PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 1942
The KANSAN Comments...
REASONS FOR LACK OF SOLIDARITY
All attempts by the United States at PanAmerican war solidarity have thus far been frustrated by Argentina's reluctance to cooperate with us against the Axis.
Argentina, second only in size and population to Brazil in South America, may well be considered the keystone of the Pan-American defense bloc. All other nations of the Americas have reached concordance concerning action against the Axis powers; but without Argentina's help, the whole structure is next to useless.
Argentina has many reasons for wanting to demur in taking action against Germany or Italy. Not the least of these motives for an adamant attitude toward Pan-American solidarity is Argentina's hearty dislike for the United States. We Americans have forgotten the Spanish-American war, but it still rankles the minds of Argentine Latins who favored the Spanish.
Nor can the people forget the Yankee dollar diplomacy which flourished in South America at the turn of the twentieth century. They still remember our high handed methods of bullying Colombia out of a strip across the Isthmus so we might dig a big ditch. To add injury to insult, the United States embodied in a tariff act of 1930 a quarantine against fresh beef as well as a duty of six cents a pound on any beef.
In Argentina, beef is king; for beef the world over, Argentina is king. This tariff enactment hit both at the Argentine estanchero's pride and pocketbook. However, it was necessary that the United States prevent the importation of beef to stamp out a highly contagious disease which is destructive to cattle, sheep, and hogs. Even our government's buying of Argentine beef for the United States Navy failed to assuage Latin tempers; but, it worked miracles in arousing agrarian displeasure in the Middle West.
Argentina has remained aloof of aiding the Americans and British against Hitler, because she is dubious of the United States navy's ability to defend her should Germany attack. The naval showing of the United Nations against the Nipponese has done nothing to allay these fears. Argentina would rather remain neutral—not bet at all—than to bet on the losing horse.
Today in Argentina there are 60,000 Germans from the fatherland and 135,000 Argentine-born Germans. They are completely instilled with the Nazi doctrines; Germany spends $3,000,000 annually on propaganda in Argentina. There are 3,000,000 persons of Italian blood in Argentina, but they aren't nearly so indoctrinated with Fascist principles as are the Germans with Nazism. At present, Argentina's "Dies Committee" is challenging Nazi power there by weeding out Axis agents. Recently, Argentina has shown more friendliness toward the United States.
Change of the Argentine attitude is reflected in last week's election. Members of President Ramon Castillo's Conservative Concordancia will fill most of the 85 (out of 158) seats which were up for election. This is the green signal for Castillo, who favors a break with the Axis. In 1940 the United States lent Argentina $110,-000,000; last week we realized the first dividends on the investment.-A.H.
INDIFFERENCE IN ITALY
Before America entered the war, much attention was given to the fact that Germany was troubled by the discontent and uprisings which
occurred in her occupied countries. Discontent of this sort is of major importance to the morale of the whole German army and civilian population.
Now there appear from time to time evidences of defeatism in Italy, Germany's quaking ally.
Although the Italian people readily accepted Japan's entrance into the war, they were rather quiet about the announcement that the United States had also entered the war. Their acceptance of the fact was so silent as to be almost indifferent, and Mussolini found it necessary in a speech given shortly therafter to emphasize (as only Mussolini can emphasize) the necessity of hatred of the enemies. He said, "We cannot fight unless we hate the enemy!"
Many interpret this speech to imply a lack of fighting spirit among the people, who seem to have not too much faith in the cause and can see little compensation for their losses.
Grumblings against restrictions find expression in many violations of rationing laws. Last September, 7,544 cases of hoarding and boot-legging of food products were discovered. City and town officials are finding it increasingly difficult to enforce the curfew law (10 o'clock) which law was made to save on rubber; electricity, and so on. The nobility is becoming more and more troubled by added taxes on their class and the prospects are that they will be increased even more. The outlook on the food distribution problem is also becoming more serious.
Thus, there is developing in Italy a distinct feeling against the war and it seems that efforts of the officials to stop it are futile. The significance of this unrest is easily seen—its full importance can be seen only in the future. M.O.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol. 39 Sunday, March 22, 1942 No. 108
Notices due at News Bureau, 8 Journalism, at 10 a.m. on day of publication during the week, and at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Sunday issue.
Everyone interested in the YMCA Conference at Estes Park this spring is invited to attend the Estes Jamboree at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, March 28, at Henley house. Topics for the spring conference will be discussed at the meeting. For further information call Marion Hepworth.
The Girl Reserve Training Course will meet in the Pine Room at 4:35 p.m. Monday, Miss Evelyn Von Herrmann will speak on "The Phases of a Girl Reserve Program and How They Meet the Needs of a High School Girl." Those who have not registered for the course may attend this meeting. —Letha Jean Curtis.
SIGMA XI. The regular March meeting of the Kansas Chapter of Sigma Xi will be held on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Blake hall. Dr. Robert M. Dreyer, Assistant Professor of Geology and Mining Engineering, will speak on "Geophysical Investigations in the Tri-State Zinc and Lead Mining District." The Board of Electors will meet on Wednesday, April 8. Nominations should reach the secretary no later than April 4—W. H. Schoeve, Secretary.
CATHOLIC STUDENTS: There will be Newman Club Corporate Communion and Breakfast at the 9:30 Mass, Sunday. Because of the long services on Palm Sunday this meeting has been moved up one week—Lloyd Svoboda, Vice-President of Newman Club.
RED CROSS SEWING ROOM—The Red Cross Sewing Room of 116 Fraser is open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdya, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. Knitters are asked to report to the room in Fraser on Friday afternoon.—Mrs. P. B. Lawson.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SCHOLARSHIPS: Applications for scholarships for fall, 1942, should be made in Room 1, Frank Strong Hall, before April 1.—Lela Ross, Executive Secretary.
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
Rock Chalk Talk
BETTY WEST
Falling in with the conservation program, a faction of men at Battenfeld Hall are moving to conserve space in their living room on weekend nights. There is a bill being lobbed to prohibit stags or lone wolves from settling down to a quiet evening in the living room, and staring over the corner of the newspaper at "them who has dates."
Pedagogical Pearls: Prof. Loren Eiseley: "Every secret society in a primitive culture has a bullroarer; (a noise-maker used for spook effects in ceremonies)." "This, however, is not to be confused with your professors."
In order to go to Kansas City last Tuesday for the Oklahoma A. and M. game, Doris Twente have to liquidate the penny bank which she and Medic Bob Hagen have been building up for many months. She left a plentiful trail of pennies all over Kansas City, was a bottleneck on Kansas City streetcars, and when she painstakingly extracted 85 pennies to pay for her ticket to the game, the ticket man looked at her wonderingly and sympatized, "Gosh, lady, you must have been looking forward to this game for years!"
Brunt of the latest Phi Psi practical joke is Dean Sims, who was wakened from his sleep one morning by a contingent of his brothers, all noisily excited. They informed him that his parents had called long distance to say that his draft number had been called, and that he was to report to his draft board plenty pronto. After realizing that the story had a phony flavor, Sims decided to play along with the boys, rather than spoil their fun. So he jumped out of bed, threw a toothbrush into a bag, and started out the front door in his pajamas, before the gag was called off.
A good definition of libel: What Bill Collinson could sue for, when his friends say he looks like a bag of meal tied at both ends.
"Inside Benchley" Sure Cure for the Doldrums
Robert Benchley, the ever-frustrated man of the movies and the semi-literary field, has come through again with a sure cure for melancholia, blues in the night, etc., a collection of Benchley short stories entitled cryptically "Inside Benchley."
ters of Goethe, and advice on how to take children on a tour of a museum among the features tossed in for good measure.
As a writer of light satire, Bob Benchley is almost tops in his field. In this latest opus, he satires everything from true detective stories to Wagnerian opera, with essays on the low state of whippet racing, the love let-
Signs of the Times
The American reading public will probably be offered more and more light reading of the Benchley school during the duration, as a means of temporary mental escape from the current unpleasantness. Books of this type will be short, because even the best humor writers have a technique that wears a trifle threadbare around page 250.
Funniest chapter in the book is "Family Life in America," a burlesque on the super-sordid school of fiction. To quote the author, "The naturalistic literature of this country has reached such a state that no family of characters is considered true of life which does not include at least two hypochondriacs, one sadist, and one old man who spills food down the front of his vest."
Of special interest to college folk should be the chapter on "What College Did to Me?" Mr. B's schedule, under a so-called elective system, included such broaden courses as "The Social Life of the Minor Sixteenth Century Poets; History and Appreciation of the Clavichord; and Doric Columns—Their Uses, History, and various Heights. Benchley emerges from his freshman courses with a deep and undying knowledge that it is almost impossible to fill an inside straight.
Author Benchley's finest attribute is his ability to handle reductio ad absurdum without being vicious. He is a pure humorist, not a reformer trying to abolish an evil or end an unjust system by devastating sarcasm.
Higher Education
Another bright spot in the book is the chapter on the history of tennis, which includes the following passage: "This fascinating historical survey of tennis goes on to say that in the reign of Henry IV the game was so popular that it was said that "there were more tennis-players in Paris than drunkards in England. The Drunkards of England were so upset by this boast that they immediately started a drive for membership with the slogan 'Five thousand more drunkards by April 15, and to hell with France!' One thing led to another until war was declared."
So, for 316 pages of fun, read "Inside Benchley," Harper & Bros., 1942.
Business Machine Corporation Wants Trained Women
Senior University women who have some knowledge of business, bookkeeping, and accounting are being sought by the International Business Machine corporation to be trained in operating their machines.
The manager of the corporation will be in Lawrence Tuesday to interview those interested in the work as a career. Miss Marie Miller, assistant to the dean of women, asks that all women interested call her before Tuesday. Miss Miller emphasized that the women must be spring graduates with business training and good personality.