Newspaper Page Text
Hlje ^fiercer Cluster
MERCER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GEORGIA
October 6, 1962 Volume XLIII, No. 3
Larry Maiori:";, Editor
Bob Hurt
Managing Editor
Executive Editor
Feature Editor ..
Sport* Editor
Copy Editor
Yvonne Reeve*
Business Manager
... John Weatherly
Tim GUI
Jack Fincher
Jane Shaw
Associate Editors: Hugh Lawson, Ronald Carr, Marty Layfield, Hanna
Saad, Mary Jane Carter, A1 Stephenson, Dick Shiver, Davis McAuley
News Staff: Kaye Wells, Dana Poole, Katie Koellner, Bob Carter. Judy
Kennedy, Mary Payne, Barbara Bradley, Charron Pitta, Edward Sim
mons, Betty Hancken, Carolyn Phillips, Elaine Hudson.
Business Staff: Genie Ashurst (Circulation Manager), Jean Smith, Ma-
fnlda Regina, Martha Durden, Tommie Harris, Donna 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 William*.
Sports Staff: Carolyn Arnold, Charles Grant, Jack Iamb, Wayne Poore,
James Hicks, Bobby Johnson.
Th* Mrre*r Cluster it publUhrd w«*klr. exempt durtns holiday and «x*mia*tio*i parlods.
It U written, edited and publiahcd by th student body of Mercer UnivarStr AJI un
credited opiniona in it are tha opinion* ctf tho student aditora, and not neoaaaarlly
the University’* viewpoint. All letters to the editor mint be signed; name* wilt be with*
held on request. Letter* do not necanarily reflect the policy of tha paper or th* opinion
of the editor*. Latter* should not be longer than ZOO words.
Acts of Mississippi Students
May Set Example
It is a shameful thing that Americans—the students at the University
of Mississippi—have acted so violently in favor of a cause that can never
he anything but infamous.
While enthusiasm and high-spiritedness are commendable and have
long been a part of college life, the students at "Ole Miss” would do
well to re-examine their motives. The pranks of high-spirited college stu
dents on a Florida beach are one thing. The vicious actions of a defiant
racist mob are quite another.
Perhaps their ill-advised actions will serve to sober the thoughts of
other college students throughout the United States of America so that
they will not allow themselves to he so carried away by ill-considered
emotions that they could be led to commit acts of violence and disre-
pect for law and order that all decent and thinking persons must decry.
Despite the antics of a freshman during Rat Week, we believe that
this could never happen at Mercer.
RON AU) CARR
THE CASE FOR CONSERVATIVE LIBERALISM—TWO
Two Chameleons
Before answering the question as to what a
conservative liberal (or vice versa) would advo
cate, it appears necessary to define the meaning
of the words “liberal” and "conservative” as they
are understood in American politics today.
Such a narrow definition is needed because, un
fortunately, of the vacillating nature of these
terms. Liberals and Conservatives, like a cha
meleon, change their colors with the flow and flux
of every series of events. For example, a century
ago an American liberal would have advocated
“laissez-faire” or the protection of big businesses
and private property rights above all else In
other wools, liberty wa given priority over equali
ty. However, by the time of William Howard Taft
and the period of "normalcy” (to borrow Hard
ing's terminology) during the 1920's this political
philosophy was associated with staunch conserva
tism.
Moreover, it should be remembered that liberal
ism and conservatism usually upon the European
continent have completely different meaning than
they have in the United States. In many Euro
pean countries, liberalism means "liberty before
equality" and conservatism means “equality be
fore liberty”. In fact, this is the case in Canada,
our next door neighbor. A Canadian Conservative
is a radical New Dealer in the American idiom.
An American liberal today is one who upholds
equality before liberty but, on the other hand, al
so recognizes that liberty is as necessary to the
maintenance of the political equaiibrium of our
society as equality .He sees the democratic pro
cess as a means by which each can be maintained
in a delicate balance. An American conservative,
on the other hand, advocates liberty above equali
ty but also maintains that both elements are
necessary for the preservation of America's polit
ical equilibrium and stability.
DAVIS McAUUY
Mississippi: Faulkner and Barnett
A recent comment by Ralph McGill juxtaposed
a notable Mississippi citizen with a notorious one:
William Faulkner and Gov. Ross Barnett, re
spectively. Just exactly the nature of the relation
ship between these two seems, in the light of the
present situation in Mississippi, to be both inter
esting and pertinent.
It is as though the executive branch of the
Mississippi state government has chosen to dra
matize a vivid scene from the pen of the pain
fully sensitive Nobel Prize winner to illustrate
one of the ugliest emotions of the human heart:
hate mixed with a false sense of pride and “right."
To an outside observer it might appear as if
the legendary Flem Snopes were standing just
in the background, as he always does in Faulk
ner's pages, directing his henchmen toward what
ever his demonic ends are. At first glance it might
appear that Gov. Barnett is playing Snopes.
Though it is true that Barnett is excellent in ruth
lessness and defiance of the law, he fails miserably
where Snopes excells, that is in skill. The con
clusion then is that Snopes, as always, is in the
shadows directing.
But actually the most clearly revealed fact is
that the brutal philosophy of Snopes is in com
mand instead of the traditionally Southern phi
losophy of honor and nobility. Faulkner, it seems,
knew his home state only too well.
Faulkner was cognizant of another attitude
that is vividly revealed in what is happening in
Mississippi now—the completely unrealistic at
titude toward life that has been adopted in some
sections. This theme is reflected in “A Rose for
Emily," Faulkner's often anthologized story, and
is certainly as true of Governor Barnett as of
Miss Emily. They both simply refuse to face the
world on any terms except their won. Standards
other than those they chose to set for themselves
simply are not valid. And the standards Gover
nor Barnett evinces are drawn from as unrealistic
a background as those of Miss Emily, and will
result in equally as revolting a stench in the nose
of the nation and the world.
JOHN WEATHERIY
Should Mississippi Be Allowed
To Remain In The Union?
Traditionally states have been discouraged from
seceding from the union. Although this tendancy
has had its opponents from time to time, it has,
nonetheless, been able to prevail . . . even in the
face of a rather heated debate between our South
land and the Yankees in the years between 1861
to 1866.
Apparently the Mississippi state senator that
suggested a bill to sever his state’s link with
the union was unaware of these considerations.
Perhaps it’s just as well. It might be well that
we forget this tradition long enough to make an
exception in the case of Mississippi and possibly
Alabama.
Certainly such a move is fraught with clear
and present dangers. Two of them come imme
diately to mind.
First, it would prove uncomfortable for those
states near the end of the economic ladder. When
the charts are drawn up they could no longer
say with relief, “Thank God for Mississippi!’’
And secondly, there is also the danger that a
Mississippi nation might align itself with the
Communists. They might even join with Cuba in
allowing the Soviets to stockpile armaments near
our borders.
In fact, these are serious dangers and I make
little or no attempt to refute them aave to suggest
that we could “invade” Mississippi with less em
barrassment should she be a separate nation as
Cuba. (And we trust the far right would insist
on this.) But I do want to point out quite firmly
that should she remain in the union the results
might well prove far more disasterous. Especially,
I should think, to us Southerners.
First, Governor Barnett sets a bad precedent
for the Negro community when he suggests that
laws and judicial decrees are not binding when
some groups such as the segregationists find
them at odds with their unique interests. Such
affirmstions can only give aid and comfort to •
certain gentleman named Martin Luther King, Jr.
As divergent as their separata interests may be,
Governor Barnett and the Reverend King join
hands in the principle that their respective in
terests are somehow holy—in some way above the
feeble, plodding processes of human law. It’s the
old problem of the Divine and the mundane, the
Absolute and the finite. Since the interests of
segregation Total and Supreme in Governor Bar
nett’s case and desegregation through a creation
of a “Beloved Community” in King's thinking
are considered the Truth. And since the Truth
must prevail as that is it’s very nature, the de
mands of both men must, by definition, ultimately
be dissatisfied with purely human law and a
spirit of political reconciliation.
Yet even with the advent of King and some
sit-ins that look to this sort of pholosophy, I
believe it safe to say that on the whole the Ne
groes have been reasonably content to accept our
somewhat liberal heritage and act within it. You
might recall the French revolution and it’s rent
in the political life France when certain semi-
disenfranchised elements “went wild” so to speak.
In this sense it seems meaningful to speak of the
Negroes as “happy.”
Thus I don’t we how we as Southerners can
stand by and let this outsider, Barnett, join forces
with King ia agitating Negroes with the tune that
they can break away from our nice American
Way of Life when it salts individual sentiment.
Further, since Mississippi seems to be blind to
the methods of her sister states in dealing with
the race problem, i.e., since she seems to be un
able to throw the Negro such sops as “token
Integration” and thus provide at least the illusion
of enfranchisement, we can only surmise that a
long and stormy history of disordered race re
lations is in the making. , •
Such political ineptitude can cause us only
further embarrassment before tho critical eyes of
the world. It can only serve as a smokescreen
for the evil actions of the Communists.
- For these several reasons I feel that the reason
able men can only hope that Mississippi does
secede, that she be encouraged in this move, and
that if this fails, that such be forcefully insisted
upon by the federal government;
Students Should Support
Fine Arts Series
In a little more than a week, on October 16, Mercer will present
the first program in its new Fine Arts Series Carlos Montoya, one o(
the world’s most respected flamenco guitarists, will perform in concert.
Montoya was the first of thv Spanish guitarists to present concerts
without the help of singers or dancers. It was a formidable idea, but
Carlos Montoya realized it with equally formidable success, giving solo
recitals both in Europe and throughout the United States and Canada
His incredible arrangement supports itself and has la-come a legend in
flamenco music. Montoya's repertoire is characterized by his practice
of creating as he plays, with each recital an original inovation on his
own compositions based on the Spanish Gypsy tradition.
This program will mark the beginning of a new effort by the uni
versity administration to provide Mercer students with some of the most
outstanding artists ever seen in this area
Now it is up to the students. Tho university can hardly be expected
to provide expensive programs for students who won’t bother to Come
to them. The student body can demonstrate their support for the series
and make possible more of the same simply by attending the program.