PAGE FOUR Editorial Opinion IFC Saves Face The lwerfraternity Council—amid talk of the poor academic showing of this year's freshman class—defeated a motion Monday night to lower its pledging requirement for first-semester students from a 2.2 to a 2.0 average. We can sympathize with the council members who feel their houses have lost some good men because a freshman obtained the 2.0 but not the 2.2 average. How ever, this is no reason why fraternities should lower their academic standards, especially after having just attempted to raise them. If anything, this appears to be the time for the fra ternity system to put more stress on scholarship. And included in this would be a re-evaluation of their current scholarship program and pledging program. We under stand that in some houses up to 50 per cent or more of the pledges last semester did not make their average to be brotherized. This is indeed unforiunee--unforiunate for the individual fraternities and the entire fraternity sys tem. If the fraternities would stress scholarship to their first semester rushees as much as they stress other aspects of fraternity life (including weekend parties), the rushees might have come up with higher averages, benefiting everybody. The fraternities certainly should not want to take "academic risks" into their houses. If they do, they may return to school in the fall to discover a far-from-full house. This hurts not only the scholarship ranking of the house and the fraternity system but also the financial as pects of fraternities. The IFC officers strongly opposed the move to lower the pledging average. They should be commended for their strong stand, for the fraternity system to have lowered its academic standards would have caused it to lose face. Enterers and Exiters During the 10-minute interval between class hours, mobs of Enterers and Exiters batter for their cause on the stairways of Boucke Building. The Enterers, fighting valiantly to make classes on time, mercilessly batter small groups of Exiters, while the Exiters, given the upper hand, push their foes out the doors in an attempt to exterminate the race. As long as there are swarming students and stairways, there will probably be no end to the Enterer-Exiter con flict. But we wonder whether they need be as bad as the one existing in Boucke. Undoubtedly a one-way system would not work This is because the location of the stairways, particularly since there is only one stairway leading out the main entrance. Cooperation and enforcement would also be difficult to obtain. We think it might not be a bad idea for the University to arrange the stairways different in future classroom buildings. And, at the same time, it seems it wouldn't hurt to make them a little wider. Editorials are written b the editors and staff members of the Daily Collegian ■nd da not necessarily represent the views .1 the University or of the student body. A Student-Operated Newspaper T.* BMW Tultegiatt Successor to The Free Lance. est 1887 Published Tuesday through Saturday morn:lts daring the University year. The Dan, Collegian ts a atiodent-operated newspaper Entered as second-clam matter July S. 1134 at the State College. Pa.. Post Office under the act of March 3. MIL lasi! Sabscription Priest $3.8• per semester OM per sear ED DUBBS. Editor STEVE HIGGINS. Bus. Mgr. lEssadind Editor. Jody IRarkison: City Editor. Robert Franklin: Sports Editor. Vence Cairacci: Co►y Editor. Marian Beatty: Assistant copy Ed i t or . Ralph Manta: Assistant Sports Editors- Matt Matthews and Len Prato: !take-op Editor, Gamy Photography Editor, George Harrison. Asst. lies. Mgr.. Sue Mortensen: Local Ad. Mgr.. ltarilrn Elias: Aut. Local Ad. Mgr.. Kest Ann Gonzales; National Ad. Mgr., Joan Wallace: Promotion Mgr., Marianne Maier: Petulant' Mgr.. Lynn Glasabarn: Classified Ad ttilisliiiti: Co-Citrulation Mgr:- Pat Miernicki and Richard Lippe; Research and Records Mgr.. Barbara Wall: 011ie* Secretary. Mariene Marks. STAFF THIS ISSt'E: Night Editor, Lynn Ward: Copy Editor. Dave Foreman; Wile Editor, Donnie Jones: lio.istants. Linda Sear Neal Friedman, Don Cat. Matiene Milani Ann Jaaiaa, Virginia Dalton. Eleanyr Dandy, Judj . Wtartua. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA Lincoln Letter Given Library In Celebration By ARTHUR EDSON WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (,I'j The Library of Congress has been given a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote his wife in which he com plained of the hard work in a campaign and lightly passed over one of the greatest speeches he ever made. The gift was announced today as a part of the ceremonies honor ing Lincoln, born 149 years ago tomorrow. It was presented by Lincoln's great-grandson, Lincoln Isham of Dorset, Vt. Isham also gave the library: •A confidential letter in which Lincoln defended a politician ac cused of being too fond of the bottle. •A small card asking Gens. Burnside and Butler to see the unnamed bearer. •A Bible presented to "Abra ham Lincoln & lady" by Robert Turner, who probably owned a Baltimore feed store. Then, as now, presidential gifts showed up from unexpected places. It's the letter on campaigning —which Lincoln scholars thought had been lost that attracts the most interest. • It was written from Exeter, N.H.. while Lincoln was on a swing designed to show that this tall, gangling country lawyer was a fit man for the presidency. The date: March 4, 1860, exact ly a year before he was sworn into office. Lincoln had slaved over the speech he was to make in -New York City, rewriting, repolishing, going almost daily to the state library in Springfield to recheck facts. And then. on Feb. 27, he de livered it at Cooper's Institute. It was a triumph, but that would have been hard to guess from the way he put it to his wife. After discussing family details. Lincoln turned to the problems of campaigning. "I have been unable to escape this toil," he wrote. "If I had foreseen it I think I would not have come east at all. The speech at New York, being within my calculation before I started, went off passably well, and gave me no trouble whatever. 'The difficulty was to make nine others, before reading audi ences, who have already seen all my ideas in print. "Kiss the dear boys for father. Affectionately, A. Lincoln." Passably well, indeed! Lincoln couldn't have known that the New York Tribune reporter, Noah Brooks, exclaimed after the talk: "He's the greatest man since St. Paul." But surely he read.what Brooks wrote in the pro-Lincoln New York Tribune: "The tones, the gestures, the kindling eye, the mirth-provoking look defy the re porter's skill. The vast assem blage frequently rang with cheers and shouts of applause. No man ever before made such an impres sion on his first appeal to a New York audience." In short, Lincoln had scored— and was well -on his way to his date with destiny. "Wanna see me fire a rock et?" Fishbein said. Not wanting to hurt his feel ings, we nodded our heads af firm it ively. As Fishbein pulled his box of cigarets out of his pocket and emptied the contents on the table, we began to think the poor disc jockey had flip ped his lid. • Then he removed the tin foil from the empty pack of Marl- Brotherhood Banquet. 6 P.m. HUB bull- 1022 Gazette 11.1111 Carnival Commitive Meeting, 6:30 p.m., • 212 HUB Chess Club. 7 p.m., 7 Sparks Collegian Classified billing meeting, 7 p.m., Collegian office Discussion on — Viewing Enrope by Slides:* MENEM!ffMI tend. 6:4 p.m.. Grano* Roe AIM Judicial Board of Review. 8:15 p.tu.. 21S HUH La Vie Staff Picture. 6:55 p.m., Penn State Phuto Shop Marketing Club. 7:30 p.m., Sigma Nu Men's Debate preliminary tryout. 7 p.m., _ 2.16 Sparks l'ttonitar. Education :Cerroletter, 6:45 p.m., 107 Boucke Neu Bara rian Schnhplat tiers, 7 :30 p.m., 110 Temp Newman Club Novena Devotion:. 7 p.m.. Church Parmi Naas. 70 p.m.. Phi Gamma Delta Pre-Vet Club, 7 p.m., 117 Dairy Zoology Club. 7 p.m.. 113 Frear Lab. TONIGHT ON WDFM 6:45: Sign on and news: T:00: 'Telephone Bandstand: 7:50: State News and National Sports: Jaws Panorama: 9 :90 : Local. National and World News: 9:15: At Your Serrita: 9:39: Music of the People: 10:00: News; 10:05: Virtuoso; 11:30: News and Sisa-oLL TODAY Little Man on Campus by Dick Bibier —so / asked h:m why he put me on th' third team, an' h• said: BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE A FOURTH." From Here Rocket Firings At the Corner By Ed Dubbs Rocketeering is fast becoming a favorite Penn State past-time And a favorite firing place seems to be the Corner. Unusual? Well, not really, in the eyes of Steve Fishbein, WMAJ's man-about-town. "The Corner," explains Fishbein, a real rocket enthusiast, "is as good as any place to set off our rockets while waiting for a cup of cof fee," When the disc jockey first told us about his new rocket kick, we couldn't help but laugh. And Fishbein seemed hurt. "I want to do my part - - - - f o r America ' -- in the space r age," the pat- t. riotic Fish- r bein said. ilEb z ` t- • I We 1 e f.t it just there. We : • didn't have 411 , '" the heart to • „ , comment a- -! bout the space age value to spinning pop ular records, especially rock 'n' roll. In fact, we felt proud of Fishbein. And, if the Corner didn't mind Fishbein firing rockets there, why should we? 0000 0-10L,'E BROLU:sI... IT WAG A GREAT BIG HEART SHAPED THING U.IITH LACE ALL ARON) IT! CRAZE BROaN. 'Ai MILD NAVE JUST LOVED ir! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1958 boros. We look ed for Fish bein's tattoo. He had none. Our eyes returned to the tin foil. He tore off a little piece and laid it aside..- Then he pulled out a book of matches, all the while remaining extremely quiet as if a genius were at work. Fishbein removed a - match and proceeded to wrap the tip in the foil. Gently, meticu lously he placed the foil around the tip. Then he took a fountain pen out of his vest pocket and placed it on the table. "Thit." he said, "is the firing platform. Drinking straws, you might be interested, work very well as launching platforms too." Fishbein placed the match in the clip of the pen. "This is it. We're ready. I'll light another match and stark the countdown." He put the lighted match against the tin-foil tip. "10, 9,8, 7,6, 5,4, 3,2, 1, 1 / 4 , 1 / 4 , . . • 0" "It worked!" he yelled. "You see. It worked! ... Where did it go?" "In your coffee, Steve," we said. Speaking of the Corner, we understand that when the new section opens up we can hope for quicker service. This will be indeed Unusual for the Cor ner. YOL/ Si4OULD VALENIINE I ALNit YOO! IT WAS BF BUT SUDDENLY U . OCCURRED TO ME, si ___"AAuGH.wi-tATA F 001.41 WA E OF GOODAAONEY!" - , ...> I •,. t• .7') k ;11 . 1 / & 11 . ' 3 O Pk Ll i a..4 l L ‘N. I , MN -
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers