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Summer Session Kansan Friday, June 21, 1957
Gone Are The Days
The apparent lack of distinction between the basic political philosophies of the parties has been, without doubt, the loudest single criticism of the American two-party system of national politics.
.Soldom, if ever, it has been observed, can the average citizen distinguish an essential difference in the continuing policy or behavior of the parties.
If we were to scale the success or failure of our system on legislative statistics, voting tallies, historical analysis and the quandary of the average citizen this would be a valid complaint in a political community that has traditionally attributed its well being to the stabilizing effects of a continual conflict between opposing, well intending forces.
Fortunately the stability of this nation does not depend upon factors so elemental as the compromise of its political halves, nor does the perpetuation of our democratic ideal hinge for a moment on the much discussed clash of sectional interests, labor and management, rich and poor, or black and white.
If we are to disregard, then, the popular theory that the vital oils of democratic process are the internal wanglings of its components, and that the vanishing dissimilarity of its political parties is an omen foretelling of future despotism or anarchy or the eventual destruction of the democratic concepts, we must, it would seem, offer a sounder theory.
This we cannot do. For sound theory is not the province of the editorial writer in this era of such unpredictable and startling change.
and as it should be merely because any kind of unity today outweighs the necessity of political dispute.
Two centuries ago the so-called splits in ideology, the Left as opposed to the Right and so on, were important devices, tools if you will, in the formulation of a workable system of government by the people or a reasonable modification of the same.
We are in the infancy of a political and social reformation—we should pray—a time of great enlightenment. Past is the time when democratic governments are nourished by the continual conflict of opposite points of view.
We are entering upon this age of political togetherness, side-stepping party lines, much for the same reason that our fathers stepped gingerly onto the path of partial national socialization. The reason being the overwhelming erosive pressures of situation, and the situation being the unsurpressable advance of science, industry, population—in short, progress.
With progress in the areas of science and industry, commerce and the arts of warfare, there must come real, though gradual, changes in the fundamental concepts of government, its place in society, its responsibilities and the citizen's thinking where it is concerned.
Today, as we dog-paddle through a confusing couple of decades of dilemma, when we totter on the brink, possibly, of self-extermination, and find that the world is fast becoming impossibly crowded and small and divided by hemispheric atom-armed warlords, any amount of unification of purpose is a welcome sandbag in this struggle to keep the missile from our door.
Nixon And Kennedy The Leaders?
Jim Sledd
Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy will be the standard bearers of the two major parties in the 1960 battle for the presidency.
That is the consensus of campus editors who participated in the fifth annual College Editors Poll conducted by journalism students at New York University.
Mr. Nixon and Senator Kennedy amassed more than twice as many points in the poll as the two second-place finishers—Senator William Knowland and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson.
The 58 students editors from coast to coast were about evenly divided on whether the GOP can win without President Eisenhower at the head of the ticket. Of the 30 who didn't think it likely, 18 identified themselves as Democrats. On the other hand, 14 of the 24 who foresee a Republican victory without the President are Republicans.
Included in the poll questionnaire was the query
"Which political party do you favor?" Twelve of the campus journalists listed themselves as independents. The remainder split evenly between the two major parties.
Most of those who called themselves Republicans attributed their allegiance to "admiration for President Eisenhower." Others put it this way: "Family is Republican; see no reason for change ..." "A conservative by birth... It is the party of young people and most nearly represents the type of government upon which this country was founded." One West Coast editor praised the Republican approach as "sensible and level-headed" and said his state's Democrats are "at least semi-demagogues."
Those favoring the Democrats cited "the vigor of the party" and "its liberal qualities make it the party with the widest base in American politics." Another is a Democrat because he dislikes "special interests running the country."
—New York University
... Books In Review
JOHN WESLEY HARDIN. By Lewis Nordyke. William Morrow and Co., New York, publisher.
. . .
A man whose brain was triggered by anger, and who unfortunately carried two guns that were like extensions of his own arms in their effectiveness and accuracy, is the subject of this biography. The notorious gunman, whose parents christened him in the hope he would become a Methodist minister like his father, went through life killing in anger. He was finally shot in the back by one who dreaded him.
Today the teen-age youth, who by 18 had many notches on his gun, would have been the interested object of psychiatric attention which might have been able to stop his mad career. Nothing of that kind was known in the post-Civil War period in which John Wesley Hardin and other "bad men" of his time found their rationalization for such deeds in the unfairness of reconstruction days in Texas.
Lewis Nordyk, who is also author of two books on Texas cattle country, tapped sources which have not been available to any previous chronicler of Wes Hardin's life, including family letters owned by the man's descendants. The book will be specially interesting to Kansans for its account of how hardin managed to match the cleverness and daring of Wild Bill Hickok in an exciting episode in Abilene that occupies a good portion of the middle of the book.
Resisting the temptation to go into psychological detail about Hardin's killings, Mr. Nordyke keeps to a rattling good account of the external events. To understand what may sometimes appear to be an unduly sympathetic attitude toward the killer's motivations, one must recognize that this was a time in which men often took the law into their own hands, with what they believed to be good and sufficient reason.
There is also a Newton episode of interest.
Hardin never waited to consider the reasons. If they affected him, it was because they were so deeply imbued in him that they helped trigger his accurate gunfire.
From Tuesday, June 25, to Friday, June 28, Mr. Nordyke will act as non-fiction leader of the University of Kansas Writers' Conference, meeting in the Oread Room of the Union. He will criticize the work of enrolled non-fiction writers, take part in several panels, and give the opening lecture of the Conference on "How to Make a Living Writing."
The Southwest as subject not only for such narratives as this, but for more peaceful books such as Nordyke's "Cattle Empire" and "Great Roundup," will be the subject of the Texas author's talk at 8 o'clock the evening of June 27 in the Memorial Union ballroom. "Great Plains Storyland" is the topic Mr. Nordyke has chosen for this University Convocation lecture, open to the public without charge.
—Frances Grinstead
CBS announced that its new "The Twentieth Century" series will begin Oct. 20. The first will be a one-hour show devoted to Sir Winston Churchill's career. There will be 26 of these documentary-type shows, five of one hour, the rest 30 minutes long. Dates and air time will be announced later. Documentary film footage from all over the world will be the basic material, but this will be augmented by film shot especially for the subjects.
The film sales department of CBS has sold a package of 26 filmed episodes of the "Mama" series widely, and it is notable that 16 of the shows were not seen on the CBS network during the season just ended. CBS presented only 10 episodes before the show suddenly was withdrawn.
TV Notes
The June 26 bout on ABC's "Wednesday Night Fights" will be between Bobby Boyd, Chicago middleweight, and Rocky Castellani of Luzerne. Pa. It comes from Chicago Stadium.
SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
A hearty HURRAH! for our campus police!
Campus Police Credited
(Published Tuesdays and Fridays)
Ed. Phone 251 Bus. Phone 376
Editors ... Dale Morsch
John Eaton
Business Mgrs... Colby Rehнит
Bill Irvine
Reporters... Martha Crosier
John Husar
Janet Juneau
Manager... James E. Dykes
When a group of Lawrence teenagers began throwing small bombs and firecrackers at Carruth-O'Leary dormitory (housing boys from the Midwestern Music and Art Camp) late Wednesday, campus police joined forces with the Lawrence police to round up the offenders just seconds after a call for help.
This is just one of the many services the KU police have performed to preserve the serenity of our campus.
been among the most conscientious workers on the hill.
The campus police have always
It is about time that Chief Joe Skillman and his boys received a well-deserved pat on the back. John Husar
The United States averages 175.000 forest fires a year, the National Geographical Magazine says. People start about 90 per cent of them, mostly through carelessness.
Graduating seniors at Wells College, Aurora, N. Y., traditionally ride to commencement in a stage coach.
L. G. BALFOUR CO.
Fraternity Jewelers
- Fraternity Badges—Rings—Novelties
- Personalized Mugs and Ceramics
- Trophies and Awards
411 West 14th
Al Lauter
Phone VI 3-1571
BEAT THE HEAT
today . . . . all summer
with
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Bar-B-Que Grills
$2.98 & Up Also Charcoal, Lighters, And All The Accessories
Picnic Baskets $2.98 & Up
Student Desk Study Fans 6 inch fan $5.25-10 inch fan $13.98
Buy Now for the Sweltering Days Ahead. A Real Bargain.
MALOTT'S HARDWARE
736 Mass. — V1 3-4121