+ EMERALD EDITORIALS +
Dorn Payment
University students may he missing the
boat.
Over the years some Eugene residents
have developed a slightly antagonistic atti
tude toward the University student, and pos
sibly deservedly so, for what has the student
offered Eugene in return for the support fre
quently requested for University functions?
Now, with Saturday's Operation Easter
Egg, the student body has an opportunity
to repay a segment of the community for
past support and to make a down payment
on future good relations.
Any single organization sponsoring such
an event would readily realize the value and
significance of such a project. However, by
including the whole campus, students fail
to see the benefit to be derived for the indi
vidual. for the living organization, and for
the University.
First is community service. Each of us
has a responsibility to our community—and
this extends beyond the mere economic con
tribution made by students.
Second, public relations. Who can estimate
the value to the University of 2000 enthusias
tic youngsters reporting on their day on
campus.
Xhird, the community has already dem
onstrated a willingness to put its faith in
the students. Merchants have donated nu
merous prizes: radio and television sta
tions have given time for interviews and
announcements; 3000 eggs have been do
nated, and the Active Club has promised
its assistance.
The response on the part of the children
an dtheir parents has been overwhelming.
Finally, the self-satisfaction to each indi
vidual to be attained in doing something for
someone else—especially children. Too, in
Operation Easter Egg. the junior class has
an activity in the true Easter tradition, not
just an activity for activity’s sake.
Perhaps the difficulty lies in the funda
mental attitude of Oregon’s pseudo-intel
lectual students who are too “sophisti
cated” to participate in such a constructive
program.
We hope not.
The answefwill be written in the books
Saturday.—(S. R.)
Vets9 Committee
The glittering generality—always an ef
fective instrument of propaganda—is more
than evident in the first statements of the
newly-formed campus Veterans’ committee.
Undoubtedly campus veterans have sev
eral causes for complaint, especially in
some social areas, but the sweeping state
ments and condemnations released Wed
nesday deserve careful consideration.
No claim was made by the 10-man com
mittee to be representing the 700 veterans on
campus—but the implication was there, and
we wonder how many of this group will ac
tively support the committee.
The committee could conceivably become
a positive force in student government, and
should certainly draw attention to its de
mands by participation in campus politics.
Third parties, even though this cannot be
strictly defined as a third party, are more
than evidence of unrest; they are often pro
phetic of things to come.
Perhaps the goals of this group and the
feeling that this is the time for action will be
assimilated by other campus groups and
some positive reform will be accomplished.
As for “social unification,” it would be
wise to remember the “23 or skidoo” club
(proposed) of last year, a plan for the uni
fication of older students for social pur
poses.
Several older students at that time ex
pressed the opinion that if they were too old
to participate in existing campus social life,
they were probably too old to be in college,
or simply unable to adjust to an unfamiliar
situation.
Many veterans and older students current
ly on campus are active in the social and
extra-curricular activity life of the Univer
sity.
Politically, we view the veterans’ com
mittee as a force which could exert a posi
tive influence and perhaps awaken the cam
pus and the rest of the state to the veteran’s
problems.
Socially, we agree that many of the re
strictions placed on freshmen who come di
rectly from high school are not applicable
to veterans, but as for “social unification"
we view this movement only as inability to
adjust to a new situation.
The Real Issue
The Eighty-fourth Congress apparently
intends no review of the somewhat hasty, ob
viously political bit of legislation passed last
fall by its predecessor with regard to com
munism.
The question which was ignored in the
debate about the amended Humphrey bill
outlawing the Communist party was: Can
the communist menace to our internal se
curity be legislated out of existence?
The bill provided fines up to $10,000 and
jail sentences of up to five years for members
of the Communist party. It also called for
the revocation of citizenship, legal and politi
cal rights, and the right to secure a passport.
Obviously a political issue rather than a
really essential piece of legislation, the bill
put congressmen in the position of appearing
as Communist sympathizers if they voted
against the bill.
Attorney General Herbert Brownell and
F.B.I. Chief J. Edgar Hoover urged the
defeat of the bill on the grounds that it
would drive the Communist party under
ground and render the Internal Security
Act useless.
j nese protests snouKi nave neen cnougn
in themselves, but there are other objections
to last August's communist bill.
The Communist Party has ceased to be the
center of Communist activity in the United
States. Its membership has dropped off from
100,000 six years ago to 25,000. The signifi
cant leadership of the party is in prison —
the 67 convicted under the Smith Act were
the "first team” and “second team” Ameri
can Communists.
Secondly, those doing the most damaging
work for the party are kept from becoming
open members of the party by the party itself.
Alger Hiss was not a member of the party;
Harry Gold, notorious courier for the Klaus
Fuchs atomic spy ring, was not a member;
Julius Rosenberg was never proved to be a
card-carrying Communist.
Thus, it is wholly unrealistic to assume
that the Communist party represents the
real Communist threat to internal security.
Finally, govermental activities at the
time the law was passed were realistically
directed toward the actual threat. Under
The Smith Act, those who conspire against
the government are subject to prison. Un
der the Internal Security act, any organiza
tion found to be the tool of a foreign gov
ernment must register and disclose its
officers, finances and other particulars.
Under this law the Communist party was
classified “subversive” and has thus been
placed under official surveillance. The exist
ing Immigration and Nationality Act pro
hibited the entry of suspected Communists,
provided for the deportation of convicted
Communists, and allowed for the denaturali
aztion of those Communists who had ac
quired citizenship.
Let’s bring the Communist Party back out
in the. open and let the responsible govern
ment agencies handle it.
We’ll never legislate the party out of exist
ence, and even if we could, the threat of com
munism would remain relatively unchanged.
A PAY AT THE IOO
Deceptive Poetry
Fxnlained in Full
By Bob Funk
Emerald Columnar
"Literature" Is something that
Emerald columnists tend to think
about as little aa possible, large
ly because of the rather sizeable
gap between Emerald fare and
that which
rests comfort*
ably under (or
perhaps sup
erciliously on
top of) the
category liter
ature. Howev
er. for those
w h o do in
Mi aHRi flPV? voive i n e m
selves with literature, particu
larly freshmen, who this term
are once again interpreting great
works of great authors with dis
turbing results, I am writing
HOW TO INTERPRET LITER
ATURE A SPRING TERM
STUDY AID
Great poetry and great prose
is often hard to decipher, due to
the deplorable lack of pictures
and plot. However, with a little
imagination, anyone can unfold
the delicate blossom and get
down to the nectar (however,
Bees are best at thisi. The car
dinal principle la this: never ac
cept obvious meanings.
Take, fur example, this line:
“The stag at eve had drunk his
fill. Where danced the moon on
Monan's rill.” This Is from "The
Ijady of the Ijikr" by Sir Walt
er Scott, who Is dead. Lying l»r
neath this apparently innocent
lines are a whole mess of
meanings imdlseemabie to the
untrained mind.
The true meaning of these
lines has been somewhat con
fused by the Ladies Expurga
tion Society, which has foisted
this interpretation upon our in
nocent school children:
“This is a lovely pastoral scene
in Scotland, a land north of and
somewhat kitty-corner from
England. The stag is a large,
voluptuously constructed, hairy
animal with horns, which gam
bols and cavorts in the hill coun
try. Here, the stag has come
down to the rill ( a tittle bitty
riven in the cool of the evening
to quench his thirst with sips of
sparkling, playful water. The
moonlight dances and skips upon
the water. No doubt the stag is
thinking, ‘My, what a lovely
evening, it makes one feel like
singing.’ “
This is a pack of lies. The stag,
as anyone knows (and this takes
in Sir Walter Scott I, is a gentle
man out on the town alone. How
Scott came in contact with this
particular stag is a rather amus
ing anecdote in the history of
literature. Scott was on location
in Scotland for the writing of
“The Lady of the Lake,” and
happened into the historic town
of Stirling. At 5th and Q in
Stirling stood, and still stands,
Dad Monan'a Bar and Grill. Up- *
on the particular evening that
Scott happened Into Stirling, the *
neon “Q” on "Grill'' wan out,
which led to the foolish error of r
referring to the place as "Mon
an’s rill.”
At any rate, Scott happened
on into Dad Monan's, and there
was this stag at the bar who bet
Scott two whlaklea that he, Scott, 'j
could not remember the middle
initial of the Loch Lomond mon
ster.
He, Scott, said “Ha, ha, my
dear fellow, the Initial In /,
for Zan/.ibar, and you lone,” at
which point the stag said he
had already drunk his fill and
m> Scott would have to drink
alone. Whereupon the stag
mined off to the other end of
the tmr In a churlish manner.
Now, what about Eve ? The •
Ladies Expurgation Society
would have us believe thHt "Eve
is that delightful time of day
when the sun sinks tircdly be
hind th<» heather, and little < hil
dren flock into the parlor to it
upon Father’s knee and listen to
pretty tales of long ago."
Terrible. Eve Is, and was, .
Heaven only knows, the name n{
a girl. Eve Monan was the pub
lican a daughter in Stirling, and
gossip has it that she was not all *
that *he might have been a pi <•
dicarnent common to persons 4
with that Christian name. In
fact, the following poem was *
found by an historian:
"Why doth old Monan's daugh
ter, Eve,
Disport with such abandon?
A stag is plying her with drink
And pinching her at random.”
Which gives you some idea of
what kind of s lady Eve was. "A
delightful time of the day" my
eye.
"The stag at Eve.” This
takes a little digging, since the
slug him at Monan's. and not
at Eve. However, It is obvious
(sort of, anyway) that Scott
fConlinurd on f'tn/r three)
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Emerald Editor:
From your editorial "Chimes
Need Help" in today's (April ti
Emerald: "True, everyone forgets
about the breakage fee ..."
Everyone? Many of us depend
upon its return for midsummer
assistance, and figure it into the
budget. Hasty generalization,
no?
Niel Chambers
Vemette Kilger
Shirley Hathaway
Dick Chan
Frederick C. Osgood
Editor’s Note: Hasty gener
alization, yes! But since yours
Is the only response, pro or con,
it might Ik* an accurate one.
or'ecjoe?
mEGCLD
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the editor; initialed editorials by members of the editorial hoard.
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