PAGE TWO
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
"For A Better Penn State"
Successor to the Penn State Collegian. established 1904. and
the Free Lance. established 1887
Published daily except Sunday and Monday during the
resrular College year by the students of The Pennsylvania
State College. Entered as second-class matter July 5, 1934.
et 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
Managing Editor This Issue _
IL•ws Editor This Issue
Women's Issue Editor
Sophomore Assistants
Ross B. Lehman '42
Jeanne C. Stiles '42
Nick Vozzy, Herb Zukauskas
Saturday Morning, November 9, 1940
An Open Letter To Ex-Editor
Harry Henderson
•
Dear Harry,
This is not a reply to you but a reply to the hun
dreds of other people who have called into ques
tion Collegian's editorial of October 3 supporting
:Dv. Nicholas Murray Butler's statement to the
Columbia faculties. To an extent, I think it is the
xeply you will want to hear. It is a reply I am
to give.
The Collegian haq gone to war blindly, you say.
No, Harry, the collef. - ; ian has not gone to war at
ajl. America has gone and the Collegian with it.
No neutral nation trades destroyers to a warring
nation, provides it with all arms possible, accepts
its naval bases, and . reMains neutral in any but
a technical sense.
I am as sorry as you that we w'nt. but that is
not the point: Our action now should be with re
gard to our present position, certainly not in re
gard to any past position, and only with great dan
ger in regard to some possible future position
which may never materialize.
Our present position is one diametrically op
posed to Germany's. Yes, democracy v ; fascism.
You say it is idealistic. Let me suggest that those
ti.yo terms clothe two of the coldest blooded econo
mies the world has yet seen.. Without an ounce of
idealism. Harry. you can rush to the defense of
American democracy. At the price of insecurity
your democracy gives you your own self-deter
inination and a level of living better than you
would have under fascism. Your democracy and
tke vital resources allies that make it possible
<•re now threatened.
Germany's imperi'Listic economy and ours, I
am sure, can not lone, exist side by side in the
world. If we. want to preserve ou: own self-de
termination I think we must be ready for a, shoiv
clov.rn sooner or later The only way out I can see
is an immediate Britkh victory. Otherwise, if we
dre not ready for a showdown. we. like France.
may become a puppet nation subject to every
whim of an iron master.
Those are the reasons. Harry.
Now let us talk of the manifestations, one man
::festation in particular. In my editorial support
ing Dr. Butler I took one position I no longer hold.
By implication, I rejected free speech as danger
ous. I revise that proposition now to suggest that
we need free speech, but let us be fully aware of
the forces which would disunite us.
The gravest danger of all, Harry, -is one which
you think I encouraged: That dictatorship will
come on us from within rather than from without.
It seems to me that we can avoid this with a real
will to govern ourselves. Even in the total state,
the ruler must govern under the white heat of
public opinion. A aictator is no more able than
the leader of a democracy to go too far against
public opinion. The difference is that in a demo
cracy the populace forms its own opinions, while
in the total state the leader forms the popular
opinion. Insofar as he controls the means of dis
,seminating information, he can do as he pleases.
I would be willing to accord unlimited power to
a man I felt loved democracy, a mni I felt would
turn back that power once the crisis was .over. Btui
I would deny any attempt to harness the press or
the public mind. I would urge, however, that the
public mind of its own volition do all in its power
to present a united front to any crisis which faces
America.
One other thing, Harry. I should like to quote
Solicitor General Biddle: "Hy.steria is often the un
ippy result of patriotism. In our anxiety to pre
vent the spread of Communism. we find ourselves
flrst suspecting all those who have liberal
thoughts. Next, and quickly, we are denouncing
them as traitors. Epithets like 'agitation.' "radi
cals,' anarchists' fly • wildly abc.ut. And, of
course, they are alleged to be part of the ever
swelling fifth column. It is only a brief step now
to open attack and assault, and liberty for some is
gone. Of such stuff is fascism made."
Sincerly yours.
Adam A. Smyser '4l,
Edit' L'lw Daily Coliegi.m
__William J. McKnight '42
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I Never Give Up
On the subject of politics we suggest that some
of you Ath Hall gals let Jean Waldron know the
election is over and tell her to take that button
off. It's more fun collecting fraternity pins any
way, isn't it, Leslie?
What we would like to see is more originality
said initiative among coeds as displayed the other
night by Campus Queens Harriet Stubbs and Jane
Kintner. Janie and Stubby found themselves with
a couple of boxes of marshmallows on their hands
and proceeded to light a fire in an ashtray and
have a marshmallow roast! Just the girl scout
coming out in them we suppose.
Nice Going, Knobby
We nominate Arita (Knobby) Hefferan to write
an advice to the Lovelorn column for this rag. Any
gal that can get (fifty-five) gals dates, sights-un
seen, should certainly be able to patch up a lot of
foundering romance. Knobby performed this
ginantic feat for dear old Pan-Hel which is play
ing host to 60 visiting coed representatives.
The job really was tremendous and self-sacri
ficing in our mind. Think of a Penn State coed
fixing up even one import let alone 60! What will
Vera say, Knobby?
Not Guilty v.
We want it understood here and now, now and
forever, and for life everlasting, that last Sat!
urday's editorial was not the opinion of this col
umnist. and we hereby disclaim our guilt in the
matter.
We mean the editorial endorsing Wendell L.
Willkie for President of the United States.
It's not that we hate to back a loser, it's just
that our great-great-grandfather, who voted for
Thomas Jefferson, would roll over in his grave
if he thought may ot leis descendants ever directly
or indirectly supported a Republican candidate
for office.
We hereby state that we are one member of
the Collegian Staff who was not for Willkie.
While we are still in a bellyaching mood, we
are going to take a clack at the movies. We refer
to those Fourth of July addresses the flicks .are
running to plead for national unity.. They are
barking at a false . bogeyman but if they don't stop
their moronic preaching they will darn soon kick
up a real life bogeyman. They underestimate the
intelligence and inner nature of tw.and I mean
all of us. The best way to make the American
people do something. is to tell them not to do it,
and vice versa. We don't like to be told. •
Armistice
-Day .
MEETING
Monday, Nov. 11
• Speaker
James Van land!'
Rep. 23rd Congressional
District
The Time: 11 A.M.
The Place:
Schwab Auditorium
Classes Will Be Excused
. For This Meeting
EVERYONE
'OUT!! -
This Ad Contributed By
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
MANIAC
Letters to the Editor—
Congratulations
_From A
Much-Respected Reader
To the Editor:
Accept my congratulations upon
the Collegian's coverage of the
election as it appeared in the issue
of November 6. This is a journal
istic accomplishment of which any
publication might be proud. This,
added to the very creditable record
you have already made since en
tering the daily field, gives your
publication an enviable position
in the field of college journalism.
Sincerely yours,
R. D. Hetzel,
President
The Women's Editor
Goes On Pan
To the Editor
That crack in your "We, the
Women" column about Houseparty
imports should go a long way to
ward decreasing your Collegian
subscription list. We have yet to
make the acquaintance of any co
ed who could measure up to the
standards of the imports in our
fraternity. We don't hear any
complaints from those "campus
queens" who would be an asset to
Houseparty weekend. By the way,
what are the rates to Coney Is
land?
Respectfully yours,
George F. Dorrance '44
Jack. Baling '44
Editor's Note:—lmagine if you
can the editor's position. He had
an import. (P.S. The women's
editor had an import herself, male,
of course.)
Caustic Comment,
Is He Right?
To the Editor:
A land grant college should teach
above all other things the princi
ples of 'democracy. Your editorials
have been far from democratic.
Yours. very truly,
John M. Keichline, M.D.
Huntingdon, Pa.
Another Note
For The Book
To the Editor:
Even if 99 per cent of the im,
ports looked like Coney Island
pickups (which, of course, is - the
Product of a warped mind) they
still looked (and were) a lot better
than this bunch of second-rate
trollops that we know as . Penn
State coeds.
Robert H. Leech '42
Open House Delayed
Formal open house for the Li
brary has been -postponed until a
later date when all the new equip
ment and furniture has arrived
from contracts under the General
State Authority, Willard P. Lewis,
head -librarian, has announced.
Watch This Paper For An Announcement
of the .
GRAND RE-OPENING
Of Our
NEWLY REMODELED STORE
While the interior of our store has been completely' renovated
and business is going on as usual, the exterior is not quite fin
ished yet. When that is completed we plan to hold a gigantic
Re-Opening. Watch the pages of this paper for further an
nouncement.
•
MOMIMMY
•
romm
Opposite Old Mani - State College
9
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1940
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NIBBLING.
AT THE NEWS
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Prepared
If ships of an invader enemy
were to steam within several
hundred miles of our eastern coast
and from there release flights of
bothbing planes against our vital]
industrial section, would not utfer,i
morale-damaging havoc result,
particularly if such an attack were
This question has probably come
up at least once in every bull-ses
sion in the past year. The answer
has always been to the effect that
such a surprise bombing would
lead to a "hell of a mess," and that
such a surprise
something should be done to guard
against it.
Thursday's papers tell us that
the something has been done. In'
the event of even the suspicion of,
a national emergency, 10,000 civ
ilians, organized by the American
Legion, will man 650 observation
posts throughout Massachusetts,'
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and all
of New York east of the Hudson
river.
When and if an enemy plane is
sighted or heard, the man on duty.
in each post will call "Arrriy.Flash"
into a telephone. His message will
be immediately relayed by long
distance to the Army Information
Center, his observations will be
plotted and figured with others
sent in, and invader planes will
very quickly meet a reception com
mittee of fast interceptor ships.
The Coast, Guar s d will also fill an
important part in this system.
With this establishment of the'
first permanent volunteer air, de
fense system in this country, it
would appear that the government .
is at lasebeginning to take notice
of wtat competent military experts
have been saying for months—
that the primary defense need of
our country is a :topnotch air de-:
fense, coupled with a large navy,
rather than a huge land force 'and
a "green" one at that.
Let us hope, however, that 'the
only service these -volunteer ob
servers see will be in practice.
ASCE To Hear Aluminum
Research Expels, Monday
E. C. Hartman, research engineer
from the Aluminum Company of
America at New Kensington, will
speak before the student chapter
of the ASCE in Room 109 Main
Engineering at 7:30 p.m. Monday
evening.
Mr. Hartman will speak on . the
topic. 'The Structural Uses of
Aluminum." A sound moving
.pic
ture film entitled "Aluminum,
Mine to Metal," will also, be
shown. Everyone is invited.
J. GORDON FAT