DAILY NEBRASKAN
Thursday, March 27, 1941
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America enters new sphere
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America '8 humming industries are to
day turning out guns, munitions and other
weapons of defense such as they have never
done in a previous peace time period. And
the attention of the entire country is focused
on possible hostilities with Germany.
With a monotonous rout i r that's abhor
inp, our Congressmen are v billions for
the construction of a two r . avy, defenses
for harbors and coast lines, and for the train
ing of n many million man reserve army.
Wc justify such expenditures by national
emergency, and reason that a temporary bur
den for the duration of the war must be born
in the interest of hemisphere security.
With no grounds but reluctance to rec
ognize a new era, we feel that a victory for
England will end our worries and we shall
replace the war torn, unstable, and fearful
world of today with the world of yester
day, where America felt secure behind thre
thousand miles of water, and thought in
terms of an isolation for herself that in truth
did never exist.
The war will someday be over. Emergen
cies will no longer haunt our Congressmen.
Then what can we expect our policies to be
like?
The completely altered American atti
tude makes a return to our old ways almost
impossible. New weapons, long distance planes,
much improved ships and submarines have
drawn the United States out of its retreat, and
forever into the realm of European and world
politics. We have proved by our actions that
where the affairs of Europe are of vital con
cern to us; and where such vital concern ex
ists we can expect the United States to play a
more active part in determining the politics
and activities there.
With the world now the unit, and
with a consciousness among our people that
our coast lines are not necessarily secure,
it is likely that the United States will perma
nently struggle on under a military yoke.
Probably we shall never again do without a
two ocean navy; we shall probably always
keep tanks and war planes in reserve and a
sizeable supply of men to operate them. And
conscription, which has been instituted now
as a national emergency may probably con
tinue in restricted form along the lines of
youth training in most of the nations of Eu
rope. 'Already men are being placed into indus
try on the basis of military training. And al
ready we see bills proposed in our legislatures
giving special civil service treatment to men in
Commentorials
. . . from our readers
To the student body and others of the Univer
sity of Nebraska:
Please accept our most sincere appreciation
for your cooperation in entertaining the univer
sity's seven hundred visitors from Stephens College
Tuesday.
To the men of the campus, every single one
of them, we are grateful to you for your gallant
response to our requests for dates. To the best of
our knowledge there was a Nebraska boy for every
Stephens girl. ,
To the Nebraska girls, we appreciate your
good sportsmanship in remaining away from the
Union during the tea dance in order to permit
more space in which to accommodate our guests.
And to Colonel Thuis and his staff for excus
ing students, to Stephens alumnae ,the male quar
tet, the Tassels, the DAILY NEBRASKAN, Dean
T. J. Thompson, Mr. A. E. Westbrook, Mr. Armand
Hunter, Miss Gertrude McArthur, and to J. B. John
eon, and the social chairman of all organizations
who assisted in many ways, we are sincerely grate
ful. Such a display of cooperation as was exempli
fied yesterday typifies the true Nebraska spirit.
Student Union staff.
the American armed forces. Part is war hys
teria, true, but a part wc feel is a permanent
surrender of our minds to an "America must
be militarily prepared" attitude.
Even those of us who laugh at the war
mania and fears sweeping the country, unci
feel that dangers voiced by the extremists are
largely hypothetical, must recognize thai the
post war world will not be the same. Whether
any danger exists now or not, the people have
bad their chill.
And the collective attitude of these peo
ples will continue to view Europe as our
next door neighbor, with whom we must
either deal or fight. Situations are easy to
alter attitudes are rigid. America has been
burned by the attitude of fear. And regard
less of the outcome of the present crisis, we
can expect her to erect future policies on
that foundation.
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Thinkin on Tuesday
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To: Miss Sooky Southlan'
Stephen's College
Columbia, Missouri
or
Rotk Gap, Virginia.
Dear Sook:
Well, the gals from ol' Missou' done came day
afore yesterday came , and went, and with the go
ing good old U.N. saw the end of two hours with
those Stephenites, two great hours. From ag col
lege on the east to law college on the west they
will remember! Several hundred young men (and
just' as many hundred young women) walked round,
waited nervously 'til 3:30 rolled 'round, and at last
it came (the moment), the men selected their wom-i
en from the files in the Union lounge, and the
dancln' began.
It was then that I received a definite, a last
ing impression about that school down there, and
the gals from that school. Particularly the . girls
from Virginia and the rest of the South.. Several
of the gals came from Virginia (which is one of
several states down that way, including Oregon,
Maine, and several others). I got to thinking' then.
.If your comin' typifies all that is the South, if it
means magnolias and bluegrass and sumac in the
springtime, if it means corn pone and pork fritters
and golden-brown fried chicken, if it means Robert
E. Lee and Sherman's march to the sea, if it means
Jeff Davis and Stephen Foster (whose only mistake
was a song about a gal with hair, Jeanie with the
light-brown), if it means "Rldin' to glory on a
trumpet" and "Tobacco Road" and "Green Pas
tures," If it means "Yassuh boss" and "sho do
suga" "if it means all of this I say to heck with
bein' a damyank; I say Jus' carry me back to oY
Vlrginny and call me "rebel!"
At any rate, Sook, the gals from the South
lands blew in for a look at the cornlands, and we
sho all do hope they were satisfied. So until Ste
phen, drops in again, I remain, with a "Fiddledee
dee" and still thinkin' there is no place like Ne
braska, just
Damyankeely yours,
g willie
Slav conglomerate 1
Many of the Yugoslavs do not seem to appreciate the advantages
of a tleup with the axis. The muttering which proceeded the nignlng
of the pact broke out into rioting Wednesday, and sharp clashes with
police were reported in many Yugoslavian cities.
Scene of the wildest rioting was in the little city of Sarajevo,
notorious in history as the cradle of the first World War. It was there
that the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria met his death in an Incident
which set a match to the explosive 1914 situation.
Rumors have filtered into this country that tiny Serbia is think
ing of seceding from Yugoslavia to set up an Independent nation of
Its own. While this does not seem possible It docs serve to illustrate
the disunity of conflicting interests In this Versailles-createdstate.
After the World War the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were lumped
together to form one nation. These groups were bound ethically by
their Slavic blood, but had never lived under a common government.
Difficulties
Under these circumstances, the new nation had many difficulties
to overcome. Difficulties in religion, language ,and politics have placed
great obstacles in the way of national unity.
As an example of the conglomeration, the Serbs and Croats speak
the same tongue, but have different religions, the former bving Greek
Orthodox and the latter Roman Catholic. The Croats and Slovenes,
on the other hand, are both Roman Catholics, but speak different
languages.
To increase the confusion, the Serbs and the Croats, though speak
ing the same words, write in different alphabets. The Serbs follow the
Cyrillic alphabet, introduced in the Ninth century, and the Croats the
Latin. The Slovenes use the same alphabet as the Croats, but speak a
different language.
Political rivalry
In addition to such difficulties, there is political rivalry of an ex
treme sort. The Serbs have insisted upon dominating, and the Croats
have insisted upon autonomy. At times the Serbs have used martial
lawHo maintain their supremacy, but in 1939 they granted the auto
omy. Yugoslavia was to begin with a rather noble manifestation of
poet-war democratic spirit. When King Peter died in 1921, however,
and was succeeded by his son Alexander I, the democratic spirit suf
fered a setback. Alexander was assassinated in 1934.
Beneath the
By Art Rivin ojW)s4
The title of L. B. 281 reads: "To establish a
Nebraska agricultural and Industrial development
and advertising commission." But at yesterday's
appropriations committee hearing on the bill, the
agricultural and industrial development part of it
was almost completely disregarded.
As a matter of fact, of the some nine wit
nesses who spoke in favor of L. B. 281, not one of
them said anything in favor of industrial or agri
cultural development and research and all praised
the "it pays to advertise theory."
As if the only question at hand was the v ad
vertising commission, the witnesses pointed out
the advantages that might arise from, publicising
the state's cattle, wheat, potatoes and apples.
iwHSWCWH 011,19 PelCr8enHHrtnJ
(Editors note: This column is being repeated in today's DAILY
because of numerous requests for it.)
THE MERMAID TAVERN.
It was a mawkish, maudlin midnight and thin blue snakes of
smoke twined lazily in the haxy glow. The lights of the room winked
and teetered like the eyes of a Singapore woman. Shadows blotted out
the walla, moved sinously across the celling. From the narrow circle
of our booth came the merry clink of glass and our voices, laughing,
jeering, fought the shadows of the room.
Then we heard a woman singing as no woman ssng Wore.
Sweetly her voice rose, warm and thrilling, like the sunrise on the
ocean. Then as soon, it sank and whispered like a motion of a wave.
Now it stirred us, now it soothed us and at last hushed to sing no more.
So they sent me forth to stumble-out that voice.
There in a twilight corner I found her. Her eyes were green like
Jhe sea, and her hair was a golden flame. Her lips were of reddest
coral and her cheeks were soft as rain. She was a mermaid! Her voice
was tender as she spoke to me. "Will thou bear me company, kind
sir." "No," I sild and went back to the booth. The others were wait
ing. "Well?" they asked and sighed.
"She was just a lonesome woman," I replied. "You look" they
choked with laughter, "like the man who has seen a mermaid." The
words slid out ere I was aware.
We stole thru the trembling shadows. Smoke eddied in ghostly
currents about the lamps. Like wraiths of moths. We peered Into the
dimmest, farthest booth and there she was! "You take the tall," they
told me. We took her on cur shoulders and carried her away, and
dropped her gently off the bridge Into the blackness of the swirling
waters below. When we came back, the waiter asked us where we
had been. We told him. "Maybe," he whispered, and his eyes gTew
round and dewy like two melon balls. "Maybe it wasn't a mermaid
at all!"
We thought this funny, and we felt relieved. "Oh, it wasn't a
mermaid, it wasn't a mermaid, it wasn't a t.;ermald at all." "Wait," I
cried, and the skin on the back of my neck grew tingly, and the light
and shadows spun and swirled like sailors in a siren's mackin dance.
"What," I cried. And the others grew silent and still. "What the hell
did we throw in the river T"
Your Man LebrowsM.
I
