In Home Stretch
Though the future of the mill race may look promising, let s
hold back those cheers a moment and take a good look at the
situation.
The Monday evening city council did not assure the res
toration of the millrace; it was merely another indication that
the council is interested in seeing it done.
In the past there has been a feeling on the part of some peo
ple in the city that to spend so much money on a project with
no practical use would be sheer folly. The report of the Mill
race Park association was a means of proving to them that
the restored mill race would be both beautiful and useful. Thus
one of the main objections was removed.
However, other obstacles are in the way. First, the other
easements for mill race land must be obtained. There is still no
mention of condemning the land by the city, and until all prop
erty-owners agree, nothing definite can be undertaken. Even
though 80 per cent have agreed to allow the race to run once
more through their land, all must wait for the consent of those
few others.
The money problem will doubtless appear, too. The council
has promised to match any amount up to $20,000 raised to
finance the restoration. Even last year the Millrace Park asso
ciation had pledges of $12,500, and now the council wants them
to start collecting.
Fraternity and sorority houses along the race have indicat
ed their willingness to convert the gully in their back yards in
to the stream of old. Theirs is not moral support alone, for
each one has pledged a substantial contribution.
Before the waters flow once more. University students and
alumni will doubtless be called upon for their contributions,
since the University peoplb are more eager than any other
group to see the mill race restored. J.G.
With the Legislators
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Salem
The Oregon senate passed 19 to 10 yesterday and sent to the
governor the old age pension bill.
It gives the state a prior claim on estates of deceased pensioners,
and provides $50 pensions if enough money is on hand to pay thin.
Democrats lost 20 to 9 an effort to substitute a bill which called
for $50 minimum pensions, and did not contain the prior claim clause.
The vote on the motion was strictly on party lines.
Old age pension leaders have threatened to refer the bill to the
people in an effort to kill it.
Th legislature moved along rapidly toward final adjournment.
The house voted today to end the long session at 0 p.m. Thursday,
but senate leaders predicted they would finish Friday or Saturday.
The session already is 93 days old, compared with the record 81
day session of 1947.
Governor Douglas McKay signed the bill to prevent any commun
ity from adopting daylight saving time, unless the governor pro
claims It for the whole state. The governor is given authority to pro
claim it only to conform with Washington and California.
The senate, doing what the house already had done, voted against
a measure to block construction of the $12,000,000 Deschutes river
power dam. The vote was 16 to 13.
The joint ways and means committee prepared its 12-year $42,
000,000 program for new buildings for higher education ami state in
stitutions. It would be financed by an $8,000,000 appropriation, plus
a cigarette tax of two cents a package. The cigarette tax would be
referred to the people.
House members had a lot of sick grandmothers today at Port
land's Vaughn street baseball park. The house finished its day'.s work
at 1:15 p.m. and took off for the opening of Portland's coast league
i baseball season.
The senate planned to go, too, but it got tied up for 1>2 hours on
! the pension bill. By the time the senate adjourned, the game was five
| minutes old and 50 miles away.
I
OregdnW Emerald
Tin OmtctON 11 vti V Km fhai n, published daily during the college year except Sundays.
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at the post office, Eugene. Oregon.
Itll.l. VAXES, Editor VIRGIL TUCKER, Business Manager
Associate Editors: June (metre, Holder Bropliy, Diana Dye, Barbara Heywood
Advertising Manager: Joan Minnaugh
BOB REED. Managing Editor
Assistant Managing Editors: Stan Turnbull, Don Smith
BOB TWF.EDK1.V,. City Editor
Assistant City Editots: Ken Met.-ler, Atm Coodman
DEBAR I'M ENT EDI TORS
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’ NEWS EDITORS
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urrsa aistnfss staff
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That Rjre Spark
What Makes a Professor Popular?
Columnist Thinks He Has Answer
By Mike Callahan
This year may go down in his
tory as the time of the Big Tal
ent Hunt. On campuses from Ore
gull IU 1V11CIU
gan, once-meek
students are
eyeing their
professors cold
ly, rating their
IT-appeal.
IT is that
rare spark that
I separates the
: teacher from
uie bookworm scholar. The big
question facing the student rat
ers is just what habits or meth
ods insure some professors of
crowded, intent classes, while
others drone year after year at
empty chairs.
* * *
BEFORE STUDENT pollsters
begin to take stock of Oregon’s
faculty, this might be the time to
pass along a few of our own opin
ions on what makes for an inter
esting and popular professor.
Outsiders at Oregon and Michi
gan snort at the mention of rat
ing polls, and speak knowingly of
blackmailing grades at the price
of a good report. Yet one of the
outstanding scholar-lecturers on
this campus, one whose classes
are always packed, might easily
be known as “Old 2-point.” It has
been said that getting a B out
of him ranks just below winning
the Congressional Medal.
As a matter of fact, though, a
raw deal on grading methods
more than on individual grades,
deserves mention in the ratings.
A current story tells of an eco
nomics professor whose grade
curve is so low that the regis
trar’s department has a special
clerk to handle complaints from
the students he flunks. The folly
of using upper-division teaching
and grading methods on begin
ning students no doubt will be
demonstrated in his reports.
TWO LECTURE methods cur
rently in use on this campus, and
student raters, will finally have
the chance to compare them. The
popular history professor and one
of his colleagues realized long
ago that students in large classes
will not bother to read assigned
text chapters. Therefore, so as
not to waste class time, the lec
tures in their classes cover the
important points in the course,
presented in clear, note-easy out
lines.
Thus, in their lecture hours, the
students quickly and painlessly
learn the necessary facts, plus
any other choice bits of humor or
illustration the professors have
gleaned in their private research.
The second method, also wide
ly used, calls for class discussion
of reading assignments. In a
small class, with an alert and
witty professor, this has its
points.
* * *
NOTABLE AMONG its fail
ures though, is a certain political
science instructor whose lectures
creep along at a snail’s pace, con
fused by pointless arguments, and
the psychology professor who
managed to cover a one-hour lec
ture in three weeks. Reading and
students suffer alike in such
cases.
And then there is the matter of
those professors, few and far
apart at Oregon who are human
enough to cut loose with an oc
casional “damn” in class ... or
who, like another economics in
structor, can mention and laugh
about their own experiences with
such varied matters as labor
strikes or French morals. . . . ■
* * *
THE DAY of the “tin god” pro
fessor is over, and student rating
results will praise those few who
are wise enough to know that.
Finally, if the faculty rating is
a success, some thought might
be given to overhauling some of
the courses offered here and
elsewhere. There is, for example,
the geography class that pays
close and loving attention to ob
scure buttes in the Cascade foot
hills ... or the psych class which
tries to stretch two weeks’ work
over twelve weeks of study, wast
ing time and tempers.
For the first time in academic
history, students will have a
voice in their own educations. On
a college level, we think that
voice should be given the
strength of law.
Book Review:
Huxley Writes of Life in 2200 A.D.
Ape and; Essence by Aldolus
Huxley. Harper and Brothers
(52.50).
By Jo Gilbert
HUXLEY’S DONE it again
with Ape and Essence. This, like
Brave New World, is set in the
far future, the twenty-second
century to be exact. Fantastic,
insane is this glimpse into the
world that might easily be.
The story, written in the form
of a movie script, opens with the
death battle of a group of ba
boons, each with an Albert Ein
stein on the leash. It then switch
es to a group of New Zealand sci
entists who are exploring the
supposedly desolate continent of
North America, namely Southern
California. New Zealand is the
only country not destroyed by the
disastrous World War III.
BUT THERE are inhabitants
on this continent... a post-atom
ic society, degenerate and de
praved, the lowest form of hu
manity—their God. Belial. Into
this falls one Dr. Poole, the total
result of a domineering mother.
The influence of this society upon
the good doctor, and the influence
of the good doctor upon one mem
ber (female) of the society com
prises the remainder of the plot.
But it is the reasoning of the
Arch-Vicar that makes the book
more than imaginative dreaming
. . . nightmarish though it may
be. His description of the battle
between good and evil, his reason
ing of Belial’s rise to power . . ,
it terrifies you!!
HUXLEY’S WIT is again di
rected against smug, complacent
man who can’t find the way out
from the web of his own weaving.
But in this, as in Brave New
World, there is a way out. In the
earlier book, it was an island.
Here, it is a colony at Bakers
field.
There is really not much I can
tell about the book. You have to
read it yourself to appreciate the
writing, the wit, and the reason
ing. I can’t condense it, and the
plot isn’t the book ... it is only
the basis for the book.
Dr. Dull, in recommending Ape
and Essence to a group of stu
dents, told them that it scared
the “Belial” out of him. Move
over, Dr. Dull. I'm scared, too.
Has U.S. Made UN Weak?
MOSCOW, Idaho — (API—A
Borah peace conference speaker
declared yesterday that “the
United Nations is weak because
the United States made it so."
Dr. Clyde Eagleton, New York
university professor and former
state department official, was
principal speaker at the opening
session of the three-day confer
ence. Eighty-two professors and
students will take part in the
meeting at the University of Ida
ho.
“I say flatly that we have not
contributed what we should have
to make the United Nations what
we want it to be,” Eagleton said.
“Our failure is the chief barrier
to peace today.
“Our influence at Dumbarton
Oaks and San Francisco was so
great that we could have had any
sort of united nations that we
wanted, and we deliberately
made it as weak as it could be
made.
He said he had “not a word of
defense of Russia. I think that
she is also a barrier to peace, and
doubtless a far worse one than
we are.
“But the point is that the
American people constitute the
first hurdle to be jumped. The
United States is the only coun
try which could make the United
Nations stronger. Russia could
not do it if she wanted to; she
does not have the moral leader
ship, nor the financial and pro
ductive strength which com
mands respect.”
“It is of great concern to us
that the Soviet Union be given
every opportunity to be a good
citizen in the community of na
tions and of greater concern that
decisions concerning Russia and
action, especially military action,
should be taken by the commun
ity of nations rather than by the
United States alone.”
Eagleton criticized the “side
stepping” of the UN in the Tru
man doctrine of aid to Turkey
and Greece.
He said the North Atlantic
treaty was a “necessary step.”
The pact should be even stronger,
he said.
“It is a shocking retrogression
on our part to say that it is con
stitutionally impossible for us to
pledge in advance any use of our
armed forces. No system of col
lective security can operate effi
ciently unless it is known that
armed forces will be made avail
able when needed. That only con
gress can declare war does not
mean that the armed forces of
the United States cannot be used
in any other contingency. No one
has brought to trial those who
defended the nation at Pearl Har
bor before a declaration wa3
made."