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University Daily Kansan Thursday. April 23, 1959
Algeria-French Tinderbox
Algeria is scorched by the flames of rebellion. France's manpower, pride and frances are on fire.
The result is a bubbling caldron of headaches for the Western World and the United States. The United States is squeezed between the conflicting armies of France and Algeria, both vital to Western defense.
This week, while Charles F. Gallagher of the American Universities Field Staff and an expert on North Africa, visits the campus, he will touch on some of the Algerian questions.
Algeria, a nation as large as the United States and four times as large as France, is the gateway to Africa and its storehouse of resources. It has been said that he who controls the North coast of Africa controls the Mediterranean.
Oil—the magic of the Sahara Desert—adds to the volatility of the African tinderbox.
The Algerian nation is essential as a market for France whose drooping economy could wilt with new trade disturbances. But final negation of Algeria's aspirations for independence would be fatal to co-operation between the West and the Arab world and extremely damaging to relations with other Asian-African nations.
And further prolonged identification of the West with the forces of blind colonialism can lead to an Algerian arrangement with the East of the kind taking place in Iraq.
The war in Algeria is four and one-half years old. The bloodletting is close to 125,000 casualties.
The war costs France $1.5 billion a year. The stepped-up draft of young men for service in North Africa has taken more than one per cent of the normal labor force. The stationing of nearly 500,000 men in Algeria has been a serious drawback to NATO plans for the defense of Central Eurone.
And an end to the Algerian War, at least on France's terms, seems as far off as ever. The French army will not recognize that it cannot have a military victory, and this can destroy France.
Liberal, democratic opinion in France is dead. The problem as seen by the dominant right-wing in France is one of honor.
Further, the Algerian Nationalists are turning more and more toward the East for arms. Both Russia and China have promised weapons.
Rebels claim that they are the true representatives of the Algerian people, and through the machinery of the UN (using Syria and Tunisia among others as their spokesmen) they have demanded that Algeria get full independence.
To this France has responded that while it will negotiate a cease-fire at any time, and now plans to hold elections on the basis of a greatly enlarged franchise, it has no intention of granting Algeria full sovereignty. It considers the country an integral part of the French Republic.
The United States has so far tried to carry water on both shoulders. This country has long standing ties with France and could scarcely sustain the NATO alliance without her. At the same time the United States has sought not to offend the Asian-African bloc in the UN.
At the last UN debate on Algerian independence, the United States abstained from voting. But this is running away—not a solution.
Should the United States back France and rely on time and a gradual process of Algerian education to solve most of the issues Algeria presents?
Is Algeria really ready for independence? Or is it another Indonesia? Liquidating colonialism does not guarantee true economic and human progress. Algeria, like all undeveloped countries, needs French capital.
Is the United States possibly taken in by anti-imperialist slogans? France has organized teams of doctors, teachers, and social workers who have ministered to Algerian needs. She has poured millions of dollars of investment into Algeria—more than she has taken out.
And what will be the effect upon the East-West struggle if Algeria achieves independence? The danger of Communist domination is worth considering, for the independence movement consists of the F.L.N. (National Liberation Front), the M.N.A. (Algerian National Movement), and the Algerian Communist party. The three movements are as much at odds with one another as with the French.
Is it time for Americans to consider the need for disassociation from foreign policy which stands in the way of high ethical standards? Should the United States support the Algerian cause?
How these questions are answered could mean the difference between peace and World War III. —Larry Miles
Once Upon a Time
By Martha Fitch
Once upon a time there was a senior class that did not leave a gift for the University to remember them. They didn't even have a fitting plaque to put anywhere in remembrance of their school devotion.
They did not realize that in a
few years some of them would come back and be embarrassed because they couldn't take their children to see the gift they had left. How would they explain the dilemma that had faced their class?
It was really very simple. At the time it had seemed horribly important to think up a gift to give
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
to the University but some of the more active members had decided that this class should give something that would please absolutely everyone (almost), and this was hard to do.
"NO MATTER HON LOUSY HER SPEECHES - YOU'LL HAVE TO ADMIT SHE ALWAYS HOLDS THEIR ATTENTION."
First they though of putting gold-fish in the Chi O fountain, but who could imagine a fish swimming around with a plaque on it?
Then the idea was brought up that perhaps a new filter for Potter Lake could be installed, but of course they could not do that because the plaque might rust in the water. Not that a plaque was a must, but after all, everyone before them had a plaque and how could they afford to be different?
As numerous suggestions were brought up and thrown out the window just as fast, the seniors got so discouraged that they decided rather than be criticized they would leave nothing at all. Surely no one could talk about that.
Of course in the end they were talked about the most because they had dared to be different. no gift and no plaque and nothing at all.
When a fellow says it hain't the money but the principle o' the thing, it's th' money.—Frank McKinney
. . .
Most women are not so young as they are painted.—Sir Max Beerbohm
--a thing for the future. Mathematics becomes a blur, science a song and literature poetry.
A genius is a man who *does* unique things of which nobody would expect him to be capable.—Edward V. Lucus
. . .
They talk of professional women. Personally, I have never met an amateur—Sir Winston Churchill
It Looks This Way . . .
By George DeBord
A spring day like this one brings out not only the best in nature, but the best in man. Blood flows through the veins like warm, red wine until the mind is dizzy with thoughts of beauty in man's sweet drunkenness in harmony with his world.
The hard, cold, logical thinking of winter melts before the rushing spring air. Business becomes a game, study a bore, and work a thing for the future. Mathemat-
April is the month of awakening. It is the month that brings the promise of May, the most beautiful of all months. Man awakens from within himself and his cold and stormy world. He moves outside—outside his factfilled mind and into the heart of nature.
It is a time for happiness, love, singing, thought, watching, dreams, playing, peace, tranquility. It is the time for living.
What good is it?
It is no good to the man in search of the dollar. He can't make a profit from the season. Production slacks off because workers become restless at their machines. Office workers tire of papers and typewriters and sit dreamy-eyed waiting for 5 o'clock.
It is no good to the teacher. Students skip assignments, miss class. When they do come, they are not responsive. Those who have pored over the books through the winter, now leave them in search of the pleasures of life.
The man who asks this question presents a perfect defense for the worth of spring. It is the season that brings out the best in man, his hopes, his dreams, his appreciation of the world in which he lives. This is why he does not produce for the material world—he is drifting above it in the beauty of the aesthetic.
But spring needs no defense. A clear blue sky and a warm south breeze are far more beautiful than all that man could produce with centuries of labor. But more important than this is the appreciation of his wonderful world that spring gives to man.
What good is it? Don't ask me. I'm too busy living.
By Calder M. Pickett Assistant Professor of Journalism
SOME LIKE IT HOT, by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. Signet 35 cents.
The screenplay of Billy Wilder's new motion picture comedy is available in paperback, with eight pages of photographs. The movie itself still has not arrived in Lawrence (when it does arrive it will have been "treated" a bit by the state board of censorship).
But the screenplay is a delight, diluted or otherwise. Most film fans know by now that "Some Like It Hot" is in the grand old tradition of film comedy, complete with sight gags and wild chases that recall the days of Mack Sennett and Chaplin. It's the story of two Chicago musicians who witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre and are forced to hide out with an all-girls' band to escape the mob.
That's enough. Details should not be given away. Moviegoers old enough to recall the 1930s ("It Happened One Night," "The Thin Man," "My Man Godfrey," and "Nothing Sacred") will be glad to hear that there'll soon be a comedy in town. Younger people should be glad, too. Except for some of the Judy Holliday films there have been fewer movies in recent years as much fun as "Some Like It Hot."
Dailu hansan
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