PAGE FOUR
Editorial Opinion
Facing the Problem
The multiplicity of factions and situations which
precipitated the present crisis in the Congo can be analyzed
and discussed ad nauseam. However, this analysis and
shifting of blame will do little to help the current situa
tion:
Belgium's suppression of or at least lack of educational
aid to her underdeveloped possessions might be part of
the cause of the present crisis. Similarly the United Nations
might he blamed for not taking a stronger stand and help
ing this immature country to develop; but we cannot
erase the past and must face the future.
The Congo crisis may serve the Soviet Union in two
ways neither of which is exactly going to further the
interest of the United States.
By denouncing UN Secretary-General Dag Hammar
skjold, the Soviets hope either to replace the definitely
pro-West Hammarskjold or establish a three-man secretar
iat in which East, West and neutralist blocks would be
represented.
But the Soviet Union's proposal to fire Hammarskjold
probably will not succeed and he will complete the re
maining two years of his five-year term, though probably
stripped of his effectiveness.
The second way in which the crisis may serve the
Soviets is to enable them to establish a puppet commu
nistic regime in the Congo . . Working through pro-Com
munist Antoine Gizenga, the Soviet Union may get -con
trol of the. Congo and thus pass over the Mid-East barriers
to establish Moscow-directed communism in a major sec
tion of Africa. This would give Russia a kind of jumping
off place from which to spread its communism throughout
Africa.
The Soviet Union announced its support of the Gizenga
regime in the Oriental Province of the Congo calling it the
official government. Then, a determined President Ken
nedy literally chose sides in a blunt statement backing
the Kasavubu regime.
The battle line has been drawn and another Korean
style "police action" may be necessary. We certainly hope
that if challenged, President Kennedy will not back down.
We are not sure the United States can afford the price it
may have to pay for going "soft."
Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed support from
the United Nations because its composition has changed
drastically from the early fifties. The more recently ad
mitted Afro-Asian nations will not look favorably upon
interference in what is technically civil strife because they
wish to preserve the right of self-determination.
Hence the preservation of the United Nations as a
force in world affairs is also at stake. If the United Nations
cannot solve the Congo problem. itself, it will probably be
powerless In future situations.
The United States must consider not only its own
interest -in preventing the spread of Moscow-directed
communism but also the preservation of the right of self
determination for newly independent countries.
A Student-Operated Newspaper
0117 Elaitg Trillrgiatt
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Published Tuesday through Saturday morning during the University year. The
Daily Collegian is a student-operated newspaper. Entered as second-class matter
July 1. 1934 at the State College, Pa, Post Offka under the act of March 8, 1859.
Mall Subscription Price; 93.09 per semester $5.00 per year.
•
Melling. Address Boa 261, State College, Pa.
JOHN BLACK
Editor 446EP''
` 4 1, / vEgfit 4 4El
kopirldi
CHESTER LUCIDO
Business Manage:
GOOD GRIEF!
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA
Letters
Coeds Give
Their Views
On Housing
TO THE EDITOR: Each sor
ority on this campus has a
suite for which they pay
around $l2OO a year. In addi
tion to this the Department of
Housing has kindly consented
to allow the girls a set of
rooms on one floor for which
they pay room and board
charges (every girl on the cam
pus can submit a room pref
erence and Housing tries to
fulfill the requests).
But problems have arisen
when sorority girls return
from student teaching and
cannot live with a chosen
roommate. In several of the
sorority groups,, the girls have
rearranged themselves in the
most convenient manner while
retaining full responsibility
for the room to which they
were assigned, retaining the
same mailing address and sign
ing out in the proper place.
Now one group has been
threatened with being dis
persed all over campus and
several other groups have been
given approximately one week
to rearrange themselves again.
The Department of Housing
choose's to ignore the fact that
girls have different study 'and
sleeping habits which govern
the choice of roommate and
has imposed hardships on a
number of girls by ignoring
their requests.
The reasons given by the
Department of Housing for in
sisting upon its own arrange
ment are the amount of paper
work involved and the fact
that advisors and deans must
often contact a student and
should have the correct ad
dress.
We have not asked the
Housing Department to do
any paper work and are will
ing to maintain full responsi
bility for the room to which
we were assigned. We also
wonder how much paper work
i 3 going to he involved in dis
persing a group of 50 girls all
over the campus. In the light
of this threat, the argument
about paper work seems and is
quite silly .
In so far as the argument on
the need to be contacted is
concerned, every girl has re
tained the same mailing ad.
dress (the method by which
most departments contact their
students is mail) and can be
contacted at the same phone
number (in most cases they
have moved only a few doors
down the hall).
We are not imposing on the
Department of Housing by
asking for any privileges or
new arrangements but we are
asking them to please let us
alone.
—Sue Guiney '62, Mary Ann
Weaver '62, Carolyn Die
trich '6l, Helen Oakes '62,
Meyer '6l, Jan Abele '62
(Editor's Note: See story on
page one.)
Interpreting
Congo. Stand Draws Battle Line
President Kennedy's en
dorsement of Congo President
Joseph Kasavubu's forces has
drawn the battle line in the
Congo.
It offers a direct test of So
viet Premier Khurshchev's Jan.
6 commitment to support Com
munist civil war in emerging
countries.
The Soviet Union has de
scribed the pro-Communist An
toine Gizenga
group, the po
litical heirs of
slain ex-Pre
mier Patrice
Lumumba, as
the only le
gitimate gov
ernment in
the Congo,
which the
Reds have a
"sacred duty"
to aid.
The President was calm, but
his words were direct and ser-
4 .5 - 4-ereez.
a -II
Johanna Zalar '6l, Marie
By S. M. ROBERTS
ROBERTti
Snowed
Elements of Forecasting
Being a weather forecaster, while probably the most unre
warding occupation in the world, is certainly one of the most
fascinating.
The uncertainty and variations associated with the weather
are unparalleled.
However, there are many
aspects of the science of weath
er forecasting
that are un
known and
perhaps un
appreciated
by the lay
man
Contrary
to popular
opinion, th e
weather fore
cast is the
product of
the scientific MYERS
method in its purest form. Each
prediction involves the appli
cation of many complicated
laws of physics and chemistry
and relies on many thousands
of ever-changing factors.
The inaccuracies of some
forecasts, which are actually
much less frequent and pro
nounced than the public be
lieves, are due to the scale in
which forecasters deal.
The atmosphere is a highly
complex mixture of gases that
has a lateral extent of several
thousands of miles and a
height of many hundreds of
miles. Yet the public demands
detailed forecast in terms of a
few miles.
Many persons believe that
the movements of air currents
and the various weather sys
tems are difficult to diagnose
and forecast with great ac-
Letters
Housing Policies Queried
TO THE EDITOR: I am a little
confused concerning the role of
the Department of Housing in
the life of the Penn State coed.
We are not to maintain
friendly relationships with the
cleaning women and" house
men in our dormitories. Why
not? When we are in constant
contact with these people, I
cannot and refuse to under
stand why we should limit our
relationship with them to a
passing "Hello."
Some of the finest people I
have had the opportunity of
meeting have been employed
by the Department of Hous
ing.
Until last week there was a
ratio of approximately one
hundred girls per iron in our
dormitory. Since then, one
iron has had to serve the needs
of the entire dorm.
Gazette
TODAY
Angel Flight, 6:25 p.m., Ewing Lounge
Interrarsity Christian Fellowship, 7:30
111 lloueke
Wesley Foundation Sweetheart Dante,
9:00 tom - 12:30 a.m.
ious as he warned the Soviet
Union, without naming her,
against unilateral action. The
United States would react
against that, he said, as a Unit
ed Nations member.
Kennedy was not trying to
bring the issue to a head. He
was trying to keep the Soviets
from bringing it to a head. He
was about as blunt as diplo
matic language will permit.
He was no less blunt in re
minding the smaller nations
where their true interests lie
—in the United Nations.
But the effect was an attempt
to line up the United Nations
on the side of Kasavubu, which
borders closely on interven
tion and may not be well ac
cepted either in the United Na
tions or in the Congo.
It smacks of choosing up
sides, as the Soviet Union al
ready had done, in a situation
where one of the paramount
issues, among the African and
Asian countries, is self-deter-
FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 17. 1961
by Joel myers
curacy. This is not the case.
These air streams and weath
er systems can be predicted
with great accuracy. The dif
ficulty lies in translating the
broad picture into a detailed
local one.
The changeability of the
weather, the complex nature
of the atmosphere and the
topography, which plays a cru
cial role in all weather condi
tions, makes perfect weather
forecasts for your backyard an
impossibility. However, the 90
per cent accuracy that fore
casters claim is practical
enough for most purposes.
Remember, the general pub
lic is not the only user of fore
casts. They are, as a matter of
fact, one of the smaller con
sumers.
Airplane pilots, construction
companies, fruit growers and
other out-of-door activities as
well as chain firms, such as
bakeries, require detailed
weather forecasts, and experi
ence has shown that tremen
dous amounts of money can be
saved by following the advice
of these forecasts.
Those persons who are skep
tical of the weatherman's ac
curacy might compare the ac
curacy of scientists in other
fields, Medicine, for example,
can claim a much lower per
centage of accurate diagnosis.
I object to having my room
examined for electrical appli
ances while I am away on va
cation. Our rooms are not do
nated to us.
When I lock my door and
leave the dormitory, I would.
like to feel that my possessions
are undisturbed until my re
turn. The Department of Hous
ing, I feel, has ample oppor
tunity to check my room in my
presence.
I realize the difficulties the
department faces. We have
certain obligations to them and
the majority of us do our best
to meet these obligations.
I only wish that the officials
of this department would re
alize that we are not uncivi
lized barbarians. We are in
college for an education; not
a course in housekeeping.
—Barbara Frengel, 13
HOSPITAL
dingo Andrade, Robert Bisch, Mark
DuMars, Frank Fee, Andrew Hailstone,
Carolyn Houston, Alfred Kettenring,
Robert KM, George Koeck, Stephen
Kotch, Linda Levy, Fred Marcus. Nancy
Noigot, Howard Penkower. John Reber,
Kenneth Reynolds, Ronald Simmons,
Frederic Tieti, Margaret Tighe, Dela
Troutman.
urination. This can be self
defeating.
The point May have been
reached where it is now neces
sary in order to block the Com
munist drive in Africa. But it
injects an issue which has al
ways proved troublesome to
the United States, as witness
Latin America.
For one, the United States
and the 'Soviet Union both are
now working from the premise
that one or _another political
group can eventually establish
a central government in the
Congo.
Expert observers have re
peatedly expressed doubt that
this will be possible in the fore
seeable future. An uneasy truce
between the factions, and the
tribes into which the factions
are divided, constantly enforced
by the United Nations during
a long period of political tute
lage, is about the best that can
be hoped for.