DAILY NEBRASKAN
Friday, April 18, 1941
QommsmL
Why sit doivn . .
And wait for the
explosion?
With economic and social instability confronting the
young men and women of the world today, many have
forsaken their responsibilities and have adopted the at
titude, "live today, for tomorrow we may die.n
This point of view Is readily noticeable on all the
university and college campuses throughout the United
States. Students say, why wrestle with the political the
ories of Aristotle, why study the causes and effects of
the disentrcgration of the Roman empire, why attempt
anything intellectual, when In six months or a year they
will be called into the armed forces of the nation, or
chancing their lives on some battlefield either at home
or abroad.
A majority of the young men who are now eligible
for conscription or who will be in the near future, in all
probability will be called to the service of the nation,
but the length of this service is at present only one year
and should not hinder their careers to any great degree.
Too many of these youths think of the future in terms
f six months or a year. To them enlistment is a black
out, mostly temporary, but in some measure permanent,
of all cultural and material development. They regard
the period before their induction into the army as a
waiting period in which they should experience all the
pleasures of life.
War is jiot too remote a possibility, but whether it
be war or Induction into the army, neither is an excuse
for ending Intellectual growth, for sidestepping respon
sibilities, for mireing oneself in incidental pleasures.
Such demoralization cannot be constructive and is
only destructive. Certainly one does not cut a class
because he ia afraid that on the way to school he may
be hit by a car, ending his existence. Why shirk studies
or interrupt your career because you might be called
into the army or off to war? True, we are sitting on
a world which might explode, but why sit around and
wait for the explosion ? It is better to keep striving for
the goal you have set than to accept a fate which may
never occur.
It takes courage to face the unknown of tomorrow
with an unfaltering step. It takes courage to see beyond
the "blackouts" of today and see hope in the future. We
point with pride to the undaunted spirit of our fore
fathers who looked beyond their present to a more glor
ious future.
We have that same courage. But it's up to us to
prove it!
P. E. S.
Of jeannie
Back in the days of the old Negro slave,
When Stephen Foster was young and brave;
He Tiad written a song of a maiden fair,
With sparkling eyes and light-brown hair.
From Gettysburg to Atlanta there wouldn't be,
(Not counting, of course, Sherman's march to the sea;
A story so permanent, in ballad, a song,
Which would last as Foster's "Jeannie" so long.
When they buried Foster, the slaves of old,
In the soil of the Southland, so (oh, so) cold;
They spent their time singing the song for awhile,
Of the light-brown hair and sparkling smile.
Down on the bayou their voices lent,
rralse of Jeannie, and, when they were spent
They buried sweet Jeannie, and she wasn't old,
In the soil of the Southland, so (oh so) cold.
But in the year which has juBt passed,
This is '41, that would be the year last;
There was a radio battle over the songs we sing,
And in that battle ASCAP dug up everything.
Some were good, those songs they dug,
And some were bad, like lead-pipe slugs;
And standing out like a very sore thumb,
Was vivacious Jeannie now grown numb.
For Jeannie's hair was not much to sing about,
In those cold years It from her scalp had fallen out.
So the song of Jeannie, the maiden fair,
With sparkling eyes and light-brown hair
Will not be heard, at least for awhile,
(We can still remember the hair and the smile;)
Let's stroll on the campus and look about It
For a girl like Jeannie, (find her?) I doubt it.
Commentorials
. . . from our readers
Editor answers questions
for insistent gore monger9
Dear Editor:
Things have come to a pretty pass when such
"spiteful gore mongers" attempt to question a statement
of facts that are presented as authentic by the editor of
our college paper. When this occurs it is with much
pleasure that we of the student body watch you lease
out at them and put them in their places.
Since we have full faith in your integrity, it was
with disappointmei.t that we noticed that you left un
answered many of the questions that were raised. You
overlooked the following:
1. What are the provisions on compensation for
business manager of the rag?
2. Is it not true that under the present set-up
the majority of what the manager receives is a fixed
amount per month and fluctuates but little whether the
amount of advertising sold is of a large or small
amount?
3. Why the wide differentiation in advertising
rates? Here, Mr. Editor, the letter stated that "we
aren't referring to the differences allowed between the
Insertion of a single ad that charged the firm under
a contract." But you misinterpreted this, we believe,
for was it not the purpose of this question to discuss
the difference allowed such contracts as is in evidence
between some of the theatre corporations and the de
partment stores rather than any difference between
individual firms who are under contract for an identical
amount of advertising space. Another question wss
also asked, "Do you deny that certain firms are granted
special advantages?" This was omitted.
Your defense of the business staff is commendable.
And yet there remain a few points that are vague to us.
Won't you please clear these up for us? Those on
business staff "tramp the streets five hours every day;"
it is entirely possible that they are underpaid. And yet
the fact that you Imply that most of the advertising is
under contract, the fact that new sources of advertising
are not tapped and the fact that it is the same firms that
seem to be the sole support of the Rag day after day,
causes us to wonder what they are doinng in those five
hours. Perhaps once the business staff has received
a negative answer they give up? We trust that such is
not the case. Lastly, was your lack of comment on the
commission basis. This appealed to us: it is a good sys
tem or not?
Gore Monger.
Dear Gore Monger:
We thought we answered your questions yesterday,
but to clear up any questions in your mind we shall be
specific.
Re business managers salary; It is fixed, since
his is a manager's job. His bonus at the end of the
year, however, depends upon hit successful manage
ment of the DAILY'S finances. The men who do the
selling however not only have the Incentive of a ten
percent commission, but also the business manager's
job th following semester. The competition for this
job makes them work even harder than extra commis
sions would. As for the business manager, perhaps a
commission on total advertising might help, though the
extent Is not certain. It is something, however, the
publications board might consider this spring.
Re advertising rates: Every advertiser's rate in
Lincoln is on a class and contract basis. Any advertiser
can find the rate of any other at his convenience. All
rates are set uniformly as business demands. We do
deny that any firm is being given special advantages.
Re business soliclters: Assistant business man
agers take care of all contract advertising. The solici
tors work solely on small and new accounts. Some of
them sell as high as $200 worth of this small account
advertising monthly, if the gore monger can do better
than that without tramping the streets, there Is a good
salary waiting him on the DAILY. Oddly enough one
of the men who argued most strongly that advertising
could be increased signed up for work on the business
staff, worked one day, then qultl For your informa
tion, this was Bill Defoe.
Do student sr at ebigban ds?
Dear Editor:
I wonder if students at this university want good
dance orchestras at university parties? Or further, do
thry deserve good dance bands? (If attendance indicates
anything, I don't believe they deserve good bandB.)
A recent school dance presented a really fine dance
orchestra, but the students failed to take advantage of
one of the finest bands that has played in Lincoln this
year. There were about 450 couples at the party, and
needless to say, the organization sponsoring the party
did not break even. Luckily this group has certain re
sources which cover the deficit. May X add, further, that
the organization is not complaining about the accrued
debt because they know that they presented the finest
band to appear at a university dance so far this year.
I have heard many students complain about dance
orchestras and many wish to see and dance to "name
bands." Yet, when a really fine band is engaged these
same students fail to attend the party. Many of these
same students pay more money at local dance halls to
hear inferior orchestras and they dance in places much
less desirable and comfortable than the coliseum.
There are only six major university parties each
year, and with the newly established central booking
agency functioning, students can be assured of good
dance bands at college parties. The big if Is if they
support the parties. The admission price ia nominal,
much less In fact than the price charged by local dance
halls when they feature "name bands."
Students should show their willingness to co-operate
by attending the college parties when they are held
rather than patronize a dance hall which has made no
serious effort to co-operate with students and with uni
versity authorities.
The cert re 1 booking agency, recently established and
set up by the Student Council, has already scheduled one
of the finest dance orchestras in the business to play for
the Student Union-Yearbook party. Show your loyalty
and appreciation by dancing to a really good "name
band" in the coliseum on April 30.
Sincerely,
John t. McDermott.
Clear up our minds, please!
1$ advertising being curtailed?
Dear Editor:
I wonder if you sould explain an Interesting dis
crepancy between two authoritative statements concern
ing university publications.
In one of your more detailed editorials, explaining
the value of universal subscription to the DAILY, you
stated in effect that such a plan would permit the
elimination of the large amount of advertising now
necessarily present In the paper. At the same time
you remarked that considerably more advertising than
is now sold could be sold were the editors willing to
give it space by crowding out news Items and fea
tures. If your editorial was correct, why did the Publica
tions Board refuse the barbs permission to publish "The
Barb" on a pay-by-advertising basis, on the grounds
that there wasn't enough steady advertising available to
support two campus papers?
Well WHY ? ? ? ?
Robert L, Lueba.
Large paper adds space
We are glad you called this apparent discrepancy
to our attention, for our language perhaps was confus
ing on this score. We have said that one of the benefits
of universal subscription would be that it would do away
with ad-crowded papers.
Instead of reducing advertising to do this how-e-Sr,
we proposed where possible to increase the sixe
of the paper. Very often a four page paper will be
almost half advertising. And If It weren't for the fact
that this semestwr we are thus far operating on a defi
cit, we should increase the size of the papers In such
instances to eight pages. This is all that would be
done under universal subscription.
There certainly would be no attempt to reduce ad
vertising. If we make the plan pay at 75 cents per se
mester, we will have to maintain our present quotas
and do everything possible to increase them.
Regarding our present program, we are seriously
handicapped because of lack of advertising; that is lack
of advertising sufficient to permit eight page papers.
But in compliment to the business staff the quantity of
advertising first semester this year went over tha
amounts for the last two years.
The Daily Nebraskn
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