Page 2 University Daily Kansan Thursday, January 6, 1955 German Re-Armament Issue Long a Problem Former United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson made a startling proposal in September 1950. In an address before the North Atlantic Treaty council's fifth meeting in New York he suggested that West Germany be rearmed to help contain the threat of Russian aggression in West Europe. None of the allies was consulted in advance. Britain and France objected instantly and Mr. Acheson's suggestion appeared doomed. Now that suggestion appears near realization after nine years of German occupation. Germany's troubles and those of the world began June 5, 1945, when Adolf Hitler's crumbled Third Reich was formally divided into United States, British, French and Soviet zones of occupation. Close on the heels of partition came the Potsdam agreement of Aug. 2,1945 in which the four powers agreed to control Germany until a peace treaty was signed. The Soviet occupation force rang down the Iron Curtain on East Germany and Germany became the principal battleground of the Cold war. It became obvious there was no common East-West policy. The Nations of western Europe consulted among themselves and on March 17, 1948, five of them signed the Brussels treaty of economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defense against German aggression. The nations were Britain, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. That was the beginning of the idea that was to become the North Atlantic Treaty organization. But in Germany things went from bad to worse. The Big Three proposed in 1948 that West Germany be given a national government. The result was a Russian blockade of Berlin that brought Europe close to war. The blockade was lifted when it was defeated by a massive allied air lift. There were a series of crises with Russia refusing to sign German and Austrian peace treaties and a series of menacing moves—the 1946 aggression against Iran, the Red takeover in eastern Europe and the 1948 coup in Czechoslovakia, efforts to cripple the Marshall plan, violations of the Potsdam agreement. West Europe solidified against these moves and the NATO treaty was signed in Washington April 4, 1949. Members were Belgium Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands Norway, Britain and the United States. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952. But the question of what to do about Germany remained unsolved. The West drew up an occupation statute in April 1949 replacing military rule with civilian control. Communist aggression continued and the Korean war burst upon the world in June 1950. The West had to be secure, and in September 1950 Mr. Acheson proposed German re-armament. There was stormy opposition, especially in France, and the NATO session was suspended. But something had to be done and on Oct. 4, 1950, former French Premier Rene Pleven unveiled his own plans for a united European army—the EDC that was to become the keystone of American policy in Europe. Premier Pierre Mendes-France came to power and promised to end the impasse. His success is now almost secure. West Germany, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg ratified EDC but France, author of the plan, and Italy held off. Five successive French premiers dared not bring it to a vote in the French National assembly. Britain and the United States gave new guarantees and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles warned that further delay meant an "agonizing reappraisal" of American foreign policy. One Man's Opinion Utopia. That is the place where the sun always shines for the sun bathers, the place where it always rains for the farmers, and the place where it always snows for the skiers. The temperature is always cool for those who don't like hot weather and always hot for those who don't like cold weather. The trees are always green for the people who like the spring and always golden and brown for the people who like the fall. That is Utopia. Mark Twain was wrong when he said something to the effect that everyone talked about the weather, but no one did anything about it. Maybe people were different in Mark's day, but the people of today do plenty about the weather—they complain. Never in the history of mankind has there been people of such versatility. After four months of hot weather the first cool day comes along to break the heat wave, and most people are tired of cold weather. After three years of a definite lack of rain, the first sprinkle comes along, and most people are tired of the rains. Then the trend is reversed. The one cool day passes and the mercury climbs, and the clouds break up and drift away and guess what happens? That's right! Most people wonder if it will ever cool off and rain. The cycle is never completed. No day can be perfect. There is always someone to find fault with the most beautiful day of the year, and someone who thinks the most dreary day of the year is wonderful. Will there ever be a happy medium? If the wind blows in the summer time people complain of the hot breeze, but if the breeze stops blowing the people say it would be cooler if it were blowing. The same holds true in winter, spring, and fall. If it snows there is either too much snow or not enough. The same with rain. The same for everything. But Utopia, that's the place. —Jack Lindberg The more the merrier seems to be the spirit of the diamond season as witnessed by the KU male who sees the ratio of women students growing more and more in somebody else's favor. Daily Hansan University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room, KU 251 Ad Room, KU 378 Member of the Inland Daily Press association in associated Collegiate Press association in advertising service, 420 Madison, N.Y. Mail subscription rates: $3, a semester or $4.50 a year add a semester in University, Kauai in Lawrence, Kan, every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays University holidays and examinations matter, Sept 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan, post office under act of March 3, 1879. EDITORIAL STAFF EDITORIAL STUDIO Editorial Editor Letty Lemon Editorial Assistants Business Mgr. Bill Taggart Advertising Mgr. David Riley Nat. Adv. Mgr. David Conley Circulation Mgr. Kenneth Winston Classified Mgr. Leonard Jurden Business Adviser Gene Bratto Dot Taylor, Amy DeYong BUSINESS STAKE NEWS STAFF Executive Editor, Elizabeth Wohlgentm *Monitoring Editors*, John Herrington, BUSINESS STAF News Editor Ron Grandon Assistant News Editor Gretchen Guimin Treasurer Tamar Dale Wire Editor Dana Leibengood Society Editor LaVerie Yates Assist Society Ed. Mary Bess Stephens Feature Editor Karen Hilmer Adviser Advisor Court Ernst, C Nancy Neville Calder M. Pickett Flashbacks in History From The Daily Kansan Motion pictures showing in Lawrence after the 1934 Christmas holidays included The Little Minister by Sir James M. Barrie, with Katherine Hepburn, John Beal, and Alan Hale. Blond Bombshell with Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy; Kid Million with Eddie Cantor, Ann Sotherm, Ethel Merman, and George Murphy, and Sweet Adeline with Irene Dunne, and Donald Wood. A music store announced the arrival of the following new recordings: "Chinatown, My Chinatown" and "When Will I Know," "Stompin' Around" and "Irresistible," by Glen Gray; "You're The Top" and "All Through the Night," by Hal Kemp; and "The Object of My Affection" by Jimmie Grier. Sports entertainment featured the Missouri-Kansas basketball game, which was played at Lawrence. In their first Big Six game of the season, the Jayhawks defeated the Tigers 39-29. In New York City, on January 5. 1935, Glenn Cunningham beat Gene Venske, University of Pennsylvania, by .3 of one second to win the 800-meter run at the ninth annual Knights of Columbus games. Cunningham's time was 1:57. The 1935 football schedule was announced. Games at home were to be with St. Benedict's, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missou, Kansas was to play Notre Dame, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Nebraska on their fields. Science Building Steps: KU's Campus Disgrace Sloppy Steps. Soggy Stockings. Muddy coats, cleaning bills, ruined loafers, risked limbs. Mud nearly ankle-deep in KU's new $2 million science building. It's completely disgraceful. Yes, the Kansan knows that the whole area behind Robinson, Journalism building, and down to the new science building is going to be terraced. Long, flowing, pasture-like scenes of grass and trees, broken only by an intermittent sidewalk or two, will soon (?) be added to beautify the campus. But in the meantime—while we're waiting—the mud gets thicker, the steps get shakier, the floors of the science building get dirtier, and cleaning bills get more expensive. We vaguely remember the "temporary" library steps which stayed temporary for two rather permanent years. We remember the play of the Oread hall residents who spent three or four years walking to and from the campus on what must have been an old cattle trail. Gravel on the road would help some. And surely the minds that devised an atom bomb, a theory of relativity, or even the minds that designed the science building can figure out a way to get students into it without encountering the hazards they now encounter. How's this for a suggestion: A permanent stairway. It's going to be too slick in coming winters to expect students to navigate a sloping sidewalk, which is what a sidewalk down the promised terraced green would have to be. If KU can spend $2 million on the building, it can afford a couple of hundreds on a better stair and sidewalk than the structures that are now there! —Letty Lemon LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler "I think we should ask the "grand master" to rearrange th' beds in the pledges' rooms." Th ust Li P1 "W ing t have Gree contains cone Holly The frank how to tu New any Or Euge play man heim Span Latij Nu and ord Lit draw facto photo