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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1941)
'DAILY NEBRASKAN Sunday, April 27, 1941' QommsmL A beautified campus The beautification committee has gone to work! What has been said about beautifying: th.Q etiaska campus with trees nn; shruks would fill a book. Every year suggestions are made for eliminating- the barren deseit-like open spaces and for setting out new shrub leiy. These suggestions have largely been made from the students and from the past editors of this paper. And their work was in vain; there wire no trees. At the same time as "Trees for the Maul" was be cor.iing a campus joke however, another group became vitally interested in the question. This was a faculty campus beautification committee headed by L. F. Seaton, operating superintendent. Quietly this committee studied the problem from long range viewpoints, taking- into account the needs of the military department and the possibilities of new additions to the campus. Today that committee acts. It has prepared a program for a rather elaborate planting of trees and shrubbery, dressing up the campus the way the students and editors of the past have dreamed it should be. This committee will plant the trees, leaving it to the students themselves to protect them in order that their shade will be treasured by stu dents yet to come. Young trees are easy to destroy. They can be broken t.ff, their bark can be bruised; they can be killed in a number of ways. We can show our deep appreciation to Mr. Seaton and the membere of his committe by guarding the work that they do. We can see that the trees once planted are not destroyed in infancy through careless ness or thoughtlessness on our part. Dear Editor: As a member of the National Committee on Food for the Five Small Democracies. I would like to air my Tiews on the necessity of supporting the Hoover plan. It seems to me the opposition has concentrated solely on the material, financial, and immediate mili tary effects which the Hoover plan would have, and lias neglected the mental and emotional effects it would have. What has caused the German state to concen trate its every effort since the World war upon domi nation and revenge? As we may all recognize, it has been the hatred engendered by the Versailles Treaty; it has been a psychological cause more than any other one cause. It is what people feel that drives them to action; and if we can aid the cause of Britain and especially of Americaby sowing the seeds of trust, co-operation, and gratitude in central Europe, how much better will be the foundation for a post-war world. Dr. Gray has on one or two occasions listed six points cf fact in regard to this question. The sixth one has been: "Humanity and Christianity demand that the peo ples be fed." All other points have been discusae, yet this one, which is striking at the heart of the plan itself, has been ignored as though it was of negligible conse quence. And yet we call ourselves a Christian nation: tnd the opposition would no doubt be indignant if accused e.f being non-Christian. Yet while we debate, leaving the human element so often out of our debates, thousands continue to die. Is it because the opposition is afraid to think about the im plications of Christianity in thi problem? Is it because they are afraid to face the most important fact of all? Christian beliefs cannot be thrown out of the window imply because a war is on. I believe that the example and teachings of Jesus Christ leaves us no alternative as His followers. It is to us He speaks again from Matthew 25:35. 'Tor I was hungry, a ad yc gave me t eat; I was thirsty, nd ye gave me drink." And from the 40th verse, "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did rt unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me." It is to Him and te this suffering humanity that we owe our first allegiance if we dare to call cur selves Christian. Frances Keefer. Dine with friends! With the warm week-ends, flocks of high school sen ilis in ever increasing numbers are "sneaking" to Lincoln for a day of hilarity and for a look around the university, H-ate capitol and other points of interest. Host to these visitors this year will be the Lincoln Junior Chamber of Commerce, which is regularly staging home-town get-togethers between the "sneakers"' and all etuients from the towns they represent. The purp,e of the Junior Chambers' program is to show hospitality to the guests and to serve as a medium through which those in the university can "bull" over lunch with their frienCa from back home. These luncteons are noble ventures and certainly in dicate the Junior Chamber is on its toes. Eut their suc . cess as get-togethers depend largely upon the co-operatic) of the students. If they faithfully attend when the seniors fion their high school come to town, the meetings ni be a success. If they don't the Junior Chamber will I sponsoring "just luncheons." Commentorials 1 a ... from, our readers Why some students don't attend school dances Dear Editor: My friend, John McDermott. criticizes the student body for not attending school dances and says they there fore do not deserve good bands. I" have grave doubts as to the validity of hii reasoning for this statement as he overlooks several important points. I agree that the last school dance presented a fine band. However, let us look at the conditions under which he played. First of all, the floor was in a ter rible condition for dancing. I realize that the coliseum does not have a regular dance floor but at least it 0 could be pregyred so as to be comparable to the smooth floors of local ballrooms. Next, the acoustic were very poor. This will be more noticeable for bands having weaker or smaller brass section. The vocalists and orchestral soloists of bands presented this year -have had great difficulty making themselves heard away from the band stand. Also the lighting is deplorable. The lights are such as to be glar ing but still cast shadows on the faces of the dancers. Majority of dancers prefer softer lighting, making the atmosphere more pleasant. In this letter McDermott inferred that the manage ment of the Turnpike has made no serious effort- to co operate with students and university authorities. Events have shown the direct opposite to be true. Mr. Pauley wants to stay dark on nights of university parties. Many students realize also that the Turnpike has provided them with the best place in town to dance and has obtained more of the best bands available than anyone else. Moreover, they deeply appreciate it. Ne braska students are not disloyal to university parties but insist upon proper conditions in return for their patronage. How Mr. McDermott can say that local ballrooms are less desirable and not as comfortable as the barn like atmosphere of the coliseum is inconceivable. Local ballrooms have provided danceable floors, proper light ing and the best acoustics, whereas the coliseum and university authorities have failed to do this. Leonard Ounker. Only two choices! Whether it was the Turnpike or the Union that threw the wrench in the works is really immaterial. Both man agements are bringing' big bands to Lincoln the night of April 30 and both are dependent upon the wholehearted support f the Nebraska student body to make their parties pay out. The main objection to campua functions in the past has always been the condition of the floor, the acoustics and the lighting in the coliseum. As Mr. Dunker indi cates it is these factors that are responsible for many students failing to give such parties their support. To meet these criticisms, however, the Union this spring is refinishing the coliseum floors, is installing special lighting, is staging a floor show, is improving the public address system and the acoustics and is in stalling a corn crib on the stage. In these ways con siderable money is being spent to make the coliseum a first class dance hall for the anniversary party. Fail ure of students now to support the affair will show an antagonism to campus parties in general and will spell the end of efforts to bring good bands to this university in the future. Nobody will deny that Pauley has a fine hall and slates big bands for the students. We urge these students to give him their support at all times with the exception of the few days when his parties conflict with thone of the students themselves. At such times a question of loyalty, and in this case of better entertainment, should bring these students to the coliseum. Speaking in analogies the question before the student is the same as the one the American mei chant must face. A citizen of the United States while this country is at peace may trade freely with whomever he wishes. He may get along well with Germany and profit by his awwo ciations. Eut so soon as this country becomes hostile to the German nation, he must then choose sides; he must either leave the country, or support his country in its struggle. In the same way the students at this university can support any dance hall in the city with no chagrin whatsoever, except when his university organizations get into conflict with such dance halls. Then he must make a choice. Either he must insist that the univer sity cease sponsoring parties of any kind in the fu ture, or he must side with them in making thtir parties successful. an. World cant he set by ten easy rules Dear Editor: Spring is here and Mr. Otto Woerner, class of 1940, has w ritten a letter, which you published Wednesday, in forming us that in New York City people are starving, that there is war in Europe, that some people think God. is no longer in his heaven and all's not right with the world. I have been thinking about this letter. As Bugs P.aer says. "U all makes me pause like a woodpecker at timberlii Mr ner deplores the fact that" millions of New Yorkers do little about the beggars and the starving, in cluding the professional panhandlers, and that we yokels out here in the west sometimes go as long as 24 hours without fixing up Ten Easy Ways to Set the World Aright, which seems to be what Otto wants us to do. It would be futile and, in his language, fog-minded to point out to Otto that people have been begging on the streets of New York for generations; that people were starving- in Greece and Rome; that Americans are surprisingly generous in their charities; that there ia, saj " as it may be to a young idealist fresh from college, little that you can do about the hungry and the sick, except to do what Americans have always done, draw up and carry through plans and' schemes and write your con gressman and pay your taxes and give part of your salary, with much grumbling, to the league of this and that. Otto ia an intelligent young man and that is why his letter interests me. If he were a moron, one would not be concerned. But his attitude is. I fear, typical of a belief fast growing in all we young people, in and out of col legethat life has turned out to be a sham, that we have every right, as Otto says, to be bitter and to curse the professors for ever having shown us a glimpse of the world that might he. Like all intellectuals, young and old. Otto believes that, if only people would think, everything would rem edy itself. He is not alone in this. Most of our teachers live by this humble faith. Our stupendous educational sys tem is built on it. And the result, the inevitable result, is that the brilliant graduate, trained only in the intan gible arts of investigating and reading and reporting and thinking, continue after graduate to see the world throught academic dark glasses. l am not concerned with the rights or wrongs of ttttos charges that we are going to war at the request of Walter Winchell. or about what we have done to Yugo slavia. It is the cynicism, the utter, blatant cynicism ex pressed that bothers me. It is growing in the hearts of all the Ottos everywhere. The re-creation of this world after the horror of another war must come through the eitorta of its youth. True, we did not uk for the job. We believed wars were ended and war came anyway. But it is only dodging life, not facing it, to raise the cry that we were shown the light that never burns, what-' ever that means. This, then, is the end-product of four years of sitting in classrooms and listening and studying and thinking. This is the young man for whom all the buildings were built and all the professors trained, the young man who today sees the world without hope and without courage. Where is the youth who once headed west with a wagon full of supplies and a pair of oxen and not much else, except dreams and boundless courage? What has happened to the strength and the vigor that built Amer ica? 'Rot!" the Otto Woerner s of the world cry. "Child ih, naive." Perhaps we need more nafvity and more courge and leas of learning for its own sake and studying for the sake of impressing others and thinking for the sake of evolving gradiose schemes to save the world by making everybody think. Perhaps we need more training in the art of living- and less in the art of reasoning; more of the fundamentals of morality and less of logic; more of the tenets of religion and leas oi Karl Marx. I am not denying any of the truths that Otto points out. I think nothing could be -worse than for the United States to throw away its manhood on another war. The cruelty and the rapaciounes of the world tn.iiv B if. evident 1 am talking of youths attitude as It looks fctT these things. The light never burns unless you make it burn, Olto. And when you're thirsty, you have to get your own wa ter. And if you and I continue forever without light and without water, it is because the whole logical educational system, with its ertiphasis upon reasoning, has tricked us inlo building our lives mi the shifting ainds of intel lectuality. Sincerely yours, Robert Aldnch, 1942." i The Daily Nebraskan Official Awiympn M,e I han 7 ,0l)D Slud.nlt IOFUII1H 1 E A fca-riuiiaa Rate air f I M fr 'mtit ar II, tmt lb Call! rr MM Mallr Snifl raa. 1 . tmltrti a. trrana -clan aailr al Ihr !( ir la Lmrcln. raaaa. aaar An at C aaiirw, ra J. I-.S. an at prrfal rut af naia - lac la Selia I IX I Art ml OrKarr . 1115 .lan,r Urmtrmktt I"? Offlr I eiaa fJaiUinf O.r J ".111. Vithl Jaaraal ... -Jia.l. in la II. Mraaaet Awiialr4 C nlhrfiaic Prrta. Mrmbrr Nraraka "- Aana.tta, Itrprr.rntaS lor KnlanaJ Artlln a? NATIONAL AUVI HIUINc; skKVICt. IC. IT MaaUon vr.. . rm Vara M t 4 fciia Bo Man Im 0t"c aa traariara fttt-f M t II i i i i : 1 ' I