College News, 1927-03-16, Vol. 13, No. 19

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The College News
VOLXHL   No. 19.
BRYN*MAWR '(AND WAYNE). PA..   WEDNESDAY. MARCH 16. 1927
RRICE.   10 CENTS
THOMISM BECOMES
A MODERN FACTOR
Thomas   Aquinas   Essentially
a Realist, Believed Also
in Evolution,
GOD   IS   GOAL  OF   ALL
"Thomism, the philosophy of Thomas
Aquinas, is gaining more and more im-
portance^' said Father Benais, of the
Sulpician � Seminary of Washington,
D. C, speaking under the auspices of the
Christian Association last Tuesday.
Thomas Aquinas believed that God was
the source and end ofj^ll things and that
in Him, man would find his perfect
happiness.
From the thirteenth to the sixteentli
century, Thomas Aquinas' influence was
pre-eminent, but after Bacon and Des-
cartes, Thomism was considered too
mediaeval except in Catholic circles. In
the nineteenth century, however, under
the influence of Pope Leo XIII, the im-
portance and value of Thomas Aquinas'
philosophy again came to be recognized.
It was in the twentieth century that this
revival took on real proportions. In
France the "partie de l'intelligenoe." re-
acting against romanticism in politics as
well as literature, especially devoted it-
self to the study of Thomism and the
other mediaeval philosophies. Many
young men and women are members of
this movement and flock to the courses
on this subject in huge numl>ers. But
the revival is not restricted to France,
for Harvard. Yale and Columbia all in-
clude courses on Thomism in their cata-
logues.
Thomas Aquinas was born in 1227 in
the South of Italy. This period was
remarkable for its intellectual movements
as well as its great social organization
of Christendom with the Pope as head
and arbitrator, the first League of Na-
tions. The thirteenth century was also
the period of the Crusades. The Sara-
cens had been driven out of France, but
they were still pre-eminent in Spain. Tt
was through the Saracens that the
Christian world was first introduced to
the works of Aristotle, but these works
received a pantheistic flavor from the
Arabs and were therefore put under a
ban by the ecclesiastical authorities. - In-
deed, it was not until Thomas Aquinas
.had restored the text of Aristotle and
had .made it the basis of his philosophical
interpretation of Christianity that this
ban was removed.
As a youth of eighteen. Thomas
Aquinas entered the Dominican order in
spite of family opposition. He traveled
to Paris and thence to Cologne where he
studied under the philosopher, Albert the
Great, who anticipated the experimental
method. Because of his reticence and
quietness, Thomas Aquinas' schoolmates
called him "the dumb ox." whereat Albert
CONTINUED  ON  PAGE  4
Still Competing
� Those still in the competition "for
the Editorial Board of the News
are: C. Howe, E. Rice, C. Peck-
ham, C. Jones, E. Stix, E. Wilson,
V. Bang and C. Cole all of 1�;�0.
and   M. .Grace,   1929.
ON SEA OR LAND
SWARTHMORE WINS
All    Honors    Go    to    Strong
Team Led by Miss
Filer.
------------                          �
FIRST  MEET  FOR.B.   M.
Bryn Mawr attacked Swarthmore last
Tuesday in the first intercollegiate swim-
ming meet ever held in our pool and
came out the worse for wear. Swarth-
more beat us decisively by a score of
2T/i to 22J4. They had a strong team
and their king-pin, Filer, carried off all
the honors of the day. No one on our team
was especially impressive, although all
were good. The judges were Mr. Bishop,
Miss Lannin, the Swarthmore coach, and
Dr. Mercer, of the University of Penn-
sylvania.
The winners of the various events were
as follows:'
Fancy dives�1. Filer, 2. Thompson, 3.
H.  Tuttle.
Forty-yard, 26 2-5 sec�1. Gcare, 2.
Bryant,  '.i. Thompson.
Forty-yard back, 31 sec.�1. Stewart
and  Filer,  2.  Taylor.
Forty-yard breast, 30 3-5 sec.�1. Field,
2. Thompson, 3. Israel and Davis.
Ninety-yard. 1 min. 11 4-5-sec.�1. Filer
2. H. Tuttle. 3.   McCafferty.
Relav. Bryfi Mawr�2 min. 17 3-5 sec.
Summer Seminary in In-
dustrial Field Work
The American Friends Service Com-
mittee is offering an exceptional op-
portunity to students interested in see-
ing the industrial situation from the in-
side. This summer they are holding a
"Students Industry Group" in Phila-
delphia, similar to those held in
Chicago and in Detroit. The purpose
of the Group or Seminar, is to give
those who are interested in Economics
and Sociology a chance to do field
work in industrial research.
The Group Seminar opens with a
conference from June 25 to 26. which
will introduce the student to the
situation in Philadelphia. On June 27
she will start in search of a job. Then,
for ten weeks, she will live among
working people; but the entire group
will meet from time to time for dis-
cussion, often with employers or labor
leaders.
Qualifications:
1.   Excellent health."
2.  Junior, senior or graduate stand-
ing.
3.  Some courses covered in econ-
omics, labor relations or sociology.
4.   The desire to share in the build-
ing of a better social order.
For additional information see B.
Simcox. '27, Merion Hall.
To Be Great, See Vision
and Turn It Into Task
What gain or loss arc we making of
our lives? Are we progressing in the
upper zones or arc we vegetating on a
plain of desires?
The subject of the sermon given
by Mr. Alfred Martin last Sunday eve-
ning was "Tasks and Visions." Develop-
ing our capacity for visions saves us
from spiritual decline. Opportunities
for spiritual renewal can only be
gained by turning our backs on our
work and giving earnest thought to
visions.
When Moses, the great Hebrew
liberator and educator, _ felt himself
deeply conscious of the wrong of
slavery for his people, even though he
realized the futility of beating against
the massive cohorts of the mighty
Pharaoh, yet he began by retiring to
the solitude of the mountain top to
formulate a plan for their emancipa-
tion by means of a mental picture. But
his task was two-fold: first, to free the
people; and second, to educate them
up to their freedom. "Freedom never!
is an end in itself, but is a means of
attainment beyond." So a second time he
retired to the solitude of the mountain
to commune with the standards of
vision appliable in modern law.
The disheartening spectacle of his
people paying homage to an idol filled
Moses  with   a  great   wrath,  and   with
CONTINUED  ON  PAGE  3
STUDENTS SHOULD
NOT DIVULGE NEWS
Uncopyrighted Matter Proves
Harmful Because a Prey
to Garbling.    ,.
FREE      SPEECH      HERE
The publication of college news and
college comment by students was the
subject of President Park's talk in
chapel on  Friday morning.
"The college is a continuous entity."
said Miss Park, "made up of people
who like it. who don't like it, who
criticize it and don't criticize it, and
it can be no better and no worse than
the alumnae, students and future stu-
dents who pass through it. It is
curiously sensitive to what the in-
dividual does. Bj7n Mawr and, in-
deed, education 6i women in general,
still have to assert themselves con-
stantly. They are often misunderstood
and they have to work also against the
insatiable desire for personal informa-
tion or personal criticism which is
characteristic of present-day news-
papers and their readers.
Uncopyrighted Material Dangerous.
When a publication is uncopyrighted
nothing can prevent it from being re-
printed or quoted, not as the expres-
sion of an individual but as general
public opinion, nor can anything pre-
vent sentences from being taken out of
the context. The college must protect
itself first of all by keeping direct
channels open to an accurate press,
and we have extraordinarily good open
channels. The college must ask its
students to give up publication of un-
copyrighted material, so easily mis-
quoted, and to make no statements to
the newspapers except through these
authorized channels.
How does this affect the question of
free speech? Free speech must be
maintained at college. For intelligent
people it means free opportunity for
open discussion of fact, opinion and
conjecture, not freedom for the print-
ing of gossip or inaccurate or deliber-
ately untrue facts. This discussion
must be genuine. There are authorized
publications on campus where opinions
can be offered. Through these worth-
while channels discussion with give-
and-take can be carried on. We ask
that individual opinion to the press go
through the authorized channels, so
that the college can insist on its ac-
curate repetition. Free speech is the
untrammeled discussion of honest
opinion. It docs not interfere with the
rights of others, or with the rights of
the college to which we hope we all
belong.
Cast Definitely Decided
For "Truth About Blayds"
After several rehearsals with Mr.
Greenough, the cast of the Varsity Play,
The Truth About Blayds. has been def-
initely settled.    Is is as follows:
Oliver Blayds ..........   M. Villard, '27
Isabel   ................   A.  Learned, '29
Marion '................. E. Latane, '30
William   ...............   E. Stewart, '28
Oliver   ...............   K.  Hepburn, '28
Septima   ...............   M.   Barker, 30
Royce   .................A. Whiting, '27
Parsons   .................   M.  Park, '29
Second Varsity Wins Dull
Game With Swarthmore
The second Varsity game, following
the brilliant spectacle oi the first team
game, seemed even niorc uninteresting
than it probably was. Both teams
shuffled around on the backs of their
heels, and no one was in the right
spot   at  the   right  time.
During the first half the score was
very even, but in the second, Boyd
made basket after basket from the
same spot on the right of the goal,
which gave the final victory to second
Varsity, with a margin of eight�points.
The final score was 29-21. F. Bethel,
playing side center, deserves consider-
able praise for her constant activity
and intelligent passing; if only the rest
of the team had been inspired by her,
this game might have been worthy to
follow the ofcher.
The line-up was as follows:
Second Varsity�E. Boyd. '29, 22222-
2221; A. Bruere. '28, 2; A. Dalziel, '29;
E. Poe, '29; C. Swan, '29; M. Martin,
'30. Subs.�J. Porter, '29,- 2222, for
Bruere: F. Bethel. '28. for Poe.
Swarthmore�C. Robison, 2222222;
D. Folwell. 2212; M. Fish, G. Heritage.
L. Tily, A. Kennedy. Subs.�Hanan
for Kennedy.
GOLDEN AGE OF DANTE NEVER
EXISTED OUTSIDE OF FICTION
N. C. Bowman Resigns
The College News regrets to
announce the resignation of Nancy
Curtis Bowman, '27, as Business
Manager. Miss Bowman, who has
been on the New! since hcr.Frcsh-.
man year, will l>e succeeded by
Paulina McElwain. '28. For the
past year. Miss McElwain has
l>een Subs�ription Manager. Elea-
nor Jones, '28, will ">e Subscription
Manager in place of Miss Mc-
Elwain.
SWARTHMORE
DOWNS VARSITY
Both  Teams  Show Speed in
Even and Exhausting
Game.
HUDDLESTON
STARS
/.
Dante  ^Chivalrous  Spirit   in
a Dourgeois En-
vironment.  �
TRECENTO LIFE ROUGH
By far the best game of the basket-
ball season so far was that played
against Swarthmore on Saturday,
March 12. Both teams were very fast
and scientific and it was only at the
very end that the score was not prac-
tically even. Then, in the last quarter,
the visitors piled up five baskets in
succession, an advantage that Varsity
could never overcome. The final score
was 44 to .10.
Jean Huddleston, as guard, was
Varsity's star player; with unrelent-
ing energy, she pursued the ball, inter-
cepting passes from an almost impos-
sible distance, and co-operating with
Freeman to hold down the score, al-
though the ball was more often on
their end of the field than on the other.
The forwards were good individually,
and Loines' long successful shots from
the' side of the field cannot pass with-
out comment, but their weakness was
their lack of team work. Dean, al-
though frightfully handicapped by the
fact that her opponent was at least six
inches taller than she, played better
than in any previous game, and was
one of Varsity's principle supports.
Swarthmore excelled in long zigzag
passes: their accuracy and skill were
only equalled by Varsity's speed and
agility. From start to finish, it was an
exciting and exhausting game. The
beginning of the second half was
slowed up for free passes due to many
technical fouls, but as soon as the
teams warmed up, the fight began in^
earnest. It was a tense moment while
the score crept from 24-24 to 26-26.
then 27-26. but Varsity had not quite
the endurance to keep it up. And al-
though the team went down in the
end, they went down fighting. The de-
feat was by no means an ignoble one.
The   line-up   was:        �
Varsity�B. Loines. '28. 322222222;
Johnson, '30. 222222: M. Dean, '30;
S. Walker, '27; J. Huddleston. '28;
E. Freeman, '29.
Swarthmore-G. Jolls. 222222221222-
22112; A. Richards, 212121112; M.
Walton, A. Jenkinson. C. S. Salmon,
R.  Sieger.
Choose Committee
Mrs. Chadwick-Collins, Miss Apple-
bee and Mr. S. A. King were asked to
be the non-undergraduate members of
the committee on organization of May
Day, by vote of the Undergraduate As-
sociation at a meeting held last Tues-
day night On this committee there are
also to be the President of the Under-
graduate Association,--*^ tlfc.ee- or^ fr>ur
other undergraduates to be chosen later. | 1.
"They know how to hope when they
have lost all ground for hope."
This tribute to the Italian people
was given by Professor Gaetano Sal-
veniini, great Italian liberal, patriot
and scholar, in his lecture here last
Friday evening.
I'rofessor Salvemini differentiated
for' us the changes in Italian life,
which, occurring during Dante's life,
made him "a chivalrous spirit in a
bourgeois environment."
The general life of the. Italian people
during the thirteenth century was ex-
tremely rough and simple. The houses
were built of wood and the roofs
sparsely thatched. Conflagrations w�re
prevalent in most of the cities and
enormous areas were very often com-
pletely destroyed. The majority of the
streets. were barely wide enough to
walk through, while the most fashion-
able street in Florence was but five
yards wide. In winter these narrow
ways were rivers of mud. and in sum-
mer, piles of dust.
There were no tallow candles, so
that redolent oil lamps furnished the
only means of lighting ' the small
houses. The men wore cloaks of skins
and wool, while the women wore
rough woolen garments even on such
festive occasions as wedding days.
Gold and silver ornamentation for
clothing was as yet unknown.
Traveling Very Difficult.
Time had wrought havoc �%\'Cn
Roman roads. Mules, as the only
means of transportation, were usually
weighed down with the heaviest bur-
dens possible. By the end of the
fourteenth century a road, wide enough
for two-wheeled carts, was built across
the Alps, but even then the journey
was made with great difficulty. There
were no inns, the only means of hos-
pitality being offered by the mon-
asteries. Once outside his own "divis-
ion" a traveler found himself in a
foreign country, to pass through
which, he must pay a toll. As he had
to pass through about thirty of these
in his journey, traveling was rather
expensive.
Besides these difficulties, the traveler
was always in danger of losing both
life and possessions, since the roads
were infested with brigands and the
several "divisions" always at war.
Traveling by water was little better.
The sea was so thick with pirates
that many men made life more profit-
able by becoming mauraders in self-
defense. Exchange of necessities be-
tween "divisions" was an impossibility
and two or three bad harvests meant
death to thousands.                  *�
Although the middle ages was a
period of frequent famine, the popula-
tion of the country steadily increased.
In Dante's time the population of
Florence had increased five times its
size two centuries earlier.
Florence Dependent on Outside for
Food.
The district under the Commune of
Florence sufficed to feed its popula-
tion only five months of the year. As
this population increased the problem
of food became acute, necessitating a
journey far afield for supplies. Flor-
ence then found itself confronted with
a situation like that of Great Britain
as a result of the Industrial Revolu-
tion. Food supplies were imported in
return   for    manufactured   goods   and
CONTINUED  ON   P.UiE  3
Seniors Request
The  Senior Class   requests   that
no members of the facub*- or  staff
attend    its    Fellowship    skit    next
Friday.