College News, 1931-12-16, Vol. 18, No. 09

              The College News
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Vol. XVIII, No. 9
WAYNE AND BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1931
Price, 10 Cents
Commentary on 3Vews of the <Day
Disarmament
The model disarmament conference
which students from Bryn Mawr and
other colleges staged in Philadelphia
last Saturday calls attention to the
opportunity for the general public not
merely to keep itself informed about
that important international event
scheduled to begin in Geneva on Feb-
ruary 2, but to exert some influence
towards its success. As lay persons,
academic and inexperienced, many of
us may feel modest about our right to
an opinion on the technicalities of arm-
ament and diplomacy, or about our
ability to influence public affairs. But
we have as much at stake as anyone
in any movement that is likely to re-
duce the risk of war and perhaps as
much right to an opinion about the
general method that ought to be tried.
This is not a period in the world's
history when either in economics or
in international relations the profes-
sionals, the so-called realists and men
of affairs, have by unqualified suc-
cesses demonstrated their claim to be
regarded as infallible experts.
The ^economic . reasons for .disarma-
ment are so obvious and so frequently
mentioned that they need not be re-
peated. Everyone of the sixty-three
nations who are to be represented at
Geneva feels the pinch of depression.
Even the United States is planning
economies. Some of the categories of
-hips may be almost useless anyhow
for military purposes. Even if they
are not obsolete to cancel them all
around would not change the, relative
naval strength. Take battleships, for
example. Each one costs to construct
and maintain $250,000,000, and the
United States has eighteen of them!
No idealist, however, is satisfied to
stake an issue like peace and disarma-
ment merely on financial self-interest.
The, world of men is poorer when the
moral considerations of an issue are
allowed to fall out of sight. In this
instance there is no certainty that
economy and common sense will really
win. Parallel with poverty and unem-
ployment the militaristic philosophy of
force and of fear prevails in many
quarters. Behind each delegation
there will be some sinister forces, and
some conservative old-fashioned the-
ories. Already are heard requests to
postpone the conference. In most in-
stances they come from persons who
desire to prevent a substantial rcduc-
f'ontlnui-il   on   Page   Five
The World Court Dinner
Penn Athletic Club, December 10,
1931.
A great crowd came together last
Friday to show their approval of
American participation in -the World
Court. . They dined, they listened to
Josef Hofmann, to Dr. Vincent, Mrs.
Roosevelt and many others literally
^presenting all classes of society and
all communities from coast to coast.;
they applauded with unmistakable sin-
cerity.
Let us hope their enthusiasm has the
reward it deserves. None can doubt
for a moment their good intentions
or the generosity of Mr. Bok and the
committee who worked to make the
evening possible. Yet on leaving, one
at least of the Bryn Mawr delegation
fell to wondering how far such affairs
were profitable. In a time of want
the expense incurred for dining�ade-
quately enough�off Epinard Persan or
Vin de pays des Etats Unis, seems
hardly justified. Surely many could
have been fed with less fantastically
christened foods for the sums spent on
last Friday's service and accommoda-
tion. And would the speakers have
been listened to with any less appre-
ciation if dinner publically shared had
not preceded their efforts? This may
be carping criticism, but it is not in
any case meant to detract from the in-
spiration of the sight of so great a
gathering to support what all firm
friends of arbitration have long wished
to see brought about,�the entry of
America into this unique experiment's
effort towards at least a mitigation of
�.ur present difficulties and  quarrels.
<-*                                    | �
The Election in Australia
The Federal election in Australia this
week is a subject of interest to all stu-
dents of politics and electoral psychol-
ogy. During the las^ year there has
apparently been a strong conservative
reaction in Great Britain, Canada and
New Zealand and it will be interesting
to see whether the same forces are at
work in Australia.
At the close of the war the Nation-
alist party was in control of the Com-
monwealth government and the
Labour party was in opposition. There
was general prosperity, but as it was
not shared by the farmers a Country
party was formed to protect their in-
terests. This party held the balance
of power after the election of Decem-
ber, 1922, and a Nationalist-Country
coalition, with Mr. Stanley Bruce as
Prime Minister was in office from 1923
to 1929. There was an orgy of ex-
penditure and a steady rise in the debts
of both the Commonwealth and the six
State governments. ISy 1929 the total
debt had mounted to 1,104,000,000
pounds, an average of about $800 for
every man, woman and child in the
country. There were also tariff and
wage increases which imposed a heavy
burden on the primary producers�
farmers and miners�-who furnish over
ninety-seven per cent, of the exports.
As more t|ian half of the debt is held
abroad, the fall in the prices of wool
and "wheat made it mure and
difficult to meet interest charges and to
maintain the balance.of trade.
Mr. Bruce finally began to reali/e
the danger and to suggest remedies,
but the public was not ready to make
the necessary sacrifices and a Labour
Government was swept into office in
1929 with a large majority. The situa-
tion has grown steadily worse and one
of its political results lias been a split
Th the Labour party. The Right
Wing, under Mr. Joseph .Lyons, has
joined with the Nationalists in form-
ing the United Australia party. The
Centre, under Mr. James -H. Scullin,
the Prime Minister, and Mr. E. G.
Theodore, the Commonwealth Treas-
urer, has been forced somewhat re-
luctantly to adopt a drastic policy of
retrenchment in public expenditure
and reduction of wages in private in-
dustry, but it has also brought about
a conversion of the internal public
debt at a much lower rate of interest.
The Left Wing, under Mr. J. T. Lang,
the Prime Minister of New South
Wales, believes that a radical reduction
in the standards of living can be
avoided by inflating the currency, im-
posing higher taxes on the rich and
at least partially repudiating the
foreign debt.
The United Australia and Country
parties have been co-uperating duriiiH
the campaign, but there lias been con-
siderable friction between the follow-
ers of Mr. Scullin and Mr. Lang. Mr.
Scullin has, however, been able to se-
cure some conservative support be-
cause of his tariff policy. During the
last two years, the tariff, which was
already one of the most reactionary
in the world, has been increased to
unbelievable  heights and the  Govern*
Continued on Pare Six
The  Social Sciences in Colleges
At the invitation of the Social
Science Research Council, representa-
tives of twelve colleges located not too
far distant from one another met over
the last week-end in New York to
consider the status of research in So-
cial Science in the colleges. The con-
ference was suggested by President
Marion Edwards � Park last spring.
when, true to the traditional interest in
research at Bryn Mawr College, she
wrote to the presidents of these col-
leges, urging consideration of the sub-
ject, and offering the hospitality of the
college. Unanimous response by the
colleges, and the deep interest already
expressed by the Research Council in a
resolution passed in the previous sum-
mer at Hanover resulted in the Coun-
cil's offering to take over responsi-
bility for conducting the conference.
In the Hanover resolution, the Council
declared, "It is because the Council is
so vitally interested in the quality of
undergraduate instruction in the Social
Sciences that it cannot be indifferent
to the wise and deliberate cultivation
of research activities among the mem-
bers of the collegiate teaching facul-
ties." The purpose of the session, as-
originally stated, was, then, to dis-
cover (1) present opportunities avail
able for members of the faculty and
advanced students iif colleges to con
duct   research   in   Social jScij;nccs,_(2.)
�~I-----1� i � R* ~�I�'               i J                      --------T"                   a
the' difficulties that prevent members
of the faculty from carrying on re-
search, (3) the means by which oppor-
tunities may be secured and, difficulties
removed.
The colleges represented were Am
herst. Bryn Mawr, Dartmouth. Haver
ford, Mount llolyokc. Oherlin, Smith.
Swarthmqre, Vassar, Wellesley, Wes-
leyatl and Williams, and it was some-
what remarkable that conditions affect-
ing research seemed to be practically
the same from one college to another.
although, of course, not every prob-
lem  appeared   in   every  institution.'
It is a fact that almost all men and
women of the Social Science faculties
in  these  colleges  are  actually Carrying
on research; but it is equally true thar^
they   are   doing   so   under   great   dilli-
Continued  on  race Five
Things of General Interest
The lifting of the ban against the
Jews in Spain and the removal, there-
fore, of disabilities which have lasted
unbroken since 1492.
The most sweeping government ac-
tion outside of Soviet Russia, in Ger-
many under Bruening, who has cut
rents, prices, and wages at one fell
swoop.
The   projected   customs   union   offj
France and Belgium.
The one hundred per cent, tax on
vegetables talked of in England.
Celebration of the Festival of the
Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, De-
cember 11.
Mr. Hoover's statement on the mat-
ter of Manchuria, that the United
States must work with the advice and
aid of the League of Nations.
Saturday, December 11, birthday of
Milton C. Nahm.     �  '
l
2^
Index
News Commentary
Disarmament
Elections in Australia
Things   which   have   interested
us
World   Court   Dinner
The   Social   Sciences   in    Col-
lege*
Art                                                   1
Why     remain     excited     about
u"""'     �;        .. f .-
Travel                                             1
Just a   Touch of Lovely Japan
Professor in Oppenheini  Role
The Neighborhood .                     2
- L-oeal Library  Facilities
Music on Sunday
The Open Air
A Farewell to Hockey
Reviews                                          4
The   Lantern
The  Grasshoppers Come
Forthcoming Books
Verse                                               2
Teacher's  Epitaph
Could It Be Verse?
Roundel     (N o n     Diaconam
jocundam vidi)
Our Brighter Contemporaries    1
Goldfish   Snatcher  Caught
Pillar of Salt                                 2
Editorial                                         2
Stimulus
Our Home Department        "    3
Thought for Food
Drama                                             2
'Sez   which,'   a   Yarrow   Frag-
ment
Medicine                                         5
Salubrious tho' Sessile
Philosophy                                     2
Mind
In a Futurist Vein                     3
If I Were Dictator,  Polygon
The Nice Period
Legal Notice
^Travel
Professor in Oppenheim Role
Early in May, 1919, the American
Red Cross Unit in Sarajevo was com-
pletely bankrupt. We had spent the
funds which we had brought from
Rome, and, because of the paralysis of
all the ordinary lines of communica-
tion, our insistent letters and telegrams
requesting aid from headquarters had
failed to produce any material result.
We were living on the personal checks
of the head of the unit, trustingly
cashed by the embroidery shop in the
main street, but the chief's bank ac-
count did not promise to last much
longer.
Finally in desperation the chief
asked me to go to Paris and bring
back enough cash to keep our work
going for a while. 1 had - to go by a
long and devious route. First there
was a night's journey to llrod on the
narrow gauge Bosnian line in a coach
where the boards that took the place
of windows kept out daylight and only
the flickering candles 1 took with me
relieved the gloom of night. Then
there were long hours of waiting in
the desolation of I'.rod and eight hours
of traveling  in   the opposite direction
from Paris to Belgrade, wTicrc I   had
to go I" secure the necessary visas.
I reached Belgrade late at night  and
was piloted through the lonely   un-
limited streets by a member of   Mr.
Hoover's Relief Administration.      He
-riisnosyes^fed�tftr~~ occupai
Just a Touch of Lovely Japan
By Kstiikk Mauixix Tennant
I turned for a last look as I left the
crooked lane which led to the main
thoroughfare. In the windows of the
wooden building of the Nalsano high
school were dozens of black heads with
laughing brown eyes. Small hands were
waving gayly as the children called good
by to me in the very best-English that
I had taught them. I waved the bunch
of wild clover they had picked for me
and called "Sayonara." There were peals
of laughter, and I turned down the street
to the bus stop before the Shunito shrine.
A chjld in a brilliant flowered
kimono, stopped in. its play under the
Torii to gaze in admiration at my flow-
ers. The grey bus drew up, and I
climbed into it to lie joggled Mine across
the city on the hanks of the Ocha-no-
mizu river.
The Japanese girl is a sweet lovable
fun-loving youngster, very fond of West-
ern sports, and music. The only disci-
pline 1 ever exercized was that they
they should be allowed or not, to sing
Home. Sweti Home, with me at the end
of the lesson.________� ,.� -.-.,-�
One night we .had a meeting at the
school The Mayor was to speak, there
was to be a Japanese and an American
moving picture, and I was to sing. Every
seat, every inch of floor, space was taken
by fathers,' mothers, children and sleep-
,�,,.   ,,,-   iiiM   babies.     The   Japanese   film   was   a
the Administration's hotel rooms and
thus saved me from rifting all night
in  the lobby.
Of� my two da\> in lielKiade I re-
member chiefly that there was a dearth
of everything ordinarily regarded as
essential and an abundance oi the best
pastry I ever ale. 'Then followed two
days and � half in the comparative
luxury of the Orient Express from
which 1 recall an American army
Courier who asked me to guard the
mail while he went to dinner, lie told
me afterwards that bis name was Wil-
son and* that lie wrote stories, and I
suspected from something that I heard
later that he was Henry Leon Wilson.
In I'aris my time was occupied with
Innumerable trips to the highest
authorities of the American Red Cross
and interminable hours pf waiting in
embassies, consulates and prefectures
of police for the visa.- and permits
needed for my return journey. But
after hours I had a chance to get some
contact with the world again. In Sara-
jevo, where the war had started, we
had been completely out of touch with
the news of how it was ending. It
was an extraordinary experience to
plunge into the rumors and excite-
ments of Paris at'a.moment when the
first summary of the peace treat)  was
Continued  on  Pule  Six
Goldfish Snatcher Caught
With Hospital's Aquarium
_
BRONXVILLE, \. V.. Dec. s.-
Policemen were warned to be on the
^alert early this morning, as a passerby
had seen a man emerging from a ground-
floor window of Lawrence Hospital with
some bulky object under his arm. and
before dawn Patrolman Ecency brought
in Philip Duer, sixteen years old, of 707
South Sixth Avenue, Mount Vernon.
He had found the youth staggering
beneath the weight �f a rectangular pack-
age more than two feetjong, wrapped in
newspaper, which he tfefused to open. It
was opened in the police-station, reveal-
ing an aquarium, in which swam twenty
or more agitated goldfish and tadpoles.
Duer said that a jockey had given \t
to him as  a present.    He  declined  1
calm well-behaved picture. The room \v*as
quiet. The American film was one of
our worst hair-raising comedies, and the
room was wild with screams of excite-
Mnciit I was late in arriving, and as 1
pushed my way through the crowded
darkness, little warm hands shot out to
squeeze mine. I sang Home, Sieeel
Home, at their request,                        �
Another musical occasion 1 shall al-
ways remember: On a former visit to
Japan we were living on the seacoast
at the Imperial University laboratory.
M\ cook begged me to go with him to
pla> the piano in a moving picture house.
We rowed across the bay and then
walked three miles under the summer sun
to the village of Misalsi. Down a
Crooked street, near the fish market, we
found the .theatre. The piano key was
produced from a treasure box, the piano
released from its many covers, and I
played. Soon the room filled with geisha
girls, men, women and children  from the
Continued  on  Pace Fl��
cArt
identify the jockey, however, and finally
acknowledged that he had reached into
an open window of the hospital and taken
it from a stand. Goldfish had an irresisti-
ble attraction for him. he said. He
often had coveted those in the hospital
window and had visited the institution
about 1 A. M., intent upon pillage.
Hospital authorities declined to make
any complaint, the fish were returned
and Duer went home, repentant but
repining.�Herald Tribune. -----------"~
Why Be Excited Over Matiase?
To the question: "Why not more ex-
cited about Matisse?" the only |iossihlc
answer must remain:' "Because others
are so much more exciting."
There is, jn the first place, nothing
new ; the shock of novelty, of recognition
ajid.deligjit, came in New York at the
Armory in 1913, A great deal of water
has run under the bridge in nineteen
years, but our paJatef has not shifted his
IHiint of view (except in the literal sense
in Let Ma'rrocaiits) or altered his appre-
hension of the visible world or changed
his dogmas of color. He docs not per-
haps imitate other artists more than is
permissible, though indeed one could
walk through the exhibition in New York
and declare in one room after another
what he had been looking at lately; but
�and this a much graver charge�he is
very often imitating himself, all the way
from a virtual replica of nasturtiums or
dancers up '" a "damnable iteration'
technical or thematic. Matisse is an
"arriviste" which means in English "a
go-getter") ; what once succeeded he will
consent to do again. It is often beauti-
ful; it is at last uninteresting. His most
beautiful things are�this is not, pre-
sumably, disputed�the most intelligible,
and that is a shocking admission to make.
Is it not always a danger-signal when
one yields to a picture or statue instantly,
without effort? The fault cannot lie with
one's self; it must he the artist's if he
is so easy. Matisse is as easy as Ghirl-
andajci
V