Page 2 University Daily Kansan Friday, April 25, 1952
Editorials
Here Are Some Important Words
Frequently the words and thoughts which go together to form news are important because they come from an important person. The fact that a statement is made by the President of the United States rather than by a housewife makes it news.
But there are times when the words become important because the person saying them is not important in the sense of position or title.
Such is the case of the statement made a short time ago by Van Charilton, unemployed Negro porter, father of Sgt. Cornelius H. Charilton who posthumously was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor in Korea. When interviewed by reporters he said:
"The death of my boy in combat distinctly makes liars of Paul Robeson and others who have claimed the Negro will not fight for our country . My son did not give his life in vain, for his bravery has now been recognized by the President of the U.S. and the whole country.
"And even those persons in America who have felt that the Negroes are second class citizens must in their hearts now know that it isn't so. My son has proved that the Negro is worthy of the country's highest honor."
Where are those who doubt the contributions that are being made to our country by our Negro citizens? The statement by Mr. Charlton should be an answer not only to the Paul Robesons who want to destroy democracy but also to those who criticize in the name of preserving it.
It is true that this is only a single example of conduct. Yet that can be said of any act which is beyond the usual effort. If criticism can be leveled at an entire race on the basis of the actions of a few, then it is only fair that credit be given the entire race because of the exemplary action of one. The sacrifice by this one member of the Negro race should make the way easier for his brothers.
Joe Taylor.
Salutes New Library At Emporia State
Those of us of the University of Kansas who are associated with the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information salute the dedication of the William Allen White Memorial Library at Emporia State Teachers college.
It is fitting that these two projects which bear his name are part of the educational world. The leadership he gave through his writings called for intelligent minds ever open to progress. It is to be hoped that some of this spirit can be transmitted by these two institutions to their students.
His friends have often said that he would have been proud to know that his name would be given to these educational projects. We are equally proud to have his name connected with our educational endeavors. —Joe Taylor.
UN Calls for More Mechanized Farming
A "wide field" exists for stepping up merchandization of agriculture in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, according to a study of the world tractor industry prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
The survey found that the world industry produced 906,000 tractors in 1950. Actually, however, it estimated total production capacity during that period as 1,103,000 tractors.
"It has been suggested that China, for example, could use 125,000 tractors during the next five years, and the need in India and Africa is equally great," ECE said. "The principal difficulty will be to convert potential requirements into actual effective demand. Herein lies the real problem of the tractor industry."
The survey-reported that although countries are receiving some aid from the UN technical assistance program, "there remains, however, a wide field where no real steps have yet been taken on an organized basis to assist countries in the mechanization of their agriculture."
A shortage of capital in underdeveloped regions and production at less than capacity in western nations which are re-arming are among the factors blamed for failure of the world industry to achieve the targets it could.
Were is not for rearmament, the survey said, the world industry could raise total output for the period of 1951-54 from a probable 6,500,000 tractors to 10,000,000.
The desperate need for increased mechanization of underdeveloped areas is shown in statistics in the survey. They show that Latin America, the Near East, the Far East and Africa account for about half the world's arable land but in 1951 owned only 4.3 per cent of the total number of world tractors.
Within that group, the Far East is the least developed area, with one tractor per 12.900 hectares. (A hectare is 2.471 acres). The Near East has 2,600. Africa 1,730, and Latin America 2,600 in 12.900 hectares.
That compares with one tractor for every 23 hectares in Britain, the most highly mechanized country in the world, one for every 48 in the United States and one per 171 hectares in Europe as a whole.
The survey predicted that in south and southeast Asia "capital investment in the form of tractors and farm machinery appears likely to proceed slowly under the conditions prevailing and in the absence of large scale external assistance." United Press.
POGO and his friends
Comments . . .
COMFORT? NOT MUCH . . .
Dr. Joseph J. Jones says, "I contend that a reasonable degree of comfort in the classroom is important to learning and teaching alike . . . If classrooms are not up to at least an average standard, we are not encouraging very cordial public relations or very good staff morale."
An English teacher at the University of Texas doesn't like the way classrooms there are crowded and the way available space is often misused.
Poorer health; less teaching ef- ficiency; depressing aesthetic effect; and a decrease in scholastic honesty.
What are the results of crowded classrooms? Jones gives four:
Jones quotes authorities as naming 25 square feet per student as a desirable space average.
Comments the Daily Texan, "Any six-footer who has ever sat curled up in a ball or any dainty young miss who has ever spent a semester inches away from a BO case, not to mention the untold hundreds of people owning barked shins, will agree that some thought should be directed toward proper spacing."
“. . . And what fraternity are you joining?”
Locust Control Is Factor In Keeping Iran from Reds
Whether Iran is to erupt in chaos and eventually fall prey to the Communists may depend on the locusts.
Settlement of Iran's oil dispute with Britain also is a factor, but apparently not so important as had been thought. The Iranian peasant received little benefit from the oil income, anyway.
Now, however, for the first time in his life he is becoming a landowner.
His entire future is tied up the land, and much of it in this year's crop. That's why, under the U.S. Point Four program, so much attention is being paid to locust control throughout the entire Middle East, and why anxious eyes scan the skies for the first sign of the great locust swarms which destroy everything in their path.
In the main, Iran has been owned lock, stock and barrel by about 100 big landowners. They own whole villages and some individual holdings are larger than Switzerland. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, one of the richest men in the world, alone owns 1,376 villages outright, large portions of another 706 and nearly 2,000 vast land tracts reserved for grazing.
Should the land reform program fail or should the peasant be wiped out by the locusts, then he will become another ready-made target for the Communist party, or, as it is known in Iran, the Tudeh.
The large landowners live mostly in the cities in the midst of great wealth, while the peasant subsists in poverty on a diet of a loaf of bread per day and, if he's lucky, a little wine.
A westerner finds it almost impossible to understand the internal workings of Iran.
A difficulty is that farming methods are crude, and many of the peasants, ignorant and illiterate, have fallen victim to the Iranian version of the loan shark.
The landowners have resisted the reform movement strenuously but are being forced into it because it is being strongly supported by the Shah, who systematically is distributing all his holdings and giving the peasants many years to pay for them.
Land banks and other government projects now are being set up to protect him.
Meanwhile, the outlawed Tudeh party still is the most active in Iran and provides Premier Mohammed Mossadegh with one of greatest headaches. However, much of the steam has been taken out of the Communist sales talks by the land reform program and by the program to nationalize the oil industry.
If Iran is to stay out of Communist hands, it appears the land program must succeed and a settlement must be found for the oil program. Iran's economy did not collapse, as had been feared, with the shutdown of the oil industry. But the loss of more than $100,-000,000 annually in income and wages definitely left it shaky.-Phil Newsom, UP Foreign Editor.
Short Ones
After kicking out Carlos Prio, who "was about to become a dictator," Cuban "strong man" Batista addressed the nation he is a "dictator, with the people." Prio is a "dictator-to-be, without the people."
Governor Stevenson of Illinois said that the presidential nomination is a bridge he will cross when he gets to it. It is up to him whether or not to cross it, but it is up to the people whether or not he gets to it.
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