Page 2 DAILY EMERALD Saturday, February 7. 1948
Oregon H Emerald
ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47
The Oregon Daily Emerald, official publication of the University of Oregon, published
daily during the college year except Sundays, Mondays, and final examination periods.
Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Ore.
Member of the Associated Collegiate Press
201! FRAZIER, Editor_BOB CHAPMAN, Business Manager
1ULI YATES JUNE GOETZE, BOBOLEE BROPHY
Managing Editor_Co-News Editors_
DON FAIR FRED TAYLOR
Co-Sports Editor
walt McKinney, jeanne simmonds, maryann thielen
Associates to Editor
HELEN SHERMAN
PHYLLIS KOHLMEIER
Asst. Managing Editors
WINNY CARL
Advrtising Manager
DIANA DYE , . JIM WALLACE
Assistant News Editors
National Advertising Manager .^ar^vT- Turner
Circulation Manager .Billijean Riethmiller
Editorial Board: Harry Glickman, Johnny Kahananui, Bert Moore, Ted Goodwin, Bill
Stratton, Jack Billings. __
Discompany's First Six Years
Saw Rags-to-Riches Rise
By MICHAEL CALLAHAN
A bottle of the best California champagne is due to pop
this month when two young men of music celebrate the sixth
anniversary of the million dollar gamble that paid off.
The gamble was once a little studio tucked away in quite
Hollywood suburb. Today it is the discompany of the year—
Capitol. Its founders, who ran a shoestring into a fortune, are
Johnny Mercer and Buddy de Sylva.
Even Capitol's own front office must still be a little dazed
.at the tremendous boom that shot them from the bottom to
top spot in the popular releases field. Once the Cap label listed
just two great names, Jo Stafford and Mercer himself. Now,
according to the newly-released 9th annual poll of college
favorites, conducted by Billboard magazine, the labels glitter
with:
The favorite all-style band and top swing band of the nation
(Stan Kenton), the top girl singer, with or without bands (Jo
Stafford), and her three nearest rivals (Peggy Lee, June
Christy, and Margaret Whiting), and the two most popular in
strumental groups (King Cole Trio and the Benny Goodman
sextet). In addition, Capitol has signed other top-rank stars
'like Paul Weston (most danceable background ork), Andy
Russell, the Pied Pipers (voted top paid-pipers by the poll),
Hal Derwin, and occassionally Maestro Mercer himself.
The future of any record company under the current pro
duction ban is strictly a gamble. The Word has it, however,
that Capitol’s stockpiles are as large as any popular-release
holdover catalogs in Decca, Columbia, or Victor. And we keep
remembering that their first six years turned up the strongest
‘‘natural” in music history.
New Capitolistings: Paul Weston, whose orchestra now
solos in its own albums, has just waxed his second collection in
six months. Titled "Music for Dreaming,” the album offers
“I Only Have Eyes for You,” "Rain,” “Out of Nowhere,”
"I’m in the Mood for Love,” and "My Blue Heaven.”
Weston's phenomenal rise from background to spotlight is
due to his "floating beat" arrangements, perfected from those
of Glenn Miller, Andre Kostelanetz, and TD. Entire sections
of his orchestra carry the melody a la Miller, but instead of
Miller’s brass background Weston uses strings. The even
tempoed beat, with no instrumental takeoffs, provides a
smooth, drifting treatment that we have not heard since the
best days of Hal Kemp.
"Songs of Sigmund Romberg," is one of Capitol’s first bids
for the semi-classical field, and to start their series Messrs.
Mercer and deSylva have selected some of their newest
classical talent. Louis Butler and Lee Sweetland are the song
spinners of these Romberg operettas, with Paul W eston's
■orchestra providing the melody.
Louis Butler’s lyric soprano easily reaches the highest notes
■on her scale in a style of phrasing that is much like Jeanette
McDonald's. Nelson Eddy is the nearest comparison that we
can draw to Sweetland, baritone star of the Met. When he
” *joins the soprano in the famous "Wanting You” duet it is
difficult for us to remember that we are not listening to the
soundtrack from M-G-M's "New Moon” film.
The gems of Sigmund Romberg's operettas are included in
this Capitol offering, including “Romance,” "The Desert
Song,” “Lover Come Back to Me,” "One Kiss,” “Will You
Remember." "Riff Song,” "Wanting You." and “Deep in My
Heart Dear.” We pick this collection to set a standard in the
semi-classical field.
A BOOK REVIEW
Toward a Better Understanding
Of the Life of Oriental Man
RICHER BY ASIA, BY EDMOND TAY
LOR, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COM
PANY, BOSTON, 1947, $3.75.
Edmond Taylor’s story of the war years
when he was on Louis Montbatten’s staff in
the Southeast Asia command and later com
manding officer of all activities of OSS in
that theatre is no mere log-book of events. It
is about what he learned during his assign
ment. of ways of life and ways of thinking in
that part of the world. The truth he finds in
studying Asia is not a new truth. It is the
core of the religious and philosophical
thought of mankind throughout history. It is
the simple fact that in the hearts and minds
of men lies the solution of the world’s dis
ease, and not in pacts and armaments.
This is a book of curious travels and dis
coveries and adventure in the mind. The tra
vels narrated in it took place in India and the
countries of southeastern Asia during the
war; but they are less an exploration of
Asia—or of the war—than a use of them as
catalysts of understanding. The discoveries
and the mental adventures relate as much to
the West as to the East, more to peace than
to war. Primarily, they are discoveries and
adventures in participation in the unity of
mankind.
The Tribe of Man
As Mr. Taylor points out, many political
solutions to the problem of One World have
been proposed, all tending to the ultimate
goal of world government, but the psychol
ogical and cultural aspects of the problem as
they concern the individual have received
little attention. This book involves highly per
sonal exploration of this neglected field. It is
the story of an attempt, during a wartime
assignment which lasted 28 months, to un
derstand some of the problems of Asia and
of how this attempt gradually led to the reali
zation that we are all members of the tribe
of man, Indian as well as Sahib.
Because the adventures related in this book
are adventures of the mind, they take the
form that mental adventures always take—
embarking upon quests after meaning, seeing
new shores of thought, getting shipwrecked
and discovering desert islands. Some of Ed
mond Taylor’s desert islands may be cor
rectly charted, and others may be mirages,
or at best, speculations. The reader will have
to decide for himself. He is less likely to
be disappointed if he bears in mind that, be
cause it is a personal narrative, this book
cannot be the systematic development of an
idea or the orderly exploration of a subject.
It is a journey toward a goal, and that goal is
the understanding of the Asiatic mind. Taylor
reaches his goal and in so doing casts some
light on the “paranoiac” institutionalism of
the West.
Faith in Men
In spite of the darkness of India it was to
him the school of doubt, in which he says, he
learned faith in men. He learned their faith
through what he calls cultural opposition:
using the values he found in Indian culture
to make clear to him his own values.
Some of the most challenging chapters are
about the discipline and self-examination that
are necessary in the hearts and minds of
Western men if we are" to help make interna
tional cooperation successful. After knowing
India. Edmond Taylor become conscious of
the absolutist ethics of Western civilization.
"The delusion of rightness” which is one of
the Western virtues seemed to him in inter
national relations one of the great threats to
world peace. In politics and religion we must
be “Right.” But a Hindu does not persecute
heretics or unbelievers; he has always con
sidered it a duty to listen respectfully to their
arguments. As the author says, no Indian
Mussolini would ever post “Mussolini is al
ways right” on the walls of his cities. Not so
much because he would not be believed, as
because it would not matter. Their conflicts
as a consequence do not generate the great
hate which ours tend to produce. Negotia
tions can go on all the time they are fighting.
Western man considers negotiation wrongful
if he is fighting for what, in his paranoiac
mind, is right.
New Standards
Sizing up the Eastern disposition in this
matter and using it to reveal to him the at
titudes of western men, Edmond Taylor, puts
great emphasis upon the necessity of West
ern man’s self-examination of his own soul
if he is really in earnest about world co
operation for peace. The one world we need
(Please turn to page three)
Western Hospitality — Phooey
From The Montana Kaimin
Our native pride in Montana was dealt a
hard blow when we read the Sunday papers.
The governor of Minnesota has invited a
number of governors to St. Paul to discuss
the possibilities of admitting displaced per
sons to the United States.
In reply, Montana’s Governor Sam C.
Ford wrote, "I will not consciously add to
our economic difficulties by inviting dis
placed persons to come to this state and I
sincerely hope none of the 850,000 persons
mentioned are permitted to come to the Uni
ted States and certainly not to Montana.”
Sparsely-populated Montana needs people,
and it's our opinion that these persons, who
have been shoved around, persecuted, and
starved for years, would appreciate the
dhance to come to a relatively-undeveloped
state, and what's more, would become good
citizens.
And to those who believe such a dismal
background would cause these displaced per
sons to be "problem children" we ask. "Did
n't many of our own ancestors leave their
homes because of hunger, oppression, or per
secution?”
Some of the finest minds in Europe are
among these displaced Europeans. During
and after the war we talked with many of
these persons, and their patience, knowledge,
and understanding would have put many of
us to shame.
But big, lonesome Montana, the land of
wide open spaces and hospitality, has gone
on record as saying that displaced Europeans
will not be welcome in the state.
The vStatue of Liberty, which has greeted
and inspired millions of our ancestors and
many of us, bears the following inscription :
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free,
1 he wretched refuse of your teeming
shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest
tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden
door.”
A\ e re ashamed of the abrupt action of
Montana s governor in this matter. AYe hope
persons with opinions on this mater relay
them to the governor.
And we sincerely hope the governor, on be
half of the people of Montana, offers the co
operation of state agencies with other state
or federal organizations concerned with this
problem.
It s a long way from Missoula and Miles
City to Dachau and Buchenwald—a very
long way. Here in out-of-the-way Montana
we can learn a lot, and do a bit for some
needy persons, by opening our doors to the—4
displaced persons.