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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1947)
Oregon ^Emerald MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT Editor GEORGE PEGG Business Manager BOB FRAZIER Associate to Editor JEANNE SIMMONDS Managing Editor BILL YATES News Editor BERNIE HAMMERBECK Sports Editor DON FAIR, WALLY HUNTER Assistant Sports Editors _ ‘ WALT McKINNEY Assistant Managing Editor BOBOLEE BROTHY and jrNE GOETHE Assistant News Editors BARBARA TWIFORD Advertising Manager PHYLLIS KOHLMEIER Executive Secretary UOll JUI1C3, cum * i»v-vv»»s» ***—».. __ " REPORTERS Beth Easier, Bettye Joe Bledsoe, Diana Dye, Ruth Eades, A1 English, E»g’"jj|11' i/iririnia Fletcher Joanne Frydenlund, Chuck de Ganahl, Laveme Gunderso , T„np DonnaKlctz.og’ Janice Kent, Pat King, Phyllis Kohlme.e^ Betty nagomars.no June WcConneU, Barbara Murphy, Laura Olson, Carol Jo Parker, Nancy Peterson, Helen suer c&an, Virginia Thompson, Jim Wallace, Sally Waller.___. MEMBER — ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS ASSOCIATED PRESS WIRE SERVICE____ Sittned editorial features and columns In the Emerald reflect theopinions.of,1the writers. They do' toot necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial staff* -he stude y» ■ ''riflivpftfilY Entered a3 second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene* Oregon.___ Happy Ending... The radio play entitled “Happy Ending by Evelyn L. Keller, cut off the air by KOAC technicial Bob Merrell fhuis day afternoon is a “loaded” show. The script is without doubt slanted against labor unions. It is pro-management. But that 'does not justify Merrell’s action. The play deals with Joe, a worker in a kitchenware fac tory, who refuses to join a labor union because he feels that the employer has always played fair with his men. The union organizer uses high pressure methods on Joe; Joe goes to mayor: Joe: The unions are pushing their membership drive at Daly”s, and they’ve gone so far as to try to force Tom and me to join. Mayor: What am I supposed to do? Joe: Tonight one of the union men ... I won’t mention any names . . . met us at the gate, and when we refused to sign, he pulled a gun at us. iviayor; ^laugniug; un, cunro mm. Joe: Am I to understand then, that you refuse to give us any protection whatever? Mayor: It’s my only choice in the matter. . . . Why don’t you boys join the union? . . . You’ll be on the right side of the fence in ease of trouble. So Joe leaves the office thinking that the mayor is being paid off by the union. He attends a strike meeting and tries to talk the union members into continuing with their work; Employer Daly, Joe explains, can’t afford to raise wages. But the union men beat him up in an alley and strike. Joe goes to the hospital with a variety of injuries. The strike causes the factory owner to die—heart attack. The plant goes bank rupt, and the “happy ending” comes in when all the workers wind up out of a job. As Worker Ben explains: Ben: The original principle of the unions was . . . and still is ... a fine thing. To keep up the living standards of laborers . . . to see that they get a square deal . . . that’s fine. But the trouble with unions . . . like a lot of other things ... is that somebody goes to a lot of trouble to get something honest and worthwhile going, and then another guy comes along and figures it’s a nice, easy way to get money, or power . . . and pretty soon it’s been turned into a racket. Anne (Joe's little sister): Gee! The play infers that labor unions are up to no good, and is designed to have the audience weeping into their beards by the time Old Man Daly dies. * * =!-• Tt is not difficult to understand why Merrell, a former stu dent, infantryman, local farmer, and member of the wood workers union, would feel bitter about that script. It is not •difficult to understand why he cift the show off the air. But the important point is this: Merrell interfered with freedom of speech. It was not his place as a technician to do so . . . just as it is not the place of a linotype operator to refuse to set a newsstory he does not agree with. Whether the script was pro-labor or anti-labor is not the fundamental question; regardless of what it said the cast was entitled to present that plav over the air. And Merrell, regardless of his personal feel ings, was not entitled to interfere. There is the argument that KOAC, as a state-owned sta tion, should not broadcast only one side of any controversial subject. That is undeniable. However, we believe those responsible intended the play, not as propaganda, but merely as another type of play. Art for art's sake—regardless of social or political implica 'tions. This mav not be wise, but it is excusable. The incident is unfortunate in that it caused embarrassment -;o manv individuals. It is more important, however, in that t made these persons realize very vividly their responsibility ,o the radio audience in the presentation of information—just as newspapers are supposed to be responsible to the public. And it is extremely important in that it illustrates that cur tailment of our freedom of speech, regardless of what is spoken, is intolerable. Perhaps THAT is a happy ending. . I Toivard One World... Responsibilities of United Nations Trusteeship Council Explained By BOB MITCHELL For the One World Club The United Nations Charter in Article 73 declares that members which have responsibilities for the ad ministration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government, rec ognize the principle that the interests of the inhabi tants of these territories are paramount. They accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the ut most the well-being of the inhabitants of these ter ritories. To this end the member states undertake to insure, with due respect for the culture of the peo ples concerned, their political, economic, social, and educational advancement; their just treatment, and their protection against abuses. They undertake to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions according to the particular circumstances of each territory. The trusteeship chapter lists three categories of territories which may be placed in trust by means of trusteeship agreements. These are: 1. Territories now held under mandate. (This would include the only remaining Class A man date, Palestine; Class B mandates over former German territories in Africa; Class C mandates over German islands in the Pacific.) 2. Territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the war. (This would in clude Japanese owned islands in the Pacific, for example, Okinawa.) 3. Territories voluntarily placed under the sys tem by states responsible for their adminis tration. (This would include areas now con trolled by colonial powers which might eventu ally decide to place some or all of them under the trusteeship system. The trusteeship arranged for each territory to be placed in trust is to be agreed upon by the states directly concerned, including the mandatory power. This provision has been described as a “joker” or the “joker clause.” Thus countries which at subsequent peace conferences receive territories detached from enemy states are free to abstain from placing them under the trusteeship system, if they so desire. ' "* The trusteeship agreement may designate a stra tegic area or areas which may include part or all of the territory to which the agreement applies. In accordance with the provision, separate arrange- 1 mento are made for administration of the two types of areas. All functions of the organization relating to strategic areas are to be exercised by the security council while all functions with regard to areas not regarded as strategic are to be exercised by the gen eral assembly through a trusteeship council. It can be seen that the future of native peoples depend upon the moral obligations of the trustee powers. On the fundamental reconstruction of the world after the last war will rest the fate of depen dent peoples. Consequently, the future of the trustee ship agreement system will depend upon the future of international organization in its larger setting. Telling the Editor ABOUT HEALTH SERVICE Thursday afternoon a baseball player, playing in an intersquad game, broke his leg. Trainer Tom Hughes, realizing the leg was broken, ’phoned the student health service and asked that an x-ray be taken. He explained fully the emergency nature of the request. He asked that the leg be set, so that the player might be relieved of some of the agony. The person at the Health Service told Hughes that it was too late, and for the player to “come back in the morning.” In other words, our school physicians could not be bothered with such a trivial thing as a broken leg, and wanted the ballplayer to spend the night with his leg completely broken, and come up at 8:30 the next morning. The time then, incidentally, was 4:30 p.m. If the infirmary closes at five, why was this person refused proper medical attention? True, they did offer to put “hot and cold compresses” on the limb, but an idiot knows that will not relieve a broken leg. As the situation finally ended, the player was taken to the Sacred Heart hospital where the sisters called a doctor to the'hospital, who set and cast the leg immediately. This is only one of a like series of incidents that have caused contempt | for our health service among the student body. Another student, still on the campus, contracted pneumonia last spring and lay in the infirm ary three days while the doctors treated him for “pleurisy.” An outside physician finally came in and gave treatment. The money being spent freely on our student union might well be duplicated by the state to provide decent health service to the students who ultimately pay the salaries in this school. Eill Larner (Editor’s note: When asked about this problem yesterday, Dr. F. N. Miller of the infirmary said, “We do not have a staff sufficient to give service outside of the regular health service hours.” The reg ular hours are 8 a m. to 4 p.m. He explained that patients were ad mitted to the hospital after hours but that in case of serious injury doctors from downtown were called to handle the patient. He said that patients after hours should be taken to downtown hospitals.— The Emerald will investigate this matter further. ABOUT CO-OP REBATE At the risk of being censored by thrifty savers of Co-op receipts (I saved a few myself), I offer a sug gestion for equitable adjustment of Co-op profits: Why not refund the customary 5 per cent and put the remaining 25 per cent in the student union fund ? The entire 30 per cent allotted to the S.U. fund would be even better. Either plan would be fair and equitable to all students. Objections may be made by stu dents expecting large rebates, but these objections could be satisfac torily met and pacified by the con siderable benefits of an additional $19,000 or $22,800 in the S.U. fund. Objectors would not be “cheated” as they have received goods, at mar ket prices, for all their expended monies in the Co-op. I believe that this distribution of; Co-op profits would, in three or four | years, make a sizeable contribution to Student Union. It would be a practical way to define the word “co-op.” Wm. E. Pearson OOPS—ERROR I should like to correct an error in your editorial of Wednesday, May 14, 1047, in which you state, in your list of campus positions, that the business manager of next year’s Oregana is an Independent. As a matter of record, I am an active member of a campus soror ity and not an Independent. Olga Yevtich Business Manager, 1948 Oregana Americans spent a record total of $7,800,000,000 on alcoholic drinks in 1945, an average of about $56 per man, woman, and child in the country. v)avJimv..■■Uiw.vttanaa'.v.timuMriwa... •> By DALE HARLAN Advanced registration will be held on May 26, 27, 28, and 29 for all spring term students who intend to go to either one or both summer sessions. This is being done so that the veterans’ subsistence pay will not be automatically cut off at the end of this term. Also, the veterans who intend to attend the first ses sion of summer school are request ed to keep in rriind that they must report back to Glen Sweeney at the dean of men’s office on June 18 or 19 so that the VA will know that they are in actual attendance at the Uni versity. If this is not done the Uni versity will automatically interrupt their training and it will be some time before subsistence payments can be reinstated. ah veterans are cautioned to pick up all supplies that they have coming to them before May 20. Af ter that date the Co-op will not is sue any back supplies. The Republican “High Command” in the house of representatives seems to have made two major long run decisions. First, that the Re publican-controlled house will not cut any existing vet benefits even though the GOP economy axe will spare few other phases of federal activity. And secondly, that a “very moderate” start will be made this year on new vet legislation with the big improvements being saved for 1948’s national election year when it will do the most political good. Senator Wayne Morse (R., Ore.) is chairman of the special vet sub committee of the senate committee on labor and public welfare. This committee is considering bills to re peal or increase combined wage and subsistenuee ceilings and later will turn to proposals for higher sub sistence to vets studying or train ing under the GI Bill. This writer believes Morse to be one of the two or three ablest senators in Wash ington. Other members of this spe cial subcommittee are: Senators* Ives (R., N.Y.), Jenner (R., Ind.), Thomas (D„ Utah) and Hill (D., Ala.).