Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1950)
*ya can't say those profs don't take a special interest in ya—every one of 'em thinks he's the only one yer taking a course from." Illegitimate Instruments Nearly every house has one or more. They’re good for free afternoons and lazy spring evenings. They add to picnics, dates, serenades, and can even be used for flying speeches. They’re the latest in extra-curricular activities. They are not women, but ukeleles. No one knows if the fad was started by Hui O Kamaaina, the Hawaiian club, or by Arthur Godfrey, who plays one, or by steamship and airplane company advertisements on Hawaii. At any rate, Oregon’s got ’em. Music stores downtown re port a “terrific interest” in ukeleles on the part of University students. (High school students ignore them.) One store used to sell less than three dozen a year. Its books now show that almost 300 were bought since last June, when the trend began, and that sales have picked up even more with the start of spring term at the U. We heard that elementary»schools in this area are now tak ing up courses in “uke” playing we decided to investigate the thoughts, if any, of our own music school on the subject. “Oh, heavens, NO! Not up here; we wouldn t teach that. “Why, anybody can play one—all you do is chord.” “Besides they only teach students legitimate instruments here. All this we were greeted with. (Legitimate instruments are those used in a symphony orchestra.) But regardless of this negative approach, all sorts of stu dents—music majors and architect majors, Greeks and inde pendents, men and women—have taken up the pastime. It looks like it’s here to stay for a while.—A.G. A startling thing happened yesterday. Someone expressed approval of the registration system at Oregon, saying it was, in general, su perior to that of other large Universities. Exactly what this informa tion is worth, we don’t know, but we thought it was so novel it should be passed on. Sofiftamabe 'lOifaHotn Reformation and the Big Red Flag iuf, BaA tyufth Back into the limelight—ASUO spring elections, and with them the whole complex question of student government at Oregon: what it has done, what it is doing, and what it should do in the future. During the past two years there has been a lot of empha sis placed on politics and political par ties, and the ^ reform of s a m e. Wei have left un- | critic ized, however, our present sys tem of stu dent govern m e n t. Per sons of both political par t i e s have been elected ^ I ALEX • pi e R c e \ to the tune of reform, renewed interest, tne strengthening of the role of student govern ment at the University.” And some months after election we have found that in some way the greatest and whit est of our political hopes have been held back in the fulfillment of their promises. By what? The present form of student government, carefully set down in the existing ASUO con stitution. Does this constitution provide an adequate government for coping with such new prob lems as the Student Union and Publication boards? Are these two new, important stu dent agencies properly correlated with the main body of the ASUO? The answer, in both cases, is no. Does this constitution make provision for sufficient executives and legislators to carry on the multiple activities of an expanding stu dent body ? No. The members of the ASUO executive council are BOTH legislators and executives, a brave undertaking for any group of people. They are few in number, necessarily repre senting only a segment of the campus. And the fact that we have our administrative func tions combined in a few officers causes ex treme cases of partianship and maneuvering by political parties to grasp the few plums. This constitution limits our student government in other ways. For example— the muddled “1-2-3-4-who-in-the-heck-did-I vote-for” ballot, and the primary election system, which does not provide for non-par tisan candidates. Under these limitations, will even the best —■ officers, with the best of intentions, be able to keep student government abreast of the growth of the University? Will we be able to keep the Student Union and student publica tions in the hands of the student body? Are we, under this present constitution, going to be able to make enough progress to insure the respect of the faculty and student body. NO! And if you'll let us pull out a big red flag and wave it, we'll say briefly—SOME CHANGES SHOULD BE MADE—AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! *74e Ginemah Movies and Chuckles and Hunger by CjeoJuje. Speluitt After looking over the movies billed at the theaters this past week, it makes me wonder what happens to the GOOD films that Holly wood produces? A couple of us figured out last night, when we had nothing important to do—just study ing-—that the theaters must book what few good films there are during the vacations. Since this last Spring vacation was quite short, it must have been some task to get all the good films in and out of Eugene in the four days. It probably required showing one picture in the afternoon and a different one in the evening; but at any rate it must have worked, because this week there is absolutely nothing good on at the cinema, and not much good coming up, with one exception. “All the King’s Men,” which is the acad emy award winner for last year—“best pic ture,” “best actor,” and “best supporting ac tress”—will start at the Heilig Sunday. It is supposedly a top notch and entertaining film that packs a wallop, and it will most likely be worth the admission price. But between now and Sunday you might just as well study, or find some form of amuse ment other than a show. “Key to the City,” the Clark Gable-Loretta Young comedy at the Heilig through Satur day,has all the freshness of 'It Happened One Night.” Since at least 500 comedies have imi tated that film, which was good in 1934, any • chuckles that ‘‘Key” gets are from hunger. Gable acts like Gable (which is sometimes . entertaining if you care'for Gable and I don't) and Miss Young acts as if she wished she had stayed away from the MGM studio. Much as I like Miss Young, I don’t think she helps the picture much—but then, no one could. (Please turn to page three) HaUitUf Kane Not too many years ago in the far off Eastern United States there was a law school with a dean who occasionally permitted his students to graduate. One of these fortunate few, finding his talents not suffi ciently appreciated in the state he desired to practice, entered the government ser vice. Eor the sake of anonymity we shall call this attorney As portatis Elackacre—asporta tis is a Latin word used in a legal phrase, and Elackacre is the general term law profes sors apply to land for pur Asportatis and His Troubles poses of illustration. Asportatis drew up a con tract form to end all contract forms. The fine print, accord ing to the latest court deci sions at the time, didn't bind the government, but made the private person who sign ed the “contract" liable for non-performance. And lo and behold, the gov ernment signed a contract with a little old sand and gravel company, and then dis honored it. The victim brought suit, lost, and appeal ed the judgment in the gov ernment's favor. The case was an important one; if the government lost, it would be necessary to dis card the millions of printed contract forms. And so, like the Lone Ranger to the res cue, Asportatis, the author, was sent to argue for the gov ernment before a certain state supreme court. And who did Asportatis find sitting on the bench but his old law school dean ! Once more the young attorney felt like a first year law student when the dean gazed upon him. Conviction that he was hopelessly ignorant and an overwhelming desire to sink through the floor came over him. With horror Asportatis remembered how the dean, before he became a judge, practiced his hobby of lead ing an over-confident law stu dent out on a legal limb, and then mercilessly cutting it off at the base. Nevertheless, the ex-stu dent believes that^ his pride and joy, the super-duper bear trap contract, would be up held. because the dean had told him back in the old days that there was no contract un less a certain something was present, and the certain some thing was in the contract. Asportatis presented his hf, cMettfiy Katie brief with smug assurance. In fact, he sounded as dry and authoritative as the Re statement of Contracts. The dean turned judge ad mitted that the government had the weight of the law in its favor, then asked his for mer student whether it was right in equity and good con science for the big govern ment to treat the little plain tiff so unfairly. The young attorney said it was not a matter of fairness or its lack, for the law was on the government’s side. “Son,” said the judge, “did (Please turn to page three) f