The Cadet. VMI Newspaper. December 21, 1936 - New Page 1 ...

Mr. Earl Lutz
Gives Talk
Before Club
Interesting Collection of Old
Papers Is Shown to Members
Of Group
On Monday evening, December
"Overture" provided a decided
14th, in '94 Hall the Institute Association
of Liberal Artists con-
change of fare for the regular
"Troub" audience. It was decided
ducted its last meeting before the
beginning of the Christmas holidays.
Cadet H. B. Darling, Jr.,
vice-president of the club, opened
the meeting with an introduction
of the speaker of the occasion, Earl
Lutz. Mr. Lutz, who is connected
with the Richmond News Leader,
delivered one of the most interesting
talks of the entire season. He
has been associated with newspaper
work for over a period of twenty-five
years and also has a very
commendable war record, having
served in the capacity of captain
in the World War.
The beginning of the talk consisted
of an account oif the making
of a newspaper, from the time-that
the news is gathered to the time
that the paper comes off the press.
In the procedure of the making
of a newspaper a single news article
goes through numerous hands
before it reaches the printing press
—there are the editors, the rewrite
men, the cut men who decide upon
its length, the men who set the
type and many others.
Many Mistakes Possible
An unusual fact which Mr. Lutz
related was that it is possible to
make no less than thirty-five thousand
mistakes in setting the type
for a single news column. From
this phase the talk drifted into the
methods of getting the news or
as Mr. Lutz put it, "Chasing the
News." In this relation he told several
very interesting episodes concerning
the breaking of stories in
criminal cases in which the newspaper
reporters played detective in
finding the guilty party. It was
a battle of wit between the newspaper
men and the police as to
who would be the first to get the
story. Occasionally, a story broke
accidentally, he said and with that
he told of a particular incident in
which he was fortunate enough to
hear the story slip and by putting
two and two together he was
able by bluffing with that old
line "come clean, we've got the
dope" to get the whole story in
detail.
Another part of the speech told
how news is transmitted across
Claim Radio Listening Is A
continents and oceans, and the
events from the places where the Typical American Trait
value of the United Press and Associated
Press. He also touched
Evanston, Illinois, ACP—Do you
events occurred. At the conclusion
of his talk he answered the
upon the sending of pictures by
spend most of your leisure time
many questions that the cadets
radio and the possibilities of its
listening to the radio, reading
asked concerning newspaper work.
future in connection with newspaper.
playing bridge If so, you have
newspapers, attending movies, and
Besides the large number of cadets
who are not regular members
Collection Interesting
fallen into the typical American
of the I. A. L. A. there were several
faculty officers present.
rut of leisure time activity.
One of the most outstanding features
of the whole program was
This conclusion was reached by
Mr. Lutz's collection of valuable
and curious newspaper which proved
of interest to everyone present.
Among his collections were some
of the oldest newspapers published
in Virginia. There was also a copy
of the smallest daily newspaper
printed in the world, which is published
in Tyron, N. C. Still another
curious paper was one which he
had purchased for twenty-five
cents and was recently offered a
hundred dollars for because its
distinction. As the speaker went
on to explain his hobby of securing
copies of all the Richmond
periodicals that are no longer published
he gave a brief summary of
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Second Play
Last week end, the Washington
and Lee dramatic club, the Troubadours,
presented "Overture," a play
of post-war Germany, to enthusiastic
audiences. With eighteen members
of the large cast of twentythree
making their debut before
Lexington audiences, the play
went off unusually well.
by the directors of the club that
at least one serious play should
be presented during the year and
this was chosen by the committee.
It was chosen, not only because of
the play itself but because it required
a large cast and offered
an opportunity to test the large
number of aspirants for dramatic
fame.
by the entire Corps. On Christmas
Day Cadets were allowed the
entire day in order to enjoy their
holiday dinner with friends in
Lexington; those cadets who had
no nearby friends ate their turkey
in the mess hall.
Merit System Introduced
It was through the influence of
General Nichols, then superintendent,
that the merit system was introduced
in 1920. By this system,
The sole feminine role was played
by Miss Dolly Burks, who gave average of 8.0 or over and not
all those cadets having a scholastic
one of the best performances of having over forty demerits by the
the evening as Katie. Her portrayal 21st of December, could
was both powerful and sympathetic
and displayed a great deal of system was introduced over
qualify. The first year this
talent.
four hundred cadets qualified out of
The play required only a single the six hundred present at the time.
set which represented the interior
of a German town hall. This was V.M.I's Mail Room Not
excellently designed and executed
by James Andrews, the club's technical
director. The entire standard
Rushed Before Xmas
of the production was high and
the "Troubadours" have made a
reputation which they should live
up to in their next drama, "The
Petrified Forest."
Cambridge, Mass., ACP—'When is
a "catalogue" not a "catalog" The
answer is: this year.
After experimenting for a year
with the latter spelling, Harvard
University has gone back to the
former.
Last year, for the first time, the
Harvard handbook, with the names
of students, faculty members,
courses and general information,
was a "catalog." This year it is
again a "catalogue."
the creating of the newspaper in
England and also the beginning of
the newspaper in America. It
might be said that Mr. Lutz's collection
is a history in newspapers
for he has obtained copies of papers
in which the headlines are of
world events, such as the sinking
of the Titantic, the death of Queen
Victoria, the signing of the Armistice,
the election of Cleveland
(which was a purple edition), the
assassination of Lincoln and numerous
others of similar nature. At
present he is interested in obtaining
these newspapers of world
Christmas Not All Beer And Skittles
For Cadets In SchooVs Younger Days
By GENE HUDGINS
Imagine a one day furlough for
Christmas! This was not imagination
but a reality to those thousands
of cadets who were at the
Institute from 1839 until 1919. This
one day holiday was preceded by
a gala minstrel show in the mess
haU, huge bon fires on the parade
ground, and the singing of carols
VMI's mail room is one place the
Christmas rush does not affect,
strange as it may seem. According
to C. W. White head mail orderly,
the volume of mail in the room
in the week before Christmas not
only failed to show an increase but
actually dropped off. "Everybody
knew the corps was coming home,"
White explained, "so they stopped
writing letters." A number of cadets,
however, he said, were getting
civilian clothes during the
week, slightly increasing the number
of packages which came in,
but on the whole, the orderlies got
a slight rest. A few Christmas
cards trickled in during the last
few days, but evidently, either V.
M. I. cadets don't get many cards
or invitations, or most of them
are sent home.
The real "Christmas" mail rush,
according to White, will come after
the furlough is over. "We'll have
eleven days mail to put up" he
said, "papers, letters, and packages."
It will mean hours of
work for the four orderlies.
And that is the story of one of
the few post offices in the world
where the Christmas rush comes
a week after the 25th of December.
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Thus the first real furlough
enjoyed by those who deserved it.
Corps Quarantined In 1927
It is interesting to note that in
1927 the Corps was detained in
school for three days because of
an outbreak of infantile paralysis
in the neighboring section. Although
only one cadet was in the
hospital with the disease, the whole
body of cadets was placed under
a strict quarantine. Everyone
made the best of the situation and
enjoyed Christmas day here at
Again in 1929 the Board of Visitors
lengthened the furlough one
more day in order to enable cadets
to spend New Year's Day
with their family. The furlough
has since been moved up to eleven
days. Eleven days holiday in
which to do anything a man desires—as
compared to that one
day holiday a few years back—and
still some men grumble.
education at Northwestern University,
as the result of an eight year
survey.
These four activities, along with
motoring and attending parties, are
the favorite pastimes of adult America.
Children, says Dr. Witty, spend
more time participating in active
games than adults. The amount of
time devoted to sports diminishes
speedily as the child grows older.
Professor Claims Recovery Is
Here
New York, N. Y„ ACP—That the
was United States is in the recovery
phase of a business cycle and will
be able to retire its national debt
in ten years is the prediction of
Dr. Virgil Jordan, president of the
National Conference Board, a New
Deal critic, and a former professor
of economics at the University
of Wisconsin.
Addressing the annual convention
of the University and College
Business Officers of Eastern
States, Dr. Jordan said that one of
the indications of business recovery
is the "heavy Christmas shop-
the Institute. A big dance on the
occasion helped to alleviate the ping" which would undoubtedly
dampened plans of many of the exceed the Christmas buying of
men.
1929.
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Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year—from the staff of "The
Cadet."
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