University of Oklahoma - Sooner Yearbook (Norman, OK)

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TD THOSE WHO REACH TD

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TD COLLEGE MEN AND WOMEN This article and those which follow were contributed by former editors and business- managers of the SOONER Yearbook. History is still young enough to be closely interesting; this country is only a long lifetime old. Our own Soonerlcmd, home of the im- mortal Will Rogers, is a land of youth and opportunity. Oklahoma ' s opportunities for the future are boundless. A new era of industrial development has been introduced by the war; decentralization of heavy industry has gone a long way to liberate the South and Southwest from a colonial status in the national econ- omy. Our state has untold natural wealth as yet underdeveloped. Oil is producing many compounds known only to the laboratory at present; familiar glass sand will produce build- ing blocks for our growing cities; steel will be produced and its products will help enrich our citizens; our agricultural development will be greatly expanded. Think of the new frontiers opened up by technology and invention. Think of the foreign markets as industrialization sweeps the world. Good free land may no longer be available, but there ' ll be new oppor- tunities all over the old landscape for those who are willing to hustle around and find them. The frontier has always been closed to the young man who is afraid. TOMORROW ' S CHALLENGE In an address delivered at the 1944 com- mencement exercises, Columbia University, Nicholas Murray Butler challenged youth to be optimistic. He said that optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and of true progress. Back some of our college men and women into a comer today and they will calmly inform you that the day of opportunity is gone, killed by the capitalistic system. They will say that there is no chance for a young man unless he has plenty of money or influential friends. This unwholesome attitude is one probably en- gendered in part by the fact that millions reached maturity during the depression. Mil- lions of us have never known a normal Amer- ica but many of us believe that, if business and industry are given opportunity to prove what can be done without the restraint of unneces- sary governmental shackles, youth will quickly rediscover that rich rewards can still be earned by hard and intelligent work. William Benton, vice-president of the Univer- sity of Chicago, says that youth ' s worst enemy is fear of failure. Too many college graduates demand the security offered by a big company. They don ' t mind starting at the bottom but they want someone else to hold the ladder. Their fathers and grandfathers were unhindered by this concentration on security, this Maginot line point of view. It was individual hard working men who built the wealth of this country, not big business. Large companies suffer from the disease of bigness and tend to become ultra- conservative. The individual ' s flexibility, drive, and imagination are too frequently submerged. Tomorrow ' s challenge to college men and women is that they seek opportunity for per- sonal growth. They must battle to overcome a degree of timidity that would have lost this country to the Indians a century and a half ago. A man or woman who forges ahead in a big company would likely go farther if he trav- elled alone. One who works for himself takes risks but he also gets the employer ' s cut. He has the best right to be proud and the greatest opportunity for personal growth. CHARLES L. FOLLANSBEE, B.A., 1936, LL.B. (Harvard Law School), 1941. -■■V m ¥ ' m

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CCEPT TDMDRRDW ' S CHALLENGE There are those who refuse to look to the coming day with fear. In the changing spectrum of human-social events, they accept the challenge of cre- ating a new world out of chaos. Respecting tradition, they seek progress. Believing in the dignity of man, they champion his rights. Relying upon God, they place their faith in Him. Tomorrow ' s challenge demands guidance. The experience of enlight- ened men and women furnishes the comprehension we need to build surely and well. Without their patient controlling hand, reaching from yesterday to tomorrow, we would have no common bond with the heritage that belongs to the morning. Tomorrow ' s challenge demands life and laughter. From that depth of seriousness in which war engulfs all, we must arise triumphant in our faith in the fundamental goodness and joy of life. Society cannot survive without the co-operative exploitless will to be a happy people. Group life co-ordinates individuals to work together that they may play together. Tomorrow ' s challenge demands strength. Construction is a job for the vital, enthusiastic man who has the energy to remain on his feet and lift up others. We need the pioneer stamina of strong bodies, coupled with unflick- ering courage and singleness of purpose. Tomorrow ' s challenge demands leadership. An unorganized groping for uncertain goals is not the solution to our problematic world. In our service- groups and University students, we find the men and women who are being trained for the positive, directive leadership which will bring the daybreak. There are those who have dedicated themselves to an acceptance of tomorrow ' s challenge. To them, we dedicate the 1944-45 SOONER.