PAGE SIX UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1948 Watch Where You Focus! By Daniel Bishop, St. Louis Star-Times The Editorial Page A Look In The Back Yard Thomas Peart, the English member of parliament who spoke at the University the past week, said that it was "perhaps unfortunate that we are wedded to the Mercator type of map projection." He was explaining why many Americans cannot understand why England is not as thoroughly alarmed about the Russian problem as we Americans are. Mr. Peart reminded us that England is more remote from Russia than is America. Because we have always been familiar with the Mercator map many of our geographical, and thus our political, concepts are in error. Gerhard, Kramer was a European who lived in the 16th century and assumed the classical name of Mercator. He set about to make a flat map of the world. The result was a map that represents the earth's surface as if a paper cylinder, touching only at the equator, had been placed over the globe, and the outlines of the continents projected onto it. when this piece of paper is laid flat, it is accurate in scale only at the equator. North and south of the equator the land masses become successively more and more exaggerated. The island of Greenland appears two or three times larger than the United States. Actually, it is only one-fourth as large. Russia appears six times larger than the United States, but it is only three times as large. The whole European continent seems to be a straight shot across the Atlantic ocean. "round." We've pictured the relationships of land masses in the distortions of the Mercator projection. We've been thinking about shipping lanes and overland routes in a world of great circle routes. There are many other kinds of projections but most of us learned our geography from a Mercator map on the blackboard explained by a teacher jabbing a long, wooden pointer here and there. We've been thinking "flat" as a result; when we should have been thinking Directions on a Mercator map are accurate. The lazy ship's navigator can plot his course straight across the world's oceans and arrive at his destination every time, but the navigator who thinks "round" will select a great circle route which considers the curvature of the earth's surface and save a couple of hundred miles. The same route plotted on a Mercator map would appear to be only a doodle that no real navigator could be serious about. The world considered globally presents an entirely different picture of geographical relationships than the ones we learned on our Mercator maps. We have more neighbors than the ones we talk with over the back fence. We just don't realize who they are. With such a heritage from the scholarly Mercator, it is extremely difficult to realize that Kiska in the Aleutians is 2,600 miles closer to Darwin, Australia, than is Los Angeles, or that Boston is several hundred miles closer to Dakar, West Africa than Miami. Or, again, picture the student with a Mercator map before him trying to figure out why the direct Denver-Moscow route would cross central Greenland. Maybe Attorney General Arn has read this, too. Kansas has been dry for 67 years because the prohibition laws never seriously interfered with anyone's drinking. "Popular road show price" is just another name for highway robbery. Lend An Ear In the next few days two men of widely different backgrounds will have spoken to students here. They are Alexander Kerensky, former prime minister of the Russian government after the fall of the Czar, and Otto of Austria, the oldest son of Austria's last emperor. It is a long way from Vienna and Moscow to Lawrence. Yet we students at the University of Kansas, 1500 miles from either ocean, will have the opportunity to listen to these men and to ask them questions. They are figures of historical significance. We often run across their names in our textbooks and newspapers. Too often we neglect the opportunities we have to hear University sponsored lecturers. As students we shouldn't. The speakers who come to our campus are some of the best references to which we will ever have access. Out Of Focus In recent months there has been a parade of investigations and probes conducted by congressional committees in Washington. Men in high government positions have been charged with and admitted speculating in the stock markets and all kinds of political skull-duggery. Klieg lights blazed and the motion picture cameras whirred. In a few days the movie audiences of the nation were snickering at the antics of the men who are supposed to uphold the traditions and dignity of some of the highest offices in our land. A new motion picture, "The Senator was Indiscreet," presents a United States senator as a vote-pursuing buffoon who does little besides chuck bathing beauties under their chins and make pompous speeches. Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS It's true that Americans have seldom treated with awe the men they put in office. One of the things of Daily Hansan University Member of the Kansas Press Assm. National Editorial Association. Represented by the Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by the National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Ave., Editor-in-Chief William C. von Maurer Managing Editor Alan J. Stewart Asst. Man. Editor Cooper Rollow Asst. Man. Editor Lauren Lacey City Editor Gene Vignery Asst. City Editor James Robinson Telegraph Editor Wallace W. Abbey Asst. Editor Clarke Telegraph Editor Werner Burger Sports Editor Robert E. Dellinger Astr. Sports Editor Paul Zeh Astr. Sports Editor James Jones Anna Mary Murphy John Wheeler Feature Editor Picture Editor Hallway Editor Dorothy James Business Manager ... Bettie Bacon Advertising Manager ... Robert Alderson Circulation Manager ... Otto Meyer Classified V. Man. National Advt. Mgr. David Clymer Promotion Manager ... Wister Shreve which we are proud is that we are free to laugh at the men who make our laws. Laughter lets off steam. Ridicule destroys. It is unfortunate that the spotlight rarely focuses on the men in office who are quietly and faithfully fulfilling their public duties. There are many conscientious and capable men in our house of representatives and in the senate. Your congressman may be one of them. Farm Loans Made To 6,100 Veterans Guaranteed farm loans to 6,100 veterans in the Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma area had been granted by Jan. 1, 1948, a Veterans Administration report said. An average of 206 new loan applications has been made during recent months. Total value of the loans amounts to nearly 20 million dollars. The V. A. is liable for 50 per cent of the amount under the G.I. bill. Nearly half the veterans using the loans do specialized farming. Nineteen per cent produce dairy products; 20 per cent raise grain, vegetables, and cotton; and the remainder do general farming. Gas Truck Runs Out Of Gas; Driver Has To Borrow Fuel Goshen, Ind.—(UP)—Police were asked to check on a gasoline tank truck found parked at a peculiar angle on a city street. They looked up the driver and asked him if it had been stolen. The red-faced trucker explained he had just run out of gas and was trying to borrow some from a service station his firm owned. Call KU 376 with your Want Ads. Farm reality loans may be made payable up to 40 years and non-reality to 10 years. Payment time for the average realty loan is 15 years. Over six million dollars for years and for non-reality, three 3,000 farm loans has been repaid by the veterans. 1009 Mass. FOR 22 YEARS IT'S BEEN THE BLUE MILL 12 East Eighth Quality Cleaning at Reasonable Prices Men's Suits, Cleaned and Pressed...65c Ladies' Plain Dresses, Cl. and Pressed...69c CASH AND CARRY ONLY LINDLEY'S KANSAS CLEANERS 12 East Eighth Electric Tuning on Delco AUTO radios eliminate push buttons and dial twisting. Stop in for a demonstration and hear its mellow tone. Oliver Service Company Authorized Dealer Phone 253 723 Mass.