FOUR
SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
FRIDAY. JUNE 26, 1931
EXCHANGE SCHOLAR RELATES HIS EXPERIENCES IN GERMANY
Lee S. Greene Recounts Story of Southern Trip and Discusses Political Changes
Moritzstrasse 1, I.
Leipzig, Germany.
bei Rocca.
April 18th, 1931
My dear Dr. Melvin:
I have had a very interesting year so far. The main advantage lies in orientation in the European "mental set," which certainly cannot be secured without having lived in conditions here for a time. I do not realize fully yet how changed my viewpoints are from what they were when I left New York last fall. The perspective at three thousand miles distant is not exactly what it should be.
Politically, the year has been most instructive. I arrived at a time when the National Socialist movement was at its height, and I have been able to watch it until the present, when its star seems to be, at least temporarily, on the wane. I have been able to watch Communism in action, to an extent that has made riots, on a small scale, a more or less everyday occurrence. I have been able to watch the Reichstag in action, to observe the hangovers from the old militarist regime, and to see the reaction of various classes to a new form of government.
In this connection, it has been interesting to me to realize more vividly that our American faith in democracy is not everywhere accepted in the same uncritical spirit in which our people look upon it. Particularly among the students, there exists a feeling that the democratic form of government is not suited to the German spirit; it is this feeling which has lent so much support to the movements which led to the Right; in contrast, I have had something of a chance to see how socialism works in practice, although here it is a socialism rather confusedly mixed with capitalism. It is this mixture which causes a great part of Germany's difficulties, without doubt. And finally, I have had the opportunity of living in a land, where social strata are more solidified, where class feeling is high enough to give a sense of reality to the Klassen-kampf cry of the Marxists.
Early in the year, that is, during the Christmas vacation, I took my first extended trip through Germany.
I saw the old court and dwelling of Kaiser Heinrich II, whose wife proved her virtue to her doubting husband by walking on heated plo-shares. The whole story is told on their tombstones by Tilman Riemenschneider. Stern times those, without the easy machinery of a Reno divorce court. It's a great satisfaction to know that the lady was found untainted, and that she was later able to be called the Blessed Kuni-gunde. There is a Pope buried in the church, but somehow one gradually gets used to the popes here, and they cease to be the sensational material they are at home.
From Bamberg I went on to Nuremberg, where I absorbed some of the memories of Hans Sachs and Albrecht Duerer. Regensburg followed and the next stop was Munich and here, of necessity, the historical gave way to the modern and ever-present. I inspected the Deutsches Museum, the finest testimony to German technical achievement I have seen, went to the opera, naturally, and visited the Frauenkirche.
Munich was followed by Augsburg. You remember the Rathaus there of course; a beautiful place, although the Dom interested me very much also; naturally I visited the Fuggerei, and saw the houses of the Welsers. My guide book says a Welser daughter married a Duke, quite a sensation in those days. I'll bet the old man had to lay out for that. The wedding must have been an exceedingly spiffy affair, and having seen something of the modern Bavarian drinker, I'm inclined to think that the wine flowed copiously on that occasion. But all Welsers' spiritual successors are looking for lambs down the dark lanes around Wall Street, and the town in Bavaria is sleeping more or less peacefully, dreaming of past glories, and the size of the next summer's tourist business.
I closed off the trip with Ulm and Wurzburg. I liked Ulm especially. I did not find Wurzburg so pleasing, perhaps because I had weared of sight-seeing. Still, I find memories of what I saw there coming back every now and then.
My real work here has interested me greatly. I am doing a piece of research for my master's degree, and have had the good luck to come to the best library for my purposes in all Germany, the Deutsche Buecherie, which collects all the modern works published in the German language. I am working on the referendum and recall in Germany, and am hoping to have the work of research done by the time I am ready to leave. I shall write the thesis after returning, however. Dr. Ogg has tentatively approved the subject, and I am hoping to be able to produce the kind of work which will have results. I have mastered the German speech as far as reading is concerned, so that I can ramble along comfortably now; it's still hard to speak, but I suppose I must expect that. I have begun to read French a little now, and am trying to piece together Rousseau's Social Contrast. It isn't such an easy matter, but as it goes somewhat better than I had expected. I am a little encouraged.
I should be glad to hear from you if you have a moment. Please give my regards to Professor Patterson. If I manage to get to Lawrence next fall, I shall hope to see you a while.
Cordially yours,
Lee S. Greene.
Cordially yours,
Relic Gets Superstructure
Mark Twain Cabin Preserved by State Park Protection
Florida, Mo., June 22—(UP)-An old weather-beaten cabin rests within a new superstructure in the center of Mark Twain State Park near here.
It was the humble birthplace of Samuel Clemens, who later achieved world-wide fame as an author under the name of Mark Twain, which is housed under the new materials of the protecting structure.
The cabin housed the famous author during the early days of his life, and later was used by other families until it fell into such disrepair that it could not longer be used as a dwelling. For years the little house stood unnoticed, until W. A. Violette, of Florida, bought the cabin, furnished it with furniture of Twain's time, and moved it to his own property.
When the State Memorial Park Association purchased 120 acres of land near Florida to be made into Mark Twain State Park, Violette donated the Twain birthplace to the state.
Last winter the Division of Parks of the State Game and Fish department put a protecting structure over the little old cabin.
Very few of the summer session students know what and where Blue Mound is. It is situated about 5 miles south and east of Lawrence, just beyond the Wakarusa river. Unlike many other mounds, it has an almost perfect symmetrical shape. It is completely covered with trees and shrubs, making an appearance of bluish grey against the clear sky. Its outline may be detected for many miles away. Some people report seeing it from a distance of 20 miles.
America Content to Copy
Blue Mound Known to Be Excellent Hiking Retreat
The top of Blue Mound is the scene of many college steak fries and marshmallow roasts. The easiest approach is from the south, where a steep winding path leads to several rock fireplaces at the very pinnacle. From this lofty summit one may see clearly the Wakarusa valley, covered with green fields, and many buildings on the top of Mount Oread. It is a convenient and beautiful spot for those students who love to hike and picnic in the long summer evenings.
European Architecture Leads United States in Producing New Styles
Detroit.—Calling the American tendency to reproduce old - fashioned styles in architecture a "modern disease," Miss Josephine Walther of the Detroit Institute of Arts declares that America is lagging far behind Europe in producing architecture in the modern spirit.
Such men as Le Corbusier in France, Gropius in Germany, and Oud in Holland," said Miss Walther, "have succeeded in creating a new style in architecture, reflecting the spirit of our own age and particularly well suited to present day needs. Today a constantly increasing number of the younger architects in these countries are building with enthusiasm in the modern manner."
In America, however, the new style is met with apathy and even with hostile criticism, the speaker said.
the styles we so love to emulate had done as we have been doing for the past hundred years, they too would have been as sterile of creative work as we have been during the century from which we have emerged."
"No work may justify a claim to permanent significance which does not respect the spirit of its time." Miss Walther declared. "The mania for antiques and for reproductions of styles of past centuries is a purely modern disease. If those centuries which have given us
Man Refuses to Reveal Name
Springfield, Mo., — (UP)— Christian county has a "Man Without a Name," who has refused for 20 years to reveal his identity. Ever since 1911 the county has been paying the man's expenses at the insane asylum in Nevada, but recently returned him to the county farm. The man has never had any correspondence.
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