as as sarcastic

ROARING PRESSES have turned out
the last Technology News of the semes-
ter and the twenty-sixth of the year.
It has been a great privilege for me to
be editoruin~chief of this publication.
It has been a rich experience to work
with a staff of students representing a
good crosscction of academic and so-
cial interests, and it has been great
fun to share ideas with what I proudly
feel is the most original and spirited
group on the campus.

Many organization officers are in the
same spot as I am right now, handing
own to their enthusiastic successors
worn, scarred gavels
and grimy account
books; I can’t help but ‘i
feel that our thoughts ,
are markedly similar
W e a r e wondering ‘
how successful have
been our programs
and policies and how -
b a d o u r mistakes, :
whether or not we were
effective as leaders as we might have
been aild how much our studies have
suffered in the process.

 
 
 
 
 
  

We can all chalk it up to experience
and feel mellowed as individuals and
members of a group. We know we can
never repay in mere “thanks” the debts
we owe to faculty, students, and school
administrators for counsel and for help
given as personal favors.

To close my writings, I’d like to give
you my ideas about what this news-
paper “really is.” People I’ve met about
the campus have been gratifyingly frank
in their opinions; many have definite
ideas about what the paper “is,” wheth-
er complimentary or otherwise.

Primarily, the newspaper is an or—
ganization of students, not a journalis—
tic definition. Matters of taste and
newspaper content are arbitrary ones
that the staff must decide and accept
if it is to be truly said that the staff
produces the paper.

For this reason, you who remain to
witness further issues will notice
changes in news approach, editorial
policy and personality in the staff re~
sponsible for the newspape1 makeup.
Your newspaper will reflect you to the
extent that you support it and partici~
pate in it, editor or reader; it is yours
with which to experiment and by which
you may learn life’s real values; it will
change with you, broadening and grow-
ing as you do. It’s all yours. Good luck.

 

lst Coed: ”That boy friend you were
riding with has trouble with his
vision.”

2nd Coed: “Yes, he keeps seeing park--
ing spots before his eyes.”

"ll“ ~35 '39

Overheard: You never kiss me any-
more. Why can’t you be like the man
next door?

a:- s 1(-

“What do you think of my fur coat?”
asked the first chorus girl.

“Gee, Sadie, it’s a beauty. You must.
be ruined," replied the second.

Take the parrot into the other
mom, son. I’m going to show your
father the clothes l bought.

Then ther’e s the bachelor who got
thrown out of his apartment when
the landlady heard him drop his
shoes—«twice.

Doctor’s Holiday
Orthopedic Specialist: “The girls at
these Florida beaches have beautiful
legs, don’t they ?”
Lung Specialist: “I hadn’t noticed,
I’m a chest man, myself ”

91- a ;~

This may be the machine age, but
love is still being made by hand.

He: “Is my face dirty, or is it my
imagination?”
She: “Your face is clean: I don’t
know about your imagination.”
’Bye ’til fall, fellows,

A serious thought for the day,
is one that may cause us dismay.
Just what are the forces
That bring little horses,

If all big horses say “Nay!”

The reason that marriage is so pop"—
ular is that it combines the ultimate
in temptation with the maximum of op-
portunity

“l’m going to have a little one,”
Said the gal, gay and frisky;

But the boy friend up and fainted
Before he knew she meant whiskyl

Those who think our jokes are rugged
Would staightway change their views
Could they compare the jokes we print
With those we did not use.
Carbolic Gussie.

 

 

to .1

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lowmhow

 

In response to the editor’s request, Mr. A Biderman of the political and social
science department contributed his ideas on student; political activity.

Shortly after VE Day, the Allies un-
dertook the tremendous task of “de«
mocratizing" Germany. I was one of
many occupation soldiers who received
some valuable education in the funda~
mentals of democracy by being able to
participate in this task.

Greatest weight was attached to the
“denazification” and “democratization”
of the communication media of Ger-
many—~its press, radio, theater, etc.
The Germans who were to man such
activities, it was firmly held, must be
the most un—Nazi of the un—Nazis. Ex-
treme care was to be taken in picking
personnel for these “information” ac~
tivities. The usual reliance upon ques~
tionnaires could not be trusted sufli-
cicntly to separate the sheep from the
goats in these crucial institutions. Sol
cial science‘techniques were enlisted to
insure against the possibility of some
anti—democratic characters worming
their way into strategic positions. One
technique used was an interview clev-
erly designed to penetrate through dis-
guises and reveal the prospective em-
ployees’ innermost political and social
attitudes. This screening procedure
was called “vetting,” from the word
“vet,” meaning “to subject an animal
to examination and treatment."

I was such a “veterinarian,” prob~
ing into the social values of people,
and into the minds of individuals whose
values had become so corroded that the
name “animal" could have been very
well applied to them, and “veterinari—

’ to my role. I think that my ex_
periences have some relevance to the
question Technology News has’ asked
me to discuss—political activities on
campus. I’d like to relate one of these
experiences since I think it forcefully
aids the understanding of what had hap-
pened to the political attitudes of many
Germans, and why.

The “vetting team” to which I was
assigned was given the task of'screen-
ing the personnel of the Wagner Fes-
tival house at Bayreuth. In this out-
fit, which had. been so close to the
heart of Der Fuehrer himself, l was
rather surprised to come across a
seemingly fervent democrat. This chap,
a musician in his early thirties, had a
passable political record. He had be—
longed to the Nazi Party, but then who
hadn’t? Our informants reported noth—
ing else derogatory concerning him.
During my conversation with him, he
was strong in his affirmation of demo-
cratic principles.

“Naziism has been a fearful busi-
ness,” he told me, “Why did the Al-
lies make war upon Germany?” I
asked him. “Hitler, the power-mad
fiend, brought on the war,” he an-
swered.

 

 

Publlshocl every Friday during the school year by the
students of llllnols Institute a! Technology 3301) 5. Federal

Chicago 9l6, HLllnos Entered as seen 11d cools matter
0d :iorob 4.0 at the 510sz office at Chlcago, Illinois,
under thou Ad at Mar c3l1
Efresenlod for national advertising by the National
Avertisinq Service. Inc..4 sdison Ave" New York
arilsing rate; furnished upon request. Sub-
éZrIpiionsrabimoslic1$lw per term. Foreign: $2. 09 p61
arm.

is“: <3: 1%
Editoruinmchlei .................. so Mlclflfihlc
business Manager .............. (CHEF NEL$EN
Associate Editor .............. costume RES?
Managing Ecliror ............ dflfil’d scanners
News Editor .................... near @69th
asserts {Editor ................ sneer SSME’MQ
Fenian-e Edits” .................. [Mild @REEN
Copy Editor. . . ................... can ease
Promotion Editor ............... WE‘VE MEMER
Newsletter Editor .......... White assassins

Makeup Editor ............... Willie‘s nurses

 

“Do you think Naziism was a bad
idea, or a good idea badly carried out?”
I asked, picking another question from
our stock battery.

“It was a horrible idea,” (followed
by a string of expletives) was his emo-
tionuladen response. '

Only because such a genuine~sound-
ing anti~Nazi was such a rarity did I
press the interview further. “What kind
of government do you think should be
the government of the Germany of the
future?” I asked him.

“A democracy,” was the quick, firm
and sincere answer.

I popped another of our stock ques-
tions: “How many political parties do
you think should be allowed in this dem-
ocratic Germany of the future?”

“Only one, indeed, and that the demo-
cratic party,” was the quick, firm, and
absolutely sincere ansWer.

Further questioning revealed that
the man conformed rather completely
to what we had learned to be an atti—a
tude type rather characteristic of his
social class. We had a name for it—
“the apolitical type." These were the
peeple who claimed that they had never
been interested in politics. No, they
had never participated in any political
party activities. How did they vote dur-
ing the period of free elections in Ger-
many? Oh, they didn’t vote for any
party—-they weren’t interested in such
things. Did they go to political meet—
ings or at least read the stories on
politics in their neswpapers? No, they
didn't understand such things, and any-
way, it was all lies, meaningless slo-
gans, propaganda. Anyway, they were
just “little men” and what influence
could they have upon such things?

But “apolitical” was in large meas-
ure a misnomer for people of this type.
They were truly apolitical during the
short period of German democracy to
be sure. But they were the informants,
the “Heilers,” the Blockleiters, and
worse during the period of. German
demagoguery. They couldn’t “under—
stand” politics, but they could feel the
beat of the drum. They couldn’t influ-
ence the affairs of their city or nation,
but their egos could swell as the Wehr—
macht grew. Political campaigns were
all lies and filth, but the voice of their
Fuehrer stirred their souls. When they
had been called upon to be respon*
sible men, they could not understand,
they could not choose, they could not
think, they were helpless. But as a mass,
they could feel, they could shout, they
could hate, they could destroy.

I know it’s a long way from Bay-
reuth to Chicago—~it’s almost as far
as from Wagner to Wayne King. But I
know that political apathy means po—
litical ignorance. Political ignorance
warps our reason and saps our
strength. The feeling of political im—
potency corrodes democracy.

Student political activities on any“
campus, consequently, should provide
a social climate in which political apa-
thy does not develop; which insures
against political ignorance; and which
allows the student to demonstrate for
himself that the citizens of a democ—
racy can influence their political sur-
roundings.

These objectives are frequently thwartw
ed on campuses which do have political
organizations with off-campus affilia—
tions. In many such cases, “campus
political organization” comes to be as«
sociated in the minds of the majority
of the students with the eager-beaver
crackpots of the lunatic fringe—the in»
effectual combatants in contuznacious
contests l‘he oveiwhehning majority
of students. on any campus has little
desire to participate in these furious
verbal battles toward completely sym-
bolic objectives.

(See politics on page a;

   

      
   

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