THURS:D4Y - Ar 224;' 1941 Perm -State, In The First World War, Was An 'Armed Camps Students Trained in SATE Barracks • SurveyS show it, national lead, ers predict it and` .some.. of ,theni urge . it—everything points , to• •the. fact that the United States .is drawing closer and closer to the theatre of World War No. 2. . "Just how much will the crisis affect college life . ," students ask as the draft cuts inroads into campus organization Students may get the best idea 'of' what to do in case of war by delving back through -the' reeordi of Penn State in the first World War. What was the College like then? Prof. John H. Frizzell, College chaplain, says, "The campus was practically an armed camp in 1917 and 1918." Here is the story: Immediately following Ameri ca's entry into the World War, the Board of Trustees placed the en tire facilities of the College at the disposal of the government. Being a Land Grant College, Penn State already had military train ing- on the campus and .was not faced by a problem as difficult ai colleges which had to provide army training for the first time. On the campus, students were trained under the SATC—Students Army Training Corps. Barracks were built to house civilians who came to the College for regular camp training as well as addition al preparation received from spe cial college courses. What is now Holmes Field was Penn State's own "no-man's land" in 1917. Trenches were dug, dum mies were set up to .provide bay onet practice, and in several months the campus virtually be came . an armed camp. Strangely enough, costs did not vary much for students, although a slight increase was introduced at the: dining conirnops.. Members of 'the faculty and administration' were hardest hie by rising price's, as their wages remained the same ,while.. living costs in : town rose trom 20 to 50 per• cent. • When, despite President Wil son's plea "to remain neutral in word and spirit," American citi zens sided with the Allies, war fever spread quickly to the Col lege. • "Four-minute men" became a nightly attraction at the Pastime, which' was the only movie in State College during the war. The pur pose of these minute men was to stir up interest in \ Liberty Bonds. During a period of four minutes between the feature picture, these men—chief . among whom was Pro fessor Frizzell—would make their "pep" talks in the face of hazing from some of the army trainees who were stationed in barracks on the campus. Another patriotic demonstra tion was the dropping of German as. a College course. However, the College was not responsible for this, but only did so because students refused to study the lang uage. Although it was believed that several people in town were aid ing the German cause, the domi nant spirit decidedly favored .America and the Allies. One of the most noted examples of Am- STATE COLLEGE'S 3RD ANNUAL . • TODAY .. a DOLLAR DAY .S. TODAY Here's the:List of. All the Merchants Participating in this Greatest Bargain pay of the. Year. • Jack Harper Moore's Dress Shop Shomberg's Fromm's • Keeler's • Persia Shoe ,Store Egoif's College Cut Rate College Book Store Crabtree's Charles'. Fellow Shop Children's' Shop Bottorf's • Paul A. Mitten Electric •Supply Co. W. R. Gentzel Smith's Tailor Shop _ McKee's Market Varsity Shop College Hardware Co. Hartman & Sellers Co. Rea & Derick , Struble's Clover Farm State College Floral • A& P Super Market People's Furniture Co. McLanahan's Shaffer Stores Haverly's Grocery Paterson Hosiery Shop Alice Elizabeth Shop Ssars Roebuck & Co. SHOP TODAY FOR GRAND BARGAINS AT ANY OF THE ABOVE STORES! b*art Shop ericanism was shown by the late 0. Fred -Boucke, professor -of economics, whose picture now hangs in the main lobby of Sparks Building. Professor Boucke was of Ger man descent, his family and friends lived in Germany during the war, but he was one of Penn State's top patriots, despite the fact that he was often forced to say, "I can't tell who my real friends are on the campus." • Penn State's "all-out" program during the first World War met with tremendous success in every department except sports, as over 2,000 students, alumni, and admin istrative officers offered direct and indirect 'services to their country. Football, the king of college sports, was hardest hit, especially, during the autumn of 1918. The first hint of football's downfall came in the 1917 season,. when Captain Conover joined the army along with' most of his teammates. The following season, Penn State played only four games on the gridiron. During the campaign, Captain: Robb- also answered, the call- to service__and was' , :repl . a.ced by Uzger..ln;fact,most oethe team had to •be replaced. Attendance droppedto. record lows and the football . ;-outlook was decidedly black=so -block that many fans began to wonder "if college'-foot ball would ever regain its old prestige." Strangely enough, the grid sport at Penn State rebounded into the limelight more quickly than it had fallen. The war was over, and three past captains and a host of stellar teammates all returned to College for the 1919 season. The next three years were probably the greatest in the history of foot ball at Penn State. Losing only to Dartmouth by • a 19-13 count, the Lions chalked up an enviable rec ord of twenty-two victories, four ties, and one setback. All in all, it was a quick comeback in contrast to the dark year of 1918. 4-H Clubs To Meet Here Two annual 4-H Club events are scheduled at the College for the week of August 10 to 16. The six teenth annual Leadership Train ing School will be in session all week, while the twenty-first an nual State Club Week activities are on the calendar for August 13 to 16. The latter include judging contests for the selection of state championship teams. THE" SUMMER COLLEGIAN Polylifh Valuable To Geologists Several thousand students walk by it every day. It occupies a cen tral position on the campus. It is sufficiently different to attract at tention. Yet the polylith, the "monument" in front of the Arm ory, is probably the loneliest thing on the campus. For the first month or so of the year the freshmen stop to read its inscriptions. During pleasant weather student surveyors set up their tripods and aim their transits at and ' around it. At frequent intervals visitors to the campus stop and inspect it, and leave wondering just what it is and why it's there. Since 1896, or for 45 years. it has stood there, an experiment that has never been written com pletely and, the chances won't be for hundreds of years Erected as a method of testing the lasting qualities of Pennsyl vania building stones, the poly lith is made up of 281 samples of stones from 150 localities, Its chronological series of rocks, 33 feet high and weighing 53.4 tons, represents a span of millions of years in the geological formations of the earth's. crust in Pennsyl vania. In addition to samples of Penn sylvania stone, it contains two types shipped from England, two from Massachusetts, and one each from New York,. Ohio, In diana, and New Jersey. • Because it tells how various stones withstand weathering, the polylith attracts building special ists and geologists from all parts of the country. Back in the days when fresh men were really green, the up erclassmen's favorite sport con sisted in telling the gullible frosh that beneath the foundation of towering rock rest the bones of Old Jerry, the mule that hauled the stone for the construction of Old Main. Vic Dances Victrola dances will be held every Tuesday evening at the Sig ma Phi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Sigma houses and every Wednes day evening at the Sigma Nu house. Plan Amateur Night For Last Week of Session Plans for an "Amateur Night" for• summer session students and faculty members are now under way and anyone who possesses such talent as singing, playing an instrument, offering a dramatic, magical or stunt act may apply for an audition by calling White Hall before Wednesday. Auditions will begin in the Little Theatre at 8:30 o'clock Wednesday night. The final "Amateur Night" program will be held during the final week of summer session and the date will be announced in the next issue of the Summer Colle gian. War Friendship Brings; Unusual Student Here A student who came to Penn State as the result of a World War friendship between his father and a Penn State dean has turned out to be a ."five-letter man" in scholarship—an achieve ment almost as rare as winning letters in five different sports. The student is John D. Morgan Jr. '42, whose. father, now vice president in charge of engineer ing and research for Cities Service Oil Co., and Edward Steidle, dean of the School of Mineral Indus tries, were fellow captains in the First Gas Regiment (30th En gineers) of the A.E.F. "John's father told me at the end of the war," said Dean Stei dle, "that if he ever had a son who was interested in mineral industries he would send him to my school. To have him turn out so well scholastically is a double pleasure." 7in winning election to eight different honorary societies, the son has made his mark in five separate subjectmatter field s. Although enrolled in mineral in dustries, he has been named to ,two societies 'for distinction in engineering. one for mathematics (liberal arts), another for chem istry, another for mineral indus tries, and two for top-ranking cadets in the ROTC. He is president of Sigma Tau, engineering honorary, and also is a member of Phi Eta Sigma, gener al scholastic honorary. This record, for diversity, is probably un matched in the College's history. Thy ' fight Happen Aga In this picture, the Students' Army Training; Corps at Penn State dur ing World War I is shown at muster on the campuJ about where the mechan ical engineering labcra - tory is now. Approxima .tely 1,400 men were in. the collegiate section ot: the SATC. Can You Do Better Than ibisl Chamberlain is Prime Minister of England and John Garneris still Vice-president of the United States according to .answers submitted on a test given to 100 education students by Dr. Frank A. Butler of the department o f education and pschology. The test, composed of 25 ques tions concerning current politi cal, social, and economic facts and events, was given to 40 men and 60 women who will be qual-• ified to do practice teaching next semester. "Information possessed by these students is surely disheart ening to anyone who surmises that college students are well informed individuals." Dr. But ler said. Specifically, 15 did not know the name of the present English Prime Minister, while 30 could not name our own Vice president. Over two-thirds of the Stu dents tested did not know the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy of the United Staten. "Their notion of the population of the U. S. was pathetic," Dr. Butler said. Answers ranged from 130,000 up to numbers using 1( figures. Dr. Butler plans to give the same test to 100 high school stu dents to determine if the pupils know more than their prospec tive teachers. Geography `On The Spot' There is an increasing tend. ency in colleges and schools to-- ward teaching history and geog raphy of Pennsylvania "on Ito cpot," according to the State De partment of Commerce. The tourist division of the Dt partment has cooperated with var ious groups in planning Pennsy.l-• vania tours covering outstanding points of historic and geographic interest. Most recent of the schools to make an objective study of Penn sylvania's history and geography is Indiana State Teachers College in Indiana. The college has in augurated an elective course which will take classes on a 1,200 mile tour to the following places: Cresson, Portage, Bedford, Penn sylvania Turnpike, Gettysburg Battlefield,• Harrisburg, Lancaster, Coat es ville, Kennett Square Chadds Ford, Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Easton, Delaware Water Gap and the Pocono region, Scran ton, Weilsoro's "Grand Canyon'„ Coudersport Ice Mine, Erie, Py matuning State Park and back to Indiana. Following the trip students will organize, study and classify ac cumulated material. According to M. J. Walsh, director of summer sessions at the college, it is be lieved that a course conducted in this manner will give students a living, vital knowledge . of the field that cannot be secured by thn ore4Kr.rthodo*.thass - procedure.- PAGE FIVE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers