Fage Two PENN STATE COLLEGIAN Published semi-weekly during the College year. except on holidays. by etudents of The Pennsylvania State College, In the Interact of the College, the students, taco*, alumni, and friends. CHARLES A. MYERS '34 FREDERICK L. TAYLOR '34 Editor Business Manager GEORGE. A. SCOTT '2l HAROLD J. DATSCH '34 Managing Editor Circulation Manager WIT.T.TAM M. STEGMEIER '34 H. EDGAR FURMAN '34 Arsi.t.t. Editor Local Advertising Manager lIERNARD 11. ROSENZWEIG '34 JOHN C. IRWIN '34 News Editor Foreign Advertising Manager JAMES M. SHEEN '34 FRANCIS WACKER '34 Sports Editor Classified Advertising Manager RUTH M. HARMON '3l MAE P. KAPLAN '34 . tiromen's Editor Women's Managing Editor EVA N. lILICHFELDT '34 Women's News Editor Manotrind Editor This Issue News Editor This Issue THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 11, 1934 AN AMERICAN YOUTH MOVEMENT? 2. Student Radicalism If it pointed out nothing else, the recent National Conference of Students on Politics held in Washington showed the unconscious humor and ineffectiveness in• radical methods. The L. I. D., a student socialist group, and the N 5. L., with communiq leanings, dominated the conference. ',Both attempted in the face of some apposition to secure the passage of resolutions against the usual things; war, R. 0. T. C., racial discrimination, and Fascism. But finally, the refusal of the N. S. L. to make a minor compromise split the two groups and turn ed the. last session into the hectic sight of students de manding of an harassed chairman to be heard. To many others at the conference, this was a fine demonstration of the futility of radical procedure. It gave th,, impression of much "hot air" and.little effec tive action in the end. 'By demanding certain things, by drawing a circle around themselves and saying, "We are right!" the radicals unconsciously drove the neutrals to the other end of the arena. By a sort of inbreeding process, the radicals so fortified each other's views that they could not conceive of any different opinions that might be just as effective as theirs. They did not real ize that an evolutionary procedure of cautious advance and compromise is nee2ssary if progress is to be made by parliamentary methods in a society composed of all sorts of people with widely-divergent vitas. Their vin dicative and dogmatic attitude not only tended to alien- ate thoso whom they were trying to convince, but in dicated that with anything less than a dictatorship they would be ineffective in the give and take of practical This uncompromising attitude, this unwillingness to see some good in the other fellow's point of view, is one of the real defects within the ranks of the radicals. The split at the conference between two groups with essen tially the same ends is typical of the whole radical move ment. They don't seem to be able to agree among them selves as to what ought to be done and how it ought to he done. The bitter struggles between adult communist and socialist groups are proverbial, and are reflected in the student quarrels. 13y the very nature of their tactics, therefore, the student radical groups are excluded from the possibility of ever forming a united Youth Movement in this coun try. Just what is their worth, then? They can, and do, arouse other students to a realization of the pressing problems confronting American students and non -college youth. This awakening of students out of an intellec tual sleeping-sickness is their worthiest contribution, and should be continued. INDIVIDUALISIVI Dean Sackett's support of American inventiveness with a view to profit might he questioned in the light of what is known about inventiveness in general. The majority of inventions in the technical field are the re sult of research financed by large-scale industrial or ganizations, and the reward'accruing to the inventor is at most a royalty,,whieh doesn't compare with the fi nancial gains madelh'y the Otployer. F",urtherinqre, do true scientists and inVentorshvork beeaiisd:theY e'to profits or liecause•they enjoy creating?. • The Dean's reference to the panic of 1907 as a "dip in business" is important. Is a depression a "dip in business?" Able-bodied men walk the streets, bread lines stretch nut for blocks, huts rise on city dumps, disease spreads because hungry people dig in garbage cans. At the same time, cotton is plowed under, wheat is burned, and pigs are killed because of "overproduc tion" which is based on purchasing power rather than want. Them is very little security in the lives of the work ing. people. Any day they might be thrown out of work; any day another "dip in business" might come. Dean Sackett recalls the depression of 1893, and says, "People advocated new systems, but as soon as industry and busi ness revived, they soon reverted to the old state of mind." The same thing happened after the panic of 1907. The fact that these depressions have recurred with no attempt at changing the system causing them is an indication of the cow-like American state of mind. Surly when hungry, it is immediately mollified with a crust and goes back to the trough of complacency. The'problem of initiative resolves itself into one of definition. Dean Sackett seems to define the term as ccupled with tiM profit motive anti inseparable from it. Individualism of this kind, brings subsistence living for the masses and luxury for the few, is too costly, both economically and socially. There is another kind of individualism which all people can practice. It is the cooperative individualism which allows each to work according to his ability, with the geniuses and specialists bringing benefits to all rather than crushing them in their rise to the top. This is the desirable individualism which will come about with the alteration of the present system. It is destined to come because it is not destructive, but constructive, social individualism. "Cadaver sea a corpse Walke? Well we didn't." (That's a pretty stiff one). However, we arc told that there are seven human carcasses lying in state up at Roe Hall—six whites and a black, all bandaged neatly and ready to be jugulated, gored, and butcher ed by a bunch of heartless Phys Ed-ers. Jninex H. W3tson Jr. '35 - Kenneth C. Hoffman '35 know you way around, for, understand, they are not strung from the rafters for the entertainment of visit- ing teams. First, you go clown an innumerable mini- I r of stairs to about the sixth or seventh under- ground level. Then you start going through doors, five of them. As you open the fifth you gee before you, in a weird grayish-green light, seven corpsCs, a "choir invisible," all decked out in mummy-fashion lying in huge sardine cans. Sometimes, if you are very fortunate, you will ace Director Bendel: there too, gleefully romping about and leering at you cada verously from behind the bier of his Favorite. Already some playful students have ken carry ing choice chunks to the privacy of their own rooms. One student is the proud owner of an car while still another ; probably an aesthete, posseisis an unburied piece of very artistic tattooing. As a matter of fact, we have our duobts about the whole ghastly business. Its Director Bezdek a sadist? Why is he converting Recreation Hall into Requi-ation Hall? Do these mortal remains, these "tenements of clay." represent the seven cardinal points of the New Athletic Policy, or is this food for worms to be used to scare off a few more coaches? If some enterprising, public-spirited co-eds do not step forth bravely within the next twenty-four hours and offer Pan-Hellenic dance bids to this colum nist and to the Maniac, we promise faithfully to Pan- Nell out of the whole affair. In the meantime, per haps we might mention some of the more elite who will pair off together when promenading to the bar tomorrow night. Females Isabel Loveland__ ---- --Bob Morini Emily Rose Gans ----- - ,__Bob Scarlet Hortense Ditto __.____.._Chick Poster June Brown___., } Bob Hanawalt Sunny Merrill__ ___Bob Gans Ed Williams • ___ • Carl Wittum Helen -- -- Don 'Ross Helen Hinebauch AlWarehime Mao West _,Satch Clark Lydia Pinkham____. Frank Musser Deans Sackett and Warnock discussing the Ath letic Situation while - trespassing on Mr..Ebert's nice grass in front of Old Main ... Recovery Note: Mac- Farlane had his hair cut .. . Revolution Note: Doc Dangler bought a new hat Skallions to the Watts Hall boy who thought he'd keep his pet gold-fish from 'freezing during the Christmas holidays by putting alcohol in the bowl . . . A bad combination. of man dolins and guitars serenading the gals in Grange ... What were two Grange Dorm co-eds doing in Old Main about 2 o'clock last night? ... Academic Note: Doc Alderfei, read a;:boelt reyiqw%of, a..'nice set of volumes costing nine money, but haweeP,.he.'sthinking about . . . the review didn't say they were written in Latin ... h• 3 bought theni sending theni back CASH for USED BOOKS SEE OUR LIST OF BOOKS WANTED January 1 3th to 1 7th (Saturday to Wednesday) KEELER'S CATHAUM THEATRE BUILDING -Ir. P. K CAMPUSEER BY =SELF ECSTASY Corpses in the Gym You'll have a hard time finding them if you don't I=M;M:1 Hel•pan Things Along I:M!M=3 CHEESE PARINGS THE PENN STATE COLLEGIAN `Collegian' Letter Box To the Editor It is indeed:strange and sad news to hear a Penn State Dean disregard one of . the first principles of an ad equate educational : philosophy. Pri marily, education is. it Means of em ancipating people from antiquated customs and ideas by offering a new and better system of thought and con duct. Education; assumes that hu man nature can be changed. The age-long dictim that "human nature being what it is, we are help less to do anything about it" is per ceptably bound up in the statement, "We can never abolish American in , dividualism." Thus, human 'nature in America can never be motivated by anything else than the desire for pri vate gain. (A rather low estimate of the human family). But what is hu man nature? 1 Human nature is Napoleon wrest ling for power in Europe, but it is I also Immanuel Kant saying, "Two things fill my soul I with awe: the i starry heavens above and the moral law within." Human nature is tne mob shouting for the blood of Wil liam Lloyd Garrison, but it is also this same liberator who was convinced of i the injustico of 'slavery. Human na -1 tare is Al Capone and J. P. Morgan (with all their dndivkmalism and mo tivation for economic profit, but it is i also a Jane Adams and a. Wilfred iGrenfell. Human nature is Samuel !Insull seeking a-haven.in some Euro ' peen 'court which dares to receive' him, while utilities investors stand in' , ' American breadlines; but it, if also 1 President Roosevelt saying ; "Now that we are definitely In the process of re covery, lines have been drawn between those to whom .recovery means a re turn to the old methods—and the num ber of these, people is small—and those for whom recovery means a re form of many old ways of thinking and therefore or our social and econ omic arrangements." I In 1934 certainly, students need !faith in human nature; they need edu cators who will be willing to draw out that side of human nature which has heretofore been thwarted by a misin terpretation and false application of the philosophy of Darwin and Hux ley. Human nature needs a chance to express itself cooperatively. —Roland R. Ritter '34 * To the Editor I Dean Sackett said some interesting /things in the last iSSII.2. It will be . interesting to scrutinize them a little, the first statement anyhow. There probably won't be room for any more. He said, ''This administration or any other administration cannot remove individualism and initiative from the American makemp." If_lAlisl, - ,not4ilk,.that,,this. state,. iiient *ad meant 'seriously I would ' consider it a clever travesty on the present state of affairs, a little thought on the matter should. con vince anyone that ever since the rise of the industrial barons, since the day when Rockefeller, Morgan, Har riman, and the others of that mot ley crew set up the prototype of In cull, Mitchell, and Wiggin, this na tion of ours has been a' nation of floundering sheep, content to be ex ploited by ruthless capitalism, eu phemistically called 'individualism and initiative' fighting for profits. We have degenerated into a nation of wage slaves—ithat is, in times of prosperity. In as , depression, we don't even have',.the advantages of slaves. They, at" least were fed and ' The BeeiThat Made Milwaukee Famou • ...../t1...;41. Jul. o.llta tlr0;1+1.0; clothed. We are given neat phrases of over-production, retrenchment, business cycle, etc., kicked out of a job, and allowed to starve. Can there be true individualism in a system where every worker's mind is moulded by. the constant necessity iof holding his job? Can there be true initiative in a state where econ omic insecurity is a constant . threat? It is absurd. The only people left with any individualism and initiative ;are the gangsters and the big-time capitalists. .That's not exactly true —the unemployed are manifesting great initiative and ingenuity in bringing up a family of five or six or seven on three dollars a week. It is conceivable that under the proper stimulus, this initiative will be turned to revolutionary processes. I hope so. —RAGGED INDIVIDUALIST. 0 To the Editor: That the events and ideas of 1893 arc deeply ingrained in Dean Sack ett's mind and prevent his realizing clearly the failure of certain features of our increasingly complex economic system and resulting need of change seems clear to a student who attempts to _reach an unbiased understanding of the reasons for uur troubles. I question that inventors have the profit motive in the foreground. Most inventors love their work, and are happy to have the opportunity to carry on their research. Some of them, in fact, are prevented from! achieving a full realization of the value of their work by narrow desire for profit on the part of 'big' business men. Studies have shown that inventors, of all people that the Dean could have chosen, work under the profit motive as only a minor incentive, if not actually as a hindrance. The provincialism of the Penn State campus must have affected the Dean's understanding of the extent of human suffering and social waste caused by a 'dip' in, business. The complacent prediction of a future de pression is at the best an admission of defeat and of inability to attack these problems rationally, at the, worst, the best possible argument for the need of immediate redistribution of power by revolution. The development of a more highly mechanized system must not be per mitted to result in lessened security for 95 percent of the people or utter misery for one third of our popula tion. Should not logic suggest that the increasing ability to produce so well ought to carry with it a more abundant life for all? Until a social consciousness can be aroused that will make possible a. cooperative com monwealth, gradual progress may best be., meintained . by.. ! measures which insure security to all• who will work, at the expense Of limiting the mass of profits to be piled by 'in dustrial' executives, Peruvian bond EXPERT WATCH nd JEWELRY REPAIRING at Crabtree's boosters, and Mitchell-Wiggin-In nulls. F. B. Jr. 'O.l • * To the Editor I and other students on the campus can't understand why James Jul ian, "brain , trust" of the freshman class, doesn't come out with .a public statement proving his justification for not being in sympathy with our bold president's plan for recovery. Many students on the campus are not in accord with the recovery plan —those relying and believing in the President should be presented with a justification. As we understand Jimmy Julian is the most competent man on' the campus to give the dis senting argument. _ . I hereby, together with others, pub licly challenge James Julian to give his arguments against the Recovery program. We think he will be man enough to accept it. We sincerely hope he does not disappoint us. A. PATRIOT Photos for Application Purposes FROM YOUR "LA VIE" or Other Negatives Are Seasonable Needs MODERATELY PRICED' The 110IEN N QTATg HOT° H O. P. 212 EAST COLLEGE AVENUE The manly art of. self-defense . . ,now applied to telephone. cable Western Electric, manufacturing unit of the Bell System, now makes a tape armored telephone cable ready to meet all corners. When laid directly in the , ground, this cable defends itself against moisture, grit, corrosion and other enemies. Besides the usual lead sheath, 'the tiny copper wires in the cable are guarded by seven layers of paper, jute and steel tape—all saturated or covered with asphalt compound. In pioneering and prOdUcing improved appa ratus, Western Electric contributes •to the year 'round reliability of your Bell Telephone. BELL SYSTEM WHY NOT TAKE A. TRIP HOME BY TELEPHONE? - TONIGHT AT HALF-PAST • EIGHT Thursday Evening, January 11, 1934 THOMPSON HEADS COMMITTEE Betty B. Thompson '34 was appoin ted by the Panhellenic council to head a committee to revise the Panhellenic rushing code yesterday afternoon. Other members of the committee arc Claire M. Lichty 'B5 and Martha J. Bring '35 Penn Printing Co. Ant PRINTING Opposite post Office PHONE 8714 Pure Silk, Full Fashioned 'Chiffon Hose -79 c 2 pairs for $1.50 + Munsingwear $l.lO, $1.25, $1.65 In Service and Chiffon 15% REDUCTION on all SWEATERS Twin and Single Styles All Silk, Rayon. Wool and Cotton Yard Materials 15% REDUCTION THE BUSH & BULL COMPANY Corner Beaver Ave. & Allen St.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers