Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1948)
/Itt Editorial AThe Voice with a Sneer' Our favorite newsmagazine reports a plan to send “Friendship” cigarettes to Europe. Object of the plan is to offer cigarettes to European workers as “incentives,” and at the same time to give a badly needed shot in the arm to the American tobacco industry. It seems that many of the small cigarette man ufacturers are operating at only a fraction of their production potential, and that this country is faced with a yearly tobacco sur plus, the presence of which could be serious. So the plan looks foolproof. Everybody gains and nobody loses, assuming of course that the Marshall plan (when and if) aims at sending cigarettes of some kind to West ern Europe. It also presents the enticing possibility of helping to crack the cigarette black market that has been so flagrant in Europe since Salerno. The cigarettes, so the newsmagazine tells us, would be packed in 20 s, just like home. In the case of the shipments to France each pack would bear the word “Amitie,” which is French for friendship. Now that's fine. Rut there is also a proposal,, and it is just a pro posal, our magazine goes on, to put some thing like this on the packs, too: This is one of X million packs of American cig arettes which your friends in the United States are sending to help restore your economy. We are also sending you X million tons of grain, X mil lion tons of coal, X million tons of steel. This seems dangerously near to the “voice with a sneer” attitude that Americans have already been accused of more than once, and perhaps with good reason. If aid to Europe is to be of any real value, we must give it freely, without rubbing the noses of the Europeans in their own mistakes. They are well aware of them—much more so than America is. For that we may all get down on our knees and thank God. Ostensibly there are only two reasons for helping the Europeans at all: 1. We are a charitable people who wish to practice the Christianity we shout about so loudly on Sundays. 2. We are canny businessmen who want Western Europe on our side, when and if the cyclone conies again. That is the old “containing Communism” argument. Patronizing explanations of the type pro posed for the cigarette packages are hardly, likely to promote either end. They will ap peal to opponents of the first line of reason ing—to people who remain unmoved by the French woman who trades her wedding ring for a couple of cans of Yankee spam. They will appeal to the opponents of the second line of reasoning, to the group that would isolate the very real gratitude that might otherwise be forthcoming. But primarily they appeal to the citizen with that great American virtue of showing everybody else how wrong they are and how big and strong and right and virtuous and natural-resourceful we are. They are the people who have never earned the American a name as a sophisticated citizen of the world who is willing to let his neighbor be wrong. The tremendous public relations job a head—Marshall plan or no—is to spike this impression of America, for it is the all too dominent impression abroad, and the im pression that will serve us ill should the cy clone come again. uautosUal Oreaon Grows Cosmopolitan Some students of French and French lit erature met last term to discuss the possi bility of organizing a French club. They de cided there was student interest among the language pupils, and a French club was or ganized. Called Les Thelemites, from Ra belais' satirical “Abbey of Thelem,” the club has derived its slogan, “Do what you please,” from the book. The motto is thorougly satis factory for a foreign language group, for its members are encouraged to do just that— they may listen to French records or sing songs of the country, read poetry to improve diction at the same time they broaden their reading scope, play games in French, learn bridge in the language, or just hold conver sations. Speakers well-versed in topics of interest to the group will be entertained by the stu dents, and later in the year French plays will be presented. Movies in the language will be sponsored and by the members. Les Thelemites President Elizabeth Kratt who has announced tentative meeting times as the first and third Tuesday of each month, has encouraged all students interested in fur thering interest in and knowledge of the lan guage and culture of France to attend. A Spanish club, a German group, and now a French club—how cosmopolitan can we get? —J.B.S. A Metten. to tlte ttditoA, The Continuation of a Fable To The Editor: Could it be that you didn't have space enough to ' print all of Larry Lau’s fable in Friday's Emerald ? Here is the conclusion of the fable. After laboring some time at becoming wise, all the animals in the Oregon kingdom decided that their efforts were fruitless. They called for reme dial action, so Harry the Bear and his advisers held a conference. The conference lasted far into the night, and from it evolved a plan. Harry the Bear • called his subjects together and said: We are going to build a great institution to which you may come and be educated by the wisest animals in our fand. Of course not all of you may attend, for this great place will be supported by tax money. Many of you must continue to work ] and to pay taxes. • This brilliant plan was acclaimed by all the ani mals and soon it was carried out. The older ani mals went back to their jobs and worked hard to earn enough money to pay taxes to send their children through the great place of wisdom. The children went eagerly to the institution to become wise. At first they pored over their texts 12 hours a ! day, seven days a week. Instructors had difficulty getting them to leave the classrooms at night. But this reaction was not to last, for a shrewd entre • peneiip named Lagor.Baas built, an eatallJildweHt. near the institution for purposes of relaxation. Soon the young animals became very interested in relaxation. It had unlimited possibilities. They began to lose interest in their classes. The wise instructors set aside a whole day for relaxation, so the young animals could get it out of their system. But the young animals liked it so much that they clamored for more. Finally they were granted one day out of seven. Soon the instructors were forced to allow an additional half day. But even this did not appease the young animals and soon their demand for nightly relaxtion was granted. Next the summer months were sacrificed, then two weeks at Christmas and two more in spring. The wise instructors became worried. Wisdom was becoming secondary, relaxation a menace. Then one day the young animals came before the wise instructors with a plan for a super- ob servance of relaxation. We must stop classes for a few days, they said. The wise instructors met and refused to cancel classes for the great festival. Wisdom is our goal, they said, and we believe relaxation can be carried too far. The young animals looked very disappointed, but the wise instructors felt that as the youngsters grew older and wiser they would realize the merit of this decision. .. John Harlan /J JleAt&i to- the C'ditob Writer Observes Senators Must Watch What They Say In Wednesday’s Emerald there appeared a letter to the editor en titled, “Writer Says Senator Morse Didn’t Say Anything.” Perhaps she didn’t realize it at the time of writing, but the writer seems to have committed herself to the same crime of which she accuses Sen ator Morse—namely, not really saying anything. The writer displays all the symptoms of having expected a speech which would have incited revolution. Seriously, when we stop to think, none of us could possibly expect a dynamic speech from a senator or any other person representing his people. This assumption would be based on the fact that we are not fortunate enough to have within our ranks an Abraham Lincoln. But we are fortunate enough to have within our ranks legislative bodies composed of cautious men, one of whom is Senator Morse. Very seldom has our country been blessed with the election of a people’s representative who possessed the powers to express and carry out phenomenal ideas. In this case I don’t believe it fair of the writer to place Senator Morse on a pedestal and ridicule him for not saying anything. He is a cautious man, as any of us would be if placed in a similar position. If the headline above Miss Timmens’ letter has any bearing upon her subject this writer would believe it to be false, for if Senator Morse said nothing, how could a person possibly find justification for writing a lengthy letter upon the subject? ' Using the phrase which Miss Timmens employed I would reverse the situation and say that she was the person guilty of attempting to “squeeze blood from a turnip,” with very little success. Stan Klein /7 Jletttesi to the Cditob Democrats Have a Club Which Proves Somebody Cares To the Editor: The Thursday Emerald carried an editorial about the lack of po litical activity on the University campus. The opinion of the editors seemed to be that very little activity was going on at the present time. The Lane County Young Democratic club was re-activated last year. It is the local chapter of the Young Democratic clubs of America, and organization which was founded 15 years ago as the agency for young people in the Democratic party. The membership is composed of persons between 18 and 40 years of'age. Registration as a Democrat is required of members over 21. Before the war an active club was operating in Lane county, but the military forces took so many mem bers that the club ceased to function. The Lane county chapter was reorganized last term and met sev eral times. We are now embarking on an ambitious program of meet ings and social functions. We will feature prominent Democrats and other experts in the field of politics. January 14, Dr. L. A. Wood spoke to the club at the YWCA. His topic was the economic policies of the Democratic administration in foreign trade. We will hear Monroe Sweetland in February and Dr. Schleicher in March. The public is invited to all of our meetings. We are not a recognized campus club, but our membership is com posed entirely of students. We hope to represent the younger portion of our Democratic citizens, not merely as students, but also as an important segment of our population. We hope the Emerald will convey these statements to its readers and show them that at least the Democratic Party is striving to be active in the University community. Robert D. Davis, President. (Editor s Note: The Emerald will welcome similar statements from other campus organizations of this type.) The Dai]y Californian observes that “A used car is like a keg of whiskey; the longer it ages the more it costs.” OregonH herald __ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47 My during the'colfeKTvar “ryr'ent pilh,i?ation °f me University of Oregon, published y during ‘h| college year except Sundays, Mondays, and final examination period.. Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Ore. Member of the Associated Collegiate Press BOB FRAZIER, Editor BOB CHAPMAN, Business Manager BILL YATES _ Managing Editor JUNE GOETZE. BOBOLEE BROPHY Co'-News Editors DON FAIR FRED TAYLOR Co-Sports Editor walt McKinney, Jeanne simmonds, maryann thielen ____ Associates to Editor HELEN SHERMAN _Assistant Managing Editor. WINNY CARL Advertising Manager DUNA DYE jIM WALLACE .__ AssiWant Nws Editors Office Manager ...Marge Huston Foster JoIlnny Kaliai‘a“ui. Bert Moore, Ted Goodwin, Bill— ’ *°®' * ' • - — ' - - a >