College News, 1929-04-24, Vol. 15, No. 20

              w
�0-
The College News
. -
��
VOL. XV, NO. 20
BRYN MAWR (AND WAYNE), PA.^EDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1929
PRICE.   10 CENTS
Our Generation
Needs New Code
w�
Must  Have  Substitute  for
Conventional, Says
Dr. Wicks.
PRAISES   *  ORIGINALITY
The . Rev. Robert .Russell Wicks,
D. D., Dean of the University Chapel
at Princeton, spoke on What Substitute
for Conventional Morality? Tuesday
evening in the common room in Good-
hart Hall.
We are ajl of us, Dr. Wicks says,
living in a generation where we have
� ceased to respect conventional respec-
tability. It seems to have lost its
prestige; its genuineness is suspected;
and we are no longer interested in the
old, now unreal ways of talking of
ordinary goodness. However, quite
obviously we will always need a cer-
tain amount of decency to get along
together. But this decency tends to
become standardized so that even-
tually it reaches a point where it is
not too high and not too low. When
people arrive at this standard of de-
cency they begin to. grow stale. So in
churches you find a lazy kind of good-
ness in members of the congregation
who get shocked at swearing, yet who
take for granted such things as the
World War and. the oil scandal -which
Jook place under the guise of respec-
tability. Christ himself lost his life
at the hands of the most respectable
church people in Jerusalem.   .
To have this kind of respectability
put things over on us is repulsive.
What can we put in its place? Moral
originality seems to be the only al-
ternative. We find this nicely exem-
plified in the parable "of the Good
Samaritan. The interesting thing
abont - the hero of this piece .is his
originality; he did something unex-
pected; something fine, quite on his
own initiative. Very like the Good
Samaritan was a Dartmouth man who
refused to sign a thirty-thousand-dol-
lar contract for professional football
playing on the ground, that it took
the ten other men on his team to help
him make his reputation. He said
that he would not feel right in clearing
up thirty thousand on a reputation
which was not his own. An origi-
nality such as was in the conscience
of that man is in many- those wflio
will remember you when others will
walk by orr the other side and forget
you; and those who will every day
create new things and evolve new-
ideas in the schools, churches and
businesses, with which they are asso-
ciated.
Perhaps here it should be point
out that mere revolt from convention^
ality is not real originality. Some-
times it is just copying our contem-
poraries instead of following our
ancestors. Much moral experimenta-
tion today is not any deeper than a
passing fad. All real originality is the
working out of some fundamental
abiding principles which we cannot
change�not just the following of a
whim.
Now what are these certain funda-
mental principles? First of all, we
live, in a universe which has an un-
written constitution. As L. P. Jacks
once wrote, "You can talk about right
and wrong and the universe won't say
anything to you. but you can act it
out and then the desirable and un-
desirable comes out." If such is the
case it is not hard to believe that this
universe is set so that selfishness will
always work out to defeat its own
end.
Secondly, there is something tireless
in the-universe. We all get tired�we
get sick of ourselves. It has been thus
throughout the ages. In 1830 it was
said that we had almost gone to the
devil; and five thousand, seven hun-
dred and twenty-six years ago some
one wrote that the world had fallen
upon wicked times, young people
were -no   longer   respectful   to   their
CONTINUED  ON TH1 SIXTH PAQJB
Our New Type
This week the printers "of the
College News have set the paper
on three shiny new linotype ma-
chines, equipped with type faces
varying somewhat from the former
style.
The body of the paper is now
set in "old style," very similar
to the former type. t The head-
ing, however, have been com-
pletely changed, with "Cloister"
selected as the face�lighter than
tlte former type. This same
style will gradually be used in
the advertisements.
The printers have promised
that when the new plant is' in^
full production in the fall the
College News will match in ap-
pearance any college paper in the
country.
The Nations Change
Attitudes
and     Methods     Show
Universal Desire for
Peace.
Crusade Continues
Dr.     Breasted     Illustrates    America's
Excavations in the
.     Near East.
On Friday, April 19, in Goodhart
Auditorium, Pro. James H. Breasted
continued his lectures on the^New
Crusade  with   his   second   topic/jRhe
On Tuesday afternoon, April 16,
Monsieur Pierre de Lanux, Director
of the Paris Information Office of the
League of Nations, spoke in the Com-
mons Room of jGoodhart Hall on a
subject of international interest, "ftfod-
ern Manners in Foreign Policy." The
talk, delivered in an informal manner
by the brilliant young writer, editor
and lecturer, attempted to show that
the transformation in manners,- or the
new diplomacy, is the sign of new re-
lationships in foreign affairs. For
four or five years after the Armistice
the psychology of nations didn't
change noticeably. Thene was. for
instance, a deadlock between France
aiid Germany, with mutual distrust
and no peace progress, In 1923 the
|-deadlock was international. When
France was occupying the Ruhr. Lord
Curzon was Foreign Minister in
England and the Dawes plan had just
been devised. In western Europe
people distrusted the League's capa-
bility for reorganizing, the world.
From this distrust arose a demand to
make use of the League of Nations
and the World Court, with all their
principles, so In 1924 really representa-
tive delegations were sent from all
Europe to the League. The whole
movement was given a forward push
by the signing of the Treaty--�*--Lo�|
carno and the Dawes plan; by the
end of 1925 there had. been a great
progress in the relations between
France, Germany and England. In
September, 1926, Germany became a
ue member and gave the League
a lasting foundation, with the Allies
and the ex-enemy Countries working
together for a common cause. Ger-
many's entrance established the
League's authority, because the Ger-
mans adopted a positive attitude of
co-operation and suppressed the nega-
tive elements which had been charac-
teristic of their policy from 1920 to
1925. They formally accepted the
League's ruling on boundaries and
other iquestions in order that they
/further   other   more   important
might
demands.
Germany Chooses  P�M
League in 1927 the German attitude
was definitely constructive, and put
an end to the fear that Germany
might form an alliance with Russia
and othQ> discontented nations. Ger-
many had to choose between Geneva
and Rapallo, between the League of
Nations and Bolshevism, and since
world organization by Bolshevism
meant revolution in every country,
Germany chose peace under the
League. In the last two years France,
Germany, England and the United
States have come to know that there
can be no peace; and a world ma-
jority today, though approaching the
question from different angles, wants
the   abolition   of   war.      Since    1924
CONTIMUKD   ON  THB   FITl'H   PAO�
he^Nei
icVAh
Scientific Responsibility of Amenca\in
the^ Near East and the Salvaging of
the Evidence." The lecture was illus-
trated  bv lantern slides.
�
"We ought to begin this evening
that crusade in the Near East to which
the discussion of a week ago was a
rather long preliminary-qjggrant you,"
Professor Breasted began, and went
on to say that when you gain some
adequate impression of the place of
the Near East in human development
you realize that it involved vast stages
in the development of the earth, one
after another. In prehistoric condi-
tions Egypt did not suffer from the
rigors of Arctic ice �as did the Euro-
peans; it is in the lower part of the
northwest quadrant that vast - quan-
tities of early remains are going to
rapid e)bstruction�destruction that is
appalling on the Nile and �lso in
Asia. There is an enormously large
amount of material to be rescued, and
it cannot be said that any comprehen-
sive plan has been evolved for saving
these records. Investigation with a
unified command is necessary to place
on exhibition how we came to be what
we are. For that reason the Oriental
Institute of the Univcrsity_of Chicago
was organized and at present it has
six expeditions in the Near East cov-
ering an area of fifteen hundred to two
thousand miles. One (if these groups
is on the upper Tigris in Assyria and
Palestine; there are three at work- in
Asia and three in Egypt. The first
expedition wai sent out ten years ago
when the Oriental Institute had an
income of only $10,000. The project
gave an invaluable impression of what
ought to be done. It was quite evi-
dent from the beginning that, if we
.were' to find the desired traces, a
chronological survey was necessary.
The personnel was made up of geolo-
gists as the extended investigation
harked back to stratified records.
Among them were two geologists of
Oxford training, Dr. Sanford and Dr.
Archell.
Excavations in Fayum        .   -
Dr. Sanford discovered in one of the
lower terraces along the Nile the first
embedded flint implements. This gave
evidence that man had lived there be-
fore that terrace was laid down, and
that human handiwork came out of an
age which carries back to an enor-
mously remote antiquity. Such re-
search is characteristic of the investi-
gation. In upper Egypt there are a
series of terraces containing these im-
plements, and there is another, toward
lower "Egypt. In upper Egypt the
highest terrace of black tertiary soil
is at a height of one hundred and fifty
feet above the surface of the Nile,
and is sterile of human reMiins. But
at a height of one hundred feet relics
are plentifully found.' The implements
in this terrace are the crudest in form,
Mrs. Manning Explains
Educational Values
Mrs. Manning opened chapel on Mon-
day morning, April 21, by saying that
this is the time of year when she always
thinks about improvements in curricu-
lum. She found the summary of the
book, "Incentives to Study," in last
week's News very interesting, and ad-
vises everyone to read it carefully. The
general conclusions she declared good,
though the book itself is not scientific.
The beliefs of one university, such as
Yale, in this instance, are suggestive
rather than final. There is stress well
placed on the frame of mind of the stu-
dent entering college, and, wisely
enough, there are no remarks about in-
spiring teaching. A person will prob-
ably only meet two or three people in
the whole course of her life, who will
actually inspire her to learn. Mrs. Man-
ning feels that inspiring students are
more. important than inspiring teach-
ers, but she pointed out* that this is in
a way a |�radox, since a pupil is the
product of her past education. � The
primary impulse\.to learn is bound to
come from the older 'generation, but a
great deal rests with the students. The
students who are definitely after' some-
thing have the incentive to leave before
they get to college.
The Nezv Republic recently published
an article on "The Aims of Education,"
by Mr. Whitehead. It is written in a
pleasant and suggestive way with a
philosophical background. His ideas are
not really new; "Do not teach too many
subjects, and teach thoroughly." He
advises against treating ine/t ideas and
points out that  logic and information
Concert Ends
Bryn Mawr.. Series
�'�        ^
Bach Concerto and Brahms Trio
Most Pleasing of
Selections.
PROGRAM BADLY MASSED,,
A comparatively small audience "at-
tended the last of the Goodhart Series,
a concert by Naoum Blinder, violin;
Anton'Homer, horn; Louis Saslawsky,
baritone: and Horace Alwyne, piano-
forte, given in the Auditorium of
[.Goodhart Hall on Wednesday evening,
April 17. The progranv, in spite of the
excellence of the individual artists, was
too long, and it was ineffectively
massed, the more' substantial selec-
tions' being grouped at the beginning,
the lighter numbers following in a lin-
gering anticlimax.
The height of the evening was
reached in the Brahms trio with its
calm reserve ana* sober magnificence.
The unusual combination of instru-
ments was very-pleasing, and the exe-
cution of the artists, individually and
as members of, a trio, was faultless in
its smoothness and harmony. The
mellow dignity of the Andante; the
rapid movement of the Scherzo; the
statcliness of the Adagio, with its in-
dividual repetitions of the theme for
each of the instruments, and its final
brief massing of emotions; and the
brighter, contrasting flow of the Alle- .
gro followed each other in perfect con-
tinuity. The smoothness of the whole
was  broken   here,  however,  and  also
and advancement in ingenuity is seen
At the  Economy Conference of the   from   those   unearthed   below.     When
the river was at the one-hundred-foot-
level it was flowing on rock bottom;
and since the time of the ancient men
it has cut through one hundred verti-
cal feet of solid rock, the *hoIe process
requiring a  thousand years.
Extraordinary results were achieved
to the credit of Dr. Sanford and Dr.
Archell, who turned our attention to
the great depression on the west bank
of the Nile, sixty miles south of Cairo.
This depression, thirty miles long, and
In the form of a maple-leaf with the
stem running to the Nile valley, is
the Fayum. whose origin eluded the
geologists until Sanford and Archell
attacked it. Their attention was di-
rected to the divide between  the de-
CONTINUBD ON   THE THIRD   PAGE
tions.
He treats examinations from the
English point of view, and reacts
against the English system as would
be' expected from an Englishman. Mrs.
Manning pointed out that we see the
good results of the English and
French systems of education, while
they see the good  points of ours.
There is a trend toward examina-
tions set by outside teachers, but Mr.
in  the  Concerto,   by   the  rude  inter-
should   he   treated   in   new- combina--ruption of applause after  the separate
movements.                                    v
The Concerto, while less intellectual
than much of Bach's music, ' still
showed the restraint of mature
thought mingled wjth its depth of
emotion. Mr. Blinder's interpretation
was. characterized by a pleasing sim-
plicity, and warmth and an unusual
feeling for phrase. The second violin
group -w*s�lighter and less conse-
quential in nature.    "Lotus Land" by
Whitehead  says  that  they   should  be^ Cyril Scott-Krisler was notable for its
set, by the instructor who has given
the course. He is the only person
who can see if the student is giving
back new combinations of ideas.
Course examinations tend to make us
think in small packets, but Mrs. Man-
ning thinks they serve a definite pur-
pose if one can get anything new by
that means. It is possible to reach a
saturation point, where preparation
becomes lost, but learning for exams
really teaches us. t& see-things in new
combinations and TcP^ee. the field as
a whole. The saturation point does
not usually come While the student is
an   undergraduate.
Mrs. Manning concluded that there
is more value in seeing the cause and
effect working in the whole field than
in gathering material for a report and
in drawing conclusions. New com-
binations of ideas are the best things
that can be derived fr^m undergrad-
uate work and examinations are the
best way of achieving this end.
Monday, April 9. The tea is being
given in honor of Miss SchencK, who
has been named "officer d'academie"
by the French government. Miss
Schenck has been so honored in rec-
ognition of her distinguished services
in spreading French Culture through
her educational work as heatf of the
French department at Bryn Mawr.
|She has also been instrumental in or-
ganizing a committee to supply books
for- the library which supplements the
recently created chair of American
literature at the Sorbonne. M. Rene
Weiller, French Consul at Philadel-
phia, will be present at the tea. and
will himself present to Miss Schenck
the decoration which accompanies her
diploma.
fanciful suggestion of lethargy, and the \
"Scherzo"   of   Prokofieff   was   distin-
guished   by   its  kaleidoscopic   modern
movement.
Any slight disappointment felt in the
first Brahms selections of Mr. Sas-
lawsky was amply overcome by his
power in the Russian selections of
Moussorgsky. His voice found itself
here, and the feeling and adequate exe-
cution of the last three numbers of
the first group secured the hearty sym-
pathy of the audience. The last group,
while losing some appreciation as the
last numbers in a long and poorly
arranged program, were delightful in
content and in execution.
The novelty of the horn was very
pleasantly received.    Although limited
CONTINUED   ON   TH�   PD7TH   PAOl
Miss Schenk Is Honored
Members of the French Club, grad-
uate students in French and members
of the French faculty are invited to
a   tea  in   Wyndham   at   four-thirty on I movement, and lightness, beside being
Two Sports Stressed
In chapel on Wednesday Miss
Josephine Pctts talked on the impor-
tance of fencing and lacrosse, two
sports that are included on the list of
new spring exercises.
Fencing has always been taught as
part of the required study in dramatic
schools.     It   teaches  agility,   skill  and
the most efficacious method of keep-
ing one's weight where it should be.
It is a particularly valuable sport for
seniors who wish to make a good im-
pression on their perspective employ-
ers as they walk into their offices.
Lacrosse is one of the best games
we have here this spring. Very .few
people in this country know how to
teach it. It originated with the
American Indian and was taken up by
the Eiwlish who have always played it
much better than we do. There are
crosses which can be borrowed from
the gym; and every one is urged to
give the game a trial, especially upper-
classmen, who in recent basketball
games have not proven as lithe as the
freshmen   and   sophomores.