter word could be found to describe
it. The only coy thing I saw there
was a dog. It sniffed twice at a
•fireplug. Even the telephone poles
whistle as you walk by. If you
hesitate for a moment your life
isn’t worth a nickel.
There isn’t much to drink in
London. There’s beer, but it’s
worse than what they sell in Tay
lor's. Scotland is near England.
They make Scotch in Scotland.
Then they send it to the U. S. so
that the Oregon liquor board can
pass it out on what I used to think
was a stingy ration. Live and
learn.
I've seen some of the “better
things’’ in town, too. I went to
Westminster Abbey. That’s the
church the Anglicans took over
from us Mackeral Snappers. They
seem to have made it pay. It’s
quite a place. They’ve got a bunch
of stiffs cached away in the walls
or some place. It’s supposed to be
an honor. I suppose it is. But if
someone wanted to honor me, I
would rather have him give me a
bottle of bourbon.
There’s a lot of statuary in the
place, too, but no one I know. One
guy looked like my mother's Uncle
Tom.
I saw Parliament, too. Just from
the outside. I almost got in, but a
cop caught me just in time. Speak
ing of getting caught, there is a
plaque in Westminster in memory
of Neville Chamberlain. I was go
ing to spit on it, but a guy who
had his shirt on backwards was
watching me.
Back to Parliament. That's
where all the big shots meet to de
cide whether stop signs on streets
should be red or crimson and a lot
of other stuff like that. Real im
portant. Churchill pays a visit once
in a while to tell how he and F.D.R.
are winning the war. It’s just a
Qlabalhf Sfi&ahuuj,
By BILL SINNOTT ^
Much to the horror of such campus liberals as Messrs. Fran- j
chere, Buell, and Politz, we picked Winston Churchill as Man '
of the Year for 1944. We take this opportunity to survey
Winnie’s position on the world stage a year later.
In a military way the Allies are winning on all fronts; in a i
political and ideological way they are more divided than at any j
time since the start of the war.
Churchill saved England in 1940
by his eloquence. His speeches were
England’s only shield against the
panzer divisions.
Liberals made the mistake of re
garding Churchill as one of them
selves because of his bitter hatred
of Hitler and Mussolini. Churchill,
as the king’s first minister, was
only trying to keep the British
Empire intact.
Churchill started his political
career almost a half century ago
as a Tory. He crossed the aisle of
the house and became one of the
chief figures of the liberal min
istries that passed so many of the
social-security laws that terrified
the Colonel Blimps of Edwardian
England.
Churchill showed his true senti
ments by becoming the leading
allied foe of the Bolsheviks who
had overturned the liberal Keren
sky government of Russia in No
vember 1917. Churchill supported
the armies of Kolshak, Denikin,
Wrangel, and Yudenitch with mon
: ey, arms, and men, until the
Whites were driven from Soviet
soil by the troops of Trotsky.
A Die-Hard Tory
Along with Lord Lloyd, Amery,
and other die-hard Tories, Winnie
fought the government of India
act of 1935 to the last ditch. The
prime minister reflects the im
perialistic period of his youth
whose laureate was Kipling.
The British government’s for
eign policy is even more muddled
than ours. Downing street follows
a weak policy in Poland and a
strong policy in Greece.
We are prone to forget that both
Britain and France went to war in
case of “My brains and Frank's
money.” Makes me wonder what
I'm doing here.
One day I set out to find Big
Ben. I found it, and what a dis
appointment! I though it was an
English giant, and it turned out to
be a clock. Hell, I’ve seen lots of
clocks but not many giants.
All over London there are huge
arches; Marble Arch, London Inn
Gateway, etc. I met a girl and
mentioned the arches. I told her We
(Please turn to page three)
1939 to prevent Hitler from carving
up the Polish state. Churchill ad- '
vises the Poles to accept the so? f
called Curzon line as their eastern
frontier; receiving in compensation
parts of Silesia and East Prussia.
The Poles are loathe to accept
these German territories without
an Anglo-American guarantee of 1
their boundaries which we f'eFuse j
to give.
Churchill's Grecian policy is
violently criticized by both Am
erican and British liberals. His
leading critics in Britain, two com
rades of foreign extraction, Em
manuel Shinwell and Harold Laski,
have accused Churchill of fascist
sympathies. |
Churchill Farsighted
They point to his praise of
Franco and Humbert, his vetoing
Count Sforza as Italian foreign
minister and to his support of the
Papandreou government in Greece.
They forget Churchill was>"de
nouncing the Nazi menace and
pleading for British rearmament
when the Laborites in the house of
commons voted against arms ap»j
propriations. !
Churchill tried to disarm the l
ELAS, the armed branch of the I
EAM, a movement whose core is 1
composed of militant commies.
Laborites countered Churchill’s
striking phrase that “democracy is
not a harlot to be picked up on the
street with a tommy gun” by point
ing out that “neither was dem
ocracy a maiden to be ravished^ in
Athens by a Tommy with a lend
lease gun.”
Greek Turmoil Eased
The Grecian situation has be
come somewhat clarified by King
George's reluctant consent to the
appointment of Archbishop Damas
kinos as regent of Greece.
Churchill remains a somewhat
choleric prime minister of England.
His opponents have no one capable
of filling his shoes. The Laborites
suffer from a paucity of leaders.
Such trade union hacks as Morri
son, Bevan, and Atlee do not in
spire the British with their abil
ities to cope with the empire’s
involved foreign relations. Church
ill will probably retire as Duke of
Chartwell when the victory is won.
(leaieiaen. Pn.aiiei. 'State at the Natixui'
By FABER O’HAGAN
STATE OF THE NATION, Jolin Dos Fassos,
Houghton Miflin. This book is a very readable report
on the state of the nation, covering the subject re
markably well. It is written for the entire nation,
for all sections and all shades of thought. It has
nothing to say to select groups which are already
agreed about the state of this country—(that it is
either well on the way toward a glorious social
reformation, or that it is riding a unicycle on the
brink of disaster).
It is a book for all those who are anxious to
know what people are doing and saying, what they
expect from the future. Only an exceptional book
can speak to such a large audience. John Dos Passos
(who is one of the four or five best writers of the
last twenty years) has written such a book. “State
of the Nation'1 has something to say to all readers,
even to those who have to spell out the comic
strips.
Those who enjoy narrative and seek nothing more
will be pleased by Dos Passos’ technique, one he
uses so well it is thought of as his own personal
property. He suggests tremendous strain and hustle
by showing scenes from a great number of lives in
rapid succession. The effect is that of a vivid and
realistic moving picture with many likeable actors
in astonishingly natural poses.
Other readers who probe into the book more
deeply will find their pleasure increased according
to the depth of their thinking. The psychological
motivations and responses of the actors will interest
some. The economic factors leading inevitably
toward certain results will fascinate others. Socio
logical problems, like the over-crowding of San
Francisco's Chinatown, will stimulate and reward
the deepest thought.
If none of these things interest you there are
dozens of others to pick over. The book is as pro
found as the reader is able to make it.
The basis for the narrative is a trip Mr. Dos
Passos made around the country, from north to
south and from east to west. There are fourteen
chapters dealing with every section of the land,
from Yankee mechanics to north and west of the
great divide.
The chapter on the northwest is the most i£.n
thusiastic of the 14 but even here an effort is made
to present the material without bias. There are
no pet schemes outlined, no economic arguments ad
vanced. Nevertheless, a careful reader will feel that
a crisis is coming with the end of the war. Dos
Passos is tremendously optimistic about our ability
to meet that crisis but he would like us to be better
prepared, better informed of what is happening and
of what is likely to follow.
After reading “State of the Nation” one feels
there is far too much short sighted planning, a sad
excess of grasping selfishness. Still, no corrective
plan is outlined. The reader is free to reach his own
conclusions as to what should be done. The purpose
of the book is to point out that something will have
to be done.
In this book John Dos Passos proves himself a
mature and thoroughly competent observer who is
able to retain a beautiful faith in the people of
his country while still seeing their shortcomings.