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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 8, 1955
America, to Remain Free Must Be Informed, Educated
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . .
it expects what never was and what never will be."
Thomas Jefferson
Burn books, brand books, censor books . . . as anti-Communist hysteria mounts in the United States, we, the American people find our freedoms and democracy in more danger every day. We're letting fear destroy our freedom, the very thing we're fighting for when we oppose communism.
We've lost our perspective. We condemn the censorship that denies the people behind the Iron curtain access to the cultural and scientific fruits of the western democracies. But here in the United States today we are refusing not only to let our students study freely the philosophies of the world so that they may distinguish the good from the bad, we are even condemning such books as "Robin Hood."
We need to stop and realize that our democracy, our way of life, depends on our freedom. And, secondly, that freedom, the free expression of ideas, and freedom of education cannot be separated.
Our writers and thinkers must be able to be "controversial," for freedom is not one point of view, it is many.
The incident that has received the most attention lately was the objection of Mrs. Thomas J. White of Indianapolis to the legendary character "Robin Hood," because—she said—he supported the "rob-the-rich Communist party line." Mrs. White charged that there is a Communistic directive in education now to stress the story of Robin Hood.
In Galion, Ohio, the school board voted 3-2 to remove all fiction from the high school library until some 2.050 titles could be "screened."
In Tallahassee, Fla., the state superintendent of schools recommended that a textbook entitled "Alcohol and Human Affairs" be dropped from the Florida school system. He said the Women's Christian Temperance union is "very much against this text."
Creeping censorship at the state level also represents a growing threat to the publishing industry. In the summer of 1952 the Texas State Board of Education ruled that a publisher who submits a book for use in Texas schools must file a non-Communist affidavit.
But the height of anti-Communist hysteria was reeased in Alabama, where the state legislature
secured the passage of Act 888, now more notoriously known as the "poison label bill." The essence of this act is that every book used in the colleges, public schools and the trade schools of the state must be labeled. The label must indicate that the author is or is not an advocate of communism or socialism, is or is not a member of the Communist party, is or is not a member of a Communist-front organization. It applies to all library books that may be assigned for reading or reference and all books owned by teachers and pupils if such books are used in the schools.
We must realize that our fight against communism is only one part of our fight to protect our freedoms. Our danger is as much fascism from within as it is communism from without. You could say we might as well give up now if we can't oppose communism without giving up the freedoms for which we are fighting.
At the Army language school on the west coast all Russian texts and periodicals were withdrawn to avoid further attacks on the Army by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Here, where the students learn to speak and read Russian and other foreign languages so that the graduates can monitor foreign language broadcasts and translate foreign documents. The strength and security of our nation depends on our ability to keep alert to what the rest of the world is doing. And foreign language experts are essential. Wake up, America, from that dream you're in. To win in this world today we have to be practical and smart when fighting the enemy.
This law denies youth the right of free inquiry and the opportunity to seek the truth. The present danger in Alabama is not communism, but raw fascism, of which this law is an expression. It sounds like one of Hitler's propositions. It is the kind of censorship carried on in Communist-controlled countries.
Shakespeare's plays will have to be labeled. And the Bible. The University of Alabama has about a half million books in its library. Each must be labeled. And then there's the question of who is going to certify these books as sound?
But instead let's say, "Our nation was founded on the strength of free ideas." It was built by brave men who were willing to fight for what they believed in. Our history has been controversial, but we have never lost sight of our ideals. So may it continue to be in the future.
—Georgia Wallace
How can the coffee be so good at a banquet upstairs in the Union and yet so bad down-stairs in the Hawk's Nest?
Anything that is different in this day and age seems to be considered un-American.
The Russians are really having a policies shake-up; first the government threw a complete switch and now women's necklines are dropping.
THE PLACE TO SETTLE A C
ARGUMENTS IS AT THE END!
NOT AT THE START---YOU GO
STOPPIN' FIGHTS APORE THE YEWTS
GAIN' AN' YOU GONE HAVE NOTHIN'
BUILT QUILT--EVER'BODY
FROM OUT OF ITS HIDIN' PLACE
I DRUGG THE OTHER HALF OF
THE FAMBLY LIBRARY...
CAPN WIMBY'S BIRDATLAS
THISLL TEACH YOU HOW TO
CRACKLE.
WAS CAP'N WIMBY AGRACKLE?
NO, CAP'T WIMBY WASN'T EVEN A
BIRD"...WIMBY WAS THE WINDLASS KING"...SOLD WINDSLASSES TO THE WINDLOSK PEOPLE IN WOODSOCKET,
MADA WINDFALL"...LOST HIS MONEY IN A GAME"...A BEAUTIFUL WINDSY DAY HE BLEW A FULL CHANCE AND WIN
xido
BLEW A FULL HOUSE AN' WOUND UP
One Man's Opinion
It isn't difficult to get tired o winter. What was spring like, and what was summer like? It seems so long since they were last here. The leaves were coming out, the flowers blooming, the carpet of green grass, people loading food and drinks in cars for "picnics" at Lone Star, and people swimming. It actually was warm enough to go swimming outside. In fact, it was so warm you almost had to swim to keep cool.
The sprinkler system over the campus brought an occasional cool breeze. You didn't mind getting a little wet if you could just get a little of the coolness. Anything to get away from the heat! Yes, the awful heat. That's what I was trying to remember—and dry. Dust was blowing. Everything you touched was searing hot. People were complaining about the heat, trying anything to stay cool. The coolness is here now. Wish it would go away. —Jack Fisher
Evenings on the campus brought gentle, warm breezes rustling the leaves and the air, all around rather than shaded by storm windows and closed doors.
In 1790, the present state of Illinois was divided into only two counties—St. Clair, which included the western side of the state, and Knox, the eastern half.
Tobacco was once a common crop in southern Illinois. The leaf was packed in hogsheads with attached axels and rolled to Golconda on the Ohio river.
Reunions are great! Too bad we didn't have a larger graduating class.
Middle Class Getting Bigger in Revolution
America is undergoing a bloodless revolution, according to Sidney Feuchtwanger.
The middle class keeps getting bigger, he said.
Mr. Feuchtwanger, president of Commercial Discount corp., makes it his business to know about such things.
His firm deals in accounts receivable and installment financing and such, with an annual volume of $120 million.
"It used to be that everybody thought of himself as middle class." Mr. Feuchtwanger said. "And nowadays, most of them are right."
A lot of people who used to be in the bottom brackets have graduated into the middle class, he said. And they've acquired middle class tastes.
About 23 per cent of all families own automobiles now have a second car, he said. Sixty-seven per cent of all families now have two radios and 21 per cent have three.
An extra television set for the den is becoming commonplace, and many suburban families are buying station wagons.
Such things as cars, refrigerators, motorboats, backyard swimming pools and basement workshops once were considered indications of wealth.
But now, said Mr. Feuchtwanger, they're the mark of the middle class.
All this tends to upset the old theory about "sales saturation," which held that once you sold everybody who could afford it a washing machine, you wouldn't sell many more.
Even culture has become a middle class phenomenon. Take a look at the booming sales in art supplies, musical instruments, classical records and Hi Fi sets.
Nowadays, Mr. Feuchtwanger said, 92 per cent of the nation's families have refrigerators, 79 per cent own washing machines, 78 per cent have toasters, 63 per cent vacuum cleaners, 62 per cent TV and about 98 per cent radios.
But they still want more of the same, he said, or they want newer models. A family with a toaster, for instance, now wants a sandwich toaster. The more gadgets you have, it seems, the more you want.
Mr. Feuchtwanger says credit is a big factor in the "bloodless revolution."
"Mass production depends on mass sales," he said, "and mass sales must have mass financing."
So even if the monthly installment payments seem kind of rough at times, just remember. They're part of your middle class existence.
—By United Press
Daily Hansam
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room, KU 251 Ad Room, KU 376 Member of the Inland Daily Press association. Associated Collegiate Press association Represented by the National Advertising Association Mail subscription rates; $3 a semester or $4.50 a year (add $1 a semester if in Lawrence). Published at Lawrence University university except summer varsity year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Entered as second class student 172-173, not office under set of March 3, 1890.
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