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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1943
Concentration on European War Hinders MacArthur on 'Forgotten Battle Front'
With Wednesday's much-publicized conference among Lt. Gen. George C. Kenney, commander of the Southwest Pacific air force; Maj. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, chief of staff for Gen. Douglas MacArthur; and the President, the question of who should be bombed first, Hitler or Hirohito, has been brought into the open.
It is not a sudden development, this. The Pacific has long been called the "forgotten battle front." How long it will remain forgotten will be the question up for discussion for many days to come.
That General MacArthur has been hampered from the first by a lack of supplies, and most of all planes, has been conceded by most authorities. That he has done as much as he has with as little as he has had to work with is a source of wonder and admiration by the men who have been closest to him and seen the difficulties he has surmounted. It seems these very successes may be held against him.
The remarkable results of the battle of the Bismarck sea, in which MacArthur's aircraft destroyed an entire Japanese convoy and knocked out of action 102 enemy planes, works against the plea for more American aircraft in that area. Kenney, no doubt, advanced the reasons why this accomplishment should not be taken as proof that there need be no sharp increase in the number of airplanes sent there.
The needs of our fighting forces in the South Pacific are apparent. Our big immediate problem is to smash the Japanese base at Rabaul. That base is the source of most of the expeditions sent out by the Japanese navy as well as being a concentration point for aircraft. Its loss would be the most serious blow administered to the Japs thus far in the war. Most recently comes the news that smashing air raids have been made on Jap-held Kiska in the western Aleutians and on enemy bases in the Solomons that may well be the prelude to America's spring offensive in the Pacific.
The problem is not an easy one to solve, with only so many planes and too many places where they are needed. To send more planes to the South Pacific we must take them from some other theater of war. It would have to be the European theater where, apparently, they cannot be spared from the softening up of Europe for the invasion.
The tendency of our strategists has been to concentrate on the defeat of the Nazi forces. It seems, however, that if a plan could be worked out without endangering our chances of victory in Europe, it would be the wiser policy to divert an increasing stream of supplies towars MacArthur and the South Pacific.
Today Marks Twenty-third Year Since Peace League Rejection
March 19 to most persons this year will be just another day on the calendar—the twelfth day before payday or the fourth day of depression after the income tax payment. Few Americans will remember back to 1920 when on this day the United State Senate by a vote of 49 to 35 rejected the League of Nations.
By such a simple act, America isolated herself and took a position whereby she not only refused to be a member of the League but helped to strengthen the feeling against her in Europe and to hinder recovery from the war. Whether or not the roots of the present conflict can be traced directly to the action on this day 23 years ago, is a moot question—but a clearer conscience would be America's today, perhaps, if the pages of history could be turned back and the result of this vote reversed.
--self and took a position whereby she not only refused to be a member of the League but helped to strengthen the feeling against her in Europe and to hinder recovery from the war. Whether or not the roots of the present conflict can be traced directly to the action on this day 23 years ago, is a moot question—but a clearer conscience would be America's today, perhaps, if the pages of history could be turned back and the result of this vote reversed.
Just Wondering
If victory garden vegetables won't think the aid to USSR program is being a little rushed when they sprout up to find this Russian winter.
--self and took a position whereby she not only refused to be a member of the League but helped to strengthen the feeling against her in Europe and to hinder recovery from the war. Whether or not the roots of the present conflict can be traced directly to the action on this day 23 years ago, is a moot question—but a clearer conscience would be America's today, perhaps, if the pages of history could be turned back and the result of this vote reversed.
Standing like Pilate before the waiting crowd, the Senate "washed its hands" of the affair, and America was left cuddled between her two oceans to enjoy her solitude and to ignore the future troubles of the world. Sitting like an assured winner after carrying home the bacon, the nation sat and licked her chops until the taste of victory was gone and she was embedded too deeply in the problems of another world conflict before she took action.
"History repeats itself" is a sad statement. The thought of "a lesson well learned is not forgotten" is far the more pleasant, but the choice of action is up to America.
March 19—just another day, but 23 years ago it started a sad story. What date could really have more meaning as the nation fights for the opportunity to erase an unforgettable error. What day should have more meaning when we go to write an unforgettable peace?
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
EDITORIAL STAFF
NEWS STAFF
Editor-in-Chief ...Virginia Tieman
Editorial Associates ...Don Keown, Jimmy
Gunn, Maurice Barker
Managing Editor ... Joy Miller
Sunday editor ... Bill Haage
Campus Editors ... Jane Miner, Florence
Sports Editor Matt Heuertz
News Editor Phyllis Jones
Picture Editor Bob Schultheis
Society Editor Annie Lou Rossman
Wire Editor Virginia Gunsolly
Feature Editor Jane Miner
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager ... Oliver Hughes
Advertising Manager ... Betty Lou Perkins
Assistant Advertising Manager .. Mary Eleanor Fry
Advertising Assistant ... Mary Morrill
By MARY MORRILL
How college gets its reputation: Herbert (Tubby) Hawk dashed wildly for the phone. (Three jangles, and idle Carruth frosh are boarded.) Getting past the corner, he hit his knee—hard. He picked up the receiver simultaneously rubbing the injury with a free hand. It was sore. "Gawd damn," Hawk yelped by way of salutation at the transmitter. There was a frigid female cough and a still more frigid request for Joe Stockard. Joe's friend was the organist at the Baptist church.
$$
*****
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You can't be both polite and prudent: Mary Margaret Reynolds, Chi Omega, was called to the phone.
"Hello," said Mary Margaret.
"Why, hello there!" boomed a male voice. "Remember the city?" (This is a conservative version of the story. Some accounts run, "Hi ya Mary bebe! Come to after the big town?") The voice then began requesting the following information: Get home OK? When are you going to the city again? Still got those big brown eyes? Bewilderedly remembering that her eyes are grayish, Mary Margaret suggested that the gentleman maybe didn't realize to whom he was talking.
"Why sure I do," was the reply. "You're Mary Margaret Reynolds. Hey, don't you remember me, Mary Margaret?" Mary Margaret began to wonder.
The solution, when it came out, was simple. On the bus from Kansas City to Lawrence last weekend Marion Montgomery and Marge Pollack told two sailors they were Mary Margaret Reynolds and Helen Watson, respectively, phone 731. The list of campuses hill freshmen multiplies.
Quick thinking: Dean Ostrum, Bob Stewart, and their Gamma Phi dates raced from the show to the bus stop at 60 per, arriving at said destination just in time to see the tail light of their bus disappearing around a far corner. It was after 10, a week night, and the boys were desperate. Spotting a casual acquaintance with a pair of car keys in the drug store, they hastily introduced the girls and shoved them unceremoniously into the strange but hill bound car. The boys then proceeded to call a taxi. It came promptly, and Dean and Bob rode in style to the Sigma Nu house, arriving at 10:25.
***
Concentrated hotfoot: Latest case of the dreaded malady (practical joking) has been reported in the Delt house. The diseased one spread nitrogen something or other (a liquid which dries into crystals which explode under the slightest pressure) on the dorm floor. Victim No. 1 was Steve Stimson.
Steve stomped into the unlighted room and came running out, sensing that with every step he was being blown into smaller bits. The chemical's potency really doesn't go beyond a loud noise and slightly burned shoes. It would all have been very funny, if Stimpson just hadn't been barefoot.
A Quick-Change Artist Spring In Kansas
By Lucille Kadel
"Isn't today just swell? Spring is certainly here," said one
"In't today just swell? Spring is certainly here," said one. "Wait five minutes and you may change your mind. Remember you're in Kansas," said the other.
The remark of the latter may be exaggerated, but only slightly. One moment the weather seems balmy—the sun is shining; the next moment the sun is hidden behind dark threatening clouds—the wind blows$ ^{2}$
bitter and sharp. That's Kansas in the spring.
Usually one can be fairly certain of the weather if he looks out a window or steps outside, but such testing methods are not dependable now. If one lives off the Hill, he can swear that there is no wind and be correct. He can say that it's warm and bright outside and be correct. He can start the day by wearing a light coat or jacket and not be considered a bit off.
Out of Shelter
Going up the Hill from the sheltered downtown area is comparable to leaving the sheltered valley of Shangri-La. The top of the Hill seems to be pushed up against the sky; the wind sweeps across the campus; the temperature is degrees
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colder. The co-ed who didn't wear her scarf tied below her chin wishes she had as her long bob lashes her face. The thin top coat or jacket gives you as much protection as though you had on nothing.
If you're lucky, you may dash about the Hill not noticing any change in the weather. The sun came up in a clear sky, and the heavens still look bright and blue. You may make your 8:30 and sit for an hour, listening now and then to what the professor says. The whistle blows and you think, "Now for some of that fresh air to wake me up." Calendar Turns Back
Calendar Turns Back
And wake you up it did. It practically knocked you off your feet. The seasons had changed while the professor was explaining the laws of government. January had re-
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