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.
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