Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983, October 21, 1954, Image 10

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Eugene register-guard., October 21, 1954, Image 10

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Newspaper Page TextBy GALBRAITH Zechariah Chafee Jr." SIDE GLANCES AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER Alton F. Baker EDITOR William M. Tugman MANAGING EDITOR Alton F. Baker Jr. SERVICES Full Associated Press, United Press, Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Register-Guard's policy is the complete and impartial publication in its news pages of all news and statements on news. On this page the editors of the Register Guard offer their opinions on events of the day and matters of importance to the community, endeavoring to be candid but fair and helpful in the development of con structive community policy. A newspaper is A CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITV. Entered at the Post Office at Eugene, Oregon, as second-class matter. 10A EUGENE, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1954 Chafee Challenges All To Join Battle Against 'Thought Control" Movements Freedom should be everybody's con cern! The man who hides while others fight the battle merits contempt. Nor in these times can any university worthy of the name avoid its responsibilities for the freedom of men's minds and souls. These were the thoughts to carry home from the University of Oregon's first Charter Day which saw the installa tion of President Meredith Wilson, a man who has shown that he not only knows the meaning of freedom but how to fight for it. These are "echoes" of the addresses made by three distinguished visitors Julian Huxley, world famous British scientist; Clarence H. Faust, of the Ford Foundation, and Zechariah Chafee, Jr., of Harvard, a law school professor whose valiant work has earned him the highest honor Harvard can bestow on a teacher, "University professor," welcome in any school or department. (Even at Harvard, there, may be a few musty corners where this thorny personality is not always greeted with. cheers.) No Dull Moments When Chafee Gets Under Way For three hours, Tuesday night more than 600 people sat on hard chairs in Erb Memorial Union, waiting to hear Chafee (while the customary ceremonials were being performed). Chafee spoke for another hour but there were no dull mo ments, from the beginning where he said: "If the universities had not recently brought the social sciences into the curricu lum, they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble " Through his swift review of the his toric follies of trying to regulate teach ers' thoughts or teaching methods: "In 1643 the Puritans .... required all leachcrs .... to take a test oalh called (he Solemn League and Covenant .' . . . obliging them to assent that they were bound to re sist the King (Charles I). In less than 20 years Charles' son had regained I lie throne .... a law of 1682 required all teachers lo swear they believed it wrong to resist the King. . . ." There were touches ot ironical scorn for the persecutors of teachers: "They think that students believe what they hear in college. Did these anxious folk do that when they were in college themselves? .... Undergraduates do not believe all their professors tell them even if it happens to be right. . . ." He used many devastating analogies such as this one in regard to so-called teachers' oaths: "Scholars object lo being forced to plead 'Not Guilty' before any evidence of guilt is produced. Picture a loyal wife whose chastity is questioned by a suspicious husband. He de mands a public assertion at a dinner party before all their guests ... he insists that his wife say she never has been unfaithful, par ticularly not with John Smith "Let us require every legislator to swear there were no illegal practices in his election .... every lawyer to swear he never has solicited clients .... every doctor that he never has committed an abortion .... every business man that he never has violated anti trust laws . . . ." It was a speech which was remarkable for rollicking humor, mordant wit, sal lies which crackled over a tired audience like a bulhvhip. He brought them to sharp attention with this final challenge: "The time has come to strike back. Not just, single professors, brought under fire and easily picked off like an isolated sentry . . . To presidents, trustees, regents, alumni, I sav THIS IS YOUR FIGHT! .... No more concessions .... the time has come to stop retreating .... we ought to educate more than our students. 'We must educate our masters' the legislators, the citizens who in the end make educational institutions possi ble .... We need lo make our fellow-citizens realize that freedom is NOT SAFETY but OPPORTUNITY." No 'Sympathy For Communism' in Chafee's Approach It was the speech of a man who de tests communism and for that reason deplores those who debauch American ideals by adopting the repressive meth ods characteristic of communism. His sincerity is accentuated by the fact that. 30 years ago lie himself was a target for "mobsters" because of what he said or wrote. Chafee's speech was a fitting climax to a day devoted to the theme of a Uni versity's responsibilities to freedom. Those Who Clliov wnrrvinp nhnnt snlinnlc as "hotbeds of communism" could have found reassurance in the discussions. If man's salvation can be found by "using the brains which God gave him," then there certainly was comfort in Dr. Faust's able dissertation on man's ability to REFLECT upon his experiences the one quality which distinguishes him from the lower animals and makes him master of his environment, if not yet of himself. (We don't have to worry ton much about our mistakes as long as we can learn some thing from making them.)' Huxley put this time of trouble into both scientific and historical perspec tive. Here is one of the few famous men of our times who isn't' worrying about the destruction of the so-called human race or even the end of what we call civilization. Why? We shall try to repeat one illustration: "If you took the Empire Stale building in New York and lot it represent man's first 1,000 million years, you' would have to use a postage stamp to represent the last 5,000 years or so of man's recorded history. All this time he has been developing and learning and he has perhaps another 1,000 million years ahead. ..." Man has spent most of his time on earth learning to live and he is still in that process and KNOWLEDGE is in dispensable to his future or more im portant still the FREEDOM TO LEARN. What Chafee added to this discussion was simply that note of challenge. As he pointed out, if you forbid an artisan to utter his thoughts he can simply "clam up" and ply his trade, but if you silence a teacher he has nothing left. Therefore this fight for freedom is everybody's fight! So We Shall Print Chafee's Text For All To Read Naturally there were a few even among those present who did not like everything Chafee said. Indeed we sus pect there were a few who came to be shocked because Mr. Chafee's name is on some of the "suspect" lists which are purveyed by professional patrioteers. (On Tuesday we heard a little mumbling that "such a man" should not be allowed to speak here. This paper with its long record of upholding the right of every person to be HEARD has no sympathy for such talk.) So we arc going lo print the Chafee speech, COMPLETE AND UNALT ERED, on this page in four installments beginning today, and for these reasons: 1. To settle any arguments as to just what he said. 2. Because in our opinion it. is a speech which every American may profit by reading. We find it impossible to agree with some of the sentiments we heard as we were leaving the Union: "Yell, he can talk. He isn't in a tax sup ported institution. It's easy for him to be brave with Harvard back of him. . . . "That was an incendiary talk! As an alum nus I'm disturbed. Folks out through the stale are goin' to get the idea this is a radical in stitution. . . . "I hope some of l he hollieads in the faculty don't lake this as a signal to go out and trv to be heroes." We have seen enough of President Wilson's calm, determined leadership to have no fear that the campus will run amok just because of some very plain talk by an elderly gentleman from Cam bridge, Massachusetts. We are very glad that many of Oregon's highest officials including Governor Patterson and mem bers of the State Roard were sitting right there. (There might he a few among "the brass" who need lo hear such a speech.) To be prepared for trouble is entirely different from looking for trouble. If Oregon so far has been able to avert the legislative inquisitions, the degrading teachers' oaths and the police state tac tics which have afflicted so many other states, it is mainly because so far it has been possible to MOBILIZE INTELLI GENT PUBLIC OPINION IN TIME. That is precisely what the Chafee speech suggests nothing more. It was a Charter Day lo be remembered with its colorful processions, its stately rites, its stimulating music and on all sides the incomparable beauty of eager, ideal istic youth. The talk was of. freedom all day and many will remember that it ended with THIS IS YOUR FIGHT! fe ' ' - J I'.XO i"l don't see why you get so excited about a $2 overdraft! Can't you use some of that $7,000,000 surplus you advertise?" Hal Boyle 'Aunty Alice 'Children's Hour' Observe Silver Anniversay NEW YORK Wl Any mother who has survived the tense ordeal of preparing her moppet for a grammar school pageant might regard Mrs. Alice Viola Clements with awe. For Mrs. Clem ents, the show world's most dur able foster moth er has auditioned some 300,000 tal ented and not so talented children in a quarter of a century. 1 More than 12,- 000 kids have ap- Boyle peared on "Aunty Alice's" fa mous "Children's Hour" Sunday program over WNBC and WNBT here. The program, which recent ly celebrated its silver anniver sary, has been a springboard for many now famous entertainers. "So far as we've been able to find," said Mrs. Clements, "it's "the oldest continuous show on ra dio. It has gone on for some 1,300 consecutive weeks." COMPENSATION? It is now only a part-time task for busy, warm-hearted Mrs. Cle ments, who was once a Broadway dancer herself. Five years ago, after the death of her husband, she took over the operation of his Philadelphia advertising agency. Three days a week she commutes here, where she holds auditions, and writes, directs and produces her show. She ' loves lo work with chil dren, handles them easily with a firm knowing kindliness. "I had twins, but lost them as babies," she said, quietly. "Since then, I've well, I've learned to be fond of other people's chil dren." ART AND THRIFT Each year she contributes to the education of a number ot tal ented children whose parents can't afford to give- them the training they need. "I've always been interested in show business," she said. "I was the youngest of seven children in a Pennsylvania Dutch family. My father had paid S400 for a piano, and none of the older children cared to play it. "When I came along, I had to. My thrifty father simply wasn't going to let that piano go to waste. I gave my first concert debut at 8. and I wore panties made, of flour sacks with the name of the company printed on them. "As I sat down to the piano, everybody in the audience started laughing. In flipping back my starched dress, I had given a free ad to the flour company." Each night now when Mrs. Cle ments looks at television her heart is warmed by the sight of at least 6 to 8 performers who got their start on her program. "Not all are stars," she said, "but they are making a living." Among the better known grad uates of her Children's Hour are Ezra Stone, Robert Q. Lewis, Ar nold Stang, Joan Roberts, Eileen Barton and Roberta Peters. What has she learned from 25 years of working with children? TALENT OR NOTHING "Well, the most important thing is to treat them as adults," she said. "Children respond to reason at least as well as grownups and they're more obedient. "The parents often are more of a problem than the children. They never seem to be satisfied if a child has one talent. They want to push the child into everything, or claim he can do anything." One father offered Mrs. Cle ments a new car if she'd put his child on her show. A jeweler of fered her an expensive watch on the same basis. "I had to turn them both down," she laughed. "The chil dren get on the show only by their own talents. We don't audi tion their parents' pocketbooks." BUSY HANDS Mrs. Clements believes that en couraging children to develop their talents helps cut down juve nile delinquency. "A child trying to become good in anything simply doesn't have time to get into trouble," she said. She has found that child ven triloquists usually are the most, highly intelligent of young per formers, young comics the most mischievous. "It's hard to hold their atten tionthey are always trying to make me laugh," she said. "But I suppose I really love them best of all. I always dreamed of being a comedienne but I wasn't." That is the key to "Aunty Alice's" success. She shares the yearning behind every child's most impossible dream, and does what she can to help it come true. THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG WORD AND SrEECH EUGENE (To the Editor) -Nope. I wasn't the "one Demo crat" included in the Republican gathering at the Woodrow Wilson .lunior High Tuesday. I lead what was said in the pages of the Register-Guard. In Senator Cordon's review of this administration's record on taxes, appropriations, wage, price, rent and material controls, social security, unemployment compen sation, farm legislation, tidelands oil, housing, etc., he called it a "good record." We who compose the largest segment of the popula tion of these United States, the wage earner upon whose contin ued prosperity and employment depends the prosperity of the small merchant and in turn the whole country, say, relative to Cordon's speech, '"Taint So." Further, we say the administra tion's record is NOT a good rec ord. How dc we know this? By what we experience when wc pay our income tax, by our pay checks, by our purchases at the store, by our rent receipts, BLM statistics on cost of living today compared to B.I. (Before Ike) and last but not least, by unemploy ment figures. By implication, Senator Cordon refers to American citizens of the Democratic Party as "left wing ers." In a speech in Chicago, Secretary of Defense Wilson did likewise. Secretary of Interior McKay, Vice President Nixon and other "big wheel" spokesmen of the Republican Party have also implied that those who voted or aligned themselves with the Dem ocratic Party were "left wingers." The thousands of veterans of two world wars, who are stauch Dem ocrats, as well as thousands of other Americans, must resent this arrogant, haughty, bumptious insinuation as to their loyalty and patriotism. Surely this wonderful democ racy of ours must maintain the two-party system. Just as surely, those interested in the total wel fare of the peoples of these United States and particularly the work ing men and women and small merchants, cannot vote the Re publican ticket Nov. 2, consider ing the present complexion of the Republican Party. To paraphrase a quotation in the Bible (1 John 3, V. 18) and in reference to the campaign speech es of the various Republican spokesmen and candidates, placed against a background of our fac tual experiences, the Rpniihlin.m rarty "loves us in word but not in deed speech, truth." and and Respectfully. CHRIS JENSEN, 1087 West 8th Ave. ' So 77iey Say Employment is high and steady, but unemployment is still Inn high Labor Secretary Mit chell, I Fear of Teachers' iW Over Students Unfo EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first part of no address delivered by Zechariah Chafee Jr on the University of Orenon campus dncsday s'feeeedinfl portions of the address mil be pub lished later. view which hanpcni to k. , being." i ln to be doml. lUltfcJ being.' This theory would .. saulls in the eurrS." ages in textbooks about pubZ if1, J trie nower kM u... . f c ProdiwJl to it from MlWh.a ......... . j 7 . " "'"i am tk. : The first th ng I have to say auuui w ;" niuueraie nos u my on fk. j?t responsibiUty in the tradition of freedom in the inauguration. 0n the social sciences is this: If the universities had not Let me go to the sarely o( lfc , recently brought the social sciences into the cur- actual example of wJi , t (PART I) riculum, they wouia iihvb v ....... . . - .m me i-unians in Parlim"V7U nf frni.hle. Their freedom would be attacked very government ot smith,.,....'' "J?, tat J little in the twentieth century. The struggle be- t, they required all the i5r1M tween the natural sciences ana reusum .u ... 5Cnoiars at the University N j.j. . nonlnev no lonccr bat- hr .loo t ... . .... 81 OtbriJ ties against Genesis, and evolution can be taugnt guo and Covenant. This ohliTj M with impunity outside Tennessee ana juimubmiiim. mat iney were bound h UH ' it fa.. New theories ana uiscuvenca ......... ...... ,,v raniament fti. .! ' Istry, and biology are enthusiastically heralded, than twenty years, after Charie, They may enable us to save sick men uy u.c imune, a law of 1662k. 1 dreds or slaughter well men by the hundreds of teachers at oxford and Caii thousands, xney may Drmg auuui. JI.VC....U..,. .....w.. -"- " "ng t0 mi,t ., ...:n j 4 mmfnrt and helD the advertising that the Solemn Lear.ii. J? EJ business. As for the humanities, innovation has illegal oath which had no bindioSJ always been welcome since Homer said, "Men ever Wnl love the song that rings newest in the ear. An occasional letter lo Ihe editor does lash out DOSIC Traditions -kdi. iYpb verse, but the modern art- i-. 'ii. otnm,.. liko hit nrerlnrossnrs and the To borrow from Mr. Tlnnl. new poetry is read as much or as little as the old. about the Supreme Court, do w, JJ If universities naa oniy siuck io me euuaua, - ...ouutuoantunjii fessers of Latin and Greek mignt nave lmpariea m umer generate 64 radicalism to their students Dy insisting mai me -....... ... ui younjB Conspiracy of Catiline was a frame-up by Cicero of the Prophet Jeremiah: just as the Reichstag Fire was irame-up oy muer, stand yg ( or iniected Fascist ideas into lectures on the nuhlic of Plato. Most neople would not have known ,', .,, . " r, iH what they were talking about and nobody would re" N have cared. Unfortunately, as Trotsky temahi body who wants a restful life had btte, No Obscurity on Campus "p"tE No such obscurity and no profitable attention ."ej! i'""'-'!"'or 01 "ononucs w tW await the professor who indulges in heterodox V'nced of his duty lo hand doim th, views about economics, government, international im uuimngumi affairs, law. He occupies the front page of news- lust finished writing out all his lecture) I WM. hanb-rnhhora rnlnmnists hracket coming year in his course on Monn i him with spies. The lightning he keeps attracting Finance. They are full of what mnjQ it... ..nivorciiv u'hnn. ho wnrbs. Tf of that time regarded as "certain tin J it protects itself from the storm by sending him s?:'al and material affairs, is uaii3 away, it will often lose the teaching and research te law of gravitation." It is October It J of a distinguished scnolar, and it will .surety ac- 'V" . mmi moralize his colleagues and lessen its future power crash is ten days away. What would lid t - otr, w.min,. n.. tho nthoi- Vi.inri u be doing to prepare his students to Hi J the university dares to retain the unpopular pro- wl,ic.h we now live, where neither potti fessor, it too will become a favorite target lor ; j .u. u mum hi professional patriots. wllere both parties are seeking to gmJ , , . .. , , . farmers high prices for their crops, limJ The sources of indispensable funds may per- ment regafcrusl the relie o lld.a Uly Up, o.iv. ina.ij .u.vii.d graduates, present or potential, will be honestly disturbed. No discussion of the problems of aca demic freedom is fair unless it takes into account the difficulties confronting a university president and the governing boards. These men, it is true, do not run the risk of ruining their lives liko the teacher who dares to speak out what to him is sound and true. Still, the professor is not the only man in trouble. One of the great calamities of Ihese angry attacks on disliked ideas in universi ties is that they distract the heads of an institu tion from their vital task of facilitating thought and ask them to stifle thought. This special vulnerability of the social sciences to frequent and bitter attacks is due, I think, to three commonly held beliefs on the part of citizens at large. t In the first place, the public feels strongly that the social sciences are intertwined with valuable basic traditions of our society; hence, tho purpose of teaching those subjects is to maintain those tra ditions. This is true lo some extent, but it is far from being the whole story. Courses which help growing youngsters to tnc multiplication table as charade understand American institutions and the wavs of ..:., oii,;r, ...hiM. i. it s their fellow-citizens are indeed a chance for teach- otherwise which once learned stifl 4 1:1 a 10 nana on me gooa mat nas Deen learned through life When a professor eipreso through long experience since the colonics were cass i(ieas ' abnut politics or kooob settled. We have heard with our cars, and our wlljch these Cri1 ics disagree, theyi fathers have declared unto us, the noble works as bad as tolling boys and girls that wa rtiiol Tn I u.V ""'V,' 0 mem- nine is sixty-one. w.... a.,,.c v.iinuu ugiiiiy !,yiu, v teacner works in a sensitive area in a schoolroom. There he shapes the attitude of young minds toward the society in which they live." The youngster ought to he trained to have qualities which past experience has shown to be valuable for life. He ought to gel; the benefit of the tried judgments of the has to be taught to fly, and the boy 'to wash TZZh 0 New O e Vk 714 hind his ears, be helpful to women and cripples, fLllZfZ'Z to learn M 5. "mes.n'ne V sy-three and taxation """h he er vet. he had to kn . ,J z-. sciety - n;rnt..8iiv acouinng information sacred obligation, where the gold stou dwindled into an excuse for taking abre of gold out of the ground in South Africa iJ ting it into tho ground in Fort Knoi! Truly, as President Eisenhower 0! tJ told his students, "In this lite He fan what is around the corner. ' The bin just as surprising to us as our silma have been to Americans in 1929. The m whether the teacher shall make the tia ates of 1954 skilled in discussing posaft changes and fully canvassing their afatia disadvantages. Or shall he leave then t with bandaged eyes through "the imcruuSM which lie ahead," equipped with nothiagti their choice except a strong love fir lit tions among which they were horn? Core of Knowledge The second reason for the current ka ward teachers is closely related to till just been saying. People are inclined U nr xmii-d iimrn is a core ol suchisq and indubilable knowledge in educahaiM of the teacher's task consists in impart tnr- iinrlnclsnrlinf what IS SlH! Unk0l dealing with it wisely. The best kind of q was what Mark Twain got as an appreM in hit "T.ifo nn the Mississippi." i learned all the shoals and points in the rhj anain onH hollor vpt. he had to fllOW Kche turns regarding the sentiment and behavior" of his fellows. Human beings need to be predictable for each other, they need to fit together Controversial Issues The tried judgments of the (nii.miinili .knulJ surplv ho ,,,j . . ., J oiiuuiu anxious IOIK OO inai unci. '-. surety he passed on, but thev are nnssihlo nni nn .1 1...., -r lit. Mr. Dooler- llv7cUrjfiT conc,usir have lonE been "or when Iwas a little boy, but 2 vrv UyJ,l CZl?Ll.am,rea?7 ,n ? aIK with how I was a little boy." They have tM Fitzjames .IS teacllIIIB' !t was like to be y7' ht:ii... Anc-;a in tnnkfl in SUUM than in the communication of an esuwil of knowledge. Vet it is absurd toissnfl mi.it:i1fn will w.irn the minds of mi.-. .1.. .i-:J ...n n-llt ciliMI ' mat is ine mini ico-" ,j are scared about teachers. They W Hont hoiiovo ivh.it thev hear incoutsv anxious folk do that when theywret dc- nnrloiwafbmtps do not believe all N r ,-V. .1 ..... II II hatlwnsH lessors leu mem, rveii . . hj A great many teachers of &Mj3 .- .. u....j t iv tariffs, 111 my wuyiiuuu iveie au . IVIHI WKIll UUL VL 111.11 v. "A man who did nnf. CA f Of nr- I.- 1 J cide for his children the questions whethnr 'thJ snou.d be truthful industrious, sober, respectful, and chaste, and (do ill ithn, .11....:.' to hear what i. t, ... .. " lnem .. nioiinnists. side,- would be a contemptible ped.nt. - A former Secretary of State I Yet how far dnn. thi. n he was in law school, that whatwornn vJ Tin?.. f"P' .hs."-''ycarryus?Itisall education at Yale was that most rf and c itv - he " iT"' T' sobrict-v' te were rapidly becoming . - we a erlam the ,55.1 W ished Zth' h"? ShaU Iathcrs' The frequent fear of c.bzew'W troversial ssues whi.h h, th about very con- Professors produce radical ftudents events and facts fS i-1 reCCn"y? Ncw out by my peri M .dgmnofhVcommu'nity6 f'UCd lnl ,he ld The most fertile W - Ann alter all, we are lalt-in .,!,. . Known was tne ciassroum . - , m K not primarysciU6' t ZTZ S Carver., conserva ve J j am!, ue ueiore tney can ston heinn i i. i- noer. ine rcacuuu . ,ltl r evervthinp thi. m. -. CIV?. oeins toltI. to believe ,h. firishinr Harvard Socialist everything their elde . h i ve f 11, ,T the flourishing Harvard WJ risk that the elders tVE8"""8" f ,h ? One of its members I begin to wonder still m ...iT.' , . in the walls of the hremiin. " j. on about compelling teachers what to teach: &.a," .BLa"LS'r nor do WR "The aftifniln f .... . . ... Z "" i.V.'. ,i.-mlves '1 thoritv iii , J , ann nr nub"c B on lmnK,nS "Re noruy . . . w,u and 0gnt t() M dmv Biochemist Reported in Line for Nobel . . nnbbJ would he eiven to three Dr. Fredenw Tne n""" ., anmv w.ur prize . intent nu vicnpanri nf m... n . . . .. York, Cornell Univ rsf b T ' ' " -mounted jg chemist, is described by the n r, WCr Strng indicationS fit c. Dy lne Dr. Du V onnaiirl R3.vMr.nirt na- established U i oiui-Miuim newspaner F.vnrr. .t -S"1 '.r. the lnveo'". nvi; i vnicaco. would receive intuie., . mt-j en as the likely winner nf 19o4 Nobel Prize in medicine and tw hormones produced by the physiology " . jreK pnysiology, to Thursday night. The Expressen the the Nobel Prize fnr resparch on The pr'ze . .i,,d t Adolph field. EWa""; cf be awarded Posterior lobe of the gland, it said. LipmanB a possibility hn-.; .1.; Z.'f'"'?"" !:. J wses W ""-. ft wiutis, ur. 1 nomas weuer "