The Daily Collegian Editorial Page
Editorials and columns appearing In The Daily Collegian represent the opinions of the welter. Ther make no claim to reflect student Of Unlearnt* sonsensee. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.
PAGE TWO
Non-Partisan?
Partisan politics rears its ugly head in the Lib
eral Arts Student Council presidential election.
Evidence that council members belonging to a
campus political clique were planning to elect one
of their number for the avowed purpose of intro
ducing a "party" vote into All-College Cabinet,
has been compiled.
Such action, on the pElrt of any party, in any
student council, is inimicdl to the best interests of
the council in question, the students it purports
to represent and student government as a whole.
Partisanship of this uncalled-for variety, can be
cited as detrimental or unethical on at least two
levels, the All-College and the school.
One of the strongest features of All-College Cab
met is its 16 to 6 margin of non-political to politi
cally elective seats. This should guarantee the im
possibility of a strong machine railroading mo
tions for selfish partisan purposes.
Should a clique desire to dominate Cabinet, it
would need to get six of its members in as council
presidents, as well as winning the All-College and
class elections. Fortunately for the strength and
integrity of student government, this is practically
impossible.
Council members are elected by the fellow-stu
dents of their respective schools, as individuals.
and not as clique members, nor on party plat
forms. Failure to represent their constituents con
stitutes dishonesty of the grossest variety.
To prevent any possibility of misunderstanding,
Collegian still maintains its complete impartiality
about who is elected by the LA Council. All we
are interested in is that the president display his
loyalty to his school by representing it, and not
any political clique, on Cabinet.
We have confidence in the ability and desire of
qt , council members to select and support such a
orcsi dent.
Out on a Limb
Now is the time for editorial writers to make
their predictions of election results. This year we
c going out on a limb prepared perhaps to fall
i;ni confident of our prescience.
As should be well known, the Daily Collegian
non-partisan in both campus and national poll
, Ics. The predictions that follow should not be con
fused with the persuasions of the writer or the
icwspaper.
Next January 20, Thomas E. Dewey, we feel,
viing with most other editorial writers of the
iiuntry. will be inaugurated president.
Despite the confident predictions of the Demo
( catic party. we feel that Republican sentiment,
ectutiled with the defection of the Dixiecrats and
Wallaceites will be enough to defeat President
Ti unian. The long term in office of the Deemocrats
e• 3 also made many people anxious to give the
(Wier party a chance.
The 1946 Congressional elections have often been
cited as a straw in the political wind of 1948. The
Democrats brush this aside with the comment
that labor's failure to vote was the chief cause of
their defeat. But many labor votes this year will
w - obably be attracted to the Progressive Party.
New York. very often carried for the Democrats
by the New York City vote will probably fall to
r:overnor Dewey this year. A lighter-than-usual
Democratic registration in the city, together with
heavy, traditionally Renublican up-state vote,
‘k" bring about this result.
The solid South will probably not be too solid
tt,i:; year either. Governor Thurmond is expected
to carry as many as four states and the activities
pf the Dixiecrat party in Virginia may throw that
ttlfr to the Republicans.
Illinois, if carried by President Truman, will
probably be the only one of the largest states to
.o Democratic.
About the only bright hope for the Democrats
the recently reported fact that Henry Wallace
will probably not get the seven million votes con
ceded to him at the beginning of the campaign.
\fr. Truman. by advocating more liberal policies,
1.:Is evidently been able to recapture those votes
! . 4 ir his own party.
Nevertheless, the outcome of today's election. as
, oP see it from here, will undoubtedly he a Re
publican resident in the White House for the next
t•mr years. —Elliot Shapiro.
That ►Day+
!'hat day is here again
The American voter has been subjected to
earisome weeks of "giving 'em hell" from one
train platform and to a persistent plea for "unity"
from the other. Today he has his chance to use
the one power before which all politicians quake.
One would think that the candidates, having no
more babies to fondle and no more fish or donkeys
with which to pose, could sit back today and watch
the scoreboard in comparative peace. But such is
not the American way. With our ever-alert press
on the job, Truman and Dewey will have to appear
at their respective polling places for the usual
picture-taking.
What thoughts will linger behind those last
minute, slightly-used smiles? If previous offhand
remarks give any indication, both leading candi
dates will he thinking that there is more pain
than pleasure in the office they seek.
"Pray for me, boys!" Thus spoke Harry Truman
to assembled newspapermen when he suddenly
found himself President on April 12, 1945.
Earlier this year. when Dewey was asked why
wanted to go to the White House, he replied,
I'll be darned if I know," or words to that effect.
Nevertheless, one of these men will know late
I,,ni ght that he has been hired for one of the
h.tighest jobs in the world by the world's most
itical employers, the American people.
—Jobs Bonsai
The fate of the world—
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In the Land of Jim Crow
Ray Sprigle, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter and staff member
of "The Pittsburgh Post Gazette," recently disgsised himself as a
Negro and for four weeks "lived black" in the South among his
fellow Americans. In a series of twelve articles, of which this is the
third, he presents his findings. Mr. Sprig le has changed the names
of persons and places in some instances to protect those involved.
We're at breakfast in this .
pleasant, comfortable. Negro
home. One of the daughters is
home on a visit from Tennessee
where she. and her husband are
university instructors. The con
versation drifts, as it inevitably
will wherever and whenever Ne
groes gather, to the all-over
shadowing race problem. Her five
year-old son is at the table too.
Whenever she uses the word,
"white," she spells it out. She
spells n-e-g-r-o, too. So far
she hopes, her youngster doesn't
know the difference between Ne
gro and white. He probably does
n't because some of his relatives
are as white in color as any white
man and others range all the way
to deep black.
Those spelled-out words high-1
light another and vitally impor
tant problem of the intelligent ]
Negro.
When do you begin teaching
your child how he is to live as a
Negro? When do you begin teach
ing him the difference between
blackk tnd white—not as colors
but as races? When do you begin
teaching him how to live under
the iron rule of a master race that
regards him as aninferior breed?
When do you begin teaching him
that for him, the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence
are scraps of paper?
Parents Must Answer
Those are questions that every
Negro mother and father has to
answer-
"We try to let them have their
childhood free of prejudice and
confusion,"the mother says after
we have shooed young Bobby out
to play. "But we've got to tell
them before they come up against
the hard facts of discrimination
and prejudice for themselves.
You people up North have only
one set of 'the facts of life' to put
before your children. Down here
we've got two. And sometimes I
think the racial facts of life are
the most important." (When she
says "you people up North," she
dose so with the assumption that
I, too am a Negro.)
Generally the Negro child gets
his first lessons in race relations
before he goes to school. But one
couple I know delayed. So one
day their little daughter brought
home a white friend, a girl of her
own age. They had encountered
each other when their pathways
to school crossed—one on her
way to her white school, the other
on her way to the Jim Crow sch
ool house. The parents had to
work fast.
First, as considerately as possi
bbe, they seat Ale aide white sir
By Ray Sprigle
on her way homewith the under
standing that she was never to
come back. To their own little
one they had to explain that she
could not enter a white home ex
cept through the back door. That
no white could enter a Negro's
house except on business and that
certainly no little white girl could
ever visit a little black girl.
Guest From North
AR through the day„ friends of
the visiting daughter of my hosts
were dropping in to see her. And
of course Mr. James R. Crawford,
the guest from Pittsburgh, was
introduced to all of them. (James
R. crawford was the name I was
using.) So what was more logical
and natural than that Mr. Craw
ford should seek to slant the con
versation toward a comparison
between life in the South and
the North?
The Southern Negro woman.
particularly one of refinement
and culture has Jim Crow prob
lems all her own. For instance„
there's the seemingly simple mat
ter of buying hats and dresses. In
most Southern cities—with the
notable exception of Atlanta—no
Negro woman is permitted to try
on anything, not even a $2OO dress
if she's got the $2OO right in her
hand. In some millinery depart
ments the sales girl will carefully
pin a cloth over her black cus
tomer's head before she'll let her
try on a hat. But in most places
the Negro customer just picks her
hats and dresses off the rack. If
she touches them—she's made a
purchase—they're all hers. All
the women agreed that Baltimore
was the worst town in the coun
try for mistreatment of Negro
patrons.
Shoe stores arbitrarily set aside
certain benches in the rear of the
store for Negro customers. Every
woman there recalled what hap
pened to Roland Hayes, famous
Negro tenor, when his New York
born wife went into a Rome, Ga.,
shoe store for a pair of shoes.
Hayes had purchased the planta
tion, not far from Rome, where
his mother had been burn and
lived in slavery, He planned to
establish a model plantation that
would supply ideas, modern
methods, pure-bred seed and
stock to neighboring farmers,
white and black. In town for the
weekly shopping, Hayes had
dropped his wife off at the shoe
store and had driven on to park.
In the shoe store, Mrs• Hayes sat
down on the first bench available.
A white clerk, determined to
keep his race pure, ordered her
(Continued on page six)
Iles*, el
£a etValve
Letters to the editor must be signed for Inclusion Is en
Safety Valve, although names will be withheld en request. Tele.
ohone numbers and addresses must be Included to facilitate
verification of authenticity of signatures. Letters exceeding
200 words in length may be cat when required by , space
limitations.
Ostriches?
TO THE EDITOR: When one says that existing
bad conditions are not actualities, he .is similar to
the ostrich hiding its head in the sand. Mr. Schle
gel, Chairman of the Food Committee, is imitating
this ostrich when he claims that the Nittany Din
ing Hall complaints have been remedied. Any
remedy made has been in the form of reprisal.
The desires of these men are simple. They ask
but to be permitted to live in health. The most
popular requests have been listed below by the
Committee.
1. An adequate breakfast, including fruit, milk,
coffee, cereal, and solid food: (One sweet roll is
not considered to be substantial food.)
2. Lunches which are both adequate and appe
tizing. (One stuffed pepper is not considered a sub
stantial lunch.)
3. Dinners which are adequate, appetizing, and
well-balanced. (An all-starch meal is not consid
ered well-balanced.)
4. Constant coffee availability from 7 a.m. until
12 p.m.
' 5. The closing of the PUB, and the redirection of
PUB funds into the Nittany Dining Hall.
6. The publication of the facts concerning the
statement "that the most important of more than
1000 complaints taken from 396 men eating in Nit
tany dining hall have been remedied."
These six requests have been tabulated through
accurate survey methods. They are not unreason
able or unfair. Will action be taken?
—The Pollock Circle Vigilance Committee.
Joseph Winton, David Winton,
William Geiger, Thomas DeCoursey.
• Again and again, Collegian implores its
readers to submit their legitimate complaints
to legally constituted student government bod
ies. Four persons, speaking as individuals, out
of 2000 can easily go unnoticed, when on the
other hand, representatives of the 2000 can get
things done.
You will no doubt be quick to point out that
an All-College Cabinet committee has "failed"
to get action. But so far, complaints have been
registered with Collegian from only one-fifth of
one percent of the Nittany diners.
Mr. Schlegel's complete report will be pub
lished when completed.
Z4e Elatty entirgian
Successor to THE FREE LANCE, est. ISV?
Published Tuesday through Saturday mornings inclusive due•
mg the College year by the staff of The Daily Collegian of The
Pennsylvania State College. Entered as second claas matter
July 6, 1984. at the State College, Pa.. Post Office under the
act of March 8. 1879. Subscriptions —ll2 a gamester. 44 the
school year.
Represented for national advertising by National Advertle.
ing Service, Madison Ave.. New York. N.Y. Chicago. Boston,
Los Angeles. San Francisco.
Editor
Lew Stone
STAFF THIS ISSUE
___Dot Banabertor
__Florence) Feinberg
Lorraine DeJoseph
Jane Crane
_____Joe Cops*
Advertising Manager - Don Baker
Assistants Eloise Cook
Bob Clark
Managing Editor
Copy Editor
Assistants _
Collegian Gazette
Tuesday. November 2
PI LAMBDA THETA, Westminster Foundation,
5:45 p.m.
COLLEGIAN AD STAFF, 1 CH, 6:45 p.m.
College Hospital
Admitted Saturday: George Kerr and Nancy
Neusbaum.
Discharged Saturday: F lor ice Dawson and
George Kerr.
Admitted Sunday: Carolyn Rice, Phyllis Mow
rer and Thomas Paul.
Discharged Sunday: Fred Wiker, Hiram Wil
lia►ns, William Cregar, Siegmund Knies, John
Folk, Leonard Bletz and Philip Klemick.
Admitted Monday: Leona Schadle and Pas
Dillon.
College Placement
Arrangements for interviews should be made le
204 Old Main at ones
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., November 1
to 5, seventh and eighth semester men from Chem
istry, Chem Eng, ME and Mining Eng.
Proctor and Gamble ovember 2 and 3,
eighth semester men from Co., ME, EE, lE, Chem Eng,
Chem, and Commercial Chemistry.
Brown Instrument Co., November 9 and 10.
eighth semester men from EE, ME and Physics.
Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co., November 8 and 9,
eighth semester men from ME, IE, EE, CE, Metal
lurgy and Chem Eng.
Calco Chemical Division of American Cyana
mid, November 3, eighth semester men from Chem
and Chem Eng.
Sylvania Electric Co. November 8, eighth se
mester men from EE, ME, Chem Eng, Chem, and
Ceramics.
Armstrong Cork Co., November 1.1, 12 and 13,
seventh semester men in lE, ME, Ph.D. in Chem
istry, Chem Eng, and Physics.
Bell ,System, November 9, 10 and 11, ear se
mester men from EE, ME and IL 8.5.,
Ph.D. men in EIA and Physics.
0090 .. Business Manages
' Vance C. Klepper