Page 2 University Daily Kansan Monday, March 2.1953
Union Staff Earns Vote of Thanks
by Dick Bibler
Friday was a big night in the history of the University. The long-awaited Student Union building was unveiled to the public.
The new Union should prove a show spot of Kansas. The building will not only be an asset for the University, but an institution that all native Kansans can point to with pride.
A lot of hard work and imagination have gone into the construction of the Union, and we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Frank Burge, University director, the members of his staff, and the Student Union Activities board for the job they have done.
The Union staff has done its work to bring a modern Student Union to the campus, now it is up to the students to make it a success.
—Don Moser
Benson's Price Policy Causes GOP Rumbles
Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson has touched off one of the first real domestic storms to hit the Republican party by his recent assertion that caution should be used before price supports are employed to halt skidding farm prices.
In a speech at St. Paul Feb. 11, Mr. Benson said farm price supports leading to uneconomic production, thereby causing heavy surpluses and subsidies, should be avoided and that only those props which provide insurance against disaster should be used.
His remarks were followed promptly by Democratic wails that claimed the secretary was leading the country into economic chaos. They protested that Mr. Benson, as Sen. Russell of Georgia put it, "is sowing the seeds of a disastrous depression by not acting promptly to stop the decline in farm prices."
These cries may cripple Republican prestige in the 1954 elections. Of particular importance is the fact that the GOP stands to lose a great deal of support from the South. The Republicans obtained a record number of votes from the normally "solid South" in 1952, but if farm agitation is strong enough, southern leaders in Congress may stop courting the Republicans.
Mr. Benson is to be commended for his stand on price supports, for he realizes that he will be the target of Democratic abuse. Disgruntled farm leaders could even swing the tide back to the Democrats in 1954.
Secretary Benson's stand is part of an over-all administration drive to balance the budget and to put the U.S. economy back on its feet. Mr. Benson has said that temporary distress caused by the attempt to stabilize the economy usually results from such a move, but that in the long run the readjustments will benefit the majority of the people.
It must be remembered that Congress, not the secretary of agriculture, draws up the national farm laws. Mr. Benson, however, no doubt will have a lot to say before any measures are passed. His viewpoints may irritate some, but it muse be admitted that he has the courage of his convictions. And he'll probably receive a lot of support from the general public, for too many Americans have too-clear memories of the 1948 fascio which saw caves and warehouses piled to the roof with cases of eggs and potatoes.
-Chuck Morelock
POGO
Letters
Culture Defies Communist Ideals
To the Editor of the Kansan:
I'm glad that other letters have been written to you about communism and more students are taking advantage of this European-American discussion. I am sorry if my English sounds particularly clumsy in the short space of a letter, and if the four years spent in Italy as in the Fifth Army and with an American travel bureau-plus a semester at KU—did not give me enough chances to understand the American speech.
What I wanted to say is that KU gives good possibilities for study of Russia and Bolshevism, and in spite of it, a strong minority of Americans talk the wrong way about communism. A few seem to overcome the hostility or distrust for Red theories—this naturally gets the goat of the Chinese whose relatives were killed in the Communist Paradise—and quite a few fear that Marxism may destroy the roots of U.S. thought.
This looks funny to me. The U. S is never likely to turn red and not even pink. Communism is carried out by means of slavery of the press, one-party teaching, art or taste, secret police regime, concentration camps, and death not of one or two Rosenberg spies but of one or two millions gossipers. Communism was born and prosper among bare-footed and exploited masses and in Europe it became a powerful to fight it because in a territory less rich and smaller than the U.S. live about 450 million people, divided by centuries of war into 37 states talking 24 different languages.
To fear communism in the U.S. means not to trust the true strength of democracy. Just look at one of the results. The accusations of Sen. McCarthy shook the public opinion of the people all over the world, and gave to the Cominform propaganda, one of its best issues. In Russia, China, Europe or Mexico, the Commies have all the rights to think that the American government is 50 per cent full of seeds and 50 per cent full of pro-communists. Stalin should be more thankful to Sen. McCarthy than to Mr. Remington or Mr. Wallace.
There are many "little McCarthies" who talk too much about communism and fear it—with an emphasis that it does not deserve. More than the scant fellows who don't dislike Red theories, they are responsible for the controversial investigation in the nation's colleges.
For a retaliation, not unusual in history, Sen. McCarthy kind of acts like the European Communist deputies: the French Duclos who went around with guns and plans for revolution and the Italian Pajetta or Togliatti who fling around insults or false accusations.
Al Traldi,
Graduate student
from Italy
Miss Sargeant should write to them about her idea of a required course in Russian communism taught to all the students, and should not apply to the teachers on the Hill or on other hills which she calls "more than a little shy." The best McCarthy-resistant Americans are—and I hope that not only the teachers will agree with me—the teachers.
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Little Man on Campus
"Now we'll see who takes that ole wrestling tourney THIS season, eh, coach?"
'Voice' Probe Hurts U.S. Relations Abroad
"These are times that try men's souls . . .."
—Thomas Paine in "Crisis."
We are told that men and women behind the Iron Curtain listen to the Voice of America broadcasts. We are also told that this practice does not increase the life expectancy of those seeking information in this manner. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the broadcasts contain material they are interested in, and maybe believe in.
What must they now be thinking after attacks on the program by congressional figures, and the aftermath that eliminated "controversial writers" as sources from which administrators could seek material.
It is just possible that Howard Fast, who has been attacked most recently for his political beliefs, could do more good for this country in Communist nations than a dozen senators mouthing their "American" ideas. Fast has done a good job in taking American personages and events of the past, and making them live for today.
The ones who are listening have a sincere desire to hear what this country has to say about world situations. They must be genuinely interested in learning all sides of controversial philosophies and believe that in this country freedom of discussion is still encouraged.
Perhaps another Tom Paine, as pictured by Fast in "Citizen Tom Paine," will arise to sacrifice society's opinion for an opinion to recreate a burning faith for basic American freedoms in people of this day and age. Don Sarten
If material written by men having sympathies for the lower classes is to be investigated and banned in countries containing a large majority of those same people, the project is doomed. A list of authors in line to be ostracized by this political thought is never ending. We can wave goodbye not only to Fast, but Hemingway, Dreiser, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Sinclair, and thousands of others, clear back to colonial days.
The federal Civil Defense administration said this week that Russia could send 400 planes to any spot in the United States and drop not one, but many atom bombs, each capable of inflicting 110,000 casualties.
In another report, Sen. Russell Long (D-La.), a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, said that planes overseas which could carry the atom bomb are parked so close together that a surprise attack could destroy the nation's offensive and defensive strength.
Russia may have the atom bomb, but she evidently is not ready for war. Almost all reports on our preparedness for war show that we aren't prepared.
Russian Inactivity May Prove Reds Not Prepared For War
In view of these facts', it would seem that now is the hour. The fact that it isn't for Russia indicates the Soviet Union isn't ready.
Bob Nold