SERVICE WITH A SMILE

"In an uproarious hearing on a bill to repeal the teacher's oath law, in which college presidents were cross examined as pugnaciously as court defendants when they spoke in favor of the law's repeal, Dr. James B. Conant, president of Harvard University, yesterday was ordered to answer questions "Yes or No!" and Dr. William A. Neilson president of Smith College was accused of being a member of Communist organizations." From The Boston Herald

That's the way to put them college professors in their place, dear legislators. You certainly did a job of showing them who's boss around Boston Common. But weren't you tired, just a little, after working all day to make them say "Yes" and "No" the way they should?

Maybe you did get a little warm, but then who wouldn't get burned watching them stand up there being stubborn, all about a little old oath that even a first grader could memorize like nothing at all.

Sure it's a swell oath. You made it up, didn't you? And you made it pretty plain what the score was going to be in this teaching racket. Don't forget, Curley told you it was just what the State and the people needed.

The old man is right in the old ball game every minute, and don't forget it. Didn't he tell those lousy actors where to get off when they wanted to put on that play all about taxi drivers striking. They had no business bringing things like "Waiting for Lefty" and "Within the Gates" to Boston in the first place, did they?

You were smart, though, not to give those guys from Harvard a chance to say much. Why, they would have been talking their theories right there in the State Capitol, right under the American flag. And besides when they once get started you know yourself they can convince you of just about anything. The might even have made you think the oath bill wasn't all oke.

That's the whole trouble, isn't it? Those professors are too good at giving other people ideas. When they get their hands on a bunch of students you can't tell what might happen. They even let the students think sometimes.

And some of the things they do! All those botany professors talking about sex in plant life. And the way chemistry professors can put a couple of things together and get something else with a big name--nobody could figure it out, could they?

It's about time somebody stepped in and told them what to do. And don't let anybody kid you, telling you you're not the one to do it. Anybody that can get along in politics the way you did is bound to be right. And you have to keep your eye on those college boys, because pretty soon they're going to be voting, and if you don't see to it that they know what's what, who will?   The Dartmouth, Sat., March 7, 1936