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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1942
The KANSAN Comments...
Concerning Atrocities
In the past few weeks the Hill has begun to buzz with stories of horrible atrocities committed by the Japanese on their captives.
Such tales as the chopping off of ears and removal of tongues in Jap prison camps are being passed around the campus from one student to another, probably getting a little more gruesome with each new telling.
Whenever a country goes to war, such stories immediately arise, for political leaders seem to think they are necessary to arouse the proper amount of hatred to make a nation fight.
Here in America, we have no further need for incitement to hatred for the Jap or German. We need nothing more than the memory of Pearl Harbor to remind us how wily and brutal our enemies can be. There should be no occasion to spread baseless and fantastic rumors of sadism and brutality.
No matter who tells us of these cruelties, we must remember that in the last war similar stories, which became widely believed, were afterward completely disproved or shown to be grossly exaggerated.
And remember, too, that the use of atrocity stories is one of Herr Hitler's favorite techniques.—C.R.R.
A Chicago girl has found a novel way to thwart thieves. She snubs them. When one entered the cleaning establishment where she works recently, she gave him the cold shoulder and he eventually left. Then this cold-blooded creature calmly took his license number.
The New Battlefront
With German forces on the defensive—a new and unique phase of the war—and with rumors of international dissension in high German circles, some Allied quarters are forecasting the collapse of the Nazi war machine.
It is a little early yet, to expect that the Reichsfuehrer, with 280-300 divisions and 6,-000-9,000 first-line planes at his disposal, will be forced to take only defensive action in the future. A new offensive may, in fact, be expected soon, because time no longer favors the Nazi war effort.
Where, then, may the Nazi strike and gain additional advantages while the Allies are still inferior in men and weapons?
From bases in Bulgaria and Greece, the enemy could strike through Turkey, thereby seizing the only outlet of the Black Sea. The Fussian Caucasus would be threatened from the rear, and the oil fields of Baku, Iraq, and Iran would be endangered. The way would then be open for a drive through Syria to the Suez Canal.
The advantages to be gained in this area are of considerable importance. The pressure on German forces both in the Ukraine and in Africa would be relieved. Control of immense reserves of petroleum would bolster the Axis. By gaining the Near East, the Axis would be able to exploit the limited agricultural production of Northeast Africa, and menace the Allied supply lines in the Indian Ocean.
Allied strategy now must be directed in such a way as to provide not only for defense, but ultimately for a major offensive action against the Nazi stronghold in Europe.
Heretofore the British have been compelled because of inferiority in numbers, to take only
defensive measures. They rushed contingents to Greece, Iraq, Syria, and Iran only when a Nazi threat was evident.
The time must come, if Nazi power is to be broken, when an Allied drive against the main Axis forces will be launched. The Near East and Africa will provide probably the best base for such a drive.—P.L.C.
Twelve white mice might well consider themselves slandered. A group of impressionable persons in Connecticut refused to open the box in which they were contained, because it ticked. In times of this kind, it is important that we watch ourselves, you know.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol. 39 Friday, March 20,1942 No.107
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.
KAPPA PHI: Regular meeting Friday night at 7 o'clock at 1209 Tenn. St. Initiation of pledges.-Eleanor Patty, Publicity Manager.
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. Schoewe, 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 Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons. Knitters are asked to report to the room in Fraser on Friday afternoon.—Mrs. P. B. Lawson.
SCHOLARSHIPS: Applications for scholarships for fall, 1942, should be made in Room 1, Frank Strong Hall, before April 1. -Lela Ross, Executive Secretary.
NOTICE TO ALL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS--Dr. E. T. Gibson is at the Watkins Memorial Hospital each Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 4:30 P. M, for discussion with students on problems of mental hygiene. Appointments may be made through the Watkins Memorial hospital. Ralph I. Canuteson, Director, health service.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION 1942 Active Member
Publisher ... Kenneth Jackson
EDITORIAL STAFF
NEWS STAFF
Feature editor ... Bill Feeney
Editor-in-chief ... Charles Pearson
Editorial associates ... Maurice Barker and
Fred
Managing editor ... Heidi Viets
Campus editors ... Betty Abels and Floyd Decaire
Sports editor ... Chuck Elliott
Society editor ... Saralena Sherman
News editor ... Ralph Coldren
Sunday editor ... John Conard
United Press editor ... Bob Coleman
BUSINESS STAFF
Business manager ... Frank Baumgartner
Advertising Manager ... Wallace Kunkel
Advertising assistants ... John Harvey, Charles
Roos, LeMovee Frederick
Clint Kanaga, having successfully completed his steam bath method of reducing, has weighed in at the correct poundage for the Marines. Congratulations, Clint, you look like a new man without those eight pounds. But there's a nasty rumor going around, that after having eaten nothing for a day and a half so that your weight would be down at the Marine recruiting Station, you went out and devoured a $2.50 sirloin steak.
John Randolph Tye, famous alumnus of the University, and military expert about town, says that he is able to accurately predict the Turning Point of this war. It will be at 5:01 p.m. next Tuesday night when he leaves Topeka to fight for his country.
John Waggoner, Ben Petree, John Sterret, and Phil Nesbitt have discovered that it is socially fatal to move after the directory supplement comes out. Your friends and acquaintances simply cannot locate you. This is in the way of an At Home announcement for the kiddies, who are now living in disgusting luxury at 1623 Kentucky. They have a lovely cedar closet in which they are planning to serve covered dish suppers as soon as they have converted it into a blackout room.
Zumpana, the cartoonist who is now immortalizing Hill men on paper and giving them a passport photographer's complex is reported to have had a vertible orgy at the Sig Alf house. How could he help it with such a luscious load of raw material? i.e., Tommy Thompson's nose, Evan Folger's streamlined puss, J. G. Sutton's chin, and Fred Johnson's current hair-do? Davey G. Thompson, one of the Sig Alf's newest acquisitions, has developed an anti-Narcissus complex after his sitting and won't go near a mirror.
Shack Mouse Wages Total War Reports Local Advance
Somewhere in the Newsroom, March 17.—(Delayed by Censor.)
Since October 24,1940,a day that will live in infamy so long as mice shall walk upon the earth,a state of war has existed between students in the department of journalism and a little gray mouse (or mice,nobody is sure.) For the most part, it has been a war of nerves,but at times battle has been joined. and the conflict has been violent.
Prior to the Day, a territorial dispute had been smoldering between the mice and the journalistic folk, and trouble was imminent. Then on a cold, clear morning, while the sun was streaming through the windows of 102 Journalism, a mouse ventured into the room on reconnaissance. Moving cautiously, the creature had nearly completed his survey when a member of the faculty (name withheld by censor) sighted him. Hastily calculating the range, this m. of the f. opened fire at five yards with a paper weight, catching the mouse squarely amidships with the first volley.
Furry Blitzkrieg
That night, a grim-visaged mouse crouched in some undisclosed place and planned for the long struggle ahead. He decided to strike quickly at a number of places before the students were fully mobilized.
Next day, while the journalists were gathered about the copy table preparing material for the paper, and eating their frugal meals of potato chips and lime cokes, one of the editors dropped a potato chip. He had just reached down to pick it off the floor when a gray form streaked by, smatched the chip out of his fingers, and disappeared. Pandemonium reigned.
Commando Raid
The next night, the mouse clambered into his Commando uniform, smeared his face with charcoal, crept into the desk of the editor-in-chief and created havoc among a pile of reference papers the editor was saving. From then on, the offensive was pressed with added vigor. The mouse would dart out of nowhere, frighten the society editor, and vanish. Attempts were made to trap him, but the crafty fellow would spring the traps and carry the bait off in triumphant procession. Another Dunkirk?
As usual, a Quisling enters the picture. Bribed by a slab of (name deleted by censor) cheese, the informer mouse revealed the whereabouts of the belligerent. The fighting mouse was trapped in a wastepaper basket, and students gathered about to hurl everything they could lay their hands on into the basket. For a moment there was silence, and the victors decided to pull the vanquished warrior out and bury him with military honors. So, they turned the basket on its side and the mouse scampered out and escaped despite a hail of missiles and profanity.
As we go to press, the Mouse High Command, in official communique No. 68, reports local advances along a sector referred to only as X.
And so the battle has raged. At one time it was rumored that the main body of journalists would retreat to Fowler shops and set up their government, leaving behind only a skeleton force, but official circles refused to comment.
To Star Bridge,
Ping Pong Contests
The deadline for entering either the ping pong or the bridge tournaments will be March 23, Bob Hodgson, intramural chairman of the Student Union Activities board has announced. All students interested in participating in either tournament should sign their names at the desk in the game room of the Union building on or before that date.