PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 1942
The KANSAN Comments...
Must We Give Up Self-Government Because Hill Women Can't Agree?
One element of the current struggle inside W.S.G.A. involves the question of whether student government shall be preserved at the University. One faction has proposed that a faculty committee select members of W.S.G.A., thereby relinquishing the right of women to elect representatives, and making W.S.G.A. a mere tool of the faculty.
It must be admitted that W.S.G.A. makes mistakes. It would naturally, the members being human, and rather inexperienced human beings, at that. It is to be expected that any group of students delegated to administer the affairs of the student body will occasionally err. It is to be expected that factions will arise, and that there will be rivalry and keen competition. That is the essence of politics anywhere.
Student government has a two-fold purpose. It is designed both to represent the student body, and to train students for useful lives as politicians and administrators in the future. It has been inactive of late, accomplishing little of real value. That is an admission of present inefficiency, but it does not follow that student government cannot be efficient and beneficial.
The University of Kansas is one of the last strongholds of student government. In recent months it has been abolished at the University of Missouri. At Harvard it is a mere figurehead; the governing body has no real power. The same is true of many other schools.
In the past, M.S.C. and W.S.G.A. have been of real value, both to students and to the University. W.S.G.A. has done such work as organizing the book exchange, which has probably saved money for every student at K.U. It has sponsored a program to set up the honor system here, and was largely successful. When activity tickets were first coming into use, it was the student governing bodies which upheld the rights of the students. W.S.G.A. has sponsored scholarships which, although not beneficial to the student body as a whole, are certainly essential to those students who receive them.
With the abolition of student government comes the loss of any representation for the student. However little he now has to do with administration of University affairs is better than nothing. Student government might be made efficient with the decline of political chicanery and the termination of internecine rivalry which menaces it. This cannot be done, however, if student government is to be sacrificed now to political bickering.
Members of W.S.G.A. must forget petty differences among themselves and reach an agreement which will preserve self-government.
When the World Is Free
Few people realize the full significance of the recent negotiations between Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles and Britain's Ambassador Lord Halifax. The agreement reached by these two statesmen might well hail the birth of a new and better world order. It might mark the fall of nationalism and the rise of internationalism—the substitution of cooperation for force.
It signifies that this time the war is not being fought in vain. The roots have been laid for the type of world we have always dreamed of—one without petty racial hatreds and jealousies. Two great countries have agreed to tear down economic barriers that have for decades been the cause of ill-feeling. The fall of still other barricades is possible soon. Such a step is worthy of more than passing attention.
According to this agreement there will be none of the debt bickering that followed the last conflict. This question will be decided in a manner befitting two civilized nations who have fought side-by-side for a worthy and common cause. Likewise there is planned a breaking down of tariff barriers that would have shocked the mercantilists of a few decades ago. Thus will pass one of man's silliest foibles, for the expert economist has never been able to see the value of such tariffs.
Even more important is the part the agreement plays in moving toward a post-war economic union between the two nations. Furthermore, its benefits are not limited to the United States and Great Britain. Other nations are invited to share in the harvesting of its fruits. Here is the economic embryo for a world confederation such as far-sighted men have long desired.
The doorway is open for permanent international peace. Will all nations seize this
chance, or will it be another League of Nations, muffed by the narrow-mindedness of the human race?—J.D.K.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol. 39 Tuesday, March 3,1942 No.96
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.
TO JUNIOR WOMEN; The University Women's Club invites all junior women of the University to a tea, given in their honor, in the Ballroom of the Memorial Union building, Thursday, March 5, at 3:30 p.m
--ing unconditionally the sorry looking structure with its chubby, freckled face, its one eye with a cross above it, and its monstrous hat."
Jay James will meet Wednesday at 4:30 in the Pine room.
CERCLE FRANCAIS: Le Cerule Franceis se reunira le 4 mars mercredi, a 4 heures et demi dans la salle 113 F.S. Taus ceux qui parient francais sont invites. Mariorie Mossman, Pres.
W. S.G.A. Tea for all University women, Wednesday, 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the Women's Lounge of Frank Strong hall. The Kaw-Coettes and Jay-Coeds will be hostesses. Lois Worrel, social chairman.
Tau Sigma will meet at the usual times this week.
Anna Jane Hoffman, Pres.
Catholic Students: Rev. E. J. Weissenberg will be in room 415 Watson library, Thursday afternoon from 1:30 to 5 for personal conferences. — Lloyd Svoboda, vice-president, Newman Club.
W. S.G.A. COUNCIL MEETING—There will be a W.S.G.A. Council Meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Pine Room of the Union Building.-Mary Ellen Roach, Secretary.
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
NEW ADDRESSES FOR DIRECTORY SUPPLEMENT: Students who changed addresses between semesters and who have not reported new addresses to the Registrar's office should file these addresses at once so that corrections may appear in the Directory Supplement.—James K. Hitt, Assistant Registrar.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Subscription rates, in advance, $3.00 per year, $1.75 per semester. Published at Lawrence, Kansas, daily during the school year except on Saturday and Saturday as second semester, September 17, 1914, no post office at Lawrence, Kansas, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Rock Chalk Talk BETTY WEST
A University graduate, once a fervent debater himself, now wintering at Fort Leavenworth, reports that the barracks debate question for 1942 is "Resolved: That the Petty Girl is Anatomically Superior To the Varga Girl."
Marge Rader has developed a new technique for persecuting her friends. Last week she stole the activity books of two of her friends, removed pictures therefrom, and the next day sent them through the mail to two amirable "Wanted" circulars, one of which is quoted in part below.
"Description: Sex—female; Color—Tattletale gray; Height—4 '3'; Weight—220 pounds; Body Control—Awkward; Personality—Lacking; Attitude—Nil; Cooperation—void; LQ—(-10)."
General Background and History: Has always been a problem child, drowned the family's baby chicks, spent her Sunday School pennies on "Old Granger Twist."
Is inclined toward the use of profane language and is definitely delinquent."
Marge will pay a monetary reward for information concerning the whereabouts of this person. Call the Rader Acme Detective Agency. Some fun, kid!
Since Duane Smith took up the ancient and honored practice of going steady, his shadow even stays over at the Chi Omega house to court Christine Turk when he finds he has to be elsewhere.
While at Sunday dinner at the Chi Omega house last week, Smitty had the fact of his honorary membership of Chi Omega brought forcefully to his attention. His fraternity brothers packed a suitcase, painted his name on it, and talked the Chi Omega waiters into bringing it into the dining room between dinner and dessert.
The Life and Hard Times Of Old Blake Hall
From here on, the versions of what happened differ widely. A clipping in the Daily Kansan of Jan. 24, 1919, states: "Professional jealousy led the state architect to draw up his plans as differently from those of Wells as possible. For this reason the unusual architecture of Blake hall." (The article gives no source of information.) Plans Are Revised
Plans Are Revised
It takes but a minimum of architectural knowledge to see that little similarity exists between Blake hall, the physics building, and "Uncle Jimmy's Law Barn." Yet, the original plans for Blake, as drawn up in 1893, called for a building closely resembling the present-day Green hall.
J. Howard Compton, who received his master's degree in architecture in 1932, chose as his thesis the topic "Building at the University." In the thesis he writes that the state architect, Seymour Davis, kept the floor plan of the Wells-Blake design intact, but remodeled the outside to conform with the design of a French chateau that Professor Blake admired. Compton received his information from E. F. Stimpson, retired professor of physics. Well, those are the two stories, take your pick.
While Lucien Ira Blake, professor of physics at the University from 1887 to 1906, was giving extension lectures at Wichita University in 1892-3, he met a young architect named Wells.
The two drew up plans for a physics building at the University and submitted it to the state architect.
On March, 10, 1893, the state legislature appropriated $50,000 for the building. It was designed in a style known as French Chateau, or Chateau Renaissance, which did not find too much favor with the student body. The University Review of March, 1895, the year the building was completed, screams out with the following bit of fantasy: "The sandstone front of the Physics building looks like a speckled chicken. The iron in the stones shows more plainly than the stone itself. If there be no lotion that will remove these blemishes, let a screen be put before the building. The Regents should think twice before accepting unconditionally the sorry looking structure with its chubby, freckled face, its one eye with a cross above it, and its monstrous hat."
Rean View Ignored
The walls of the Physics building (named Blake Hall in 1898) were of native limestone and brick, and faced on the facade and sides with Berea sandstone from near Cleveland. Since Lawrence did not extend as far south as it does today, and since there was no south approach to the campus, the builders virtually ignored the rear view of Blake hall, with results as are apparent today.
No iron was used in the building below the roof. The movable needled galvonometer, used in electricity experiments, is extremely sensitive to iron, so all plumbing was of brass, copper, and lead. However, the fact that iron nails and sash weights were used did not concern anyone until some of the experiments went haywire. Some time later, a movable coil galvonometer, not affected by iron, was installed, so all the trouble and expense of the sans-iron construction went for nothing.
Clock Misbehaves
Piled high on the mound of troubles concerning poor old Blake, the clock (referred to in the University Review as the building's one ever was operated by a master clock on the first floor, with a Rube Goldbergian set of wheels and levers that continually were not in working order. The stock excuse for students who came late to class was "The clock in Blake has stopped again." Repairs to the tempermental timepiece cost the department of physics some $150 annually.