University Daily Kansan What's Wrong With Independents? What's the matter with the Independents? For years, Independents of this University have been in the majority. For years they have wielded great influence in campus affairs. For years, Independents have had a great interest in what took place on the campus. Today, the Independents are a lifeless, disorganized conglomeration of organisms traversing over the campus, from Allen Field House to the Student Union. They are still in the majority,but they wield no great or near great influence in campus affairs, and they certainly lack a great deal of interest in the University. As is true with the Greeks, they have no outstanding individuals who may be referred to as leaders. They have no Ben Fosters of the 1947-48 school year—who gave the Greeks such rough times at the polls in campus politics. Independents no longer take an interest in campus politics. They no longer assert themselves in campus affairs, commensurate with their abilities and potentialities. Independents wander aimlessly through their college career today without receiving the benefits of active participation in campus affairs. They no longer appear to want the valuable experience they can pick up in campus activities. In some instances, Independents are worse than the Greeks in forming their own private little cliques, their own private little meeting places. Independents tend to withdraw into their own little cliques, the devil take what's left, and cut off all contact with the outsider. There appears to be no concentration of effort on the part of the Independent student to get ahead on the campus. He comes to the University to memorize and recite what the instructor tells him to memorize and recite. He does this through four years of college. Then if he memorizes and recites correctly he gets his degree in whatever he has proved most efficient in reciting and memorizing. What else has the Independent attained? Not a thing, today. The Independent appears to merely go along with the crowd, not expressing an opinion—much less developing an opinion of his own. Today, the Independent has become worthless to campus society, just as the Greeks have become worthless. There are no longer individualists, Independent or Greek, on the campus. All trudge and follow the current pattern of thinking, memorizing and reciting—just as the next guy is doing. If this campus is any indication of what America is coming to, then it's a sad situation. We are losing that old American aspect of individuality and "to hell with convention." What we have now is a rather disgusting one line of thought, one line of memorization, one line of recitation, and one line up to the dais to pick up the IBM-machined sheepskins. —Sam L. Jones Newspapers Are Objective-They Claim One of the primary goals of a good newspaper is objectivity in its presentation of the news. So, in 1952 when then President Harry Truman and Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson used the term "one-party press," some newspaper men became indignant. They described the accusations of the Democratic leaders as political nonsense. To throw some light on the situation, Sigma Delta Chi, national journalistic fraternity, set up a committee to decide whether a survey of the objectivity of the press should be made at that time. The survey was rejected because it could have been conducted only after the elections. However, in 1954 the proposal was renewed by the fraternity for the 1956 elections. After the feasibility of such a survey was ascertained, plans were made for a $650,000 project concerning 250 newspapers. As a final step, a poll of 76 publishers and editors was conducted by the fraternity. The results, as announced last week, showed that 36 opposed the study, 18 favored it and nine favored it with reservations. Two were noncommittal and 11 had not replied. Because of the results of this poll. Sigma Delta Chi dropped further plans for the survey. The Ford Foundation had been mentioned as a possible financial backer, but the financing was supposed to have had no bearing on the abandonment of the project. In view of these events, the logical question that arises is: if there isn't a one-party press, why then did the newspaper powers-that-be reject the survey? It would seem that they must be afraid of exposure as not being non-partisan in their news presentations. Certainly, if they were as objective as claimed, such a survey would serve to enhance the prestige and freedom of the press. But after reading such publications as the Chicago Tribune and the Hearst papers, it appears that the former reasoning is all too true. These newspapers are about as objective as Pravda. Sigma Delta Chi had a worthy project, but it seems it was defeated by the "old grads." The fraternity could take a seven-league step forward if it ignored the results of the aforementioned poll and went ahead with the survey as planned. At least it would accomplish one aim of a newspaper—that of keeping its public informed. —Leo Flanagan Momentous Problems Still Unsolved Americans today are facing more and more problems in their increasingly complex living. One of the greatest problems came about with the invention of the slip-horn, or trombone, whichever you prefer. For years, Americans have been perplexed with the problem of playing the trombone in a telephone booth. As yet, no one has come up with a satisfactory solution. Then there is the problem of inventing a stingless iodine, for application on cuts. The problem has been so burning for Americans, that several scientists at the State University of New Jersey (Rutgers for short) have spent some time in research. Their preliminary investigation has resulted in the discovery that a housewife's "pinch" of diatomic iodine in a bucket of water makes as effective a disinfectant as the ordinary solution of iodine. Then there is the problem of finding the cocktail shaker during a cocktail party when the lights are out. A British silversmithing firm has come up with an answer. The British have attached a blinking light on top of the shaker—thus enabling thirstier guests to locate the source of drinks despite fog, darkness or the hostess' silent discouragement. The British have also proposed a solution to "m' ladies'" pocket book troubles—in other words, trying to locate something in a bottomless pit. They have installed small lights at numerous vantage points throughout, enabling the poor lady to find her door key before the guy gets ahold of it. The British have also solved this problem—or so they claim. One of their brighter geniuses invented a calendar that is good until 1990—however, it's too big to fit in the pocket. You need a truck to haul it around with you, but at least you'll never forget it. Then there's the problem of having an adequate calendar on your person at all times, so you can tell what day it was yesterday. Sam L. Jones Leave it to the British to come up with the most modern inventions. The town of Ribe, Denmark, was famed in medieval times for its "code of justice." Under the code women were given preferential treatment. One ruling was, "a woman who has stolen and is subject to be hanged, shall, instead, be buried alive because she is a woman." Burrows dug by armadillos occasionally hold strange neighbors. One in Texas housed the digger in his den at the end, while a four-foot rattlesnake and a cottontail rabbit used side chambers. Nothing like sharing with your fellow animals. COLD NO'S No, it's not much fun to be immobilized in a winter blunderland—or the victim of an accident. You can't blitz a blizzard. Keep posted on the cold facts of winter driving and know that you are not sure the roads and your car's equipment will permit you to get through safely. Daily Transan University of Kansas student newspaper biweekly, June 15, 1904, tjweekly, 1908, daily, dailyjournal.com Telephone VIkking 3-2700 Extension 251, news room Extension 276, business office Extension 376, business office Member Inland Daily Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press Representation Advertising Service, Madison Avenue, Madison Square Garden, New service; United Press. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Pub- lations during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second-place matter Sept. 17, 1910, at March 6 - Aug. post office under act of March 3, 1879. NEWS DEPARTMENT Marion McCoy...Managing Editor Larry Hell, John McMillon, Harry Elliott, Jane Pecinovsky, Assistant Managing Editors; Barbara Burchard, Assistant Telegraph Editor; David Webb, Telegraph Editor; Daryl Hall, Assistant Telegraph Editor; Ann Kelly, Society Editor; Feelea Fenberg, Assistant Society Editor; Kent Thomas, Sports Editor; Bob Lyle, Assistant Society Editor; John Stephens, Pickler Editor. NORCAL EDITOR Sam Jones Editorial Editor Dick Walt, Associate Editor Jim Wiens Business Manager David Cleveland, Advertising Manager; Dick Hunter, National Advertising Manager; Griffith, Circulation Manager; Wilt Baskett, Classified Advertising Manager; Clifford Meyer, Promotion Manager Why Chancellor Adenauer reads The Reader's Digest "In my country more than 500,000 people read the Digest in German each month. And they read not only about the people of the United States, but about the people of all nations. The Reader's Digest has forged a new instrument for understanding among men." —KONRAD ADENAUER, Chancellor of West Germany THE ONE AND ONLY BENCHLEY. When told his drink was slow poison, Benchley quipped, "So who's in a hurry?" . . . Chuckles from the life of one of America's best-loved humorists. LEARN TO LIVE WITH YOUR WORRIES. Some anxieties spur you to greater effort. But many simply distort your judgment, wear you down. Ardis Whitman tells the kind of worry you should learn to overcome, how to put sensible anxieties to good use. BOOK CONDENSATION: I WAS SLAVE 1E-241 IN THE SOVIET UNION. Seized without cause, John Noble (a U.S. citizen) was sent to a Russian concentration camp to work in a coal mine. In episodes from his forthcoming book, "Slave 1E-241," Noble tells of Red brutality . . . and how the "slaves" rebelled in 1953—a revolt he's sure can occur again. In February Reader's Digest don't miss: PRIVATE LIFE OF ADOLF HITLER. Was the Fuehrer insane? Did he really marry his mistress Eva Braun the very night before they planned to kill themselves? Is his body secretly buried? Hitler's personal valet hitherto unknown facts. Get February Reader's Digest at your newsstand today-only 25¢ 45 articles of lasting interest, including the best from leading magazines and current books, condensed to save your time.