PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1940
The Editorial Page-
Wanted: Squatter's Rights
On Jan. 20, 1948, a man got up before an apathetic 80th congress committee and said, "There is little disagreement today that a large number of Americans live in slums. Estimates of old slum dwellings which should be demolished and replaced run into millions."
Then, in a quiet voice, John Egan, acting public housing commissioner said, "If we are to provide decent housing for the families displaced from slums, government aid will be necessary."
In a few short sentences, Egan stated the result of the vote by the congress of 1890 to end free land grants to homesteaders and finally close America's historic frontier. After almost 400 years of unwritten legality, "squatter's rights" had ended. And the nation's housing problems had begun.
Shortly after the civil war, America's rural population began to decline. In 60 years between 1870 and 1930, farm-workers decreased by 31.5 per cent. Industrial centers born during the war between the states mushroomed and European immigrants and American backwoodsmen streamed into cities looking for factory jobs.
Almost over night, mass-production methods became more efficient. Machines began to replace man power and the labor market reached dangerously toward saturation.
As employment grew insecure and dollar-incomes depreciated, cries of "cheap housing" replaced an earlier slogan of "forty acres and a mule." When housing demands grew acute, slums appeared, then grew larger as low-wage earners tried to stretch incomes by crowding into tenements.
No longer able to homestead vacant land, the "squatter" had turned to the city. Unable to earn enough to buy a home, he moved his family into the slums to live. By closing America's frontier and outlawing "squatter's rights" in 1890, congress had unwittingly accelerated the growth of the nation's housing problems which had been born in the decades following the civil war.
The Democratic 51st congress promised during the recent campaign to solve the nation's housing problems. It will be interesting to see whether that promise will be kept and finally solve a problem which grew out of the end of "squatter's rights."
Houses and Cars
It should not be necessary in this country to emphasize the savings and standard-of-living benefits derived from mass production and the tools that make it possible. However, judging from the resistance to technical advances which still appears in some quarters, the lesson of our industrial miracle must continually be restated.
It is strikingly brought out by the Automobile Manufacturers association in the current number of Automobile Facts. Here it is noted that in 1910 both homes and automobiles in this country were largely built with hand tools. A typical five-room frame house then cost $1,600 and the average new car $1,584. Today, the house that once cost $1,600 sells new, according to this publication, for about $9,000, and is still built with essentially the same hand tools used in 1910. In contrast, the average retail price of new cars in the United States for 1948 was $1,714, including a federal excise tax of $85, which did not apply in 1910.
James S. Morris.
But the car of thirty-eight years ago had a wooden body with steel panels and none of the features that we take for granted today, including the self-starter, controlled electric headlights, balloon tires, high-compression engine, safety glass, four-wheel hydraulic brakes, and the like. If today's car were built with 1910 tools, the Automobile Manufacturers association publication finds that it would cost about $60,000.
The cost savings resulting from constantly improved machinery to replace hand tools have enabled the automobile industry not only to produce economically but to pay progressively higher wages and to increase employment from about 80,000 persons in 1910 to nearly a million now directly employed in car manufacture and another eight million at work to supply raw materials, or sell service, or drive motor vehicles.New York Times.
University
Women May Join Navy
Daily Kansan
Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Member of the Kansas Press Assm., Natl Asm., and the Associated College Press. Represented by the National Ad-
ministration. 420 Madison Ave., New York City.
College women who graduate in June may now apply for permanent commissions in the regular navy, Capt. W. R. Terrell, professor of naval science, announced receipt of the information from the chief of naval personnel regarding the procurement of women officers for the regular navy.
Interested women in this area should contact the office of naval officer procurement, 239 Federal Court house, Kansas City, Mo., either by letter or in person.
Editor-In-Chief ... Maurice C. Lungen
Managing Editor ... Hal D. Nelson
Asst. Man. Editor ... Anne Murphy
Asst. Man. Editor ... Bill F. Mayer
City Editor ... Robert Newman
Asst. Man. Editor ... Clive T.
Asst. City Editor ... Patricia James
el. Editor ... Richard D. Barton
Asst. Tel. Editor ... Larry Funk
Asst. Tel. Editor ... Robert D. Snair
Sports Editors ... Oscar Snyder
Sports Editors ... Marvin L. Rowlands
Society Editor ... Rosemary Rospaw
Business Manager ... Don L. Tenant
Advertising Mgr. ... Don Tennant
Nat'l Adv. Mgr. ... Charles O'Connor
Circulation Mgr. ... Ruth Clayton
Asst. Circ. Mgr. ... Ruth Knuth
The authority has been delegated to procure qualified civilian women to fill existing vacancies in the regular navy in the line and medical service corps. Selected candidates will be the rank of ensign. They will be given indoctrination courses in navy schools.
No quotas will be assigned. The applications of all qualified candidates will be forwarded. College seniors may apply with partial transcripts and a statement from the college that it is expected they will graduate in June.
It is anticipated that procurement programs from other staff corps such as navy supply and accounting will be open at a later date.
All women interested are reminded that this is an opportunity to obtain a permanent commission as a woman officer in the U. S. navy with full pay and allowances and with the same retirement benefits as any male officer in the navy
Especially Mid-Year Students
This is your last opportunity to order YOUR K.U. RING before you leave school.
ATTENTION SENIORS
Order Immediately at the
BUSINESS OFFICE
Frank Strong Hall
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Mackinaws $14.98
Alpaca Lined, Fur Collar
Dress Gloves $1.98 Pig Tex Leather
Ski Sweaters $5.98
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Boot Liners $1.98
Mufflers $1.98
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Logger
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House
Slippers $1.29
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Elect Shoemaker To National Group
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Boot Sox 89c
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William H. Shoemaker, professor of Romance languages, has been elected for a three-year term to the executive council of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.
Sweatshirts $1.98 Blue, Red, Yellow
Miss Agnes M. Brady, assistant professor of Romance languages, who is national chapter advisor of the association, has been elected permanent member of the executive council and editor of the chapter news of Hispania, the quarterly journal for teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.
Engineer
Boots $10.98
Heavy Duty, Logger Heel
BROWN'S TOGGERY
The resources of the state of Nevada combine both agriculture and mining. Its farm products include wool, grains, cattle, sheep, horses, eggs and poultry, while its mineral production includes gold, silver, copper, quicksilver, graphite and ursten.
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1200 N.Y. Phone 140
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LINDLEY'S KANSAS CLEANERS 12 East Eighth Quality Cleaning at Reasonable Prices
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Men's Suits, Cleaned and Pressed - - - 75c
Ladies' Plain Dresses, Cl. and Pressed - 79c
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Read the University Daily Kansan—Patronize Its Advertisers.
The 1949 K.U. Calender
The new, 1949 K.U. Calendar is a must for all K.U. students.
Yes, it's full of complete information about 1949 at K.U.
- Basketball dates
- Track dates
- Football dates
- Party dates
- Concerts, convocations, etc. And
- 12 Beautiful Photographs of our campus. . . suitable for framing.
Every K.U. student should have one..Buy yours now while they last at the
Union Building Lounge Fraser Hall Frank Strong Hall