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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, November 14. 1961
Rightist Comedians
A speaker of the right wing variety, Robert Berveller, director of the Henry George School of Social Science in New York City, told his KU audience at the Minority Opinion Forum last Friday that the present U.S. tax system should be abolished and replaced by a single tax on land values. This proposal is based on the writings of an American economist who published most of his work between 1870 and 1905.
THIS PROPOSAL IS THE SAME type that characterizes the John Birch Society and other elements of the lunatic fringe. It shows a frustration with the present makeup of American society and its beliefs and aims. The tax reformer and other groups with similar ideas give the impression they would be happy if only they could return to the happy days under good old King George.
Any logical reasoning person knows that the present U.S. tax system, despite its heavy demands on private and corporate incomes, is necessary for the continued welfare and improvement of the United States.
But perhaps the rightists do serve a useful purpose. They are a reminder of how far the United States has progressed in its social and
economic improvements in the last two centuries. Of course, it is tough on the poor rightists to be so consistently opposed, but then they have always extolled the virtues of strong moral fiber and this ought to be good exercise for them.
BERVEILER WENT ON IN HIS TALK TO explain that "Untold Community Chests, dogooders and racketeers are now engaged in an effort to keep an enslaved people (the citizens of the United States) from uprising in the face of the most fictitious (financial) boom in the history of man."
This statement is a good indication of how far from reality this man and others like him are. The idea that the American people are enslaved and ripe for an uprising is a piece of fiction worthy of the rightists' arch enemies in Moscow and Peking.
But the Minority Opinion Forum should definitely continue to invite rightists of Mr. Berveiler's type to speak at KU. They even ought to consider inviting George Rockwell to give a lecture on his philosophy. After all, KU does not want to be a serious old plodder. A little comedy now and then is good for the university community.
—William H. Mullins
Students and Politics
Campus politics have been called a farce and members of political parties have been laughed at for their efforts, yet campus political parties remain.
A political party can be worthwhile only if it fulfills its goals for the betterment or benefit of the student body.
Have the parties fulfilled their goals?
A look at last year's platform for both parties shows that most planks have been carried out.
VOX ASKED FOR A STUDENT bill of rights, a separate election for living group representatives, a transportation control system of "rides home" for out-of-state students, wider publicity for the ASC (which included sending of minutes to organized houses) and the updating of the ASC constitution.
UP's planks that were carried out are a stop day, strengthening of the ASC committees and continued participation in state affairs, one of which was the "letter to Topela" campaign of the spring semester 1960.
Both parties took credit for the formation of a campus human rights commission.
BUT BECAUSE THE PLANKS have been carried out doesn't necessarily mean the student has benefited in every case.
A campus political party is formed for students and by students, but it cannot continue to provide services for the student unless he supports his party by voting.
One goal of both parties is to give the student a working knowledge of campus politics and an awareness of the workings of national government.
THIS IS AN ADMIRABLE GOAL. For those who participate and are interested in their party, it is fulfilled.
Tomorrow is the last day of elections for ASC living group representatives.
Evaluate carefully what the party has done for each student and also what the student should do for the party—then vote.
Carrie Merryfield
I got four down slips at mid semester and the only reason I didn't get a fifth was that my cone prof said I looked intelligent and so there was some hope for me. (Actually, I was the only one who didn't sleep through his classes, so he must have had a feeling of obligation.) Anyway, I want to explain why this miserable showing—I had good grades at the junior college I went to.
My, My What Confusion Editor:
Why so bad here? It's the darned housing policy scramble. I'm a psych major and so I've been watching the guys who favor a change, the administrators who appeared to be resisting it and the town sitting by, like an Asian god,
First off, the campus paper asks the administration to take a moral stand. Just tell these renters the university won't list those who discriminate. A reasonable position. But all hell breaks out. One administrator tells a group it will lead to trouble. Another says this is no way to do anything. The Negroes march to seek recognition of their problems. Then one Negro says everything is fine, the administration is doing a swell job. Another Negro won't buy it. He says he wants ACTION, not talk. An-
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
saying nothing, slightly smiling. Frankly, I can't figure it out, and the announcement of the new policy not to keep landlades who discriminate on the lists bugs me still more.
Daily Hansan
Then comes the housing policy, which says exactly what the administration has been saying won't work. Brother. I'm going to major in econ. They've got these graphs and lots of statistics. The hell with people.
other student asks an administrator why the university won't add a rule prohibiting discrimination to the rules it sends landlades. The administrator says that's not what the people pushing it want—although this is what I thought they said they wanted in the first place.
University of Kansas student newspaper
S. F. Rude
University of Kansas student newspaper
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Play Criticized
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The comedy "Auntie Mame," mounted with infinite toil and good acting, leaves some of us wondering if the University Theatre has forsaken its announced goal of "providing examples of the world's best literature . . . and providing always the finest of dramatic fare." It now seems to be turning back to Restoration Drama.
Does the Department think the plight of an unmarried pregnant woman merits raucous mirth? No Burlesque Show was more bespattered with God-damns. In coming plays shall we be assailed by all the robust four letter words to evoke neurotic giggles from the groundlings?
C. M. Baker
"PHGSST—DID OLE MUSCLE-MOUTH TAKE ROLL TODAY?"
By Carol Berry
MOMENT OF NO RETURN, by Stephen King-Hall. Ballantine Books. 50 cents.
"Moment of No Return" is a novel which describes a jittery and familiar world, where Berlin is a pawn in a game between East and West in which national honor is at stake. In this world, where leaders live on their nerves, and the apathy of the common man is his only peace of mind, the whimsical voice of England is probably saner than any other, suggesting the "doctrine of the continuous summit" as the best foundation for world peace. Russia and America both stand poised and ready to destroy the world from their underground War Centers.
"Moment of No Return" suggests to the reader that the only logical outcome of events as they are is destruction. The book, which was first published in 1960, now ceases to be prophetic and seems, to the reader, an eerie and only slightly exaggerated paraphrase of the events he reads about in the daily newspaper.
THE GREAT CRISIS STEMS from a proposed invasion of West Berlin by the East German government, under the unofficial leadership of a fanatical ex-Nazi, to whom only the re-unification of Germany is important. He is aided by cosmopolitan and opportunist Pilkov, member of the Politburo responsible for keeping the satellite countries in line. The proposed occupation of West Berlin sets off a series of ludicrous believable misunderstandings between Russia and America which carry the world to the point of destruction.
King-Hall describes the French, American, English, and Russian heads of state so that they embody national characteristics while remaining individuals. The French Secretary of the Foreign Office says of the Chief, Etienne Gallique, in the moment of crisis: "He will decide on a French point of view which will express the grandeur of our beloved country; a point of view, I must add, which is not likely to be entirely in accord with the views of our allies."
President Kennix is indecisive and bound by bureaucracy while the Prime Minister is, in time of crisis, strong:
("Our statement of intention) must be firm but not provocative. My Secretary of State says...")
The Prime Minister sighed. "Must we bring him into it? I've got my Foreign Secretary out there, and intend to keep him there. We've got to decide."
"I was about to say," protested the President, "that my Secretary of State insists that in dealing with the Russians one must be tough."
COMRADE BUGLOV, FIRST SECRETARY of the Communist Party, is strong and comically temperamental, but he keeps somewhere inside himself the Communist ideals in which he once believed. They do not aid him in the moment of crisis, and he, too, is forced to rely on someone else to make a decision.
"Moment of No Return" deals with individual responsibility in an era in which collective thinking seems all too easy. It is a wellwritten, well-informed book which clearly shows both the hysterical humor and deadly seriousness of a situation in which the human race faces destruction.