Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVERSTTY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Tolkein Book Draws Mixed Reaction
ere Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARB, MICH,
Truth Wil Prevail
Nevus Pt-ioNE.: 764-0552
'itorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
JNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1966 NIGHT EDII'OR MICHAEL HEFFER
the Exchange Proposal:
An Idea Suffocates
IN THE COMPLICATED channels of the Exchange participants could also learn
University bureaucracy, ideas do not first hand how other schools are handling
always meet a publicized death. Some problems the University is facing, such
suffocate. as crystallization of student opinion,
So seems to be the fate of a suggestion evaluation of courses, and student parti-
made last spring by the Harvard Under- cipation in college decision-making.
graduate Council that several colleges
around the nation weigh the possibility THE COMPLICATIONS of an inter-
of a reciprocal student exchange pro- change program within the United
gram. States must not be overlooked, however.
The proposal, which was last describ- There are serious questions which must be
ed as being "under consideration by the hammered out: which year would be best
Honors Council Steering Committee," was for an exchange; for how long would it
intended to broaden the educational ex- last; what could be done with the tri-
perience through geographical and aca- mester versus quarter overlap; ;how much
demic diversity. would it cost; can credits be exchanged
at face valte?
THE HARVARD Undergraduate Council And within the University community,
told The Daily last spring that it had there is a problem of which is the proper
sent copies of the proposal to Chicago, body to decide upon the proposal? Per-
Davidson, Pomona, ard several other in- haps the Honors Council Steering Com-
stitutions.omittee, which was at the bottom of the
administrative sliding board that the pro-
Atee posal originally took, could continue its
tedrumming up support for its idea abortive "investigation."
ran into resistance from the Harvard ad- The Literary College Steering Commit-
ministration, which. seemed to frown tee could begin a discussion of exchange
upon most kinds of exchange programs. possibilities. Even Student Government
Any continuation of the program, a.Har- Council could add a discussion of an in-
vard source indicated, would have to ter-college exchange to its marathon
come from one of the other parties. meetings.
The University's activity in the area of
exchange has been impressive, of course. IN ANY CASE, the University machinery
A successful exchange program with must begin soon.
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama has been No one is proposing that the recipro-
underway for several years, and foreign cal exchange proposal is a ready-made
versions are offered in universities from formula for an academic adventure. The
England to India. truth is that it is simply an idea that
was never given a chance. It did not re-
YET NONE OF THESE specialized pro- ceive an adequate forum for debate nor
grams has the direct appeal that an the attention it deserved.
exchange with various American colleges Before another worthwhile proposal is,
would offer. Attending a small West added to the University's graveyard of
Coast college or a large Eastern univer- ideas, responsible organizations must take
sity, would offer a University student un- the initiative and bring Harvard's sugges-
limited exposure to new ideas in all fields tion back to life.
of student education. -ROBERT KLIVANS
Draft Referendum
By NEAL H. BRUSS
THE TOLKEIN READER, by
J. R. R. Tolkein; c. 1966, Bal-
lantine Books, $.95.
'j"HE MERE announcement that
The Tolkein Reader, a new book
by the author of The Hobbit, has
been published is enough to pull
students from their texts and
send them running to the book-
stores.
Those who know about campus
fads-the Saturday Evening Post,
Time, and Holiday magazines -
say that it has been a big year
for Tolkein. All summer. the
slicks, in turn, reviewed Tol-,
kein's four books and told anec-
dotes of the clever things his fans
had done on badges and bumper
stickers.
TIME WENT as far as to say
that "going to college without
Tolkein is like going witnout
sneakers." Those who had not
read The Hobbit, The Fellowship
of the Ring, the Two Towers, and
The Return of the King, accord-
ing to the magazines, got into
lockstep and read them. 'Ihose
who had read them read them
again.
It seemed that the only thing
lacking was another Tolkein
book, hopefully something on the
hobbits and their friends.
PERHAPS FEELING the pres-
sure of it all, Ballantine Books
whipped together a new Tolkein
book. What may be unfortunate
to some is that the Reader is not
primarily a book about hobbits.
The Reader, rather, is a book
about some of the things Tol-
kein thought about when he was-
n't creating Middle-earth.
In the Reader are four .hort
works and an essay on Magic
Ring by Holiday's peerrless re-
viewer, Peter Beagle.
The Reader is not a dark com-
plicated heroic narrative-perhaps
it need not be to qualify as qual-
ity Tolkeinalia. The four selec-
tions, like Tolkein's other works.
are written with keen imagina-
tion, skillful description, and
masterful organization.
In "The Homecoming of Beor-
htnoth's Son", Tolkein has at-
tempted to capture the alliterative
form of ancient English minstrel
verse as well as the mood of the
fragments and related works. In
two essays, 'Tolkein explains what
he did and how his effort re-
lates to the tenth century'works
themselves. In respect to the
fragments Tolkein presents in
the two essays, "Beorhtnoth" is a
measurable accomplishment; the
essays themselves provide unde-
niably valuable explanations of
the project.
"Tree and Leaf" explains what
Tolkein considers the mechanics
of fanciful writing. He shows the
roles of fantasy, recovery, escape
f I
4k
and consolation in the fairy story.
While Tolkein's essay gets caught
several times in the business of
his writing and analysis, it is a
workable paper on that form of
literature.
"Leaf and Niggle," an almost-
allegory about a fellow named
Niggle who paints the leaf better
than the tree, was written to
show the functioning of fantasy,
recovery, escape and consolation.
"Niggle" accomplishes this, but
clearly it is also the most inter-
esting, most creative piece in the
Reader. "Niggle", a somber, fan-
ciful piece, was drawn with the
same care for limited artistic de-
cription that characterizes Tol-
kein's major books.
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is a
clever, light, harmless piece, t.he
type of story that gets read in
the children's room of progress-
ive public libraries, where, in fact,
is has been since 1949.
"The Adventures of Tom Bom-
badil and other verses from The
Red Book" are the only Hobbit
ruvenirs in the Reader. Veterans
of the War of the Rings remem-
ber that Bilbo Baggins, hero of
The Hobbit, settled down to writ-
ing the Red Book in the House
of Elrond after his quest.
THE SAME VETERANS will
remember the near-omnipotent
Tom Bombadil, who lived and
sang by his river and helped Fro-
do and other folk on their jour-
ney to Mordor.
"Bombadil" has some poems
that background the life of old
Tom. Several other poems, the
type of things hobbit kids recited
before the War, are included.
THEY ARE jolly poems, prob-
ably of no interest to those who
know nothing of Tolkein's other
works.
And this, even with considera-
tion to Tolkein's play, essays and
"Niggle,' is true of the Reader
itself. For initiates, it will be in-
teresting and enjoyable. For oth-
ers, it will be nothing more than
the doodlings and sketches of a
man who painted an entire world.
All the pieces in the Reader
are well-constructed. Reviewer
Beagle's piece on Tolkein's major
books is complete, clever, and ea-
sy-going-much more interesting
than some other recent articles.
BUT THE SEVERAL pieces in
the Reader can only be unified in
the mind of a Tolkein veteran,
one who knows Tolkein's st,;le,
who has puzzled the runes Tol-
kein developed, who knows his
pre-occupation with creative, s-
lective detail. For the imexpej'Ien-
ced the Reader presents several
interesting but separate articles.
And Reader is by no means a
suitable introduction to hobbit-
lore.
The unexperienced must catch
on to the major books before they
read this one. Those who have
traveled the hundreds of pages of
the Hobbit and the Lord of the
Rings Trilogy, those who are
awaiting more of the same, will
wind the Reader an interesting
book, if a let-down.
BUT THEN, Tolkein fans, the
people who have been tacking
"Frodo Lives" signs around cam-
pus all summer, will read any-
thing that comes out under the
very special name of J. R. R. Tol-
kein.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Maintaining Class Rank Not the Answer
To the Editor:
fOM WESTERDALE expressed
a fear in Saturday's letters
column that the University would
losesits betterliberal arts stu-
dents to the draft test if class
ranks were not compiled.
His fears are baseless.
First of all, "a glance at cur-
rent Selective Service procedures"
will NOT tell us that students at
non-ranking schools will have to
take the draft test. The draft
boards have, in practice, an al-
most unlimited discretion in as-
signing the II-S. They can, if
they wish to defer you, use trans-
cripts, recommendations, field of
study, or other criteria to justify
their decision.
In different states, different
"rules" will be set; in practice,
almost no rule will be fully fol-
lowed. So far as I know, students
at Harvard, Cornell and Wayne
(3 schools without ranking) have
not been told that the only way
to get deferred is to take the
test.
SECONDLY, liberal arts stu-
dents now exempt because of.
class rank-roughly, those in the
upper half of their classes-would
almost all pass the draft test, if
they chose to take it. The Uni-
versity's experience with the Kor-
ean War draft test shows this;
so do the College Board scores
of these liberal arts students.
But more important, the ques-
tion before us is not what the
draft boards will decide to do
about ranking or grades (they
can change their "rules" over-
night, and will probably do so
many times in the next few
years) but what we
on campus.
will do here
I THINK we should decide that
the grade you get in class should
have no effect on whether or not
you go to Viet Nam. Teachers
should not have to give out grades
with that in mind: students
shouldn't have to go to class
thinking that each time they
raise their hands the teacher's
recognition will carry then-icfur'-
ther from the war. _
If the Selective Service likes
that kind of "education", I sug-
gest that we should not. If we
end class rank, the draft 'oards
will still choose some and pass
over others. They will go on se-
lecting those to die and those to
be saved, on and off campus, in
the slums, and in the Reserves.
That is the dirty work assigned to
them. It is their duty.
IT ISN'T our duty. though, and
I suggest that we shouldn't vol-
unteer.
-Peter Steinberger, Grad
Open Letter
To the Editor:
An Open Letter to Sen. Hart
Dear Senator Hart: -
ON SEPTEMBER 15, 1958, I
wrote President Eisenhower
relative to a speech he had made
in which he equated mainland
Chinese shelling of the islands of
Quemoy and Matsu with the at-
tacks by Hitler and Mussolini up-
on foreign nations. I pointed out
that for the activity in question
-a continuation of civil war-to
be likened to aggression by fascist
dictators bore little resemblance
to fact and that it was therefore
a disservice to the search for
peace.
A recent Detroit Free Press lead
editorial was captioned "Rusk
Peddles An Elixir Instead of
Sound Policy" and opened with
the sentence, "To grant his pre-
mise is to reach his conclusion."
Of course his premise is that
South Vietnam has been attack-
ed by North Vietnam and that,
as the Free Press put it, "the
continued independence of South
Vietnam was vital to American
security."
Now anyone really familiar
with the, history of the long
struggle of Vietnam, North and
South, for independence knows
that the Rusk premise is false.
Such people understand that for-
eign aggressors have to be foreign
people.
THEY ALSO KNOW that the
foreign people in Vietnam are
predominantly Americans with a
token force of allies who are by
no stretch of the imagination
showing enthusiasm in supporting
the false premise of this adminis-
tratibn and the damnable actions
which flow from it.
There was a televised pubic
meeting of the Senate Military
Preparedness Subcommittee. And
despite the unquestioned dedica-
tion of the entire membership of
this committee to the cause of
anti-communism and their re-
peatedly expressed approval of
the Secretary of State, there did
appear to be some misgivings.
FOR EXAMPLE, Senators Sal-
tenstall and Symington displayed
concern-and I believe rightly-
over a seeming lack of what they,
called "mutuality" on the part of
our allies in regard to the dis-
charge of treaty commitmeirrs.
' They did not suggest that allied
foot dragging results from either
short sighted selfishness or cow-
ardice.
There remains, then, as a pos-
sible explanation, the possibility
that our friends cannot accept
the premise of this administration
and the malice in blunderland
policies which follow upon it. But
neither of the honorable Senat~ors
named nor any of the other com-
mittee members cared to mention
this alternative explanation if in-
deed they were capable of think-
ing of it.
You know my concern about
this undeclared war from my
many previous personal and pub-
lished letters on the subject. Per-
haps you did not know that I ran
for precinct delegate in the lest
election and lost by only one vote
even though I'm relatively ui-
known, having but recently moved
to Ann Arbor, and even though I
was the only candidate to publish
and distribute an unmistakeable
position on this most important
of issues.
You have yourself said that you
knew few people that are happy
about this war and that we all
have an obligation, to searich ftrw
constructive alternatives. Ever
since I learned some well kept
secrets related to the Berlin
blockade, I have tried to do ev-
erything possible to learn and
disseminate truth to' serve the
cause of peace and cooperation
between nations.
The result has not been too
encouraging. In fact I su feired
great personal loss when my
friend Alice Herz underwent self
immolation to protest what she
regarded as a betrayal of peace
loving people by President John-
son.
RECENT EFFORTS to :nfluen-
ce foreign policy through a reso-
lution at the state convention
were dissolved when our senior
Senator elected to. place the
weight of his prestige and good
reputation behind the administra-
tion. Governor Williams has been
less than an inspiration to peace
seeking people and Senator Grif;
fin offers them no hope whatever.
Thus I feel like a neighbor
who applauded my statement to
the voters and said that he would
certainly support me but that "as
things now stand, I have no
choice and thus have no inten-
tion of voting in the fall elec-
tion."
For whom would you vote if
you were in the position of my
friend or me, Senator Hart? And
do you share the Rusk premise or
is your support of administration
foreign policy based upon area-
litical expedience?
AS I SEE IT, this administra-
tion has lied to the American
people about every aspect of this
war and is now making every ef-
fort to stifle opposition. They no
longer merit and will not receive
the support of people who see an
apt comparison with .Hitler's Ger-
many in the sorry fact that we
are daily roasting alive unfortu-
nate fellow human beings.
I've had it, Senator! And that
is why this is an open letter.
-R. F. Burlingame
i4
I'
,*
11
THE KU KLUX KLAN, hitherto suckled
by the House Committee on Un-Amer-
ican Activities' alarums of pervasive Com-
munist conspiracies, has now become
committee prey.
Robert Shelton, Jr., imperial wizard of
the United Klans of America-the Caped
Crusader, Southern style--has been found
guilty of contempt of Congress by a fed-
eral district court jury. He refused to
produce Klan records subpoenaed by
HUAC during this summer's hearings on
illicit KKK dealings. His unsuccessful de-
fense, managed by a Negro,' rested on
Shelton's claim-that the subpoena was
vaguely worded and did not specify the
exact records desired.
THE DEFENSE COUNSEL intends to ap-
peal the conviction. to the Supreme
Court. Since 1957 and the keystone Wat-
kins case, in which . a HUAC contempt
conviction was thrown out, the high t. -
bunal has consistently overruled other ci-
tations despite the fact that it has up-
held the constitutional validity of the
committee by 5-4 decisions in the Baren-
blatt and Braden cases.
The Shelton decision raises a dilemma
for a liberal community that deplores
HUAC tactics, yet which is cognizant of
Klan terror in the South.
The American Civil Liberties Union, so
vociferous during recent Viet Nam pro-
test hearings, should direct its efforts to
have the Shelton verdict reversed. To tac-
itly approve HUAC action against the
Edit-orial Staff
MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH, Editor
CLARENCE FANTO HARVEY WASSERMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
BRUCE WASSERS EIN. Executive Editor
LEONARD PRATT ......Associate Managing Editor
JOHN MEREDITH . Associate Managing Editor
CHARLOTTE' WOL'I'ER .Associate Editorial Direet
ROBERT CARNEY .. .. Associate Editorial Director
ROBERT MOORE .-..,.-Magazine Editor
-GIL SAM4BERG--------Assistant Sports Editor
BABETTE COHN Ass.sPersonnel Director
NIGHT EDITORS: Michael Herfer, Merle Jacob, Rob-
ert Klivans. Laurence Medow, Roger Rapoport, Shir-
ley Rosick, Neil Shister.
CHARLES VETZNER .......... Sports Editor
JAMES TINDALL.........Associate Sports Editor
JAMES LaSOVAGE Associate Sports Editor
SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Grayle Howlett, Howard
Kohn, Bill Levis, Bob McFarland, Clark Norton, Rick
Stern, John Sutkus, Gretchen Twietmeyer, Dave
Weir.
Business Staff
SUSAN PERLSTADT, Business Manager
JEFFREY LEEDS .. . . Associate Business Manager
Klan, while condemning the
against the peace movement,
dulge in part-time liberalism.
campaign
is to in-
THERE IS NO NEED to make a martyr
of the man. The viable alternative is
to let the Justice Department deal with
him and his violent cronies-the focus of
anti-Klan action should be away from the
rather tenuous ground of contempt of
Congress and "un-Americanism."
-STEPHEN FIRSHEIN
HUAK,
STUDENT GOVERNMENT Council's ref-
erendum on the draft is not only- vital
to the determination of University policy,
but may have an impact on federal plan-
ning. The referendum could be the first
step in a nationwide student re-evalua-
tion of the draft and eventual reform of
the Selective Service System.
The need for information on student
opinion is evident. The President's Com-
mission on Selective Service is presently
compiling a report on the shortcomings
of the draft system from which the new
Selective Service law will be molded.
President Johnson has specifically ask-
ed Burke Marshall, head of the commis-
sion, to give special attention to the opin-
ions of draft-age young people. The SGC
referendum can be the first major source
of this information and all possible steps
should be taken to insure its accuracy.
SGC'S DECISION to separate the refer-
endum into two parts, an opinion poll
on the draft in general and a binding
proposal on the University's policy of
sending in rankings to draft boards, is a
commendable one. A single proposal deal-
ing only with the compilation of ranks
such as the one petitioned for by Voice
would only have revealed a small part of
student opinions and could have been
misconstrued as some kind of overall
view of the draft.
The inclusion in the referendum of a
section offering alternatives to the draft
is also wise.
SGC PRESIDENT Edward Robinson in
his consultations with Marshall and
with Peace Corps officers has learned
which alternatives to the draft are most
likely to be considered in the formation
of a new Selective Service nolicv. By in-
Do Elections Reflect Policy Popularity?
POLITICIANS have a way of
viewing election results that
favor them through rose-tinted
glasses. And when the name of
the politician is Lyndon Johnson
and his 'style is consensus poli-
tics, then the series of election
results from la-st week must seem
like a sign from heaven in favor
of his Viet Nam policy.
First there was the South Viet-
namese election for a constitu-
tional assembly. Over 80 per cent
of the registered voters reportedly
turned out to defeat roundly the
Communists and neutrals who
were not allowed on the ballot.
Both Johnson and Premier Ky
were mighty satisfied with the re-
sults.
Then came the September 14
primary elections in 11 states to
pick Democratic and Republican
candidates for the November elec-
tions. In several races for national
offices, so-called "peace candi-
dates" running on an anti-Viet
Nam war ticket were decisively
beaten by Democratic party can-
didates. The White House, follow-
ing standard practices, did not
publicly comment on the primar-
ies, but President Johnson was
"reported to be pleased" at evi-
dence of voter support for his
Vietnamese policy.
"The primaries mean the 'peace-
niks' don't have an issue," said
one party official.
ASSESSING electorate approv-
al of administrative policy from
ballot count is, however, often an
oversimplification of the real pic-
were discovered in the Democratic
primaries. While supporters of the
administration policy won handily
in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and
New Jersey, Royce Hanson won the
nomination for the House seat in
Maryland's 8th District over Mi-
chael Monroney, son of the Okla-
homa - senator. Hanson flatly
refused to endorse the Viet Nam
policy as Monroney did. And in
New Hampshire, an obscure retired
Air Force general, Harrison Thyng,
swept the Republican senatorial
nomination by advocating inten-
sified bombing of North Viet Nam.
IN THE DEMOCRATIC senator-
ial primaries in New Jersey and
Massachusetts, where the defeat of
peace candidates buoyed admin-
istration optimism, causes cannot
be readily traced to voter response
on the war issue.
According to informants observ-
ing the victory of former Massa-
chusetts Gov. Endicott Peabody
over Boston Mayor John Collins
and peace candidate Thomas Boyl-
ston Adams, the Viet Nam issue
was of limited effect.
Peabody was the first slate
"A Model Like This Would Be A Lot Safer"
w,'
candidate in almost two decades
to have his nomination affirmed
at the primary; his victory is at-
tributed to a well-publicized cam-
paign, good organization and Col-
lins' alienation from voter affec-
tion, even in his own city.
Adams polled only 50,000 votes,
one-twelfth of the total of what
was described as a "light voter
turnout." He ran his campaign
solely on the anti-war issue, which
seemed to appeal only to a nega-
tive vote with mainly intellectual
backing.
THE POWER of a large, well-
run state machine was even more
in evidence in the New Jersey
senatorial campaign that saw
Warren Wilentz smash by better
thal. 5-1 the challenge of part-
time Rutgers professor David
Frost.
Although Frost forced the war
issue on Johnson-supporter Wil-
entz, when the state party lead-
ership wanted to play it down,
he was unable to crack Wilentz's
solid machine control. Voter apa-
thy to the war or any other issue
was noticeable as only 15 per cent
of the registered voters turned out
for the primary.
The apparent rejection of peace
candidates in the majority of races
cannot be attributed solely to vot-
er support for the President's poli-
cies. In many cases, local issues
were of greater significance, such
as the "white backlash" of inte-
grated housing that gave Demo-
crat George P. Mahoney the Mary-
land gubernatorial nomination
over Carlton Stickles, a supporter
nearly upsetting incumbent John-
son-supporter Rep. Jerry Cohelan.
The Scheer campaign, however,
saturated the Oakland-Berkeley
area with over a thousand pre-
cinct workers. Scheer broadened
his campaign base to include civ-
il rights; he ran up to 62 per
cent -of the vote in largely Negro
districts and apparently the only
thing that saved Cohelan was mid-
die-class white backlash in the
suburbs.
In the aftermath of the near-
win, enthusiasm for a fall peace
campaign seems to have died down.
A statewide conference is sched-
uled to take place in Los An-
geles at the end of the month to
consider a write-in campaign. But
sources close to the movement in-
dicate that such action seems
highly unlikely. M e a'n w h 11l e,
prompted by Scheer's fund-raising
success, a National Conference for
"New Politics" has been organized
in New York City to raise money
for peace candidates.
IN RETROSPECT, it appears
that voter reaction to the war-as
an election issue is still somewhat
uncertain. The war is still too
small and too distant to arouse
any great passions outside the in-
tellectual community, The war is
unpopular, but most disgruntled
voters seem to, favor a stepped-up
military effort towards a negotiat-
ed pull-out as the best course of
action.
Organized campaigns for the
immediate pull-out have been
sporadic and largely unsuccessful.
If the war in Viet Nam is to be-