Saturday's Hero
—*
1
“Say, Ed, notice how hard ole Worthal is hittin’ their center?”
Is Just Getting Out the Vote Enough?
We have been hearing a great deal about the citizen's duty
to vote during the past few weeks, as several civic and
business organizations throughout the country have engaged
in an effort to get out the vote in November.
Full page ads sponsored by an insurance corporation in
national magazines show the comparative voting statistics of
the United States and several other countries. Only 51 per cent
of the American voting public went to the polls in 1948, while
such countries as Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Western
Germany, Canada and Israel have all had percentages over 70
in their most recent elections.
We have been hearing little about the citizen's duty to make
sure that his vote is an informed bne, however. Those sup
porting this drive for a larger percentage of voters completely
overlook this duty. Apparently they feel that the stature of
democracy increases in direct proportion to the number of
people who vote.
It is implied that those who do not vote are unpatriotic. But
patriotism does not mean voting for Eisenhower because Stev
enson is a divorced man, or voting for Stevenson because
Eisenhower made a poor impression on television. More im
portant—voting should indicate a responsible and definite
opinion—an opinion based on the voter’s interpretation of the
issues in the campaign and the stand which the candidates
have made on them.
An indiscriminate “get out the vote” campaign will not ad
vance democracy one toot. In fact, many who vote regularly
might better stay home Nov. 4. Southerners who vote against
the GOP of the 1860's and 70’s rather than vote for the Demo
crats of 1952, and mid-Westerners who vote against all Demo
crats “because they brought us into two World Wars” will do
little to make the nation's choice in November an intelligent
one.—Cornell Daily Sun.
n Daily
EMERALD
The Oregon Daily Emerald published Tuesday through Friday during the college year
except Sept. 17 and 19; Nov. 27 through Dec. 1; Dec. 4, 9 and 10; Dec. 12 through Jan. 5;
March 5,10 and 11 ; Mar. 13 through Mar. 30; and May 30 through June 4, with issues on
Nov. 8, Feb. 7 and May 9 by the Student Publications Board of the University of Oregon.
Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: $5
per school year; $2 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
editorial staff members. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.
Larry Hobart, Editor Jim Shea, Business Manager
Helen Jones, Bill Gurney, Associate Editors
Jim Haycox, Editorial AssistaLt
Al Karr, Managing Editor
The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes letters to the editor. Let
ters should be not longer than 400 words and signed by the author
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ful consideration. Letters may be mailed to the Emerald editor or
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Letters will be printed at the discretion of the editor unless noted
that the letter is not for publication.
MORE AND MORE PRESSURE
West Europe Courts Neutralism
By E. A. Van Natta
Emerald International Affairs Analyst
Although government plans of rearmament are going ahead
rather satisfactorily in Western Europe there cimtinucs to
exist a large number of people in the respective countries w ho
have not as yet been convinced that such plans are the best
means by which to insure European peace and security.
To the vast majority of those who disagree with rearma
ment some form of neutrality offers the old salvation to a
Europe caught in the struggle between the I'nited States and
the Soviet Union. Regardless of
how illogical such reasoning
might seem to an American the
fact remains that the advocates
of European neutrality have built
up quite a case for it and arc ex
erting more and more pressure
on the governments involved in
rearmament.
I re nee Representative
France can serve as a repre
sentative example of a country in
which this force is at work. Prior
to 1949 and the North Atlantic
Alliance there was little neu
tralists talk among the French.
The general feeling was that a
healthy internal economy bol
stered with Marshall Plan aid
would prove sufficient in the
fight against Communism, both
internally and externally.
But in 1949 plans of a military
alliance were added to the anti
communism campaign and to
many Frenchmen compliance
with such an idea was considered
both unnecessary and impossible.
It was at this time that the first
signs of neutralism made their
appearance.
Loft and Right
In keeping with the times the
French advocates of a neutral
Europe can be classified either to
the Left or to the Right but even
so, their basic tenets differ very
little and both groups are pre
dominantly anti-Communist. On
the conservative side of the poli
tical fence are such men as Hu
bert Beuve-Mery, editor of the
conservative newspaper Le
Monde, and Etienne Gilson, mem
ber of the French Academy and
moderate Catholic scholar. Lead
er of the more leftist group is
Claude Bourdet, former Resist
ance journalist and editor of the
Catholic left-wing magazine,
L'Observateur.
In spite of their different poli
tical leanings as concerns inter
nal French affairs both groups
are in agreement that:
Points of Agreement
1. Co-existence is still possible
between the two clashing ideolo
gies and every chance should be
taken to reconcile the two
through international meetings.
2. The North Atlantic Alliance
should be scrapped since it can
offer little in the way of real se
curity and furthermore that it
can only provoke distrust and
fear in the Soviet Union.
3. Rearmament on a large in
ternational scale must not take
place because it can only lead to
an aggravation of poor internal
social and economic conditions
and hence open the door to more
Communist infiltration among
the working masses.
4. Defense of Western Europe
should be patterned after the
Swiss or Swedish plan of armed
neutrality. Each nation would
look after its own defense—a de
fense sufficient only to guarantee
security from an outside force.
5. Western Germany should not
be rearmed, at least until her
former victims have sufficient
proof that her military potential
will not be used against them.
Economic and Military Aid
For the conservative neutral
ists U. S. economic aid should
continue but all military aid
should cease. The more leftist
neutrals would prefer that the
French give up the battle in Indo
china and concentrate on eco
nomic and social conditions at
home. Their contention is that in
stopping ‘'Operation Waste” in
the Far East they could very well
solve their economic ills in
France without further U.-S. aid
of any sort.
There is little need for arguing
the pros and cons of the neu
tralist position because success
or failure of the plan will have
little bearing on the future fate
of Western Europe. Even if
Western Europe should decide to
follow a neutral policy between
the United States and the Soviet
Union in the present emergency
she would almost automatically
become a battlefield in the event
of a military showdown between
the East and West.
Common Denominator
The common denominator of
all neutralist thought is survival
but unfortunately for France
and the rest of Western Europe
survival today depends not upon
what policies they do or do not
follow but rather upon the ups
and downs of American-Soviet
relations in the present struggle
for power.
Francois Mauriac summed up
lather neatly neutralist psychol
ogy in a recent article in Figaro
when he wrote:
"The tragedy of all is to live
in a disillusioned country. In four
years France has passed from
the rank <u a great nation to that
of an assisted nation; why deny
it when it is a fact ? Neutralism
is nothing more than a hankering
for the kind of autonomy that
has been condemned by the facts
of our present situation. In their
childish rage the neutralists kick
the table.”
Baseball Blasted
By Russian Press
By Jim Haycox
Emerald Editorial Aealfttant
We were noticing not ho very
long ago that those keen, analyti
cal Russian journalists have Just
finished scoring another first on
us. This lime the revelation came
about baseball, once believed to
be our national pastime.
The Red press quickly cut
through the fog and deception of
western news writing, pointing
out that since the dawn of his
tory (which came about 191S,
they say) Russian peasants have
been gathering on the salt lots of
Siberia playing something, which
by official Russian description,
Sounds like a cross between brass
knuckles soccer and kick-the-can.
The meat of this latest exposee
carried a well-timed blast at the
way we've changed the old ball
game. Today, the harange went
baseball players live in chains,
cat stale bread and day-old water
and drop like flies from over ex
ertion. In fact (and we knew this
anyway) they're paid so little
that few are able to scrape up
bus fare at the end of the season
and go back to the sugar cane
fields for the winter (cleverly
disguised by the press as the Cu
ban Leaguet. We ll certainly have
to agree with them there SH6,
000 just isn’t what it used to be.
But, as we were about to say,
we'd just finished digesting the
word from Moscow when we took
a glance at our own paper. My
goodness, what a shock it was.
‘Bums' and Yanks Start War To
day, Huskies Invade Portland,
Yanks Smash Dodgers, Ducks In
vade Empireland. See what we
mean. No wonder those poor Rus
sians got so worked up.
What is the effect of Com
munism In Japan? What do
the recent elections Indicate?
How is Japan's economy far
ing?
Yasuo Kura la. recently with
the Cnited Press and now en
rolled at the tniversity of
Oregon, will answer these
questions In a series of two ar
ticles beginning Wednesday.
'Rock Wagram': A Bad Saroyan
By Michael Lundy
William Saroyan, master of sentimentality, has a new
(I9.sl) novel out called "Rock Wagram” which i- reprinted
hy Signet Books. Saroyan usual has dipped into Ids great,
throbbing, warm Armenian heart to prove that despite all,
life is good, life is rich, life is full. It gets awfully sticky.
Rock Wagram is the screen name of Arak Vagrainian an
Armenian bartender who be
comes a famous movie star, but
who is not turned from what he
feels is the purpose of his life—
to love his wife and raise chil
dren. Unfortunately, Ann, the
woman he chooses to bestow his
great love on, is an inveterate
liar and cheat, and has other
ideas about love.
Cunning Interpretation
The narrative is cunningly in
terrupted about every other page
by several paragraphs of the
author’s parenthesized rambling.
The sum of all these asides,
about half of which are intention
al gibberish, is that a man is
meaningless but he has a hell of
a lot of things he must do before
he dies. In other words Saroyan
has worked this into the narra
tive stream, but he apparently
became lazy in “Rock Wagram.”
Starts Well
The story starts out extremely
well. Rock is introduced by good
third person description, and his
character and charm is estab
lished by the simply told surface
actions. The reader is allowed to
do a little of his own work in de
lineating the personality of a man
by observing the reactions of
others to him. This is always
flattering to a reader, if well
done. Paul Key, the movie mag
nate who discovers and fosters
Rock, is also cleverly depicted
in the same manner. To a lesser
degree, all of the male characters
are convincingly portrayed.
It is in the woman of the story
that Saroyan bogs down. Ann,
Hock s wife, is practically never
seer, and her personality is un
known except as Rock feels
about her. Thus, when she leaves
him and his life becomes sup
posedly meaningless, it is impos
sible to feel the tragedy that is
obviously intended.
A Saccharine Taste
More time is spent on Rock’s
mother, who speaks only Armen
ian and who is desperately
to hold together the old clannish
family ties. She is depicted as a
woman who has had great per
sonal misfortune with the death
of her husband and breaking up
of her family, but still is brave,
great hearted, and infinitely
wise. She leaves us with a sac
charine taste in the mouth, as do
all of the book's family scenes.
Saroyan seems incapable of writ
ing about Armenians without
sentimentality.
Saroyan functions principally
as an observer of the human
scene. “Rock Wagram" is not
even good observation. When
Saroyan is good, as in “My Name
18 Aram" and “The Time of Your
Life,” he is very, very good. But
when he is bad, he is lousy.