"Gosh, No-.It's Not Mine"

£ ibigwn kzdti
Sixty-Ninth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
"When Oplnlons Are Free UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Truth WIUll eSTUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: JOAN KAATZ

THE ESSAYS OF CARL BECKER:
'New Professor' Brings
Lifted Horizons
Detachment and the Writing of History: Essays and Letters of Carl L.
Becker. Edited by Phil L. Snyder. Ithaca, Cornell University Press,
1958. 240 pages. $3.50.
4
WE COMMONLY forget or ignore that the scholar is a dedicated
man, that academic devotion to truth is solemnly but seldom
seriously conceived, that writing the defiinitive thesis on " 'The Longi-
tudinal Vibrations of a Rubbed String,' or, 'The Genesis of the Kansas-
Nebraska Act'," is ludicrous because possible.
"Very good subjects they are too, since the experienced professor
has himself selected them. And very well treated they may be, and
often are, since the professor is likely to direct and supervise at every
step, the writing of the thesis. If the student does what the professor
tells him to do (especially if he writes his thesis as nearly as possible
as the professor himself might have written it) he will undoubtedly,
in due course, obtain his degree, he will become a scholar." In short,
truth is embalmed and buried by specialists engaged in their bad but
scholarly writing.
When a professor appears possessing all the academic trappings-
thesis under an earlier famous scholar; a not-too-rapid progress of
posts from adequate to more recognized institutions; a discreet num-
ber of lectureships afield; a "sound" bibliography; a suitable number
of disciples who publish and send reprints, beseeching approval; and
gratifyingly large over-enrollments as he dwindles into a proper mar-
riage with succeeding waves of virginal students - when such a pr-

6

Board Misses Chance


To Improve Women's Housing

I,

THE RESIDENCE HALL Board of Governors
this week passed a motion expressing ap-
proval of "one, or two" upperclass houses for
women. The Board then proceeded to do some
rather strange things with regard to this mo-
tion.
Previously, the residents of Barbara Little
House in Mary Markley had asked the Board
to consider the expansion of women's upper-
class housing through conversion of : Betsey
Barbour to a residence for juniors and seniors.
Also, the women in Barbour voted for the sane
proposal.
The Board did not choose to grant the re-
quests of those most directly involved with
their decision. Barbara Little will remain the
one and only upperclass women's house in the
residence halls system.
There is little doubt that a large number
of the University's women would like to live
in an upperclass housing unit. Barbour housed
only junior and senior women until the present
academic year and was besieged with applica-
tions.
ALTHOUGH the Board's action has caused
no irreparable damage,, the group could
easily have granted the women's requests while
keeping within the policy of the Dean of Wo-
men's office as presented at the meeting.
The Dean's office believes no woman should
be forced to leave her residence because of a
change in policy. By converting Barbour to
an upperclass house next semester, the fresh-
men now living there would be forced to move.

This is, therefore, against the Dean of Womens'
policy.
Miss Bacon's policy is a good one, but there
is a way to convert Barbour without displacing
any women, especially since the Board seems
to view any expansion of upperclass housing on
a "go slow" basis. Would it not be feasible
to allow those who wish to stay in Barbour to
remain, and admit only upperclass women as
new residents?
Dean Fuller told the Board that she expect-
ed 50 to 60 vacancies out of Barbour's capacity
of 116. It would be possible, then, to convert
Barbour to an upperclass house over a two-
year period with a strong likelihood that there
would be enough applicants to fill the vacan-
cies.
IF THERE is to be only one upperclass house,
the case for Barbour far outweighs that for
Little. As the delegation from Little told the
Board, women seem to prefer smaller units
for upperclass housing. They also said that
the physical plant in Markley is detrimental
to a feeling of unity among the residents of the
house because the house is situated on two
long corridors, preventing ready intermingling
of the women. In addition, Little house has
no private dining room or recreational facili-
ties, both of which help in creating unity in
any house.
The Board missed a rare chance to improve
women's housing at no added expense.
-THOMAS KABAKER

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The Show Must Go On-Four Nights

BECAUSE an extremely high percentage of
seats were tied up in season tickets for this
year's Playbill Series, the speech department
should do more than "consider" running next
year's productions an additional night.
Although 72 per cent of the total seats avail-
able in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre ' are
held by season ticket holders, this figure de-
serves further analysis. Considering that two
of the seven productions are currently per-
formed on four days, season tickets for the re-
maining five productions constitute almost 80
per cent of the total sales.
Equally as important, the two productions
running for four successive nights are operas,
sponsored jointly by the speech department
Some Hope
WHO SAYS state legislators don't look
ahead?
One of them, Sen. Haskell Nicholls (R-
Jackson) has offered a bill authorizing the
universities to pay teachers with scrip. They
would use the redeemable certificates of in-
debtedness in case payless paydays become a
reality.
"I brought in a similar resolution 27 years
ago and they laughed at me," Sen. Nichols
said.
But he can relax. This is 1959 and nobody
Is laughing, for his bill is perhaps the first
sign of the legislative foresight that might've
made such a measure laughable.
It may not be the prescribed way of dealing
with a financial crisis, but concern for the
future might grow. After all, Lansing is full
of acorns.
-M.K.

ment and the School of Music. Consequently,
the school buys up a number of the individual
p6rformance tickets.
It is thus not difficult to understand why
those students who attempt to attend a single
performance find it very difficult to get tickets
and all but impossible to purchase them for
the desired evening.
Advertisements preceding each production
usually advise that tickets are available for
only the Thursday performance, or in the case
of the operas, for the Wednesday and Thurs-
day performances. Generally, a few single
seats are the only ones available for Friday
and Saturday nights. It goes without saying
that many students find it very difficult to
get away from their studies on week day
nights.
THE DEPARTMENT should also keep in
mind potential audiences of future years.
Despite the fine quality of spec~h department
productions, few students are apt to purchase
season tickets without having seen the group
in action. Scarcity of individual tickets reduces
potential future sales, especially among fresh-
man and transfer students.
Yet, the speech department cannot be
strictly condemned for its current policy. There
was certainly no way of predicting that season
ticket sales would rocket from the 127 seats
sold last year to the 1,600 total of this year.
By the time that sales were completed, the
budget and schedules had no doubt already
been planned.
Both to insure the Playbill's future financial
success, and to allow more students to attend
the plays, the present situation can be reme-
died by expanding next season's productions to
a Wednesday through Saturday night basis.
-JUDITH DONER

ACAPITAL COMMENTARY:
ADA Disru"
By WILLI
THE MOST unsecret of all Re- code processes sometin
publican weapons is never politicians whom the
found in any Republican arsenal. onlooker might have th
This top weapon is a strictly Dem- pretty liberal, on such
ocratic knife, the knife of discord tests as their public rei
which some of the Democrats are ADA, with the bestl
unable to refrain from sticking tentions and the lea
into other Democrats before each sense of humor, is nom
Presidential election. work to set the Demo
True, the Republicans are not straight for 1960. And1
always above family fighting. But it is a case of run for
they never even start intraparty boys, the dam has bust
war without some rational pur- For an immediate rest
pose. And in any case they never earnest efforts is to d
inflict among themselves wounds the three ablest-and
impossible to poultice over before three most responsible-
Election Day. cratic PresidentialX
Such self-restraint is not for the Among the amused ar
Democrats. Their automatic trou- spectators is the Repu
ble-makers used to be the South- tional Committee.
ern ultra-conservatives. These old
boys went to every convention * * *
happily doing their best to shoot ITEM: Three ultra-]
down with their squirrel rifles any highly decent Deno
Democratic nominee who could Franklin D. Rooseve
conceivably carry all of the United Senator Herbert H. L
States. This breed has largely gone Air Force Secretary
now. Finletter, have solemnl
* * * oust Tammany boss C

pts Democrats
AM S. WHITE

mes exclude
unexcited
Nought to be
humdrum
cords.
possible in-
ast possible
w primly at
cratic party
to the pros,
r your lives,
;t.
ult of ADA's
o a job on
probably the
-1960 Dent
possibilities.
nd gratified
ublican Na-
iberals and
crats, Mrs.
elt, former
ehman and
Thomas K.
y set out to
Carmine De

is no secret, except possibly to ADA
ultra-liberals, that Stevenson is
essentially a civilized conservative.
ITEM : The ADA is sniping tire-
lessly at the Senate Democratic
leader, Lyndon B. Johnson. John- .
son's principal disability is that he
neglected to inform his parents
that he must not be born in Texas..
The ultra-liberals, understandably
from their viewpoint, would not
want to see him President. '
Nevertheless, who would have
supposed that they would prefer
Johnson in a pinch, at any rate,
to Vice-President Richard M. Nix-
on, against whom ADA has been
quivering with outrage (some of
it wholly justified) for years? And
it is a secret only to ADA that
Johnson might conceivably be
nominated by the regular Demo-
crats in a hung-up convention.
Against such a possibility it really
would not seem wise to try totally
to destroy in advance his combat
potential against the quite pos-
sible GOP nominee, Mr. Nixon.
ITEM: Senator Hubert Humph-
rey of Minnesota, one of the few
members of ADA who knows the
score, is running for President
under manifest difficulties. The
greatest of these is his loyal, but
not very wise, continued associa-
tion with ADA. Therefore, it would
appear sensible for ADA not to
embrace him too publicly and too
often.
But, naturally, ADA's affection
for Humphrey is not being re-,
strained. All the same, you canI
kiss a manto death in politics al-
most as easily as you can kick him
to death.

NOW, Democratic difficulties
come from the ultra-liberals.
These mainly are allies of a small,
grimly articulate, high-minded,
self-righteous and profoundly in-
ept group called Americans for
Democratic Action. Most ADA
people are knee-jerk liberals; they
react automatically to certain slo-
gans.
To ADA, only ADA is competent
to decide who is adequately "lib-
eral." The definition, moreover, is
reached by incantations which the
working Democratic politicians,
who are merely professionals, have
difficulty in following. Thus, ADA

Sapio. He is the only surviving New
York Democratic leader of obvious
competence. Naturally, he must
go; he has been found not to be
liberal enough.
It is widely known that Mrs.
Roosevelt and Finletter, at least,
have been strongly attached to
Adlai E. Stevenson. Few things
could be more harmful to Steven-
son's chances for a third Demo-
cratic Presidential nomination
than to be associated, willy-nilly,
with this absurd attempted purge
of the regular New York Demo-
cratic organization.
There is a side jest here, too. It

fessor appears, one scarcely ex-
pects him to be able to write.
* * * '
THE LATE Carl 'Becker (1873-
1945), Professor of History at
Cornell, could write and write ex-
tremnly well. News though it may
be, he wrote many pieces more in-
teresting than those foisted on
freshmen in anthologies designed
to show that all composition is
based on propositions clear, single,
and unprejudiced. Carl Becker
wrote a great deal, including a
wonderful book "The Declaration
of Independence" and another,
equally good, "The Heavenly City
of the Eighteenth Century Philo-
gophers."
"Freedom and Responsibility in
the American Way of Life" he de-
livered as the Michigan Law
School's Cook lectures in 1944,
four months before his death. He
left behind the fugitive essays that
make "Detachment and the Writ-
ing of History" his own fest-
schrift, thereby sparing his mem-
ory one of those dreadful academ-
ic tributes.
* * *
NO DOUBT Becker himself
would have collected and pub-
lished these essays had he lived.
But he would never have so en-
titled them. Phil L. Snyder, a pro-
fessor at Fullerton Junior College,
California, edited the collection.
One assumes Snyder chose "De-
tachment and the Writing of His-
tory" as the title essay because it
is safer in these days than "The
Dilemma of Liberals in Our Time."
In one essay, Becker says:
"Nor could I doubt that the New
Professor was not only known but
justified of his works. He every-
where brought with him new life
and a sense of lifted horizons, so
that the task of disciplining the
minds of students, of fitting them
at once for social service and a
well-paid job, seemed the least
part of the professor's duties....
The New Professor taught us that
the campus must be co-extensive
with the commonwealth. Brought
into contact with all the people,
conferring upon them those ma-
terial benefits which could be ex-
actly measured, and once felt
could not be forgot, the univer-
sity would win their undivided al-
legiance, and would at last be-
come, what its founders intended
it to be, the palladium of all our
liberties." One wonders if the pro-
fessor-editor did not wince over
that passage and take sweet schol-
arly revenge on the dead by being
perverse In choosing the book's
title.
For these essays, particularly
the four in the section On Edu-
cation, crackle with enthusiasm
and tingle with a passionate con-
cern with the spirit of man. The
book will interest students any-
where but not teachers: "Learning
I think excellent. I have always
been (I hope) a learner, and I
hope I always shall be. But I have
never desired to teach anyone
anything, and I dislike extremely
to be called a teacher. I have an
aversion to teaching and teach-
ers." ...
"THERE ARE a thousand
things that may and should be
taught, and the teaching of such
things is a useful art . . .Of
mathematics, physics, chemistry
and the biological sciences there
is a great deal that may be
baught. Of history, literature, phi-
losophy, economics, and the like,
there is much less, but still some-
thing . . . But the purpose of
studying most subjects in univer-
sities is not to master a technique,
but to liberalize the mind - to
become possessed of insight and
judgment and understanding, to
acquire that wisdom which is the
fine. flower of learning. These
qualities of the mind cannot be

acquired through teaching
they can be acquired only by
learning."
Wisdom, the fine flower of
learning: an apt description of
this book, throughout concerned
with "the three essentials - to
have an irrepressible desire to

OUTDATED?
Cilssics
Shelvedt
By The Associated Press
HILADELPHIA-Is the pace of
American life too fast for liter-
ary classics of other times?
Has "Treasure Island" lost its
hold on youth? Do kids of the jet
and space age consider "Silas Mar-
ner" corny, "Ivanhoe" too lacking
in real thrills?
These and similar questions stir-
red up something of a tempest
recently upon reports that the
Philadelphia Board of Education
was about to give the heave-ho to
certain works of Robert Louis
Stevenson, George Eliot, Lord Ten.
nyson, Stephen Crane and others.
It all came about through a mis-
understanding, school authorities
explained.
True, the changing times in
which we live call for a constant
reassessment of values. Rapid and
dramatic developments in science
and world affairs have made it
necessary to add many new titles
to the lists of approved textbooks.
But, says Superintendent Allen
H. Wetter, "the dropping of a title
does not mean discontinuance of
a book. Book remain In the school
and are used with care until they
are worn out. By that time, in the
case of a classic, the title will
probably reappear on the official
list to permit replacement."
Parents, fearing their school age
children might be denied the
pleasures of studying standbys of
literature, were reassured.
Both Wetter and Helen C. Bailey,
his associate in charge of curricula,
pointed out that books dropped
from the approved textbook list
still stay in school libraries and on
collateral reading lists.
As for pupils' tastes in reading,
educators said, therehis no sure
way of determining why such anj.
such a writer was popular yester-
day and out of favor today. Cur-
rent events have sonething to do
with it, but much more than that
lies behind the shifting interests
and the inexplicable paradoxes of
the literary preferences of young
and old alike.
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
The Daily OfficialBulletin is.an
official publication of The Univer-
sity-of Michigan for which The
Michigan Daily assumes no edi-
torial responsibility. Notices should
be sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to
Room 3519 Administration Build-
ing, before 2 p.m. the day preceding
publication. Notices for Sunday
Daily due at 2:00 p.m. Friday.
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1959
VOL. LXIX, NO. 121
General Notices
People having Mon., Wed., and Fri.
afternoons available, and who have not
lost more than two or three of their,
natural teeth, are needed for special
gold and amalgam fillings at the
School of Dentistry. Inquire at the in-
formation window in person during the
hours of 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. during March
and April.
Junior College - U-M Conference,
Fri., March 20, 9:15 am., Registration,
3rd floor, Mich. Union; 10:00-12:00, Dis..
cussian sessions; 12:10 p.m., Luncheon.
Mich. Union Ballroom. Speaker: Jesse
P. Bogue, visiting professor of higher
education and junior college consult-
ant; 2:00-3:30, Departmental confer-
ences.
"The Resurrection Today," Rev. Rich-
ard Cruius. Office of Religious Affairs
Coffee-discussion for all students. 4:15
p.m., Fri., March 20, Lane Hall Library.

International Center Tea: 4:30 to 6:00
p.m., Thurs., March 19. International
Center.
Women students who have not com-
pleted the physical education require-
ment will register for the spring sea-
son Wed., March 18. 6:00 to 9:30 p.m.
and Thurs., March 19, 8:00 to 12:00 a.m.
main floor, Barbour Gymnasium. Elec-
tive students register March 23 through
25, 8:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Women's Housing Female Virtue

INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Nasser Discovers the Strings

, U

By J. M. ROBERTS
Associated Press News Analyst
PRESIDENT NASSER of the United Arab
Republic is learning the true value of
Kremlin protestations that its economic aid for
underdeveloped countries is given without poli-
tical strings.
Nasser found the strings .invisible until he
started disagreeing with something the Soviet
Union wants.
Now he has joined John Foster Dulles and
Marshal Tito on the Communist list of public
enemies.
For many years, ever since Britain and
France replaced Turkish rule of the Middle'
East with a group of states lacking the power
to stand alone, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq
have been in competition for Arab leadership.
Primarily it was a personal competition among
the kings.
Cairo had the widely powerful Moslem Uni-
versity, Arabia had Mecca, the spiritual cen-,
ter of Islam, and Iraq had Baghdad, the once
great historical capital. Arabia and Iraq had
the oil.
Nasser, attempting to organize a great pan-

Arab movement to put himself and Egypt on
top ,has never been able to get at the .oil,
only real source of Arab wealth.
When a nationalist revolt occurred in Bagh-
dad last year, much akin to the one he staged
against King Farouk in Egypt, Nasser thought
he was in .
He had received much help and was prom-
Ised more by international communism, be-
cause he represented a thorn in the side of
the western powers.
But any place that is full of trouble and
material wealth, especially any nearby place,
is of great interest to the Kremlin, also.
LET'S NOT get any ideas about expanding
the United Arab Republic in this direction,
Khrushchev says to Nasser.
The Egyptian dictator lacks the power to
accomplish his aims, but can't give up pub-
licly.
Now, if the usual pattern is followed, he is
about to be strangled by the strings of econ-
omic aid. Having been emboldened to break
with the West, he is scuttled by the East.
The West, following its usual practice of
loving anyone who opposes Communism, will
now take Nasser back to its bosom for the
sake of expediency.
Two reversals of policy can be expected. The

To the Editor:
EUREKe finally discovered a
solution to the problem of apart-
ment permission for women.
Everyone will agree that the
main purpose of keeping women in
dormitories is to preserve their
virtue. Therefore, once a woman
can prove that she is not virtuous
or has not been virtuous in the
past, safeguards are no longer
necessary.
I respectfully suggest that if a
woman can conclusively prove her
lack of virtue, either through
medical testimony or through
signed references, she should be
permitted to live in unsupervised
housing.
As a matter of fact, they should
get her out of the dorm because
she's a bad influence.
-Name and Phone Number
Withheld by Request
Censorship? . . .
To the Editor:
IT WAS recently brought to my
-attention that a friend of mine
who had been broadcasting a radio
show over WCBN has lost his posi-
tion due to the fact that he played
"Rock-'n-Roll" music over the air
after 7 p.m. This letter is not a
champion of the cause of "Rock

he must listen to throughout the
evening hours.
Does the campus radio station
feel that it is so exclusive on the
air that a listener who does not
wish to hear what they are playing
at a specific time cannot tune to
one of the numerous other stations
in the area? The very presence of
other stations removes all necessity
for providing exclusively one type
of music. Beyond this point, there
may quite possibly be a recogniz-
able listening group that would
enjoy a variance from the slow
to the fast.
The basic idea behind this rule
has the best intention and student
interests at heart; however, its
zeal in this matter has seriously
damaged both the station's appeal
to all various groups, and also its
potential as a learning center for
students interested in all facets
of both music and radio.
-John Logie, '61
Weather ..
To the Editor:
YESTERDAY The Daily had an
article on some work by a col-
league and myself concerning the
reduction of the evaporation of
water by thin films of alcohols.
This technique, which has been
sugggested by others as a method
of weather control, was not dis-

Tax..
To the Editor:
IN RESPONSE to state represen-
tatives F. J. Marshall (R-Cal-
houn) and R. H. Brigham (R-
Coldwater).
It would be helpful if you would
give the reference when you "refer.
specifically to the progressive in-
come tax which Karl Marx advo-
cated for destroying America."
To say "-the thing [economic
free enterprise] which has made
this the greatest and most envied
nation in the world." is not only
simultaneously chauvinistic and
grammatically incorrect, but also
something of an oversimplification.
In the tenth grade my hittory
teacher mentions that the natural
resources and insular position of
the United States had contributed
to its economic growth, but I sup-
pose she has since been investi-
gated and fired.
It must have occurred to you
that the smaller the income the
greater the per cent of it spent
on necessities and that a sales tax
therefore ordinarily takes a greater
per cent of a small income than
of a large income. This is what is
known as a regressive tax.
Since you do not take issue with
the factual content of Professor
Taylor's remark, that
"The progressive income tax is

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