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University Daily Kansan
Monday, Oct. 5, 1959
'United We Stand'
Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy's recent trip to Fort Hays has resulted in the first of what is hoped will be a long string of good omens for the state's educational budget hopes.
For some time there has been concern over the lack of provisions at Kansas colleges and universities for the expected enrollment surge due in 1962. In that year the first class of "war babies" will mature.
Unfortunately, indecision on the Board of Regents over how to use the money needed to build new campus buildings has stifled the current attempt to prepare for the impending crisis. As long as state legislators and administrators prolong their uncertainty and confusion there is a chance that work won't get started on the vital project until too late.
In Fort Hays, Chancellor Murphy and President M. C. Cunningham, of Fort Hays State College, made joint speeches before 340 citizens interested in the welfare of higher education last Thursday. Together, the leaders issued warnings of the situation's seriousness. Many Kansas legislators were present in the audience, for the first time hearing the chancellor speak on this issue.
Of course, all the words spoken by the two school heads might as well be considered water over the dam unless the authorities enact some measures in line with education's needs. Little more but talk can be proffered now, however, because the issue seems to be split both politically and emotionally.
But new life is stemming from the alignment between Chancellor Murphy and President Cunningham. The meeting should have come about long ago, since both schools are affected in the program. Only unitedly can a group achieve a difficult goal. Yet, since seven state institutions are involved in the building issue, and not only two, it would be helpful if they all would get together.
If signs are promising, there is hope that an awakened legislature will not fail its youthful constituency. —John Husar
To Recognize Red China
Red China was ten years old Thursday. The Communist government of China has assumed complete authority and is beginning to pose severe problems in world politics.
The United States has steadfastly refused to recognize Red China's government with no other justification than "moral grounds." Previous to our immediate era of "moral indignation," recognition of a country was simply facing a fact.
Opponents of recognition say that to recognize Red China would mean enhancing that country's prestige. They say it would weaken our position in the United Nations by having another Communist country present.
The case for recognition of the Red Chinese government is a supportable and rational one, not simply reasons built on fear and a misplaced morality.
In the past ten years, the Communist regime in China has organized a great population. As a result of this general organization, China is feeling for the first time a sense of nationalism and, to some degree unity. If this nation were to become effectively industrialized and unified it would pose a difficult problem to both Communism and Democracy.
If we choose to recognize Communist China immediately, channels for better communication between the two countries will be formed. We might be able to exploit a possible rift between the Chinese and the Russians. There would be opportunities for diplomatic bargaining and compromise.
Recognition of Red China will not weaken us in
the United Nations. In the Security Council we already have the veto power. Communist China's admission could not alter that.
Recognition would doubtlessly please our allies. The British have recognized Red China for years and naturally feel that this issue could cause a breach between our two countries.
In both 1955 and 1958 we were at the brink of war over the off-shore islands held by the Nationalist forces. U.S. military leaders do not feel that Quemoy and Matsu are necessary to the defense of Formosa but Chiang does.
Our support of Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces has placed us in an untenable and certainly uncontrollable position.
In 1954-55 we were able to end the crisis by persuading Chiang to abandon the Tocin Islands in return for a defense alliance.
Last year tensions concerning the off-shore islands began to ease but the situation remained under Red Chinese control.
So the situation stands. Both the Red Chinese and the Nationalists have increased their forces. Obviously the Communists are in the favorable and controlling aggressive position. We are left defending the Nationalists.
Surely the American government cannot continue the impractical and hypocritical policy of non-recognition of Red China which it now persues. In this time of emphasis on personal diplomacy, the "getting to know you" touch in foreign affairs, we should try to employ a little reason in our policy toward China.
—Saundra Havn
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904,
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Vikling 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. Postmaster General of the National. 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, holidays of national and second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
Jack Harrison ... Managing Editor
Carol Allen, Dick Crocker, Jack
Morton and Doug Yocom, Assistant
Managing Editors; Rael Amos, City
Editor; Jim Trotter, Sports Editor;
Carolyn Fralley, Society Editor.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
conn husar
Co-Editorial Editors
Darra Hayn, Associate Editorial Editor
George DeBord and
RUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bill Kane... Business Manager
Ted Tidwell, Advertising Manager;
Joanne Novak, Promotion Manager;
Rachel Meyer, Marketing Manager;
Tom Schmitz, Circulation Manager; John Massa, Classified Advertising Manager.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
It Looks This Way . . .
By George DeBord
After receiving a number of inquiries into the identity of "Lonesome George" who appears weekly on The Daily Kansan sports page, I feel obligated to dispel the rumors that he and I are one and the same.
I dislike delving into personalities, but for my own protection I am forced to reveal the person responsible for that sensational Kansas over Syracuse prediction.
No! On second thought, that wouldn't be fair. (Minnesota to roll over Nebraska—unbelievable!) So, I'll let it suffice to say that the young forecaster can often
be found out along the Jayhawk Trail—if you should happen to be motoring in that direction.
Although it never got into print, it is my understanding that Old Lonesome predicted the Dodgers to win the first game of the World Series by 15 runs. Which all goes to prove that predicting the outcome of athletic contests is a risky business.
I once knew a sports columnist who had an amazing average on predictions. At the time, I was somewhat interested in the field so I went to visit him to learn his method. I found him in a back room throwing darts.
The dart board was an unusual type. Instead of having numbered circles surrounding a bullseye, the board had two cards pinned on it. Each card contained the name of a football team. To my amazement, the two teams were to meet on the gridiron the following Saturday.
The sports man stepped back, fired a dart, and wrote something in a black book. Then he hurried over to the board, removed the cards and pinned two others in their places. Again he hurled the dart. Another winner was decided. The process was repeated until he had predicted every major contest in the country.
The following Sunday, I checked his predictions against the football scores in the newspapers. The Prophet (that's what they called him) had been correct on 97 out of 100 games.
All this doesn't prove too much, but it gives me some satisfaction to know that I am not the only one who spends most of his time groping in the dark.
Having rid myself of the "Lonesome George" tag, I now feel free to offer him my services as a prognosticator.
And so, with hat in hand. I submit:
Kansas over Fort Hays State by three touchdowns in their next meeting, and:
Los Angeles as the winner of the World Series in three games.
By Thomas M. Gale Assistant Professor of History
This biography was assembled and published at breakneck speed to take advantage of the sudden excitement and interest when the revolution in Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, finally succeeded on New Year's Day of this year. Now that the first year under Castro is drawing to a close, one can take a more critical approach to this history of the revolt. In spite of the haste with which it was written, it stands up very well. It should still be read by anyone hoping to understand what is going on in Cuba.
FIDEL CASTRO, REEBEL—LIBERAL OR DICTATOR? by Jules Dubois, The New Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. $5.00.
The success of this book can be credited to the author's decade of experience in reporting the Latin American scene for the Chicago Tribune, his close interest and association with some of the principal Cuban revolutionaries while the civil war was still in progress, and his extensive quotations from statements made by Castro.
Although the last sometimes slows down the pace of the book, the quotations make fascinating reading when they are compared to the actual steps Castro has made to solidify his revolution. Reforms that sounded so simple from the Sierra Maestra have turned into thorny problems when he has tried to put them into effect. The quotations also show the powerful idealistic and moral motives and desires of Castro's 26th of July rebels, backed by a supreme confidence in the rightness of their cause.
The author illustrates the brutal excesses of the Batista era, which help to explain the reasons for the highly criticized trials of those who committed atrocities in Cuba. He finds inexcusable the failure of Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith to understand what was going on in Cuba, and he points out the hazards of United States military missions in a country torn by Civil War.
In a radio interview in 1958 he asked Castro whether he or his movement were communistic and the Cuban revolutionary replied that on the contrary, his was an entirely democratic movement and that the dictatorships of the Caribbean called him a Communist only to get more aid from the United States.
The book lacks a map, which is badly needed, for North Americans know little about the geography of Cuba. Otherwise Dubois has done a good job in describing Cuba's revolution.