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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1963
They Get Bigger
The growth of Americans as a nation in the past 50-100 years has been phenomenal-particularly the growth of the American women.
And, I refer not to her growth in numbers, nor her growth in cultural, intellectual and political pursuits. I mean instead, her individual physical growth. The American woman has steadily grown fatter down through the years.
As the spread of the suburbs can be traced to overgrown cities full of onetime agrarian Americans, the spreading of American women's hips can be traced back through outgrown corsets and girdles to the one-time wasp-waist colonial women.
The historical evolution of this expansionist movement was recently called to attention by a Kansas City department store which displayed 35 original dresses depicting fashion trends of the past century. Neither mannequin nor model could be found to fit into some of the dresses. The 17-inch waistlines of the old costumes were simply too small.
THE KANSAS CITY STAR commented:
"The corseted and beautifully gowned bride of 80 or 90 years ago would think women today are too fat—and they would be right, in comparison."
Thus, the daily diet dilemma in the past 20 years has developed. This mass mania for reducing—now one of America's foremost problems—can be seen by row upon row of low-calorie salad dressings and dietetic colas displayed on grocery shelves, the numerous magazine articles describing the miracle reducing exercises, and advertisements flaunting short cuts to weight loss.
And most currently, there is even a rumor that Hansel and Gretel's gingerbread house was really made of Metrecal cookies.
Corresponding changes in bridge table topics
indicate that some American women feel guilty about the feminist "expansionist movement."
However, many refuse to take action and choose to ignore or hide excess poundage. Two metropolitan department store clerks reported that waist cinchers have recently been added to their stock. "We haven't carried them for years, but now some women will do anything to squeeze into a smaller size dress," one clerk said.
SOME WOMEN THINK they have hidden the midriff bulge by raising the waistline to the empire height. Others retreat to the circus tent camouflage. Putting undue emphasis on the current casual look, they pull on long baggy sweatshirts or extra-long sweaters and dawn mu-mu type dresses.
Whether or not the modern feminine ostrich thinks she has covered her feathers with a grubby disguise, the camouflage technique remains evident. And the answer to this fatter matter lies deeper than she can bury her head. Contemporary authorities say overeating and resulting over weight are caused by emotional problems, pressure of school or occupation, insecurity and unhappiness.
Whatever the cause, neither apathy nor sloppiness is the answer to the diet dilemma. One male magazine columnist put it thusly: "I like the beautiful girl because she looks on the outside like she is on the inside. I won't find her inside a baggy skirt, bedraggled pull-over, or a dress designed for smuggling watermelons."
The answer is that 20th century women should stop kidding themselves and stop making excuses for their fatter selves—and take heed from their colonial antecedents less privileged with political power and more endowed with willpower.
- Linda Machin
Court Questionable Editor:
The People Say...
Recently, the Daily Kansan described the workings of the student court, the main function of which has been the hearing of traffic ticket appeals. My experience with the court has shown that in their concern with the officialities of their duties, the justice they ostensibly administer is a fallacy. In particular, their assumption seems to be that there is a "revealed law," namely the pamphlet handed out with the automobile stickers at the beginning of the semester. It is against this document of rules that traffic cases are judged, with apparently little regard for the particular circumstances of the case which moved the student to appeal the ticket in the first place. (that is, unless those circumstances should have been covered in another book of revelations containing precedents of the court).
First, the idea of having a court to which appeals can be made is a mockery if the court feels that it is only an arm of the administrative authority which issued the ticket to begin with.
It is not my purpose to publically air the merits of my particular case. Rather, I would like to see the situation corrected which makes the student court a questionable body for the reviewing of students' traffic appeals, and perhaps the other functions that the court might serve.
The irony of this discrepancy between "book law" and justice was brought out after the chief justice had announced that my appeal had been turned down. Speaking off the record, he said, in effect, that he did feel my appeal was legitimate, that he would make a request to the administration to correct the situation I based my appeal around, but . . . the traffic pamphlet was the authority in this case, and there was nothing else they could do.
A second point is that the assumption implicit in any court system—but not heeded in the student court—is that laws are not absolute or revealed, but are subject to consideration which revolves about the special circumstances involved in a given case.
Thirdly, the court is run by the law school to give law students
practice in a "real" court situation. The appelants, however, are not practicing! When a triflic fine, whether of four dollars or sixty-four dollars is at stake, a student would like to feel that his needs are being considered, not those of neophyte lawyers who halteringly sputter forth legal jargon. Moreover, one's faith in the student judicial system is little enhanced when the morning following a court session, one finds the same "judges" and "lawyers" sitting en masse on the steps of Green Hall hooting at passing girls (indeed, on one occasion one of the justices had cleverly rigged a string across the sidewalk, apparently designed for the purpose of stopping some young pretty . . . or perhaps to lift her skirts).
I believe the function of considering traffic appeals would be best served by a student-faculty committee, which could give adequate attention to the circumstances of the appeal rather than the "legalities" involved.
Stephen Goldfarb graduate student
Daily Hansan
Member Inland Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 Street, New York, NY. Represented by International Mail subscription rates; $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence. Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and holidays. Received in examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas
111 Flint Hall
University of Kansas student newspaper Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trifweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
UNiversity 4-3646, newsroom
UNiversity 4-2198, business office
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Baine King Editorial Editor
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Mike Miller               Managing Editor
Terry Ostmeyer, Trudy Meseerve,
Jackie Stern, Rose Osborne, Assistant
Managing Editors; Kary Jarvis, City
Editor; Society Society Editor;
Roll Miller, Sports Editor, Dennis
Bowers. Picture Editor.
Hear Mme. Nhu
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bob Brooks  Business Manager
Jonnie B佐莉kin, Business Manager
Alice Rueschhoff, Circulation Mgr.:
Brooks Harrison, Classified Adv. Mgr.:
Donald Dugan, Promotion Mgr.: Jerry
Schroepfer, Merchandising Mgr.
Editor:
After reading Miss Annemarie Hoffman's letter in Monday's Kansas, I feel some sort of minority voice is necessary. Both Miss Hoffman and the New Frontier seem blithely to assume that Americans, while flocking to hear and to see Mme. Dinh Nuh, do so only to present to her hostile and unsympathetic audience. Indeed, can it be necessary to point out that the art of character assassination by the adroit quote-out-of-context has been carried to depths hitherto undreamt of, to insure the most hostile of receptions for Mme. Nuh?
But I am sympathetic. The Diem government, ostensibly our ally, is taced with the spector of foreign conquest and the sedious threats of an anarchistic and publicity conscious rabble. As an important and articulate member of the Diem regime, Mme. Nhu should be heard, with antipathy if necessary, with courtesy if possible.
Khrushchev visited the U.S., threatened to "bury us," and was lionized. Nehru, clumsily masking his fear and hatred of the West behind an oily and arrogant hypocrisy, visited the U.S. and was showered with uncomprehending apostolic devotion. Mme. Nhu, in contrast, has been denounced and vilified without quarter. Love thy enemy? And hate thy ally?
Miss Hoffman ingeniously links Mme. Nhu with Christine Keeler, because both have made headlines. Quite right, too. Mme. Nhu has already been compared to the Dragon Lady, Lucrezia Borgia and Torquemada. How fortunate it is that the Keeler scandal provides the opportunity for a new low in letters-to-the-editor malignancy. Congratulations to Miss Hoffman for not invoking the name of Adolf Hitler.
Miss Hoffman asks, "What is our real motivation?" The Kennedy family levels the charge of nepotism at Diem; Castro alleges tyranny; "civilization" honors Jomo Kennetta and his Mau Mau butchers, but turns its face from a legally constituted government; The U.S. Constitution upholds the principle of non-seditious, non-libelous free speech. Indeed, Miss Hoffman, what is our real motivation?
Robert L. Yaple
St. Joseph, Mo., graduate
"It's Peacemongering And Creeping Private Enterprise, That's What It Is!"
Good Time to Launch Attack on Abbrv'tns
It's a good time to launch an attack. Madame Nhu is under attack. The Traveling Hootenanny is under attack. The English Pro, as usual, is under attack. The Daily Kansan is under attack.
And now I'm going to attack Charley Finley and the nation's sportswriters.
In case you can't see the connection between Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, and the sportswriters, I'll sum it up: they butcher names.
This year Finley, at about mid-season, slapped nicknames on the backs of his players' uniforms. He had a space problem in doing this, so names of more than five letters were anathema.
JERRY LUMPE, A's second-sacker became "Lump." Ted Bowsfield, allegedly a pitcher, was known as "Bows." Norm Siebern, the team's first-baseman and All Star representative, was "Norm." (If you recall, Ralph Houk, manager of the American League All Stars, was so embarrassed by the sight of Siebern in the green and gold KC colors, he refused to play him.)
So much for Charley.
Such practices must be nipped in the bud. With available space everywhere constantly being reduced, these people are setting a dangerous example.
Next comes the sports writers. Basketball season is approaching, and with it comes the box-scores. Chamberlain, in these agate monstrosities, is "Ch'b'l'n," or some other abbreviation.
People with long names may be denied social intercourse and recognition. Old family names may have to be abolished.
EITHER THAT OR these abbreviations will become an accepted part of our language. Your wife will greet you every morning with a stirring, "Hi, h'n'y." Your kids will call you 'D'dy." You'll be known to your boss and associates as J'n Sm'th. It's a good thing the ZIP code has been invented because the postman would never know you from your name on an address.
As the population continues to explode and space keeps dwindling, the abbreviation mania will expand from names to the other parts of our language. All writing will be in abbreviations. Reading a newspaper or magazine will be like decoding a secret document.
After a while this madness will be accepted; people will begin to speak entirely in abbreviations. Enunciation and diction will be forgotten things. The master of the slurred, abbreviated statement will be a man of status.
"But how can we prevent this?" you ask, clearly, I hope.
The first step is to put the quietus on Charley Finley and the sportswriters. Would they have shortened "Washington" to "W'sh'n'n" or "Jefferson" to J'frs'n?" That would be practically un-American. Let's investigate their motives.
Write letters to your C'ngr'sm'n. Abbreviate his name so he can see how it looks. Address letters to your favorite TV and movie stars using abbreviations. That'll get them with us.
Let's straighten these sportswriters out quicker than you can say "J'k R'b'ns'n." Let's make their names "M'd" with the public.
H N
It'll work or my name isn't R'lf G'g.
Ralph Gage