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University Daily Kansan
Monday, Dec. 7, 1964
High Cost of College
A bright young lad was in the office the other day to tell me his troubles at college. They were not concerned with grades; he makes good ones and has qualified for a scholarship. But the scholarship and his summer earnings were enough only to carry him through the first semester. How could he stay in school?
FORTUNATELY, he was able to obtain a national defense loan that should tide him over temporarily.
The point of this report is that the costs of college are reaching such a level that soon only the children of the well-to-do and those who are unusually brilliant may attend.
More scholarships would be a great help, of course, and additional funds may be forthcoming.
THERE ARE, HOWEVER, many young men and women of good intellect who belong in college, who are capable of above average grades, who will be successful citizens, but who cannot qualify for scholarship grants of sufficient size to foot their bills.
Despite this unpleasant truth, some legislators and even some college administrators are advocating higher fees. They do so sincerely because of the mounting tax costs of higher education. They argue that students who benefit should pay their wav.
BUT TO EXACT HIGHER FEES is to put a dollar barrier to college attendance.
Kansas is proud of two state college traditions both backed by law. One is that any high school graduate is entitled to enroll. The other is that state institutions charge no tuition.
But fees in effect are tuition, especially if they are charged for the purpose of paying for instruction. In fact, to call the present charges fees and not tuition approaches a subterfuge.
ANY FURTHER INCREASE will make the father's bankroll the requirement for matriculation in Kansas. The poor youngsters who are good but not brilliant will be kept out. There are too few jobs open for them to earn as they learn.
If Kansas is to have a requirement for college admission other than a high school diploma, it certainly should not be the thickness of papa's wallet.
Iran Faces Bright Future
- Salina Journal
Iran, America's staunch ally in the Middle-East today, has the brightest future it has had in its history.
Bordered on the north by the Soviet Union, Iran is squeezed in between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. It is about the size of the eastern half of the U.S. Its capital is Tehran.
UNTIL 1906 THE NATION was ruled by a series of monarchs from several dynasties. In that year the ruling shah, or king, agreed to a constitutional monarchy. Although the shah still has considerable power, the people are governed by two legislative houses, the National Assembly and the Senate. The shah is obliged by law to sign most laws passed by this body.
Make-up of the two units is as follows: 200 representatives in the National Assembly, and 60 senators. Thirty are appointed by the Crown, and 30 are elected.
The crown's real power stems from the fact that by Constitutional law he may dissolve either or both houses and call for a general election. Consequently, if legislation is passed he does not like, he can dissolve parliament. On the other hand, he also can dissolve the two houses if they do not enact his legislation
THE PRESENT SHAH, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, is not an absolute dictator and generally strives for the best program for the people.
One of the most important programs proposed by the crown is land reform which will provide more land for the restless peasant.
Seventy-five per cent of the nation's population work the land, but 60 per cent of them own no land. Some 15,000,000 peasants live in 45,000 villages in rural Iran. Most are ill-fed, ill-clad and illiterate. The standard of living in all of Iran is bad, but in the rural areas it is the worst.
WHY IS LAND REFORM the most important? Because it is apparent that the economy of Iran for many years will continue to be based on agriculture; and all industrial, political and other progress will stem from agricultural success.
Here are some of the problems
facing rural Iran daily: 1) educational facilities and opportunities are almost non-existent (two of every 140 graduate from high school); 2) disease runs rampant and medical facilities are unavailable; 3) food is scarce (the Iranian peasant consumes 1,900 calories daily while his American counterpart consumes 2,500-3,000 day).
Land reform will give the nation's peasants a stake in the future; a stake they have not previously had, because 80 per cent of the land has been owned by the king, the state, church and absentee landlords.
THE LAND REFORM law puts a 3,000-acre ceiling on the amount of land that can be owned by a person or a group. Under the act the land will be divided or purchased by the peasant according to his available water rights and need. The government will loan an estimated $930,000,000 to the peasant to purchase land. It will be paid back in a 15-year period.
The reforms proposed by the shah are only a start, but the important thing is that the first step to give more political, economic and social freedom in more than 2,000 years has been taken.
The road the shah has chosen will not be a smooth one, mainly because of the people themselves. The administrative problems will be massive, and the
people fear change. The church, for instance, violently opposes the land reform and instigated the bloody riots which broke out in June and August of 1963.
TRADITION IN IRAN seems to be a major stumbling block to progress. It is difficult for the Iranian to dispense with tradition when, for thousands of years, he has had little else. But dispense with it he must for the sake of progress and a more free society.
The leaders, the landlords, the crown, and the peasant must make a decision as to which is to take precedence—tradition or a revolution for a more advantageous society.
The land reform program is a start, but there is much more to be done.
Increased farm management training, improved irrigation, and water conservation, more advanced processing techniques, and more modern transportation and communications, are some of the things needed to make the land reform work.
THIS DOES NOT mean that no progress has been made in Iran. Aside from the sweeping reforms proposed by the Shah, other reforms are wanted. He wants to sell state-owned industries to finance the land reform program. He also says industrial workers should share net profits of industries in which they work.
David J. Hanks
Dailij Hänsan
111 Flint Hall
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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Jim Langford and Rick Mabbutt Co-Editorial Editors
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Managing Editor
Roy Miller Managing Editor
Don Black, Leta Cathecart, Bob Jones, Greg Swartz, Assistant Managing Editors; Linda Ellis, Feature-Society Editor; Russ Corbitt, Sports 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.
"Some Of You Fellows Don't Understand What A Great Victory I Won For You"
Birch Society
The John Birch Society was so heartened by its show of strength in the Republican National Convention that within weeks it had launched the most ambitious membership drive in its six-year history. Nor is the overwhelming defeat of its favorite Presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater, likely to slow the drive. As one local chapter predicted before the election, "If Goldwater is defeated . we can expect that Americans by the tens of thousands will flock to patriotic organizations."
IN ITS MASSIVE EFFORT to broaden its membership base, the Society has decked itself out in a new suit. The Birchites have mounted a public relations program designed to create the image of a moderate organization with an aura of conservative respectability. The Society's extremist doctrines have been greatly modified, at least for public consumption, although John Rousselot, national public relations director, has stated. "We have not changed our beliefs and principles one iota."
The principal ingredient in the Birch recruiting program is a handsome sixteen-page newspaper supplement that is reaching millions of readers from coast to coast through publication in large metropolitan newspapers. The supplement consists mainly of photographs of middle-class Americans, and the low-keyed text stresses patriotism and the dangers of Communism. Many of the outlandish charges of the Birch founders have been muted in an effort to present a more respectable front. Former President Eisenhower has been demoted from an active Communist conspirator to a patriotic President who "had been deceived by the Communists." The Society still calls for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren, but briefly and in soft tones, with a careful explanation that impeachment is an estimable legal process once initiated by Thomas Jefferson.
OPPONENTS OF the Birchites are not at all convinced that the new face of the Society is anything but a false one. They argue that the same program of extremism is still there; that the Birchites are still undermining all three branches of the Federal government.
One item of evidence that the essentially violent nature of the Birch Society remains unchanged is a shocking description in the St. Petersburg Times, a conservative Florida newspaper, of a local Birch Society pamphlet which urges its members to stock up on guns and provides a list of rifles and shotguns recommended for men, others for women, and still others for children. Further advice to Birch members was to "avoid the kind of talk that will get you pegged as a 'fear monger' or a racist. Learn to blend in with your surroundings and remain anonymous . . . purchase unregistered guns..."
THE TIMES DENOUNCED the Society editorially, charging that the Birchers are a totalitarian group that, in the guise of "patriotism," have taken over the conspiratorial methods of the Communists such as the formation of secret "cells" and the infiltration of school boards and PTAs. The Times termed the Birch Society's activities "outright subversion."
The Birchite effort to don a gray flannel suit and entice moderate conservatives into the fold strikes us as a shrewd and cynical public relations stunt which may fool a great many ill-informed people. But just as clothes do not change the man, the John Birch Society, we are convinced, remains as extreme and as dangerous as ever.
The Progressive