+ EMERALD EDITORIALS +
Spirit: /1 Beginning
The rally board lias taken what may lie
the first step in a concerted program to re
vive sagging Oregon spirit to the point where
people merely complain about it, instead of
giving up in disgust.
The board Tuesday night decided to es
tablish a freshmen rally squad, similar to
the Rook rally squad at Oregon State. The
squad would lead yells and attempt to
stimulate interest in the frosh games,
something that has been nearly nonexis
tent in the past two years.
Plans for the new squad aren't complete
yet, but tentative arrangements call for a
student to be selected from each of the fresh
man dorms, plus one from each freshman
floor in Carson hall.
Rally Board Chairman Betty Anderson
points out, quite logically, that one repre
sentative from each organization would be
much more successful in stirring up interest
than a few upperclassmen that the frosh
didn’t know personally.
One single influential person in each
dorm could convince an immense number
of people in that dorm that they should go
see a freshman game. Such a system would
be especially valuable in football season,
when the frosh game isn’t followed by a
varsity contest that will attract a crowd.
Coupled with the fact, which we hope the
rally board will publicize, that the freshman
football team will play only one or two home
games, those games should attract a large,
and noisy, percentage of the freshman class.
The rally board does not expect to revive
school spirit with a single master stroke. And
in Miss Anderson's words, they “don’t want
to bite off more than they can chew." It'll be
a long1 process.
But where is a more logical place to start
than with the freshmen, especially when you
have a good program to offer them?
The board is looking farther ahead than
this, however. In four years every class in
the University would have had one of these
squads when they first entered and, we
hope, would have developed some sort of
class consciousness from it.
And as Alumni Director Les Anderson
said at the ASUO panel on student govern
ment a few weeks ago, the "breakdown i>f
the class as a unit" may be one of the causes
of student apathy on the campus.
d he freshman rally squad is a beginning,
it s not a cure-all. and it could fail without a
lot of effort. But it’s the best step that has
been taken >o far.—(G.R.)
Footnotes
Judges for campus events have received
more than their share of criticism recently
but we feel that the choice of so many co
winners does not reflect well on the judges.
They are to decide the winners on a fir-.t.
second and third basis. When five out of
eight entrants can place, it ceases to be
much of a contest.
* * *
The Emerald’s traditional "Letter to the
Gods’’ which ran Friday had it-> desired
effect—well, almost. Despite the rain, the
Canoe Fete and all of the other events came
oft. not quite as planned, but they were
all held.
INTERPRETING THE NEWS
Eisenhower Faces Cram Session
In Preparation for Big Four Meet
By J. M. ROBERTS
AP News Analyst
President Eisenhower is going
to have to do a lot of homework
in the next several weeks if he
goes to meet Bulganin.
Every effort will be made in
Washington to make him a walk
ing State Department. He will be
"briefed and briefed, and then
briefed some more, on all of the
things which have gone on in re
lations with Russia over the
years.
The President sounded Wed
nesday as though he rather ex
pected the top-level discussions
to be confined to broad gAeral
issues, with any decisions to re
IMX
.
volve around areas in which
the chiefs of state agree there
is a possibility the foreign min
isters can get together.
The Russian record, however,
suggests that the President bet
ter be ready himself with a lot
of detail. •*
One of the greatest troubles at
Yalta lay in the fact that Presi
dent Roosevelt, while equipped
with a vast array of State De
partment intelligence memoranda
accompanied by advice, chose to
work primarily on the broad gen
eral line of establishing a cooper
ative position, first with regard
to the Japanese war, and then
with regard to postwar prob
lems.
mminv
M.
Letters to the Editor
Good Luck ! !
Emerald Editor:
Thursday afternoon in Carson
Lounge, locked in casual combat
with a vigorous violator, I was
confronted by a noble fellow in
glasses and an army ROTC out
fit.
“You’re not supposed to be
inside of this building. Get
Out!”
“I’m trying to, man, but this
tiger here won’t cooperate.” I
tugged my booty toward the
aquatic orgy that raged on the
lawn outside.
“Turn that girl loose and get
out of this building!”
I stopped to look at the be
glassed knight in tan armor.
“Wait a minute, fellow, Letter
men can grab Junior Weekend
violators off the first floor of
Carson. Rules say we can.”
"I don’t believe so. I don’t be
lieve you’re a letterman, either.”
The afternoon of cold water
and wet flesh had aroused my
battling blood; I dropped my
squirming morsel and turned to
the boy in brown: "I lettered in
wrestling, general, and it looks
like I’m going to have to prove
it.” Oh, I was real Brando!
“Don’t — you — dare lay a
hand on me!” he bit the words
off like chewing on a crisp
stalk of rhubarb. Then, just
when I thought we were going
to lock horns, he turned and
headed to the Carson phone to
call “Bay.”
Taking my heel from the throat
of the fallen frosh female, I
asked “Hey, who is that guy, any
how?”
“That,” she smiled as though
she had ochre in her mouth, “is
Brad Blaine, assistant dean of
men.”
Guuuuuud Luck!
Ken Kesey
Stalin, on the other hand, had
a whole batch of definite postwar
objectives, and by obfuscation set
himself up to attain them. The
Americans learned something
from that experience about the
way Russians use words tike
"democracy” and "freedom.”
In many ways Eisenhower's
task w ill lie easier than Roose
velt’s, because he will know
definitely that he is dealing
with an enemy.
Plenty of people told Roosevelt
that, too, but he believed he could
prevent it from proving true.
One thing Eisenhower may
have to do is go back over the
road on which Roosevelt stumbled
at Yalta — the matter of the fate
of subjugated. Eastern European
nations.
In any consideration of things
which might ease the cold war
there always lies in the back
ground the fact that the United
States can’t just pull out of Eur
ope and leave the satellites in
slavery. It would undermine her
position throughout the world.
When President Truman
went t» Potsdam the chief mat
ters of concern were procedur
al — how the Big Three of
those days would carry out
their administration of con
quered territories. A detail was
overlooked then which later en
abled the Russians to set up
their Berlin blockade and cre
ate a situation which barely
skirted war.
Such inherent dangers are well
known to Eisenhower and his ad
visers. America knows her-woild
political lessons much better than
she did ten years ago. The task
and responsibility now faced by
the President, however, remains
monumental.
— Paid Advancement—
On Campos
with
MaxShulman
(Author of “Bar*foot Boy Cht*k," ote.f
THE GREAT CAP and GOWN CONTROVERSY
The cap and gown Reason is upon us, and with it comes the
perennial question: which side of the cap should the tassel
hang on?
This is an argument that arises every year to roil the aca
demic world, and it is, alas, no closer to solution today than it
was in 1604 when Fred Tassel invented the troublesome orna
ment.
Fred Tassel, incidentally, never made a penny from his inven
tion. The sad fact is he never took out a patent on it. This tragic
oversight becomes understandable, however, when one considers
that patents were not invented till 1851 by Fred Patent, himself
a pitiable figure. A compulsive handwasher, he died in his four
teenth year, leaving behind a wife and five spotless children.
But I digress. We were discussing which side of the cap the
tassel should hang on.
For many years the universally accepted practice was to hang
the tassel over the front of the cap. This practice was abandoned
in l'J42 when the entire graduating class of Northwestern Uni
versity, blinded by tassels hanging in their eyes, made a wrong
turn during commencement exercises and ended up at the Great
l^ikes Training Center where, all unwitting, they were inducted
into the Navy for five year hitches.
There is one school of thought-large and growing daily larger
—which holds that the tassel should be worn on the same side
you carry your Philip Morris cigarettes. Thus a quick glance
will show you where your Philip Morris are and save much time
and fumbling.
This makes a good deal of sense because when one wants a
Philip Morris, one wants one with a minimum of delay. One does
not relish being kept, even for a second, from the clean, delicate
flavor of Philip Morris, so artfully blended, so subtly concocted
to please the keen and alert taste buds of young smokers. One
chafes at any obstacle, however small, that is put in the way of
enjoying this most edifying of cigarettes, so pleasing to the
perceptive palate. Here, in king size or regular, at prices that
do no violence to the slimmest of budgets, is a firm white cylinder
of balm and pure, abiding content.
There is another group, small but vocal, that insists the tassi 1
should hang over the back of the cap. The tassel, they say, is a
symbol like the bullfighter’s pigtail, signifying honor and
courage.
I ney are wrong, ntulhghters wear pigtails lor only one rea
son: to keep the backs of their necks warm. Do you have any
idea what a draft a bull makes when he rushes past you? A
plenty big one, you may be sure.
In fact, upper respiratory infections, contracted in the wake of
pjtssing bulls, are the largest single cause of bullring fatalities.
I have this interesting statistic from the Bullfighters Mutual
Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, one of the
few insurance companies in Hartford, Connecticut, which writes
insurance exclusively for bullfighters. Incidentally, Hartford,
the insurance capital of America, is a most interesting city and
well worth a visit if you are ever in New England, as north
eastern United States is, for some reason, called. Hartford can
be reached by bus, train, plane, and the Humboldt Current. Try
to make your visit in spring, when the actuaries are in bloom.
But I digress. We were talking about what side to wear the
tassel on. An ingenious solution to this troubling problem was
proposed a few years ago by Fred Sigafoos, perhaps better known
as “The Quoit King of Delaware.” An early forbear of Mr.
Sigafoos, Humboldt Sigafoos (who later invented the current
which bears his namei was granted a monopoly by King George
III on all quoits manufactured in Delaware. Somehow the royal
appointment was never rescinded and from that day to this,
every quoit made in Delaware has been a Sigafoos Quoit.
Well, sir, Fred Sigafoos once suggested that an equitable
settlement to the great tassel controversy would 'be to starch
the tassels so they stood upright and hung on no side of the cap
at all. Mr. Sigafoos was, of course, only seeking to broaden his
market, because after graduation, what can you do with an
upright tassel but hurl quoits at it?
QMai H'SJ
The makert of PHILIP MORRIS icho bring you thit column make no
recommendation about what tide to hang the lattel on. Rat with
cigarette» they tay: Stay on the gentle, tatty, vintage tide — with
PHILIP MORRIS, of courte.
oirec^otn
mau>
iNeqgld
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