Page 2 University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 16. 1954 But Was It?
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LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"I thought you'd like to know, Worthal—your name has just come up."
Grow That Stubble- Its Centennial Time
This year Kansas is observing the hundredth year of its founding as a territory.
Excepting the C oronado celebrations, this centennial will be the first technically observable by Kansas about Kansas.
Concurrently and necessarily, this is the first centennial technically observable by students of Kansas university about Kansas. And so, we think, the KU celebration ought to be done up in fine style.
In conjunction with Dr. Robert Taft, head of the Kansas Territorial Centennial committee, the Kansan is sponsoring the student celebration. Dates have received a nod of approval from the administration for March 24-26. A committee has been set up to take care of plans and details, both well underway.
The time seems most auspicious. The Rock Chalk revue will provide an excellent place for presentation of costume and beard contest winners. More important, there will be no conflict with other large programs in the offing—such as Greek week, the Relays, the Engineering Exposition, and final week.
In honor of the event, the Kansas will publish a special edition to be packed full of historical material prepared over a year's span by students in Reporting I, Reporting II, and The Editorial.
It looks like a good chance for students to generate a bit of enthusiasm about their home state—or the state temporarily their home as they attend school here—and about history in general via wearing beards and blue jeans, entering parades and programs, et al. We're looking forward to it.
...Letters ...
Dear Editor.
Friday morning I witnessed the proof that a university or college does support quite a large segment of a small town. Usually this support takes the form of doing business with the local merchants, but the type of support I saw was of a different nature.
That morning in the beautiful new Lawrence police station (later I realized how they could afford this building) I saw five students fined, or defleeceed, out of $173 on speeding charges. The average speeds were 38 mph while the average fine per student was $34.
I am not complaining because the students were fined, as I feel that when the law is broken, some penalty should be imposed. The thing I am complaining about is that the amount of fines is completely out of the financial question for most students to pay. There is no doubt in my mind that local drivers are not fined the same amount; that is when they are fined.
That morning five students were fined while only one local driver was fined I understand that this is not unusual. It seems to me that the Lawrence police have found a gold mine in the students and are exploiting it to the hilt.
In my books $173 equals about six weeks education, and I for one hate to support the local governmental staff on money provided for that educational purpose.
Harlan Parkinson business junior
Sincerely.
—Letty Lemon
Korean Intervention Necessary According to Harry Truman Fans
Those who look objectively at the accomplishments of Harry S. Truman during his years as President generally concede that his decision to intervene in Korea was a wise one.
But was it?
The reasoning is that a major step in halting aggression was made that day in June 1950. "If we don't stop them now, we may never be able to stop them," his supporters argued, pointing to the occasions before World War II when Japan and Germany might have been halted in their rise to power.
defeated themselves. Similarly Pearl Harbor might have been prevented as early as 1831, when the Japanese invaded Manchuria.
It is undoubtedly true that England, France, and the U.S. together would have saved the world a great deal of trouble if in 1938 they had used force instead of appeasement against Germany's expansion in Czechoslovakia. But they didn't and the Nazis conquered most of continental Europe before they were
To accomplish against communism what might have been accomplished against Germany and Japan, the western nations would have had to fight Russia in the 1930's, when the Reds were just as infantile as the Germans and Japanese who were at that time. The policy used in 1950 was one of "bipping aggression in the bud," but one of containment. The Russians then were too strong to be intimidated into the paths of peace.
The question is this: Was the fighting in Korea necessary to our policy of containing, rather than crushing, the advance of communism?
A second argument in favor of Mr. Truman's decision says it had to be made to uphold the prestige of the
United Nations. It is claimed the UN would have fallen apart if it had not taken a stand against the North Koreans.
Actually, however, it was Mr. Truman himself who made the decision to intervene in Korea, and not anyone in the UN who did so. If Mr. Truman had decided not to fight for the South Koreans, the UN certainly would not made an opposite decision.
Mankind Still May Survive Via the Old Table Method
And if the UN had made an opposite decision, what could it have done without the support of either of the world's two major powers, the U.S. and Russia? Not much. That in itself indicates the UN did not have much prestige to lose.
It's indeed gratifying to know our representatives of democracy back on Capital hill have the best interests of the fighting men at heart. They even think so much of their ability that they are willing to sneer at international peace conferences in favor of more war.
Take the upcoming Geneva meeting for instance. The Big Four representatives hardly finished their statements that a conference would be held before anti-canfabs fans took their traditional gospel out of mothballs and proceeded to cut loose.
Yet that nation was able to kick off another world feud 20 years later. Post-World War I negotiations didn't seem to do much good. In fact, one of her main reasons for going to war a second time was to achieve revenge for her wide-spread devastation. But our diplomats say the only way to wipe out the Communist threat in southeast Asia is to let the ground troops slug it out in the jungles and rice paddies.
Immediately they cried: "There's no substitute for victory." Or "Ap-peasement will only lead to disaster." Or "We'll have another Munich." Most of this pertained to the Indo-China situation. Apparently they feel truce negotiations are useless unless the enemy can be crushed, battered, and broken. Unless this happens, they emphasize, the free world will be sold down the river.
Germany received a terrific maling in World War I. Her factories were destroyed, her young men killed, her resources wiped out. In brief, the Third Reich had it.
It would seem that the enlightened men in Washington have scant regard for that time-honored doctrine. "History Repeats Itself."
The Allies got no place fast when they attempted to bargain with a crippled and bleeding Germany in 1919. Who can accurately say that Western-Communist dealings in 1954 will end in failure unless the Reds suffer overwhelming military defeat?
Therefore, we say let 'em talk. Who knows, it may be within the realm of possibility that mankind still knows how to settle some problems around the table instead of the battlefield.
-Chuck Morelock.
The Indonesian language, basically Malay in content, contains many words from Sanskrit, Dutch, Arabic and other languages. Modern scientific terminology adopted by the young Indonesian republic is mainly of Greek and Latin origin as it is in English. Indonesia is the official tongue of 83,000,000 persons.
Short Ones
The freshman women living in dormitories had better enjoy their freedom and luxurious surroundings while they can this semester, because next year they will wind up as regimented sorority pledges or living in some "not so hot" dormitory or private room. They never had it so good!
Since the Puerto Ricans "shot up" the House of Representatives the other day, we are wondering how long it will be before some individuals rush into ASC meeting with both barrels blazing.
And then there was the AFROTC cadet who thought he still had the rights of a civilian.
There are some individuals who seem to think that Wes Santee didn't do so hot at the Big Seven indoor because he didn't set a world record in the mile. All he did was just turn in the outstanding individual performance of the evening.
What difference would it make today if the Communists held all of Korea, instead of just half of it? The UN and the Big Four still would be meeting to disagree. The U. S. and other nations still would be building their defenses. Sen. Joseph McCarthy still would be holding investigations.
Militarily, it was a mistake to become involved in a war on the Asiatic mainland. The natural lines of defense is the sea—the Yellow sea between China and Formosa and the Sea of Japan between Korea and Japan. Even if the North Koreans had taken all of Korea, they could have gone no further. Communist forces in Asia are land forces, incapable of amphibious operations in the face of our superior air and naval forces.
There are a great many factors to consider before a sound decision can be approached. More or less, the U. S. had committed itself to opposing aggression anywhere in the world. In its position of world leadership the U. S. perhaps could not have failed to go to the defense of the South Koreans, since it had just finished fighting in two world wars in defense of the principle that small countries have a right to protection against more powerful neighbors.
When Mr. Truman decided to send American troops to Korea, he could not have anticipated the bitter events of the next three years. He did not know that the Chinese would enter the war. He did not know the fighting would last for three years, killing thousands of Americans and costing taxpayers millions of dollars. He did not know it would prove to be the first war which the U.S. did not win, terminating instead in an uncertain, frustrating stalemate.
All these things would have been avoided if the U.S. had ignored Korea, choosing instead to build our defenses in Formosa and Japan and making it clear to all that any further aggression would be met by military force.
Many lives lost would not have been lost and much money spent would not have been spent, however, if Korea could have been forgotten. --Sam Teaford.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room KU 251 Ad Room KU 376 Member of the Kansas Press Assn, Nass. News Room KU 251 Assn, Associated Collegiate Press Assn Represented by the National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City Subscription rates: $ 3 a month or $4.50 per month (or in Lawrence). Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year. Sends Sept and Nov. issues. University library press notation pages. Entered second class matter Sept. 17, 1910 at Lawrence, Kan. Post Office under act
BUSINESS STAFF
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