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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1946)
Page 2 DAILY emerald Thursday, Nov. 21, 1946 Emerald MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT Editor GEORGE PEGG Business Manager JACK L. BILLINGS. Managing Editor HERB PENNY News Editor BOB FRAZIER, MARILYN SAGE Associate Editors MARYANN THIELEN and walt mckinney Assistant Managing Editors BOBOLEE BROPHY and BRUCE BISHOP Assistant News Editors JEANNE SIMMONDS Women’s Editor PAT THOMPSON Executive Secretary JUNE GOETZE Assistant Women’s Editor BOBBIE FULMER Advertising Manager BERNIE HAMMERBECK Sports Editor BILL STRATTON, WALLY HUNTER Assistant Sports Editors ROGER TETLOW DON JONES Chief Night Editor Staff Photographer Faculty Adviser—Dean George Turnbull Signed editorial features and columns in the Emerald reflect the opin ions of the writers. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial staff, the student body, or the University. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon. When The Chips Are Down Selection of Oregon’s “Senior Six” to Phi Beta Kappa this week coincides with publication of the biennial report of the Oregon state system of higher education in which a need for Study and scholarship of the type recognized by the scholastic honorary is stressed so strongly. The biennial report views with some alarm the tendency of today’s students, particularly veterans, to get a high grade ..rade-school education instead of a good university education. It points to the atomic bomb as an achievement of science and to our inability to cope with its moral implications as a failure of our generation to study the “humanities.” A world peopled entirely by Phi Betas would be a pretty poor place to live, we fear, but without them, or persons of their ilk, it would be equally poor. There is a place for the humanities, tor men with the good liberal education. Unfortunately, we are losing sight of it in our passion for building better mousetraps, bigger battleships, and faster flying machines. Maybe these six new Phi Betes, these newly elected “brains,” don't know how to handle the atomic bomb either, but chances are they have a better idea than the average artisan who helped put it to gether. If we ever know how to handle it, our knowledge will come not from physicists and engineers, who are physicists and engineers only, but from men who have studied the moral and ethical history of man’s struggle to better himself and to blow himself to bits. The little gold key these six may soon be wearing is not the badge of the oracle; it is not an open sesame to the worldly oyster. Any sourpuss can point to a dozen examples of the Phi Betc w ho doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain, of the Phi Beta Kappa keys in hock shops, or he can call our at tention to the sage who never went to high school, or who gradu ated from college with a scant two point. All this is very well, but somehow we aren’t convinced. We’ll bet that when the chips are down, these people have it; that by and large their grade point averages, one of them an astronomical 3.8, are pretty good indications of what they got out of their university experience—and of how much work went into it. As You hike It Finally the students who approve of the Emerald's policy as well as the. chronic knockers will have an opportunity to express their opinions in an orderly and valuable manner. The scientifically conducted survey of campus student and faculty opinion of the Emerald will begin next week—a project which Emerald staff members have backed from its inception. The entire staff is anxious to publish a newspaper which will be of interest to all students. We know that it is impossible to please everyone at all times, but we can attempt to please the ma joritv most of the time. The editor has on file dozens of letters from readers which must be considered individual expressions, not as representing any number of students. Only a poll of ap proximately c)4 percent accuracy can give us a workable knowl edge of what is expected of the Emerald. The Kmerald assures the student body that the preferences is tabulated by the poll-takers will be acted upon. Content of the newspaper is what the staff is most interested in. That is why the opinion question, “What suggestions can you make concerning changes in the Emerald which will make it more readable to vou?” will be most carefully considered by the Emerald staff. We want to know whether you like the gossip column, the political comments columns, the women’s pages, the sports pages, the news features, the publication of letters to the editor, et cetera. And most of all we want to know WHY you feel the way you do. This term's Emerald has been based mostly on precedence. We want the. 1947 Emerald to be what the 1917 student body requires. The only way we can find out is to ask you 600 of you. The 5000 students who will not be officially polled are invited to send their opinions directly to the editor whose job it is to publish the Emerald as you like it. CHECK: OREGON DAILY EMERALD Opinion Survey Male. Female. Married. Single. Class.Major. I. Do you read the Emerald ? 1. Daily.*.... 2. 1 to 4 times a week.Never. If 2 or 3 is answered— why not daily ? a. Lack of time . b. Lack of interest. c. Never get it. If “c,” where do you live ? . II. Whfct, in order of preference, do you read in the Emerald ? 1. Editorials. 2. Features. 3. General news. 4. Regular signed columns. 5. Sports page. III. Would you like to see the Emerald run news of national or inter national interest covered by Associated Press ?. IV. What kind of advertisements do you read? V. What suggestions do you have to make concerning changes in the Emerald which would make it more readable to you ? Please answer in detail; make criticism constructive). (Clip, fill in, and send to Emerald editor, Journalism building, campus) AS WE SEE IT By DALE HARLAN One Party Rule in Oregon There has long been prima facie evidence of a situation in Oregon in which all advocates of- good citi zenship should be interested. Ore gon has become a one-party state. The Republican party now domin ates Oregon more completely than any other state, even if we include Maine and Vermont. It rules the government of this state as one sidedly as the Democratic party rules the South, which is certainly a condition deplored by exponents of wholesome sovereignty. There arc fewer Democrats in the Oregon legislature than in the leg islatures of such strictly republican states as Iowa, Maine, and Kansas. The new Maine legislature, for ex ample, has fourteeen Democrats, that of Oregon only seven. In the South the legislature of Tennessee contains thirty Republicans, which is more than four times as many Democrats as sit at Salem. Old Trend This trend in Oregon is an old one. Our. state has not elected a Democrat to the United States sen ate since 1914. The last Democrat elected secretary of state was G. W. Webb in 1886, considerably more than half a century ago! A handful of Democrats have held public of fice in Oregon in recent years, yet this has merely been the exception which proved the rule. A few observers have expressed regret at the quality of the Demo cratic candidates. The fact remains, however, that the Democrats have not even been able to elect 60 illus trious a candidate as George Ber nard Noble of Heed college, one of America's eminent educators. Of the men elected to state-wide execu tive and legislative office in Oregon j since the turn of the century, 351 have been Republicans and 7 Dem ocrats. This futility on the part of j the Democrats approximates the Republican plight south of the Ma son and Dixon line. Vigilant Check What is the result of this to Ore- - gon and its. welfare ? After the third Demo'cratic sweep nationally under President Roosevelt, The Oregonian declared in an editorial, “It’s the responsibility of the mi nority party to exercise a vigilant check on acts of the majority, to ex pose corruption, to prevent excesses, and to see that the views of the minority are forcefully presented.” It is evident that this wisdom would be just as true locally as national ly But in Oregon there is no rejil vo ciferous minority. Even during the most overwhelming Democratic r victories scored by Mr. Roosevelt, | the Republicans had in Washington i such distinguished spokesmens# McNary of Oregon, Taft of Ohio, Johnson of California, and Vanden berg of Michigan. They exercised the “vigilant check” to which The Oregonian referred. No such minor ity representation exists in Oregon. The Republican party governs this state without effective opposition. Postmaster’s Party The answer is not readily appar ent. Some Democrats have proposed that their party cease operation en tirely, and become a “postmasters” j party,” as are the Republicans in . the South. Others have suggested that all Democrats in the state should enter the Republican party, I thus making the primaries the sole I contest. Even this suggestion has j merit. It would make for more of a ' spirited contest in the primaries and thus help get out the vote. | In sections of the country wh&f6f{ for all practical purposes, a one party system prevails, progress tends to stagnate under single po- ’ litical machines. We need the stim ulation of contest between two par ties, not only from the standpoint , of political and civil liberties, but because it encourages attempts to j solve the social and economic prob- i lerns of the area. It should be of grave concern to us all that our state, in which we take just pride, is now left with- I out a political opposition worthy of the name. ______ t COUPLE would like ride to Med ford Nov. 27—call 3792-M. WILL CARE for children, my home, for Ore.-OSC game. 245y2 i Pearl St. BEGIN NOW TO SELECT Those Christmas Gifts Use Laraway's Lay-away plan * Watches * Sterling ^ Diamonds LARAWAY'S Eugene s finest Jewelers Since 1909 885 Willamette — - 1 YOUNG AND SMART! 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