Page 2 University Daily Kansan Wednesday. Nov. 4,1953 LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"Wonderful talk Professor Snarf—I've never heard a class lecture in which the most important points were more cleverly disguised."
Benson, Falling Prices Frighten Ike, Farmers
The farmers are crying, Benson is in trouble, and Eisenhower is worried.
This briefy sums up the nation's farm situation. The farmers are unhappy because farm prices continue to decline; Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson is in trouble because most Democrats and many Republicans are demanding his resignation because of the farm price drops, and President Eisenhower is worried over the whole situation and the effect it will have on scattered off-year elections and administration policies.
This brings up a pertinent question: just how badly are the farmers hurt?
The drought has been a big factor in the farm situation—as far as crop prospects are concerned—but it has had relatively little effect on prices, and if anything should cause an increase.
In reality, the thing that is hurting the farmers is a recession from peak prices reaped during the war and the immediate post-war boom. Farm prices are standing, at the present, at about the same level as they did in 1941, and the farmers certainly weren't gripping then.
Of course, this is probably hard for them to take since corporation profits are at a new high at the present, and wages of organized labor continue to climb instead of dropping.
The main reason for the farmers' uneasiness appears to be a distrust of Benson. Benson has failed to come out in favor of high farm price supports, and the farmers are afraid of what he will do when the present price support program expires next spring.
Actually there has been a steady decline in prices since 1947, and this trend will probably continue because of surpluses of farm commodities.
One thing in the farmers' favor, that they seem to fail to take into consideration, is the abnormally high price they are receiving for dairy products. The high support price of butter has caused huge backlogs to pile up while more and more consumers switch to using margarine.
All in all, it seems the farmers are more scared by the future than by the present. It would be well for them to wait a little and see how the new administration is going to handle things instead of "crying wolf." —Don Tice.
Because of the many letters we have received concerning both FACTS and Pachacamae political parties, and the limited space we have in which to publish them, the Daily Kansan hereby: 1) reserves the right to reject, cut or otherwise handle letters in any manner in which it thinks the best interests of the readers will be served, and 2) will set aside a specified amount of space whenever possible to print all such letters at one time as an impartial political sounding board.
Daily Hansam
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room KU 251 Ad Room KU 37^4
Member of the Kansas Press Assn., National Editorial Assn., Inland West Press Assn., Press Assn. Represented by the National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City, Ill. Authorized publication $4.50 a year; submission $1 a semester if Lawrence). Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University of Kansas's residence holidays and examination periods. Entered second class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan. Post Office
TIMELIFICAL STAFF
Editorial Editor Mary Betsy
Editorial Assistants Jerry Kudson,
Jerry Melson
KU and Kansas State college have signed the almost-traditional peace pact again this year, just before the Big Game between the two schools. The pact was originated several years ago as an attempt to discourage pre-game vandalism and hard feelings between the schools.
Remember Our Pact?
The paet has had mild success during the past few years. Of course, there have been a few incidents, such as statue painting and stolen flags, but there has been no serious damage done at either school.
The pranksters have not been chastised too severely. In most instances they have received a nod and wink and a little warning, while officials mutter something afterward about "boys being boys."
(We think a pact between the schools, signed by the student council of each school, should be taken a little more seriously. And does the pact last only as long as the game, or is it good for all year? After all, there have been 'pranks' both before and after the football season.)
In past years K-State has gone through a long
losing period in football. They didn't have much to get excited about or to show enthusiasm about. KU students were rather subdued, since the K-State game was easily won then and there seemed nothing to crow about.
This year the situation has changed. K-State has a fine team, with a 5-2 win-lose record. The Jayhawkers, on the other hand, have not had such a good season. Both schools are building-up tension for Saturday's Big Game. There'll probably be a lot of steam to let off at the game and before after.
Let's remember the peace pact. We've given our word, through our representatives, and we should keep it. Acts of vandalism and rowdiness aren't funny; they give us a bad name.
Usually the "little incidents" breaking the pact are the work of only a few students. The all Student Council can't prevent them, nor can the administration. It's up to each student to do his part in upholding the pace.
bacce-
—Elizabeth Wohlgemuth
—Mary Betz
Censorship? Sure!
By whose moral standards do these censors judge? Supposedly their own. They judge the literature, the movies, and the radio of today, in many instances according to customs of a time before any of these media were really developed.
In many smaller communities there are very rigid forms of censorship. Church groups rule the literature displayed in stores with a firm hand.
The press was big enough to do most of its own censoring where the lives of Army troops were concerned, but where the morals of the people are concerned censors have to be appointed.
Censorship for small groups by the leaders of those small groups is one thing, but censorship by the standards of a small group for a large group is different.
Although the U.S. has gone through the Korean "police action" and World War II without any great problem of censorship, one such problem has developed internally in the past few years.
Nor are church groups the only ones guilty of abusing their rights. In Kansas this abuse reaches its peak. We appoint small committees to judge
While that film was disapproved by the Kansas board, it has passed other movies such as "OK Nero." "OK Nero" is a funny movie but it is certainly packed with parts to make the censors blush.
for the whole state—small communities that seem to peer through the fog of the early '20s at the vice of the '50s. By their pious standards we are slowly going to the dogs.
It isn't important whether the movie is indecent or pure, it is important that it be approved. The recent movie "The Moon Is Blue" is an excellent example of this.
Should a movie producer try to go around the censor and have his movie distributed without approval he is about washed up as far as the censors are concerned.
However, the one movie is making money right and left because it is approved, and the other is making twice as much money where it is shown because it wasn't approved.
It would seem that the censor is defeating his own purpose. —Ken Coy
To the Editor:
Library Director Writes to UDK
I have appreciated very much the thoughtful attention Miss Mary Bez has given to our Undergraduate library. As she has pointed out, the primary intention is to give students a ready opportunity to locate books and to select their reading from a sizable collection.
Faced as we are with two approaches to the Undergraduate library, we felt that a turnstile system would help remind students to pass the charging desk on the way out, in order to record books they wish to take with them.
If we had developed the Undergraduate library in a new building, we would have provided a quite different answer to the traffic problem. Unfortunately, books can disappear fairly easily from a library, and in consequence it is fairly common in university libraries to have a single-exit for the whole building, at which point all people leaving the building must open briefcases and check each volume to be sure it is correctly charged.
Consequently, KU students should not consider the turnstile a particular
"insult to intelligence and honor." They should "recall that even the University faculty in using the central book stacks are expected to leave by way of the main circulation desk in order to check on books they are taking out. Most books disappear, and only temporarily, because borrowers are forgetful or careless about recording them. The turnstiles may help in such cases.
Miss Betz, however, has spotted specifically a problem which cannot be solved by a turnstile or by any other means than student morality. We wish we could put out on open shelves within the Undergraduate library all reserve books as well as the other books in that room. We would do so if we felt that losses were so small that the majority of students would not be harmed thereby.
Unfortunately, Miss Betz' report tends to be shockingly true; as examination times come near, books on specific assignment seem somehow to disappear into thin air. The net result is that a small number of immoral students take advantage of the honorable students who are, of
course, the great majority and who are left in an almost impossible situation. This, of course, we cannot tolerate. We must do all we possibly can to assure a fair deal for most of the students.
Consequently, if books continue to disappear in this way, we will have to withdraw more and more books from the open shelves and put them behind a desk where they will be accessible only on call. No one is more distressed by this prospect than the library staff. It not only means more work for us; it especially limits our opportunity to provide the kind of free and ready access to books that we consider so important in higher education.
Here then is the real "insult to intelligence and honor"—the lax social morality of a small number of students who prejudice the possibility of open stack library service for all.
I have felt that we should be more generous in allowing undergraduates to use the main book stacks. The experience Miss Betz reports doesn't strengthen my hand in this direction either.
Robert Vosper
Robert Vosper Director of Libraries.