Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
-Edited and managed by students of-the University of Michigan
under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications
JUST A SONG IN THE WIND
Bernard Forrester was his name
by Jim leck
ynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed n The Mchigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in alt reprints.
SDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: STUART GANNES
HUAC by any other name
is still repression
AST TUESDAY, t h e House of repre-
sentatives voted to change the name
The House Committee on Un-American
ctiyities to the Committee on Internal
curity.
The House also changed the function of
e committee. Instead of investigating
Jn-American Activities," the committee
ill now investigate "Communist and
her subversive activities affecting the
ternal security of the. United States."
The significabnce of this change' w a s
'obably best understood by Rep. Eman-
2l Celler of New York, who said, "An ass
an ass although his loin cloth is satin."
Two of Celler's colleagues from N e w
ork, Allard Lowenstein and Bert Podell,
,iled in their bid to abolish the commit-
e. And once again, attempts at taking
)wn one of the ugliest portraits of un-
emocratic thought in America have lost
the House was content to merely do a
tle retouching on the face of the por-
ait.
'HE COMMITTEE HAS enjoyed a 29
year history consistently marked with
ie worst abuses of authoritarianism.
:UAC history is characterized by a lack
' perception and interest in the differ-
ice between fact and accusation. The
)mmittee has ,shown a flagrant disre-
rd for personal rights. Witnesses have
peatedly been denied the right of cross-
xamination by their attorneys.
A recent report by the Friends Service
ommittee shows that in 1949 HUAC al-
lady had compiled dossiers on one mil-
on people, ostensibly "subversives." Be-
veen 1949 and 1959, the committee sup-
lied information about 60,000 people to
erspective employers.
And in 1966, University students saw
their administration quietly comply to a
subpoena demanding membership lists of
student organizations.
"The Communist Daily Worker is
against this resolution. That's enough to
make me want to be for it," Rep. Delbert
Latta of Ohio said, explaining why he
voted' for the name change. And as long
as this kind of mentality domhnates the
floor of Congress, the new internal se-
curity committee is here to stay.
THE SAD FACT of the matter is t h a t
HUAC has even outworn its effective-
ness for witch hunting. The times have
changed and the new type of "subversion"
is more easily dealt with 'by other agen-
cies.
HUAC was useful for "Commie brand-
ing" when reactionaries had to be ap-
peased by looking for subversives in the
New Deal.
But the field of "subversion" has radi-
cally changed since those .days. Today's
"subversives" resist the draft, conspire to
help others to resist the draft, take part
in demonstrations, and resist civil au-
thorities.
Consequently, HUAC cloak - and - dag-
gerism is no longer necessary to f i n d
"subversives." Local law enforcement
agencies and even the Justice Depart-
ment can put them behind bars, which
is much more effective than compiling
lists of suspects.
The new internal security committee-
whatever alias it may operate under -
will continue to exist in a position an-
tithetical to the principles of a healthy
democracy. But the k i n d of undemon-
cratic repression that the committee re-
presents will exist independent of it..
-STEVE ANZALONE
Madison.
IT WAS AROUND NOON, the demon-
strators had just finished their
march to the capitol and were congre-
gating outside the library mall. T e n
minutes before, d o w n another street
three or four cops had chased and beat-
en some 15-20 students. It was the only
incident of violent confrontation that
day.
One of the witnesses sought out a
CBS news television crew and asked to
be put on film to tell the story. The
cameramen chuckled confidently - as
do all good cameramen in demonstra-
tions (the cops won't dare chargethem)
and turned away.
But the young student was insistent
and extremely emotional. "How will
anyone ever know?" he screamed out.
Finally the suave reporter moved up to
him and said he would tape the story
on his portable tape recorder for use
on radio. The demonstrator spent the
next ten minutes speaking enthusias-
tically into a dead microphone.
THAT NIGHT FOLLOWING a march
on the capitol I grouped with some dem-
onstrators who, had gathered around a
very distinguished-looking elderly man.
The fur coated gentleman with a white
moustache turned out to be an editor
for the Milwaukee Journal and the lit-
tle get-together was a discussion on the
problems of communication.
The communication in the discussion
was pitiful. The students were demand-
ing to have things told "like it is" and
the Journal editor was saying that his
paper did "tell it like it is." No one gave
in. "How will anyone ever know?" was
asked several times.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON at Chancellor
H. Edwin Young's only news conference
since the demonstrations h a d begun,
several dozen reporters and cameras
crowded a long narrow room spacing
themselves between national guardsmen
who, among other duties, were helping
to man the coffee percolators.
But Young was disappointing, he
claimed everything the blacks were de-
manding, the school had already given
them.
But this absurdity degenerated even
further into a pitiful situation when lo-
cal newsmen began asking questions.
For the newsmen, who I hope are not
college graduates, dominated the press
conference with such irrelevant ques-
tions as, "Did you know Tom Hayden is
on campus?" or, "Have any communists
been identified?" and of course: "What
do you intend to do with the protest-
ers?"
I took a second gander at those news-
men to see perhaps if the El-Fatah or
Mao secret service had infiltrated them
and if these outside agitators were try-
ing to disrupt the orderly dissemination
of information.
BUT THE HIGHLIGHTS of the news
conference came when an NBC news-
man strutted up and down his three by
one foot space, microphone in hand,
Benson and' Hedges between his pinky
and thumb and asked: (looking down at
the floor) "Tell me, Chancellor Young,
have there been any threats on t h e
lives of the administrators?"
Every camera began to roll because
that was one of the most important
questions. It was obvious by now no one
even thought the blacks, or the strikers
or even the faculty - had anything
newsworthy to say.
Young leaned back in his chair and
answered, "Yes, there have been some,"
waited just long enough for the cam-
eras to stop rolling and then continued,
"But of course we aren't able to discern
whether they are from the protesters,
the Hayakawas or . . . state legisla-
tors." We all laughed, but only the first
part of the answer reached the 100.000
in the television audiences.
GIVEN *THIS IMPENETRABLE bar-
rier to communication at Madison it is
not difficult to understand why the stu-
dent subculture there) is so highly "hip."
There is no other way to be and still feel
relevant. In essence, of course, it is an
acknowledgement of failure in com-
munication with the official overlords.
To be freaky in Madison is an admitted
copout compounded by a tinge of bit-
terness.
One such idealist sat next to me at
one of the morning meetings in the un-
ion. I had just arrived and looked over
to her to ask the name of one of the
speakers on the platform. Despite h e r
smile, she resembled perfectly Grant
Wood's woman farmer dressed in denim
and bellbottoms.
"You don't know who that is?" she
asked angrily, shaking her head.
During her personal tirade with mhe Ir
managed to explain I had just arrived,
was not of the petty bourgeois press
but a decent - half-decent - reporter
from an "objective college daily" thatr
would beyond any doubt "try to tell it
like it is baby.",
THE GUY'S NAME was Bernard for-
rester and the coed next to me was a
nice kid who was- just not used to re-
porters asking her relevant questions.
In between the morning speeches she
vividly recounted the whole week with
her hip jargon of wows, mais, and beau-
tifuls.
Sally is a loner, she says. Never found
a guy on campus to live with and never
expects to. Has a rooni above a co-op on
Johnson St. and was spending her time
in Madison "trying to find myself a
groove in the world." She says eve'ry-
thing she thinks and her face gives it
away before she can even think about
how to say it.
There a r e thousands of Sally's on
campus. Unless mobilized into a group
they are outwardly reserved, but always
inwardly ecstatic.
A PHOTOGRAPHER AND I were try-
ing to find the place at which we were
staying at 2 a.m. ,one morning and got
lost. We roamed the capitol at some
length. The town was empty and cold
and deserted until we reached the stu-
dent ghetto south of the capitol.
Inside a dilapidated house with a pot-
belly so f a and Christmas tree lights
flickering silently. Beatles albums and
dogs, home-made bread and twiggy
posters - it was all m u c h different
from the straight-laced town proper.
This trend toward the hippy will
probably escalate with each confronta-
tion that ends in failure at Madison.
The students there are trying desper-
ately to bargain for their lives, a n d
when they are met with in loco par-
entis rationale for communication bar-
riers they fade into that, "other" di-
mension. In that realm of long hair and
polka dot bell-bottoms they are too high
for their overlords to understand them,
and thus, a little less vulnerable.
H. Edwin Young
Madison news distorted
[E NEWS COVERAGE of the recent
demonstrations in Wisconsin w a s
antly propagandistic against the dem-
trators there. The actual news that
ie from Madison was so distorted that
wds as large as 8,000 were sometimes
orted to be as small as 300 (Capitol
tes, Feb. 14).1
ut the distortion is spreading ram-
.t. Even columnists are grabbing onto
barest of information to make gross
eralizations and flimsy conclusion to
demn the protesters.
case in point is the Neiy York Post
imnist Mary McGrory. This Post col-
Qist has usually reflected an accurate,
omewhat biasly tainted, comment op
news.
E CLAIMS, "At Madison the militants
have presented a list of demands that
ld have made Rap Brown plush."
he.truth of the matter is that repre-
tatives from SNCC were shoved out by
cousin militants after a ,tiff, the
SNCCers claiming the issues\ involved
were "obsessively trite."'
And for SNCC, the black demands at
Wisconsin are trite. Compared with de-
mands at other colleges this past year'
(the University, Northwestern, Illinois,
Wisconsin State colleges, Wayne S t a t e
University,\ Howard, NYC and many
more) the blacks' 'demands seem about
five years behind the times.
For unlike Miss McGrory reports, the
Madison blacks are n o t demanding a
"blacks only" center - which has been
demanded 'at other colleges. Nor are they'
demanding 'ari autonimous, segregated
black studies department -4 as Miss Mc-
Grory implies.
Miss McGrory is typical, unfortunately.'
The dissemenation of correct information
is essential in matters such as Madison's
recent demonstrations. The slightest dis-
tortion, can set tempers going on b o t h
VILA ,GU~~
BV4IrgpuL
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following,
letter was sent to Gov. William Mil-
liken and President Fleming.)
I ASSUME that the LSA college's
decision to once again cut outstate
admissions is a result of the un-
educated pressure of the State
Legislature. It is a sad state of af-
fairs when politicians can so di-
rectly alter the quality of our
student body. Don't get upset
Michiganders! You do realize that
there are two sets of admission
standards and I'm sure that many
of you could qualify in either case.
What is even more upsetting
is that a reduction in outstate en-
rollment increases tuition for all
of us. I can readily accept th e
idea of differential tuition. scales
since the University is legally, and
to a great extent financially, a
state institution. But the real dis-
torted logic of the legislature is
that the University is of the peo-
ple and for the people of the
State.
IF THESE "EDUCATORS" did
Letters: A defense of outsiders
,.
*
a little research they might find
that the peicentage of instate stu-
dents who .leave the state upon
graduation is quite substantial-
probably higher than any other
state university. And it appears
that they don't even consider the
fact that many outstate students
continue to reside in and serve the
state of Michigan.
it is about time that the State
raalize the effects of their ignor-
ant decisions, I would further hope
that they would face the fact
that the University has done more
for the' reputation of this s t a t e,
than the state has done, as of late,
for the reputation of the Univer-
sity.
Charles E. Pascal, Grad.
Feb. 12
Brittany
To the Editor
I WOULD LIKE to pass on a re-
cent incident that happened in
a French class I teach:
Brittany came up in discussion.
,Who knows were Brittany Is? A
couple look dubious, the rest look
blank. When I tell them where,
looks of recognition on a few
faces. What happened in Brit-
tany recently? Nothing - empty
stares.
I asked, Who reads newspapers?
A couple of people said, sort of.
Question: how is education to
be' made relevant if students; have
nothing to related it to? People who
have had a liberal education are
supposed to be knowledgeable
about the world, and not allof the
responsibility for this rests with
their teachers.
-Mrs. 1o Shuchat
Isehing Fellow
R ace languages
Feb. 5
All letters should be address-
ed to the editor. They should
be typewritten, triple-spaced,
and not longer than 300 words.
'V
sides and can do nothing
tense situation.
but inflame a
-JIM HECK
Infurina, opaque corn and algae: Food for a developing L
vorid
F
By STEVE KOPPMAN
Second Of Two Parts
[HE LARGE BODY of experts who
feel that massive famine can be
verted in the next twenty years
lace their hopes not with the long-
ange effort to control population
rowth, nor with the elusive search
>r international co-operation, but
'ith the application of modern fartn-
ig methods.
In Africa and Latin America, there
i still arable land not under culti-
ation. But, in Asia where the great-
st calamity threatens, and where al-
lost all cultivable land is being used,
he approach must be to increase
Lelds.
Remarkably productive high-yield
rains of wheat and rice have been
eveioped, in Mexico and the Phil-
pines, respectively. Already, ten per
cent of Asia's farmland is being used
for such "miracle crops." And in
1968, Asia recorded her first per
capita increase in food consumption
in a decade.
THE POTENTIAL of modern agri-
cultural technology-irrigation, fer-
tilizer, high-yield seeds modern ma-
chinery-is enormous. In many na-
tions, yields have already been great-
ly increased by their application.
Mexico, Taiwan, Israel, Pakistan and
Thailand have had notable successes.
"If the short-run success of these
yields continue," says Dr Leslie Cor-
sa, director of the Population Plan-
ning Center, "It should be at least
ten, and probably twenty years be-
fore population increase collides with
food production."
"The breakthrough in food pro-
duction is giving these countries
a breathing spell to' work in popula-
tion planning," Prof. Eva Mueller of
the economics department says.
But, still, the benefits of agricul-
tural technology remain more a
promise than a reality in most of the
developing world.
THE NEW TECHNOLOGY must,
to a large extent, be developed in the
country in which it is to be used. A
strain of seeds, for example, which
works very well in the U.S., may
fail dismally in India, where it faces
different soil and different climate.
Similarly, new strains must develop
iesistance to indigenous insects and
rodents, if they are to survive.
The obstacles to manufacturing
and distributing the tools of the
new technology to millions of scat-
tered peasants are phenomenal. A
country which has no surplus to
speak of has nothing to spend on
factories to build tractors, on irri-
gration systems, etc. Developing na-
tions often choose to invest their
small surplus in industry rather than
-a tvim f,-
back on if the new seeds fail. A man
who has lived all his life in an un-
changing milieu is understandably
reluctant to risk his precarious exist-
ence on what seems to him, experi-
ments.
Government pricing policies which
make food cheap in the cities at the
farmer's expense further reduce his
incentive for trying new things, as
do land ownership systems which
force him to turn over any profits
he may earn to the wealthy land-
owner.
Generally the new seeds require
more water and fertilizer. The new
methods require a different type of
cultivation. This all forces the pea-
sant to learn a whole new way of
working.
Running water is resisted in peasant
communities because it replaces the
well, which served as the village so-
cial center. Vietnamese farmers ob-
ject to the Filipino rice strain because
it has a shorter stalk than they are
accustomed to, and this forces them
to bend down too far.
WHEN STEEL PLOWS requiring
+he ne of two hands were introduced
and are freer from tlhe traditional
frame of mind, so they reap the ini-
tial benefits of better yields.
The introduction of better farm
methods prior to the establishment
of an industrial base in a nation
further raises the problem: Where do
all those hands no longer needed
on the farm go to? So- efforts to im-
prove crop yields without simultane-
ous industrial development raise the
crisis of wholesale dislocations of
people.
ALTHOUGH agricultural modern-
ization is the world's best hope for
avoiding massive starvation in the
near future, it is questionable wheth-
er (in Asia especially) the new meth-
religious restrictions and traditional
taboos, which often deprive people of
highly nutritive foods at their door-
step, One of the grosser examples
of this is India, where cattle, instead
of serving as a severly needed pro-
tein source, are encouraged to pros-
per and multiply, thus competing
with the human population for the
limited available resources. -
Nutritionists aim to combat the
traditional low protein cereal-grain
diet of most of the developing world,
with new foods rich in protein.
IN SOUTH AMERICA, a new
variety 'of corn, known as opaque,
has been developed which contains
large amounts of the essential amino
ficial ponds, prbviding a source of
protein to people far from the sea.
The richest potential source of
protein may be the sea itself- algae,
and seaweed in particular.
The chief problem has been in
making these new food, palatable.
Besides their strange appearance,
they have been frequently rejected
for their tastelessness.
While we may be able to harvest
tons of tasty algae in 2000, the prob-
lem of today can only be met with
rapid agricultural development. It is
only with more food that the hungry
of the world can be fed. But, can a
worldwide mobilization toward this
end succeed?
"NEITHER SLOGANS, nor good
intentions, nor revolutionary calls,
nor pronouncements- of doom will
solve the problem," says D.r Ronald
Freedman, director of the Popula-
tion Studies Center. "What are need-
ed now are carefully planned, long-
range programs by the underdevel-
oped nations for themselves."
Either the challenge will be met,
and the delicate balance maintained,
_r eer D an^"_ _ar "fi19
"'Neither slogans, nor good intentions, nor revo-
lutionary calls, nor prouncements of doom will solve
the problem. . . What are needed now are carefully
planned long-range programs by the underdeveloped
nations for theinselves.''
..S t+'::"'::" tm:':'. ...'.. .^Ar.,t A .. t}
4
nds can he adonted.auickly enough to
acid lysine. Concentrated protein is