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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1952)
The Ourcow Daily Hme*ai»I« published Monday through Friday during the college year except examination and holiday periods, with issues on Homecoming Saturday, Dads Day SltJiday . Ma^Ho ind^ Junior Weekend Saturday by the Associated Student* «f the Urn. versity oi Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Sub scription rates: $5 per school year, *d per term. Opinions expressed 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 the associate editors. Unsigned editorials are written hv the editor. . . ~ Wire services: Associated Press, United Press. Member, Associated Collegiate Press. What About the Asian Question? “Sure, but what can we do about it?" A lot of you were probably asking that question Tuesday after leaving Dr. Paul Dull s talk on Asia. \ on d just beard him say that we Americans must become aware of the state of Asia — its nations and their peoples—if we are to survive. His words, “we cannot ignore Asia and survive," must have made an impression in your minds. You will agree with Dr. Dull all right. And then you’ll go about your daily studies, your bridge-playing, your eating and sleeping. . . without much more thought. Some of you because you feel Asia is very remote and not within your interest orbit, others because you’re “University students. To the first category we’ll do no preaching. Stay in your own little orbit. But we have an answer to those in the second, who are willing to recognize the problem, but think it’s a matter only state department officials and economic advisors can do anything about. Take a look around you sometime when you’re walking between classes. You’ll see students from India, from Pakis tan, from Japan, from Singapore, from the Philippines— all Asiatic countries. These are the people who can—and will— inform you on the state of Asia just for the asking. on don t have to spend hours heading books and magazine articles. . . just talk for a while with them over a cup of coffee, go to an International Relations club meeting, or to Cosmopolitan club. Remember, they want to be informed on the state of the United States too. And that’s part of the cooperation Dr. Dull stressed. When Dr. Dull said Americans must be aware of Asia, he didn’t mean just a few officials. We’re sure he includes the American students. And well he should, for who will be running this country in a few years? You. . . today’s college students. You can do plenty about learning the state of Asia. Just DO it. 0*1 tlt& Scsie&tt.. Hoffmann Tales Artistically Done By Leonard H. Frey (Ed. Note—“The Tales of Hoff mann’ will be on the screen of the Mayflower theater, starting today. Frey, the reviewer, is a graduate assistant in the Depart ment of English.) “The Tales of Hoffmann,” Jac ques Offenbach’s last and great est opera, has for its explicit and obvious subject-matter three more or less improbable yarns told by the 19th century German arch-Romantic, E. T. A. Hoff mann. The three stories, con nected and framed by Hoffman, (the mature artist reminiscing about past experiences) abound in magic, black and otherwise, in strange, dreamlike violence, and in obscure, unnatural ellipses of thought and deed. They are truly the stuff of “fantastic opera.” But beyond the obvious dra matic level of Hoffmann’s three tales, there exists, I think, an ambivalent, yet simultaneously resolved aesthetic problem: the artistic quest for a personalized and at the same time valid style, and the exposition of the artist’s growth in relation to the whole complex Of existence — “The Growth of a Poet’s Mind,” as it were. It is this dual problem, perhaps more than each of the tales in itself, which warrants consideration in terms of the form and content of the opera. It may be noted that the first half of the problem is solved in terms of the second. Hoffmann’s four loves, the doll, the courtesan, the singer, and the ballerina, are all denied him, and always through the agency of one de signated in the prologue as “Lin dorf, sinister opponent of Hoff mann throughout his life.” This opponent assumes several guises, A I i \ * * 1 * k * * ' ‘ r ‘ ' * that of a puppet-maker, a sor cerer, and a demonic physician; and the uniformity of identity becomes explicit only at the end of the opera. Likewise, the doll, courtesan, and singer merge into the baller ina, Hoffmann’s present love at the time of his narration. All his frustrated love and the oppo sition that has frustrated it, then, come together; parallel strains of past experiences all inform the present because they have become, in a sense, the pres ent. When Hoffmann loses the bal lerina, ‘‘three women in one," he has nothing left but the very frustration which becomes the subject-matter of his art. His "tales” are uniformly tales of loss; success in any of them would make their narration pointless because Hoffmann would then cease in his quest (like Goethe’s Faust who owned power as long as he refused to embrace and become static in any moment of experience). In short the act of telling the tales has given Hoffmann his idiom. Beyond this there is the prob lem of explaining the opposition personified in Lindorf. The his torical figure Hoffmann, a high ly unsteady individual, would doubtless be called scizophrenic by modern psychoanalysis. I do not propose to push the point very far here, but in Lindorf there is a suggestion of Hoff mann’s own repressions. Offenbach’s great opera stands as a challenging aesthetic exper ience, as well as a thing of beauty. Its transference to the screen seems to me to be a major artistic triumph, and I strongly urge everyone to make an effort to see it. It may confuse, but it will not bore or disappoint. — Letters to the Editor Rest in Peace Emerald Editor: "No petitions yet for assis tant handshaker'for the SU; deadline extended." Tsk, tsk. "Who wants to be chief general assistant chairman of the an nual whooptdeedee weekend?" No one. The great and glorious university is rapidly going to pot. I am sick and tired of hearing gripes about student apathy con cerning student government and those glamorous activities. To my way of thinking, this apathy is a healthy sign that university students are tired of foolishness and expect of this institution three things: intellectual stimu lation , cultural emphasis and tiOOD recreation. Why do we need such a large, involved and red tape bound or ganization for a student body of less than 5000? One would think we were handling affairs of state for a nation of at least 500 million. How about a com plete shakeup. Let us quit try ing to force everyone into student government and activities. A few capable, willing, non-parti san selected persons could handle the essential aspects of student government and activities. I would suggest that instead of the ASUO officers, senate, etc. we ha\e a board of five (select ing their own chairman) to rep resent the student Opinion to the administration. Topics they might concern themselves with include: honor system, telephone dispute, vacation periods, etc. One persons could easily handle any of the Student Union com mittees. . As far as the Y’s, AWS and WRA go—well let them go out the window. Give the students good movies, good lectures, good music, good dance orchestras and good dis cussion groups. Then if they don't take advantage of them, it won’t be because they don't ap preciate them. It will just be that they are too busy or so darned tired that they would rather sit and drink coffee—and I don't blame them. But please cease mourning the death of the activity hounds. May they rest in peace (and let us rest, too.) Melissa Millam Rah, Rah, K. K. K. Emerald Editor: Phillip Johnson, you nasty, nas ty man, — taking underhanded kraks at our fraterneety and so rority seestem, the pride of Ore gon, and I dun’t meen the gas eeder! What do you mean by ure reemarc that the greak hous es wun’t tak in students wita different colar of skeen odder dan wite. You r wong. Eetz not tint the phrats nnd their femail counterpats wun't have these studints, but radder as one boose president tool yours trolly; ‘'they just wouldn't be huppy living in our house." Who no’s, maybee da house has worms! Hesliles dal, wood u wun’t yciir seester to have Immaterial rela tions with an off-color wile?.. Or am I wong? . Hmm?.. The nex ting, you radical, yu’ll wun’t to let dee*e students eet In r 1st rnt resteranls anil sleep In our ami rut motels. (dare ain’t none 1st rat motels In Ktigene) After all, deemokruMy Is n Root ting, hut let* nut overdu It! Lung live the K.K.K , Oovnor Tal inadgc, and the fraterneely and so-sororlty aeestem! Pleeze excuse niy rlting ills In crayon, cuz dey wunt allow me to have shurp Instrlmcnts ware I iz. (Name withheld upon request) rf-nom the Mosujue... 30 YKAKS AGO Jan. 10, 1922 Petitioners who hail requested that the university do away with the KOTC today decided not to present their petition to the regents They feared it would damage the university's repu tation. 20 YKAKS AGO Jan. 6, 1932 "Webfoots” is chosen as the name for Oregon athletic teams. 15 YEARS AGO Jan. 10, 1937 Huge crowds attended a Duke Ellington concert here last night. -The Atomic Age Why Build Carriers? There are Reasons, But Not Valid Ones ——- By Phil Johnson The Navy's plans to build ten new GO,000-ton super-carriers at a cost of more than two billion dollars probably will meet with some opposition from national legislators. The admirals will be asked to state the reasons for the con struction of these ships, and they will probably supply tne cus tomary answer —that the ‘flat tops’ will be used for at tacks upon en emy submarine bases and fa cilities. The subma rine, they say, must be at tacked at its base—t*efore It leaves to fulfill PhD Johnson its deadly mission. This leads to another question: why cannot land-based planes, which cost much less than a fleet of carriers, carry out the stra tegic bombing attacks which are being preserved for naval as sault ? It does not appear that a car rier-based plane has any inher ent advantage over its land-based Sense of Humor, or Revenge? C -07 // “It must have boon one of your students with a sense of humor. The note says ‘Prof. Snarf, your window is broken.’ ” M t L : *. t i : counterpart. On the contrary, the carrier aircraft actually in Inferior to the land plane because certain spe cial characteristics are needed for lundicg upon and leaving res tricted flight decks. Nevertheless, the admirals might assert that carriers must be sent overseas in time of war in order to provide fighter pro tection for friendly bombers. Fighters from North America, according to the admirals, can't fly to Europe and return without refueling. This argument ignores the fact that the primary purpose of the proposed flattops, according to official Navy statesmen, will be the housing of atomic bomb-car rying bombers, not fighters. Actually, if carriers are need ed for transportation of fighters, much smaller and cheaper ships could do thut Job. The necessary bombers could fly from contin ental bases. The navy's argument also ig nores the possibility of aerial re fueling of fighters based upon continental fields. A third basic fact also is over looked. The United States al ready has a number of airfields in Germany, Africa, the Near' East, Asia all of them capable of handling fighter planes. In this picture, carriers are merely expensive added orna ments. Resources consumed in the con struction of flattops might be better utilized if devoted to the strengthening of our regular air force. The region of military decision, the air. must be control led by the United States if we hope to avoid disaster in the event of war with the Soviet Union. Carrier construction us an ex tremely expensive method, of gaining air power. During World War II, Major Alexander 1*. tie Seversky, a noted uerial expert, estimated that a single aircruft carrier cost as much as a land-based aerial unit with a striking pow er ZH times as great. And this estimate did not include the cost Of numerous carrier escorts — battleships, cruisers, destroyers, etc. The task force is a freight truck doing a wheelbarrow’s job. Carriers have many other de fects, including vulnerability to submarine attack, lack of de fending strength against massed land-based air power, easy neu tralization by damage to the flight deck, etc. There may well lie good rea sons for the launching of these white elephants. If so, they haven’t been revealed.
