Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Treason! Treason! There, I Said It
Where Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD St, ANN APBOR, MIcH.
Truth Will Prevail
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN MEREDITH
Greek, Natioials-
Looingfor Trouble
By MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH
Acting Editor
HERBERT APTHEKER is gone,
and-thanks to the generous
thought control attempts of the
State Senate-the campus and
the state have survived him. But
there still lurks an influence yet
more insidious, more malign, more
dangerous, more laughable. It is
the spectre of the Birchnut Con-
spiracy.
Like everyone else, I'd almost
forgotten about it. But last week
as I was cleaning out my book-
shelves a black-and-orange paper-
back bundle of Halloween gaiety
fell from an obscure corner: None
Dare Call It Treason, by John A.
Stormer. Our readers will remem-
ber the book was distributed twice
locally by the campus Young
Americans for Freedom in con-
junctionswith the Americanism
Educational League (whatever
that is).
The book is being distributed by
a good many groups in addition to
this one, such as the John Birch
Society and the Organization to
Fight Communism, Inc. (they take
no chances). The major thrust of
what may be politely called its
thesis is that the country is being
enshrouded by a treasonous con-
spiracy.
I TURNED the front cover of
this gaudy little paperback and
noted the first few lines: "The
cold war is real war ...we are
rapidly losing."
Then and there I knew this was
no ordinary tome.
Flipping through its pages, I
noticed a rather disturbing state-
ment from Stormer (p. 55): Lao-.
tian Price Boun Oum, he says,
was the "legal head of the anti-
Communist government of Laos"
in 1962 but "was ordered (by the
U.S.) to give Communists key
positions in the cabinet."
Now, this was disturbing be-
cause rightwing Prince Boun Oum
wasn't the head of the Laotian
government at all-in fact, he
tried to overthrow the legal coali-
tion government, headed by neu-
tralist Prince Souvanna Phouma,
but failed.
After Boun Oum lost, the legal
coalition government (which in-
cluded rightists, neutralists and
Communists as a result of the
1962 Geneva Convention on Laos)
was restored.
AT THIS POINT I was begin-
ning to wonder. How could I trust
"Treason" if all of its statements
had nothing to back them up? But
then I stumbled on a footnote, the
first of 881.
I felt relieved at once. Most of
these Birchnut tracts have about
as much documentation as Yul
Brynner has hair, but this one
looked really solid.
At least it did until I decided
to check a few of the footnotes. I
must admit, as I did at the start,
that some of them didn't seem
impartial. Seventy-nine cited "Hu-
man Events," (which the Anti-
Defamation League called "an
extremely r i g h t is t Washington
newsletter"), some Birchnut pub-
lications, the Dan Smoot Report.
the bulletin of the Birch Society,
of other rightwing literature.
I was unwilling to let Stormer
use himself and his cronies as a
source-but I decided to continue
and see if his other references
were more substantial.
Although I was still eager to
be alerted to the treason which
surrounded me, I then noticed
that 131 of those footnotes re-
ferred to Congressional hearings
or the Congressional record, and
usually didn't say who was testify-
ing or talking.
I love our Congress, but I could
not help remembering that any-
thing, even libel, can be read into
the Record, everything from
Wayne Morse reading the Wash-
ington, D.C., telephone directory,
to Senator Eastland calling Bay-
ard Rustin a communist to (worse
yet-only last week) an editorial
in The Daily has been printed in
the Record.
So, somewhat less enthused, I
looked up things in the Record.
On p. 74, I read: "In 9 months
an estimated 8 million packages
of Communist propaganda mater-
ial . . . were imported in the
United States." P. 2828 of the
March 1 Record was cited.
But while there was a lot of
material on Communist propa-
ganda on p. 2828, I couldn't find
anything at all about an 8 million
package figure.
Nothing daunted, I decided to
keep on, hoping it was a chance
error. On pp. 169-170, I read " ...
an articletby Arthur Schlesinger,
Jr., Assistant to President Ken-
endy. . . . set forth the plan for
achieving socialism in America."
The Record of Feb. 6, 1962, pp.
A881-A884 was the reference cited.
When I had finished plowing
through the stacks in the grad-
uate library to find this one, I
found, on p. A881, this comment
from Schlesinger: "The socialist
state is thus worse than the cap-
italist state because it is more
inclusive in its coverage and more
limited in its power. Organization
corrupts; total organization cor-
rupts totally."
And on p. A884, I read, also
from Schlesinger: "The more var-
ieties of ownership the better;
liberty gets more fresh air and
sunlight through the interstices of
a diversified society rather than
through the close-knit grip of
collectivism. The recipe for re-
taining liberty is not nationaliza-
tion but muddling through."
NOW I WAS beginning to get
more and more suspicious. Ref-
erence 32 of chapter 2 referred to
"House Document 227, p. 4" but
didn't say which session of Con-
gress {there have been 178 of
them) the document came from.
Page 205 said a Communist "al-
ways has been" the United Na-
tions' Undersecretary for Political
and Security Council Affairs-but
didn't give a source at all.
The last straw came when the
author, defendingsSenator Joseph
.McCarthy, gave as one reference
the Congressional Record for Nov.
14, 1951 (reference 29, Chapter 8).
I checked and discovered the Con-
gressional Record for that date
doesn't exist-Congress wasn't in
session.
Thus my reaction to the Birch-
nut Conspiracy is one of some
considerable dubiousness. I imag-
ine the reaction of most respon-
sible conservatives to the Birchnut
is that of Edmund Burke, speak-
ing of a similarly benighted group
nearly 200 years ago: "Wholly
unacquainted with the world in
which they are so fond of; med-
dling, and inexperienced in its
affairs on which they pronounce
with so much confidence, they
have nothing of policies but the
passions they excite."
I suppose the reaction of most
communists would be shorter-but
equally strong: "With enemies like
these, who needs friends?"
*
*
SIGMA CHI FRATERNITY chapters are
in trouble at Stanford, Colorado and La-
fayette and may soon run into difficulty
here with the Interfraternity Council.
Kappa Delta sorority is having problems
at Wisconsin; they, too, may clash soon
with Panhellenic Association's new mem-
bership committee. The question in both
cases is discrimination and the role of na-
tionals in membership selection.
Sigma Chi's national has a bylaw clause
which prohibits any chapter from pledg-
ing or initiating any member who might
be personally objectionable to "any broth-
er or any chapter anywhere." The Stan-
ford chapter was suspended from the na-
tional days before it pledged a, Negro.
Though the national gave a different
rationale, it .seems like Stanford must
have violated this rule since 'more than
30 per cent of Sigma Chi's chapters are
in the South.
The Colorado chapter was suspended
by the Colorado regents because they be-
lieved the rule, coupled with actions taken
by the national, implied discrimination.
The Lafayette chapter threatened to
withdra'w from the national when they
were told they couldn't initiate a pledge of
Korean ancestry.
MTEANWHILE, WISCONSIN is putting
pressure on their Kappa Delta Soror-
ity chapter because the national sorority
president refused to sign a non-discrimi-
nation pledge even though a national
convention of the undergraduate chapters,
approved the move.
The basic question is: should fraterni-
ties and sororities be allowed to discrim-
inate? Further, regardless of the answer
to this question, what control should the
AGood Thing
THE SENATE Advisory Committee on
University Affairs allowed a Daily re-
porter into its monthly meeting yesterday
afternoon. It was the first time a reporter
had been allowed into any formal facul-
ty meeting in recent years.
The admission ,was made conditionally
and then for only a particular portion of
the meeting. But it was still a step to-
ward opening one of the most restricted
information flows at a university where
such flows are notoriously bad.
IT WAS A PROFITABLE experience for
the reporter and, through him, can be-
come a profitable experience for the Uni-
versity community as a whole. In short it
was a wise investment on SACUA's part
and deserves both repetition and emula-
tion.
-LEONARD PRATT
Acting Associate Managing Editor
national organizations have over mem-
bership selection?
If the answer to the discrimination
question is an emphatic no, and I'm not
sure it is, the nationals clearly have no
place in membership selection. Any non-
race, religion, or ancestry discriminatory
requirements, such as academic standing,
are best left to the chapters or the insti-
tutions where they are located so they
can account for the differences between
one campus and another.
HOWEVER, if the answer is that frater-
nities do have extensive rights to dis-
criminate, membership policies still
should remain in the hands of the local
chapters. One of the Greek system's ma-
jor selling points is that they provide
close-knit group living units and perhaps
this is indeed the basis of fraternity life.
Dorms attempt to establish cohesiveness
between their residents with the same
tools used by fraternities-intramural
sports competition, social programs, par-
ticipation in campus activities as a group
and resident government structures.
Apartments allow more freedom than any
fraternity house can offer. But neither
has yet been able to equal fraternities in
forming close-knit groups.
Most if not all contact a member has
with his fraternity is through this living
experience. Contact with the national or
other chapters is minimal, with the pos-
sible exception of the officers.
Nationals provide a name, an assort-
ment of secrets and ritual§, often some
general advice on running a fraternity,
and perhaps some financial aid. But,
while the reason for the existence of a
national organization would seem to be
for serving the needs and interests of the
local chapters, the action of the Kappa
Delta national president is one example
of how nationals often ignore the wishes
of their undergraduate local chapters.
THE WILLINGNESS of the Lafayette
chapter of Sigma Chi to withdraw
from its national indicates that this per-
haps is not enough in exchange for con-
trol of membership policy. The members
of the Lafayette chapter felt it was they
who must decide with whom they wished
to live, and that this is more important
than the services the national provides.
Just as a real estate agent cannot force
the people in each apartment in a build-
ing to conform to the wishes of the peo-
ple in all the other apartments'in select-
ing their roommates, neither should a na-
tional fraternity force the members of
each chapter to comply with the wishes or
prejudices of the members of all the other
chapters in selecting their members.
PERHAPS THE ACTION of the Lafayette
Sigma Chi chapter is the beginning of
a trend. If it is, the nationals deserve it.
-LAURENCE MEDOW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
OFFSET'S Actions Only Normal
i
To the Editor:
THE "CASE of the Offset bribe"
is good, solid American politics
at work. For the record:
Michael Handelman, head of
Offset, did not offer me a bribe.
He did offer me money from Off-
set for my candidacy if I chose
to run for re-election to SGC.
Certainly, Offset desired the elec-
tion of candidates who would vote
favorably on issues such as the
financing of Offset. I chose not
to seek re-election, but asked Mr.
Handelman to consider supporting
other GROUP candidates. He re-
plied that Offset could conscien-
tiously support only Bob Bodkin
and myself and was not buying
votes.
Mr. Handelman did say that
his organization would be solicit-
ing money from SGC and that it
would be nice if I would vote
favorably when the time came.
However, the offered campaign
contribution was in no way de-
pendent on my vote at that time.
Mr. Handelman was guilty of tact-
less honesty-isn't it repugnant
that in the realm of politics tact
and honesty are so often in con-
flict?--and nothing more.
Every student organization which
extends support to candidates is
implicitly if not explicitly trying
to strengthen its own position on
SGC, and anyone who does not
recognize that is naive. Offset is
guilty of being unwisely forth-
right. Again, I was not offered a
bribe.
Further, the whole issue is being
used for political ends by members
of SGC. Student Government
Council is seen by many of its
members as a forum for the prac-
tice of the "cute, unscrupulous
politicking which I find repug-
nant. (Not that I myself was
exemplary when on SGC: I chose
not to seek re-election partly be-
cause of disillusion with SGC and
partly because of disgust with
myself.)bSelfish ambition and
slander, which are elements pres-
ent on both sides of this dispute,
are not defensible. SGC members
have more important and honor-
able things to do.
Steve Daniels, '67
Mitchell Trio
To the Editor:
ONCE MORE I was severely dis-
appointed with the routinely
caustic review printed in Sunday's
"Daily," concerning the perform-
ance of the Mitchell Trio Saturday
night. It does seem that your re-
viewers are actually ashamed to
allow a word of praise to escape
from their lips.
Linnea Hendrickson, who wrote
the review of the Mitchell Trio
concert, obviously is not qualified
to present a true picture of the
trio. The title of the article, "Chad
Mitchell Trio Shallow," is in itself
a display of ignorance on some-
one's part. Miss Hendrickson ob-
viously has not taken the time
or effort to find out what the
members of the trio feel or think.
She says with disdain that "they
were not so much true folk singers
as entertainers."
The fact is that John, Mike, and
Joe will all readily admit that they
are not true folk singers, and con-
stantly stress the fact that their
main purpose is to entertain! If
their songs make people think,
then that's good too. What I'd like
to know is, what's wrong with
entertainment? Have college stu-
dents become so "educated" that
they are above anything less ser -
ious than the inside of a tomb? I
hope not!
MISS HENDRICKSON men-
tions that the members of the
trio don't write their own songs.
That's right-they don't feel qual-
ified to write artistically good
songs, so they don't, which is for-
tunate.Ican't see the point of an
artist writing his own material
unless he is a talented songwriter.
The Mitchell Trio is a singing
group, not a song-writing group,
and I would much rather hear
them offer good songs composed
by other artists than make a poor
attempt at writing their own,
which is what too many contem-
porary folk singers have done.
However, the fact that they did
not write the songs that they pre-
sent in their concerts does not
mean that they are not 100 per
cent behind every musical com-
ment they make. On the contrary,
did Miss Hendrickson talk with
Joe Frazier long enough to find
out that he was a political science
major at college, and is now on
mailing lists of political organiza-
tions both on the right and the
left so that he might better evalu-
ate current problems? When the
trio criticizes people who say, "I
wish this war was over and
through, but what do you expect
me to do?" they mean it, and will
gladly discuss their positions with
anyone who is truly interested in
what the trio is saying.
Miss Hendrickson wasn't even
interested enough to listen care-
fully to the songs presented, for
not once did she quote them cor-
rectly. The trio did not open the
concert with, "I can't help but
wonder when I'm down," but they
did sing, "I can't help but wonder
where I'm bound"-a well-known
song to all folk-music lovers.
"The style of the songs varied
little," she says. That's simply not
true. The members of the trio sang
solos reflecting their individual
interests, and they blended to-
gether beautifully in group num-
bers. They sang with much gusto,
and did equally well in songs re-
quiring the utmost tenderness.
They showed their talent in sing-
ing other tongues-Hebrew, Ger-
man, and even African! (They also
sing equally well in Russian and
Spanish-and of course, the var-
ious American dialects.) How can
Miss Hendrickson say, "the; style
of the songs varied little?"
I THINK the job of a good
reviewer is to evaluate a perform-
ance as objectively as possible,
presenting both sides of the pic-
ture, and in this respect your staff
fails miserably.
-Laura Cote,'68
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40
Ok
The Change in Student Loans
Is Not for the Best
*
THERE HAS BEEN much controversy
in recent weeks over President John-
son's proposal to eliminate federal loans
to students under the National Defense
Education Act (NDEA), and to instead
subsidize loans made by private compa-
nies. The primary objection has been that
students will be hurt by the change, since
banks are not going to be willing to take
the risk of loaning money to a student
from another state, especially when the
principal may not be paid back .for 10
years.
This purely practical objection deals
with only half of the problem inherent
in Johnson's proposal. It is equally im-
portant to ask whether-supposing that
banks and loan companies agreed to the
program-it is ethically fair for the gov-
ernment to take part in such a program.
The popularity of the current admin-
istration has come primarily from the
success of its "War on Poverty" program.
Johnson has continually stressed the ne-
cessity of all-out programs for welfare,
urban redevelopment, and so forth. In
the area of education, he has shown con-
cern for equal opportunities for elemen-
for an increased budget allocation to
subsidize the building of new schools, to
increase the facilities of libraries and lab-
oratories, and to establish and further
graduate programs at universities in fields
requiring specialized training.
THE FEDERAL government's policy,
therefore, seems generally to be one of
securing equal rights of education and
training for all citizens. Further, the
government is promoting training in the
areas demanded for our nation's defense,
primarily the natural sciences. In all of
this, the government has moved into areas
that could conceivably have been left to
private companies and foundations.
Now, all of a sudden, Johnson has an-
nounced that loans to college students
should be switched to private companies,
since they could provide for the need just
as well.
What could have caused this drastic
change in the administration's policy?
One answer may be that the government
is finding that huge expenditures in for-
eign ail to our allies and toward support-
ing our troops in Viet Nam make it un-
ohl to n rr ni+ Q1 o li c 1,i*Qfmin
Russia 's Luna Landing: Not All Answers
By WALLACE IMMEN
SCIENTISTS generally agree that
Russia's recent success in land-
ing a camera-instrumented capsule
on the surface of the moon was a
great accomplishment. Thereis
wide disagreement, however, over
what value the information receiv-
ed has in terms of landing a man
on the moon. The Soviet pictures
definitely answer many questions
which have puzzled scientists for
many years, but many questions
have arisen which all appear to
depend on results of further ex-
perimentation.
Scientists have been at odds
over the character of the moon's
surface and whether or not it is
hard enough to support relatively
heavy objects. Several theories
have been forwarded stating the
moon is not a truly dead 'sphere
as often imagined, but is still in-
ternally active. Another important
question is whether the entire sur-
face is of similar composition.
Many new problems have aris-
en from the luna flight itself. Sci-
Luna program have brought out as
never before the need for a de-
cision :soon on just what type of
legal and ethical code should be
established for space research.
Pictures of three views of the
moon's surface were beamed back
from Luna 9. The signals were
sent in number code which rep-
resented shades of tone from black
to white. These signals were then
fed to a computer and then trans-
lated into pictures.
Supposedly only the Russians
were to get the information, but
an observatory near Jodrell
Bank, England, intercepted the
signals with their huge antenna
and quickly released the pictures
before the Russians had a chance
to announce their achievement.
THE RUSSIANS did not appear
too anxious to release their data,
and it appears they wished to keep
even the flight itself a secret. The
Russian space agency finally did
release their pictures, which de-
spite claims of superiority, were
similar to the English photos. No
far is the fact that the lunar
surface will most likely support
the weight of a spacecraft.
Of key importance here is the
fact that future moon probes will
not need the large landing legs
which were planned to support
early Surveyor vehicles in case
the moon's surface was too dusty
to support a craft on its surface.
This now means a saving in
weight which allows for a more
complete set of instruments to be
included to take more detailed
readings of the properties of the
moon than thought possible.
HAROLD C. UREY, professor of
astronomy at the University of
California and one of the fore-
most authorities on the moon's
composition, commented the pic-
tures were interesting, but would
do little to speed up manned land-
ing attempts. The big problem he
foresees is that in order for us to
save time, data must be exchang-
ed with the Russians to make the
precise calculations necessary to
land a manned shot on the moon
The people who have seen in
Luna basis for a speedup of the
space effort are guilty of dis-
counting too many variables. Be-
sides this we have no guarantee
that the area in which we wish
to land will be similar to the Sea
of Storms, where the Russian
craft landed.
SOVIET SCIENTISTS now claim
that the basaltic lava surface is
the result of volcanic activity
similar to that which occurs on
earth. This finding has been ques-
tioned by American scientists who
feel that the readings of radiation
from the moon are inconsistent
with those of lavas found on earth.
'This low radioactivity would
mean that the surface does not
resemble earth lava at all. They
hypothesize instead that the sur-
face must be subject to a con-
stant shower of meteorite frag-
ments which have blanketed the
moon's surface.
A slight movement of Luna 9
while it was sending pictures hint-
ed that perhaps the surface was
fore they had a successful test.
Many scientists do not expect the
heavily instrumented Surveyor to
be a complete success the first
time.
The American Surveyor system
must be aimed quite accurately
for it operates on solar energy
and must land facing the sun in
a specific manner. This is quite
a difficult task. Further, the an-
tenna must be aimed at the earth.
The craft's orientation must there-
fore be carefully controlled to pre-
vent its landing wrong side up.
Ten Surveyor shots are planned,
to offset the possibility of fail-
ure. The first shot will be made
in May and early flights are de-
signed to eliminate "bugs" before
the final ones are relied upon for
accurate readings. Ine success will
mean little, as a final result de-
pends on an entire series of suc-
cesses.
But the Russians are going
ahead with a similar program to
get the same data through similar
means. As we gain new knowledge
we concurrently go to extreme
1