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University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 29, 1960
Crime Increase
Crime statistics for 1958 show an increase of 9 per cent in this country's crime rate. That means an estimated 1,553,982 serious crimes were committed in the United States during 1958. The 1959 statistics won't be in for another year.
The same old jaded argument will be given for this rise—our population has increased four million in the last year. But, statistics show (and I realize that this is a catch-all phrase) the fallacy of placing too much significance upon this alone.
THE DIRECTOR of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. J. Edgar Hoover, said that in his opinion, the high crime rates are traceable to two primary conditions:
1) An unfortunate spread of moral deterioration among growing segments of our population and 2) public apathy toward crime and other dangerous conditions.
In the first category, he said, we can find moral degradation not merely in the rise of bank robberies, crimes of violence and other types of underworld activity, but also in the willingness of many law-abiding Americans to compromise their ideals if an easy dollar can be made. This fact—tragic as it may be—underlies the recent scandals exposed in the entertainment world—the television industry in particular.
ABOUT THE second category, Mr. Hoover says that public apathy is on the rise in too many American communities. Such apathy, he says, is really a sickness. Its symptoms are lethargy, self-indulgence and adherence to the principle of "pleasure before duty."
What are the other factors contributing to the aggravated crime picture? One editorial writer said they are the overprotective attitude which exists in some areas toward vicious young offenders, delays in the administration of justice, legal technicalities and pressures exerted by outsiders to thwart honest and impartial enforcement of the law. All of these conditions can do nothing else but encourage the growth of crime and hamper the cause of decency.
HERE IN Kansas we have a highway patrol and state police system second to few, but no amount of efficient law enforcement can compensate for basic weaknesses in our moral armor. It's up to you (and this is a phrase I know you have heard so often it has lost its effect). Just take a short self-appraisal next time you find yourself easing past a law. Sure, it may be a "little, unimportant law," but by violating it, you come into the same court as the more serious offender.
We can't all depend upon the governor commuting our sentences.
—Rael F. Amos
That Music Again
Editor:
Regarding Mr. Banker's letter concerning my criticism of the "Martin Denny Group." I would like to comment that I am glad to see so vehement a proponent of exotic music and "the well-built American girl." though I received the impression that his remarks were overshadowed by an obvious intent to insult rather than to criticize another's opinion.
I DO NOT think Mr. Banker's criticism by paralleling Brahms, Ravel, or Teachikovsky with the "exotic sounds" of a novelty night-club act is quite justified. Surely it is obvious, even to me with the "intelligence of a high school junior," that the "Martin Denny Group" represents a concept based purely on style and novelty effects, which may have had a perfectly valid basis in the original context (presumably the Hawaiian Islands), but which have been artificially transposed in such a way as to become meaningless, except as a musical oddity. Here is found no
artistic meaning, no heart, as is present in real music. Evidently "exotic music" represents a trend in contemporary popular music toward smothering perfectly good material with stylistic garbage.
This trend is in considerable contrast to the jazz compositional work of men such as Neal Hefti, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. Their jazz is certainly not hung-up in one mode, but is manifested creatively in many directions.
TO SAY that "exotic music," commercialized pseudo-oriental trash fitted with a conglomerate of jungle bird calls (in hi-f!), has a place in American music compared with that of jazz and the classics is, to say the least, a futile judgement. I would like to avoid tossing back any of Mr. Banker's bluntly pointed insults, but I rather think such a shallow comparison must result from a somewhat confused intellect.
I am glad to learn from this enlightened gentleman that, indeed,
"exotic music is not dominating
our American musical scene." Thank God for small favors.
Apparently I committed the sin of making myself explicitly clear in my original criticism of the "Martin Donny Group." The point is that this is a byproduct of an artistically degenerate society, and I by no means wish to imply that one's freedom to enjoy such forms should be restricted. Nevertheless, it seems unfortunate that such a lack of taste determines the quality of the commercial music which we must endure.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
Jim Heaton
Baldwin senior
* * *
Cadaver Gift?
After reading the Kansan article on the "cadaver shortage" at KU, it occurred to me that there is a great bounty of bodies belonging to our beloved alumni going to waste all over this country.
If we could, somehow, persuade a large percentage of our aged graduates to donate their bodies to the University upon leaving this mortal soil, we should have the answer to our problem. We might start the campaign off with a few mottos such as, "If you can't send money, send your body instead," or "There's no need to leave old KU—just send your body and stay forever," or "Don't bury it—send it to KU."
Editor:
I'm sure that there are a great number of people (graduates or not) who would be willing to give their bodies to a university in need if they knew that they would be helping mankind through medicine. I, for one, will leave mine when the time comes, for I believe that one of the finest gifts a man can give his fellow man is that which comes from his own being.
Jim McMullan
Long Beach, New York.
. . . And Another
Editor:
1 wonder why an enlightened senior class has not gotten the idea of a genuine senior-class-cadaver-gift, thus contributing to the long run solution of the KU cadaver problem.
* *
Heinrich Wohlmeyer Austrian graduate student
Short Ones
This definition appeared on a quiz from Money and Banking class (a married man's paper, no less)—"Wealth is any income that is at least $1,000 more a year than the wife's sister's husband."
International Jayhawker
By Rab N. Malik
Karachi, Pakistan, junior
When the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent were struggling for independence, side by side with the other nationalist elements, they had two primary objectives in mind: (1) to create a sovereign and independent state for themselves, (2) to make that state a living symbol of "Islamic Democracy."
Their first objective was realized, after a great deal of savagery and bloodletting resulting from communal riots between the Hindus and the Muslims, on the 14th of August, 1947. But the second and, by far, the most important objective has so far eluded the young nation of Pakistan. The failure to achieve this objective can easily be attributed to three main factors: (1) the lack of a clear program and workable ideology (2) incompetence of leaders (3) the insatiable greed of politicians.
DURING THE DECADE that preceded the emergence of Pakistan as a free nation, the heady euphoria of winning independence dominated political thinking and psychological attitudes of the Muslim leaders. Once the country was created they were confused and baffled by the problems that it entailed, not knowing what to do. The Muslim league, the party that was responsible for the establishment of Pakistan, continued to depend, as it had always done in the past, not on the party program or an organization, but on the prestige and influence of its leaders, Mr. Jinnah, the George Washington of Pakistan, and Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister.
Unfortunately for the Muslim League and the Pakistan nation, Mr. Jinnah passed away soon after Pakistan's inception. A few years later Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan was killed by a fanatic's bullet. Liaquat's death ushered in a decade of squabbles among the politicians. Pakistan, which in its early years gave an outward appearance of progressive movement was to become a laughing stock before the eyes of the world, and, politically speaking, a perfect counterpart of the deceased French 4th Republic.
HERE IT SEEMS only fair to point out that the democratic forces have not altogether disappeared in Pakistan. After the peaceful November revolution in 1958, which deprived the politicians of their lucrative positions and brought the soldiers to the forefront, appreciable progress has been noticed to establish democracy on sound footings. What, then, has the present government done in this regard, in addition to weeding out corruption and inefficiency?
The experiment to build democracy on a four tier basis has already been introduced. Briefly, this experiment which has been given the name, "Basic Democracies," has its roots in the village. At the lowest level are the Union panchayats, each containing ten elected and five nominated members. Each elected member represents from 1,000 to 1,500 people. These bodies are entrusted with judicial, police, and developmental functions pertaining to their areas. The next tier is the sub-district councils, called Tesil Councils in West Pakistan and Thana Councils in East Pakistan. These councils primarily concern themselves with the development activities within their areas. They are composed of the presidents of the Union panchayats and officers of the development department. The other two tiers are the District Councils presided over by the deputy commissioners, and Divisional Councils under commissioners. These Councils are composed of officials and non-officials on a fifty-fifty basis. Elections to the Union panchayats are held on the basis of adult franchise. In case the new constitution — a constitutional commission has already been set up to frame it—provides for indirect elections to the parliament or the office of the president, the Union panchayats are likely to form the electoral college. This experiment also indicates the sort of democracy that is likely to work in Asia.
The edifice of this system is based on the assumption that economic and social developments have precedence over political bungling and selfish intrigues of greedy politicians. Here I hasten to add that establishing democracy on firm foundations in Pakistan, or in any other Asian country, for that matter, will require more than plebiscitary democracy under army tutelage. It will entail a thorough self-appraisal by Pakistanis as well as all other Asians, high and low. I suspect that the only type of democracy that could properly function in Asia would have to be Asian in character.
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
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Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50th St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence Kan. every afternoon during the university year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Jack Morton Managing Editor Ray Miller, Carol Heller, George DeBord and Carolyn Frailey, Assistant Managing Editors; Jane Boyd, City Editor; Ralph (Gabby) Wilson and Warren Haskins, Sports Editors; Carrie Edwards and Priscilla Burton, Society Editors.
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