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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1947)
Oregon W Emerald MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT GEORGE PEGG Editor Business Manager ' BOB FRAZIER, TED GOODWIN Associates to Editor JACK L. BILLINGS BILL, YATES Managing Editor News Editor MARYANN THIELEN and BOBOLEE BROPHY and WAt/r mckinney june goejtze Assistant Managing Editors Assistant News Editors ’ JEANNE SIMMONDS DOUG EDEN Feature Editor Advertising Manager BERNIE hammerbeck Sperts Editor wtt.t. STRATTON, WALLY HUNTER Assistant Sports Editor# ROGER TETLOW DON JONES Chief Night Editor Staff PhotOg^hOf Sighed editorial features and columns in the EhieraJd 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, EUgeSe, Oregon. The ineligibility of Marty Pond for the Dads’ Day chairman ship makes the Emerald blush. On Wednesday we published an editorial suggesting the ASUO executive council might as well resign and turn the reigns over to President Tom Kay. We based that suggestion on recent council meetings during which little was done by the council except to give approval to all recommendations and appointments made by Kay. We take it back. Perhaps it would be wiser if the council stayed on the job and did its job. The ASUO constitution de fines the duties of the council to he, among other things, the initiation, sponsorship, and supervision of all student activi ties necessary to carry out the objects of this association. Perhaps if the council had bothered to read carefully the petitions of applicants for the Dads’ Day chairman and to as certain the eligibility of applicants, instead of blindly approv ing Kay’s choice, the present embarrassment would not have occurred. We understand that Tom Kay plans to choose another man for the job and ask the council’s okay next Tuesday. We sug gest the executive council take a direct interest in student gov ernment and affairs henceforth and do some of the research themselves. We were under the impression that up-to-date eligibility certificates accompanying petitions for student of fices were standard operating procedure. If the council is unanimously willing to let Kay take all responsibility, let us frankly admit that democratic student government on this campus is a farce and be done with it. What Manner of Men A lot of people around this University are reputedly miffed at the venal press this week. They see the press, campus and big citv, as a lot of rumor mongers who go poking their long' noses into places where they don’t belong. Maybe there is something in their view, but not much. Down here at the Emerald we are a bunch of novices. Our knowledge of journalism is limited by our brief experience. If we were rcallv good we wouldn’t be here. However, we do know newspaper people. We like these people. We hang around with them most of the time. Some of us even went far enough to get married or engaged to newspaper folk. A few words on these people, what manner of men they are might be apropos. They don’t go around shouting their creeds, and raving about their sacred mission to give light and let the people find tlveir own way. But they have pretty definite attitudes about a lot of thing's. They don’t like cloak and dagger acts. They are suspicious of the big secret. They are really interested in learning the truth—not just that which is announced (or “confirmed'’) but also the vast body of truth that is never confirmed but is true nonetheless. There is a great deal of truth that some people fain would keep out of the paper. They don’t manufacture rumors. If they must print rumors, real ones, in the process of blasting out the truth, they may do so, but they don’t like to. They are not impressed by big names and big titles. They hold a healthy American scorn for the old Army custom of “pulling rank." They are reasonable guys. They'll play ball. They may even "sit on" big stories for a while if they believe it is worth while. But they won't keep quiet forever. They cooperate best when cooperated with. They are moved to great resourcefulness if they believe somebody is pulling the wool over their eyes. Toward One World... Scientific Attitude Toward Racial, National Differences Advocated BY THE ONE WORLD CLUB The great difficulty for those of us who wish to unify the peoples of the world into a peaceful, pro gressive whole lies in making the average observer conscious of the fallacies in traditional beliefs and prejudices, or at least to awaken a more scientific attitude. Too many thinkers of past and present have placed intelligence on the basis of “brains are passed oiit at birth.” From ah international point of view, each nation is fairly certain that it excels all others by the Virtue of being bdfrt German, or Swedish, or American. From a radial point of view, we find many Orientalis who assume that westerners are doers but not thinkers, as well as the familiar “white race su premacy” agitators who fear any scientific informa tion oh the subject, pro or con. What are the facts on intelligence, as a native ability? intelligence In intelligence test performance, we offer no con clusive laws of behavior as infallible guides. Objec tively, we cannot say there is no difference, or there is difference, btit almost every study in racial and national group suggests that intellectual differences can be traced to culture, and are not inborn. Also, the psychologist must decide who shall be included in a race for testing purposes, which in itself is a puzzle. In Negro-white studies, the light-colored per son with three-fourths white blood is socially a Negro and is most often classed as such for research pur pose. The same difficulty arises with other races, which in itself shows that no over-all statement will hold when the group it describes cannot be identified. Culture as a pre-determiner of a man’s mode of action is vital to a consideration of a unified world. The American jazz band probably offends the Mo hammedan ear; the average Chinese reverence for family may seem absurd to us. Today there is a bleach between Russian and American conceptions of what will bring the greatest good to the greatest number. Trivial and vital, all are differences. Language varia tions are an obvious barrier. All these things account ' for many differences among peoples which are as- 4 sumed by some to be hereditary and unchangeable. Anthropologists and sociologists have combined with psychology in showing how entirely different cul tures can be established by people of identical hered ity, as in Mead’s studies in the South Pacific. Environment ^ The quality of environment, rich versus poor, has been shown to be the key to several problems. A last warning to the layman who wishes to base his political ideals of unity on facts concerns the in dividuals in relation to his group. Almost every test and every accumulation of data shows clearly that individual differences within racial and natibnal groups are larger than differences between the groups. For instance, I.Q.’s run from 0-200 in every, race or nation. Picking a Mexican, a Canadian, or an American at random may result in three geniuses, three average people, or three morons, since there are these types, and all the in-between scores, in each nation. A generalization of this fact made when so ciologists impresses upon us that the average Ger man is more like the average American than the very wealthy American is like Mr. Common Man; not only in material wealth but in amusements, interests, am bitions, and family life. Only broad statements have been made, but it these carefully accumulated facts were generally known and accepted, world peace could be achieved with less prejudice and pessimism. Budget First$ Citizens Second The American Veterans Committee reports that its legis lative representatives in Washington are working on two plans to improve the system of payment of GI bill subsistence checks. One is to decentralize the system of payment and the other is to increase the amount of payment. Both plans are fairly representative of the type of lobbying now under way by various veteran groups and from the vet eran viewpoint both are to be desired. The pay decentralization plan calls for the issue of one check to a disbursing officer in each area where vets are in school. He will then pay them from a payroll prepared month ly by the local VA office. This would inconvenience a few whose checks have been coming regularly on the first of each month but many whose checks have been late would gladly stand in line a few minutes on pay day. While the situation here is not as bad as reported at Michi gan, where over 1,200 vets are said to have applied for emer gency loans due to failure of checks to arrive on time, there are several cases of individual hardship on the campus as the result of over centralization in the VA. One student who mailed his marriage certificate to the VA in August is still drawing $65 a month in January. Others, through no fault of the local office waited, sometimes as long as two months for their first check when school began. The second proposition, increasing the subsistence pay ments from $65 to $100 and from $90 to $125 with a $25 bonus for each child, sounds good to the vet but may not sound so good to the new Congress. Actually, according to cost of living table's, the proposed increase would just about bring the veterans subsistence value up to its real money value at the time the original GI bill was passed. With the Congress ready to slice off from 5 to 10 billion from the President’s budget, this plan is probably doomed to become just a pleasant dream. At any event, the A VC has served notice that its slogan, "Citizens first, veterans second,” leaves the veterans a close second if not tied for first. For parlor use, the vague generality is a litesaver. —George Ade. it If FAIRMOUNT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH E. 15th & Villard Blvd. Eugene, Oregon DR. JOSEPH R. HARRIS, Acting Pastor 11 a. m. Sermon: "Growing Up" Students, Faculty Members and visitors cordially welcome. By LeJEUNE W. GRIFFITH The King, tlSe chorus, the'custom —The Associated Collegiate Press reports that the custdm of standing during the singing of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s “Messiah’' was not born of a regard for thei work. A CP states that according to the legend the King of Ehgland, when attending a performance of I the “Messiah,” was sitting in his special box on the mezzanine in I view of a large part of the audience. The performance was especially long and the theater became warm; so, just before the presenta tion of the Hallelujah chorus, the king stood up to stretch. In the best tradition of court etiquette, the au dience also arose. While the kingl was still standing, the Hallelujah chorus began. Thus, a tradition was born. Little by little the custom spread, until now it is traditional to stand whenever the Hallelujah cho rus is performed. Education is life rather than a preparation for life.—Vinai, ‘%a ture Recreation. Fish and Chips Just a few minutes drive from the campus on High way 99 north. Look for the long green awning DICK'S FISH & CHIPS 1490 W. 6th