Vage Tr ,o PENN STATE COLLEGIAN Published semiweekly during the College year, except en holidn7b by students of The Pennsylvania State College, in the Interest of the College, the students, faculty, alumni, and friends. CHARLES A. MYERS '34 FREDERICK L. TAYLOR '24 Editorßusiness Manager GEORGE. A. SCOTT '24 HAROLD J. lIATSCII '34 Managing Edith, Circulation Malinger WILLIAM M. STEGMEIER '3l 11, EDGAR lIIRMAN '34 Asaistnne Editor Local Advertising Manager DERNARD 11. ROSENZWEIG '34 JOHN C. IRWIN '34 News Editor Foreign Adiertining Manager JAMES M. SHEEN '3l FRANCIS WACICE.R '34 Sparta Editor Claqsitled AdvertWm, Manager RUTH M. HARMON '3l MAE P. KAMAN '34 Women's Editor Wornen's Managing Editor EVA 11. BLICHFELDT '34 Women's NOWY Editor I=l James B. lividly jr. •95 John A. Braman •9G Phillip W. Fair jr. •7; A. Canrai Haire, Kenneth C. Hoffman 'an Burton nomles Jr. •at El= ASSOC/ATE BUSINESS I.IANAGERS Harry 3. Knoll ".1.:B. Kennet's Lyn,. '35 Jack A. Muriin .35 Sohn .1. MutLewd '35 George A. Rutledge '35 Eurl C. Keyser jr. '35 WOMEN'S ASSOCIATE. EDITORS Marvin IL D.. 1,1 '35 P.lr.in M. Dolith,At Mnrcnrei W. Kin,lne Editorial Office, 313 Old Main Telephone 500 Business Office, Nittatty Printing Bldg—Telephone 292• W Mannging Editor TLI. time Mawr Editor Ili, Issue_ MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19, 1934 THINKERS - Students as thinkers have - found a defender. In this issue Dean Warnock makes a reply to recent charges of student anathy. His letter reveals the opin ion of one who has had long and intimate contact with a largo number of students. The Dean's defense of student thinking at Penn State lies in the point that undergraduate activities are • in good C - ondithin, and that this implies "sound, progres sive thinking by a lot of students." This last state men', however, might be difficult to prove. It is ques tionable just how many students have thought out some of the recent reforms in student. government. The changes made in Student Tribunal were the result of progressive thinking on the part of probably half a dozen students. Further elimination of graft in student organizations has come from leaders who acted chiefly on their own initiative. The same might be said for other student activities. Their present sound state is more a result of thinking by a few leaders who feel some responsibility, than the result of thinking on the part of the large number of students connected with them. As to student thinking about "broader human rela tionships in the social order," Man Warnock. expresses a view that the best preparation is to acquire some mas tery of fundamental principles and historical back grounds. There is no quarrel with this. But if by "fun damental principles" is meant the principles of the social sciences necessary for such thinking, just how many students here are acquiring any mastery? Stu dents in the technical schools have very little opportun ity to master the social science curricula or to acquire historical backgrounds. And many students in Liberal Arts and Education, even seniors and '3' students, would admit that they were far from a mastery of those sub jects. Their time is taken up by other things. There is no doubt that students do think about prob lems closest to them. A great many think about their next date, their grade in a course, or the outcome of an athletic event. A smaller number thinks about student activities, academic courses, or working their way through college. A very small number thinks seriously about the larger problems of student activities'or about tho problems of the social order. dust how the students in the first group are going to "widen out" is a inYstery. It is difficult to see how an almost complete disregard of social and economic questions in college can lead to intelligent thought or leadership upon, them aftern.,,ard. (HANGING STANDARDS , , . It ii:44 , gre4oll.lo:c.itthpt,; . 4lp, fpplteorjbe ; milted let-down of 11re''Clitranca' i•equireMents College will he watched. The College has for a ,long time held an enviable position as an institution that has taken only the better-prepared students. In former years, there were always several hundred applicants that were refused admittance because of lack of necessary accommodations. The sharp decrease in enrollment the past two years has caused an abrupt change of policy on the part of College authorities. Ts order to maintain the the insti tution at its present plane of efficiency, a capacity num ber of students is necessary. For that reason, the doors were thrown open last fall to almost anyone who had completed-the necessary four years of preliminary train ing. It is apparent that the lower ability of the students will tend to produce a decidedly lower standard of schol arship. If the present standards are maintained', these inadequately prepared students will he unable. to master the work. And if the courses are made less difficult, Penn Stato's academic standing might suffer. The situltion, however, is not so serious from an academic standpoint as it might appear. It must be ye membered that almost every institution in the country is laboring under the same handicap: 'They, too, have been forced to accept a lower calibre student. There fore, the standards of all institutions have been lowered • proportionately. ' Some readjustment stems to have come about in the student attitudes. A realization that their stay here is often problematical from semester to semester has been responsible for this change. A bit more seriousness is evidenced, together with a desire to benefit as much as possible, from all courses rather than to acquire enough knowledge to tiass. This attitude should go a long way in keeping the standards of the College at a comparable level. The height of Penn State' social season has just passed, in ease you haven't heard. Just about the two ritziest fraternities'on this campus were dancing over the week-end. You know without asking, of course —the Thetas - and (all together now) the BETAS The Theta function was pretty swell we hear, oven though it was held in the Phi Dolt house and they had to import a couple of fellows from Pitt to give all the girls dates. And then too, Jack Davies, ex-man :limit Town, stayed home. But, the Bets dance—nh!! What atnnisnh:Te! :That handsome men and glitter ing women! The reaszn--ithe punch wa.l spiked We've just uncovered another one of those vicious raehets that undermine student morality and lad to the kind of citizens wile don't know the flag salute, etc., We dropped into a' ocal drug store Ind discoyer ed our worthy elikl Yougcl matching for Coca Colas Fred W. WriehL '3n —Phillip W. Fair '3 with some Of our own innocent students and laughing gleefully every .time he paused to be refreshed Jim Norris is going liround shaking hands with himself because he finally pawned off the most un- popular hat he ever owned. It seems as though due- ing a reeent week-end someone swiped his best topper and left a fiery junky lid ,in its place. It was pretty cold then and 'Jim had to accept the exchange and like it. Just the other clay he found a murk who act- ually paid hial $2.50 for the thing. The buyer was no less than Avon King BUrke, the lad with the pedi. gre'ed derby! Two Phi Kapnas and two University of Wisconsin CO-CliS arc firm believers in the value of advertising. It seems that these two lassies from the thidger state were without dotes /or their coming. Junior Prom, so they advertised for two handsome gents, giving speei- fictitious and adding that they would pay part or all expenses. The word got around and the item ap neared in an "Oddities of the News" column in a Pottsville paper. The end of the story is obvious. Phi Kappas Booth and ,Waehter saw the notiee,• and :wrote offering their services. They're leaving. for .Madison soon • We peeped in Dr. Ritenour's x-ray room the other day and saw the following little tableaux. Two lads bear - the victim in on a Chair and place him near the ray machine. Le Docteur tells the boys to step to the rear so as not to get electrocuted or anything. And then our learned Dr. steps behind a screen and with a blushing face consults a treatiso. entitled, 'How to Operate An X-ray Machine'. SHARDS Nifty Nicholson and Theta go in for a little prat tice before the multitude at the Cwen dance . :mil the Kappa pledge who signed for Phys. Ed. 4 which happens to be . a men's section heard that there are diee holes in the rugs at Varsity beforo the wipktlin'ir roat.eh , :heteSolurilay Doris !! I .Sarrrord' block • tic..... • SHEAFFER'S • .„ NEW VACUUM-FIL - PENS • '(ONE STROKE) The Most Practical Vacuum Filling Pen on the Markel! + TRANSPARENT BARREL +•NO' RUBBER SACK + LARGE INK CAPACITY + FILL WITH ONE STROKE Regularly $5.00 INTRODUCTORY PRICE $2.85 NOW ON SALE KEELER'S Cathaum Theatre Building -J. A. II OLD MANIA I CM= HE COLLECTS THEM IMMMI MCM:=MM:]I Lou Kreitman had ,to. put his finger-nails -mirE MANIAC THE PENN STATE CQLL'ECJIAN `Collegian' To the Editor "It is about time somebody came to the defense of the student body"—so spoke a COLLEGIAN editorial recently. It was speaking of the question of "student thinking." I suppose a simi lar sentence has appeared in student publications for a hundred years or so. Charging students with no t thinking is one of our oldest college traditions. Let's talk for a moment about thinking about student thinking. Do we understand our terms? What do we mean by student think ing? I should say that with respect to those problems closest to them, Penn State students are thinking pretty straight these days. In spite of most trying conditions, the Col lege program is going ahead in good style and quality: this fact means that students are thinking their way' through numerous, vexing problems. Undergraduate campus activities are in a sounder' condition than perhaps' they have .ever been in: this fact means sound; progressive thinking by a lot of students.: No doubt this . .is not the kind of thinking we have in , mind. Do we mean thinking about broader' human relationships in the social order? If so, what do' we mean by that kind of thinking? There is a quaint idea held by some folks to the effect that the best way to begin intelligent thinking is to acquire some mastery of fundamental prin ciples and historical backgrounds, and !That in college that is done by seeking , to acquire some mastery of fixed cour ses in the curriculum. If that idea is sound, to , what extent arc students I thinking—or at least getting ready to think? Do we mean:thinking that is meas ured by the 'number of new ideas which students evolve or sponsor? By: the extent to which they drop the day's! job and fall to discussing more re-' mote questions. of possibly brOaderl significance? . Do we mean thinking, that, expresses itself in direct actionl As for my personal views, I have a prejudice in favor of the thinker who can begin hi:ills - dui thinking with the ; problems closest to him in time and! place, and can work out in ever wid-1 ening circles toward general problems. I The extent to'which he can widen out! should normally depend upon his edu cation and intellectual grasp. .1, thereforejleve a prejudice in fav-' or of the undergraduate whowhilel not neglecting,n critical interest current problems in the social order— obviously recoghizes the ohortunity for his most!patriotic service as some-1 time in the,fullure.. , Only an, ex- I . treme crisis can a commander afford! to throw his training,troops into ac-! tion; in .so doing he risks having no trained troops for' the, future. The crisis in our social order is not y . et'so extreme as to deMand that our col lege undergraduates forsake the op portunities of the classroom and jump into current affairs actively. In my opinion a far more serious crisis may be precipitated when they cone to maturity if, at that time, they must be classed among the unfit and ignorant because, while in college, they neglec ted their peculiar opportunity to study fundamental' priciples and ..historical backgrounds related to the problems. "WHEN_A FELLER When you'd' handed the raspberry be fore your honey . . . puff away your grouch with genial BRIGGS. Its sa vory prime tobaccos are tempered and seasoned for years in the wood, 'til they're mellow and mild and minus all bite. . The' truly biteless blend ... the fiiend a feller needs. Letter Box which they in their generation might have to meet. February 15, 1984. —A. R. Warnock ITo the Editor: May I say that I have been disap pointed in some of the recent issues of the COLLEGIAN? What seems to lie the matter with all thoSe "intelli gent" students who formerly made I use of the Letter Box? Has ye hon orable Editor acquired cold feet on I the subject, or has someone squelch led him? , It has indeed been' a pleas ere, in the past,- to observe the unusual ; absorptive ,qualities of a small part iof our "modern and, intelligent" stu dent body. These gullible babes in the woods would make a salt water! skate blush with shame by the pan- I nor in which they swallow hook, line, anti sinker when the bait 'of pacifist I propaganda is flashed before their eyes by a few of our equally _"intelli gent". faculty members. Several years ago the old bugga boo of war propaganda was constant ly being peddled around us. But, has it secured to these "broad-minded" persons that the old war propaganda isn't even a drop in the bucket as cam ! pared to the vicious "pacifist propa ganda to which this and, other educa tional centersare now esnosed? Not only that, but this same propaganda must needs be accompanied by the Istench of CommunisM and Socialism. I We used to find on oar campus vari-i I ous discussion groups anti liberal , cen ters, but these no `Wager exist as such.' 'They become, instead, propaganda! j channels through .which ,"canned ideas," prepared outside, are poured in upon college students. The major source of such ideas is New York City where ouch bodies as the Nation al Student League, controlled by Communists,' and the 'League: of . In dustrial Democracy, controlled by Socialists, hold sway:" Here well trained and mature experts in agita tion direct the activities of student members and student organizations, e. g. our local Penn State Christian Association. Would some one care to explain just why the P. S. C. A. was dismissed front affillation with the National Y. M. C. A.? The P. S. C. A. and a few gullible shavetails on the Liberal Arts and ! Education faculties are the chief cal "dispensers." Old General Beaver' would turn over in his grave if he I could see the mess of pacifist liters-' tare • which has been disseminated front the room in Old Main which bears his name. The writer has quite j a complete collection of such propa-1 ganda which was collected during the summer session of 1933 front this room.. No doubt ye Editor himself and possibly a few of his associates in the P. S. C. A. would have a few uneasy moments if they were thor oughly familiar with the activities of these New York associations. It's bad enough when college stu dents absorb such foul stuff, but when I a few of our darling Liberal Arts in- I stnuctors and assistant professors oh sorb it and pass it on to students in a returning cycle, the situation 'be comes rotten. Such - individuals, stn- dents and faculty included, have ob viously never had occasion to rub elbows successfully with this tough old writ]; in fact, if some of the lat. ter were capable of doing so ; they wouldn't be at present tied to the apron strings of this man's College. I am not a pacifist, a socialist, or a communist, nor Air that matter am I a militarist. But, I nave sense enough to know that war is not pre vented or cured by removing or cut ting down the armed forces of the world, and doing away with our much belittled R. 0. T.. C. Our ancestors pounded each others heads long be fore they had armaments. and .mili tary forces. Armed forces are the re sults of international friction and dis trust, not the cause. As a little . parody, likewise our diseases are'the results of friction and internal disor ders, yet we may as well try to cure chicken Iwx , by cutting out the blis ters as to cure war by cutting out the armed forces of the nations. All around us we bearitolk of abolishing armed forces arid. military training, but the gentlemen, and ladies, evident ly lack the sense or the nerve to dis cuss the real causes of war. Should this letter be printed, and a demand is created, the writer will be glad to go into the copses. They are very simple. One hundred and , 'fifty years ago, Washington stated; 'Tile surest way to an honorable, peace . is' a . state of Preparation • for fwar." This state ment wasnever more tr ue than today. This letter,' if it should be .printed, will undoubtedly - call:. forth much* comment and attack from' the paci fists on. the campus. I am strongly opposed to war, - but lam not in favor of abolishing the military fOrces or Military training as a means of pre venting*. I stand ready to meet the arguments of all. those who carp to take the opposite side. --4. C. 34 . . '34 To the Editor:_ • Would it not seem evident from last Tuesday's COLLEGIAN that the Federal Government is capitulating to a world of imperialism and organ ized greed through an attempted mili tarization of college youth? (Exhibit A—the povel scheme to recondition the military facilities at land grant colleges with public funds.) Is it not fair, however, to ask if students living in. the twentieth cen tury ought to sanction or support this .COAL, , • Phone Your Order Today By Ordering, Here You Can Depep4 on Gettig g Coal That Heats fastee,anyl Lasts Longer FostO Coal and • Supply Co. TELEPHONE 114 , -I • • • . - „• ... t: -04 • •. . . • • - ":-.t.. ...E-: --..:.-- ' • 1 I --* • ' s. p:; f ' . • , 41 ‘ teD% . ,; —: -.1 ' • .... . , • " • ;:ip:;,, , ,. f - r., -- - - . • • • 4' , ,t,, . • - . . • , . ~-. • . • . '' . H . ..AR - • : • ~-,,,,...,..;:.;,„-,—, .0, •,.......c..„„,..,,,...„...........• •.• E ,••,..,,,•::...,,.•„:,...,./.,,,,•,,,....,, ....•,,,...4...„,,,5,„..„:„,, ~ .. • .. • • ,:,.„:•...—,•... .... .... .. • .. ... . CL UDE' • 'HOPKIN S . THE - - . ..., SO - H. HOP " . • _ . , ' . . • .... • , - . . ~.. Over - .WABC Every . Morning. . . . , at One O'clock 1,. ... . • . . , . . . . , . • ,1 . Monday Evening. February 19. 193:1 or any other form of military pre paredness or activity which, according to competent observers, will ultimate ly lead to the destruction of civiliza tion? Have not students the right to ask, "Are military appropriations for a new $400,000 armory essential? Will the erection of such a structure be conducive to the best welfare of tlui government? Is it a useful 'pub lic work'?" Looking at Europe of to day, at the Far East, at North and South America, students may question . whether armed force can achieve a sound Democracy. Surveying the in ternational depression, they may ques tion whether economic security con be established on the basis of armatagat expenditures amounting to five bil lion dollars annually. Eettlizing the interdependence of our modern world; they may venture a doubt as to the desirability of a recovery program of isolation and competitive armaments —(and under this caption must be listed oratories on colleges damages) —which will inevitably culminate sole- . . (Continued on page for a •) • SKATES SHARPENED 808 MINGLE Opposite Fire Hall ik e• -7 47t, 0:10 , . (edyi 2 - s SPECIAL Combination Croquignole Permanent Wave $,3.50 up . _ Finger Wave 35c Shampoo, Finger Wave 75e Shampoo Marcel $l.OO Mary Lou Beauty Shoppe 210 S. Allen St. Phone 9905 (Rear of Austin's Barber Shop
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers