PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1941
The KANSAN Comments...
Counting Sheep
Since early in 1939 thousands of the better citizens of Uncle Sam's great United States have been counting sheep. No, not just sheep, but everything from persons to safety pins. The whole process evolves into the census of 1940.
Census reports may seem unusually dull; just long columns of figures telling how many persons managed to survive the most critical years of the depression, the drouth, and other major pestilences of the last decade. But our army of census takers wasn't satisfied with reporting mere vital statistics. They delved into private lives enough to find the corny side of Americans. (U.S. citizens bought 350.-321 corncob pipes in 1939 while briar pipe sales slumped to 6,424,978 from the 1937 peak of 7,094,415.)
The new census can also tell you that Americans required $11,153,532 worth of umbrellas, parasols, and canes in 1939 to protect themselves from rain, sun, and falls; that the industry of needles, pins, hooks and eyes, and slide and snap fasteners provided the more indolent of our nation with 2,826,974 pounds of pins, while men and women both avoided the social crime of "gaposis" with slide fasteners valued at $18,876,264. Householders wore out 2,864,461 dozen brooms sweeping out everything from duststorm deposits to dirty politicians.
.
American mathomaniacs don't have to be contented with just a few figures, for with a minimum of research these figure bugs can find how many beauty-shops and barber shops cut so many million tons of hair each year, or the number of beer containers manufactured annually since 1910, and even what regions of the United States are inhabited by persons who prefer to smoke cigarettes with the assistance of plastic holders, and so on farther into the night than the Bungle family ever anticipated progressing.
By 1950, figure hounds will be hunting out more and better figures to tickle the palates of the mathomaniacs, but it will be an ingenious mind which will find more irrelevant items to add long lists of figures to our "vital" statistics.
Now that Hitler and Roosevelt have agreed that this is to be a "shooting war," will America find itself again intolerant and prejudiced toward its German-American citizens?
Pride or Prejudice?
Those who were old enough in 1917 remember how certain allegedly patriotic Americans mistreated, humiliated, and scorned citizens of German extraction. Houses were daubed with yellow paint, "slacker" painted on mail boxes and other personal property, and in some cases, these German-American citizens were tarred and feathered by self-styled patriots.
What will happen in World War II? Will there be more humiliation and suffering caused to those people whose only misfortune is their accident of birth in a foreign land or of foreign parentage?
Woodrow Wilson, in asking Congress to declare war in 1917, made it clear that it was to be a declaration of war against the imperial German government, not against the German people. President Roosevelt has made it clear that it is Hitler, not the German nation, who must be destroyed.
It is a part of our American way of life that
all men are equal in opportunity and freedom. It is also a part of our American way of life that no person shall be found guilty of treason or other crime without due process of law. Trial by mob and punishment, by torture or humiliation, is not that due process of law.
Let us do nothing that will give, us cause, a decade from now, to be sorry for our actions as a nation of liberty-loving Americans.
Ed. Note. The Kansan acknowledges letters submitted concerning the holiday strike but will refrain from printing them. Action is now being taken to improve strained relations and to restore harmony on the campus, and further discussion of the unpleasant aspects of the affair will not prove beneficial.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol. 39 Wednesday, November 19, 1941 No. 47
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.
ALL STUDENTS graduating at the end of the first semester who expect to teach should secure blanks and complete a registration in the Teachers' Appointment Bureau immediately. It is probable that a considerable number of vacancies will be received during the holiday season—H. E. CHANDLER, Secretary.
CATHOLIC STUDENTS: Father Weisenberg will be in room 415 Watson library from 1 to 5 Thursday afternoon for personal conferences.
HOME ECONOMICS CLUB: Cecilia Goncalves will speak on "Home Life in Brazil" at the regular meeting Thursday, Nov. 20, Fraser hall, 116, 4:20 p.m. Rose Etta Carr, President.
LE CERCLE FRANCAIS. Le Cercle Français se ruime jaudi, le veinti Novembre a trois heures et demie dans la salle 113 Frank Strong. Notez bien le changement de date... Marjorie Mossman.
THE NEWCOMER CLUB will meet at the home of Mrs. Laurence C. Woodruff, 2 Westwood Road, Thursday, Nov. 20, at 3 o'clock—Alice Palmer, Sec'y.
The International Relations Club will hold its first meeting Thursday, 4:30 p.m. in room 104, Frank Strong hall. All students interested are requested to attend. Merrill D. Patterson, Acting Chairman.
NOTICE TO MEN CLASSIFIED IIA for Selective Service—Every student classified IIA for Selective Service is requested to call at the Registrar's office to see Mr. Hitt.
R. Q. BREWSTER, Chairman
University Deferment Committee.
SIGMA XI. The regular November meeting of the Kansas Chapter of Sigma XI will be held on Thursday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Blake hall. Dr. R. H. Wheeler, chairman of the Psychology department, will speak on "The History of Climate in Relation to the Rise and Fall of Government."—W. H. Schoowe, See't.
NOTICE TO PREMEDICAL STUDENTS—Premedical students who are interested in making application for admission to the University of Kansas School of Medicine for the freshman class of 1942-43 should submit applications as soon as possible. Application forms may be obtained from the School of Medicine Office, Room 10, Frank Strong Hall. O. O. STOLAND, Secretary.
PRACTICE TEACHING: Students desiring to do supervised teaching during the spring semester should make application at once in the office of the School of Education—Signed, George B. Smith, Dean.
NOTICE TO PREMEDICAL STUDENTS: Due to the abnormal situation there are some students desiring to enter medical school next fall who did not take the Medical Aptitude Test at the regular time last spring. For these students, the Association of American Medical Colleges is arranging to give a special test at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, December 5, 1941, in Room 206 Marvin Hall. Those students who wish to enter medical school next fall should take the test at that time since the regular test to be given next spring will come too late. Will such students please register AT ONCE at the Medical School Office, Room 10 Frank Strong Hall. A fee of two dollars will be charged for this special test. For further information, inquire of Parke H. Woodard, Assoc. Professor of Physiology, Room 8B, Frank Strong Hall.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Paper of
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas
Subscription rates, in advance, $3.00 per year, $1.75 per semester. Published at Lawrence, Kansas, daily during the school year except Monday and Saturday. Entered as second class office at Lawrence, 17, Lakewood, office at Lawrence, Kansas, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Rock Chalk Talk
DEAN OSTRUM
Following their hour dance last night with the Beta pledge class, Sigma Kappa's found a large rat in their front parlor. Girls screamed; housemother Lyons climbed furniture; and Lee Oxley, pledge, ran to the Phi Delt house for help.
Neighbor Phi Delt actives commissioned pledges "Mic" Hines, Bill Walker, and Harvey Hartzell Haines III, to go to the rescue. A mop, an air rifle, and a fire shovel were used to finish off the rat. Phi Delt's went home; Sigma Kappa's went to bed; and Beta's counted noses.
Keith Neville, Sig Alph pledge from Topeka, reports that Al Becker, Sig Alph active, is much better.
He's pretty_bunged up, up, a broken arm, but he's feeling better and going to classes now." Neville told us over the phone this morning.
It seems Al fell into an eight-foot grease monkey pit the other Saturday night. Al wishes, no doubt, that he could find the guy who locked the door of the place that made him tour without on a dark night.
All Al's friends and those who know him sympathize.
The R.O.T.C. stileman who took Mignon Morton's ticket at Saturday's game has had a headache ever since.
"Tear it out, please," the soldier politely told her.
"Here," the Gamma Phi pledge coyly told him as she handed over the "torn-up" pieces.
Name omitted from this column: Chancellor Deane W. Malott (50c fee due and payable).
Theta pledges feel the ordinary hour dance is a trifle dull. (Have you ever heard their record player?) So, they make a practice of introducing two of their sisters, Eileen Miller and Lila Jean Doughman, as Druscilla Drizzlewich and Maude Belle Glutz—respectively and respectfully.
It is heard around the Hill that some D.U. pledge is still wondering what ever happened to that glamorous Glutz girl.
Unbeaten Plainfield De-emphasizes Football
Undefeated and untied Plainfield Teachers College of Plainfield, N. J., dropped from the ranks of undefeated football teams last week when a tipster revealed that the Plainfield "Flying Figments" were merely the figments of someone's imagination. The college and team simply don't exist.
For the better part of the football season the fabulous gridiron deeds of mighty Plainfield Teachers received due notice in some of the East's leading newspapers. The "Flying Figments"
By John Harvey
were listed on a weekly table of perfect record teams and might have been invited to a bowl.
The denouement not only revealed that Plainfield Teachers was non-existant but that its string of seven victims; Chesterton, Winona, Randolph Tech, Ingersoll, Appalachian Tech, Harmony Teachers, and St. Joseph, were also non-existent. The hoax was found to have been palmed off on the newspapers by members of a Wall Street brokerage firm.
Led by one "Hurry-Up" Hobitzel, Spearfish, '39, as coach, Plainfield featured a stellar Chinese halfback, Johnny Chung, who was known to partake of wild rice at half time for greater endurance during the final half and an unorthodox line-up in which the ends lined up facing the backfield.
The pranksters hired a "Coach," a "publicity" man, and even subsidized a few players. Every week the press agent called or wired the New York papers with the story of the game and the Plainfield scores.
Only person to witness one of the Plainfield victories was a partner in the brokerage firm who claims to have seen one in his sleep. According to this spectator the Plainfield formation was unstopable with five men and Johnny Chung. In the game with Appalachian Tech, according to this fan, Chung ate wild rice out of a flower pot and then ran wild in the last half to lead Plainfield to a 40 to 27 victory.
Chung was credited with scoring 63
of Plainfield's 117 points in the first seven games. One enthusiastic New York sports writer even went so far as to write a stirring story about Chung's gridiron prowess.
Plainfield's existence as a pigskin power was ended last week when an anonymous tipster phoned the New York Herald-Tribune sports department and disclosed that there was no such college as Plainfield Teachers and that the whole thing was just a gag. A Herald-Tribune reporter followed up the tip by phoning Plainfield and ascertaining that there was no teachers college in the vicinity. The gag was then traced to the Wall Street establishment.
Junior and senior aeronautical engineering students are eligible for membership, as are junior and senior mechanical engineering students who are taking aeronautical option. Those students eligible and interested are invited to attend.
Aero Sciences Institute Holds First Meeting Tonight
The first meeting of the student chapter of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences will be held tomorrow night at 7:30 in the Men's lounge of the Memorial Union building.
Vocal and instrumental numbers will fill the major part of the program at the annual vespers of Mu Phi Epsilon, honorary music sorority, next Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock Hoch auditorium. The program will be presented by new members.
Mu Phi Epsilon Will Give Vespers