Newspaper Page Text
(Elje iHercer (Uluate
MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
September 28, 1962
Rob Hurt
Managing Editor
Executive Editor
Feature Editor
Sport* Editor
I^arry Maioriello, Editor
Volume XL1II, No. 2
Yvonne Reeves
Business Manager
John Weatherly
Tim Gill
Jack Fincher
Associate Editors: Hugh I.awson, Ronald Carr, Maaty Layfield, Hanna
Saad, Mary Jane Carter. Al Stephenson, Dick Shiver, Davis McCauley
News Staff: Kaye Wells, Dana Poole. Katie Koellner, Bob Carter, Judy
Kennedy, Mary Payne, Barbara Bradley, Charron Pitts, Edward Sim
mons. Betty Hanoken, Carolyn Philli|is, Elaine Hudson.
Business Staff: Nlafalda Regina, Martha Durden, Tommie Harris, Don
na Barrett, Jayne Shields.
Feature Staff: Linda Kelley. Frances Bozeman, Susie Gridley, Elaine
Kelly. Susan Battles. Deanna Shiver. Sandra Williams, Deann McCauley,
Peggy Jones, Elaine Kelly. Linda Kelley, Elizabeth Johnson. Dick Hyer,
Joe Williams.
S|x>rt* Staff: Carolyn Arnold, Charles Grant, Jack Lamb, Wayne Poore,
James Hicks, Bobby Johnson.
Th* Mcrc*r Cluster ia published weekly, except during holiday and examination perioda.
It is written, edited and publitthed by th student body of Mercer University. AH un-
crcdited opinions in it are the opinions of the student editors, and not necessarily
the University’s viewpoint. All letterr to the editor must be signed; names will be with
held on request. Letters do not ner*Harily reflect the policy of the paper or the opinion
of the editors. Letters should not be longer than 200 words.
A Welcome Change
Change is a stimulating thing. Even when changes are made for no
ap|>arent reason the result is stimulating—for change, more often than
not, leads to progress. Perha|>s the worth of some of the recent innova
tions at Mercer do not seem readily ap|iarent to the uninformed eye.
But one change which should leave no doubt as to its worth is the re
placement by transjiarent glass doors of the old opaque ones.
The countless jammed fingers, scraped hands, stubbed toes and as
sorted bruises which will he avoided in the future by the visibility of the
|x-rson on the other side of the doors will make them well worth whatever
the expense may have been.
Every Mereerian should join in three long, loud cheers for who
ever is responsible for this innovation.
NOTICE FOR SENIORS
Departmental tests for Seniors will be given on Monday, October
15. 1962 from 1:45-5:00 P.M. All Seniors who expect to complete their
studies in December. 1962 are required to take these tests.
Please register for the Senior Departmental tests at the Mercer
University Guidance Center in Penfield Hall by Friday, October 6. 1962.
NOTICE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
Graduate Aptitude Examinations will be given on Monday, October
15, 1962 starting at 8:30 A M. All Graduate students who are matriculat
ing for the M.Ed. degree are required to take the Graduate Aptitude
Examination.
Please register for the Graduate Aptitude Examination at the Guid
ance Center in Penfield Hall by Friday, October 6. 1962.
NOTICE
FRESHMAN ELECTIONS
Election—October 17—Student Center
Qualifying Date—October 10—1-5:00 P.M.
in Room 322 Student Center
Elections for Senior Class President will be held at the same
time.
I .■ .
from the right x&mmmmm&Mmmxmfmxm
Harsh Measures
Urged Toward Cuba
The situation in Cuba demands immediate
action. The Soviet arms buildup in that country
is reaching increasingly alarming proportions. It
poses one of the most serious threats that our
hemisphere has ever had to face. Strong counter
measures are needed immediately to stop the flow
of arms, men and material to Castro. Such mea
sures must be taken as the necessary first step be
fore the Communists can he ousted from Cuba ami
the island returner! to the Cuban people
The liberation of Cuba is a future must Just as
much as the need to stop Communist aid and sup
port to Castro is a present must. Unfortunately,
United States policy under President Kennedy's
weak and indecisive leadership is apparently not
oriented towards the accomplishment of either of
these goals.
As a result, the nation's public is beginning to
suffer from an acute case of frustration at the
spineless attitude taken towards Communist ag
gression by the United States, the strongest na
tion on earth
The President, of course, has given his assur
ance that if the Communist activities in Cuba
reach the point where they “endanger or inter
fere with our security in any way," then the
U. S., “will do whatever must be done to protect
its own security and that of its allies." However,
many |>cople feel, and rightfully so, that the
President's ill-defined |xiinl was reached long
ago and that our security is already gravely
threatened. Indeed, the time to stop the Com
munists was years ago, before Castro came to
ixiwer. But the State Department has bungler! one
opportunity after another of doing so. until we
are faced with the present crisis
With every day the Communists become mor
firmly entrenched in Cuba, and the U. S. effort
necessary to oust them increases correspondingly
Already there are estimated to be a minimum o
10,000 Russians in Cuba. Castro is being sup
plied with Soviet tanks, trucks, rockets, P-T boots
jets and artillery in large numbers. Intermediate i
range missiles based in Cuba will have excellent
turgets: Washington, D. C., 1130 miles as the '
warhead flies; New Orleans, 675 miles; Cape
Canaveral, only 230; the Panama Canal, 950
miles. Moreover, Cuba dominates all the vital sea
lanes of the Caribbean.
Finally there is the very real danger that the
Communist buildup will lead to a great increase'
in both tlie size and effectiveness of Communist
subversion and aggression in the rest of the
hemisphere.
Clearly prompt U. 8. action is needed. The flow
of Communist aid must lie stopped. Nothing short
of a sea and air blockade of Cuba can accomplish
this task. It would lie advisable to seek the coop
eration of the OAS and our NATO allies in such a
venture, hut if they are reluctant we can hesitate
no longer. The United States has the means avail
able to conduct such a blockade and should do so
Once the arms flow has been stopped, we can
concentrate on ridding Cuba of the Communists
entirely. This rannot be accomplished short of
invasion.
Admittedly the costs and risks of such positive i
measures against the Communists would be very
great. But the effects of inaction will he much |
more costly and will involve far greater risks. If
Freedom is to survive, the Communists must go. •
1
THE CASE FOR CONSERVATIVE LIBERALISM—ONE
RONALD CARR
Consensus For Stability
This marks the first of several columns on
American Political thought
It has often been said that the Democratic and
Republican parties usually offer at election times
a choice between "Tweedledee” and “Tweedle
dum.” Some ixilitical writers have, in fact, la
mented the actuality that neither |>arty offers a
suiistantive challenge to the program of the other.
America's "middle-of-the-road" ixilitical temper,
they say, makes the general voter either indiffer
ent or, if he bothers to vote at all, his party loyal
ty is largely determined by other factors than the
issues involved
It is, however, my contention that there la noth
ing substantially wrong with our present political
system. What's wrong with a bread consensus of
appeal on major issues, a common political phi
losophy shared by millions of voters?
Obviously, if there were not some ixilitical con
sensus shared among the majority of qualified
vpfers. the political fabric would he continually
upset. Extremist parties, both radical and reac
tionary, it should be remembered, thrive best in
those nations whose citizens have hardly any po
litical consensus. Revolution is a manifestation of
what can happen when the "status quo" is being
continually U|>set. In other words, it there is a
broad, ixilitical consensus among our citizenry
this seems to me. to be only indicative of the hasi<
stability which our body politic enjoys. If there
is tixi sharp a delineations between parties on po
litical issues, revolution and bloodshed may re
sult. A broad consensus of ixilitical concepts may
lx- at times disgusting, boring, or even confusing
but. at least, it testifies to the spirit of tolerant-
and compromise upon which every democracy
must, in the last analysis, depend.
What is “conservative liberalism"? Before an
swering this question explicitly, it seems necessary
to tell what sort of a creature a conservative lib
eral would be. Everyone in America, except for
former Nazis or adherents to totalitarian or, al
least, extreme authorization ideology and those
who are in the “pink" or “red", is either a con
servative liberal (Democrat) or a liberal conserve
tive (Republican). It is hoped that the reader
will agree with or accept the partial validity of
this statement after the following explanation of
what the "middle-of-the-road policy means to th<
stability of American democracy.
DAVISM^AULEY
Having but lately arrived on the Mercer cam
pus it was with interest that I listened to a na
tive Georgian amble through his views on "segre
gation,” which were in fact his views on integra
tion; the only thing he said about segregation was
that he was for it. For the most part he repeated
cliches: “some of my best,friends are niggers,"
"niggers are all right in their place.” "they really
don't want integration, it’s just the radicals and
northerners trying to make headlines and money
who are causing trouble," "they're happy the way
they are, why stir them up?"
But what he said next, or implied at least,
was disturbing. He began by dropping the fact
that he was from tlawson. "where they burned the
churches." It was this person’s private opinion—
in spite of the confession of four men—that Ne
groes had set fird to the churches to attract the
sympathy and help of “Kennedy and those guys.”
The real problem, it appeared from his analysis,
was that a sacred house of worship had been
,» razed, but that the colored segment of Dawson
Real Values
county was restless and threatening to disturb the
best-ordered social structure yet evolved by man:
“we go our way. they go theirs."
It was the gross inequity in the significance
placed upon events that was disturbing. Nothing
is more basic in American tradition than the re
ligions of American people. Nothing is more im
portant to the nation's life than the life of its
churches. Nothing is more alien to humanity's
belief in its own integrity and usefulness, per se,
than a blow such as church-burning. For it was
in houses of worship that man learned that he
was human; burning a church waa a strike at
humanity—not humanity meaning the body of
men, but the humanity that man possesses.
Though this blow at humanity, it seems, is the
real crime in Dawson county, it ia hardly leas
important that its significance not be misunder
stood. To write off church burning simply as. a
stunt of anyone, a gambit to upaat the social
status-quo ia hardly batter than to be an aocam-
piles to the act
THIS OUGHT TO OCT YOU THROUGH TH! FIRST QUARTO, ID.