"Backward, Turn Backward, 0 Time in Your Flight"
Sixty-Ninth Year
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STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
?'
At'
"When Opinions Are Free
Truth Wil Prevai"
AT THE MICHIGAN:
Harrison and Kendall
Bring 'Deb' Out
"T HE RFLUCTANT DEBUTANTE" is all about coming out parties,
"The Season," and things like that. It all happens in London, 1958,
and the plot is incredible.
A half-American, half-English debutante is "coming out" and she
meets a half-American, half-Italian musician who is staying out. Her
mother doesn't like him because he is supposed to decorate his bedroom
with gin-soaked girls. In the background are a whole collection of
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1958 NIGHT EDITOR: PHILIP MUNCK
-4
Attention: John F. Dulles
AN OPEN LETTER:
Gadzooks Mr. Dulles!
Your possible quenching of Nationalist
China's Chiang Kai-Shek's plans for kicking
the communists off the Chinese mainland is
an about face and three giant steps from the
old "don't irritate that nice old man Chiang"'
policy.
Of course, telling a news conference that
Chiang was foolish to commit one-third of his
armed forces to a couple of teeny-weeny non-
strategic islands is quite another thing from
telling the old boy face to face, but it is a start.
JUST OUT of curiosity, Sir, why did the
United States agree to this buildup of
Quemoy and the other islands? A few people
were quite stunned at this admission.
Your statement that "I don't think they
(the Nationalists) are going to get there (the
mainland) by just their own steam," shows
that you are really a fox underneath it all.
Of course they're not going to get there by
their own steam. They aren't even planning on
it. Naturally, you know that all that is neces-
sary to get the United States to do it for
them, or at least try, is to very politely shove
Uncle Sam off that "brink" he's so delicately
balanced on. This isn't the original "brink"
but one is as good as another. He's now',in the
position of being unable to control whether
he gets into war or not.
But, you say, "The United States has no
commitment of any kind to aid" in attacking
the mainland. A formidable truth, but what
if Red China (heaven forbid) should commit
aggression?
W ITH UNCLE SAM's neck stretched clear
across the five miles of water between
Quemoy and the mainland it is very easy for
Chiang to maneuver a war. And that most
charming of charmers, Chiang Kai-Shek is
just the boy to do it.
He's been waiting for a long, long time for
a chance to draw us into a war with China
thereby giving him a chance to regain the
China mainland. But of course you are aware
of that.
When you say that Chiang's return "is a
highly hypothetical,matter," it worries some
people, Sir. They can't seem to understand how
you could have given him such a wonderful
opportunity to do just that when it is merely
a hypothetical matter.
The United States has been bowing to
Chiang for nearly 20 years now. Maybe your
statement does herald a major change in our
China policy. If not, good grief, Mr. Secre-
tary . . . when? Editorially yours,
RALPH LANGER
r -
R:
'All
t
M
L
I
other mothers, busily trying to
snare hungry young men for their
own daughters. There are dances
every night and headaches every
morning. And life is glorious.
The original play, by William
Douglas Home, was a fairly frivo-
lousgaffaire, and so is this film,
but it is first rate comedy, too.
Kay Kendall and Rex Harrison
are a first rate comedy team.
They play Lord and Lady Broad-
bent whose daughter is "coming
out." Exactly what she is coming
out into is not always clear. But
that is no problem. Not with Kay
and Rex in the film. They have
that indescribable sense of tim-
ing which is wonderful to see.
Shrugs and twitches, shudders
and gasps, significant expressions
and gestures are exchanged as}
Kay and Rex struggle through
the agonies of this "coming out"
business.
THE SUPPORT they get from
some of the cast is fine. Angela.
Lansbury is a dandy example of
the scheming, calculating, gossip-
ing mother of a debutante. She is
a holy terror, a potential Dean of
Women.
Peter Myers plays a stuffy
young man who is quite impos-
sible. If he is typical of what you
find at parties during "the Sea-
son", stay home. Myers' routine
about how to drive around Lon-
don without getting into traffic
jams is a classic, though.
Diane Clare plays Lansbury's
daughter; a typical English girl,
according to William Douglas
Home. She does her best with
Home's curious concept of typi-
calness.
AND NOW.,.
Sandra Dee, as the reluctant
debutant, and John Saxon, as the
half-breed drummer, are hopeless.
Cute but hopeless. Simple but
hopeless. They are said to be pop-
ular in teen-age circles. The teen-
age circles are hopeless. When
Saxon discovers that he is sud-
denly the Duke of Pizzeria, or
something like that, thanks to a
fortuitous death in the family, he
is not even flustered. He can look
at charming Sandra without even
licking his chops. And she is
pretty shallow, too.
But Kendall and Harrison bring
it off. They really bring it off.
Even with Saxon and Dee in the
company, they bring it off.
-David Kessel
AT THE CAMPUS:
'Red, Black'
-Diverting
IT IS dangerous and usually im-
possible to adapt a novel to
the screen. Moviemakers, how-
ever, seem to find it profitable
and are constantly doing it, a
favorite vehicle being a reputable
reading-list classic such as Sten-
dahl's Rouge et Noir. That The
Red and the Black (the." Gone
With the Wind of art pictures)
now playing at the Campus, is
based on that novel is proclaimed
by the credits and by a facsimile
of the final page of the book for
a finale.
As with most movies-from-the-
novel, the claim is best ignored.
The Red and the Black is a come-
dy of manners and, at times, a
very funny one. Basically it is the
story of a social-climbing car-
penter's son under the nineteenth
century French monarchy
Caught between his egocentricity
and his naivete, he plambers up-
ward from bed to bed on his way
to an eventual trial for murder.
THE FILM'S chief' distinction
lies in its comedy of procrastina-
tion. A mocking cynicism cuts
away all the glory of the dreamer
and romantic and makes the hes-
itation more important than the
action. But it is neither great
comedy nor effective cynicism.
The possibility of nobility is re-
jected before one can believe in
it; the audience is not caught and
involved in the sentiment. Rath-
er, the comedy is found in the
situation that implies slapstick.
In several scenes, Gerard Phi-
lipe proves his adeptness at this
type of comedy. The slapstick
works. Ladders quiver, palpitate
at window's. Society is entered by
a series of mildly ironic pratfalls.
Comic situations, arise between
church and state, man and wo-
man, amorality and puritanism.
It is all very French.
But that is not quite enough.
The advertised pretensions are
unjustified, except, perhaps, by
the music. There is nothing awe-
some or spectacular about the
movie. In fact there is little par-
ticularly good about it. But it is
diverting.
-Robert Tanner
-- ^-
SGC's Formal Decisions
Copyright, 798, The Pulitzer Publi shng Co.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Bill Mauldin of the St. Louis-Post-Dispatch is temporarily substituting for
Herbiock who is absent because of a death in his family.)
NOW THAT SGC's momentous meeting is
over and the more momentous one of de-
ciding what to do with Sigma Kappa almost
on them, it is challenging to wonder if the
laggard members of the Council will get
around to having their debate speeches pre-
pared or if they will try to get along with mere
extemporaneous thinking at the debate.
With a few exceptions, most of the mem-
bers of SGC came to Wednesday's council
meeting prepared to weigh the facts present-
ed and then deliberate them to a just conclu-
sion. This at least was the tenor of their pre-
pared speeches.
This, however, gives rise to a trivial but
somewhat interesting paradox; namely, what
did these speeches do to help them reach their
Just, accurate, unbiased decision? Or would it
be too daring to propose the 'idea that they
might all just as well have mailed in their
ballots and not even bothered to come?
FOR EXAMPLE, Dean Leslie dropped a minor
bomb on the proceedings by reading a por-
tion of the Sigma Kappa National constitution
--a constitution which has been entirely se-
cret except to the' Dean of Women's office.
Yet who mentioned this passage, vague as it
was, and try to integrate with the total prob-
lem? Surprisingly enough, not even those who
ultimately voted in favor of Sigma Kappa did
not discuss it.
Perhaps then this is a sign of the adoption
of an old parliamentary procedure; that of
the "maiden speech" or first formal speech
made by a member of the body. It does lend
considerable dignity to the proceedings and has
the added virtue of making the discussion un-
commonly logical if not always pertaining to
the newest developments at hand.
Perhaps, indeed, this is the forerunner of a
+ whole new age of dignity for student govern-
ment in which robed and bewigged members
sit around the table discussing problems with
the prepared, enlightened lucidness of real-
life legislative bodies.
SUCH moves could lead to all sorts of valu-
able improvements. For added clarity it
might be advisable for SGC members to con-
sult with ghost-writers and speech experts to
make their speeches as clear as possible to
the listener. With proper time limits on the
length of the speeches one could know when
to drop into the meeting to hear one's favorite
speaker. Perhaps make-up could be used to
provide the best possible appearance for press
photographers.
All of this would lend dignity and solemnity
to the proceedings of a body which we all know
to be open-minded, fair, impartial, unbiased
and ready to revise their opinions the moment
new and pertinent information comes forth
as they continue in their search for truth, jus-
tice and humanity.
--PHILIP MUNCK
CAPITAL COMMENTARY:
By WILLI
an's Aid to Ie
AM S. WHITE
WASHINGTON-The Eisenhower
Administration now appears
likely to emerge in good order
from the Formosa crisis and to be
able to protect true American in-
terests there without either war or
a diplomatio rupture within the
Western alliance.
If, happily, this is indeed the
outcome, the President will have
well earned the praise of reason-
able and responsible men every-
where. But it is time somebody
said what the Administration itself
is never likely to say. This is that
a great contribution to this pros-
pective Eisenhower triumph has
been made by a man named Harry
S. Truman.
* * *
MR. TRUMAN is held in such
low esteem by the Eisenhower Ad-
ministration thathe has never
been invited to the White House
even for routinely social reasons.
Nevertheless, he has been a rock-
like ally to President Eisenhower
in the Formosan troubles-as he
was earlier when we risked war in
the Middle East to rescue Lebanon.
Mr. Truman's backing of Presi-
dent Eisenhower in the Formosa
Strait has been without ifs, ands
or buts. The temptation to dor
otherwise would have been great.
For the Truman Administration
was belabored by the Republicans
over the same issue-China policy
-as no other administration has
ever been belabored on any ques-
tion beyond our shoreline.
All the same, when President
Eisenhower shoved in his stack of
chips over Formosa, the spry,
elderly man now living in Inde-
pendence, Mo., came forward to
stand at his elbow. And Mr. Tru-
man stands there still, though
partisan Democratic interests
would have been better served by
howling at the White House. A few
supposedly less "partisan" Demo-
crats have, in fact, done so.
And Mr. Truman has done more.
than refuse to be a bitter second
guesser. He has used his still-im-
mense weight within the Demo-
cratic party to mute criticism from
others, even including his much-
beloved Secretary of State, Dean
Acheson.
There is hardly the slightest
doubt that a critical Truman atti-
tude toward the Eisenhower Ad-
ministration would have all but
paralyzed it; the going has been
hard enough even with the former
President's help.
** *
ALL THIS has been an act of
bigness. But to those who really
know him this was the entirely
predictable course of Harry S.
Truman. For the odd truth is that
Mr. Truman is two men all at
once: he is on manymissuesthe
very model of the "give 'em hell',
partisan-ready to pick up any
handy club and apply it with
happy vigor to any Republican
skull. But thus he will act only
when the issues are domestic. In
such fields no "good" Republican
ever lived, or ever could. There
will be no effort here to sentimen-
talize Mr. Truman or his adminis-
tration; he and it had faults, and
plenty of them.
But in the great foreign matters,
upon which as a nation we might
live or die, this was one of the most
responsible and least partisan
Presidents in our history. This
correspondent asserts as much not
only on his own observation but
also on the authority of a most-
elevated Washington veteran,
Speaker of the House Sam Ray-
burn.
In 45 years in the House Ray-
burn has known many President-
and has been extremely close to
some. He is a man with a sense
of fairness to history and has an
absolutely impartial way of view-
ing even his friends when he
thinks in historical terms. And the
Speaker once told me that of all
the Presidents he had known only
one was totally indifferent to par-
tisan gain or loss in foreign policy.
This was Mr. Truman.
"THE FIRST TIME the Con-
gressional leaders were called to
the White House after Harry be-
came President," Rayburn recalled
with a slow smile, "was on a for-
eign crisis.
"Harrysoutlined what he pro-
posed to do. We all listened. Then
Harry asked if anybody had any
questions. Somebody (from the
Congressional group) asked him
what the domestic political reper-
cussions would be-what the poli-
tics of it would be. Harry turned
on him and said: 'Let's get one
thing straight. I never want to
hear that damn word 'politics'
mentioned here again when we are
discussing a thing like this.'
"And," Rayburn went on, "never
was it mentioned again, in my
hearing at least, in any of the
many other foreign policy meet-
ings between the President and the
Congressional leadership."
(Copyright, 1958; by United
Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Formosa's Future
By WALTER LIPPMANN
AT HIS PRESS conference, Secretary of State relieve the 7th Fleet of the need to take great
John Foster Dulles went a long way to show and incalculable risks to defend an indefensible
that he is now genuinely interested in negoti- isla'nd.
ating a settlement of the Quemoy affair. This With a hundred miles of water and the 7th
is the first time he has done that. In all of his Fleet between Formosa and the mainland,
previous statements, including the speech pre- Formosa is invulnerable to invasion.
pared for the President, he has been talking as
if he expected the Chinese Communists to back A WITHDRAWAL from Quemoy to Formosa
down unconditionally, to give up the blockade of will liquidate a dangerous liability and will
Quemoy, and to get nothing in return. OnTues- consolidate the strategic position on Formosa.
day he let it be known through the veil of To what end? To establish a position in which
diplomatic language that a bargain might be we have the time and the opportunity to nego-
struck in which Chiang's troops would be with- tiate without too much pressure and with delib-
drawn and saved and the offshore islands eration about the future of Formosa.
would be evacuated. Thus it may be, as many believe, that
It is evident, however, that Mr. Dulles is Chiang's regime will be deeply shaken by a
troubled in his mind about this retreat from a withdrawal from Quemoy, especially as it must
defiant showdown into the give and take of now be accompanied, as Mr. Dulles implied,
negotiation. What troubles him is whether in by a renunciation of the hope of reconquering
making concessions, his'adversaries in, Peiping the mainland. But even if Chiang's regime is
may not be encouraged and incited to raise shaken, the width of the Formosa Strait and
their demands. "We are having," he said, "a the power of the 7th Fleet would mean that
very critical negotiation with the Chinese Com- the future of Formosa can be determined not
munists. They are pushing and probing to find by flat from -Peiping but by an international
out whether we are weak, or whether we are treaty, agreed to by the victors in the war
strong." It is evident that Mr. Dulles takes it against Japan.
for granted that to offer concessions for a If we were disengaged from Quemoy and dis-
bargain is to be "weak" and that to refuse entangled from Chiang's ambitions, there would
them is to be "strong." be time to consider calmly what in the long
run is truly important to us in Formosa. We
THIS, IT SEEMS to me, is not a fully con- know that in the long run our interest in For-
sidered view of the actual problem in Que- mosa cannot be tied up with Chiang's govern-
moy and in the Formosa Strait. From the ment. For that government is manifestly living
American perspective the true view of Quemoy on borrowed time. We know, too, that Formosa
is that it is a dangerous liability which weakens is much too near the mainland ever to be con-
our power and our prestige in the whole area, sidered as an American strategic base. In time
and that to liquidate the liability is in fact to of war, Formosa would be a costly liability,
strengthen, not to weaken, our position. for the missiles that could devastate it and sub-
For Quemoy is an exposed and vulnerable marines could blockade it.
salient from which a good general would cer-
tainly withdraw if and when he was able to OUR TRUE INTEREST in Formosa, having
do it. And when he did withdraw, and had done our duty to see that Chiang's people
straightened his line and consolidated his posi- have a safe asylum somewhere, is that the
tion, he would know that he was stronger than island should not be militarized for an advanced
he had been before. Strategically, a withdrawal Chinese base against the Philippines. Our best
from Que~mov Uill rplipvpu thea 7th 1 'Lf an nipt-ive i .,. - ; +i,'. ;
The Daily Official Bulletin 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.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1958
VOL. LXIX, NO. 16
General Notices
In cooperation with the local banks,
the University provides a payroll check
depositing service for all permanent
employees. Those employees who wish
to use this convenient method of de-
positing their checks may .do so by
stopping at the Payroll Office, 3058
Admin. Bldg., to complete the authori-
zation form. Information regarding
this service may be obtained by call-
ing Ext. 2270.
Women's Research Club will meet at
8 p.m. Mon., Oct. 6 in the W. Conf.
4mn., Rackhamn Bldg. 'Velma Pickett of
the Linguistics Program *ill speak on
"Linguistics, Literature, and Life
among the Mexican Indians."
Lectures
University Public Lecture, auspices
of the Depts. of Fisheries and Zoology,
"Propagation of Fish for Food in In
(Continued on Page 5)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Sigma Kappa, Library Draw More Reader Comment
To the Editor:
AS I SAT with the other con.-
stituents listening to the Oct.
1 SGC meeting, I felt both
ashamed and disgusted. I was
ashamed to be part of the student
body who elected 12 of the mem-
bers of the council, ashamed that
others, coming in contact with the
decision they made that night,
would think that it represented
the majority of student body opin-
ion.
But the disgust I felt for these
12 was much greater. Here were 12
people who refused to allow them-
selves to hear and think anything
except-Sigma Kappa is guilty.
Some of these people,' for reasons
unknown to anyone but them-
selves, had made up their minds
before the meeting not to back
down.
They all completely ignored the
fact that the University of Michi-
gan Administration found Sigma
Kappa completely in accord with
University Regulations. Who has
more authority, is more experi-
ence, is wiser, the administration
of the university or SGC? Is this
college or university regulations,
which National Sigma Kappa has
agreed to respect.
The Sigma Kappa chapter on.-
this campus should be applauded
for their outstanding achievement.
This achievement meant that
National Sigma Kappa would ap-
prove the membership of a Negro
girl, along with the several other
races already in their fraternity,
if she were pledged at this univer-
sity or any other which does not
allow discrimination.
The representatives of the stu-
dent body voted not on the Sigma
Kappa resolution, but on a totally
different issue. These little nickle
plated gods took the powers given
them by the administration, and
set out to prove how much power
they could wield. After two years
of fighting Sigma Kappa they
could not back down. We can
only speculate about the' many
other personal biases of these
twelve individuals which influ-
enced their vote. Also, we can only
speculate on their peace of mind,
in the face of their great accom-
plishment.
in the world, the students are
faced with the dilemma that due
to a lack of funds the operating
hours of that library have been cut
drastically. This presents a sad
state of affairs for an enterprising
student.
One of the current educational
theories which is becoming promi-
nent throughout the nation is that
college faculty should not "spoon
feed" the student, but should
merely give him food for thought,
thus encouraging him to work on
Senimore Says ..
his own. According to this philos-
ophy the student should be given
more opportunity for individual
initiative through supervised read-
ing and independent research as-
signments. This philosophy has
much merit to it, but the budget
cut has certainly diminished its
efficacy.
A library is the basic place in a
university in which the student
can study, learn on his own, and
prepare his daily; assignments
(none of which is mutually exclu-
sive). Yet this fountain of knowl-
edge-here I refer specifically to
the Undergradtate Library - is
closed to interested Michigan stu-
dents at relatively early hours.
Patently it is not realistic for
such an institution to be closed
at 6 p.m. on a Friday evening. Any
student who came to the library on
a Friday evening during the past
spring semester found it heavily
attended. The same capn be said
for Saturday afternoon, but never-
theless, on that day the building
is to be closed at one P.M.!
The University budget has been
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