PAGE SIX
EDITORIAL
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1940.
The Kansan Comments -- EDITORIALS ★ LETTERS ★ PATTER
Uncle Sam Counts Noses
When the "man who comes to our house" (the census taker) to start his sixteenth decennial round of the nation today, he' not going to be quite so welcome as the iceman in the song.
For the list of questions Uncle Sam has prepared for his Q-Men to ask are personal and intimate as well as multitudinous. Thirty-one questions of the list, added since the last census in 1930, seem to be designed to pry into private affairs, and much ado has been raised about the right of the government to invade the American home with such queries.
Housewives, et al, however, need fear nothing. The questions to be asked by the census takers are not intended to pry. They are important in gaining necessary information for the compilation of data otherwise not available.
Just as federal statute requires that the census be taken, and that certain questions be asked, so does that same federal law protect the individual who gives the answer. Government agents engaged in garnering information about 132-odd million persons in the United States are required to "keep mum" regarding the information passing through their hands.
If there are persons who feel that certain information which must be included in the reports is too private to be told even to the census taker, he may seal written replies in an unsigned questionnaire and give it to the census taker to be transmitted to Washington, where professionally impersonal clerks will enumerate the answers. Provision for such evasion of oral replies was made by Secretary of Commerce Hopkins when much hullabaloo resulted after the announcement of the private queries to be included in the census.
The great white father in Washington also
Free Thought Comes First
A court order directing that the appointment of Bertrand Russell, English philosopher and mathematician, to the faculty of the City College of New York be revoked on the grounds that Russell's views on sex, religion, and morality constituted proof of lack of personal good moral character recalled the controversy that arose around the Kansas City Art Institute several years ago after the publication of Thomas Hart Benton's autobiography, "An Artist in America."
Amid the tumult and the shouting that arises as an undesirable consequence of such actions, the authorities invariably become myopic and fail to see actualities in a true perspective. In the case of the Kansas City artist, it was not Benton's ability as a painter and a teacher of painting that was questioned; rather, it was his personal life and beliefs that went on trial. So, also, the British peer's position as an eminent thinker and one of the world's most brilliant mathematical logicians seemingly came in for little consideration.
It becomes a grotesque absurdity when intellectual ability is sacrificed for the sake of exemplary moral life and beliefs, particularly in a country which was founded primarily that its people might have the very freedom of thought and speech for which such men are pilloried. Intellectual freedom more than anything else is the first requisite of a democracy.
asked college students to write home during March and request something besides the usual check. Census officials, believing the accuracy of the count of students away from home, at school, can be improved, suggested that college enrollees impress on their parents the necessity of reminding the takers of the students' existence.
Material thus gained regarding college students will be used solely for statistical purposes. It will be possible to determine from 1940 census figures the number of college graduates in various occupations, the number of unemployed college graduates, and a great deal of other important information never before available. The census will also furnish sociological data of considerable value to students doing research work. Material also will provide business men with a guide to mass buying power and to the study of part time and piece workers.
Cooperation with the 1940 census takers in every way, by every person in the country, will pay dividends in a number of ways.
Chief benefits will be to individual, business and professional interests, and the government of the United States.
A Vital 30 Days---- Five of U.S.' Major Wars Receive Start in April
Will 1940 bring the addition of names of more University men to the list of Mount Oread's war dead?
In the history of the United States the month of April frequently has been a vital 30 days. Men of the nation have been called to the colors during April for five of our six major wars.
The Revolutionary war began on the night of April 18-19, 1775—the night of Paul Revere's famous ride.
The Civil war, which was to bring a closer union of the United States, began when a force of Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter at Charleston, S.C., April 12, 1861.
An April 24, 1846, President James K. Polk declared that "by the act of Mexico herself" a state of war existed with our southern neighbors.
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Following the explosion of the United States ship Maine in Havana harbor in February, 1898, war was declared against Spain on April 19. 1898.
The United States entered the first world war April 6, 1917. The immediate cause of our declaration of war was stated as the "repeated outrages of German submarines against American shipping."
Vol.37 Tuesday, April 2,1940 No.119
FRESHMAN COMMISSION OF Y.M.-Y.W.: Freshman Commission of Y.M.-Y.W. will meet Thursday at 4:30 in the Kansas Room. Bret Camel, Edna Brooks, and Mary James will speak on various phases of summer opportunities.-Helen Martin, John Conard, publicity chairmen.
MATH STUDENTS: The Math Club meets Thursday at 4:45 in room 213. Roderick Burton talks on "Mathematical Philosophy: The Abstract in Abstraction". Refreshments are served at 4:15 in room 222. Visitors welcome--Marlow Sholander, president.
L. S.A.: All L.S.A. men interested in playing intramural softball please report for meeting in the Men's Louge of the Union Building at 7:30 tonight.—Paul Gilles.
Will the United States be plunged into war this year? The 30 days of this April may hold the answer to the question.
RELAYS QUEEN: Candidates who wish to compete in the contest for Relays Queen may submit a photograph in room 103 Robinson Gymnasium by Monday, April 8. The queen and her attendants will be chosen by competing varsity track teams—S. B. Sifers.
TAU SIGMA: Tau Sigma will meet tonight at 7:30.
—Gearidine Ulm, president.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Official Student Paper of
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas
EDITORIAL STAFF
Publisher ... Walt Meininger
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief  Richard Boyce
Letters Diggs Assistant Editors  Gerald Banker and Helen Markwell Feature Editor  Betty Coulson
NEWS STAFF
Managing Editor ... Jim Bell
Campus Editors ... Reggie Buxton and Roscoe Born
Society Editors ... Virginia Grain
News Editor ... Geo R. Sittler
Shorts Editor ... Larry Winn
Sunday Editor ... Clavelle Holden
Night Editor ... Rod Burton
Night Editor ... Marlou Randall and Huek Wright
Picture Editor ... Jay Wynn
Rewrite Editor ... Bill Koester
Advertising Manager ------------ Rex Cowan
Subscription rates, in advance, $3.00 per year, $1.75 per semester. Published at Lawrence, Kansas, daily during the school year except Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Entered as second class class on March 17, 1910, at the old office at Lawrence, Kansas, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
ROCK CHALK TALK
BY REGINALD BUXTON
Searching about for a method of giving this column a diversity of interests we ran into a medical student who loves to cut up dogs and to listen to classical music. He has more records than a mad wife could break in a year. Congenial friends and a phonograph are his idea of the elements of a pleasant evening. He is always ready to drop his studies and talk music. He dropped his studies to discuss in this column some of the more recent works which he has enjoyed.
★
By Tom Orr, m'43
Symphony No. 5 in C minor—
Batham
Victor M-640
Another triumph in symphonic recording by Arturo Tosenini and the N.B.C. orchestra. To many, the "Beehoven 5th" remains the concentrated ultimate in symphonic scores. Certainly, the blazing power and directness of this work has an immediate and universal appeal found in few other compositions. Mr. Tosenini's devotion to detail and perfection of performance make this album "a thing of beauty and a joy forever."
Three Famous  Scenes —Richard
Wazner Victor M-644
Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior join their voices to produce these fine recording of the "Love Duet" and the " Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde, and Brunnhilde's Immolation" from Die Gotterdammerung. Accompaniment is furnished by Edwin MacArthur and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Since Madame Flagstad has announced her intention to retire from opera at the close of this season, the appearance of this magnificent album of some of Wagner's most inspired vocal music is accepted with
gratitude by music lovers everywhere.
Francesca da Rimini - Fantasia -
Tobbielli della Vittoriano - VICTOR A.
John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic maintain their position in the recording world with this masterful reading of a popular composition. The old-timers here on the Hill will remember this work when it was played by the Kansas City Philharmonic a few years ago. The score depicts the voyage of Dante into Hell, and Francesca's description to him of her tragic affair with Paolo.
★
Five girls began their six weeks training in household management at the Home Management house this week. This period is required of all home economics majors in order that they may gain practical experience in cooking, budgeting, and general household work.
La Mer—Claude Achille Debussy Victor M-643
Serge Koussevitzki and the Boston Symphony Orchestra present magnificent reading of this beautiful work by the great impressionist. Mr. Koussevitzki himself expressed his intense satisfaction with the technical results of these recordings. Since the Boston maestro is well known for his interpretations of French music, particularly that by Debussy, this album should prove most acceptable to the shelves of the record connoisseurs everywhere.
Five To Home Ec House
The new girls are Ruth Clickner, c'40; Ernestine Menges, c'40; Maurine Gray, c'40; Isabel West, c'40; and Florence Columbia, c'40.
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