The Agnew est Nixon Seventy-seven years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: JILL CRABTREE The PBA fight: A national issue THE FIGHT surfacing in New York be- tween the city policemen's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Lindsay administration Is, in microcosm, the fight that is developing in this country on many levels between a dogmatic and puri- tannical spirit of "law and order" and a more enlightened approach to social ills. The PBA is protesting against alleged orders from superior officers and from various city administrators not to arrest certain law breakers, such as looters, van- dals and unruly demonstrators. They are also demanding that judges impose maxi- mum fines and penalties and that decor- um be restored to courtrooms which are tolerating more disruptive behavior than they did in the past. John Cassese, president of the PBA, has been saying in recent weeks that police must enforce the laws 100 per cent, and that orders from above directing other- wise are illegal. Which sounds ironically like the so-called Nuremburg rule often raised by advocates of civil disobedience. DEPTIVELY SO. The difference is in the relationship between individuals and groups and society. The police, un- like individual private citizens, are sup- posed to be servants of society. The PBA case in New York raises some important and timely questions about that relation ship: " The Constitution directs that the President is commander-in-chief of all the armed forces in the United States, thus putting control of the military force into the hands of the civilian authority. It says, and rightly so, that physical force Is subordinate to the moral and civil force which rules our society, and that such physical force be directly controlled by the civilian authority. The logic which the founding fathers applied to the federal government applies equally well to state and local govern- ment. The police departments of the cities should be subordinate to the high- est civil authority in the city-the mayor. The mayor's essential duty is to maintain the general peace and order and the po- lice are no more thana means for him to use in achieving that end. For the police to decide how to admin- ister the laws - a task shared by all three branches of government - is no more acceptable than the military decid- ing for the President when and where military force ought to be applied to best expedite United States foreign policy. * The question of maintaining the general peace and order in light of the civil strife surrounding us today is clearly not one answerable by the simplistic ap- peal to "100 per cent enforcement of the laws" that Cassese advocates. Keeping in mind the dangers that are involved in police-community relations, it is clear that unduly strict application of the laws often leads to violence with which the po- lice simply cannot cope. Cassese may pi- ously urge that all laws be strictly en- forced, but he and his co-workers would then be unable to handle the ensuing mass violence. The cost of five years of "avoidance of incidents" is surely less than the cost of one Detroit riot. Since the final responsibility falls on the mayor, the mayor must be empowered to make those crucial decisions. A NEW YORK Civil Liberties Union law- yer quoted in the New York Times yes- terday put it quite well, .. . Mayor Lind- say is appropriately concerned with whether or not the shooting of looters may inflame a community enough to start a riot. This seems an appropriate political judgement ... The police believe that armed force is really the answer. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104. Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular summer session. Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. Summer subscription rate: $2.50 per term by car- rier ($3.00 by mail); $4.50 for entire summer ($5.00 by mail). Fallrand winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by carrier ($5 by mail); $8.00 for regular academic school year ($9 by mail). Summer Editorial Staff The Mayor, with a more enlightened view, thinks armed force will make things worse." But the call by the police for absolute enforcement of the laws is a little strange indeed in New York just now. The Times recently reported an extensive betting ring, on the order of $1 million, that in- cluded 37 present and former members of the police force. The traditional "blinded eye" to certain segments of the commun- ity that freely violate the laws need not be further documented.I That type of illegal action - numbers games, illegal liquor and related vices - serves the same psychological function1 within society as the petty crimes and unruly demonstrations about which the police want to be so strict. The rightness or wrongness of either category is not the question here. It is, in light of other re- ported irregularities within the police de- partment, questionable whether in fact the PBA is really concerned with justice. IT SEEMS NOT. Rather, the police are making social and political judgements of their own; they ar applying their view of society and government and declaring it as the way consonant with "law." It is not only not their job to perform that function, but it is usurpation of the duties of other segments of government, usurpa- tion that the police cannot be allowed to continue. In the face of the apparent unity which the PBA represents, the question of the continued effective functioning of the police establishment is a valid and rele- vant question. As a social bureaucratic institution, the police department has taken on a life of its own, with a separate credo and philosophy than that which it was originally meant to have. The police department as a lower-class white institution reflects the conservative and racist attitudes of that class. It also reflects the simplistic approach to social problems tha Cassese is now advocating. IN THE LONG RUN, racial and social peace will never be secured unless there is a re-making of the nation's police de- partments. They must be made to serve the community, to be in tune with the mood and demands of the community. And they must come to accept their role as servants of society, not decision- makers. The question remains whether the tra- ditional method of police training and recruitment within the current organiza- tion can meet the present needs of the cities. Both in recruitment and in the current organization that that syle of re- cruitment spawned there is need for change. Investigations indicate that policemen spend little of their time on the key, dan- gerous roles with which they are identi- fied and romanticized. THE EXTENSIVE changes that are needed will not come from cities such as Detroit where the Mayor isn't strong enough to re-direct the police depart- ment, nor from Chicago or Los Angeles where the mayor has little desire to, or Cleveland where the political situation is a little too delicate to undertake such massive changes.Only inua city like New York can reforms be initiated. A strong, popular and liberal mayor can - and should - seek the necessary re-vamping of the entire polices structure. Lindsay's remedial steps (and they have not included a complete no-arrest policy) so far are laudable; in conscien- tiously restricting the police force he has done more than any other mayor has been inclined to do. But those steps in no way assure such enlightened action fol- lowing the mayor's term in office. Only by a permanent constructive change in the department can Lindsay assure such reasonable administration of justice in the future. -RON LANDSMAN No com-ment YOU KNOW what they say about the pot generation and its alienation from the political establishment? Among the Screening at 764-1817 By SEYMOUR SLACK HAVE YOU EVER observed a. maintenance crew of a state- supported university during the process of completing one specific job? The procedure is fairly standard for almost any job. It usually begins with a phone call: "Ya" "Hello. I was calling the Main- tenance Department. Do I have the correct number?", "What number did you call?" "I thought I dialed 863-7214." "Ya, you got the right number." 'Good. I would like to report that a window screen was blown off our office building in the high winds." "Ya ?" "Is this where I am supposed to call to have it fixed?" f (ause) "Could you have some- one come out to fix it?" "What color screen is it?" "I believe it is ahh . just a grey one. I guess." "You don't know for sure, huh?" "I ahh . . . didn't really notice. Is that important?" "Ya, if I know what color the screen is then I kin send the crew I that aie specialists in handling that color screen. Otherwise. I gotta send out a reconnaissance team to estimate tha job." "Oh, I see. Just one minute. I'll find out what color it is a few moments pass) Hello . VA, MAINTENANCE here. What can I do for you?" "I just was talking to you about the screen that blew off our office building, remember?" "What color is the screen?" "Well, the screen that blew off was yellow, but the rest are blue., We took a vote in the office and we would like it replaced with a blue one." "Can't do that." "You can't fix the screen?' "No, can't change the screen colors without an O.K. from the Board of Regents." When is their meeting?" "Don't know. Have to call cal- endar information." "Oh, never mind. I guess we'll settle for a yellow one even if it is unsophisticated. How soon can you get it done?" "Let's see. Today is Friday May 3rd ahhh . . . we can be there before'fall term." "FALL TERM! We won't even need it by then. What's the hold up?" "My crew for yellow screens are in an eight week training work- shop. Got no one to do it." "What if you sent somebody from the blue screen repair crew with a yellow screen repair hand- book?" "Only got one manual." "Give him that onp." "Can't, there usin' it in tha workshop." "Now really, sir, we must have a screen in here. The building is not air conditioned and it's going, to be eighty degrees this week." "Got any sal tablets?" "Now look here! Do I have to go over your head to get some action?" "If it's really that serious, what if I send over some lawn trim- mis-in -training. Maybe they could fix it." "Fine. Fine. Just send someone. Goobye." LATER THAT DAY five men over fifty years of age walked into the office. "Yes, can I help you?" "We came to fix the screen." Oh. yes. The screensgare on the outside of the building." "What color is it?'' "It's the only yellow screen out there." "Where's the vending machine for coffee and sandwiches?" "Why?" "It's five minutes to three isn't it?' "Yah, why?" "No sense starting somethin' five minutes before breaktime, is there?" "No, I guess not. The vending machine is downstairs and to your left." "Ya know last week we missed a coffee break and Lester here had to take the next day off." "What happened to him?" "He had caffeinemwithdrawal pain wor'se than cramps." TWENTY-FIVE minutes have gone by. It is now three-twenty. "Ahh, lady. Where can we plug in this radio?" "What radio?" "This portable one." "Why do you need that.?" "Oh we have one in the crane truck and another in the tool truck, but the guy in the crow's nest basket can't hear up there." "There's an outlet here, but.. ." "NO. that's too far away. Gotta short cord." "Well, have one of the other four guys look for one, I'm busy." "Can't, their busy." "BUSY? Doing what?" "Harry and Leonard are direct- in' traffic around the trucks an..." "Directing traffic? They pulled the trucks up on the sidewalk and this is a dead end street." "Rules are rules, Miss. I'm not responsible for making them up. I just follow them." "O.K. What are the other two doing?" "Lester and Mike are drivers. They have to be behind the wheel of the trucks at all times." "They got out of the truck for a coffee break, didn't they?" "That's different. Breaks are provided for by the University. It's in the contract." "I'm sure it is. Why don't you try looking in the next office for a closer outlet?" "Too late." "Too late for what?" "It's after four o'clock. Traffic starts picking up now. B'sides, no sense startin' a job ya can't finish this afternoon. Night Miss. see you Monday." .,JAMES WECHSLER The great Lindsay ,escape BY THE GRACE of Richard Nixon and Strom Thurmond, among others, John V. Lindsay remains alive and well in Miami Beach, with a still promising political future. Rarely has any man had so much reason for relief in re- jection as Lindsay did when the news came that Nixon had embraced Spiro Theodore Agnew as his running mate to have and to hold, at least until November. About 24 hours earlier, a friend remarked to Lindsay: "You know, if you run with Nixon and then Gene McCarthy is nom- inated by the Democrats, a lot of people will wonder which ticket you'll vote for." Lindsay laughed and offered no comment, but he was not a happy fellow. For he had approached the point at which he had pretty well convinced himself that he had done everything possible - by public and private statement of dissenting posi- tions - to avoid this union and that he could not take the irretrievable step of flatly refusing to. run without removing himself from the Republican landscape for all time. NOW LINDSAY has escaped from the jaws of victory, and conceivably he was never in serious peri. Richard Nixon is capable of reckless rhetoric, but he is also a cautious, insecure man and the risk of selecting a Vice President so much taller and more photogenic than himself may have transcended all ideological questions. Certainly the choice of Lindsay would have been an auda- cious act that would have imparted drama to these proceed- ings. LINDSAY'S UNEASY meditations during the days pre- ceding Nixon's decision illustrated the continuing predicament of many men of liberal instinct who got mixed up with the Republican Party in their youth. Life among the Democrats is hardly simple and serene for independent souls, as Chicago soon may reveal. But the ordeal of progressive Republicans has a special quality of frustration. It was plaintively voiced by Nelson Rockefeller, moments after he had been counted out, when he was asked to explain his defeat: "Have you ever been to a Republican convention?" he responded. In the atmosphere of Rockefeller's impending doom, the emergence of Lindsay as a vice presidential prospect had be- come the last best hope of many in the liberal Republican fra- ternity. Some of them abandoned Rockefeller and reconciled themselves to Nixon when the Governor initially withdrew from the contest late last year. They decided to make the Vice Presidency and the platform their battlegrounds, and they looked to Lindsay. If Nixon could be persuaded to take him as his traveling companion for 1968, they argued, the GOP's image would be altered, liberalism would have established itself as a major force in the GOP and Richard Nixon would have confounded his detractors among independent voters. ON A PLANE to Miami last Monday, this thesis was ani- matedly advanced by Bradford Morse, a Massachusetts Con- gressman who describes himself as an "ADA Republican." He is a member of the 'Wednesday Club," a caucus of liberal Re- publican Congressmen. Lindsay was a Wednesday group ac- tivist during his House tenure, and its current participants, Morse indicated, had been pressing hard for the designation of their distinguished alumnus as Nixn's partner. As one of those who bolted to Nixon after Rockefeller's early withdrawal, Morse had become identified with the Nixon drive. He was optimistic about the chance that Nixon would move toward Lindsay. He visualized this surprise as the first of many unexpected revelations about Nixon's new direction. UNQUESTIONABLY Nixon encouraged these expectations without, it must be added, any commitment. His responsive- ness was sufficient to spur a serious drive for Lindsay sup- port here. In lofty terms the case/presented to Lindsay was that he could not let such men down - especially those where local candidacies might be helped by his presence on the ticket. In pragmatic terms he was told that, whether the national ticket won or lost, he would eventually provide the rallying ground for a great liberal GOP insurgence. LINDSAY WAS deeply aware that his identification with Nixon would draw heavy fire from liberal independents, among whom he has long commanded so much of his basic strength. " lack of ardor for Nixon has never been concealed. But in the burning Miami sun, the political heat mounted. There were those who whispered that he was showing real desire for the second place - especially when he learned about some of the inflammatory stuff being spread by the Reagan- Southern bloc about his anti-war positions. He had begun to satisfy his own conscience by making clear through interme- diaries that he would not mute his stands on the war, or the cities if he were the second man. While sensitive to the charge that he would be abandoning the city, he would not have to re- sign until November if they won and he could tell himself that more could be done for the cities in Washington than in City Hall. All that became academic when Nixon produced Agnew. MEN'S MOTIVES are inscrutable and they become pecu- liarly tangled in the other-world isolation of a political con- vention. There may have been a fleeting moment last night, as Lindsay took the stage to play out the gentleman's game and-second the nomination of Agnew,"when he wished he had chosen to lead the challenge to Nixon's choice. But that would have been the ultimate incongruity. He, would have been openly fighting for the privilege of sharing Nixon's political bed - over Nixon's objection. He got out of the hall quickly after reciting his lines. (Copyright, 1968 - New York Post Corporation) cinema-- Forgetting What's 'isName' A By HENRY GRIX I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name may not be a fine film, but it is a curiously affecting one. A composite of several commer- cially successful, but "artsy" films. like Morgan!, The Graduate and Blow-up, it immediately alienates one sector of the audience (typi- fied by the sleeping viewer who didn't realize when the lights came up). At the same time, it de- lights and confuses another seg- ment. The film is deliberately confus- ing. It abounds with alternately clever and obscure montages, flash-backs and cuts, that are in- tended to illuminate, but blanket a hackneyed plot about a 32-year- old "well-dressed beatnik" who, of course, can't manage to lose in business or bed. And, like The Graduate, the film is schizophrenic. Beginning as the "sophisticated, sprightly, satiric comedy" Judith Crist says it is, the movie bolts three-quar- ters of the way through and makes a bitter-sweet attempt at social commentary and serious tragedy. BUT DIRECTOR Michael Win- tising underworld. And Carol Reed, the film's Georgina Girl, who lights the screen until' her brutal death in an autoicrash drives the plot and the audience up the wall. And there is the bat- tered, but boyish hero, Oliver Reed whose ape-like grimaces and rope- swinging antics mimic Morgan. There is Otto Heller's flashy photography that entrances the unwary with Orson Wellian an- gles, and Claude Lelouch colors. There is Francis Lai's (the angli- cization of Francois Lai's diverting musical score, reminiscent of the composers work in A Man and a Woman. Memories don't make good movies. But when a director makes dynamic use of the best parts of older works, he is bound to exe- cute an entertaining film, even if he fails to produce a motion- picture landmark. There is too much wrong with Name for it to be a landmark.. However, it aspires to greatness, sometimes succeeds, and has a right to be considered a "serious" film--or an effective put-on. The film is wittily, if not orig- inally written by Peter Draper. available at commercial theatres. However, director Winner does have reason to include the bare bodiesrand baroque sets that have lost visual punch and cheapened as they have acquired vogue. Winner is trying to slash the umbilical cord that ties the unen- lightened audience to its commer- cials, God and war. But he toys with his sets, actors and themes until the audience forgets whether his film is satire; or the real thing. Just when he should remind us, with a bit of zany humor,, that his film is for mocking, he stages a car incident. Perhaps the director is kidding the audience for their involvement in his poor plot, but that kind of overworn pop technique is in poor taste, and not in character with the sincerity that marks the rest of the production. At times, Winner succeeds quite brilliantly at slashing the shallow- ness and cruelty of the idle rich and proper hanger-ons. At a posh party, guests watch, admiring Reed as he and an old school chum bloody each other. In the final scenes, Reed wins a bare bosomed statuette for his com- 4