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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1939)
2 The DAILY NEHRASKAN Wednesday, December 20, 1939 2 on ,10.011 (CO) Nobody loves compulsory driii-do you? (Kdltor'a note: Below Is an edltorlnl roprlr.ted from the Pally Cnlifornian, Uni versity ot California, which should he especially Interesting to basic ROTO stu dents since It points out the basic fallacy In compulsory military training.) The main intention of ROTC Is not to create leadership or citizen ship training, nor is it primarily for the physical advantages it al legedly possesses. Its purpose is for national defense. The Morrill Land Grant Act and subsequent acts make this quite clear and so do the statements of military au thorities in the country. Says Ma jor George Fielding Elliot, "I re gard a properly constituted Of ficers' Reserve Corps and a Re serve Officers Trainings Corps to act as its (the regular army's) feeder, as essential to this coun try's military set-up." Even closer to home, we have the statement of Colonel Elvid Hunt, former com mander of ROTC on this campus. "It must be remembered that the aim of ROTC is to turn out Re serve officers for our army and navy." This being the case, we submit that ROTC could best serve its purpose by being on a voluntary basis. On thorough investigation, we find that even military men are not committed in favor of com pulsory ROTC. Typical is the statement of Ray A. Hill, repre sentative of the War Department. Hill says, "Th War Department does not say you must have a re quired course or an elective course. They (the colleges) are given a choice." Even further, it should be pointed out that military training received in the basic course is negligible. Major Kenneth E. Walser, U. S. Field Artillery, says, "We regard military training of three hours a week during a two year school or college course as of neglibible usefulness in training officers for war. Any army officer can teach this much in a week of intensive training when the emer gency arises." Thus, it is even admitted by army officials that the baic course is not essential for national defense purposes. What are the reasons for keeping it compulsory against the objections of those who oppose u on religious, poliucal and other legitimate grounds? Majpr Enoch B. Garey, former commander of the John Hopkin's ROTC says, "I am opposed to com pulsory ROTC because it is so damn dumb. I am for a national defense that is strong and effec tive, that can do at the time needed the thing that ought to be done. Compulsory military train ing thwarts that." There is nothing more that we can say. Military officers, in par ticular Major Garey, have said it for us. Great thoughts (Editor's note; The following article an wers a qumttaMi ewry one must have wondered ahout t their freshman convo cation. We credit the Minnesota Daily.) Malcolm M. Willey, university dean and assistant to the president, finally revealed yesterday what the great and the near-great say to him while they're standing on the stage in Northrop, waiting to be introduced. The thoughts he is always priv ileged to hear are: "My, it a big auditorium, Isn't it?" "My, fi a big audience isn't it?" "What time did you say? 12:20?" And Dean Willey, as you have noticed, always nods his head and ays, "Yes." Ferguson will discuss curricula at Reno meet Dean O. J. Ferguson of the col lege of engineering, president of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, will speak at a meeting of the Pacific south west section of the organization at Reno, Nev., Dec. 27. The dean will discuss the activities of the society and the aims and scope of present engineering curricula. From the University of Nevada he will go to Ikrkeley. Calif., to help arrange the annual national convention of the society which Will be held there next June. Sat urday Dean Ferguson attended the Chicago meeting of the aims and fVcope committee of the organiza- 'tn. To subsidize or not to subsidize No, never "There is only one thing to be thank ful for; we are not backing up the line for the University of Chicago." Trobably President Hutching would not think this comment very funny, and to anyone who looks beyond it to the the situation to which it refers, it Is not. The fact that the University of Chicago has one of the worst football teams in the country, a team which has been the butt of all sorts of jibes ever since the season began, is more than a per sonal tragedy to the ber.ighted members of the Chicago team. It is not their fault; it is not the fault of the coaches. It is simply the result of a university policy which places a premium on brains whether accompanied by brawn or not. The University of Chicago is, as a matter of fact, at a very crucial stage in its development. It is facing the consequences of a strictly amateur athletics policy quite in keeping with a reputation as an educational institution which, according to the Atlantic Monthly, is second in the United States only to Harvard's. Chicago is showing the way to the nation in its athletic purity, but it is paying a heavy price for its decision. The derision which has greeted the Chicago football team this fall is but a sample of what is probably yet to come. And yet football is the only sport where the application of the plan has failed to produce a team good enough to compete in Big Ten circles. If sportswriters persist in dishing out wisecracks at Chicago's expense, the university athletic council will soon be forced to make some sort of decision in regard to its athletic policy. Ac cording to Pulse, an undergraduate publication, the authorities have three alternatives before them: (1) to abolish football completely on an intercol legiate basis, (2) to lower the university's scho lastic standards; (3) to sever connections with the Big Ten and play in an easier league. The first alternative seems to us unwise, for football is a fine competitive sport. To relax its stringent academic requirements in order to in troduce a little brawn into the undergraduate body would be an admission of the defeat of the univer sity's present idealistic program. There remains but one choice: to withdraw from the Big Ten conference. Chicago is obviously outclassed by its present opponents and there is no reason why it should have to take a shellacking every weekend or that the teams it now plays should be forced to battle under such a David-and-Goliath setup. Chicago has set an example, but not such a bad example as the sportswriters would have us believe. It prefers to remain a college with a foot ball team, rather than, as one columnist so aply put it, a football team with a college. The Big Ten will miss Chicago's healthy influence, but Chicago will not miss the Big Ten. Yes ethically General tenor of the resolution adopted Editor's note: (The reprint on the rislit is an editorial from the Pally l'rinccton lan which Is Interest ing in that it throws hunt on one sutc of Saturday by the University of Illinois Let- Ihe c o n t r oversial question of paying tcrmen's association was encouraging to uor!elto' the eduouai those who believe good Varsity athletic ma- ?rnomU'thc unity 'iMrni tenal may be secured without sacrificing whirh supports a existjnr ethical standards of either the Uni- EbiXnV versify or the Big Ten conference. The problem of subsidization of college athletes has covered an extensive, complicated ground since college football first became big business. As gen erally interpreted, subsidization carries with it a slightly off-color connotation. Yet certain forms of subsidization can be strictly legal, above board, and highly desirable from the viewpoint of all concerned. There seems little objection to that form of subsidization which helps needy athletes honestly to work their way. through college provided always that they receive money for fulfilling the require ments of a REAL job; not merely becoming athletic bums sitting back on their heels waiting for a monthly pay check covering hypothetical "work" on a non-existent "job." There can be no objection to athletic scholar ships that assist to defray partially scholastic ex pensesprovided that eligibility for the scholarships rests upon an academic-achievement plane higher than most run-of-the-mill awards. Particularly in college football is subsidization . a fundamental problem. Modern college football has created gargantuan stadia with atendant costs of maintenance. For better or for worse, college foot ball exerts powerful influence upon the alumni and upon the national reputation of a university in the popular mind. Subsidization, then, presents a question of for midable proportion in the operation of any large university. Since subsidization of some sort seems an essential requisite if the school intends to remain in intercollegiate athletic competition, it must decide which path of subsidization it prefers to follow. In their resolution Saturday, 'the I-men plainly Indicated they believed it possible for the University to follow the ethical path of subsidization and still get sufficiently good athletic talent. At the same time, the resolution implied that no unnecessary barriers should be erected by the University against the strengthening of legal, de sirable subsidization. ! The I-men's resolution was more than timely; it wa3 authoritative. More thoroughly than does any other group connected with the campus, the Let- i termen's association realizes the problems of ath letics and athletics in a large university. Their reso lution should carry considerable weight in the for- ; mulation of future University athletic policies. j We hate war, but will this time ever ccrne? (Editor's note: Stanley Frankel. editor of the l.rl!y Northwestern, ia one of the shiest i supporters of American neutrality smonj; all eoliepiate editors. The followInK editorial Is reprinted from his column In the Daily Northwesteern. No'e: The policy of the Dally Northwest ern is to help make sure that the following story could never be written. The join session of the senate and the house was suddenly very still. It was April 4, 1940. The members had been called to a spe cial session to hear the president. The president began, "I hate war but the time has come when we must join the democ racy and peace-loving nations of the world to make the world, again, safe for freedom." That was all. The senate and the house were hushed for many min utes. The significance of the presi dent's words had struck home. But no few minutes of hushed silence marked other governmental activities. The war department im mediately sent wartime instruc tions to every U.S. industry. All newspapers, all ministers, all edu cators received government no tices, "asking (under penalty of imprisonment) that all effort, all words, written or spoken, be di rected toward the successful pros ecution of the war. Thruout the land, an Immense draft was begun. In one week, every man between the ages of 21 to 35 was registered. In one more week, six million of the eight mil lion men registered were chosen for active service. And by June 1, 50,000 American soldiers were in France. Included In the first batch were some Northwestern students. Dick Trenbeth had been given a gun Instead of a graduate fellowship. Fred Mamer went overseas to fight instead of to study. Dick Richards, Corne Arts, and Bill DeCorrevont would play no more football this October. They would throw hand-grenades Instead of pigskins; they were to block cold, hard bullets Instead of opposing linemen; they were backing up the trench line instead of the football line. The troops were greeted at Havre by an aerial bombardment. Their first taste of actual warfare was a picture of disemboweled children, desolate mothers, half crazed old men. The American troops were sent to the western front. A very bad flu epidemic had broken out. The mortality rate of those with flu was almost 70 percent. Dick Tren beth was the first N. U. student to die ingloriously of pneumonia on a mud-coated hospital bed. In an enemy offensive, the Americans "acquitted themselves nobly." Fred Mamer, however, will not be able to accept his Wharton scholarship. He was bayoneted, Hey paw! where do you come in? (F.rlitur'i note: The follow mi; warning to all males is rvpntited from The Dart mouth ) Thing., look pretty black for the male sex, and this being a college exclusively for males we think we ought to warn you. A couple of scientists have per fected a fatheiless rabliit, accotd ing to a magazine we read last night, and by 1951 they expect to perfect a fatherless human. It's all done with a special salt solution, which not only diseases with males for procreation but turns out nothing but females. If this thing catches on, it's not hard to see where the male sex will become a useless appendage to the human race and eventually totally extinct. And if that hap pens, where will Dartmouth col lege be? That's one problem well bet the Ad building hasn't figured out yet -what to do when there aren't any more men. Furc science is pure science, and the spirit of research should rise untrammelcd above personal con siderations, and all that. But there are limits. The extinction of the male race is one. We Just thought we'd warn you. Dartmouth. blood poisoning and death result ing. An American counter-offensive followed. Dick Richards' leg wa-; so badly shot up that it was ampu tated on the field of battle; Bill DeCorrevont was killed by an air plane bomb; hia body has not been found; Paul Soper was gassed. He will live -but forever in an oxy gen tent. Dec 1, 1941, an armistice was declared. What was left of Eu rope sighed in relief. The devasta tion had made both a victor's peace or a "Wilsonian" peace im possible. All was havoc; the world was tired, disillusioned; proble-ns remained this time; bigger ones. And many of the brains which might help solve those problems were literally lying on the Jield of Flanders - - solving the poppies' problem of more fertilizer. FT Rote! Lomhusker ONuER SCHtmffitl. DIRECTION e urr Drtnm tit fcc lie X hint itf SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON FORMAL Wednesday Evening- HOME Or THE TnsTY PrstrV Shop Ml: 4) TA 'r V VJ jx t . Sfri&d. at Mill cr's (of particular Inter. el to men) Haven't finished your Christ mas shopping? Not even for your very best girl? Shame on you, you don't de nerve thin considera tion, but anyway, we did a little scouting just for you, be cause we have ideas about what girU like. JF.WF.IRY i always a thrilling gift, and we have Mich a wide range of tjpc that you will look no further. And if you have that depart ment More phobia, it's of interest to you to know that our jewelry counter i right inside our east door entrance. 1MMAN J KWKIRY, silver set with genuine turquoise1. 81 to $10. I.O( KF.TS, S3 to 8.30. IXH"G1G ROW S and HOI SI COATS are a college gal's delight. Ilecardlcs. vv I y of the price you ran Ji pay, wr II foul one for von ih.-it's a IriV. lite to her loveliness. Y s ..-'. ami up. none section, third floor. Jf ' f she Iike thine soft cuddly, and warm 'i'J.'. jut a kitten curled on vfr he hearth, give her a g,$j s;nncr that's rrallr a Js5 ;t)(T MI IF. with it. electrified lambswonl inside anil out. $.. Shoe section, second floor. 'l AJv V F. R V V M I". S. as r&otic an you wi-li or with a fragrance gathered from an old fushionrd gar den, in beautiful gift hollies. $! to $10. Toilet UmI., street floor. ('AMY always rarrie . -'.tcet wishe-, anil you J9 ' now you're sending he best in randie if &tr wm,e i, witch hoi u CHOCO- '.ATFS. Fruit, rrear Gji id nut centers. 1, 2 J 3 and 3 IS. Ixxes. I It. SI. Candies, street flMr. Votch For "Spied at Miller's in ni'xl II vilnrs titty Daily !rhrakun M Jr ir '1