Page 2 University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1903 Y ▲ E I L M American Spirit Dead? WHO SAYS American spirit is dead? Sure, we're involved in big business, big government, big labor, big universities, big media... indeed big almost everything. But isn't this really one example of the spirit of America? EACH DAY scientists spend hours in a laboratory, huddled over a microscope trying to find the clues to the control of heart disease and cancer. What is spirit if this isn't? The big corporations spend millions of dollars each year trying to develop better products to make our homes more comfortable and our jobs more pleasant. Spirit... Everyday a man goes to work. He works for his own satisfaction, taking pride in his products. He works to provide a home and living for his family. This is spirit . . . the kind of spirit that built and maintains America. It's the critics who say that America has fallen into a rut,has become too mechanized,and has forgotten the good ol'days who just don't know where to look for this spirit. There isn't a World War going on now, but almost every day men are killed in the damp jungles of Viet Nam. Isn't this spirit? CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS, students in universities each day strive to develop their minds and ideas so that they can make, for their generation, a better life than they know today. Each day a mother instructs her child. She spanks him when he is bad, gives him a butter and sugar sandwich when he is good—but she is training him in the principles which will make his life productive rather than destructive. WE DON'T HAVE to wave flags, beat drums or become martyrs to demonstrate the spirit that has built America. We show it in our everyday life. Sticking to the everyday tasks in the hopes that as the result of our work our lives, and the lives of those who follow us will be better off is the spirit that helped make America a great nation. IT'S THE ORDINARY THINGS that the critics overlook . . . they are looking for the discrepancies in society, and for the examples of apathy in life today. They look above and beyond the activity and the spirit that keeps America running and great . . . the daily job of the father, the devotion of a mother, the dedication of a people to their lives and the lives of those around them . . . the American spirit. Bobbetta Bartelt LBJ's Policies Face Checks PRESIDENT JOHNSON drew a general picture of his Great Society in his State of the Union message last week. Without a doubt the attainment of the Great Society as envisioned by the President will require some new measures in a number of fields such as medical care for the aged and increased government aid for education. The greatness of Johnson, or as Americans have a tendency to measure it - his success - will depend largely on whether or not he can achieve those goals he has outlined to the nation. THE ROAD to presidential success is not an easy one, for it is beset by a number of roadblocks and obstacles that can wreck his policies and programs. PRESIDENT JOHNSON IS beset by many of the same limitations under the Constitution that others before him have faced. Chief among those are the provisions that create a separate judiciary and a separate legislature, each with its own bundle of powers—many of them counter balancing ones. For example, Congress has the responsibility of financing legislative programs after enacting them into law, with, or without, the consent of the president. To be sure President Johnson can influence appropriations, yet the nation's purse strings are controlled chiefly by a source other than himself. President Johnson faces the possibility of Supreme Court action on his programs. Judicial review, the act of the court in ruling on the constitutionality of a law, is another potent limitation on presidential powers. The second restriction on the presidency and, except for Constitutional ones, the most pervasive is the concept of presidential power and the nature of the office carried by the president himself. The concept he holds of his office is a vital determinant of the success of his programs. In invariably the presidents judged to be great have been men who regarded the presidency as a call for dynamic leadership of all phases of the nation, including Congress and the American public. IN GREAT PART a president places restrictions on his power because he either is unable to see the nature and scope of his powers or is unwilling to use them. For these reasons America has had a Franklin D. Roosevelt who enhanced his calling and a Dwight D. Eisenhower who performed only a caretaker role rather than that of an innovator. THOUGH NOT A CAREtaker, the President will never be an innovator in the Jackson-Roosevelt sense. He lacks the depth and breadth of vision to dream the great dreams. He is a a doer, driven by the art of the practical which usually means compromise. This is a necessary quality in a leader, but it usually precludes radical experimentation and change. ANOTHER SOURCE OF limitation is that of public opinion. This is an ephemeral, slippery thing at most times, but it can rise in sudden, righteous anger and force a president to back down. PUBLIC OPINION is not usually felt or exerted in day-to-day decision, but rather on matters that are seen by the people as having symbolic value. At best public opinion is a broad boundary line over which no president, regardless of his popularity rating, may step with impunity. Nevertheless, public opinion and especially that engendered by special interest groups limits and restricts the president's use of his powers and President Johnson will be no exception. President Roosevelt launched his New Deal and it was met with cautious acceptance because the economically stricken nation was in a mood for immediate easing of its plight. But the same people howled in protest over his plan to raise to 15 the number of justices on the Supreme Court. The "court packing plan" stirred the country and letters, telegrams, and cables poured into the White House in protest. ANOTHER AND LITTLE known restriction is found in the bureaucratic organization of the federal government. Although the heads of agencies and the members of the Cabinet are directly responsible to the president, it does not follow that they carry out his will with zeal or even willingness. Unless a presidential order is seen as unambiguous in meaning, clearly comes from the President himself, is widely publicized and the man receiving the order has every means necessary to carry it out and has no apparent doubt of the president's authority to issue it, is not easily subject to execution. IN A LARGE BUREAUCRACY that is sometimes inefficient at best there are certain to be many cases in which the above factors favoring compliance are absent. In turn compulsion to act is lacking and the presidential order or program can become bogged down. It demands constant persuasion to oblige people to do on their own responsibility what the president wishes. Though President Johnson is stronger in this area it still remains to be seen if he can handle his own people and the entrenched Civil Service employees with enough skill to insure that the machinery of implementation is oiled well. The success of President Johnson's policies will be measured by how well he handles those restrictions placed on his powers by the other branches, the Constitution, public opinion and his own bureaucracy. Further limitations will be added by the focus he takes of his powers as president. JOHNSON HAS SAID he plans to reorganize the executive branch, and this should help; but despite his ability as a compromiser, he will find the task more difficult than he supposed. Rick Mabbutt THE WEIGHT OF THOSE limitations is heavy and President Johnson will be measured a success or a failure on his ability to counter balance them and concentrate his own powers well enough to achieve his goals of a Great Society despite the fetters that would impede such progress. "Darndest Pre-Inaugural Parade I Ever Saw" The People Say... IN MY $3\frac{1}{2}$ YEARS at KU, I have been able to attain a respectable academic record by conforming to KU's "liberal method of education" memorizing and parroting. FACTS and not ideas are the stuff good grades are made of. Freshman initiation quickly made this evident through its graduate instructors and large classes. Editor: I TRUDGED through three semesters of cookbook English, made uninteresting by three equally uninterested graduate students, who mechanically graded a subsequently uninterested undergraduate. I have experienced one stimulating English course taught at another university, so I know it is not a complete impossibility. GRADUATE STUDENTS are not the only participating members of the cookbook method of teaching and grading. Due to their large classes, uninterest, research demands, and/or plain incapability, many of the faculty use the cook-book method, seasoned with multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and true-false tests. The development of ideas is in spite of and not stimulated by this method of teaching. THERE ARE A FEW INSTRUCTORS who encourage thinking and reasoning beyond memorizing. The National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Program not only encourages individual thinking by means of a research problem, but it also encourages the student to correlate facts and finally to attain a visible result. IT IS BECAUSE of these few instructors and an unusual opportunity, such as the NSF Undergraduate Research Program, that my diploma will mean something more than a piece of printed paper bringing a sigh of relief to another senior, who has received a "liberal education" in Facts from the University of Kansas. Curtis Harris Anthony senior Editor: SATURDAY. January 9, at the KU-Missouri basketball game, the ambulance service sent two 1955 cars which arrived nearly 30 minutes after the game had started. The people with these cars wore various outfits including an old sweatshirt and brown ski jacket. If this company requires 30 minutes to find a scattered crew for a prescheduled University event, how long might it require to service an accident where several ambulances are needed immediately? IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING that recently one of our Lawrence citizens was interested in establishing a new ambulance service in Lawrence. I also understand that he would have three 1965 ambulances and a full-time crew to operate them. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of the Lawrence City Commission to provide a contract and select an individual to supply ambulance service. When the present contract expires, I hope the Commission will consider all persons interested in obtaining this contract. PROTECTION AND SERVICE to the community should be the goals of an ambulance company. The oldest company is not necessarily the best. Sincerely, Peter Edlund Dailij Fransan 111 Flint Hall 111 Flint Hall UNiversity 4-364, newsroom UNiversity 4-3198, business office University of Kansas student newspaper Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912. Member Inland Daily Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22, 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. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Jim Langford and Rick Mabbutt ... Co-Editorial Editors NEWS DEPARTMENT Roy Miller Roy Miller Managing Editor Don Black, Leta Cathcart, Bob Jones, Greg Swartz, Assistant Managing Editors; Linda ellis, Feature-Society Editor; Russ Corbitt, Sports Editor; James Bennett, Photo Editor BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Bob Phinney ... Business Manager John Pepper, Advertising Manager; Dick Flood, National Advertising Manager; John Suhler, Classified Advertising Manager; Tom Fisher, Promotion Manager; Nancy Holland, Circulation Manager; Gary Grazda, Merchandising Manager.