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.-
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