James O. Henry, M.A., Editor, Chairman of the Department of History, Biola College
purpose, the sense of purpose of the institution is confused, the student’s whole educational career becomes a sweepstakes in which he is not the rider but the horse.” In concluding his criticism, Dr. Griswold added, “ The liberal arts goal of expanding the limit of the individual’s capa city and desire for self-improve ment has faded leaving only mis cellaneous prospects of jobs and a joyless hedonism occasionally punc tuated by a spasm of anxiety about Russia to replace it.” Business concerns in this country will lose a billion dollars this year to embezzlers, most of whom are their “ trusted” employees. Darken ing the picture is an article in the March issue of the New York State Labor Department’s magazine, In dustrial Bulletin, in which is pre dicted the failure of two hundred businesses this year, caused solely by the employees’ stealing. In addi tion to stealing five times more than the amount stolen by other crim inals, embezzlers in business are, generally, of a socially genteel sort, enjoying the respect of their fellow workers and of the community. According to the article the average embezzler is about 35 years old, married, having one or two chil dren, living in his own, mortgaged house, and driving a medium priced car. He has usually moved into a position of trust through ability and diligence. The most interesting and signi ficant part of the article is the con clusion that rather than the ancient motivations of greed or the pres sures of the present materialistic society, what really causes em ployees to steal is “ the gradual weakening of the national moral fiber.” The magazine reports that it isn’t always money that they steal. “ Stealing the boss’ goods is a mushrooming pastime that accounts for 40 per cent of all employee-theft losses.” One giant retail store, esti mates its annual cost of employees’ “ petty pilfering” at $800,000. In its books this is called “ inventory shrinkage.” Embezzling Contributes to High Cost of Living
Water May Reclaim Desert For Israel The pioneer frontier town of Eilat in Israel, where according to the story Solomon met the Queen of Sheba, recently was the sight of another international meeting be tween American and Israeli engi neers. If the meeting is successful a desert may be opened to agriculture and industrial development. The engineers are drilling wells in the area which they hope will produce 300 gallons of water per minute. They have already struck water, but are continuing to drill with the expectation of striking the fracture in the earth’s crust that will yield the 300-gallon goal. Army Crime Reduced A sharp drop in crime among Am e r i c a n s o l d i e r s has been achieved by “weeding out over 70,- 000 misfits” in the last year, accord ing to Wilbur M. Brucker, Secre tary of the Army. Mr. Brucker said, “MTien we did that our crime rate plummeted. We have taken out about 29 per cent of our corut martial cases and we have 38 per cent less AWOL’s (absent without leave).” The Army has been able to close three of its five disciplinary barracks. An Educator's Views Dr. A. Whitney Griswold, Presi dent of Yale University has some challenging criticisms to make of our educational institutions. Dr. Griswold in a recent speech at Johns Hopkins University said, “Unless the schools and colleges start a general cultural revival, no revival of any kind may take place.” He added that, “ the com munity’s sense of purpose in edu cation has stagnated because the colleges have allowed the liberal arts ideal of the good life to be penetrated in depth by vocational courses.” “Already,” he said, “ the student at age twelve or thirteen has been abstracted from a person to an arithmetical formula by testing devices that will regulate the speed and extent of his educational prog ress, . . . If in addition to this inhi bition of his own innate sense of
When dishonesty is uncovered, and to the great annoyance of the police, employers often prefer to hush things up for fear that publi city will give companies a bad name. Warsaw Adopts Teen-Age Code The Warsaw Municipal Council has decided to regulate the public behavior of the Polish capital’s teen-agers. If successful, the experi ment is expected to spread through out the country. The regulations will forbid boys and girls up to the age of 16 to appear in public places without an adult escort after 9 p.m. The curfew for unescorted 17 and 18-year-olds will be an hour later. Sztandar Mlodych, the official youth movement’s newspaper said, “ the regulations are the beginning of a broad social campaign to edu cate youth and check hooliganism and insubordination.” In addition to the curfew, the more important regulations will: Forbid the sale of alcohol to youths of 18 or younger. Salesmen who violate the regula tion will be subject to “ administra tive and criminal penalties,” the paper said. The Code will forbid youths of 18 or less to sell on the street or engage in house-to-house canvassing. It also forbids youths under 19 to smoke in public. The “ decisive argument” on this point, the paper said, “was the opinion that, in principle no cultured per son smokes on the street and the regulation was necessary if we want to educate youth in the cul tural way of life.” Under the Code, the paper said, “ It will be an obli gation, and not only a courtesy, for youths to give up seats to older per sons in crowded streetcars, for ex ample. and to show esteem toward their elders.”
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