•EMERALD
ROTC on the docket
The time is getting near for the perennial
ROTC issue to come up again. The State
Board of Higher Education, earlier faced
with the,problem of making it uniformly
voluntary or compulsory for both Oregon
and Oregon State, deferred action until its
January 1962 meeting. That isn’t far off.
AS IT STANDS now, the University
faculty has gone on record in favor of the
voluntary program. The Oregon State fac
ulty favors a compulsory program. Both
schools are on a compulsory (a two-year
required basic course for all fit entering
men) basis now.
University President Arthur Flemming
has indicated that he favors the voluntary
approach. His only experience with ROTC
was when he was President of Ohio \\ es
lyan University where it was on a volun
tary basis.
FLEMMING SAYS he’s convinced that
all services will get a much better quality
officer on the voluntary basis. This is al
most indisputable, although one might ques
tion the loss of well-qualified officer ma
terial simply because of the failure to ex
pose young men through a compulsory
program to the advantages of the program.
This, Flemming concedes, is one of the
big problems. The only realistic approach
to it, he believes, is for an RO’l'C “selling
job" to be clone before freshman men come
to school. And even that, it would appear,
would have certain disadvantages to a regu
lar, two-year exposure to the program.
Several kinds of sentiment towards ROTC
has been reflected on this campus—but none
recently. Most of the passion directed at it a
couple of years ago was nothing more than
youthful rebellion against the idea of being
compelled to do something more than
against the idea of the program itself. In
files of exchange college newspapers we
often find the fight against ROTC in full
swing. It’s a national editorial pastime, it
seems.
WE’D BE RELUCTANT to criticize the
philosophy behind the program that in fact
produces the majority of all military offi
cers in the service today. It’s pretty dif
ficult to argue that ROTC isn’t necessary
when the national guard units in most of
the hometowns from which we come have
been called to active duty.
But all the same, the idea of a voluntary •
program still has its appeal. Flemming even
feels, from associations with high-ups in
the Pentagon when he was in Washington,
that the voluntary philosophy is a coming
thing nationwide. We’ll see in January if
Oregon joins the trend.
Not so good
(Reprinted from the Eugene Register-Guard)
On the face of it. Sen. Robert Straub
had what sounded like a plausible sugges
tion—use athletic reserves to bail higher
education out of its financial crisis. Like
many ideas, however, this one isn't so good
on close scrutiny.
In the first place, some of that money
doesn't really belong to the state. It was
given to the universities and colleges for
specific athletic purposes and must be held
in trust for those purposes. Other money
was extracted from the students, also with
the understanding that it would go for the
athletic plant.
In the second place there is no guarantee
that the state would pay the money back,
once is was “borrowed" in the manner Sen
ator Straub suggested. One never knows
what another Legislature will do. And that
includes Senator Straub, who won’t be in
Salem next session.
In the third place, remember that athletic
programs are self-supporting, using no tax
money. If they do well and the gravy is
skimmed off for general education purposes,
would it not be fair to put state money into
these programs in years when financial suc
cess has not ridden with the programs?
The real answer to the problem, and we
are sure Senator Straub would agree, is
sufficient state support for an educational
program at a level agreed to by the Legis
lature. The answer will not be found in a
frantic wrecking of programs that the Legis
lature neither inspired nor guided.
Letters to the editor
i
Pained
Emerald Editor:
I am pained to see that even
the Emerald draws a line of
distinction between the foreign
and American students. No too
long ago, the Emerald of No
vember 3, 1961, published that
“Candidates” (for the ASUO
positions) “will be contacted by
the Emerald for interviews with
the editorial board between
1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday.
The Emerald’s editorial endorse
ment will depend upon these
interviews.” No one from the
Emerald interviewed the candi
dates for election as foreign stu
dents representative. I would
like to know why these candi
dates were not contacted. Were
these candidates not “candi
dates” in the same sense as were
others.
Let me point out another in
cident, howsoever minor, but of
tbc- same nature as the one
pointed above. In the Emerald
of November 2, 1961, all election
results were given coverage
under “Election Tally” but for
reasons best known to the Em
erald the results of primary for
the foreign students representa
tive were omitted.
It is sad realization that the
Emerald does not consider the
foreign students a part of the
student body of the University
of Oregon. Surprisingly the Em
erald writes about discrimina
tion on the one hand and prac
tices it, though perhaps unin
tentionally and inadevertently,
on the other.
Bhagwait Poddar
Foreign Students’ Rep
resentative
* *
Too much criticism
Emerald Editor:
There are many good qual
ities that I have noticed about
the Emerald that are too often
overlooked in appraising our
paper. You have some very well
written articles of interest and
thought, good campus cover
age, and usually a good cover
age of coming events. However,
the paper does have some ques
tionable habits.
The Emerald has criticized
the effectiveness of the Senate
and of the rally. It has also
criticized school spirit. Perhaps
now is a good time for the Em
erald staff to step back and
look at the Emerald, especially
in respect to the other student
organizations. The most im
portant question to ask is, aside
from the basic coverage of the
news, what good is the Emerald
contributing to the University?
Concerning school apathy, the
paper has defined and presented
it clearly, but could it take posi
tive action to help correct this
attitude? We can encourage
very few people to run for office
by telling them that the or
ganization in which they seek
office is worthless or that they
themselves are worthless. Such
criticism is the basis of apathy.
We must be careful, however,
for such a problem should never
be contributed to one organiza
tion. The Senate, the rally, and
the Emerald all contribute their
share.
All newspapers have the obli
gation to a free society to ques
tion and, perhaps, criticize civic
activities. However, a news
paper must never become an
omnipotent father who continu
ally corrects or at least critic
izes each action taken by civic
organizations. If a paper does
degenerate to this depth, then
it could benefit the community
more by closing its doors. Our
student paper does contribute
greatly to our University in
keeping the different student or
ganizations on their toes. But
it, too, must be careful not to
let the paper become overly
critical. It often takes a much
better person or organization to
appreciate the good in another
than to criticize his failings. Our
daily paper has a splendid
chance for positive action. I sin
(Continued on patje 3)
Little man on campus
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PAi?r of oup New <$fr wytrff MAvem, policy-—
FteW YOU AteAlCYMUST FULLFULL W MINIMUM
CQUfZse £&?<JlZm£NT5 OfZ YOU FLUNK. *
Waff Street on campus
Mutual fund investments
generally more secure
By DEN NS STEEN
QUESTION: How much of
an investment advantage over
individual stock purchases do
mutual funds offer the amateur
investor?
ANSWER: For the most part,
funds offer the average inves
tor a larger amount of secur
ity than do most individual
stocks. The growth rate of mu
tual funds has been very steady
and above that of most stocks
over the past ten years. Of
course, there are exceptions to
this, but some of the most wide
ly known mutual funds have
more than tripled in value over
the past ten years. I think an
investment in a mutual fund is a
good idea for the person who
wishes to invest on a monthly
basis. »
QUESTION: What is the
minimum amount you can in
vest in mutual funds?
ANSWER: The price per
share of most mutual funds
ranges between $5 and $20. The
investor may invest as much
or as little as he wishes. He
may invest on a monthly ba
sis or purchase so many shares
outright.
• * •
QUESTION: How can you get
in touch with a mutual fund
salesman ?
ANSWER: There are over
40,000 mutual fund salesmen in
the United States and you can
find their names by looking
them up in the yellow pages.
Some of the better known mu
tual funds are Massachusetts
Investor’s Growth Fund, The
Keystone Funds, The United
Funds, and the Hamilton Funds.
* * *
Readers may recall that in
last Monday’s column I men
tioned that Studebaker-Packard
was a good low-priced invest
ment. After the column came
out, the point was raised by a
reader that Studebaker-Pack
ard had experienced a consider
able drop in the value of its
price over the last several
months.
Apparently the reader pur
chased the stock when it was
selling in the $15 to $29 range
during 1959-1960. Since that
time, Studebaker-Packard had
experienced some extremely
hard blows and fell from a high
of $24in 1960 to a low this
year of $7 |>er share.
THE KE.VSON I mentioned
Studebaker-Packard is that I
feel that Studebaker-Paokard’s
troubles have l>ecn greatly over
emphasized and that greener
pastures are Just around the
corner. Many investors have al
ready realized this as shown
by its rise in price from its low
of $7 per share earlier this year
to its current price of $12 jjer
share. The company has an ex
tremely strong financial posi
tion as its current assets are
$96,000.000 and current nubili
ties are $33,000,000. This is a
vi ry healthy 3 to 1 ratio. Stude
baker-Packard now has a new
management team and has been
acquiring several new small
companies.
It is interesting to note that
between Monday and Thursday
of last week, the stock moved
from $11 up to $12 per share.
I would point out that this is
an increase of just under 10 per
cent in the value of the reader’s
holdings in less than a week. I
think the readers will agree that
10 per cent in one week is much
better than is four per cent in
terest per year in a savings ac
count at the bank.
(Address questions you'd like
answered on the stoek market
to Dennis Steen, c/o The Em
erald, 301 Allen Hall.)
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
The Oregon Daily Emerald U published
seven times in September and five days a
week during the school year, except dur
ing examination and vacation periods by
the Student Publications Board of the
University of Oregon. Entered as second
cla'»s matter at the |x>st office, Eugene,
Oregon. Subscription rates: $5 per year;
$2 per term.
Opinions expressed on the editorial
page are those of The Emerald and do
not pretend to represent the opinion of
the ASUO or the University.
DAN PFAFE, Editor
RON BULL, Managing Editor
J-EE TURNBULL, Acting
Business Mgr.
KEITII POWELL, News Editor
I ED MAHAR, Editorial Page Editor
PHIL COGSWEEL, Asst. News Editor
Y\ OWE KGGERS, Assistant
Managing Editor
DAVE SANDS, Photo Editor
JOE BERGER, CHRIS CHURCH,
Co-Sports Editors
BARBARA CHANTRY,
Women’s Editor
LINDA BROWN,
Entertainment Editor
JANET GOETZK, Feature Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Dan Pfaff, Ron Buel, Keith Powell,
Ted Mahar, PhJ Cogswell, Yvonne log
gers, Allison Blakely, Gayle Osburn,
Quentin Breen, Virginia Anderson, Bar
bara Chantry.