The Daily Collegian Editorial Page
l.Uttoriaia and colnmna appearing in The Daily Collegian represent Um opinions of tha writer. They make mm data t* reflect etude nt ar VnlicnKf eonaenm. Unsigned adltarlals era written bp Ita etfftata
PAGE TWO
War Dead a Memory?
It seems that some people never learn. A recent
report from Tokyo by Keyes Beech, foreign cor
rspondent for the Chicago Daily News Service,
states that “in a world choosing up sides for war,
American military men are not ignoring the fact
that Japan has more than five million men of mili
tary age.”
It might be interesting to note that this report
vas published in newspapers from coast to coast,
subscribing to the news service, on December 7,
exactly seven years after Pearl Harbor.
Can it be that politicians and military men have
already forgotten the results of similar planning
immediately after World War I? Are the approxi
mately 300,000 American war dead in World War
II just vague memories?
Following the Treaty of Versailles and the Bol
shevik revolution the Western powers, notably the
United States, Great Britain, and Poland tried in
vain to restore the pre-war Russian government
to power in the Kremlin.
When they realized the Reds could not be un
seated from control of the Russian state, leading
politicians in both the. English-speaking states de
cided to help Germany to industrial and military
recovery in the hope the revived Reich would act
as a buffer between themselves and the new Com
munist goliath.
Their plans were realized so well that just 20
years after the Kaiser’s generals laid down their
arms the Third Reich had built up the most gigan
tic military machine known to man. Spearheaded
by fanatics like Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels
this Frankenstein monster turned on its creators
and came within a whisper of destroying them.
Despite this tragic lesson, top American minds,
particularly in the military, seem to be about to
adopt the same program in regard to Japan. In
other words they want to revive Japanese indus
try and rearm the Sons of Nippon so they can act
as allies when (not if) we fight Russia.
Certain quotes from Mr. Beech’s article may
throw even more light on this tragic state of
affairs. . . military realists are less concerned
with the fact that Japan’s constitution renounces
war than they are with Japan’s military potential,”
the news report states.
“More than one high-ranking American officer
has privately expressed a wish to command Japa
nese troons in combat,” it goes on. Combat against
vhom? There is only one other nation (Russia) in
the world that could possibly wage war against
the United States. The answer appears pretty
obvious.
And like the Germans of the post-Versailles era,
the Japanese today realize their one hope of re
covery is to side with the United States in a war
against Soviet Russia. “. . . Japanese of all classes
like to think that America needs them as an ally
against Russia,” Beech continues.
Claims that we wouldn’t make the same mistake
again seem to be well founded. We don’t want to
rearm the Germans this time—no, this time it’s
the Japs I
Not Militant
Yesterday pickets appeared in front of several
t >wn barber shops, bearing signs that said “Jim
c.ow must go!” These pickets are not militant
pprisers or underdogs. They are students at the
College whose only reason for picketing is that
'bey feel strongly against Jim Crow. They don’t
1 ke it. and they are doing what they can to fight
i in State College.
The pickets are protesting publicly against an
undemocratic system that creates second class
i itizens. second class students, second class Penn
V'taters.
As far as we are concerned, there is no such
''ling. And we. as fellow students, will let the
' arbers know that we will not have “second class
!’enn Staters.”
This afternoon, the local chapter of the National
\ssociation for the Advancement of Colored
! eople._ which is behind the boycott and picketing,
5 holding a mass meeting on the front steps of
' 'ld Main, at 2 o’clock.
NAACP solicits the support and help of all in
r rested students and townspeople. If you are
oncerncd about discrimination in State College,
' you don’t like it either, then come to the mass
1 this afternoon and show your feelings.
Picket lines are something new in State College,
et’s see the project through, and inject something
Ire new in State College—equality for everyone,
e.rardless of color.
Wife Smlif CaUegnm
Successor to THE FREE LANCE, eat. 1887
i'ubliahed Tuesday through Saturday mornings inclusive dur
g the College year by tho staff of The Daily Collegian of The
■ nnsylvania State College. Entered as second class matter
tly 5 1954 at the State College. Va.. Post Office under the
•t of March 3. 1879. Subscrip ions —s2 a semester. 14 the
hoo! year
(tcpre w ented for national advertising by National Advert!**
■ v Service Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Chicago. Boston.
jh Angel*’* San Franciseo.
l.ew Stone
Editor
STAFF THIS ISSUE
*lnnai;inff Editor
s 'ew* Editor
'M>y Editor
r-si'tonta _
iwrli*ing Manager
i'tank . -
—Wilbert Roth.
—Betty Gibbons.
Business Manager
Vance C. Klepper
Ray Banter
John Aehbrook
Dot Ilaneberger
. (I’loria licnbcr.
Shirley Amlin, L. Own Cl.lfeller
Marlin Wearer
Mu* AnwU
In the Land of Jim Crow
Ray Sprigle, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter and staff member
of “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,” recently disguised himself as a
Negro and for four weeks “lived black” in the South among his fel
low Americans. This is the last of a series of twelve articles in which
he presents his findings. Mr. Sprigle has changed the names of per
sons and places in some instances to protect those involved.
All my life I’ve regarded Eliza’s
stunt of crossing the Ohio on the
floating ice floes, with bloodhounds
baying at her heels, as a pretty
heroic adventure. Not any more.
The night I came up out of the
deep South in a Jim Crow bus I'd
have been glad to take a chance
crossing on the ice if anything had
happened to stall our jolting char
iot on the Kentucky shore. And
there’d have been no need of any
bloodhounds to put me into high
gear.
We rolled out of Kentucky across
that old Ohio River bridge into
Cincinnati —into safety and free
dom and peace. Again I was free,
with all the rights of an American
citizen. Again I was—no, not white.
Not yet. It wasn’t that easy. Down
South my friends had done too
good a job of making me into a
Negro.
For many days I’d been looking
forward to an elaborate meal in a
luxurious restaurant with fancy
food and prices and service and
attention. I found one. And then
—take it or leave it—l didn’t go
in. I found a little lunch counter
and ate there.
How Crossing Line Feels
I took a cab to the Hotel Sinton
—my first cab in four weeks that
didn’t have “For Colored” on the
door. And, safely delivered at the
hotel, I hesitated again. So I went
down a block, found a telephone,
called the hotel, made a great point
of the fact that I was a “Post-
Gazette” man from Pittsburgh,
asked for a room and got it.
I registered, talked fast, slid past
the clerk as swiftly as possible and
followed the bellhop.
I’ll bet I know one thing that
no other white man in America
knows. That’s how a white skinned
Southern Negro must feel when
he quits his race, “crosses over”
and turns white.
On that bus trip across three
states from Atlanta to Cincinnati,
as usual, nothing much happened.
Only that we Negroes had the least
comfortable seats, ate in squalid
cubbyholes —or not at all and
found our Jim Crow rest rooms
filthy and evil.
For traveling companion I had
the young son of an Atlanta Negro
minister on his way to New York.
Allowed to Stand Outside
Bus stations along the line were
strictly Jim Crow. Usually we ate
jt a counter across a corner of the
kitchen, right beside the food be
ing cooked for the white folks. At
the last station just before reach
ing Covington these was no ac
commodation for us colored folk
at all. But we were permitted to
stand outside and watch the white
folks eaL However, none of it
B y Ray Sprigle
bothered me in the least. I could
have put up with anything. I was
on my way back to the white
world.
On that long bus trip North, as
in all my sojourn in the South, in
4,000 miles of travel by Jim Crow
train and bus and streetcar and
by motor, I encountered not one
unpleasant incident. Nobody call
ed me “nigger.” Nobody insulted
me. Nobody pushed me off the
sidewalk.
As to that last, however, I might
mention that I gave nobody a
chance. That was part of my brief
ing: “Don’t jostle a' white man.
Don’t, if you value your safety,
brush a white woman on the side
walk.” So I saw to it that I never
got in the way of one of the mas
ter race. I almost wore out my
cap, dragging it off my shaven poll
whenever I addressed a white
man. I “sirred” everybody, right
and left, black, white and in be
tween, I took no chances. I was
more than careful to be a “good
nigger.”
Could Have Gathered Scars
True enough, this would be a far
better story if I could show scars
left by the blackjack of some
Negro-hating small town deputy
whom I’d failed to “sir.” Or a few
bullet holes, momentoes of an ar
gument with some trigger-happy
Atlanta motorman.
I could have gathered them all
right. Just by getting “fresh” at
the right time and place. But for
me, no role as hero. I took my tales
of brutality and oppression and
murder at second hand. And was
mighty glad to do so.
But if I were to become a Negro
for four years or 40 years instead
of a mere four weeks, there’s one
thing to which I could never hard
en myself. That’s the casual way
in which these black friends of
mine in the South refer to slavery.
I have read my history, of course.
I know that for 250 years slavery
was a respected and respectable
institution in the South. Less so
for a shorter period in the North.
But to these people with whom
I lived, slavery is no mere matter
of history. They didn’t learn about
slavery from any book. They
learned about human bondage and
the lash and the club at their
mother’s knee. Most Southern Ne
groes, 65 or more, are the sons and
daughters of slave parents. My
friend with whom J traveled only
escaped it himself by 17 years.
Few former slaves are still liv
ing. They’d have to be well past
85 to know anything of it at first
hand. But sons and daughters of
slaves are leaders of the Negroes
(Continued on page seven)
SATURDAY. D 1
Hates and Wants
“Does the Negro hate the white man?” “What
does the Negro really want?”
These are the questions Ray Sprigle attempts
to answer in the last two, and most significant,
installments of “in the Land of Jim Crow,” which
has been appearing in the Daily Collegian for the
last seven weeks.
The hatred question was answered in a surpris
ing negative, by Sprigle, the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette reporter who, disguised as a Negro, spent
four weeks in intimate contact with Negro lead
ers in the South.
What he does hate is the discrimination and op
pression that keep him down his whole life. fife
hates being but half a citizen, paying taxes and
dying in our wars, but being denied the fight to
vote and enjoy the simplest forms of liberty.
His wants are quite simple, and most reason
able. They are the franchise, and adequate educa
tion for their children. These are things to which
they are, of course, entitled. He also wants and
deserves an end to the senseless discrimination
that is practiced by unthinking persons, m the
North as well as the South.
Some types of discrimination still exist in State
College, as everyone knows. And Until every trace
is stamped out,, we cannot justifiably point to our
community as a democratic one.
No Way to Celebrate
With the safety campaign in full swing, now »
the time to concentrate on stampingout the big
gest danger spot on our own campus. The most haz
ardous roads on campus are in Windcrest where
over four hundred children live in the crowded
trailer camp.
Practically all the roads in Windcrest are nar
row, winding, and generally in poOr condition,
yet students insist in racing through the settle
ment as though they were on a super-higbwgy.
The situation has been made critical by the par
tial closing of Shortlidge road which necessitates
driving through Windcrest to get to Simmons Hall
in the evening.
Tribunal has promised to look into the situa
tion but the responsibility rests upon every driver
who uses these roads.
Under the crowded conditions now existing in
Windcrest, with virtually no place for the children
to play out-of-doors, it is impossible to keep tpcm
off the roads. So the duty falls directly op ua as
adult citizens to protect the children of our fellow
students.
Running down and perhaps killing a little child
is hardly the way to celebrate a Big Evening. So
be careful —save a life on your own campus.
—Sylvia Ocknar.
Safety *Uaive
Time for Action
TO THE EDITOR: This is an appeal to the
men and women of Penn State. The time for aotion
on the barbershop problem has come. A boycott of
the barbershops is now in progress.
We have been told that a boycott is not the
solution to the problem; that we must wait for
the barbers to get “educated” to the ideals of
democracy.
But surely we must credit the barbers with
enough intelligence to understand the meaning of
“equality.” Surely as adults living in an enlight
ened community, they must know that discrimi
nation is incompatible with the principles of de
mocracy. While we wait for the barbers to apt
educated, our fellow Americans are suffering
needlessly; while we wait, they grow cynical and
contemptuous of man, God, and country.
But we are no longer content to be hypocrites.
We can and will establish the ideals of democracy
right here, right now. The rights of men in our
free America must not be abused.
Let all men, therefore, support the boycott. Let
all women stand courageously behind them. Then
we cannot but succeed, we—the people who be
lieve in the equality of all men.
Collegian Gazette
Sunday, December 12
ROD and Coccus Club, Simmons Hall Recrea
tion Lounge, 7-9:30 p.m., Christmas Party.
Monday. December 13
INTERCOLLEGIATE Conference on Govern
ment, 124 Sparks, 7 p.m.
PHILOTES, Penn State Club Room, Old Main,
7 p.m.
College Placement
Joy Manufacturing Co., December 13 and 14,
eighth semester in EE and ME. Should have in
clination for design and development in ne*yy
machinery.
Army Security Agency, December 13 and M,
eighth semester students in EE.
Hagan Corp., December 15 and 16, eighth seima
ter men in EE, ME, Sanitary Eng, Ceramics, Chega
Eng, and Chem.
Long Island Lighting Co., December 18, eighth
semester, in EE and ME for public utility work.
Piaseck Helicopter Corp., December 17, eighth
semester men in AE and ME.
Supplee-Wills-Jones Milk Co., December tt,
eighth semester men in Dairy TVgrh nifty.
—Peter R. PriftL