PAGE TWO
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1953
The Beginners
Standing Room Only YOU Said it
We are sad. L ; :
The Y Court trysting place you know the
one, over beside Gerrard Hall is barren.
Those inviting-looking green benches are
gone. No longer is it the scene of philosophi
cal talk, final-seconds cramming, or perhaps
sweet words to the sweet one- Instead, it is
desolate, an oasis without a waterhole. Even
George stays away.
South Building: Do something, men
Even Bernie Baruch wouldn't be anything
without a bench.
Flat Chest
There are perennial 'editorial topics
about which the writer must hold forth
exhorting the reader to this or that. Among
them is the annual drive by the Community
Chest, which begins Sunday.
The fact it's perennial may make it bor
ing but it doesn't make it less worthy- Hear
us out.
Drive Chairman Orville Campbell will
have a big project in reaching the Chapel
Hill goal, because for several years now the
town has fallen short. HowTever, he's added
another goal: This year the Chest is seeking
$21,800, 33 more than has ever been
raised. Benefitting will be eight organiza
tions, organizations which touch us all.
Out of a University payroll of eight mil
lion dollars plus individual student budgets,
the Chest asks for help. Won't you give it?
State Secret
Holt McPherson of the High Point Enter
prise told the Charlotte Lions Club the
other night what he thinks of the secrecy
law adopted by the last state legislature over
considerable opposition.
McPherson, who also is chairman of The
Associated Press Freedom of Information
Committee for North Carolina, sketched his
press freedom position a healthy one, we
think-in combative, but well-chosen terms.
He called for teamwork In the news
paper industry to rid the state of the secrecy
law. We must do it, he said, "with such
vehemence that the idea wTill never again
raise its ugly head to discredit a great state."
The secrecy law was passed in a rather
spiteful mood against the press. Some of the
legislators complained that several reporters
had been indiscreet when they released facts
brought' out in a committee hearing. The
Daily Tar Heel thinks that such violators,
if there were any, deserved reprimand for
a breach of promise. However, vital informa
tion concerning our representatives and the
business they transact, which concerns us,
must not be shut off from the public. A
personal feud of legislators with reporters
should not be held against the citizens of
North Carolina.
Everything done by the legislature, in and
out of committee, is public concern. The
public has a right to know. The legislature
must not be allowed to continue to abridge
that right.
Wot 2Baflj Wax Jeel
The official student publication of the Publi
cations Board of the University of North Carolina,
where it. is published
daily except Monday,
examination and va
cation periods and
during the official
Summer terms. En
tered as second class
matter at the post
office in Chapel Hill,
N. C, under the Act
of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates:
mailed, $4 per year,
250 a semester; de
livered, ?o a year,
$3.50 a semester.
Qhdoel MH A I
X
vnaoerni
I Site of tfeejMrti
ourrifd tt dories. .'
Editor
ROLFE NEILL
Managing Editor
LOUIS KRAAR
Business Manager
JIM SCHENCK
Sports Editor
TOM PEACOCK
News Ed.
Associate Ed.
Feature Editor
Asst. Spts. Ed.
Sub. Mgr.
Circ. Mgr.
Asst. Sub. Mgr.
Asst. Business Mgr.
Society Editor
Ken Sanford
Ed Yoder
Jennie Lynn
Vardy Buekalew
Tom Witty
Don Hogg
Bill Venable
Syd Shuford
Advertising Manager
Eleanor Saunders
Jack Stilwell
Editor:
It would be a pity it a letter of
the sort written by Mr. Pursel, a
publisher's agent, in criticism of
Palinurus should be allowed to
pass unchallenged since it ad
vances popular myths about the
textbook trade. As I am not aware
of the specific points at issue be
tween Mr. Pursel and Palinurus.
I shall restrict my comments to
the letter which the publisher's
representative wrote.
The letter raises a great deal
of dust around the subject of
textbook publishing. Quite con
veniently for his case, Mr. Pursel
chose modern fiction reprints to
defend textbook policy. Why did
n't he comment on more expen
sive texts in other fields such as
English, history and political sci
ence? Perhaps this area was out
side his plane of contention with
Palinurus, but his letter still
leaves room for certain observa
tions to be made.
As one of the Scribner's college
graduates devoting "intelligent,
constructive, thought" to every
text published, the agent leaves
no doubt but" that he is in a cor
ner of a trade dedicated to sound
business and public service. Aside
from the matter of non-textbook
publishing, we should like to
question the extent of "public
service" involved in the textbook
trade.
Who does Mr. Pursel think he is
spoofing? The average textbook
publisher is on to a good thing
and knows it. Texts are not
printed for prestige purposes,
nor merely to serve the student.
The textbook trade is a lucrative
sinecure, supported by the col
lege student and financial sup
port falls as onerously as a salt
. tax or any other tax on the ne
cessities of life. Students not
only need texts; they are practi
cally required to have them.
The publisher's agent seems to
think that 25 1 cent paper-bound
books by first rate authors should
be a limited treat. He maintains
that if the 25 cent books didn't
go out of print, the publishers
would have inventory trouble
which "no I.B.M. machine could
possibly remedy." In practically
the same breath he admits that
other firms as Rineheart and An
chor keep paper-back volumes
available. I would like to suggest
that Scribner's send Mr. Pursel
to England, to investigate how
Penguin Books manage to publish
literary classics and contempor
ary writing, and keep the books
in print, or readily available
through a central bookshop in
London.
Finally, Mr. Pursel suggests
that texts printed in hard covers
are printed for the student in in
expensive editions, and are so
durable that they can be sold and
resold "at least a dozen times."
Here he confuses the need of a
public library (sturdy volumes)
with the need of a student (inex
pensive texts). His argument that
texts are printed cheaply in hard
bound volumes applies to a lim
ited number of. books. Not all are
inexpensive." Ask any student ,Mr.
Pursel! The hard fact eludes the
publisher's agent that a very
great number of textbooks are
extremely expensive $5 to $10
in some cases. Does he think that
a textbook should be expensively
made, bound and sold at such a
price if it is going to be used
only a year or two before it be
comes obsolete?
Most publishers are doing fine
work in the non-text field, and
one cannot gripe about the prices
of books which are going up
II -V l i J was sms
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Drew Pearson
WASHINGTON Kingpin gam
bler Frankie Costello, who gets
out of Milan, Mich., Federal Pen
itentiary today, has been, a model
prisoner. He received a few spe
cial favors, but only a few.
When he entered prison two
days after Christmas last year,
Costello arrived late at night in a
bureau of prisons' bus, a depar
ture from normal practice, aimed
to avoid waiting photographers
and newsmen.
During his two weeks' quaran
tine in the admission unit, Cos
tello was bombarded with offers
of candy, cigarettes, magazines
from other prisoners. To them
he was a hero. He turned all ol
ives down, made it plain he want
ed to be an ordinary prisoner. '
wr-n After auaran-
m
'is V
tine Costello
was assigned to
the white cell -house
instead of
the usual dorm
itory. There is a
waiting list for
the white cell -house
and pris
oners get on the list because of
merit. Frankie, however, didnt
have, to wait. He found on arriv
al that three inmates had com
pletely scrubbed down the cell
lor him, at which point he de
cided to follow the line of least
resistance and let others work
for him if they wanted to.
Costello's prison job was that
of sorting other inmates' dirty
socks which got a laugh from
everybody.
Costello was paid considerable
deference by the guards, but was
never placed on meritorious good
time a. status whereby a pris
oner can reduce his sentence for
exceptionally good work. He was
allowed the privilege of having
visits from his attorneys, which,
aside from admission to the white
cell-house instead of the dormi
tory, was about the only privilege
he got.
Once during his incarceration,
Costello was taken to New York
City under guard to face an income-tax
charge.
Upon release from Milan today,
Costello was taken to New York
City under guard to face an income-tax
charge.
Upon release from Milan today,
Costello faces possible deporta
tion. On July 21, 1947, this writer
reported that Costello had falsi
fied his naturalization papers
when he stated that he, had never
been previously convicted hav
ing been convicted of carrying a
concealed weapon. Subsequent
investigation caused Attorney
General James McGranery to
place Costello on the list for de
portation. It is not known as yet what ac
tion Attorney General Brownell
will take on this aspect of the
Costello case.
along with the general cost of
living. But it seems one has a
legitimate complaint about the
excessive prices of many short
lived texts and the drain they
make on the student's wallet.
Henry Randall
Tennessee's famed ex-Sen. Ken
neth McKellar returned to Wash
ington the other day to "protect"
TVA from the power lobbies.
During his 42 years on Capitol
Hill McKellar participated in
more back-stage maneuvers and
closed-door sessions than any
man alive today.
Despite his age .generally be-,
lieved to be about 85, McKellar's
memory is remarkable, and at
.lunchthe other day, he launched
on one of his oral trips through
history.
"Y'know," he said, "Most mili
tary men delegate too much au
thority. They let somebody else
do the job for them.
"Back toward the end of the
Hoover Administration, I was on
the Senate Appropriations Sub
committee that handled Army
funds. One day the Chief of Staff,
General MacArthur, came up to
testify. He brought two generals,
a colonel and a major with him.
"MacArthur was always a good
witness," McKellar recalled. "He
had most of the answers on his
fingertips. But finally Senator
McNary of Oregon stumped him
with a question about Army re
search on new gun mounts. Gen
eral MacArthur and his aides all
turned to the major for the an
swer. But the major didn't know
the answer.
"Well, that major gave us a big,
friendly smile and said he'd have
his staff dig up the answer and
get it to the Committee.
"A couple of weeks passed and
we still didn't have the answer,"
McKellar continued. "It was time
to make out our report so we
phoned General MacArthur. He
explained that the major was
handling the whole matter. A
staff member phoned the major
and was told that a lieutenant
was working on the answer.
"Well, finally just before we
sent our report to the printer, a
lieutenant arrived with the an
swer on the gun mounts. Every
body in the Army, it seems, had
pushed the job off on his assist
ant. The lieutenant was the only
man who knew what was going
on. Not even the major knew the
answer, yet he was the man who
had promised to bring us the in
formation. The major just dele
gated too much of his own work
to his subordinates and they let
him down.
"That little story is interesting
today," McKellar added with a
grin. "The major's name was
Dwight D. Eisenhower."
As a result of falling cattle
prices, American school children
are now eating more canned meat
than ever before in history. For
what harassed Secretary of Agri
culture Benson is doing is buy
ing up canned beef and turning
it over to the school lunch pro
gram. He is also buying great
quantities of canned meat for the
armed services.
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EDITORIAL STAFF Bill O'Sullivan, Ron Levin,
Harry Snook, John Beshara, James Duvall.
NEWS STAFF Jennie Lynn, Joyce Adams, Dan
iel Vann, Anne Huffman, Fred Powledge, J. D.
Wright, Jerry Reece, Janie Carey, Richard
Creed, John Bijur, Ted Rosenthal, Jerry Epps,
Jess Nettles, Ronnie Daniels, Tom Lambeth,
Charles Kuralt, Ann Pooley, Babbie Dilorio.
BUSINESS STAFF Al Shortt, Dick Sirkin, Dave
Leonard.
SPORTS STAFF John Hussey, Sherwood Smith,
Jack Murphy, Roeney Boone, Larry Saunders.
PHOTOCHtAPHER Cornell Wright .
Night Editor for this issue: Rolfe NeiU
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The Eye Of The Horse
Roger Will Coe
("The horse sees imperfectly, magnifying some
things, minimizing others. . ." Hipporotis; circa
500 B. C.)
THE HORSE had several hallucinations with
him near the Bell Tower. I did a doubl&-take and
attempted an escape.
"Roger!" The Horse rebuked me with un-colunm.
istly mildness. "You are offending my friends, iSr.
Neckley and Mr. Wump. Or had you not seen them?"
Hadn't seen them? The motley.
colored Giraffe and the sponge
rubber Frog with him? I had
last seen them in Psych-25 when
I'd been hard up for an example
of Recall, and I Recalled them.
' "Ah, then you had met before'
that, you three?"
The motley Giraffe stared non
committally over the trees. The
sponge -r ubber Frog said,
"Wump!"
I explained that about a year
ago the Durham ABC had given them away with
six jugs of Old Screamy. At home, they must have
crawled out of the bag while I was getting into iL
They watched me from my clothes-closet for three
days, and I had eyed them from my bag for three
days. Tiring of that, I had switched with them; but
I had closed the closet-door firmly. My guests were
departed when I had emerged.
"Friends all!" The Horse chittered happily, his
eight-balls of eyes crossed with emotion. "Roger,
they are necessary to me. I have been accused not
of myopic vision I admit that but of a lack of
range in my myopic vision."
Was myopia multiplied better than myopia sim
plified? "Who said Mr. Neckley and Mr. Wump are my
opic?" The Horse challenged. "Far from being so,
Mr. Neckley never lets his left eye see what his
right eye is seeing. This makes for strict imparti
ality of views at the high level of vision."
And Mr. Wump?
"At his sea-level range of vision," The Horse
whispered wetly into my ear, "Mr. Wump usually
keeps his eyes tightly shut. Can you blame him,
confronted with low sights cans relief?"
"I'll demonstrate." The Horse said. "Mr. Neckly,
old chap? Take a look around and see how things
are on the high level, eh, old boy?"
Mr. Neckley lowered his head, advanced it un
der the Bell Tower arches, and straightened, his
head going I knew not where until I heard the
bells belling, though (as usual) it was not a time
for them to bell. I stared up; and there was Mr.
Neckley's head scouting from the belfry. I thought
this most unusual: a giraffe in the belfry!
"To one accustomed to bats in his belfry, yes,"
The Horse acknowledged. He raised his chattering
to a whinny: "I say, Neckley old boy, how are things
up there?"
The bells belled once more, and students who
had rushed into classes only a moment before, rush
ed out again. The Library Staff closed for the day.
South Building stirred briefly and lapsed back into
rigor mortis.
" Neckley sees everything clear as a bell," The
Horse affirmed. He added cautiously, "With one of
his eyes, at any rate. And you, Mr. Wump?" he ad
dressed the vicinage of his hoofs.
"Wump," Mr. Wump said, his lids sealed closely.
"Well," The Horse shrugged philosophically, "no
vision is better than low vision. Poor Mr. Wump!"
I didn't understand all this. Why, for example,
did The Horse use an English intonation when ad
dressing his friends?
"The English are fond of animals," The Horse
explained. "In fact, they are crazy about them. They
are always going to Africa to shoot animals, they
love them so."
Was this affection?
"How else bring the leved ones home?" The
Horse shrugged. "Dead freight is cheaper than live
cargo. And as Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
was fond of saying, 'Every man loves the thing that
he kills best: The brave man with a sword, the wise
man with a bottle.'"
Oscar Wilde had not said that.
"I'll bet he wishes he had," The Horse said.
"But I'm worried about Cactus Bill Adams and Mr.
Wump."
Why?
"Mr. Wump must necessarily take a low view of
Botany, which Cactus Bill Adams teaches. As for
me, I just eat it up. Perhaps Mr. Neckley's lofty
view of Botany may be a mitigating circumstance,
as Brer Adams would say when he gets really
slangy."
The Horse suddenly tensed, demonstrating in
his Voluntary Set a power of muscular concentra
tion which Dr. Dashiell could have used in his text
books. I. turned and saw a cute redhead in parple
Vagabond pants gyroscoping by, which is to say she
was making good a true heading of 90-degrees while
somehow rhythmically disposing herself around arid
about the other 270-degrees of her compass without
losing her equilibrium.
The Horse, however, lost his, and crashed to the
ground. Mr. Neckley emerged from the Tower to
stare noncommittally over the trees. Mr. Wunip
said, "Wump!"
The Horse took off on a true heading of 90-degrees.
Attention Letter Writers
YOU really have said it.
The Daily Tar Heel has such a deluge of letters
to the editor that page three in Friday's paper vl
contain nothing but letters. If you've written in and
not yet seen your letter in print, chances are it
will appear Friday.
.,We ain't complaining, you understand, just
tadvisingr