PAGE FOUR
THE COLLEGIAN
F.,Atabliished 1940. Successor to the Penn State Collegian,
established 1004, and the Free Lance, established 1887.
Published every Friday during the regular College year
by the staff of the Daily Collegian 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
.110Earcr 8, 1879.
Stibscriptions by mail only at $l.OO a semester.
Editor-in-Chief Business Manager
Lee H. Learner Rosalind, Becker
Advertising Manager Managing Editor
Herbert Hasson Serene F. Rosenberg
Senior Editorial Board:
Service Editor _Rita M. Belfonti
Feature Editor M. Jane McChesney
Sports Editors—Arthur P. Miller, Rembrandt C. Robinson.
Editorial Assistants—Helen V. Hatton, Emil A. Kabek, Ber
nard Cutler.
Reporters—Nancy Cnrastro, Peggie Weaver, Betsy Morkle,
Victor Danilov, Ruth Constad, Gertrade Lawatsch.
Junior Advertising Board—Betty Federman, Bernice Fine
berg, Elaine Miller, Kitty Vogel.
Staff This Issue
Managing Editor Helen Hatton
Assistant Managing Editor .. .. Emil Kubek
News Editor Victor Danilov
Sports Editor. __Rembrandt C. Robinson
Assistant Advertising Manager Bernice Fineberg
Assistants—Woodene Bell, Barbara Ingraham, Marian John
son, Lynette Lundquist, Gloria Nerenberg, Jacque
line Slocum, Fay Young
Friday, April 28, 1944
All editorials represent the opinions of
the writer whose initials are signed to it,
and not the opinion of the corporate Col
legian staff. Unsigned editorials are by the
editor.
Lip Service Or . . .
Last summer .a Collegian editorial writer, skat
ing on rather thin ice, criticized All-College Cab 7
inet for its failure to take any action on many of
the important issues concerning wartime college
students. Since that time, Cabinet has attempted
to take such action, but without too much success.
Their failure has not been due to a lack of in
itiative or understanding, but rather because Cab
inet representation
. has been far too limited to
provide the number of people necessary to put
things across.
The proposal to give a vote on Cabinet to various
student councils and other organizations on cam
pus has the potentialities to remedy the situation.
When the All-College constitution was revised
last year, the number of Cabinet representatives
who had a vote was reduced from 28 to 12. This
was done mainly because the committee working
on 'the •constitution felt that student activities for
the duration would be curtailed to such an extent .
that a more streamlined Cabinet could handle
things more efficiently.
What that committee failed to realize was that,
although the conventional student activities might
be curtailed, there would be an infinite number of
other projects that would demand the time and
effort of the student body . projects such as
War Fund Drives, War Bond Drives, and Red
Cross Drives projects which have been grossly
neglected by Penn State students, in comparison
with the work that other colleges have done along
these lines. Much as Cabinet might have wanted to
aid in these projects, they could do little more than
pay lip service to them because none of the repre
sentatives had any organized group backing him
to which he could turn for help on any assignment
which Cabinet's chairman might give him.
The pros and cons of the council vote issue.were
debated at Cabinet's latest and most heated ses
sioh. Many seemed dubious as to whether a more
representative Cabinet could in any way facilitate
the running of campus activities. However, that is
a relatively unimportant point. What is important
is that a more representative Cabinet would be
better able to organize, publicize, and canvass for
all of the nation-wide projects, such as the Fifth
War Bond Drive which is coming up soon.
And for those who are afraid that passing the
pending proposal would "pave the way for innu
merable small and comparatively unimportant
campus groups to petition for a vote on Cabinet,"
there is an easy way to alloy their fears. A com
mittee is now working on standards which any
group which desires a vote must measure up to.
The provision would be incorporated into these
standards that any group being given representa
tion on Cabinet must have the facilities, and the
willingness, to cooperate and fulfill its obligations
on any project to which it might be assigned. If a
group failed to cooperate, this failure could be in
vestigated by a student-faculty committee and, on
their recommendation and a three-fourths vote
from Cabinet, that group would lose its repre
sentation.
It's as easy as that, if Cabinet is really sincere
and wants to turn its lip service into war service.
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Collegiate Review
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The muddy brows of the sophomores were
lowered when a group of brawny freshmen tugged
and fought their way to an overwhelming brawl
victory in the annual tug-o-war at the University
of. California:
* ca 4x
John Towle, tax assessor, thought he knew all
the answers, but one of his citizens stumped him.
One of the questions on the assessment blank:
"Nature of taxpayer."
The answer: "Very mean."
—The Indiana Daily Student
Exams begin this week. Probably no student
needs to be reminded of that fact, but some fail to
realize that quiet hours for the rest of the term are
not a baneful•rule but an absolute necessity. The
system of half-hearted observance of quiet hours
will not work now. —Editorial, Daily Orange
Did someone drop that pin?
Every week we say to ourselves, "No, no, Ches
ter Gould can't think of anything more diabolical
and. horrible than what he had last." Yet he does.
A criminal doesn't just die a nice, clean, ordinary
death in the electric chair or in the lethal chamber,
he has to be pelted with bullets, burned to a crisp,
or strangled with wire. Bee-Bee Eyes was caught
in the cross-fire of a gun battle, while Mrs. Prune
face, too, passed out of the strip in a gruesome
manner.
What we wonder now is, will Flattop go soft?
Will he merely be sentenced to death? Or will he
escape and find himself in a corner trapped be
tween Tracy on one hand and the police on the
other, while above him workmen carelessly drop
a huge stone which will crush him to the pave
mentthat, we feel, would be too good for him
after what he's done to our buddy, Vitamin Flint
heart.
—Sotithern California Trojan
It takes a college education for an observation
like that! Oh! Well! •
Mother: What? A twenty-page letter from that
soldier of yours at camp. What did he say?
Daughter: He loves me.
Cleveland debutantes have solved the manpower
shortage.
A group of Notre Dame fathers gallantly escort
ed their daughters to a recent South Euclid col-
lege prom.
The' girls readily admitted they invited their
dads because of the current lack of eligible young
men, but added hastily that their fathers were fine
dancers and made excellent escorts.
THE COLLEGIAN
* *
—South Carolina Gamecock
—Associated Collegiate Press
Campuseer
Now that there is another mass departure imminent from the•
campus this Spring, the voices are again beginning to be heard urging
another "LAST BIG WEEKEND." Ever since the, winter the war
began, there have been LAST BIG WEEKENDS, at least one a semes
ter, and sometimes two. This week from one who signs himself . . .
"1-A in the Army" . . , comes an impassioned plea for Collegian to
support the LAST BIG WEEKEND for this term.
The arguments are the same as usual, concluding with the thought
that this will provide the boys about to go overseas with a lasting
memory they can cherish. Perhaps it would. But at the same time,
back when these last-ditch affairs started, no intelligent policy was
laid down, so that each successive one has been more or less of a catch
as-catch-can affair. The Winter Ball was never supposed to have hap
pened, but it did, mostly through the persistence of one man, Les Stine,
now in the armed services, who refused to take no for an answer. Now
the problem has arisen again. And no doubt it will arise each semester
as long as the war continues.
There is nothing wrong with the idea of having a Big Weekend.
As long as there are enough eligible males around to provide a suf-.
ficient number of escorts, so that the financial committee doesn't need
to break out the red ink or dip into inter-class funds to foot a deficit
(we don't know if this is permissible or not) there is no reason why.
there should not be this kind of entertainment and recreation.
But . . . here it comes . . .we want to qualify that last statement..
In one issue of the Penn State Engineer there was a short paragraPb
about conditions at another college. It said that dances were con
tinuing as usual, and balls and proms were on the social calendar..
The author went on to say, however, that the proceeds from these
affairs were put into a "Bomber Scholarship Fund" for the benefit of
returning soldiers. In this way, the students at Michigan, which was
the college in question, are having as many dances as conditions will
permit, and at the same time are supporting a worthy cause.
A similar scholarship fund may not be the answer for us at Penn
State, but we do need a purpose other than one of merely entertain
ment. Student apathy has been notorious during the War Bond Drives
and the Red Cross Drive. The showing is pathetic when the amount of
money spent 'during a big weekend is considered.
What is needed is some positive action by the student leaders to
establish once and for all a definite policy on these affairs. If there are
to be more of them, there should be set up a procedure to be followed
in the future, and the necessary steps taken to insure their success. •
And with this thought, dear reader, we leave to you whether we
are to have a LAST BIG WEEKEND. - We will if someone gets busy
and does a whole pile of work very soon.
Buzzing The Field
Books about fliers . . . SHORE
LEAVE, by Frederic Wakeman,
New York: Farrar and Rinehart.
Crewson knew what he wanted
when he came back from the Pa
cific battle zone. As be told his
three fellow Navy fliers on the
flight fr6m Pearl Harbor to San
Francisco: "First we all go to the
St. Mark and take a suite. Then
we call for room service. Then we
drink. Then we go out and collect
some women."
• There were four of them—
Crewson, the P-Boat Pilot, Mac
and IVlississip, all pilots—return
ing to the States for a medical sur
vey to determine their fitness for
return to 'combat.. Crewson, the
stand-out of the four, was typical;
he had seen service on aircraft
carriers at Midway, the Coral Sea,
the Marshalls and Gilberts; and
Santa Cruz; land service with the
Marines at Guadalcanal; awarded
two Navy Crosses and the DFC;
recovering from malaria and
amoebic dysentery; flesh burn
scars on }eft hand and arm.
Before reporting to the Naval
hospital at San Diego they had a
"shore leave." The story is told by
an Intelligence officer—probably
Wakeman—who was also making
the trip back from the Pacific. He
missed the first day of their shore
leave, but caught up with them in
their suite at the St. Mark where
the party was raging. The suite
was "din and smoke and confu
sion"; its chief characteristics,
"women, then fliers, then waiters
with drinks and trays." -
The book is chiefly about Crew
son and a "Junior Leaguer" named
Gwynneth Livingston. After sev
eral days at the St. Mark the
author takes you cross country to
New York, where you meet Crew
son's wife and family. But, fortu
nately, you are soon back at the
suite, high in the clouds, for more
FRIDAY, APRIL 28,1944
By 808 KIMMEL
with Roger
of the exploits of the memorable
Crewson.
SHORE LEAVE is an entertain
ing sojourn with five fighting men.
But actually it is more pathetic
than funny. It is the story of the
emotional let-down • suffered by
men who have been through the
hell of •combat when they find
themselves back in the peace and
dignity of home. And yet they
aren't home, for, as Wakeman
says, `q realized then that the war
had taken something out of me—
that it had destroyed . most of my
relationships with the past." -
Another example of the terrific
emotional strain is the suite at the
St. Mark on the "morning after":
"There was a feeling in this room
you didn't get in ordinary morn
ing -after rooms. It •was the feeling
that all the people who had soiled
this room were racing their super
charged lives at top speed . . that
today is today and when it drib
bles off into yesterday nothing can
bring it back . . . those old musty
virtues that in other days seemed
to have goodness, truth; and even
beauty; to hell with them now, the
room said."
The four fliers are heroes, but
not the Hollywood type of hero.
They are too ill and tired from
living with death. They aren't
itching for "another crack at
them"; as Crewson said: "Good
God. Anybody who likes malaria,
amoebic dysentery and getting
shot at'must be crazy." They don't
seem impressed by the Four Free
doms of the United Nations. Their
reason for fighting is better ex
pressed by the P-Boat Pilot:
"Would a young man be an ac
countant in Des Moines, lowa,
when he can be out there doing
things the whole world is looking
at, and his side is cheering him on?
It's an ideal spot. to show..off,". .