Poge 2
The Daily Nebraskan
Monday, December 16, 1957
Editorial Comment
DOYDUHEARME? I
WIT NEED YOUG HOE
CHAffUEEROlUNlICAN
tOWTCMYUTTra
(TO SANTA CLAUS.
There Is A Santa Claus
n
WRITE IT meEUFli!
II I 1,1 li TOfTC IT
'I
It's Marine Christmas time now, and as is
sual for this time of year, people suddenly be
some mart joyful and everyone wears a smile
a they hurriedly, but merrily trudge through the
now and lace the cold and packed down-town
tores to complete their last minute shopping.
Sometimes though wt are too occupied with the
hurry and flurry of the Christmas season to take
Has to appraciata Ihe true meaning of Christ-
Christmas is more than the time of year we
exchange Christmas cards and gifts, view the
public decorations (in many of which Mickey
Mouse and other joyful creatures have re
placed the more traditional and appropriate
figures) and hear the modern versions of the
standard Christina songs.
Let's keep the Christmas with all the loveli
ness of its ancient traditions, it's always lovely
44 Christmas carols, the traditional proces
sion of candles and the magnificent pageantry
f the Christmas story itself that means the
anost.
And so. since it is drawing near to Christ
mas the Daily Nebraskan can do no better than
to reprint here an editorial that was written
long ago by an editorial writer on 1897 staff
ttf the New York Sun. In that famed editorial
rrancia P. Church answered a letter from
Virginia O'Hanlon, a child who wrote the Sun
far a solution to a typical childhood problem.
Aear Editor,
I am tight years eld.
Some of my litse Mead say there is a
Santa Claw.
Pleas tell me Ike train. U there a Santa
Oaas?
Virgiaia OHaalea
Dear Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have
keen affected by the skepticism of a skeptical
age. Tbey do not believe except what they
aee. They think thai nothir.g can be which
is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or
children's, are little. In this great universe
of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his
intellect, as compared with the boundless
world around him, as measured by the intel
ligence capable of grasping the whole of truth
and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He
exists as certainly a love and generosity
and devotion exist,! and you know that they
abound and give to your life its highest beauty
and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world
if there were no Santa Clauc! It would be as
dreary as if there were no Virginias. There
would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no
romance to make tolerable this existence. We
should have no enjoyment, except in sense and
sight. The eternal light with which childhood
fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as
well not believe in fairies! You might get your
papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys
on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but
even if they did not see Santa Claus coining
down, what would that prove? Nobdy sees
Santa Claus. but that is no sign that there
is no Santa Claus. The most real things in
the world are those that neither children nor
i-nen can see. Did you ever see fairies danc
ing on the lawn?Of course not, but that's no
proof that they are not there. Nobody can con
ceive or imagine ail the wonders there are un
seen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see
what makes the noise inside, but there is a
veil covering the unseen world, which not the
strongest man that ever lived, could tear
apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance,
can push aside that curtain and view and pic
ture the supernatural beauty and glory be
yond. It it ail real? Ah. Virginia, in all this
world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God! he lives, and
he lives forever. A thousand years from now,
Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years
from now. he will continue to make glad the
heart of childhood.
Rag all Wet?
Once, not loo long ago. an unidentified Uni
versity coed cited The Daily Nebraskan as
taring a definite usefulness. ' The Rag's finally
good for something," she said, as she shielded
herself from a light shower of ram.
Maybe ahe bad a potnt there, and perhaps
many others share her opinion. At any rate,
about two or three hours after the Rag is circu
lated you bear groups of students d-scussir.g the
demerits of the paper. Wherever you go you
bear this, be it Union, Fraternity or Sorori'y
bouse. Nearly every inch of type at cmici&ed by
someone, somewhere on campus.
Well, most of this is good, honest criticism.
Bat some, of course, is not. Some will argue
that The Daily Nebraskan does not cover car
pus news, some w;il disagree with eitorta.4. Bjt
none of this criticism, valid or not, leaves the
small group which discusses it.
If The Daily Nebraska is to be "the voice
of the students' the students must voice the.r
news. If The Daily Nebraskan is not serving
its purpose, the girl who covered her hair and
that group that d.scusses the faults of the Rag
over a cup of coffee should pat their thoughts
on paper a.id submit them as a Letterip.
Space permitting, they will be printed. In
any event, your ideas will be read by the staff,
and beard by the entire campus, not just by
your group.
from the editor
First Things First. . .
The closest thing to Christmas on campus
excluding the religious observances are the
Inspirational "Messiah- and the spirit of the
All University Fund.
Seven thousand spectators attest to the power
of the "Messiah' and more than $9,000 tor
charity should be indicative of the faculty and
student thought on helping others.
The ALT figure is nearly twice that con
tributed by a neighboring B.g Eight school.
Kansas University, which this year reported
its most successful Campus Chest drive in
history collecting $4,552.22. One KU fraternity
averaged $7-37 per contributor, however, and
second high oa the list was an independent
hall with $4-5S per person. Perhaps one method
of increasing ocsitribations at Nebraska would
fee to publish names of dorms and fraternities
and sororities with the amounts tbey contribute
per person.
S seems a shame that every University
student can't forsake the amount equivalent to
see six-pack, or one carton of cigarettes, or
eat movie to aid a child that tins year will
have bo Christmas as we know it.
m anticipation of the annual stampede of fra
ternity and sorority pictures and stories on
your individual Christmas parties for orphans
and other groups: Save them for your scrap
books. Daily Nebraskan policy is not to publish
details of Christmas parties of individual
bouses. Major reasons: First, the paper is
mat solely for organized houses; secondly, lack
f space prohibits printing individual stories;
third, we hope organized bouses do not support
bv Jack Pollock
such events merely for publicity.
Oa the other hand, it is unfortunate that
greater detail carmot be made in view of the
fact that much fraternity and snronty news
reaching outstate ire often related to suth
things as pledge hta-tig or drinking.
A prtngressve L-i'airairnr.y Council at tne
Georg,a Institute of Technology is starting tutor
ing classes lor pledges in order to raise the
scholastic stand: .g of the fraternities at Tech.
The classes are non-lecture type, consisting
of working problems on the board, and are
taught by members cf national engineering
honor sc.tiety. Tan Beta Pi. Records sre to
be kept i pledge grades, primarily for use
to detei -intne the value of the tutoring classes.
A more or less militaristic ingestion for
next years Military Ball might be to have
the queen and escort make their triumphal
entry under the traditional arch of sabers as
done at some campuses. But I still Lked this
year's Ball . . .
At Iowa State last seek, students had a
chance to rake their instructors over the coals.
An aJ -campus use of rating sheets on instruc
tors was initiated last year and coijducted
again last week to help teachers learn about
the effectiveness of their teaching methods,
from the student viewpoint. Currently the
forms are said to produce a halo effect but
"improvements"' are reportedly being made
on the Jorms. Rating sheets include such things
as clarity of presentation, personal appearance,
and fairness of grading system.
Daily Nebraskan
FTTTT-StX TEARS OLD
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A Nebraskan Series
AEC-s Admiral Rickover Compares U.S.,
uropean Education Systems in Address
This ( the third 1b a series af
articles featuring excerpts from
the pevft delivered bp Admiral
H. (. Rickover at the dediratioa
mt the Naval Nuclear Power
Training School la New London,
Conn. Adm. Rickover is chief of
the Naval Reactors Branch of
the IKvisioa of Reactor Develop
ment under the I'. S. Atomic
Energy Commissioa.
Prussia, too, had privately en
dowed boarding schools for the
nobility, resembling somewhat the
18th century English "public
schools". But when she set up
public secondary education she
realistically cut out all features
not necessary for education pur
pose. Because the people were poor,
fees had to be kept low; so a
large part of the cost of educa
tion fell to the state. Hence the
carefully thought-out businesslike
way in which she worked out a
two track system, one track de
signed for the mass sf children,
the other for those destined for
the higher professions.
The rapid rise of Prussia to in
dustrial and military power and
the excellence of the scientific re
search done at her universities
to which students Hocked from
all over the world led to wide
spread adoption of her basic edu
cational system by most of Eu
rope. Her lightning victories in
lSr. 1366 and 1871 a mere half
century after slie had been soundly
beaten by France were recog
nized everywhere as a victory of
the Prussian schools and univer
sities. To defeated France the
lesson was plain; she took ener
getic meaures to modernize her
own educational system.
Other European countries also
adopted the basic principles of
this system. These were:
First, that elementary, second
ary and university education be
devoted solely to developing the
intellect of the student to his
greatest capacity. All vocational
training must be done in special
schools set up for the purpose.
Second, that the secondary
school: a.ve a broad eeneral edu
cation in the shortest possible
time, so that professional study
can begin no later than age 18.
This was necessary both for rea
sons of economy and in order to
find time for compulsory military
training.
Third, to get youngsters ready
for professional study at age 18,
serious study of foreign language,
higher mathematics, literature,
geography, and history must be
gin no later than age nine, at
which time the fast learners begin
to be separated from the slow
learners.
Fourth, to complete this broad
general education in nine years
requires carefully thought-out
courses for each subject, advanc
ing in logical sequence, year after
year, from the simple to the com
plex. Thus, elective subjects can
have no place in Such a compre
hensive and well-balanced pro
gram. Only at the university level
is selection of subjects left to the
student.
Fifth, three basic types of sec
ondary schools gradually evolved
and are now provided the clas
sical, the semiclassical and the
mathematics scientific. Each of
these three, types provides a broad
enough general education to per
mit the student to take almost any
professional university course. For
example. a graduate of the clas
sical secondary school can be
come an engineer by taking addi
tional mathematics and science
courses.
Sixth, considerable latitude was
allowed in each school as long as
national standards were met.
These standards governed the
qualification of teachers and the
competence of the graduates.
Tests of graduates to prove their
competence were conducted by au
thorities external to the school it
self, through very comprehensive
examinations without which no
diploma or degree was granted.
TOADIE
The Lincoln Journal ran an u'
teresting article on its editorial
, page last week concerning the
whimsies of the Democrat par;y
over Sputnik.
It seems that heading Democrats
had a different story, to tell after
the appearance of the mystic Rus
sian satellite than before. For ex
ample: On May 28. 1957. Rep. George
Mahon, Democrat from Texas auia
Chairman of the Democrat-controlled
House Subcommittee on Dt -fease
Department Appropriations
had this to say: "These cuts tb;
low the defense appropriations re
quested by the President I are oe
ir.g made in order to bring about
better management and more econ
omy in government . Probably
we have not cut the budget enou6h
in certain respects."
On October 19, 1957, the Demo
crat Advisory Council stated: "A
supposed budgetary pressures have
become more intense, the Admin
istration has increasins'v starved
The Galley
bv dick
Slave
sliugrue
Now that Christmas is on the
way and the shops are ciirjcr.g
all your available change. I sup
pose everyone should make up his
mind what he will do over the
holidays.
For those of
the m o n i e d
classes, I sug
gest going to
Palm Springs.
Served by the
railroad, this
desert oasis is V
supposed to be f
to Californ.ans "
hat Rome
was to
tue Romans. Liste.-
Shu?rt!e
to whi t
CH i alaH.a Ma
VP people say aoout P.S.: p...in
Springs is the Capital of a vist
emp.re in Southern Ca-.: ia.
From October to May is the p p
ular winter season . . . ."
Hmm. From January to Janu
ary is the season the open sea
lor labor unions. Palm Springs
is one of the very lew cities n
the United States which has its
own little Right to Work law keep
ing thousands well, not literally
o! union employees from collect
ive bargaining spposedly guaran
teed by the Ta.'t Hartley statutes.
The law hat been declared un
constitutional by the superior court
of whatever county Palm Springs
is in, but the citizens of the town
'the rested interests, no doubt)
sre carrying the case just as far
as possible.
It's strange that people
take such definite and such inane
steps to prevent collective bargain
ing 'or at least to slow it down)
as is done by the enactment of a
local R-ght to Work law. State
laws are bad enough. A federal
law would crush union activities
ail over trie land.
But a local law of that nature
is just unDemrxxatic, among other
thing."!.
Oh! Other things to do over the
holidays: Read good books. But
that is apparently out for the bulk
cf the students. Some will un
doubtedly want to get into the
library to do some studying. That,
I understand, will be possible.
Then there's Otnnha to consider,
plenty of entertainment spots to
consider there. The Red Lion will
be roaring, the Golden Spur will
be kicking, the North Side Haven
will be mode open. Plan on meet
ing your friends in Omax for one
' of the most delightful of holidays.
TboaghU riding the bat: As
I stood out on the corner shrver
ir;g last night waiting for ihe Col
lege View bus to come ranbling
along. 1 beard a few little old
ladies standing next to me talk
ing about Oral Robert.
They, apparently, bad been to
Mr. Robert s service during the
evening and were bubbling over
with kind thoughts and coronets
about the evangelist. I failed to
ask them how many persons had
attended, bjt jj.-tTtng from their
age and trie fact :r,g; li.ey had a
long way to rid? o:i the bus I'd
guess they were re pre: native of
t.e mass of perp who believe in
such evangel. 'ti- crj'aie?
We", this ne ga gat on the
b s a: : A.-ia M Street and to
be per; .ly nonest I didn't think
she would make it. I could say
trt P'be-'. System hadn't
" i i'.'n her, but that would
':' '..kind.
T'.e bus driver was concerned
w.-.i explaining to the lady pas
ei.gers the meanirg of the evacu
ation signs Vor.g 16th street to
the south.
He told them that he had 'seen
fillum about dat stuff. When
towns evacuate, man, they leave!"
Well, this is obvious.
Shortly, I was the last man on
the bus and I told him to let me
off at Street. He did. Then
I wa.ked home. Life is so exciting
our national defense."
Again Congressman Mahon
speaking this time on August 6,
1957: ''As you know we cut the
President's budget for defense
about (2.3 billion, that is in tie
regular military bill for the opera
tion of the Defense Department.
We made a reduction here (mili
tary construction and earth satel
lite appropriations of $243 mil
lion." While immediately after Sputnik
a leading spokesman of the Demo
crat party, Sam Rayburn fTex,
speaker of the house, bellowed
out: "We gave every dollar that
the administration asked for (fcr
defense).
The following comment made by
former Secretary of Defense (un
der Truman's administration)
Louis Johnson, is most revealing
in lieu of Harry Truman's accusa
tions that the Eisenhower admin
istration was solely responsible for
US missile slowdowns:
Johnson announcing a S2 billion
cut in military spending below the
then current $15 billion budget:
"We are going to get along on this
lesser amount because we know
our economic S3'stem cannot afford
to pay mucn more."
Here is a report from the Demo
crat Advisory Council on Octooe."
19. 1957 after Sputnik: "The ad
ministration's assumptions that our
economy will not sustain greater
defense and foreign expenditures
than it recommends is grossly la
error."
A report from the Democrat
controlled House Committee on Ap
propriations, made in the spring ot
1957 before Sputnik, had this to
say: "The Committee has beea
much encouraged over the sub
stantial progress which hs been
made in the ballistic missile area,
but is of the opinion that the pro
gram should be under constant re-,
view, lookmg toward better man
agement anH dollar savings."
While after Sputnik. Senator St-
art Symington, Democrat from
Missouri and a leading spokesman
from his party commented: "At
Jhe same time w e continue to learn
of the missile accomplishments of
the possible enemy, for fiscal rea
sons this government, in turn, con
tinues to cut back and slow down
its own missile program.
Wonderful hindsight. I woncer
wbt they said after Ptirl Harbor!?
ACP Poll
Majority of Students Against
Restricting Cars on Campus
The results of a recent Associ
ated Collegiate Press poll show
that, if college students have any
thing to say about it. cars are on
campus to stay. The Student Opin
ion poll indicated that only abot
one-s.xth of the st-jdents inter
viewed favor placing restricttor.1
on car driving smorig campus
dwellers. ACP put the following question
to a ctxavs-section of Americta
college men and women:
"Since many students bow
drive their ewa cars, some aai
versities and rellefes are un
able tm provide eaovga parking
spare to handle them all. To
solve this difficulty, it has beea
sacgested that schools fcbauld
forbid students who live oa cam
pus to have cars. Do you agree,
or disagree, with this thought?
The tabulated results of tb
answers:
Km-rmf
LvaMrAe
I'tuMciOad
Mrs
17
.75
tv
S3.
1
Vatal
Many of those disagreeing feel
it would not be fair to students
living on campus if their driving
was restricted. A sophomore at
Indiana Technical College (Fort
Wayne, lad.) sums up this posi
tion by saying "The student w'o
lives on campus should be al
lowed privileges closely parallel
with those he might be accustomed
to in residential living quarters."
Others who disagree feel there
would be better ways of solvirg
the problem. A South Georgia Col
lege (Douglas. Ga.) freshman of
fers two possible solutions in tit
comment on the question: "If tne
problem becomes serious, the aider-class
men should be restricted
from this privilege, in proportion
to the seriousness of the problem.
Grades might be used as a basis
tor selecting those to have cars "
Both of these views received quite
a bit of support among those inter
viewed. A Wayne State University (De
troit, Mich.) sophomore on the
other hand agrees that, if the
problem becomes serious, students
living on czznpat should be forbid
den to bave cars. He reasons that
"commuters have a need for cars.
If everyone from Knox College
(Galesburg, CI.) feels that "cars
are an unnecessary evil, except
on large or spread-out campuses."
Undoubtedly the most vehement
of any persons answering the ques
tion was a freshman from the
North Dakota State School of Sci
ence (Wahpeton, N. Dak ). He
disagreed with the statement, and
added. "Did you ever try walking
a girl to the movies when the
snow is about three feet deep and
it's five below zoro?"
Because of the class distinctions
dividing the 19th Century Europe,
this education system tended as
all countries to separate the low
est class which sent its children
to the elementary school from
the middle and upper-clases
whose children went to secondary
school and thereafter to the uni
versity. The class character of
this system made it anathema in
the United States.
Coot. Tomorrow
Letterip
Brutus?
To the Editor:
It was said that the honorable
Brutus loved Ceasar like a broth
er. But in the hour of tyranny, it
was Brutus who made the most
unkindest cot of all. You, Dick
Shugrue, profess to be a lover of
fine literature. Yet, when the idea
of a student literary magazine was
advanced, you plunged your dag
ger into its back. Why, Mr. Shu
grue? If you had a good reason,
then why didn't you present it in
your Tuesday column? Why did
you choose instead, to go against
every princi.-le that you should
hive learned from your debating
concerning ethics?
Fo- instance, why did you con
tradict yourself by stating that
you favored a literary magazine
and then stating that such
mgazine would rob material from
the Nehrskan?
And why did you misrepresent
the facts about the financial prob
lems that would face the maga
zine? Certainly you, as a staff
member of the Rag, should have
read -ecentiy of the old grad who
donated a large sum of money to
the English department. Doctor
Miller, head of the department,
immediately announced that the
money would be used to sponsor
the new magazine? Why did you
overlook this, Mr. Shugrue?
And once again. Mr. Shugrue:
why did you say that there is no
need for this literary magazine be
cause the Daily Nebraskan would
be happy to print students work?
You and I and everyone else knows
that the Dady Nebraskan is not
big enough to print short stories
and long essays. To go a little
farther, you suggested that once
again, at what you deemed high
cost, the Daily Nebraskan should
print a literary supplement of stu
dents work. Why should the Rag
take on this obligation, when the
new magazine, utilizing the afore
mentioned donations and the
money from its sales, could prob
ably serve the same end without
putting the burden upon the Rag?
Many of the people who work oa
the Rag could also work on the
magazine. In addition, many non
Xebr2skan suffers could have
a chance at a journalistic experi
ence. B r u t u s, in stbbir.g Caesar,
thought that he was serving a
noble end. Is this your reason for
your attack upon Creative Writ
ing, Mr. Shugruf, or is it actually
petty envy, stemming from the
fact that someone neglected to in
vite you to become a staff writer
Eh, Brutus Shugrue?
James Annetroag
i
Salaries
To the Editor:
Your reprint from the Wall Street
Journal prompts roe to comment
on the problem of professor's sal
aries. The editorial states that some
"facts are being brought forward
which at least confuse the pic
ture," and proceed to discuss pro
fessors salaries here and in Rus
sia. They neglect to clarify the
picture by showing that the im
portant comparison is between the
professors' salaries and the sal
aries paid to people of similar
training who work for industry and
for the government. Some profes
sors bave found that they could
not afford to remain in the teach
ing profesion at their low salaries
and thereby lubsidiza Americas
education, and have sought more
remunerative employment outside
our universities.
' A case in point: two professors
have recently left our physics d
partment for industry at essential
ly double their University salaries.
This situation is not limited to the
University of Nebraska, nor to
physicists, nor to teachers in tha
universities; it is universal
"Professors in the U. S. like
everyone else think tbey ought to
have higher pay. Like everyone
else, they are entitled to seek it.
Yes, but when they do they do sot
remain professors.
Theodore Jorgeasea, It.
Physics Department
Use
Nebraskan
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