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February 09, 1962 - Image 4

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Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1962-02-09

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Seventy-Second Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
ions Are STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
1 Prevail"'
printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

TODAY AND TOMORROW:
Urban A ffairs: Noise
About Nothing New

9, 1962

NIGHT EDITOR: JUDITH BLEIER

The Free Student Press:
Idealists Buck 'The System'

HE FUNDAMENTAL problem facing an
idealist Is how he can alter a society of.
ich he disapproves without being forced to
pt its values in the process. For 71 years,
e Michigan Daily has served as an instru-
it for resolving this dilemma.
MERICA at midcentury is enough to depress
any idealist. Most of our lives are domi-
ed by "The System," a term frequently used
college-aged people to describe the college
faceless bureaucrats, numbers and percen-"
s, and unchallengable structures which con-
ites our society. The system imposes a pat-
i of growth and behavior on us, but is not
bly subject to our control. The usual way
oping with it is to watch out for one's own
rests while facing up to "the realities of
hese "realities" include the fact that most
he world is controlled by narrow, ignorant,
old men with whom one must therefore
an accommodation; that life is a fiercely
ipetitive struggle even with one's best friends
neighbors (who may be potential violators
he fallout shelter or rivals for that assigned
k in the UGLI); that the course of one's
le life will periodically depend on an array
umbers known as a record. ,
nyone who attempts to break out of this
ern is likely to be trampled. And anyone
attempts to change it runs immediately
the basic dilemma. For one must first have
power to make changes, and it is almost im-
ible to get and hold power without adopting
values of the system one intends to change.,
ild you try politics? The saddest sight of the"
r was 'Adlai Stevenson telling the UN Secur-
Council that the United States might soon
.me testing atomic weapons in the atmos-
re. Or journalism? Most big-city publishers
ild rather sell sex than reform, while the
e ambitious Mr. Luce is busily engaged in
chandising atomic war. Even such "liberal"
itutions as "The Nation" and Herblock are
strained by the editorial consideration that
present administration is, after all, Demo-
ic, and therefore the best that is available.
t WOULD YOU rely on education? Then
you must face the fact that, at this Uni-
ity at least, education is aimed mainly at
>aring students for graduate school or jobs
idustry, not at encouraging social reformers,
.e an excessive regard for legislative and
lic opinion limits the range of activities per-
;ed students and faculty.
i theory, any idealistic group of faculty
nbers with enough money for a full-page ad
he New York Times can have a direct influ-
on public thinking. In reality, a fear of the
equences for reputation and career causes
t to avoid any contact with a controversial
e. Approximately the same is true of most
.ents. The most extolled of student leaders
the student government and joint judiciary

types, who have become responsible citizens by
taking on the values of the University adminis-
tration, while- the overwhelming majority of
students are not interested in good citizenship
at all.
IN THIS generally grim picture of society, the
student press shows an encouraging devia-
tion from the norm. It is true that many college
newspapers are dominated or censored by. the
administration, that many others deal with'
subjects no more profound than the Twist,
and that a few are run by conservative editors;
the fact remains that a number of college
papers are the most unc6rrupted voice of dissent
in the country. The Daily is one of these.
In many respects The Daily is a self-con-
tained society with a different set of values
than prevails in the outside world. The highest
ranked of these values is freedom. For most of
its 71-year history, The Daily has maintained
(sometimes precariously) its freedom from
University control. Moreover, the business and
editorial staffs of the paper are kept scrupu-
lously separated so the whims of advertisers
are never reflected on the news pages. Finally-
and most crucially-The Daily editorial page is
open to any point of view a staff member cares
to express. This freedom of personal expression
often attracts idealists.
BUT IFITS CULTURE is self-contained, The,
Daily's function is very much connected
with the real world. It reports and analyzes the
news of that world, concentrating particularly
on the University. And it presses for change,
often with visible effect. This is the other half
of the explanation of why idealists so often
come to roost at The Daily. Not only is The
Daily free-it is powerful.
Sometimes its impact on the community is
direct and easy to see, as when a specific reform
is instituted as a result of editorials in The
Daily. The most valuable impact is an indirect
one, however. It is the creation of a tone of
controversy and discord in a University which,
has powerful tendencies toward complacency.
One would hope that The Daily has saved an
occasional student from injustice at the hands
of the administration. One would hope even
more that The Daily has set the student think-
ing about much broader questions of value and
policy.
An idealist at The Michigan Daily is able to
work for change in the community without
adopting tactics and values which belong to
the system he seeks to change. He thus escapes,
at least for a few short years, the dilemma fac-
ing idealists in this country. The opinions you
read in The Daily may be impractical and vi-
sionary, unorthodox and even reckless-but
they will be the opinions of free students, un-
corrupted by vested interest or comprised in-
tegrity.
-JOHN ROBERTS
Editor

By WALTER LIPPMANN
IN THE POLITICAL hullabaloo
about the proposed Depart-
ment of Urban Affairs and Hous-
ing, it is useful to remember that
the Department will possess no
new Federal powers and will pos-
sess no new money to spend.
All the powers which are to be
in the new Department have long
since been voted by Congress.
These powers will come from four
existing agencies and all the De-
partment will be able to spend
is what Congress has authorized
these agencies to spend. For this
is a reorganization and not a new
grant of power.
What ground, then, is there for
thinking that the new Depart-
ment creates anything new? Can
it do anything which cannot al-
ready be done by one of the four
constituent agencies? The answer
is, it seems to me, that it can
focus attention on the mounting
problems of the cities and of the
metropolitan areas. It can bring
together and encourage those who
know and, care about these prob-
lems, and it can do much to get
them a hearing.
THE NEW DEPARTMENT will
have no power and no money to
re-plan the old cities and to plan
the development of the new met-
ropolitan areas. But it can pro-
mote the studies which must pre-
cede the replanning and the de-
velopment. This will have to be
done in order to make life de-
cent and convient for the three-
quarters of the American people
who live in urban areas. Over and
above the work of the old agencies
which would be grouped in the
new Department, it would be es-
sentially a department of research
and education in urban affairs.
Why, it will be asked, is this
a good thing to have done from
Washington? The answer is that.
it cannot; be done adequately, and
as a matter of. fact is not being,
done adequately, by the states and
municipalities. There are several
reasons for that. One reason is
that in the state legislature the
urban voters are grossly under-'
represented as against the rural'
voters.
Another reason is that the ex-
panding metropolitan areas over-
lap state and county and mu-
nicipal lines, and, if they are to
be. governed properly, development,
must be planned on a metropolitan
scale. The planning and develop-

ment cannot be done merel:
the localities of the past w
are now being swallowed up b:
metropolis.
AS FOR the politics which
swirl about the proposal, the
is that there would have
little of it had the Repub:
leaders not made so much
about nothing. It was wrong
it was foolish of them to gan
with a few Southern Democrat
the House Rules Committee
order to refuse to let the 1
vote on the proposal. 'On "
principle, constitutional, mora
political, can it be argued
the House of Representa
should not be allowed to vot
a proposal made by the Presi
of the United States?
This wrong was a silly one
commit because the Republ
leaders seem to have forgo
that the President could force
House to have a chance to
by doing with the Departmen
Urban Affairs what Presi
Eisenhower did with the DeI
ment of Health, Education,
Welfare-to send it to Cong
under the Reorganization Ac
1949. If there was any poli
trap in all this, the Republ
leaders laid the trap into w
they have fallen. They should
have forgotten the Reorganiza
Act of 1949.

THE GREAT CONCILIATOR:
On heR oad with Swano

By MICHAEL HARRAH
Daily Staff Writer
ANYONE WHO THINKS vaude-
ville is dead hasn't been travel-
ing with John B. Swainson and
Co. of late.
The good governor is currently
barnstorming across the state with
his Punch and Judy show,. sup-
posedly "selling" his program for
Michigan.
Each show is carefully staged.
First the governor's office gets in
touch with a union local, say in
St. Joseph. The union agrees to
get one of the companies there-,
abouts, to provide the hall for a
"Governor's Conference on (pick
one: Economic Development, Edu-
cation, Mental Health. Labor,
Businesf Climate, Taxation)."
.* *
THEN, when a well-heeled busi-
ness ragrees to provide an audi-
torium, the governor's office lines
up a supporting, cast.
First a small business man is
chosen. Foster Daughterty, a small
time banker from Constantine will
do nicely. Constantine isn't very
close to St. Joseph, so few will
realize that Daugherty is a Demo-
crat. Next pick a man clearly on
the governor's team-Highway
Commissioner John C. Mackie.
Next lend an air of respectability
to the group with a-man from in-
dustry. Joseph M. Walsh, Lear
vice-president fits the bill.
Finally the piece must have a
villain. Organized labor is still
a good whipping boy in St. Joseph,
so call in faithful old UAW man
Charlie Rogers from Muskegon.
Top the whole thing off with a
moderator: T. A. Sanders, a Mus-
kegon man who has been success-
fully anonymous as president of
General Telephone.
NOW THE STAGE is set. The
night is stormy; the audience is
slightly hostile. The governor
parades in fully an hour late with
his omnipresent smile plastered
on. Walsh, with his air of respec-
tability, doesn't show.
Sanders calls upon the governor,
who explains his program for eco-
nomic growth, tied in a package
of emotion and pathos-a picture
of a state desperate for its life's

blood-more money. Then each
member of the supporting can
puts in his two cents-which
echoes the governor.
Villain Rogers is last, and he
lambasts the Legislature in no un-
certain terms. Republican legisla-
tors Don R. Pears, Harry Litowich,
Gail Handy and Gordon Rockwell
wriggle uncomfortably in their
front row seats.
The governor looks slightly
alarmed at Roger's strong words
and hastens to reassure his audi-
ence that Mr. Rogers views are not
necessarily his own. After. all,
didn't the governor assure one
and all at the beginning of the
meeting that he wasn't a tool of
labor? Of course he did.
AT THIS JUNCTURE moderator
Sanders calls an intermission, dur-
ing which everyone grumbles
about villian Rogers.
As the session reconvenes, Mod-
erator Sanders calls on spectators
for questions. If the question is
favorable, the governor uses it as
a springboard, elaborating further
on his program. If the question is
hostile, heksmiles and talks around
it. If the question deals with spe-
cific data, he smiles and says he
doesn't trust the figures.
"They just aren't square," he
says.
THE CLIMAX NEARS. Mr.
Rogers takes a few more cuts at
the Legislature. "I'd like to see a
really equitable program of liabil-
ity compensation enacted in Mich-
igan," he needles. "But with our
Honeymoont
ALL THE TALK this. past year
about the "first hundred days"
and the "honeymoon period" has
obscuredi the fact that it is not
in the early months that the great
Presidents of this century have
made their basic commitment, but
in the later years, as the forces
that their early actions unleashed
seemed to propel them toward a
broader vision.
-James MacGregor Burns

Legislature, it wouldn't be pos-
sible," he adds coyly.
Sen. Litowich can take no more,
and he ties into Villain Rogers
with both barrels. "I didn't come
here to be sandblasted," Ie shouts.
"How long do you want us to
support these people? Forever?"
"I'll repeat my statement so that
you can understand it, Senator,"
Rogers snaps. (Hisses and boos
from the Litowich section.)
"You don't have to be insult-
ing," Litowich retorts. (Cheers and
applause from 'the Litowich sec-
tion). "I understood you the first
time."
* * *
"LET'S NOT engage in politics,
gentlemen," the' good governor in-
tervenes. "The problems which
Michigan faces are too important
to be caught up in a political
hassle." And with that, the Great
Conciliator goes on to the next
question.d h
The meeting soon ends, and the
business host graciously serves tea
and crumpets. The governor con-
tinues to smile at' everyone, the
press notes how cordial he was,
and everyone goes home.
What was accomplished?
* * *
NO ONE was won over to the
task of doing anything for Mich-
igan.rThe citizens of St. Joseph
support Swainson's program no
more than they did when he open-
ed the meeting, and they didn't
appreciate having the popular Sen.
Litowich roughed up.
When they put their questions
to the governor he talked around
them or tried to mitigate their
importance. In short, the whole
show was staged for the benefit of
the press, to carry the image of
Swainson the dragonslayer tak-
ing on the cruel Legislature.
The people in Detroit may en-
joy a little medicine show, but
the people outstate are not as
charmed.
It would seem that the gover-
nor, who never once revealed his
program during his 1960 cam-
paign, owes this state something
more in the way of an explana-
tion than his double-talk, and
smart remarks from the support-
ing cast.

I DO NOT KNOW what part
proposed appointment of ,
Weaver has played in promot
the coalition of Southern Der
crats and Republicans. Mr. Wea
is already the head of the. Houst
Administration, which will be
largest component of the Deps
ment, and' a refusal to prom(
him when he is so pre-eminen
qualified could have been expla
ed only as racial discriminatic
Nevertheless, he is no doubt
main reason for the opposition
the Southern Democrats. But
cannot be the reason for
opposition of the Republican lea
ers who -are making all sorts
gestures, no doubt sincerely,
prove themselves to be friends
Negro voters.
I cannot help thinking that
Republicans did not stop to Co
sider what they were doing, a
that they acted on their reflex
which take it for granted that i
new proposal to deal with
changing world is automatici
undesirable.
(c) 1962, New York Herald Tribune,

AT THE STATE:

1

2,

3' Equals '0'

)Pen Forum or Left-Wing Pulpit?

ERY SEMESTER, in the orientation week
sue, the Editorial Director writes an ex-
ation of the editorial page policy of this
spaper. And every year, angry citizens come
ping into the office waving the same mis-
eptions.
'he Daily prints only liberal editorials,"
tell us, or "The Daily wouldn't print a
fraternity editorial on a bet," or "The
y doesn't print letters that criticize the
r." None of these accusations have much
h in them. Nobody who has read a Michael
ah right-wing editorial, Malinda Berry
sing sororities, or a week of Daily letter
mns could believe them.
ie Daily has an open editorial page. Any,
ber of the Daily staff may write an edi-
,1. Any editorial on a subject of interest
he campus will be considered for publica-
as long as it is accurate, legal and worth
ing.
I editorials are signed. This means that
express the opinion of the individual
pr. The only way we could express the
ion of The Daily would be to print an edi-
1 signed by every member of the staff.:
ze nearest we ever come to an expression
he opinion of the paper is the senior edi-
1, written and agreed upon by all seven
>r editors. Such editorials are rare; part-
give them 'more impact; partly because
senior editors, accustomed to expressing
idual opinions, have a hard time agreeing!
,ny joint statement.
E TWO EDITORIAL DIRECTORS have
heoretical, but not practical, control over
edit page. Sometimes editorials are planned
:s in advance, carefully written, and
yzed in terms of their effect on the read-
it more often, the issues that require edi-
ds come up six hours before the deadline.

Staff members often must get an editorial
written, edited, rewritten and sent to the cast-
ing room in less time than it takes to draft an
English theme.
The editorial directors solicit the editorials,
improve arguments, eliminate internal contra-
dictions, or logical fallacies, and correct spell-
ing and grammar. The thought belongs to the
writer, and is left alone.
The editorial directors can refuse to print
editorials (except ones by the Editor); in prac-
tice, this rarely happens. The limits are set
by the editorial directors; since we believe in the
"open" edit page, we keep limits as flexible as
possible.1
ODDLY ENOUGH, this lack of definite policy
has led, in practice, to a fairly well defined
editorial slant. The same kinds of people join
The Daily, year after year. Some come with a
liberal slant. Some turn liberal after constant
exposure to the generally leftist atmosphere of
The Daily; a handful remain doggedly con-,
servative.
All of them express their views in conversa-
tion and in editorials. Because the staff is fairly
liberal this year, the editorial page has a liberal
bias. But this is an unplanned result of the
open page policy, not the deliberate decision of
the editorial directors (one of whom is decided-
ly conservative on most issues).
PROBABLY THE FUNNIEST of the many
misconceptions about The Daily's editorial
page is the common image of the editorial di-
rectors refusing to print perfectly good copy
they happen to disagree with.
The Editorial Director's life is determined
by two main forces: the ever-present page
which must be filled, day in, day out; and the
continual lack of good articles to fill, it with.
An Editorial Director could not afford to turn
down a pro-fraternity editorial because he hap-
pens to be anti-fraternity. It would probably
leave him with ten inches of white space in
the middle of his page.
And he can't change it to suit his own views
either. because the signed editorial is the

ONE, TWO, THREE is the third of what appears (so far) to be
Billy Wilder trilogy, and we ,should all hope that this will be th
end. The only resemblance between it and Some Like It Hot is thi
both movies have men dressed as women. Don't expect anythir
further. Sitting through this one is like burning yourself with
cigarette to see if you can take it. A more realistic estimate of On
Two, Three would retitle it One, One-and-a-half, and that's generou
Starting out like a talking Mad comic, it winds up like a Miltc
Berle reject. Down the street is something called- the Vaude CapadE
and you may have to check the theatre on the way out to mal
sure you saw the right one.
An interesting feature of the film is its speed. When a sma
child has something really embarrassing; to say, he says it as fak
as he can so that it will either go unnoticed or will be unintelligibl
Wilder does the same thing with this film and in that sense I
succeeds: the movie is indeed unintelligible and with luck will g
unnoticed.
THE PLOT very loosely concerns big business, the Russians, an
teenagers. Rather than being a satire, however, it is a travesty. Thea
is one exception, however, perhaps thrown in for comic relief, ar
perhaps even worth the entire price of admission: hats. off to who
ever designed the Grand Hotel Potemkin and its house orchestrF
an incredible touch, which is of course spoiled by dialogue immediatel
after the bandleader sings "Yes We Have No Bananas" in hig
German.
As for the rest of the music, Andre Previn must have done
on his day off. He quietly ruins some music from Die Walkure, amon
others.
If you like good slapstick, stay away from this movie. If yo
like bad slapstick, bad jokes, bad acting and feel particularly prc
fligate, you might still be better off killing time at some other movi
in town. (Don't worry about hurting this particular theatre b
inattendance. W. S. Butterfield gets your money any way yo
spend it.)
-Dick Pollinger

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