PAGE TWO
With the Editor—
Or. Butler Attacks What Democracy
Holds Dear. (an He Be Right !
What Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler propounded
to the Columbia University faculty last Thursday
is a sign of the times—troubled times. Because
he urged members of his academic staff to resign
if their convictions brought them into open con
flict with the university's pursuit of its ideals in
"the war between beasts and human beings," Dr.
Butler has been roundly criticized. It is true that
what.lie did was to deny freedom of thought and
freedom of speech. He clothed this in a different
doctrine: that the individual's academic freedom
is subordinate to the institution's right to follow
its policies. This doctrine smacks plainly of the
fascist doctrine that says the individual is subor
dinate to the state. The only difference is that
fascism is carried out on a larger scale:
Yet, undemocratic as his policy is, we are hot
sure in our minds that it is all wrong. Fascism
has shown us very plainly that it knows how to
capitalize on democracy's inherent inability to get
immediate unified action. In time of crisis may
we find it necessary and even desirable to forego
democracy in order to gain that speed? This, ap
parently, is what Dr. Butler thinks. He propound
ed a similar doctrine in the World War.
There are two important differences, however,
between 1917 when Dr. Sutler first introduced his
theory and 1940 when he re-introduced it. In
1917 the United States was already at war and his
demand for unified thought and speech was less
irregular, though it did not go unchallenged.
The other and more important diffe&nce is in
the minds of the American people. Domination of
thought by the state is fascist and dictatorial, two
things which the United States did not need to
fear in 1917.
The years since 1929 have made a difference.
We have suffered depression and we are no longer
sure we want rugged individualism. The New
Deal has taught us"to depend on the state and not
on ourselves, and now we are so near the brink of
socialism and fascism that no one can be sure a
temporary suspension of free action will not be
come a permanent one. -
How we regard Dr. Butler's thesis depends then
partly on how we regard ourselves in relation to
-the war. If we think we are in it, and all signs
say that we are, we had better accept it. We are
so far gone that now we must run• the risk of sacri
ficing democracy today for more democracy to
morrow.
Mark Sullivan remarked when he visited State
College last spring that if once we get into this
war we will be sorry we had not entered it sooner.
Mark Sullivan is a thoughtful man. The signs say
now that we can't stay out. Perhaps it is time to
go whole hog and stand with Dr. Butler. That
must be what Dr. Butler is thinking.
It is time for us to start fighting now. It is time
for us to marshall our every force so that we can
put up the strongest possible fight against the
agression which faces us. It is time for us to fore
„go democracy to save democracy. This point can
not be reiterated too often. We may still lose de
mocracy.: Our faith in it may be so far gone that
we will not have the will to fight to regain it once
peace has returned. But we are headed now
:straight for war. And we must agree that once
we are in, we will wish we had been in sooner.
Dr. Butler is right.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
"For A Better Penn State"
Successor to the Penn State Collegian, established 1904, and
the Free Lance. established 1897
Tuesday Morning, October 8, 1940
Published daily except Sunday arid Monday during the
regular College year by the students of The'Pennsylvania
State College. Entered as second-class ,matter July 5. 1934,
'at the post-office at State College, Pa.. under the act of
,March 3, 1879.
Editor Business Manager
Adam A. Smyser '4l Lawrence S. Driever '4l
Women's Editor—Vera L. Kemp '4l; Managing Editor
—Robert H. Lane '4l ; Sports Editor—Richard .C. Petal%
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—Edward J. K. McLorie '4l ; Assistant Managing Editor—
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liefferan '4l ; Women's Promotion Managen—Edythe B.
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.Manager—Robert G. Robinson '4l Senior Secretary—Ruth
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Gordon '42, Ross B. Lehman '42, William J. McKnight '42.
Alice M. Murray '42, Pat Nagelberg '42, Stanley J, PoKemp
ncr '42. Jeanne C. Stiles '42.
Junior Business Board—Thomas W. Allison '42, Paul
M. Goldberg '42, James E. McCaughey '42..T. Blair Wallace
*42, Margaret L. Embury '42, Virginia Ogden '42. Fay E.
Rees '42.
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Schenkein•
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__Harry Cohn, Dominick Goiab
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LION TALES
UlMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll l l llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll th
Dear Dads
Sorry you couldn't make the trip to State this
week-end but business is business and we would
be the first to complain if the checks were to stop
coming regularly.
You didn't miss much in not seeing the Buck
nell game. It was uninteresting as the devil.
Bucknell put up the great fight they always_do
and the best play of the game was a fake Buck
nell kick. But you read that in the paper.
When the Blue Band came out on the field be
tween halves, it had two drum majors. Jimmy
Leydon, the regular, led the band and a freshman
from Warren, who is a past master at that art gave
a beautiful performance. Perhaps you'll get a
chance to see him when we play Temple.
The freshmen this year are a cocky bunch and
they certainly don't seem to realize that freshman
is synonimous with lowly. We used to yell at the
hat men but this year's crew barraged the shots
with rotten tomatoes and apples. Then, some fool
who was feeling high and happy walked right
..cross the field and sat down on our players'
bench. A flock of firsts and seconds flew over to
oust him and he spied an officer of the campus pa
trol. He threw his arms around him, talking and
gesticulating at a mile a minute.
The house was packed at dinner but we had .
several sittings and everyone was taken care of.
Ail the brothers from Bucknell were there with
dates and I was thinking seriously of doing a good
wolf job. The only catch was that they left right
after dinner.
Lots of the fellows took their families to "Mar
gin For Error" that the Players put on. I spoke
to one girl in the play and she said she had never
played to such an appreciative• audience. They
laughed and clapped at the right time in spite of
the fact that some of the kids got stage fright or
something and skipped lines. The whole thing
went off very well.
I am rather glad that you weren't spending the
night here. With that sororous snore of yours you
would have been in the same fix as one of the oth
er fellow's dad who was clipped in the head with
a shoe by one of the brothers who thought he was
a freshman.
Do you remember the girl you and mother
thought looked like one of the gang at home, Har,
riet Stubbs was her name? Well, the best story of
the week-end concerned her. She had a date with
Pappy Bartholemew, the dictator of State, and on
her way home she tripped over a skunk. The poor
kid smelled to high heaven and had to soak her
clothes that are probabjy finished.
You ought to plan to come up soon. I promise
not to keep you up late fcr it is a custom around
here to put the family to bed at nine and then get
a date and go out.
That's all for now and while I hate to mention
this, could you manage another check soon?
•
X 44 1 ,
IlMitotowaroidt T. 41.0.1
114 WEST COLLEGE AVE.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Footlights—
Players Present
'Margin For Error'
A near-capacity house in Schwab
Auditorium Saturday night mark
ed the opening of a successful sea
son as the Penn State Players pre
sented "Margin for Error," a hum
orous melodrama on life in a Ger
man consulate.
Three curtain calls were accord
ed the Players as the audience sig
nified their approval of Claire
Booth's "no-punch-pulling" attack
on Hitler and his associates.
Orchids for the evening were
pinned on Leon Rabinowitz for
his splendid portrayal of Officer
Moe Finkelstein, the Jewish pol
iceman responsible for safe-guard
ing the life of Karl Baumer, the
German consul. Determined that
his record should not be blemished
in the face •of a murder, Finkel
stein produced in a manner which
had the audience hanging onto
their seats for support. Never step
ping out of character in a very
difficult tole, Leon Rabinowitz
turned in a magnificent perform
ance, sparking a play which other
wise might have fizzled.
Karl Baumer, the German con
sul, was handled by Robert Shell
enberger and his German accent.
Shellenberg did an excellent job
of being a heel, and .his acting
could be labeled far above aver
age.
The American Fuhrer, Otto B.
Horst, was played by Jack Sacks.
Sacks depicted Horst in a manner
that would have even won ap.,
plause from Claire Booth.
Don Taylor as Thomas C. Denny,
Don Taylor, as Thomas C.
Denny, and Barbara Davis, as
Sophie Baumer, did very well with
parts which refused to make them
stand out.
The play was a hit and the Dad's
Day audience appreciated it; tech
nically it was obvious that several
characters weren't well-versed in
their roles. The action dropped off
considerably midway in the second
act, but a hard-hitting ending sav
ed the day. The scenery was very
pleasing to the eye and the direc-.
tion—good.
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CAMPUS CALENDAR
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TODAY:
Compulsory short meeting of all
candidates for the editorial and
business staffs of The Daily Col
legian in 313 Old Main at 7 p. m.
Meeting of the, Engineer busi
ness staff at 7 p. m. Editorial at
7:30 p. m. Bring all sold sub
scpptions.
Spike.
Camera Club meets •in 418 Old
Main at 8 p. m. •
Campus '43 meeting in 405 Old
Main at 7:30 p. m.
MI Student Council meeting at
7 p. m. in Room 121, Mineral In
dustries Building.
Free three-reel talking picture,
"Poultry—a Billion Dollar Indus
try," in 10 LA at 7:30 p. m: Every
one is invited. Sponsored by the
Poultry Club.
Ehgineering smoker in the
Sandwich Shop at 7:30 p. m.
Sponsored by, the Penn State stu
dent branch of the American So
ciety of Mechanical Engineers.
Student draft discussion at 10:15
p. m. over CBS network.
Archery, Fencing, and Tennis
Club meet in White Hall at 7 p. m.
Free Pete Smith specialty
movies on golf demonstrated by
Bobby Janes in rifle range of
White Hall at 7 p. m.
TOMORROW:
Call for assistant wrestling
managers. Report to wrestling
mats in .RLc Hall at 4 p. m.
ATTENTION, FRATERNITY SUBSCRIBERS
As per our promise, room delivery.in fraternities will commence
with today's issue.. Simply PRINT_ your name PLAINLY be
tween the dotted lines and paste or tack this on your door. The
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der. . .
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1940
HHIIIIHIHHHHIHHHHHHHHIHIHHHIIIIIIHIIHIIIIHIIIHII
Nibbling
At The News
J. GORDON FAY
sfulimmmunimmummimmimmimmiimmund
Now that the Axis team has
come out of its huddle at Brenner
Pass and is awaiting the opening
whistle of a blitzkrieg which will
eclipse all previous blitzkriegs
perhaps by the time this column
is off the presses, that whistle will
already have blown), Russia is be
ginning to give the world just an
inkling as to where it stands.
•
Of course, Stalin has by no
means let the cat entirely out of
the bag of Soviet censorship yet,
but a couple of inches of the feline
creature's tail seem to be project
ing in the Soviet Free Press' praise
or British defense and a certain
Russian war commissar's warning
against "provocations which may
threaten our border."
That warning could hardly be
against England; in other words,
it could quite conceivably be di
rected at Germany or Japan, par
ticularly since Russia has never in
recent years been too chummy
with Japan, and Hitler
. was once
upon ,a time heard to remark: as to
what he would do to "those Rus
sian dogs."
On the other hand; there is the
cartoon of Chamberlain "In Re
treat," also given out by Soviet
censors. While this was not espe
cially complimentary to the Brit
ish nation, it was certainly little
more than the type of cartoon
which might have appeared in
England's own "Punch" before the
war. If Soviet satirists were
really trying to land a slap that
would sting, they missed the boat
on that one.
Folks are not finding an opti
mistic note in all this, because they
think Joseph Stalin, never less of
a dyed-in-the-wool dictator than
the men who head Germany and
Italy, has suffered a change of
heart and is now all for the cause
of democracy and freedom. No,
they simply feel that Stalin, the
dictator who was snubbed by not
being invited to the Brenner Pass
•party, could quite effectually take
the minds of a certain two Axis
powers off their work if any of
Russia's several million square
miles were trespassed upon.
Could -be.
Paraders Asked To Pay
(Continued from page one)
fun should be willing to pay for
it themselves," he said.
After the joint meeting, the reg
ular meeting of the Borough
Council was opened with a report
by Burgess Wilbur Leitzell on the
overnight parking problem.
In his report, Burgess Leitzell
made the following recommenda
tidns to the Council:
1. That all those who have
garages use them:
2. That all who_ have private
drives park in them.
3. No parking on narrow streets.
4. Apartment houses should be
made to take care of tenants' cars.
5. Tourists- should be allowed
•
to park overnight. •
6. Fraternities and Council
Should come to some_ agreement
•
about fraternity parking. "
No action was taken on the
Burgess' recommendations by the
Council but they were referred to
H. L. Stuart, who is .in charge of
the parking investigation.