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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1952)
HERALD The Omgon Dat Wr Rnml> U publistwd Monday through Frlday during the college year, except examination and holiday period* with issue, on Homecommg Saturday. Dads Day Saturday, March 10 and Junior Weekend Saturday by the Ass«iated Students of the Uni versify of Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office* Eugene, Oregon. Sub scription rates: $5 per school year, $2 per term. Opinion, expressed on the editorial page are those of the writer and do not pretend to fcpresent the opinions at the ASUO or of the University. Initialed editorials arc written by associate editors. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor. Wirs services: Assooiated«Press. United Press. Member, Associated Collegiate Pros. A Tiny Bit (^Understanding The Parliament of World Religions is over. It’s been over for five days now. So you’ve had a bit of time to reflect... to consider its worth ... to you and your friends. It’s hard to compare ... because you have experienced noth ing comparable before (and perhaps never will again). If, by chance, you should think of it in the same mental breath as the Religious Emphasis and Religious Evaluation weeks of by gone years, you see little similarity. Then, speakers came ... and spoke ... on faiths already some what familiar to you—Protestantism, Catholicism, and Juda ism. Looking back ... you may remember, as we do, sitting around the living room listening to a clergyman talking about his, usually Christian, religion. But that's all you remember, isn’t it? Now look back on last week’s talks. Remember the new thought and ideas you experienced when you heard about those heretofore strange and mysterious faiths ...Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam... those mysterious beliefs of the people of the equally mysterious East. These are not going to leave voif so rapidly. * * * In many cases we agree with the philosophy that a little knowledge is worse than none .. . but not in this one. This little knowledge served only to whet the mental appetites of many among the hundreds of you who attended the talks and dis cussions. We know some of you, interested by what you heard, who are endeavoring to read and hear more. And any event that will motivate you to learn more certainly has concrete value. Of course you still don’t understand completely . .. who does? But you have a bit more insight. World understanding is ... and will continue to be ... of ma jor importance if humanity is to survive. This recent Parlia ment of World Religions has added a tiny bit to our under standing. Therefore, it was of utmost importance and worth. * * * Those who brought it here and organized it are to be highly complimented. We cannot say blindly that it had no faults. It did. But.. .again looking back ... the good derived so far sur passed the bad that we’re sure our thoughts will retain the posi tive, not the negative, in years to come. How Slow Can Progress Be? We’re happy to note that some improvement is being made in the direction of progress on the 13th Ave., traffic problem. But nobody seems to be in a very big hurry about-it. The progress: a. Truck traffic has been prohibited on the section of 13th which runs through the campus. b. The city council and the University have agreed to work together on a signal system to control traffic through the campus more effectively. In December, the city council agreed to let City Manager Oren King, W. C. Clubb, city engineer; University Business Manager J. O. Lindstrom and I. I. Wright, physical plant super intendent, work out a plan whereby city and University would share in the cost of traffic signals. We talked to Lindstrom and he explained the general idea of what the University would like: automatic stop lights on 13th at Kincaid, University and Onyx streets. During most of the day, these would act as regular four-way stop lights; but a time clock would turn them on for the full 10-minute period between classes. This would substitute an automatic system for the present manually-operated lights at University and Kincaid. The present plan is to hang the light from ornamental steel poles over the center of the intersection. This all sounds like a fine idea to us. But the University officials have to meet with the city representatives to get their viewpoint before a definite agreement can be made—and no body seems to know just when this meeting will take place. Nobody wants to sacrifice quality for speed; but it seems to us that both the city and administration have had ample time since December to study the situation thoroughly. Our previous observations have led us to believe that it takes a whjle jtp.^btaiiiy eqU(ipi|i^i|t ^en after( a definite .cjecjsion has been padp; and weifeel obliged to point ©ut that meanwhile we are still'dodging traffic between' classes.—G.G. Qua VuUoaA' SffcJt... Can Asia Be Won? No,(it's Too Late (Ed. Note—Marc Delemme, a foreign student from Paris, France, Is a sophomore In politi cal science.) By Marc Delemme I do not altogether agree with Dr. Paul Dull who said In his lec tures that Asia can be won to the West. I think it is too late. In 1900 all of Asia was govern ed, controlled and developed by the West. The Asiatics had been taken unawares by the military and technical superiority of the western countries. Since then there has been a revolt, and what a revolt! India, free from English domi nation, has become two Indepen dent states. China has not only been liberated, but has even be came a militarized nation capable of being aggressive. The Dutch have had to leave Indonesia and France's position in regard to Indochina is In great danger. All those liberated nations haiTe an Asiatic consciousness and u pro gram. Although there is no geograph ic unity, we find the same con cept of lije and religion re nouncement. The Hindu is a mys tic, the Chinese a diagnostic. Most important, there is a nega tive unity—that of driving the Westerners out of the Asiatic continent in accordance with the doctrine: "Asia to the Asiatics." It is a unanimous sentiment which goes from the prime min ister to the lowest of all Asiatics. Those nations have a program for the future. They have a strong urge to modernize. Asia wants to get the same methods as those which have given all this strength to the West. She needs machi nery,, tractors, chain-assembling, technicians. United States of America or Soviet Union? Here lies the true problem. Which country is Asia going to choose to help them out ? The American yoke could be, un der its financial aspects, just as dangerous as the' political yoke from France or England was at the beginning of this century. In Asia, people resent and sometimes even hate the Ameri can because they are afraid he will succeed Europe as the yoke of the entire Asiatic continent. It must be said that the American is in far too great a hurry and shows his face much too much. I do not say that the West lias no future in Asia. If we leave, our work will be washed away be cause they will be unable to main tain it. In any case, we are in the pres ence of a mystic against which one cannot argue. -The Atomic Age Civil Defense Being Neglected, Several Congressmen Charge -—-By Phil Johnson ■ » .— Civil defense is being neglected. That’s the opinion of several American Congressmen. As the United States is spend mg lens oi mi lions of dollars annually for military strength and foreign aid, there have been attempts to economize in other fields. Civil defense, some Con gressmen be lieve, has been the victim of Phil Johnson OVcrempniUtia upuu rAjremiiutn; cutting. Thin fact becomes more slg niftrant when It I* recognized thut the Soviet t'nlon, according to Kep. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) of the Joint Congressional Com mittee on Atomic Energy, now has 20 million people engaged in civil defense. That estimate, although It might be mildly exaggerated, pro vides an indication of the Krem lin's views upon civil defense. Dr. Harold C. Urey, a scientist who worked on the 1944-45 atom ic bomb project, also believes that civil defense is a vital mat ter. According to I)r. t'rey, “Mili tary strength will be measured . .. not by industrial strength or naval strength or the strength of air power, but by the amount of urban concentration." Urey adds, "Because America - is such an industrialized country, with such large populations con-^ centrated into exposed cities, the - effect of the atomic bomb will he to weaken America's military position." Although it is difficult to ac cept Urey's contention that urban •* dispersion determines military strength (well-dispersed Algeria.. for example, is hardly a world power), his views on civilian de fense deserve consideration. Civil defense includes the fol lowing steps: 1. Dispersion. 2. Construction of shelters and firebreaks. 8. Construction of blast-resist ant buildings. 4. Dispersion of hospital, fire fighting and rescue ser\ lees to suburbs of large cities. 5. Information and education of the public. A few of these steps have been taken. Some education of the public on the subject of the atom ic bomb has been attempted. Dis persion has been introduced to a limited degree, arid almost 30. per cent of all new factories con structed since 1940 have been established in cities with |>opula- • lions of 10,000 or less. Nevertheless, more action ap pears to be necessary in order to reduce the damage and disorgani zation which could be caused by. a surprise atomic attack. - - Letters to the Editor - - Try the Classified Emerald Editor: In the event that some student, female type, is desperate to beat the phone company, let it be known that any coed, cither at tractive or intellectual, or both, who desires may have free use of the phone at 146 E. 12th Ave. In exchange they may tidy up my science-fiction collection, help me print my magazine, and . .. Kosco E. Wright Cut Grade Emphasis? Emerald Editor: I would like to raise a problem with respect to the honor system which some people arc thinking and writing about. The fact seems to be that let us say 50 per cent of the student body is attending About Time He Was Finding Out “That’s Burwell’s chair, Worthal. Wo seated ytou alphabetically, . t , , rem(ember?” the University without any scrl out academic interest. The other !>0 per cent has u more or lens' serious academic interest. Hut to stay In school one has. to meet an academic requirement which Is not really hi|(h. hut, nevertheless. Is a challenge to. quite a few students, especially the underclassmen. How can we convince those' without academic interest that they are cheating themselves when they just think that they* are cheating the professor or rather the University? I believe that a problem like' this has only two solutions: (I) Ito not attempt to put In a gen eral honor system, or (2) try to’ reduce the emphasis on grades to stay in school, without reducing the requirement of grades'* to" graduate. X prefer the latter solution. To be short I will just show one result of my second solution. Quite a few students will stay" two or more years in school, with- j out worry, but they will not re ceive a degree. Quite a few other . students who spend too much, time in the beginning on activi ties, or other things which are by no means of negligible value, will simply take some courses , over, and spend five years to get their degree. I hope that this problem will seriously be discussed in the Km-» erald and elsewhere, because here , is a real Opportunity for the stu-** dents to do something themselves. _ Dirk Schepers Filth and Dirty Silver . Emerald Editor: I wish to make a comment fot» the luckless mass which eats at John Straub. I fully realize tin* futility of complaining about , these substances which so mo, naively call food, but surely the condition of the utensils with1 which we cat cannot continue forever; or can it? If the state of Oregon should ' find, in any public restaurant, utensils in such a state of tilth as those with which we must eat, ■ that restaurant would be sub; ject to heavy penalty if not clos ure. Why, then, in the states' own institution, must such conditionsj exist? Richie WjlbnnM p,