TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1949
she Salety Valve
'Not a Draft Evader'
TO THE EDITOR: The Daily Collegian of
March 18 printed a story on Larry Gara and the
recent U.S. District Court decision which found
him guilty of supporting and abetting Charles
Rickert, of Bluffton College, in non-registration
for the present conscription law. The story on
Gara was very objective and well done. The pur
pose of this letter is to point out that Charles
Rickert is not a draft evader.
Charles Rickert, as a pre-ministerial student
and a pacifist declining to serve in the armed
forces, would be eligible for classifications IV D
or IV E under the Selective Service Law and
thereby exempt from active service in the armed
forces. He does not believe in supporting war
and further feels that the present Selective Service
Law actually promotes war and counteracts any
practices of goodwill this country might under
take. Since he possesses this belief he is unable
to cooperate in any way with the law that makes
possible the conscription of men for promotion of
war. Quite logically he has refused to register for
the draft. Charles Rickert is thereby a non regis
trant with no intentions of evading life but a
person who is facing his inner religious leadings
and being consistent.
Not at all incidental to this whole matter is the
fact that Gara was convicted without a fair hear
ingi not to mention the fact that a U.S. Court is
limiting freedom of speech and religious liberties.
The case is being appealed to a Circuit Court and
is under the care of the Civil Liberties Union.
—Eugene L. Mercer Jr.
Against Council Politics
TO THE EDITOR: Lost, or entirely forgotten,
in the current "Politics in student councils ' con-
News Briefs
Eng Student Council
Opening nominations for stu
dent council officers to be elected
April 5 will be held at the Engi
neering Student Council meeting
in 106 Old Main at 7 p.m. today.
Constitutional revision and re
ports from the course rating pro
gram will complete the business.
Froth
Pinnings, engagements and mar
riages to be announced in the
April issue of Froth must be turn
ed in at Student Union by 5 p.m.
tomorrow.
Civil Engineers
A short course in concrete con
struction will be offered to chap
ter members of the American So
ciety of Civil Engineers by the
Portland Cement Association. The
meetings will be held in 219 EE
from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and
Friday.
Camera Club
Instruction and practice in por
trait pictures will be offered to
Penn State Camera Club members
at the Penn State Photo Shop at
7 p.m. tomorrow.
M=MM
The ASCE will hold its annual
banquet In the Penn Belle Hotel
in Bellefonte April 5. Members
are requested to make reserva
tions as early as possible.
ROTC Training
All veterans wishing to be
gin advanced ROTC training
in the fall should report to
101 Carnegie today. Informa
tion concerning physical and
other requirements for the
four semester course leading
to any army commission are
available in 101 Carnegie.
Another Smash Hit at Centre Stage
The PLAYERS have designed another of their
entertaining shows in
'This Side of Bedlam'
An Original Play by Warren Smith,
Penn State Dramatics Professor
Opens FRIDAY, March 25, at Centre Stage
Tickets on Sale at Dramatics Office
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Letters to the editor must be signed tor inclusion in the
Safety Valve, although names will be withheld on request. Tele.
shone numbers and addresses must be laeluded to facilitate
verilleatien of authenticity of vignatures. Letters exceeding
101 words in length may be cut when required by roam
troversy is the opinion of those the issue might
affect. Perhaps if some of the opinions of councils
and their members on the issue were voiced, more
light might be thrown on the subject and a more
objective decision arrived at.
Members of the Liberal Arts student council in
a straw vote were overwhelmingly against allow
ing politics to enter their council. Briefly, some of
the reasons for these many nays were:
1. Interested people not affiliated with a politi
cal party would have little or no chance to become
elected to a council.
2. If politics determined who was to be a coun
cil member, politics could more easily determine
who was to be president of each council. Since
council presidents sit-in on All-College Cabinet,
students would have a politically packed cabinet.
3. Political party Influences might cause politi
cally elected council members to act more toward
benefiting their party than toward benefiting the
student body whom they supposedly should
represent.
In the light of the above potentially ruinous
situations, many members of the LA student
council voiced their hopes against allowing poli
tics to enter student councils.
—Karl Borish and Jean Moore.
• Pressure of official duties has caused Presi
dent Truman to cancel a speaking engagement at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a news
story says. Of course, MIT hasn't the pretty coeds
of Rollins College, either.
Wednesday Reading
Dr. Phillip A. Shelley, professor
and head of the department of
German, will read from Goethe's
Faust at the fourth in the series
of Wednesday Readings in 106
Library at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow.
This year marks the 200 anni
versary of Goethe's birth. The
Library plans an exhibit later in
the year.
Group Moorings
The General Electric Company
will hold a group meeting in 10
Sparks at 7 p.m. today.
The Corps of Engineers will
hold a group meeting in 417 Old
Main at 7 p.m. today.
State Party
The State Party Steering Com
mittee will meet in 210 Old Main
at 7 p.m. today
An Amazing Off or by
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Edit Brief
Women play an
important role
IN AMERICA'S MOST
IMPORTANT BUSINESS
Peace
Opportunities equalling those offered men in
the Armed Services . . . the same security,
same chances for rapid advancement, same pay
scales, same benefits—all these are now avail
able to women in the Women's Army Corps
and women in the Air Force.
These opportunities were EARNED. Earned by
the women who served so faithfully, so well,
during the war emergency.
Earned, perhaps, for YOU, if you can meet the
qualifications, if you can meet the c,hallenge
of such an unlimited career.
For more information, visit your nearest
MAIN U. S. Army and U. S. Air Force Re-
cruiting Stations—now.
Cheek these distinguished careers with your
advisor or college placement officer.
WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS
—enlisted or commissioned
WOMEN IN THE AIR FORCE
—enlisted or commissioned
ARMY NURSE CORPS
—as commissioned
ARMY NURSES WITH THE AIR FORCE
—as commissioned
WOMEN'S MEDICAL SPECIALIST CORPS
as corn Missioned
U. 5. ARMY AND U. S. AIR FORCE
RECRUITING SERVICE
Truman Keynotes Rent Fight,
Attacks Real Estate Lobby
Late AP News, Courtesy WMAJ
WKASHINGTON President
Truman sounded the keynote of
a fight to extend •federal rent con
trols yesterday in a speech before
the United States Conference of
Mayors.
The Chief Executive blamed
what he called the real estate lob
by for Congressional backward
ness in working out a bill along
the lines he asked. He and Con
gress, said the President, are
working together and will contin
ue to work together for the good
of the country.
Without Congressional action,
rent controls will expire altogeth
er after March 31. Senate Demo
cratic Leader Scott Lucas ex
pressed the hope that Senators
will not use up time talking about
other matters. Otherwise, he said,
night meetings will be necessary
this week. Chairman Burnet
Maybank of the Senate Banking
Committee said repeal of rent
control would be hazardous and
unwise.
The House of Representatives,
meanwhile, passed and sent to the
Senate a bill continuing rent
ceilings in the District of Colum
bia. The bill contains the strict
controls which President Tru
man has been seeking without
success for the country as
whole.
Coplon Pleads Innocent
WASHINGTON—Judith Cop•
lon, the former government girl
who is accused of giving confi
dential information to a Soviiet
agent, entered a plea of innocent,
yesterday.
The plea of innocent was en
tered in Washington on a charge
of removing secret information
from government files. Miss Cop
lon also is under indictment in
New York on a charge of con
spiracy to commit espionage.
Almost simultaneously her at
torney, Archibald Palmer, dis
closed that she contends that the
papers involved were merely
notes for a book which she in
tends to write. He told Washing
ton newsmen that the whole case
in his opinion is "much ado about
nothing."
Soviets Control Mark
BERLIN Soviet-controlled
German police have been
attempting to prevent western
Berliners from going on a buying
spree with their surplus marks.
So far this is the only public So
viet reaction to the action Sun
day in which the Soviet-backed
fast mark was outlawed in the
western parts of ale city.
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