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University Daily Kansan Monday, April 7, 1952
Editorials
Pach Officials Didn't Comply
(Editor's note: The following article was written in opposition to the editorial in the University Daily Kansas on Friday, April 4. Although it was written by a staff member, it in no way should be taken as being the official view of the editorial page staff.)
The FACTS party has not disfranchised anyone. If any Pachacamac members were disfranchised, their party leaders did it.
In November when the closed-primary bill was passed, Pachacamac officials knew then that the party's "qualified members" would have to be identified somehow by the very essence of the bill. What they objected to was a roster or party identification cards. If Pachacamac didn't know who its members were, then it should have started finding out. A list circulated by the two Pachacamac officials in each organized fraternity house would have given Pachacamac a fairly good idea, and any "strugglers" (the few not living in the
house) could have seen a Pachacamac official to get his name on the list.
If a student is not intersted enough to get his name on a party list, or whatever other method of party identification is devised, then that person has NOT been disfranchised—he has just forfeited his chance to vote in the closed primary, but may still vote in the general election. There is nothing undemocratic about closed primaries.
Because of the violation by the Pachacamac party, James Logan as president of ASC, declared the Pachacamac primary invalid and hoped that its officials would get together to work out some legal plan before the general election Wednesday.
Consequently, if any member of the Pachacamac party feels that he has been disfranchised, then the only persons that he has to blame are his party officers who knew the rule but didn't want to comply. —Charles Price.
Texas Town Learns About Freedom
Early on the morning of April 3,1952,green clad paratroopers marched into the small Texas town of Lampasas. In a matter of minutes several hundred persons saw the town lose its democracy.
The troopers immediately closed all churches, began pushing school teachers around, and set up concentration camps. Businessmen of the town were arrested, given speedy, one sided trials, and then hurried away to the concentration camps. Hundreds of persons were sent to the camps, including a pastor and his wife and five-year old daughter, who clutched her doll and cried bitterly as the family was rushed away to the concentration camp.
School teachers were watched closely in their classes. If they said anything against the new goverment they were punished by exile to the concentration camps by the aggressor.
High school students were forced to sit quietly in the presence of the troops. The towns people were forced to bow when the commander of the aggressor troops drove through the town. A 68-piece band played the aggressor's national anthem—a Russian song called "Song of the Field."
The citizens learned again something they have known all of their lives—freedom is the dearest possession we own. If the army could stage the same maneuvers throughout the country many more people would realize fully that the United States isn't such a bad place in which to live after all. —Maurice Prather.
'What Next?' Ask Officials In Washington
The Washington investigations reached another climax last week, and another member of Truman's cabinet bit the dust.
The double release of Newbold Morris, the president's cleanup chief and Atty. Gen. J. Howard McGrath marks another milestone in the Washington investigations and counter-investigations. The score is now three ousters in one week.
James P. McGranery, federal district judge from Pennsylvania, former assistant attorney general and ex-member of congress, has been appointed by Truman to take over the job of attorney general. Judge McGranery says his job will be to restore the faith of the American people in the government of the United States and that he will do this completely through the justice department.
Whether he will be able to carry out his objective seems questionable. If Newbold Morris is right—McGranery may have to confine his activities to those which please or at least do not
harm the reputations of other members of the official family.
Mr. Morris was given a free hand by the president, too. But he hit his first snag when McGrath refused to fill out his net-work financial questionnaire. Defense Chief Robert Lovett also has stated that he will not fill out his questionnaire for business reasons.
On the Morris agenda for investigation were William O'Dwyer, ambassador to Mexico; a look into senatorial "pressure" correspondence with executive agencies, as well as a new batch of questionnaires for other governmental departments. The questionnaires would have gone to all cabinet officers, including those who had already protested against them to President Truman.
Whether new Attorney General McGranery will succeed where so many others have failed is a question that only time will answer. The big question in the Washington mess now is, "Where do we go from here?" —Katrina Swartz.
"Now that I've made your fraternity, I can't afford to go to college?"
Just What And Where Is This Place Called Helsinki?
University students have been shouting "on to Helsinki," and seven members of the Jayhawk basketball team have qualified to play in the Olympics this summer. So now just what and where is Helsinki?
Helsinki is the capital of Finland and is a seaport town situated on a small peninsula in the Gulf of Finland. It is 180 miles west of Leningrad, Russia, by railroad.
It is the only large town in Finland with a population of 319,939 and is well laid out with wide streets, parks and gardens. Most of Finland's cultural institutions are located in the capital—such as the university and the technical school.
Finnish is the standard language used in the schools, but French and English and to some extent German are spoken, along with Swedish.
The port of Helsinki has five harbors which can accommodate the largest sailing vessels. It usually is closed by ice from January to May except tor a channel kept open by an ice breaker.
Flying time from New York to Helsinki is 17 hours, via London.
The Finnish government has legislated controls over prices. Lodgings have a ceiling price of about $3.50 a person. Meals in the Finnish capital cost from 90 cents for breakfast to $2.50 for dinner. Coffee is an expensive luxury and costs from $3 to $4 a pound. It sells for about 17 cents a cup.
The basketball part of the Olympic games begins Friday, July 25, and the final world's championship game will be played Saturday, Aug. 2. Max Thompson.