Daily
EMERALD
The Obigon Daily Emerald published Monday through Friday during the oollrge year
X* « X_U I.„ 1. AA-i*- n thrnnirh 2R: Mav 7: Nov. 22 through 27 and
«c«t Oc“°30- Deck's through 1JaiLU3,°*Ma/6through28; May 7;'Nov. 2? through 27; and
Site?May 24 withHsues on Nov. 4 an<i May 12, by the Associated Students of the Uni vers, ty
i»i Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription
tates: $5 per school year; $2 per term.
On.'nmns evnrewd on the editorial page are those of the writer and do not pretend to
-represent"the opinions of the ASUO or of the University. Initialed editorials are written by
Ihe associate editors. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.__.
Anita Holmes, Editor
Don Thompson. Business Manager
Lorna Larson, Managing Editor
Shirley Hillard, Barbara Williams, Assts. to Business Manager
3Icws Editor: Norman Anderson
Sports Editor: John Barton _
Asst. News Editors: Marjory Bush. Bill Frye,
Gretcben Grondahl. _ . _ , _ .
Asst. Managing Editors: Bob Funk, Gretchen
Grondahl, Fred Vosper. _
Circulation Manager: Jean Lovell.
Advertising Manager: Virginia Kellogg
"in Weel, Harriet Valley,
Zone Managers: Fran .
Jody Greer, Marion Galla, Val Joyce Shultz.
from The Vatican-An Ostrich Edict
When a body fears for its own strength, it sometimes takes
desperate steps which weaken that very strength.
Such is the latest move announced from the Vatican. This
move is a decree from the Roman Catholic Church appro\ed
by the Pope—forbidding priests to belong to or attend meet
ings of Rotary or similar luncheon groups throughout the
United States and the world.
With this decree goes a warning to Catholic laymen to be
on guard toward organizations of a “secret, seditious or sus
pected’’ nature, or that “seek to draw away from the legiti
mate vigilance of the church.” The laymen are discouraged,but
not forbidden from being members of Rotary or similar orga
nizations.
In recent years the powerful Catholic church has been right
fully frightened by the rise of Communism, or any other “ism”
which would seek to usurp the church’s power.
But if the officials at the Vatican think they can hold the
church supreme by burying the priests’ heads in the sand, they
follow a strange line of reasoning. The king whose castle is
threatened by an ideology cannot fight that ideology by with
■ drawing behind the castle walls.
A non-Catholic is amazed by the great strength and uncom
promising edicts which come from the Vatican. But more
than that, a non-Catholic wonders why the holy body has so
little faith in its priests—so little faith that it cannot allow them
to continue their active part in America’s civic life.
jA Marching Dime Gathers No Moss
Money seems to be a commodity everybody is asking of the
public these days.
If you haven’t felt the pinch yet—you will.
But, simply speaking, what could be more useful and worth
while than—
The 1951 March of Dimes.
It’s for infantile paralysis patients.
Maybe you think you know what the illness is. It s defined
as a specific acute disease, chiefly in infants and children,
often producing permanent deformities . . . also called acute
anterior poliomyelitis.
But unless you've had it you probably don’t know.
We hope you never do.
If you feel the same way, the best means for protecting you
and me and everybody else is by contributing to the dimes
campaign.
Only a little from us—multiplied by so many—can do so
very much.
Let us at the University show that we will take care of our
share and see that the—
Dime Marches On.—T.K.
s
■
THE DAILY
goes to the Student Union board for making SU facili
ties available to living organizations for campus dances,
It’s a move in the right direction, further utilizing the pos
sibilities of the big student nerve-center.
THE OREGON LEMON ...
to officials who cut short Friday’s Oregon Frosh-O.S.C.
Kook basketball game in Corvallis to clear the way for
the Oregon State-Washington game. Let the yearlings
play the full time, commercial interests, etc. to the con
trary.
College Morals—Last of Series
A Generation Seeks Deep Roofi
This is the eighth m a se
ries of articles on the college
students of 1950—their out
look on life, their moral
codes and behavior, their
changing standards. The se
ries originally ran in the New
York Post.
By Max Lerner
I have said in this series that
the college students of today are
not a lost generation, but a gen
eration in search. They are not
throwing all the rules out of the
window. But what they are look
ing for is not the old and shop
worn rigid code, but a set of deep
ly-rooted principles to live by.
When the postwar generation
after World War I threw over
the “eternal verities” of their fa
thers and grandfathers, they em
braced an ethical relativism—
that is, the idea that there are no
standards of conduct which ap
ply for human beings as such, but
that all standards shift from cul
ture and from generation to gen
eration, and the ethics that is
best is one that suits you best.
The present generation is not
making that mistake again. Ob
viously this does not apply to all
the students and on every camp
us. There are still students who
have not recovered from the rev
elation that the old moral codes
are hypocritical, and their con
clusion is that anything goes that
they can get away with. But
these are few. The students who
do any thinking at aH are grop
ing for directions of behavior
which is different from the old
ones but which nevertheless will
serve as a guide.
* * *
This is, then a search—a search
for new codes more adequate
than the old ones.
It comes partly from the stu
dents’ awareness of the gap be
tween the codes they have been
taught and the operative social
behavior they see around them.
When parents lament over the
morals of the young it would be
a good idea for them to turn the
mirror on their own generation.
The code bans drinking, to ex
cess, but alcoholism is rampant.
The code bans gambling, but the
fact is that gambling is one of
our big industries running into
billions of dollars. The code bans
extra-marital intercourse and
sexual promiscuity, but the
studies in the Kinsey volume
show that the sexual behavior of
the adult American male is not
something to be held up as an
example to the teenagers.
Can we complain then if the
young people see the distance be
tween what we tell them to do
and what we do ourselves, what
we profess to be and what they
actually observe around them?
On another count also we must
shoulder a good portion of the
responsibility. We profess to be
lieve in education, and say that
the success of democracy de
pends upon it. But evidently we
(Please turn to page three)
-—lettert--~
The Campus Answers
Controversy or Pablum?
Emerald Editor:
It seems necessary that some
attention be directed toward the
type of “thinking” displayed in
the letter recently sent to you by
William A. Mansfield. That the
letter seems to be a product of
serious and deliberate concern
on the part of Mansfield would
seem to make examination even
more imperative.
To this writer an analysis of
the Mansfield argument reveals
a serious naivete concerning the
processes whereby one receives
“mental stimulation and reac
tion.” A university paper should
afford some avenue for the ex
pression of subject matter of a
more profound nature than the
usual who-had-what tea, the con
stant recital of how many class
officers failed GPA minimum re
quirements, how “tradition” is
the most important factor at Ore
gon etc. We get far too much oi
that juvenile trash at it is.
The “Emerald” editorial staff
is to be commended for any ef
forts on its part to make a seri
ous and intelligent examination
of controversial issues. Would tc
God that we don’t see your page
adopting the Mansfield thesis—
i.e., “the function of your page is
to inform and to write opinions
on which there is no, or little, ser
ious controversy.” What, pray
tell, could you write about ? And,
if written, who would want tc
read the innocuous claptrap.
I challenge Mr. Mansfield tc
constructively suggest just five
subjects about which the editor
ial staff could write an opinion
about which there would be “lit
tle, or no, controversy.”
True, as Mr. Mansfield sug
gests, you “are working for the
students at the University of
Oregon.” It is to be hoped that we
merit more than the pablum diet
suggested by the law student.
Marko L. Haggard
Who’s Colorblind
Emerald Editor:
For an entire term I have been
reading the “Campus Critic," and
marvelling at the self-sacrificing
valor of a man of steel, who sits
through countless movies which
he cannot stomach, solely that we
readers may drool in ecstasy at
his pseudo-intellectual disdain of
the silver screen.
While gleefully wiping my lips
after reading his damnations, I
often permit myself to doubt in
the Deity: Does he really SEE all
those pictures? My faith totter
ed even more when he panned
movies which had not yet come
to town, and I thought he might
have set up a critical code, for
evaluating cinemas unseen: For
eign . . • good!—Musical . . .
baaaad!
Then I began to read Friday’s
column, in which my hero pan
ned a foreign film. My faith rose
... he does see them!
But, alas, I l’ead his description
of “West Point Story,” which he
called “a technicolor musical . . .
bad ...” I sat broken-hearted, my
idol had fallen.
“West Point Story” was black
and white. I know, Mr. Smith, I
saw it.
Jack Faust
“Daddy, tell me a thtory about
the girlth at the University of
Oregon,” lithped — lisped — my
five-year old son. His two front
teeth were missing where I’d
knocked them out after he back
ed over his younger sister with
the family car.
“Well, son, it was back in 1951
when the University finally had
to step in and stop all the “Queen”
contests; there were so many
contests that the coeds didn’t
have time for studying.”
My son cut in sharply, “What’s
studying?” I shut him up with a
sharp left to the jaw. What’s
studying, indeed!
“Anyway, it was great while it
lasted ! . . for a long time they
only had about 150 queens a year
—Last Day to Register for Class
es Queen, Sweetheart of Alpha
Phi Omega (service fraternity tiff
ex-Boy Scouts), Moonlight Girl
of Tappa Nu Keg, Dream Girl of
If Poppa Nu, Nightmare Girl of
Sigma Phi Nothing, Little Col
onel with her court of Little Cap
tains, Little First and Second
Lieutenants, Little Sergeants
and Little PFC’s . . . Things were
simple in those days.
“Then they started in on a new
wave of Queens, blind to the fact
that eventually the meaning of
the thing would be lost. There
was Miss Keep Minors From
Drinking Beer, Miss Moderation
in Senior-Rides, Miss Campus
Chest, Miss “I Want Blood” (for
the blood donation drive). . . it
began to get confusing.
“Then one day it happened—
the Alpha Alfalfa house had
some trouble with their plumb
ing and it gave them a great idea
for a new queen, Miss Plumber’s
Helper. Boy, was she . .
(At this point a frying pan
hurled with deadly accuracy from
the kitchen by the trusty right
arm of ex-Miss Campus Weight
lifter cut off the discussion, and
about time.)
The Second Cup
For the interesting and inspir
ing thing about America, gentle
men, is that she asks nothing for
herself except what she has a
right to ask for humanity itself
—Wilson.
It Could Be Oregon •
-- FS
“Worthal says to keep your eye on Professor Snarf. He says he has
his chair wired for an electric shock.”
( The
j Word
By
Stan Turnbull