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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, SEPT. 16, 1941
The KANSAN Comments...
STANDS OUR NOBLE ALMA MATER
Back when the Santa Fe Trail was a great artery of traffic for settlers heading West, Mt. Oread was a landmark on the thinly settled plains of northeastern Kansas, and was referred to by the wagon drivers as the Devil's Backbone.
One night in 1854, a band of men who had journeyed half way across the continent to settle in Kansas and further the progress of a political theory that all men are created free and equal, met on the peak of this hill to plan for the building of a state university. Foolish idealists they must have been, to make plans like this, when they had not yet established a state, or even a city to live in, but it took such dreamers to conquer the prairie.
Fifteen years later their dreams were realities. Kansas had gained admission to the Union in 1861, America ceased being a nation divided against itself in 1865, and the University of Kansas was opened in 1866.
Time passed on, to the one building several were added, the handful of students became hundreds. Graduates of the university gained fame and contributed to human progress in many fields—government, medicine, journalism, science, engineering, others. Too, a grim contribution to democracy was made when Kansas students who had trudged up Mt. Oread trudged through battered Chateau-Thierry and the Argonne. A bronze plaque on the entrance of the Memorial Union building honors the 130 boys who still sleep in France.
Then the war ended, and statesmen made peace pacts, and the people began to talk about a brotherhood of nations. Meanwhile the University grew older and greater, through "unlimited prosperity"—and drought, and depression, and recession, and windstorms which deposited the soil of Kansas on the rugs and furniture of houses a thousand miles away.
But today America is on the borderline of another war, another battle for the personal freedom to which man has an inalienable right but a tenuous grasp. In a few years there may be a new bronze plaque on the Memorial Union building, dedicated to the casualties of World War II. An unpleasant future may become an even more unpleasant present, and pessimism may not be far distant from realism. Still, the state of Kansas has come a long way from the bloody territory of Kansas, and Mt. Oread has come a long way from the Devil's Backbone. The United States of 1941 is a far cry from the disunited states of 1861, and visions of greater things, like the visions of the men who gathered on a lonely hill in 1854 will shine through any blackout.
"SHOOT ON SIGHT"
The latest Roosevelt speech touched a level perhaps never before attained, even by that acknowledged master of the art of speaking. Abandoned was the flowery quality which has adorned earlier talks. It was not an oration, it was a straight-forward, earnest statement of the seriousness of conditions, and of the intentions of the American people. Terminology was such that no clause might be misunderstood.
A statement of conditions served as a beginning. The people were reminded that the Greer had been assaulted by a German submarine which either knew the nationality of the ship and had fired deliberately upon an American vessel—in which case the attack was inexcusable—or was unaware of the ship's identity,
which would make the offense even more an acute breach of international law and ethics.
The President announced that in the future American vessels will shoot to defend themselves, not waiting until they have been shattered by enemy shell or torpedo. Such is the only logical course of action. Such procedure should have been adopted months ago. Historical references, showing that such action is not without precedent will assure squeamish conservatives who mistrust any departure from tradition.
This was not a politician's speech. It was the speech of a man who has devoted nine strenuous years to the service of his country, and who finds himself now burdened with responsibility which would confound a lesser man, as his country faces the greatest crisis in its history as a nation.
Mussolini probably mutters in his beard when he runs across Hitler's comment in his scrapbook that "When we shake hands it is the handshake of men of honor."
See Page 8 for details of Kansan contest.
O
When British aid societies begin knitting bundles for America, it should be evident that we really are in a state of emergency.
A Chicago woman who hit a Jaywalker married him when he recovered. That is adequate proof that crime doesn't pay, and that the lawbreaker is always brought to justice.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Vol. 39 Tuesday, Sept.16, 1941 No.2
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.
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ENGLISH MAJORS—Students wishing to enroll in Reading for Honors in English will please see Miss Burnham on Monday, Sept. 15, or Tuesday, Sept. 16, 211 Fraser, hours: 9-12, 2-4. Please consult catalog in advance, and if possible bring transcript.-J. M. Burnham, for the committee.
JAY JANES: There will be a meeting at 4:30 Wednesday, September 17th in the Frank Strong Auditorium.-Genevieve Harman, president.
Announcer and master of ceremony tryouts will be held in the studio of KFKU on Friday evening September 19 at 7:30. If possible all interested persons should see Miss Seaman before that date in room 117, Fraser Hall.-Mildred Seaman, Asst. Program Director.
MEN'S STUDENT COUNCIL: The first regular meeting of the Men's Student Council will be on Monday, Sept. 22, at 8:00 p.m. in the Pine Room.-Fred Larson, secretary.
DRAMATIC CLUB: Tryouts for the K.U. Dramatic Club will begin Thursday afternoon at 3:30. Apply at the Little Theatre, basement of Green Hall.-Dave Watermulder, president.
Publisher ... Stan Stauffer
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
NEWS STAFF
Feature Editor ... Betty West
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief ... Charles Pearson
Editorial Associates: Bill Feeney, Floyd Decaire,
Mary Frances McAnaw
Managing Editor ... Charles Elliott
Campus Editors ... Heidi Viets, Orlando Epp
Sports Editor ... Clint Kanaga
Society Editor ... Jean Fees
News Editor ... Glee Smith
Sunday Editor ... Milo Farnett
United Press Editor ... David Whitney
Re-write Editor ... Kay Bozarth
Cow Editors: Anne Nettels, Mary Margaret Gray
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager ... Frank Baumgartner
Advertising Manager ... Jason Yordy
Used Textbooks Bought and Sold
W. S.G.A. Book Exchange
(Sub-Basement) UNION BUILDING
Keeping busy? Yes Sir! We've got a bigger job these days
We're building telephone systems at army cannonments, navy bases, munitions plants—wherever they can use us to speed the job.
And building new lines to these bases . . . sometimes stringing them hundreds of miles to places that used to need only one or two circuits.
Between jobs for the government . . . we're adding whatever equipment we can get to our network of lines and central offices in the Southwest. ..
While this emergency lasts . . . on the biggest job we've ever tackled . . . we're doing our level best to serve the nation, and serve you.
SOUTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE CO.
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