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THE STANFORD DAILY
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TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1930
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VOLUME 77, NUMBER 33
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HANDS ACROSS THE BAY
Naturally enough, the University of California partisans have lent their whole hearted support for the proposal that Stanford donate its Axe as a Big Game trophy.
The plan is a splendid one -- from the California point of view. But looking at it from a Stanford angle, the proverbial horse assumes a different hue.
The reasons for this change of color are all too obvious. Some were stated in yesterday's issue of the newspaper; others may be found in the multitude of campus opinion letters which have poured into Daily's office.
Student sentiment seems definitely opposed to the proposal; alumni opinion promise to be of the same tenor; and now that the historic "Committee of 21" has come out with the express wish that the ancient weapon be kept as a perpetual Stanford emblem, there can be no doubt as to which course to take.
The Axe is Stanford's and should be kept Stanford's.
It is interesting to note the arguments advanced by Robert Sibley, executive manager of the California Alumni Association, who has long favored the plan of using the Axe as a trophy.
Mr. Sibley is undoubtedly sincere in his stand, as he advocated such a move even before Stanford regained its own. But granting his sincerity, it is hard to follow Mr. Sibley's arguments, now that the Axe has been brought back to where it belongs.
Says California's alumni manager: "The Axe has acquired a common ownership value by virtue of California's long possession..."
Would Mr. Sibley be of the same mind if someone had stolen cash or securities from him and managed to keep them for three decades? One hardly thinks so.
Dr. R. G. Sproul, who is to be the next president of the University of California, made a typical California rejoinder when asked his opinion of the plan to have the Golden Bear placed upon the sacrificial altar along with the Axe.
"It would be far too complicated," he declared.
Which is a very nice way of saying that Californians have sense enough to keep their emblem for themselves.
MODESTY AMONG HEROES
Twenty-one or nothing.
That was the unselfish policy formulated by Stanford's brainy gang of axe-snatchers shortly after they made their victorious return to the campus.
It was agreed by the raiders that all photos should be group ones, that publicity should stress group action and not individual glorification.
It was a noble idea, difficult, of course, to execute in all its ramifications, but carried out by members of the twenty-one as faithfully as possible.
The brains back of the coup and the ringleaders of the episode turned the spotlight upon the confederates who played minor roles in the most spectacular drama ever staged in Pacific Coast intercollegiate history.
Secretly and silently the twenty-one Stanford students planned the momentous "steal" from Berkeley; modestly and humbly they are accepting the thanks and praise of all Stanford.
