Page 2 University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 17. 1959 Organization Men Recent letters to the Daily Kansan from independent students have questioned the alleged fact that the unorganized independent students have no voice in student government. The implications are that Greek organizations are in a sort of conspiracy to control student affairs. Whether or not campus affairs are dominated by Greeks is open to debate. But it would seem that these organizations have power out of proportion to their numbers. Why is this the case? The question is, then, "How do independents achieve more power in the political parties?" The answer is "Organize and present yourselves to the party of your choice." Independents should not feel that they will never be heard. Both Vox Populi and Allied Greek-Independent are willing and eager to accept either individual or group memberships. Both parties include Greeks and independents as members and on their executive councils. But it is obvious that a politician representing 100 independentss will have more of a voice than one representing only himself. The Greeks are simply better organized. The arrangement of their living units—which is the basis for membership and power in each political party-favors them. This is where the Greeks are favored. According to each of their constitutions, the two parties will accept representatives of all organized houses, whether Greek or independent dormitories. This is not to say that each and every member of the represented house must have strong political convictions. Often the reverse is true—apathy is rampant. Thus, by their physical separation, the independents are at a great disadvantage. But one rabid representative of 70 anathetic Greeks will have more say in either party than 10 rabid but unorganized independents. It is obvious that organizational skill and effort must be exerted if the independents are to have a greater voice. The great mass of students will never be heard from unless they are organized. If such an organizational movement does take place, the students can then examine Vox Populi or AGI for membership. The real problem of the independents is their apathy. The Greek apathy is probably just as great, but the Greeks are simply bound together by the walls of their living units. That is hard to beat. This apathy seems to be an American characteristic. It is something that should be changed. It is a wise idea to take an interest in affairs of government. Unless people can feel deeply about their privileges, the day may come when those privileges will be whisked away, never to return. Then it will be too late. —Robert Harwi By John Husar In his many plays Eugene O'Neill attempted to satisfy questions pertinent to the matter of life. Whether or not he did this successfully is a matter of conjecture. No one can fully estimate the extent of one's success better than the individual himself. But there is the object of the playwright's message—the audience. Does the philosopher reach his object? Does the audience get the point? This also depends upon the individual. In a play such as "The Great God Brown," presented last night in the Experimental Theatre, bedecked with symbolism and dramatic poetry, the point is only what the individual sees, hears and feels. Here O'Neill evaluates life, or truth, and what it means, its value to man, and the results of its lack or substitution. In his search for reality, truth, he uses masks and people as symbols. His characters are types of men; their masks sides of their personalities. Basically each individual is good and true to himself. But in the conventions of desire for success, want of love and greed for possession, the characters must cover their true faces with masks of falsity. These masks, when worn, show the distortion of truth writhing the characters. They display the crude, horrible face of pretentiousness — horrible because these Jekyll-Hyde masks fool the people themselves. They twist their minds into believing, at least temporarily, that falsity is truth, that they are right in this pursuit, that the world is wrong. These souls pretend to be what they are not in order to gain satisfaction, success, happiness, or whatever you will. Finding this means of gaining unsatisfying, etc., they seek another false means of gaining and only sink deeper into the abyss of meaninglessness. They lose their true identities. Every now and then O'Neill's characters remove the masks and reveal sincere belief or hope or love. But only ultimate death permanently clears away the symbolic masks. Only then does peace supplant misery, the peace of truth as the soul lies bare in rightful and necessary reality. Sydney Berger (Brown) held some great moments as the symbol of material success consumed with envy for the man who held his only want, the woman's love. Miles Coiner (Dion) powerfully plays the lonesome, creative soul, steeped in failure, but possessing the one treasure, the woman's love. Both fine actors, they consistently held the audience's rapt attention. Lea Thomas (Margaret) is the woman, wife of Anthony, dream of Brown. Her tender characterization is moving and talented. Linda Flake (Cybel) is the prostitute who represents true love. Her interpretation of a difficult role was extremely tasteful, for one with less imagination would have easily fallen into a common type. Director Maralyn Shackelford's staging on the complicated five-set horseshoe stage was smooth and efficient. John Welz' modernistic settings, Dick Borgen's lighting and Ann Runge's costumes lent much credibility to the production. I THOUGHT THE ASSOCIATED STUDENTS' HAZING COMMITTEE RULED OUT PADDLING. " It is difficult to adequately treat O'Neill's play with only one caress. The best solution is to see it again if we are fortunate enough to grab one of the remaining seats. Dailu Hansan University of Kansas student newspaper Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trieweekly 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. Repres- ented by National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Avenue., New York, N.Y. College, Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as bonus for graduation Sept. 7, 1916 at Lawrence, Kan., to office under act of March 3, 1879. Jonas Parker Managing Editor John Husak President Jim Cable, Assistant Managing Editors; Jack Morton and Carol Allen, Co-City Editors; George DeBord and Michael Dobson; Society Editors; Sandra Hoyn, Society Editor; Donna Nelson, Association Society Editor. NEWS DEPARTMENT BUSINESS DEPARTMENT EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Bill Feitz...Business Manager Robert Lida, Advertising Manager; Howard Young, Classified Advertising Manager; William F. Kane, Promotion Manager; Paul Nielsen, Circulation Manager. Pat Swanson and Martha Crosier, Co- sistent Election Manager Robert Harvel, Associate electoral La Salle String Quartet By Stuart Levine Instructor of English A delighted audience heard a refreshing concert in Swarthout Hall last night as Walter Levin, Henry Meyer, Peter Kamnitzer and Jack Kirstein, the members of the La Salle String Quartet, performed works of Haydn, Webern and Schubert. The programming was good, as was the playing, and the whole came like a sip of clear Rhine wine after the gallons of stale $3\frac{1}{2}$ per cent beer served up by the St. Louis Symphony last Friday. Haydn's G Major Quartet, Opus 33, No. 5, a work both unified and graceful and yet totally unpredictable, opened the concert. The La Salle Quartet demonstrated a fine, lyric sound, with attractive, though hardly lush string quality. I am especially fond of the slow movement of the work, which moves like some slow, formal dance over a single rhythm which dominates the movement, at once gracious, rhythmically complex and conversational. The performers made it very convincing. Next came the three short works which constitute Anton Von Webern's total output for string quartet (Opus 5, Opus 9 and Opus 28). It not lyrical, Webern's music is at least in favor of lyricism. Little patches of tone color, a whiff of melancholy, a dab of energy, a single harmonic note suspended in air; I find this compelling stuff, the essence of German romanticism without its substance. The music is spiritually akin to both the Haydn which preceded it and the Schubert which followed it. Like Haydn, Webern knew when to shut up when he had had his say, and the value of what one leaves unsaid. Like Schubert (who, in his early works, never knew when to shut up), Webern is subjective and personal. His relationship to the 19th century is a bit like Kafka's; he has the old attitudes, but he's sick, and the resulting art is appealing but not of this world. Schubert's Quartet in A Minor, Opus 29, was given a loving and rather deeply-felt reading, rounding out an intelligently-conceived evening of music. I have one minor criticism of the quartet. This seems to be a self-conscious group. Its members tend to get worried and to tense up in exposed spots. All three works have many such places, and there were times when Mr. Levin and Mr. Meyer in particular froze, especially at the tail-ends of planissimo solo lines. If you have ever performed in public, you know the feeling. Once this starts happening to you, you can't seem to relax. By the way, Swarthout is a nice place in which to listen to chamber music, informal, comfortable, intimate. One comes away feeling one knows the performers, which was a pleasure last night. Vive La Salle! Worth Repeating "Never try to prove to the other person that you are right. It is human nature to object to anyone who insists he is right. "Rather, always present your arguments in such a manner as to do your best to prove that you are wrong. If you follow this approach, especially when you are sure you are right, the selfsame person you are trying to convince will bring up strong evidence in behalf of your cause and prove to himself and to the world that your stand is correct." —Louis Pasteur from the Reader's Digest, March, 1959. * * * * "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darknes, new races build on others. "But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." —Clarence Day from the Reader's Digest, March, 1959.