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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Feb. 10, 1960
Presidential Optimism
President Eisenhower has been reassuring the American people of their safety with glowing words of optimism.
He says the United States is still the world leader and our military forces are capable of stopping any attack from another nation. Secretary of Defense Gates and General Twining, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, have echoed the words of the President.
Many congressmen disagree with the President. They, as well as other critics of the administration, believe the United States is behind in the number of missiles, submarines, the quality of education and a dozen other fields. Rep. Clarence Cannon (D-Mo), who is chairman of the appropriations committee which considers funds for the Defense department, gave his estimate of our nation's defense. He said there are enough missiles piled up abroad to defeat the U.S. within one hour.
Rep. John Rhodes (R-Ariz) jumped to the floor to criticize Cannon for his prediction of possible doom.
"It is irresponsible to scare people to death," Rhodes retorted.
The average citizen doesn't know which to believe: the Eisenhowers or the Cannons. The Defense department is reluctant to release any statistics which would endanger the United States. But the figures they do distribute to the public—especially on missiles and submarines—are not
so gratifying that they lead any Americans to over-confidence.
What bothers us is the attitude of the President, and the rest of the administration, that seems to maintain that when we lose confidence in him as "world leader" in about every conceivable field, we will become a country of panic-stricken alarmists.
- We realize the importance of our nation keeping its prestige in a divided world.
But building a Maginot Line out of our Strategic Air Defense will not solve our defense problems.
The President might be right when he says that as long as we have an adequate "deterrent" to discourage foreign aggression we can keep our confidence. He has the United States's defense statistics and intelligence estimates of other nations' armed strength.
Yet, any opposition to the President's policies should not be condemned as "irresponsible" as Rep. Cannon's comments were. Cannon might be asked where he finds his statistics and the reason for arriving at such a conclusion. But trying to burst the bubble of undauntable optimism that surrounds the White House is above condemnation. Optimism for optimism's sake, especially if we are in a position to lose a war within one hour, is a hindrance in grasping the real situation.
Doug Yocom
Burma Back to Democracy
Ey Jack Harrison
Fifteen months of military dictatorship came to an end this week for the Southeast Asian neutral nation of Burma.
Saturday's parliamentary elections marked the return of political democracy to Burma, with 52-year-old U Nu leading the so-called "clean" taction of the Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League to a solid victory.
He said after the election that his government will remain neutral, and will accept loans but not gifts from other nations. Under the military rule of Gen. Ne Win, U.S. aid was accepted.
Ne Win took over in October of 1958, when political feuding brought the nation to the brink of civil war. From 1952 to 1958, with U Nu as prime minister, Eurma had accepted no aid from either side in the cold war.
Despite harsh measures and suspension of some liberties, notably freedom of the press, Ne Wen was credited with several progressive measures during his rule — price and profit controls, peasant relocation and the elimination of corruption in the government.
Ne Win took over from U Nu 15 months ago at the latter's consent. A few quick changes in the constitution gave Ne Win extensive powers and the position of prime minister. The insurgent groups were suppressed. Ne Win was praised for his handling of the elections Saturday, a day of holiday atmosphere throughout Burma.
In his last action as head of the Burman government, Ne Win last week negotiated for the settlement of a 100-year-old border dispute with Red China. Both sides made concessions from previous positions. The agreement perhaps showed China's concern over her weakening prestige among other Asian nations. Burma and China also signed a 10-year nonagression pact last week.
In the elections, the two leaders of the "stable" faction of the League, U Ba Swe and U Kyaw Nyein, were defeated in their attempts to gain Parliamentary seats.
U Nu's faction of the League claimed the support of the masses, while the "stable" group was backed largely by businessmen and industrialists. U Nu said he
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
will name his group the Union Party.
U'Nu gained much support in his campaign through his promise to make Buddhism the state religion. Eighty per cent of the Burmese people are Buddhist. Earlier in its history Burma had church and state closely associated.
"I THINK HE GIVES HER LOW GRADES ON PURPOSE!
HE LETS HER TALK HUM INTO RAISING THEM."
Buddism is anti-progress and anti-scientific. Buddhists will not kill animals or eat meat, white over half of the 25 million people in Eurma suffer from malnutrition as a result of their diet based on polished rice.
Health and medicine are badly neglected in Burma. In 1952 the life expectancy was 30 years, far below Western nations and even other Asian countries. U.S. aid to Burma should go for increased medical facilities and doctors, and for a program to supplement the inadequate diet of the people.
Burma should profit greatly from a recent agreement with Japan, whereby Burma will receive technical assistance and capital goods as credit on Japanese war reparations.
Letters
The purpose of these evaluations is not to create conformity, but to allow professors to see themselves as others see them. This should be an invaluable service, for few people are received as they think they are. To guide the thoughts of those who might not agree with me I point to some well chosen words by Robert Burns.
Editor:
RE: The recent article in your paper concerning faculty disapproval of evaluation sheets.
"O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as itthers see us. It wad free mony a blunder free
And foolish notion." Name withheld by request.
Short Ones
By Jack Harrison
The other day Fred Morrison walked down Jayhawk Boulevard and nobody gave him a passing glance. Elinor Hadley strolled into the library unnoticed. Cheryl Payer went through enrollment alone. Alana Latta sat in a-cornert of the Hawk's Nest, all by himself, sipping a coke. Fame is so fleeting.
The Daily Kansan news staff adviser, a brotherly soul who is always watching us has an appropriate automobile license number —1984.
By Carol Heller
The people who let the rain keep them away from the University Theatre's opening performance of "The Crucible" last night missed an excellent play.
The cast unfolded the play so smoothly that it ceased to be an audience-versus-stage conflict. No one had time to snicker at the dramatic or tender moments. No one had time to whisper boring interludes or to crack belittling remarks about the amateur actors.
Instead, the audience was captivated and drawn into Arthur Miller's astonishing, fascinating and terrifying story of the Salem, Mass., witch trials of 1692.
The plot of the play is a busy one—involving a group of young girls who danced nude in the woods by night, a parson who was too cowardly to admit he knew about the nocturnal dances, a couple whose love was threatened by a young harlot and a town whose people were crazed with witchcraft and the fear of hell and the devil.
Charles Kephart as the Rev. Samuel Parris, Sidney Berger as the Rev. John Hale—a minister from a neighboring village acclaimed as an authority on the devil and witchcraft—and Sandra Hopkins as Abigail the harlot, played their roles spiritedly.
But the dynamism and sensitivity of the play was borne by Al Rossi as John Proctor, the man who preferred death to falsely confessing visions of the devil. Proctor's character was difficult to portray. He was a man who was probably more deeply religious than any of the other characters, yet he scoffed at their childish witchcraft fears and narrow religion.
Jeanne Rustemeyer as Proctor's wife, Elizabeth, also played her part memorably, perhaps because her slimness, dark hair and fair skin lent themselves so picturesquely to the frail, but quiet and strong, character of Elizabeth.
Judy Satterfield as Mary Warren, the Proctor's maid who was not courageous enough to ultimately defy Abigail to save John Proctor's life, gave a fine portrayal of a young girl in a dilemma. She moved competently from mood to mood, ranging from impertinence to hysteria.
As the director, Gordon Beck is to be commended for coaching the actors to fluently speak the Old English dialect. Seldom was it noticeable that the cast was performing under the handicap of a literally foreign tongue—such phrases as "He were a good man" and "There be no witches in my house" sounded practically normal.
Bob Moberly's settings were uniquely designed. Although they illustrated a 17th century play, the settings were bold and modernistic, dramatically set against a black background. The furnishings were neat and clean and simple—with no dust, sand nor rust spread about for that "authentic" look. Dramatic lighting with a golden touch enhanced the plain, somber-colored costumes of the early New England settlers.
The audience applauded loud and long, but the applause seemed almost sacrilegious. It might have been better to express praise of the performance by remaining silent.
Worth Repeating
"A survey of New York Giants' players unearthed an almost unanimous admission of some nervousness on the day of the game...'It takes me quite a while to get myself in the proper frame of mind,' says Cliff (Livingstone), a linebacker. He accomplishes this by lounging on a coach (cq) in an anteroom..." New York Times, Dec. 13, 1959.
"The American scholar no longer heeds Emerson's advice: 'Tell us what you know'; he tells us what he has found, which is a longer and drearier story—Anon. Times Literary Supplement."
Unless the graduate schools of arts and sciences produce a strong, freshly designed M.A. . . . the teachers' colleges will step in with a lot of shining new doctorates on abominable subjects. J. Petersen Elder.
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIking 3-2700 Extension 711, news room Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 420 Madison Ave., New York, 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
Managing Editor
Jack Morton ... Managing Editor
Ray Miller, Carol Heller, George DeBord and Carolyn Fruilley, Assistant
Managing Editors; Jane Eoyd, City Editor; Ralph (Gabby) Wilson and
Warren Haskins, Sports Editors; Carrie Edwards and Priscilla Burton,
Society Editors.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Douglas Yocom and Jack Harrison ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bruce Lewellwyn Business Manager
John Massa, Advertising Manager; Mark Dull, Promotion Manager;
Dorothy Boller, National Advertising Manager; Tom Schmitz, Circulation Manager; Martha Grmsby, Classified Advertising Manager.