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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1947)
Oregon W Emerald MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT Editor GEORGE PEGG Business Manager BOB FRAZIER, TED GOODWIN Associates to Editor JACK L. BILLING!* Managing Editor BILL YATES News Editor MARYANN THIELEN and walt mckinney Assistant Managing Editors BOBOLEE BROPHY and JUNE GOETZE Assistant News Editors JEANNE SIMMONDS Feature Editor DOULr JfiLIJSJN Advertising Manager BERNIE HAMMERBECK Sports Editor j BILL. STRATTON, WALLY HUNTER ■ Assistant Sports Editors DON JONES Staff Photographer 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. Guest Editoral Eight, Five and Even Football coaches, like coaches of any athletic teams of major proportions engaged in intercollegiate competition, ap parently are a race of men possessing an enviable degree of courage. Their efforts, perhaps more so than those of other members of a U. S. college faculty, can be reduced to the painful inadequacy of statistics—Won, Lost, Tied, Per Cent. “Judgment” of them, therefore, is relatively more simple. And spitballs are more readily forthcoming. In the main their security rests with the proportion of wins to losses. If the losses out-bulge the wins, heaven help them. In passing it could be mentioned that we would hesitate to speculate on the number of professors in other departments of U. S. colleges, that would be retained if the achievements of their proteges were to be measured intercollegiatelv, were to be similarly reduced (statistically, that is) and if said profs were to be judged accordingly. This, of course, is fantastic, but imagine, if you will, a headline reading: “Oregon Knitters Drop Stitch, Lose to Washington Weavers.” Too many of these in succession, and the Kmerald one day Mould break out with something like “University Weaving Prof Quits Post in Huff Mr. Etaoin Shrdlu Leaves; ‘No Plans for Future,’ he Says." Football coaches, in addition, are forced to countenance two terribly real though rather incongruous entities concerning current intercollegiate athletic competition. On the one hand are the legions of “school supporters” whose appetities for a “winner” seem, by tradition, to be insatiable. On the other hand are the legions of moralists who, as Rev. John J. Cava naugh of Notre Dame aptly pointed out, scream that “an in definable something has to be done in athletics, in a way no body knows how, at a time nobody knows when, in places no body knows where, to accomplish nobodv knows what.” Last fall Gerald A. “Tex" Oliver resigned as head football coach at the University of Oregon. 'There is hardly room for doubt that Mr. Oliver resigned under pressure. His record was unimposing'—23 wins, 28 losses, and 3 ties. Yesterday James \\ . Aiken, coach and athletic director at the University of Nevada since 1939, was named to succeed Mr. Oliver. Mr. Aiken comes here well recommended. We believe sincerely' that he is an excellent choice. We think concurrence in this belief will be overwhelming. We suspect, however, that Mr. Aiken, good as he is, will not be able to produce a "winner" out of thin air. The posi tively' horrible and unutterably nasty fact remains that he will need material. And the righteous screams and indignant re coilings of the moralists notwithstanding, material gravitates to those who bid highest, either financially or by offering un usually attractive curricula. In the past the security of the position of head football coach at the University of Oregon has been of a dubious nature. Mr. Aiken, in fact, is the 21st Oregon coach in 51 seasons. We earnestly hope Mr. Aiken will be able to erase a measure of this dubiety. We congratulate him on having been selected. We wish him well. —By JOHNNY KAHANANUI Former Emerald Sports Editor. For all right judgment of any man or thing, it is essential to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.— Thomas Carlyle. Dime Marches On As a monument to a great man, the march of dimes is far more real than a statue in the village square or a holiday from school. Franklin Roosevelt, the man, is gone, but kids in wheel chairs and braces will remember the president who couldn't Avalk without a strong man on either arm. As a crippler, polio is probably the mos^t spectacular and the most well known. Great progress has been made in re search and treatment, much more needs to be done. Rheu matic fever, tuberculosis, and other killers still take a greater toll than polio. A start has been made against all three but while people still die for lack of medical care, it is just a start. The funds collected on the campus this month may seem pitifully small in comparison with the cost of keeping a patient in an iron lung for a week, but it all helps. More important is knowing that we can help, along with millions of other healthy people who gave up a coke date or a between-meals candy bar to put the dimes in the jar. It doesn’t cost much to get up in time to eat breakfast in the house, you pay for it anyway. Take the 30 or 40 cents you were going to spend for eggs and toast after your nine o’clock and drop it in the jar. It Works! The manner in which Bob Wallace, good looking, good natured SAE, was named chairman of Dads’ Day by the ASUO executive council should satisfy the most pernicious critics of our student government. Petitions of the 30 odd applicants were given to the council members to read. President Tom Kay recommended two women and four men for special consideration due to their out standing petitions or qualifications. These six were discussed freely by the council with Kay acting as moderator, Three names were eliminated and a vote was finally taken on Howard Lemons, Bob Matteson, and Bob Wallace. Wallace was awarded the petition by a margin of four votes. Admittedly, the selection of a Dads’ Day chairman sounds like a simple operation. It is especially simple when it is han dled like the selection of Marty Pond was. Allowing the coun cil to make the decisions is certainly more cumbersome, but it is also more democratic. We congratulate Tom Kay for this latest evidence that he can play fair, as well as efficiently. And we are pleased to note that the council actually can act in its official capacity when given the chance to do so. Careening down the icy streets on our way to the campus Tuesday morning we witnessed one of life's little tragedies. We saw a lad about 10 years old pushing his way along on a bright red sled—doubtless a Christmas present from a well meaning parent. The little boy looked happy—as he should be, because there was snow enough to make the red sled a practical way of get ting to school. Tuesday afternoon the streets were clean of snow and ice. What we’d like to know is: How did the little boy and his sled get home that night? Prejudice is a great time-saver—it enables one to form opinions without bothering to get the facts. Nothing so good as a university education, nor worse than a university without its education.—Bulwer-Lytton. OF ALL THINGS! By LeJEUNE W. GRIFFITH Grog—The origin of the word “grog” has an interesting history as related in Phrase Origins. Admiral Edward Vernon wore a cloak which was made of grogram (French gros grain, a coarse grain taffeta) and as a result was called “Old Grog.” In 1740 he issued an order which required that British sea-dogs’ drinking water be adulterateed with rum (or was it the other way around?). As a consequence the mixture was dubbed grog, accord ing to well authenticated stories. The Oxford English dictionary, on the subject of grog, quoted a jingle which seems to confirm the origin: “The sacred robe which Vernon wore Was drenched within the same.” Pat Novak and the simile — A Sunday evening with radio’s “Pat Novak for Hire” is an evening full of simile as practiced by Dick Pow ell in last season's “Rogue's Gal lery.” The hard-boiled, fast-talking, one step in front of the law private detective seems to be gaining fans, if imitation is an evidence of popu larity. Of the 15 to 20 examples of the simile per half hour, here are several, a la Novak: “She moved easy like a seagull on warm wind.” “Her legs were like warm honey pouring out of a jar.” “He was as welcome as a box of candy in a dia betic ward.” “He was as happy as a mortician during an epidemic.” “It was like trying to give a wild boar an alcohol rub.” “His stomach hung over his belt like a grey cloud.” “Where do we go from here?”— The Sunday Oregonian announced “sweeping changes affecting the dairying of Marion county,” and of fered interesting evidences of the change which leave us breathless with anticipation. One of these changes is the erection of a 40x80 foot Quonset hut to be used as an ultra-modern milking parlor and cow lounge. We did not realize when we Saw Danny Kaye’s “Kid from Brooklyn” that the beautiful ly appointed dairy, complete with radios, flower-decked stalls, and Goldwyn girl milkmaids, was just around the corner. This convinced us that no one. not even gentle bos sy, can long escape the Hollywood influence. AS WE SEE IT By DALE HARLAN “Portal-to-Portal Pay” The planning behind the CIO': current wave of lawsuits for travel time or “gate-to-gate” pay is be ginning to unfold. CIO leaders ap parently hope to use these suits as a new bargaining weapon in the current bickerings for pay increas es. ! Workers spent a certain amount) of time each day on what is termed] “non-productive” work. Included in) this so-called non-productive work! are such tasks as walking from the plant gates to the shops, chaaqpfegj clothes, and preparing for and clean ing up after work. The union de mands are focused on compensation for such activities. In the last fortnight the “portal to-portal” issue has almost over shadowed the more important ques tion of new wage demands, that was stirred up by economist Robert Na-( than’s report which stated that in dustry as a whole co.uld stand a 25 per cent wage increase without^ raising prices. Damages sought in these law suits now total over $3,000,000,000. The CIO unions have Wisely at- j tempted to get these suits into court before our lethargic anti-labor con gress can act. Pottery Workers The roots of the issue are to be found in a law suit instituted by the-United Pottery Workers (CIO) against the Mt. Clemens (Mich.) Pottery company for back pay for some 1,400 workers. The action, which the union said was for over time required but not paid for, was based on an ambiguous elapse St the Fair Labor Standards (Wage and Hour) Act of 1938. The suit alleged that the workers were required to be on the job, to prepare for work, fourteen minutes before the time for which they were paid. In 1942, Federal Judge Frank Picard found in favor of the union. The Circuit Court of Appeals re versed Judge Picard’s decision and it went on to the Supreme Court of the U. S. which upheld him. The ma jority decision said: “Since the stat utory work-week includes all the time during which an employe is necessarily required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed work place, the time spent in these activities (walking from the gate to the shop, changing clothes, punching the time clock, and etc.) must be accorded appro priate compensation.” The real am biguity of the verdict is to be found in a further statement that “un substantial a n d insignificant periods of time spent in preliminary activities need not be included in the statutory work-week.” It left up to Judge Picard the amount fff bSte' pay to be awarded the pottery work ers. TJ. S. Steel me issue was dormant tor some four years. Then, three weeks ago, on the basis of the Supreme Court finding, the. United Steel workers filed claims against two subsidiary companies of the United States Steel corporation for $120,000,000 in back “portal-to-portal” pay. The justice department has asked the supreme court for a clarifica tion of its original decision in the Mt. Clemen’s case. The department has indicated it fears that the gov ernment may be forced to pay a large part of the damages in cases where war contractors are in volved. Meanwhile, two bills have been introduced into the 80th Congress which would limit the retroactivity of the claims, most of which go back to 1938, and redefine the work-wc^j£. The Wage and Hour Act has no statute of limitations and the suits must be governed by the statutes of the individual states.