PAGE Two is we: was TECHNOLOGY NE‘WS W m DECEMBER ill 6, 1941.1 mm mm Navy’s Piper Speaks All Armour Assembiy (continued from page one) problems in steam-generated pow- er and the intricate radio appara- tus. Claiming that a modern bat- tleship is equivalent to a small city, Lieut. Com. Piper told how the navy included printing press- es, chaplains, movies, and amuse— ment programs. In advising the boys not to leave the navy immediately at the end of the war, Piper told the students to re-enlist for two more years so that they could skip the two-year period of confusion that will prob- ably occur at the end of this war, as it did at the end of World War One. According to Piper, “the fellow who gets ahead, really knows his nuts and bolts.” This was men- tioned in connection with experi- ence gained by an engineering stu- dent in the Navy. After the war, these men will be entitled to honorable discharges which will be of great benefit to those students who plan to take civil service examinations follow- ing the war. Citing the case of a former Ar— mour student in the last war, Lieut. Com. Piper told of an officer who thought of reversing the ter- minals on mine-sweeper genera- tors so that mines would not be attracted to the hulls of these ves» sels. In response to a question of one student, Piper said that an appli- cation to the navy is not binding and that it merely showed the in- tentions of the applicant. Answering another question, Piper said that it was impossible to become an ensign in the air corps with only two years at coi- legc training. Speaking of the physical re' quirements, he said that 18-20 vie ion was necessary. This means that the applicant must be able to read twenty millimeter letters from a distance of eighteen feet. Explaining the difference be tween the V—7 rating and a provis» ional ensign’s commission, he cli— cd that. the purpose of the provis ional ensign‘s commission was to provide inspectors and men who are required to do special individ ual work. However, he stated, a provisional ensign was a misfit in the regular navy, and isn’t taught either navy etiquette or regulations. Another division of the navy that only requires two years of college training, is the supply corps. However, this division al~ ready has all the applications that it needs for the duration of the war. SillEl‘lfiE CQMMCll HAS FiliS'l' MEET The newly enlarged Joint Scien— tific Advisory Council of the Ar- mour Research Foundation and the Institute of Gas Technology, met in. its revised form for the first time last Wednesday, at the south campus. The Council, composed of thirty- seven staff members of both the Foundation and Gas Institute, meets every Wednesday to considv er jointly the various industrial research problems in progress at the two institutions. In this way, the opinions and experiences of many specialists are brought to bear on the projects. The Council had previously existed, but with only thirteen members. This in- crease of membership enables more scientific fields to be applied. it is expected that the enlarge— ment of the Council, which is part of the Armour Plan for Industrial Research, will greatly increase the scope oi analysis of the various problems. Hil‘iER FGRCES JAPS ”will? Willi (continued from page one) Thus, it was essential to start a retreat which at places will be 200 miles deep, or more. How to sell this “strategical” retreat as a victory to a hungry people, shiv- ering in cold rooms? Even Goeb- bels could not have done this. The only thing was thus to detract the attention of the Germans from this retreat. The Japanese par- ticipation in the war was this dope. German newspapers flash new Japanese victories and the stupid Nazi reader forgets his ma- jor defeat in Russia and his hung. er and starvation at home. I want to warn that psycholog- ical factors in this war play as important a role as do military considerations. It is important for this country to understand the vicious mentality of her enemies, but at the same time it is equally important to know the sensibili— ties of her Allies, such as South America, Russia, an d China. Watch against Fascist duplicity which is as important as any mili- tary move; propagandistic exploi- tation of the weakness of the one» my (such as German’s present dc» feat in Russia and the revolt of the masses in occupied Europe), are equal in value to the worl; of many squadrons and divisions, and last but not least, to court the Alliis. Russia, always suspicious as all Slave are, but as eager to destroy the Fascist danger as any- lmdy else, has still nine million trained and several million on. trained reserves; and China is an important force with her growing army of many millions. Those two nations alone can supply all the resiguircd manpower; this country’s chief task, while preparing for eventualitics, must be production to become, as the President said a long time ago, “the arsenal of democracies." geodetic Attitude "inward War {firewood Since liawllan filiisclr By Charles Puller Little more than one week ago, the typical college student was determined to stay out of any war. Today, the whole picture is changed. We have become deli» nitely on the interventionist side. Before the historical day of De- cember 7, the average collegian ex- pressed a rather lukewarm atti~ tude toward our entering into war. Typical students in every cor- nor of the country were asked to read these statements and select the one that most closely express- ed their own sentiments; the ans- wers follow in, percentages: l. The United States comes first; it is none of our busisness what happens elsewhere in the world—41%. 2. Although the United States comes first, we cannot help being concerned with what goes on with the rest of the world—47%. 3. The United States is one of the leading nations of the world and as such must take active par- ticipation in the affairs of the world~37%. Should these same statements he asked again, there is no doubt in our minds as to which one would predominate. Last week we polished the re— sults, showing that. nearly four out of every five students were against the United States declar— ing war on Germany. Now, since the events of the past week, we don’t think a survey of the stu‘ dents of American colleges would be necessary to determine what we think. Each and every one of as has but one common determin- ation: “Keep the Rising Sun from rising", and to extinguish the crazed minds who believe that they are the ones who emphatic» ally should “rise and shine.” l ddfllfih‘iwi lllllillib lit the Mathematics Colloquium on Friday, December 12, Professor ll. 55. Wall of Northwestern Uni ’s'ersiiy, spoke on “Continued frac- tions and linear transformations." lie told of research done with the collaboration of Dr. Walter T. Scott of Nomhwestern. Dr. Scott, who is now in the United States Army. was formerly an instructor in mathematics at Armour. it 1'- 23: A Colloquium will be held on Friday. December ill, at 10:10 am. in Eli Chapin. at which Professor Richard Brauer of the University oi Toronto will speak on ”Groups and their representations.” 33: =3 ’2‘ On Wednesday evening, Decem- ber l7_ Professor L. E. Ford will address the Northwestern Univer- sity chapter of Sigma Xi on the subject, “Successive approxima- tions—a fundamental technique.” Before the lecture, Professor and Mrs. Ford will be the guests at dinner of the Mathematics Club of the university. ii: >h xiv Recently the members of the Mathematics Department cooper- ated in making a list of books on mathematical attainments. This list is on display in the library. It contains several books of a pop- ular nature and other more ad- vanced works. >1: ar- y Thursday, December 18, Dr. Bruce Longtin will give a public graduate lecture in room 208 Cha- pin. from 11:10 a. m. to 12 noon. His subject is, “Theory of separa- tion practice.” is 7k 7i: Recently, Professor McCormacl: attended the Chemical Exposition in New York City. The outstand- ing feature was the display of new mguipment for faster and more so curate determinations and meas- urements made on a laboratory and pilot plant scale. While at the exposition, Professor McCormack witnessed the presentation of the "achievement Award in Chemical Engineering", to the Dow Chemw ical Company. or 1k The department of chemical en— gineering recently received the first check toward the construc- lion of a new chemical engineer— ing building. This contribution was made by a former alumnus. :5: Professor and Mrs. W. C. Krath- wohl recently played hosts at their home to an informal gathering of Wranglers and faculty. Dr. and Mrs. Giddings, Prof. Swinei‘orol and daughter, Ellsworth and Vio- let Packard, Norman Arnold, and E. P. Hanuska enjoyed a sparkling evening of colored movies and re— partee. Laughs Speaks Al" Chemistry Seminar Meeting every two weeks, a discussion group will conduct a chemistry seminar in room 211, Chapin Hall. On Friday, Decem— ber 12, Dr. Bruce Longtin spoke on the subject, “Theory of Eilects of Molecular Size and Shape on Thermodynamic Properties of So- lotions.” Until this time, all speakers have been faculty members and graduate students, but plans for next semester include several out— side speakers. The January speak» or will be Dr. Donald F. Feppard, research chemist at the University of Chicago. The war, the social upheaval in the world today, have apparently failed to worry the majority of American college students. Many believe their opportuni- ties for success have increased since the war started, and nearly two~thlrds will tell you they feel even more secure personally than they did two or three years ago. These are conclusions sifted out of answers in face-tolece inter- views with collegians from one coast to the other. Student Opin- ion Surveys of America, of which “’1‘ is a cooperating member, ask- ed. “Do you think the opportuni- ties for most young men and women to get ahead today, are better than they may have been thirty years ago?" Better, said 67%; worse, said 21%: about the same, 12%. (Less than one per cent were undcv clded). ' In the current Fortune Survey, on the other hand, it is reported that there has been a sharp de- cline from February to December among those. adults who believe “opportunities for their sons are now better than those they had themselves.” In a Student Opinion Surveys poll taken in April, 1939, prior to the war. 48 per cent of the colleg- ians believed opportunities were not as good as a generation ago. it is possible that this upward trend of optimism, reflected fur- ther in the answers to the ques- tion below, is caused by the de- fense boom and the decline in un» employment. “Do you feel any more or less secure than you did two or three years ago?“ More secure, (52%; less secure, 34%; about the same, 4%. LETTER Till THE E w l "E" ii ll Dear Sir: 1 learn that there is some mis- understanding of a statement made by Profesor Schommer at the general assembly held Wed- nesday, December 10, 1941. This letter is written after conference with Professor Schommer, and it is written at his suggestion. The Selective Service Act does not provide for draft exemption or deferment for engineering stu‘ dents. "here is a general tendency for draft boards to permit defer~ room until graduation, but each case is judged individually. Most draft. boards are more or less fam- iliar with the mechanical, electri- cal, chemical, and civil engineer— ing professions, but have little understanding of the work of a fire protection engineer. In one case in which an undergraduate fire protection engineer has been drafted, letters to the local board from me and from Professor Schommer have resulted in his deferment. There is definitely no tendency to minimize the imp0r~ tance of fire protection engineen ing work, or to consider fire pro tection engineers ineligible for de- ferment. Incidentally, my olllce and the Placement office have many requests for such. men, from the industries, from the govern- ment civil. service, and from the Army and Navy. This letter has no reference to the conferring of ensign’s com- missions. It is intended only to emphasize the fact, so far as the draft is concerned, all of our on- gineering departments have the same status. .l. ‘B. Finnegan Professor of Fire Pro- tection Engineering. “ill” idliillil’ MANAGEMEENT honors hhhlllvlh Afili‘lfllmh Al“ LhWih Something new has been added. On Monday, December 8, the twen- ty-two cooperative students of the “B” group, industrial management and b u s l n c s s administration course, began their third school period at the Lewis division of Illi- nols Tech. Of the twenty-two stu- dents of “ 3’” group, twenty are old timers and two are newcomers; nineteen are boys, and three are girls. Returning after twelve weeks on the job, the co-ops found an Illi~ hols Tech far different from the one they had attended last sum— mer. During the latter four weeks of the summer period the “B” group were the only students at , the Lewis branch, and as for their activities and school spirit, well, there wasn’t much ado about any- thing. However, the co-ops, this time, wasted not a day in entering into the activities of the school. Under the leadersip of Forrest Cleg, pres- ident of the “B” group, plans were adopted governing the policy of the co-ops for the eight week peri- od of December 8, 1941 to .Ianuary 31, 1942. Among the more import» ant objectives of the group were the union of all cooperative ele- ments of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the establishment of a cooperative debating society, and a student forum and clinic. It was announced that a more detailed plan was to be disclosed later. As for the social activities both a- basketball team and a bowling league have been formed, and there are arrangements being mmlc for .n (‘lll‘islmus party for the “"A and “B” group students. A series of elections were held to determine representatives to the Illinois Tech school organizer Lions. Edward Bach was elected to rep- resent the co-ops in the Student Council, Robert Landwehr was se- lected to work on the yearbook, and LeRoy Krause and Joseph Coffer were appointed as the news men for Tech NCW‘S. For a name the “Illinois Tech Cotopioneers" was selected. Maillot wears as was srruanon At today's regular weekly lec- ture of the course in English 101, Tuesday, December 16, at 1:10 p.m., Professor S. E. Hayakawa will state his opinions on the in— ternational crisis. All students who may be interested are in. vitcd to attend. The meeting will be held in 305 Main, and the sub ject of the lecture, ”Democracy, Dictatorship, and the Structure of Language.” The lecture will be one of the regular weekly lectures in fresh- man. English—a course in which, in addition to customary practice in composition, students are being introduced by Proi’eSsors lrlaya- kawa, Sanford B. Mecch, Allen W. Read, and Frederick. R. White, to Semantics, the scientific study of meaning. “Language mechanisms,” says lalayakawa. “have enormous effects on our habits, beliefs, and preju- dices, and hence upon the char- acter of our political and social structures. The assumptions, part- ly linguistic. upon which dictator ships are based. are incompatible with those of a democracy.”