PAGE TWO
THE TAR HEEL
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 1944
W$t wc eel
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE PUBLICATIONS UNION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
. NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL"
Published Tuesday and Saturday except
during vacations, examinations and holi
days. Entered as second class matter at the
post office at Chapel Hiil, N. C, tinder act
of March 3. 1879.
All signed articles, editorials,
columns and letters are opinions of
the writers and do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the Tab Heel.
M. E. RICHTER
JOHN KERR, AS, V-12 j
SIDBOST !
..Editor
-Managing Editors
FRAN DEFANDORF
WAYNE KERNODLE
VITA RICHTER .
.Business Manager
CARROLL POPLIN
-Circulation Manager
-Advertising Manager
Sports Editor
Vance Replies
The definite manner in which Charlie Vance,
speaker of the legislature, dismissed the rumor
that there would be no sessions of that body dur
ing the next term was very heartening to his
followers. It was equally disconcerting to the
doubting Thomases who were so sure that he
meant to suspend activities during the next six
week period.
We do not believe that was his intention . . .
we recall that former editor Horace Carter
mentioned a pact the two had made when each
was elected to office, that there WOULD BE NO
BLACKOUT ON CAMPUS GOVERNMENT as
long as .they held office. Unfortunately, Carter
did not have a chance to finish his work here, but
his policies are being carried through as he would
have liked it. More' than that, Vance is continu
ing to fulfill the promises he made, even though
so many untoward circumstances have provided
suitable excuses not to do them, had he been seek
ing alibis.
Summer Sessions Difficult
The summer sessions are never an easy time
for legislators or administrators, either student
or faculty, and no one can expect more than,
genuine effort on the part of these people. De
pleted staffs, unexpected transfers, new civilians,
new V-12's ... Carolina has gone through many
stages in the past year.
There have been many graduating classes,
many commissioning , ceremonies, the Pre
meteorology school was dissolved, the ASTP
army unit left, boys have been drafted, V-12's
have been replaced, transferred and new men
have come to take their place, yet student gov
ernment has weathered the storm and gone on.
Now, added to the other difficulties, we are
facing the new adjustment of synchronization,
and even as the faculty and administrators of the
school are being inconvenienced, overtaxed per
haps and certainly forced to make new plans,
so the Carolina undergraduate body must do the
same, and with the same grace.
The various organs of student government
will become increasingly important during these
next two short six-week terms, and will need the
steadying voice of a strong popular leader. Since
Vance represents popular vote, he is that man,
and deserves the support of the students during
these trying times.
.
Good Luck Harvey White
The appointment of Harvey White as tem
porary replacement for the likable hard-working
Libba Wiggins is an excellent choice . . . for
White, a Delta Kappa man from Birmingham,
Alabama, already distinguished himself as a rep
resentative from the Interf raternity council and
as chairman since last February of the Carolina
Political Union, among other things. His calm
approach to the most controversial problem
should serve him and the students well in the
sultry hot summer meetings of the legislature.
We wish him luck. ...
The following was sent in by ex-editor Kat
Hill: .
Loss for Home Team
Score up another loss for the home team!
It has only taken two weeks to lose this game,
and in so doing to prove another point in the al
most self-supporting theory that a University .
at War is not necessarily a mature University.
For no University, nor any students who com-,
pose the living organization that is the Univer
sity, ould be classed above "juvenility" and
still give vent to the vicious rumors that have
run rampant about Chapel Hill during the past
two weeks.
The Rumors
Maybe the Devil was right when he said : It's
not so important what the facts are, as what the
people THINK the facts are. As the Tar Heel
goes to press, the current story-about-town (you
will probably hear more and better tales in the
two-day period between tonight's deadline and
the time this issue is distributed) rims as fol
lows: Taking full advantage of the Leap Year
privileges, six coeds from the University re
cently "dated up" six members of the Pre-Flight
band here for an afternoon picnic. Anyway, it
seems that the picnic was held, and later during
the afternoon the young people divided up into
couples, with each couple heading for the dark
est and best-hidden spot available. From then
on out, the rumor mongers have had a hey-day.
The Facts
As uninteresting and dull as the mere facts of
the case may seem after the other scarlet stories,
here they are : Two weeks ago, on a Sunday '
afternoon, a small group of people from the vil
lage and the University decided to have a pic
nic, and invited two members of the band
from the Pre-Flight school to go with them as
their special guests. Among the original mem
bers of the party were one married couple, two
older matrons from Chapel Hill (one of whom
accompanied her teen-age daughter) , two small
children, and eight students from the Univer
sity four couples who went in pairs. During
the whole afternoon, the group stayed together
on the picnic grounds.
Entire Blame
The entire blame for the ridiculous and vicious
rumors which so blithely ignored the true facts
does not lie with the University students. The
blame is three-fold and partially rests with
some of the townsfolk of our village here. But
with whomever it lies, one fact remains the same
the harm has been done and no little amount
of it at that. These rumors are still doing their
worst and unless the home-team wants to be out
of the play entirely, it is more than time that we
get to work on straightening out the more "con
fused" of our little group.
Perhaps we could hand out copies of the At
lantic Charter. Wasn't there some mention of
the four freedoms somewhere there? Or have
we decided that the big goal for which we are
fighting this war is less important than the petti
ness that is so much easier to achieve?
BY THE WAY
By Bill Crisp
It's a small world after all. Three years ago it seemed at least fourteen
million miles from here to Berlin. Then one night, over around Moscow or
thereabouts, a few fellows got together and decided to change the figures.
They did. They say that one of Hitler's strongest mottos was "never go on
the defensive." I don't know whether you would say the Germans have
gone on the defensive or not, but whatever they've been doing has been in
a backingup manner.
Speaking of backing up, seems to
me that the American people have
done some backing up lately. Why,
when I recall how dogmatic every
one used to be on this international
ism back, say about the time we
lost 60,000 men to Hirohito in the
Philippines it just seems kinda in
credible that we could be so incon
sistent as to change our minds so
quickly. But that's what's happen
ing. Remember the Atlantic Charter?
Some folks are acting as if it were
the Chesapeake Charter from the
narrow, isolationist way they've
started interpreting it. And then
there was the first Casablanca, and
the second, and then Teheran. Tehe
ran I guess that was just about the
climax. Since then, looking at what
happened in Italy, and noticing the
platform of the Republican conven
tion, and just seeing how a great
many Americans have started act
ing, you wouldn't believe that we
ever had any real intentions of sac
rificing a little American sovereignty
in order to save a few million Ameri
can lives in World War No. III. No,
I guess we've just started back to
that same old groove economic
worldliness t (remember all that
American steel the Japs used to kill
our boys on Bataan) and political
isolationism.
Somebody said that an isolation
ist was a -man who sold scrap iron
to Japan and refused to pay enough
taxes to provide a fleet big enough to
protect his iron-boat. Of course,
there's all kinds of ways of constru
ing this isolationism business. You
can take a mercenary viewpoint on
it, like the junk dealer did; you can
take a fool's stand on it, like Bob
Reynolds did; or, you can even screw
your . reasoning around and look at
it from a virgin sense of blind
patriotism. It's all up to us. They
tell me that this is a country where
the people rule. Well, we're the peo
ple. If we want to go isolationist,
that's what we'll do.
But thirty years from now, say
about 1970, when our children look
at those fourteen million miles to
Berlin, we mustn't blame it on Hit
ler; we mustn't blame it on Roose
velt (I guess he'll still be in office) ;
we mustn't blame it on the Demo
crats or the Republicans. In fact,
we won't have to blame it on any
body or anything. Because after all,
you know, they say that war is in
evitable. Right now we seem to be
bent on proving it, and when the time
comes to reconcile differences, we can
always explain it by that old axiom
"There'll be wars and rumors of
wars."
Well, I guess that's about all. I
hate to sound pessimistic about this
thing, but you have no idea how dis
couraging a thing like this can be
to a man. I guess that's the way this
old world runs. Why, just think, my
own daddy was probably saying the
same thing to himself about 25 years
back. Come to think of it, my daddy
lost a son over Britain 18 months
x ago.
- - - ;
w
s
ea
By
Ronald W. May
AS, V-12
Two kegs of beer and the girls of
Carr dormitory combined to make the
soiree given by Old West at East
wood Lake Saturday nite highly suc
cessful . . . Lou Wharton and. Joyce
Gilliam were very helpful in mak
ing the arrangements . . . approxi
mately 32 couples were present ...
the last time Old West gave a party
"granny" had been swimming in the
lake for two days. .
, John King and Phyllis Ganey are
steady-ing. . . . Fred Kemp may soon
take off for Asheville to visit Nancy
Kennickle, coed here last term. ...
Monty Koppel, Marine from Smith,
will be going to Burlington next
weekend because last weekend
proved confoozin' but not amoozin'
... there's such a thing as overplay
ing the field. ... One of the campus
bootleggers will soon be leaving. . . .
Bill Spraggins and Lee Everett
missed an appointment Sunday nite
with Brooksy Popkins and Ann
Cobb.
Who was the "Caucasion Dagger
Dancer" cutting up in Brady's
t'other nite? . . . previously he scar
red up ten buck's worth of varnish
and wall-board with a Don Cossack
dance concoction . . . claims to be a
Mohammedan by temperament . . .
lives in Gaston when he's there. . . .
What was the excitement in Gaston
several days ago, and why does room
6 London Hall have a new inmate?
. . . Pete Long, South Carolina des
perado, is looking at train schedules
these days, but hasn't bought a ticket
yet. . . . Lillian Belk, Richmond U
socialite and sister of Carolina .
NROTC Branton Belk, stopped here
for a short stay last week . . . there's
a sailor I know who is sorry he
didn't know about it . . . he has some v
apologies to make.
Overheard in the Porthole: the
things I like to do are either illegal,
immoral or v fattening. . . . Is Ruth
Brown (Spencer) really pining be
cause Chet Waterman was trans
ferred to Duke. . . . Some people are
wondering how long Roy Thomas can
remain true to that girl back home.
Hillsboro has become a popular
mecca for the Navy . . . Carol Bat-
ten and an NROTC visited "Snook
ums" Chance and Grace Chance ...
Snookums is a stenog at Duke and
Grace works at Pre-Flight here . . .
Stan Isaacs also made the trek. . . .
Phi Beta Nancy Smith, daughter of
Betty Smith, is planning an Ameri
can Youth Hostel hike through the
White Mountains of New Hampshire
... it will be later this summer.
Under the Sun
By Bob Rolnik
"On the day the British declared
war," ranted Adolf Hitler in 1939,
a.t a Nazi party rally, "I command
ed Goering to make all preparations
for a five-year war, not because I be
lieve this war will last five years but
because we will never capitulate in
five years." In exactly forty-seven
days from today Hitler's war will
reach the end of its fifth year. Yes,
the days are ticking off. Adolf had
better get his silver bullet ready !
j
Among the Lost and Found notices
in the YMCA there was a small card
reading: "LOST TOP HALF OF
GIRL'S BATHING SUIT RE
WARD." Evidently the article had
been returned because the notice dis
appeared two days later. . . . Wonder
what the "reward" was !
In the Soviet Union these days,
the hammer and sickle stands for
something more than the emblem of
Russian Communism. Minsk was
reported recaptured by Soviet "ham
mer and sickle" offensive tactics .. .
heavy frontal blows with wide
swinging encirclement movements!
Lastf Tuesday's edition of the Tar
Heel had a narrow escape. When
the delivery people went to the print
shop to pick up the batch of copies
for distribution the entire pile had
disappeared. The Chapel Hill gar
bage collector expressed his own
opinion of the student newspaper
when he dumped the whole bundle
of Tar Heels into his garbage
truck. It took a personal expedition
by the editors to retrieve thetreasure
from the town dump in Carrboro.
LISTEN STUDENTS
By Jimmy Wallace
1 The remarkable efficiency manifested by. the student legislature reached
new heights last Thursday night when that stellar body of legislatorial
genius unanimously passed an amendment providing itself with power to
temporarily appoint a large portion of its membership. ' '
Of all the unadulterated balderdash which has ever been pawned off on
an unsuspecting electorate, this compendium of hare-brained
pseudo-reasoning takes the cake.
Well students, all this appointing business leaves us in
a pretty helpless position. The student council, under the
provisions of a legislature bill, appoints the men who will
TRY you if you ever get into trouble. (Before the spring
of 1943 these men were elected by the student body.) Now
the legislature will exercise ITS appointive powers over
a period of the next three and one half months to appoint
men to REPRESENT you.
Sounds silly) doesn't it? It is.
This episode has exposed several questionable append
ages of the legislature's anatomy. (1) Most of the discussion was carried
on by people who are not in the legislature. (2) Of these people, the ones
who were against the bill used the argument of "it's undemocratic, because
the right to vote is .being revoked." (3) That argument was never refuted
except by "it's not undemocratic." As you can plainly see, that is no argu
ment at all. (4) With rare exceptions, the remainder of the legislature sat
as is its custom; sat upon its collevtive haunches and said nothing.
(5) Some of the Romans expressed impatience at prolongation of the dis
cussion. Enough said. (6) Despite the arguments advanced against the bill,,
the vote was unanimous for it. This is a fascinating point. (7) No
one ever gave a legitimate and coherent answer to the question "why can't
the legislature elections committee sally forth and hold a few elections right
now. Toute de suite." There is ONE answer, however, which fits perfectly.
There ISN'T any elections committee. Why? The old one left school in June.
It stands to reason that a new committee should have been appointed. The
student body gains nothing by the stalling of the legislature. Apparently
ouzn rmuuef -re jswyvnes will nave 10 go forth in search, of tne elections com
mittee. Perhaps someone will get around to appointing such a committee in
two or three months. And then, perhaps not.
At least the "rumor" that the legislature was closing up during the second
session was spiked at the last meeting. The action is worth a compliment.
Also, the PU board and the Debate council were denied a representative
each. Orchids. '
There is only one consolation in this hegemonic morass, and that is, if the
jicw ,,c,tt, wnnnues zo sever itself from the governed, then the governed
will cease to recognize it as an authority. Such an occurrence would be
catastrophic. But it could happen here. In .fact, it IS happening here.
What can we do about it? Take steps to learn more about student govern-
mem. meres a sign in the library which says "A man's judgment is no
better than his information." Indubitably.
Self Appointed
CRITIC
. By Robert Gurney
LET'S STOP KIDDING OUR
SELVES. ... So the legislature has
passed the Replacement Bill unani
mously. Now criticism will ring
down from all sides. They will be ac
cused of being totalitarian, fascist,
undemocratic. Not one of these ac
cusations will be true.
There is one charge, however, that
may be leveled against the legisla
ture that is true. That is the charge
of inefficiency. Disappointing isn't
it? To go to the legislature and hear
brilliant speeches about democracy
and dictatorship, freedom and fas
cism, and then to return to your
room, away from all the orators and
the thundering phrases, only to. real
ize, that all the time, inefficiency
was the word in everyone's mind but
on no one's tongue.
Do you need proof of the charge?
Here it is. Owen Hall, a civilian
dorm, has no representative in the
legislature. In the recent Steele elec
tions when charges of illegality were
brought against some of the candi
dates, it was found that the Elec
tions Committee, which was supposed
to decide such cases, was non-existent.
Need' more proof? Remember
the Dance Bill.
r i.' j.o tr r.. T, 7x
is it? Charlie Vance's? Libba Wig-
giua ; ixaivcj iTiuica; uiiixixijr 11 ai
lace's? Bill Crisp's? NO. None of
J 1 ill T" 1 s .
inese are to mame. itignt or wrong,,
these students have fought for what
they believed was a better student
legislature.
Then, whose fault is it? It is the
fault of the student who stopped
reading this column when he saw the
word "legislature" in the first sen
tence. It is the fault of the student
Who, after being on the campus for
months, asks, "What is this student
government?" It is the fault of every
"man anrl Txrrvmon -in -fVii c? nAiin't-KTT tttVa
looks upon democracy as a gift of
God which once given will never be
taken away regardless of how it is
used.
. TIipta isn't a TYiPrnKor rvf looriclo
ture who will have his office tomor
row if you don't think he should.
No, I'm not talking about revolution.
Joe. I'm talking about recall. Read
about it in the latest edition of your
Student Legislature Constitution.
But then, maybe we get too ex
cited over a "little thing like student
government." "After all, the Caro
lina campus isn't the world. Neither
the fate of the n a ti nn nnr V. -P,,-,
wiic iUlUlC
of the university rests on our stu--dent
government," you say. Per
haps ... but in the last analysis:
a college student body is incapable
of operating an efficient democracy,
what hope can we have for the na
tion? You tell us.