,.
Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Society's
Values: An Ideal in Sight
0
s Are Free. - 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN APBOR, Mic-i.
Prevail
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This gnas t be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1966
NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD PRATT
Socal Ref orm:
The Poor Get Poorer
CRITICISM of a society's spiri-
tual values and way of life
offers little, if viable alternatives
are not offered. Therefore, we
must attempt to formulate some
solution to the ideological rigidity
and moral insensitivity which
seems to be overtaking the United
States.
The failure of our society to
achieve a workable balance be-
tween preoccupation with material
expansion (a concern of all mod-
ern industrial nations) and suffi-
cient attention to moral and ethi-
cal precepts seems to be at the
root of many of our problems,
from the war in Viet Nam to
the alienation which grips many
citizens of our large urban centers.
Many of the symptoms of this
social malaise were described in
this space last week. The pent-up
frustrations which have developed
in our technologically sophisticat-
ed civilizationyearn for expression
--through the underground cin-
ema, the discotheque, or the wild
abandon of a surf beach on a
cloudless summer afternoon.
LIKEWISE, the ills of our so-
ciety cry out for a wave of clean-
sing purification. As a first step,
the concerned and committedtin-
dividuals who make up a substan-
tial minority of the University
community must find a way to ef-
fectively communicate their dis-
content to society at large. So
far, they have not been successful
in this task, though they have
managed to spread their distaste
for the Viet Nam war to broader
segments of society-including a
substantial number of influential
Senators and other figures in pub-
lic life who were silent until the
protest movement gave them the
cue. (Where were Sen. Fulbright
and George Kennan six months
ago?)
Ironically, the instrument of
mass communication which has
done most to popularize banal
"camp" and mindless trivia-tele-
vision - may have contributed
more than its expected share to
the growing great debate about
Viet Nam. But we cannot expect
television to help us any further,
even to grant us a few hours of
Viet Nam debate. A sacrificial
lamb in the form of a powerful.
crusading journalist, C.B.S. News
President Fred Friendly, close as-
sociate of the late Edward R.
Murrow, had to be offered up to
the Madison Avenue jackals.
HOW THEN, can those who are
dissatisfied with many of modern
America's values and mores com-
municate their feelings to the
rest of the nation? Primarily
through distinguished scholars,
politicians, artists and other pub-
lic figures who have gained some
HOWEVER GOOD the intentions of so-
cial reformers today maybe it is com-
mon that social welfare programs are im-
plemented by taxes which place the great-
est burden on the economically weakest.
While the most viable means would be to
tax the rich most heavily to institute so-
cial reforms, it usually happens that the
lower classes subsidize the rich. In other
words, the social reforms of the twentieth
century have been largely regressive.
The economic environment which is
most conducive to this socio-economic
irony is that which exists at this time in
the state of Michigan. Its archaic system
for gathering funds for allotment to its
various well-intended social programs is
largely based on its sales and excise tax-
es. When a state depends almost exclu-
sively upon regressive, flat-rate taxes, as
does Michigan, there are bound to be
economic and social repercussions.
The reasons are obvious: 1) A sales tax
is essentially regressive, deriving the same
amount from rich and poor;' 2) When
there is no graduated income tax within
a state, the greatest part of the state's
revenue comes from similar regressive
taxes; 3) although the state receives its
income solely on the basis of these flat-
rate taxes, it is still expected to devote the
same attention to social reform as are
other states which have both kinds of
revenues; 4) thus, the sales tax increases
as the need for social reform increases-
likewise, the taxpayer's net income de-
creases as the need for social reform in-
creases.
CONFLICT, then, is apparent in the
present system, As the financial im-
petus behind social reform must come
from the upper class, any social reform
which is maintained by the economic re-
sources of the lower class itself does not
fit the definition of social reform and is,
in fact, detrimental to the cause for
which social reform is instituted. This is
the case with twentieth century social
reform in toto.
The essential fact in this conflict is
that the lower class cannot bear the bur-
den of a flat rate sales and excise tax.
While such a tax may not severely reduce
the income of a middle-class family,
when viewed as a percentage of the total
net Income, it becomes apparent that the
lower class is bearing the greatest burden
of social reform rather than reaping the
greatest benefits. The benefits are, in-
deed, equalled If not superceded by the
cost. Thus the ideal intentions of the
state's social renovation programs are
thwarted because of the state's outmoded
economic system.
It is clear, then, that rather than bene-
fitting from such welfare programs, the
under-privileged are severely exploited.
A GOOD EXAMPLE of this kind of irony
of intentions and results is that of
Faxon's three proposals presented to the
Legislature yesterday. He presented the
state with three new channels for the
state budget: 1) tuition; 2) housing, and
3) university bookstores, All three are in-
tended to make higher education more
feasible to the lower class individual. Of
Acting Editoral Staff
MARK r. KILLINGSWORTH, Editor
BRUCE WASSERSTEIN, Executive Editor
CLARENCE FANTO HARVEY WASSERMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
JOHN MEREDITH :....... Associate Managing Editor,
LEONARD PRATT.......Associate Managing Editor
BABETTE COHN.................Personnel Director
CHARLOTTE WOLTER .... Associate Editoral Director
ROBERT CARNEY........Associate Editorial Director
ROBERT MOORE................. Magazine Editor
CHARLES VETZNER ...................Sports Editor
JAMES LaSOVAGE ........Associate Sports Editor
JAMESTINDALL...........Associate Sports Editor
GIL SAMBERG.........,. .. Assistant Sports Editor
SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Bob McFarland, Howard
Kohn, Dan Okrent,. Dale Sielaff, Rick Stern, John
Sutkus.
ASSISTANT DAY EDITORS: Richard Charin. Jane
Dreyfuss, Susan Elan, Shirley Rosick, Robert Shiller,
Alan Valusek.
Acting Business Staff
SUSAN PERLSTADT .............. Business Manager
JEFFREY LEEDS ........ Associate Business Manager
SO UND)
AND FURY
By CLARENCE F ANTO
course, it's long-range goal is greater so-
cial mobility. Yet I doubt that it will have
any real success, either long or short-
range. I do not believe that it will suc-
ceed in lowering the average family in-
come of students here from its present
$16,000 mark. Indeed, no legislation
which is introduced into the pervading
economic environment will have any suc-
cess in promoting social mobility.
Subsidizing in-state students without
regard for need is, in its lack of economic
discrimination, grossly irresponsible. Paid
for by the sales tax which inflicts an in-
tolerable burden on the poor of this state,
such state subsidies would create a closed
and unalterable path for the capital
which implements such a plan. The mon-
ey would pass from the state to the poor
ad infinitum.
THE IDEA of state-built low-cost hous-
ing in Ann Arbor and other state uni-
versity towns is a well-directed effort on
the part of the state. Yet, while it will
place the University in a more tenable
bargaining position with the local real-
tors, the expense will be absorbed by the
poor. They will be paying for the bene-
fits which are supposedly being given
them by the state.
Instead of building more low-cost
housing, giving those of higher income
more money to spend on the "lighter"
side of life, why not institute a policy
whereby the low-cost university housing
now in existence goes to students on the
basis of need? Having state-subsidized
housing will, no doubt, lead to lower cost
housing from private realtors as well, but
is it worth the price? Ask the people who
will pay for it.
It's all very well to say that the fed-
eral government will probably subsidize
the state for this project, but the initial
impetus and the maintenance of the
project must come from the present state
budget which has shown itself to be in-
equitable and detrimental to social re-
form.
THE IDEA OF HANDING the University
50 cents for each of its students in
order to entice it into instituting a stu-
dent bookstore is another well-directed
action. Yet it will not serve its intended
purpose; it will, like the rest, hinder it.
It will not even guarantee that a book-
store will be established. It will merely
indicate that the 50 cents per head is
there if the University cares to use it for
such a purpose.
And once more, this vague suggestion
that a student bookstore would be nice is
paid for by those who are supposedly
reaping the greatest benefits. It is made
possible by those who are supposed to
get a college education more cheaply in-
stead of at a greater expense.
r'HE CONFLICT is that viable social re-
form is impossible under a system of
regressive taxation. The poor will never
benefit from a program for which they
bear the greatest financial burden. Thus,
before any meaningful social reform can
be instituted, the state's entire economica
structure must be revamped to include a
system of progressive taxation.
-J. RUSSELL GAINES
Moving
For Cloture
WHILE INDIA may be having its trou-
bles with agricultural production, its
lawmakers have progressed beyond the
filibuster in methods of blocking legisla-
tion:
Not content with giving an Indian
Bronx cheer from a back bench during
the reading of the state budget in the
West Bengal assembly, opposition mem-
ber, Kamal Ghua, snatched the text from
Finance Minister Sailo Mukherjee.
He ran around waving the offensive
document in the face of Mukherjee sup-
porters, who in turn began to chase him.
His fellow opposition members demon-
. .. . . . .
measure of national respect and
who share many of our feelings.
Fulbright and Sen. Wayne Morse
are among the politicians in this
group, as are Sen. Robert Ken-
nedy, and Sen. Frank Church.
Among scholars, we find historian
Henry Steele Commanger; among
artists, poet Robert Lowell; among
playwrights, Arthur Miller, only to
mention some of the key figures in
the growing chorus of dissent from
America's proclaimed policies, dis-
sent based on ideals which are a
far cry from the realities to be
found in the workings of her so-
ciety.
To be sure, these individuals
speak only to a portion of Ameri-
can society, the portion which al-
ready agrees with them, But their
voice sometimes also f i l t e r s
through to the "other" America-
the land of self-satisfied suburb-
anitesnwho lead the life of "no-
where men in a nowhere land."
SURPRISINGLY, some elements
of mass culture do serve to spread
challenging and dissident ideas to
a large audience. The new popular
music, especially the branch of it
known as "folk-rock," expresses
these sentiments in sometimes
moving, often banal lyrics and
harmonies. However, one should
not underestimate the effect the
writer-singer Bob Dylan has had
on youthful America, not to speak
of his disciples with unlikely
names such as The Turtles, Sonny
and Cher and the Byrds.
These popular artists, who have
amassed record sales in the tens
of millions, speak with the voices
of dissatisfied Americans. Some
are sincere; others are simply
seeking to cash in on the new
trend, in typical American fa-
shion: but, motivations notwith-
standing, their message carries
across the country loud and clear.
Sometimes exaggerated or con-
fused, the lyrics of many popular
songs carry unprecedented and
unique themes for a mass cultural
expression- disenchantment with
the "well-respected man about
town, doing the best things, so
conservatively," with contempor-
ary values and standards.
CAN THE combined effects of
scholars and artists upon the in-
tellectual minority and of "folk-
rock" singers upon a larger group
of young American help bring
about a meaningful exchange of
views on values. goals and the na-
tional purpose?
This result seems well within
the realm of possibility. But until
the nation has a new set of lead-
ers who are attuned to the mani-
festations of discontent. it seems
unlikely that a basic change in
government policies can be ef-
fected.
As far as the values of Ameri-
can society are concerned, it re-
mains to be seen whether young
protestors will still be striving for
change 20 years from now, or
whether they will bow to the crass
demands and the irrelevant super-
ficialties of the society their elders
helped create. Here, perhaps, is
the real key to the likelihood of
meaningful change in the Ameri-
can national character.
WE HAVE NOT spelled out a
specific list of values or mores
which should be adopted for,
American society, since these dif-
fer for each individual. But these
self-determined values will un-
doubtedly share a common dedi-
cation to tolerance for differing
ideologies, political systems and
moral standards; a dedication to
the principle of social justice and
equality; and a concentration upon
the unparalleled beauties which a
deeply felt philosophy of life con-
fers upon its holder.
M
criminals. The aim of isolation
should be to cure, not to cripple.
Felonious crimes, including homi-
cide, should carry a mandatory
sentence of at least one yearrin-
carceration and extensive treat-
ment, with parole to be given by
a prison board of specialists, penal
authorities and elected laymen
who would determine the extent
of an individual's reehabilitation
progress.
WHEN FORMULATING policies
to dealt with the deviant individual
and his society, it might be best
to keep in mind the words of one
who knew their problems inti-
mately:
"They hunger emotionally.
They need love. They need to
feeel wanted; they want to be-
long."
These words were written by Caryl
Chessman.
i
Suggestions for Penal Reo
By DAVID KNOKE
Last of a Two Part series
IN 1952, TWENTY-TWO year-old
Paul Crump shot and killed a
guard during an attempted rob-
bery of a Chicago bank. Crump
was sentenced to death and sent
to the Cook County penitentiary
to wait execution.
He was placed in Death Row, a
special series of cells for prisoners
awaiting c a p i t a 1 punishment.
Crump immediately became the
instigator of a riot in which pris-
oners smashed furniture, lit fires
and barred prison officials from
entering the Death Row.
After a lengthy seige, the riot
was broken and Crump and twelve
others were thrown into solitary
confinement. Prison warden Jack
Johnson said of Crump at that
time that he "was choked up
with hatred. He was animalistic
and belligerent. Self-preservation
was the only law he knew."
TEN YEARS LATER, with
Crump's 15th execution date ap-
proaching, Warden Johnson told
newsmen: "Should society demand
Paul's life at this point, it would
be capital vegeance, not punish-
ment. If it were humanly possible,
I would put Paul back on the
street tomorrow. I have no fear
of any antisocial behavior on his
part. I would stake my life on it
and I would trust him with my
life." A few days later Illinois
Gov. Otto Kerner commuted
Crump's sentence to ife imprison-
ment without parole.
Crump was one of the lucky
ones; legal executions in the
United States each year usually
fall below a dozen, but Crump's
case was the first in which "re-
habilitation of character" was
recognized as grounds for avoid-
ing capital punishment. Many
condemned men do not have the
d r i v e, nor t h e intelligence
(Crump's IQ was 165) nor the
assistance of personally involved
officials like Warden Johnson to
begin the effort of making them-
selves social contributors rather
than social burdens.
What had happenedrin the ten
years of appeals, reprieves and
court battles to change this vio-
lent, inhuman product of a broken
slum home into the rehabilitated,
socially useful person that Warden
Johnson described?
WHAT DID HAPPEN w as some-
thing of a modern miracle--the
elimination of an unwanted per-
sonality without the physical de-
struction of the criminal. Crump,
co-operating with Johnson and
other prison sociologists and psy-
chologists, began to educate him-
self and through his reading,
"started seeing that some of the
kind things just didn't happen to
me by accident but because of
the good will of people and their
belief in the goodness of man."
Crump wrote a book, "Burn,
killer, Burn." He was allowed to
work with other prisoners; he
stopped fights, counseled 14-year-
old kids to go straight, worked
with epileptics and organized
blook donation drives among the
inmates. Public awareness and
sympathy were aroused in Crump's
favor and he finally achieved of-
ficial recognition of his complete
transformation by the communta-
tion of his sentence.
CAPITAL punishment, unfortu-
nately, remains the maximum pen-
alty for violators of social con-
duct in 37 states. The subordinate
penalties and most prisons and
penitentiaries are constructed on
the premise that the transgressor
of the law must be isolated from
society to prevent further injury
to society. It is also believed that
he merits corporal punishment in
equivalent degree to the crime he
has committed.
As a result, the prisoners in
this country serve their sentences
with meagre and ineffectual re-
habilitationtreatment, and two-
thirds eventually return to prison
with an increased criminal record.
As Ruth Leigh remarks in
"Man's Right to Life" the substi-
tute of a life sentence for capital
punishment is inadequate. It may
demoralize prisoners who have no
hope of returning to a useful
function in society and thus create
serious problems for prison admin-
istration. Hugo =Bedatt, in "The
Death Penalty in America" re-
marks that life imprisonment may
in many cases be a more cruel
punishment than a swift, merciful
death.
THE ALTERNATIVE to these
methods, rehabilitation, neverthe-
less remains relatively unexplored.
Much research and experimenta-
tion is needed in this area. How-
ever, some suggestions for steps in
this direction mright be appropriate
to stimulate thought about more
humane treatment:
" "Hopeless" mental defectives
and compulsive homicidal maniacs
should be hospitalized and treated
until they show improvement, if
at all.
t Prison facilities should be re-
structured and the role of the
prison in the community should be
formed in the image of a social
assistance institution; the objec-
tives of the prison should be to
reach potential criminal elements
before they become a burden to
society; the prison social-worker
should assist the rehabilitated per-
son to find a place in society when
he is released.
f =Research on methods of pre-
venting crimes and curing socially
sick personalities should be in-
creased, with public moral and fi-
nancial support.
f The criminal code statutes
should be revised to conform to
a more humanitarian attitude to
06
Unconditional Surrender?
THE key question in the senate
hearings has been whether the
administration, which says that it
wants a negotiated settlement, has
in fact committed itself to a pol-
icy which requires the uncondi-
tional surrender of the enemy.
Thisais the question which is at
the root of the profound concern
of the senators.
It is also, most certainly, the
question which is worrying the
country.
The question was not answered
definitely in the hearings. Gen.
Maxwell Taylor and, Secretary
Dean Rusk kept insisting that the
administration was fighting a lim-
ited war, that its objectives and
its targets were limited and that
it is earnestly seeking to engage
Hanoi in discussions and negoti-
ations.
IT HAS REMAINED for Sen.
---
Today
and
Tomorrow
By WALTER LIPPMANN
Robert Kennedy to raise the de-
cisive question about a negotiated
settlement, which is, whether the
administration is prepared to ne-
gotiate with its adversaries in the
field.
We have learned promptly from
the immediate reactions of Messrs.
Bunday, Ball and Humphrey that
the administration is not prepared
to negotiate with its adversaries in
the field. It does want to negoti-
ate with Hanoi, but not with the
Viet Cong unless the Viet Cong is
acknowledged to be nothing more
than the instrument of the Hanoi
government.
This position is in fact a de-
mand for the unconditional sur-
render of the Viet Cong, which
constitutes at least three-quarters
of the military forces arrayed
against us in the field-and it is
a demand for the unconditional
recognition of Gen. Nguyen Cao
Ky's government as the only ;po-
litical power in South Viet Nam.
No one is entitled to claim that
he is in favor of a negotiated set-
tlement of the war unless he is
prepared to negotiate with all his
important adversaries who are en-
gaged in the fighting. Sen. Ken-
nedy has gone to the heart of the
matter in fixing public attention
on the simple truth that if the
administration wants to negotiate
it will have to negotiate with the
enemy who is in fact arrayed
against us .
THIS DOES NOT MEAN, it
seems to me, that the United
States itself should negotiate with
the Viet Coug for the purpose of
forming a coalition government
in South Viet Nam. A negotiated
settlement of the war in South
Viet Nam will have to be negotiat-
ed by the South Vietnamese, and
our policy should be to refrain
from vetoing it.
We shall have to cease putting
our whole influence and support
behind Gen. Ky who refuses to
negotiate. The makings of a
South Vietnamese negotiated set-
tlement have long been present
just under the surface in South
Viet Nam.
Tha rn~.rtnm ,,irmilinnalha
only live option we have ever had
in Southeast Asia. It is to help
provide the material means by
which a united Viet Nam-prob-
ably under the rule of Ho Chi
Minh who is the one national
leader of that country-could be
neutral and militarily independent
as regards China.
THE PARTISANS of our pres-
ent course will do well to study
carefully Hanson Baldwin's article
in Monday's New York Times. It
deals with the present condition
of our combat forces. Baldwin is
not only the leading military cor-
respondent in contemporay jour-
nalism, but he has always been,
and probably still is, a hawk in
the Vietnamese debate.
He tells us that "The nation's
armed services have almost ex-
iausted their trained and ready
military units, with all available
froces spread dangerously thin in
Viet -Nam, supported by strong air
and naval forces, and the mainte-
nane of two divisions in Korea,
more than five in Europe and of
smaller units elsewheer, including
the Dominican Republic, have re-
duced the forces in the United
States to a training establish-
ment."'
This report poses for the Pres-
ident the enormously difficult
question of how much longer he
can overrule the Joint Chiefs of
Staff on a limited mobilization of
reserve forces. It also poses the
question of whether Secretary
Rusk realizes what he is staying
when he tells us we have some
40 unilatetral military commit-
ments and that we'must be pre-
pared to fulfill them all.
How can the American people
have confidence in an administra-
tion which expands its commit-
ments to the extent that Secre-
tary Rusk expands them in the
face of the condition of the mili-
tary forces?
BALDWIN'S ARTICLE r a is e s
the question, too, whether Secre-
tary Rusk realizes what he is say-
ing when he keeps telling us that
the credibility of all our alliances
all over the word is at stake in
South Viet Nam. Can he really
believe that our value as an ally
in Europe rises when we have to
draw more and more trained men
out of our armed forces in Europe
and to replace them with untrain-
ed men?
Rusk has entangled himself in
the error failing to realize that
it is not what the United States
f4
A3
* A
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