College News, 1939-05-10, Vol. 25, No. 22

              News
�"*! I
2-615
VOL. XXV, No. 22
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1939       BBcWWLIn^7FcX*OF,�    PRICE 10 CENTS
Bragg Shows
Soap Crystal
In Color Film
Latest   Work   on   Molecular
Structure   Illustrated
In New Movie
EMINENT SCIENTIST
TALKS IN OWN FIELD
Goodhart Hall, May 4.�Sir Wil-
liam Bragg, president of the Royal
Society of London, illustrated his lec-
ture on the Structure of Qrganic
Crystals with a motion picture dis-
play of the brilliant interference col-
ors on soap film. With the aid of
this picture, slides, blackboard dia-
grams, and a second motion picture
of ice crystals, Sr. William discussed
the structure of organic molecules.
He dealt chiefly with the long-chain
soap molecules, which are in many
ways -.similar to those that compose
nerVe and musde tissue and plant
fiber.
The picture was made in the Davy-
Faraday laboratories only six weeks
ago, in connection with the intensive
research work now in progress on the
properties of thin films. The audi-
ence, largely composed of outside phys-
icists from as far away as New York
and Washington, was privileged in
seeing this recent development. The
color camera, said Sir William, had
made a "remarkably faithful" repro-
duction of the actual colors, and made
it possible to study and keep perma-
nent record of the behaviour of the
soap molecules.
The most important constituent of
organic substance is, Sir William said,
the carbon atom. The bonds with
which carbon combines itself with
other atoms are firm. The forces be-
tween molecules so- formed are slight
compared with these interior forces.
In the pliability of organic matter
__.    Continued on Page Five
Musicians Contribute
To Scholarship Fund
Curtis String Quartet  Presents
Program of Little Known
Compositions
Goodhart, May 8. � The Curtis
String Quartet, four excellent mu-
sicians playing on four of-the finest
instruments in the world, gave a
highly enjoyable program of chamber
music to the benefit of the fund for
Refugee Students. Two of the three
compositions offered were written by
contemporary composers, leading one
to expect less pleasure from them
than from better-known works. They
proved, however, extremely easy for
the ear to follow and a happy de-
parture  from  the  classics.
Beautiful ensemble work, mastery
of technique, and restrained, well-
bred interpretation marked their play-
ing as a group. In solos, each instru-
ment seemed lovelier than the preced-
ing one, an effect due not only to the
player's ability, but also to the instru-
ment itself. Mr. Brodsky and Mr.
Jaffe both played Stradivarius violins,
COLLEGE CALENDAR
Friday,/ May It.�Industrial
Group Picnic outside Goodhart,
6.30. A. S. U. business meeting
for the election of officers, Com-
mon Room, 7.30. Jpint Meeting
of the Industrial Group and the
A. S. U. on the National Labor
Relations Act. Miss Fairchild
will speak, Common Room, 8.30.
Tuesday, May 16.�Current
Events, Mr. Fenwick, Common
Room, 7.30.
Auden Relates
Nature of Man
And Poet's Aim
O'Daniel   Discusses
Position of Women
In Field of Politics
Mr. Aronoff an Amati viola, and Mr.
Cole a Montagnana cello.
The Beethoven Quartet, Op. 18 No.
2, a delightful, comparatively early
work of the master, opened the pro-  _
gram.      Its    happy   mood    extended we are to become free,
through four movements: a brilliant,'
Continued on Page Six
Deanery, May 2.�The English poet
and playwright, W. H. Auden, speak-
ing on the poet's position in modern
society, began by examining the na-
ture of man. The purpose of the
artist is the elucidation of this nature,
which, although it may be distorted,
can never be changed. He cannot,
therefore,    escape    into    a    personal
�ivory Tower, or become the spokes-
man for any single social class. Poetry
is one means of making us aware of
ourselves and our relationships, and
this   understanding   is   necessary,   if
Experimental Drama
Skillfully   Produced
Garbat's Direction Nets Honors
Of    'Hiawatha    Pullman';
Lewis, Crosby Praised
/
S
Common Room, May 1.�In the last
of the series of vocational lectures,
Eileen O'Daniel, speaking on The
Great Game of Politics, declared that
political work for women is not only
a possible, but a highly important
field. As secretary to John D. Ham-
ilton, chairman of the Republican Na-
tional Committee, Miss O'Daniel has
been working in Washington in the
past few years and has also had ex-
perience in local politics.
Those who wish to enter the field
of politics may start with part-time
volunteeri work in their local precincts,
the speaker said. Good humor and
patience are major requisites for such
work. Applicants should first write
to the head of the local woman's divi-
sion of their party for the name of
their local precinct leader. It is es-
sential to have experience in one's
own precinct as local issues are most
important to the majority of people
and usually determine national elec-
tions.
From her local district the volun-
teer cak advance through state poli-
tics to �he National Committee in
Washington. The 1940 elections pre-
sent �r?ortunities to women to engage
in national politics. All such work
affords 'associations with many kinds
of people, a new perspective on one's
own town, and a career adaptable to
all surroundings.
Many educated people believe poli-
tics is "dirty, magical or glamorous."
To them politics implies graft, an op-
portunity fdr meeting fascinating
people, or for uncontested campaigns.
, "But.'l said Miss O'Daniel, "we have
as representative a Congress as we
deserve." The balancing of the two
main parties is indispensable to de-
mocracy. Therefore these* parties
have been made, part of the legal
structure of the government.
Reaching a new high in dramatic
enterprise, the Varsity Players col-
laborated with the Haverford Cap and
Bells Club to present Thornton Wil-
der's Pullman Car Hiawatha. Chief
honors for the success of the play
should go to the director, Fifi Gar-
bat, '41, who was able to synchronize
the action and speaking of some 30
completely independent characters to
produce the required impression of a
random group of Pullman passengers
caught in a particular space and time.
Pullman Car Hiawatha purports to
give the "geographical, cosmological,
and theological" position of a train
traveling between New York and Chi-
cago. One of the chief weaknesses
inherent in the play itself was its
attempt to give this broad cosmic pic-
ture in the space of 20 minutes. No
clear idea of the underlying forces or
ideas which may have been in Mr.
Wilder's mind emerged from the rath-
er incidental philosophies which he put
into the mouths of the hours and. plan-
ets. The production as a whole was
remarkably successful in overcoming
the diversity of the characters, which
would, under less able handling, have
destroyed the realization of a unified
picture.
Th� many actors realized that co-
ordination was more important .than
the creation of any single dominating
personality. The individuality of
each- passenger, place, and time, was
quickly and definitely established, but
was never allowed to distract atten-
tion from the pre9ence �* tne other
forces.
The otherworldly atmosphere so
necessary to the play was supplied
by this coordination, and also height-
ened by the lack of scenery. Use of
the spotlight on each character in
turn served to emphasize their com-
plete independence of one another, and
also to indicate that, after establish-
ing an individuality, the character be-
came again merely a contributor to
the whole scene.
In the difficult part of the stage
Continued on Page Sis
Salvation lies, the speaker said, in
Monism, the only true philosophy,
which holds good to be activity, and
evil, that which limits activity. Blake,
JeSus, Goethe, Voltaire, Montesquieu
and Marx are monistic in their doc-
trines. The dualist, on the other hand,
separates the body from the mind,
making action evil, reason alone good.
According to Mr. Auden any belief
which supports social classes as pre-
ordained, or believes in tile rule of
the few over the many, iaa dualistic
philosophy, and therefore raise.
Man of all animals is the most in-
telligent, because he is the most af-
fectionate. Yet our so-called civiliza-
tion is based upon dualistic standards
of hatred and fear. In an increas-
ingly complicated world, faced "with
problems too difficult for him to solve,
the human being began to act dualis-
tically, or negatively. All co-opera-
tion is monistic action, free from
hatred.
At present the poet is regarded as
peculiar and isolated by the world,
which is conscious of its distorted na-
ture. If poetry is to be popular and
successful, it must accept the dual-
istic standards of modern society. If
not, it becomes segregated from popu-
Contlnued on Pago Two
H. GOLDMAN DENIES
TARSUS WAS ONCE
MYCENEAN CAPITOL
5. C. Chew Analyses
Elizabethan Imagery
Concept of Time find Fortune
Recombined Many Earlier
Abstractions       .
Goodhart Hall, May 1.�"Elizabeth-
an tragedy is, generally concerned
with the fall of kings from" the top
of Fortune's wheel," said Samuel C.
Chew, professor of English, in his
lecture, Time and Fortune in the
Elizabethan Imagination. The con-
ception of Fortune in the literature
of this period was interwoven with
abstractions and attributes popular in
preceding generations, such as the
fates, justice, and occasion.                .
Tim/ himself sometimes is pictured
turning the wheel of Fortune. In
bringing together the iconography of
many centuries, Mr. Chew said, the
spinning wheel of the fates and. hence
of Fortune comes to be associated
with the web of Destiny, and Time
is conceived as spinning the web.
Fortune was usually considered, to
be a malignant and untrustworthy
spirit. A .slightly different variant of
this theme may be found in the Mir-
ror of Magistrates, the precursor of
Elizabethan tragedy, whicn ^shows
Fortune with no real existence of her
own. Man, according to this interpre-
tation, is the author of his own woe.
Continued on Page Three
Dean Manning
Battles With
C. G. Fenwick
Experts    Repeat    Testimony
Given   Before   Senate
On Neutrality
DEBATE INSTIGATES
HEATED DISCUSSION
'      Jonathan Weiss
The  College News  wishes to
congratulate     Mr.     and     Mrs.
Weiss  on  the  birth  ok. a   son,
Jonathan, on Monday, May 1, at^
1.07 p. m.
Music Room, May 3A-The second
lecture in the series on Early Aspects
of flnatolian Civilization by Miss
Hetty Goldman dealt with the exca-
vation at Tarsus of which she is the
director. The dig was originally un-
dertaken to determine the validity of
a rumor suggesting it as a possible
center for the so-caMed Achaean Em-
pire mentioned in Hittite records.
This empire is commonly called
Mycenean and is connected with
Tirynes and Mycenae, but whether or
not its center was actually on the
main land is a question that has in-J
tcrested archaeologists for some years.
Rhodes, Cyprus and other islands, and
also Pamphilia and the region of
Silicia about Tarsus (in Asia Minor),
have been suggested at various times
as alternative centers. Miss Gold-
man devoted a considerable part of
her    lecture    to
Achaean Empire could not possibly
have been centered at Tarsus because
an investigation of the Mycenean
level of the city shows the period to
have been a weak one. The Mycenean
pottery found was probably imported
via Egypt by the remnants of the
civilization fleeing from northern in-
vaders.
In addition Miss Goldman described
earlier levels reached by the oxcava-
Contlnued on Page Three
Rufus Jones Defines
Mystical Experience
Reality of Intuitive Perception
Of Higher Truth Defended
By   Noted   Quaker
Common Room, May 3.�At an open
meeting of the Philosophy Club Mr.
Rufus Jones spoke on the Nature of
the Mystical Experience. Mr. Jones
defined "religious mysticism" as mean-
ing, roughly, immediate intuitive con-
sciousness of transcendent reality, al-
though he admitted that abstract
words were inadequate to express such
human revelation.
As evidence for the existence of the
mystical experience, Mr. Jones cited
a number of cases where persons of
character and veracity had indub'n>
ably undergone a deep emotional ex-
perience, coupled with intimations of
.he super-natural. The event seems
xs real to the mystic as physical ex-
^e isnee, and enables him to triumph
ver the universe. "Such mystics
ave charted the course of history and
e'ped to build the world. In this,
he  intimatijns  of  the  transcendent
ve^ b come  a  maJDr  fae.or  in  the
urse of human events."
Such great figures as Moses, St.
Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas, Juneid of
Baghdad and St. Theresa were mys-
All found that the effect of mys-
Common Room, May 9.�At an open
meeting of the International Relations
Club, Dean Manning and Mr. Fen-
wick supported^their respective views
as presented at the Senate Investiga-
tion Committee on Neutrality. Dean
Manning spoke before the Senate as a
representative of the Woman's Inter-
national League for Peace and �Free-
dom, upholding the present Neutrality
Act, while Mr. Fenwick supported the
newly proposed Thomas � Amendment,
now under diseussion in the Senate.
Dean Manning believes that there
need be no further legislation; the
present Neutrality Act is an adequate
policy for the United States in deal-
ing with warring foreign powers. It
is because this act has not been prop-
erly enforced in the case of either
Japan or Spain that the supporters of
the Thomas Amendment feel it to be
insufficient*                         �   -
In presenting this view. Dean Man-
ning further stated that the Women's
International League for Peace and
Freedom favors an amendment to the �
act, providing for deliberation and
referendum on the part of the Amer-
ican people in the case of imminent
war. "I, cannot believe that the
American people would deliberately,
at the present time, with so many of
our own political problems crying for
solution, embark upon a course which
will call for a complete reorganiza-
Contlnued on Pas* Sis
1C8.
tical    experience    was    primarily    a
deepening^of   life.      They   attained
serenity /of   mind   by   being  able   to
Continued on Page Two
College To Advance
Funds for Workshop
To enable undergraduates to make
their pledges for the Theatre W<ork-
shop run over 1939-40 paydays, the
college has agreed to advance the total
amount pledged, if the Undergradu-
ate Association will underwrite, or
guarantee, the sum. This is neces-
sary because pledge cards are not
considered "legally collectible" unless
they are underwritten by one person
or    organization.    Work    cannot    be
tha7\hetstarted on the Worksh�P until �" *he
money is actually received or legally
collectible.
In underwriting the pledges, the
Undergraduate Association promises
to make good any defaults by assess-
ments on its members. This assess-
ment, if necessary at all, will be very
small for any one person, but the
consent of the undergraduates is nec-
essary before work can proceed. A
vote will be taken after /lunch, on
Thursday,-May 11.
Organizer  Explains
Position of Union
In Maritime Strike
-The Labor Committee of the A. S.
U. interviewed Mr. J. J. Smith of the
National Maritime Union last Satur-
day, May 6, on the subject of the
union's present strike against oil con-
cerns which refused to comply with
its demands for preferential hiring.
The lyiio'n is picketing all Standard
Oil gas stations and is holding up oil
shipments by delaying sailings. *
Although the union is "also striking
for higher wages its primary objec-
tive is to strengthen its position and
to safeguard its members by establish-
ing a union employment agency which
would control the hiring of crews on
a rotary system of waiting lists. This
system of preferential hiring amounts
to a closed shop since hiring would
be in union hands. In already estab-
lished union agencies, records of the
applicants are kept on file, and the
union is privileged to transfer an ap-
plicant's card to the bottom of the
waiting list, if he should miss more
than two union meetings.
Mr. Smith continued that tKe Na-
tional Maritime Union has had to
struggle against company unions, and
against concerns who register under
foreign flags,.employing foreign labor
which undercut the American wage
level. Also, such companies have used
a system of farcical medical examina-
tions to eliminate perfectly able-bodied
union men whom they could not openly
refuse to employ.
The strike-affects companies operat-
ing over a hundred oil carrying ves-
sels and has been called at a strategic
time since this coal strike fuel short-
age wilL.be heightened by a tie-up of
oil. So far it has been fairly success-
ful, according to Mr. Smith, though
the outcome is still uncertain. Several
concerns such as Gulf Oil have al-
ready the acquiesced to the union's de-
mands, and the Department of Com-
merce has prohibited companies from
distributing seaman's certificates ?*
scabs.
A