A Drop In theBucket THE SUPREME COURT: PALLADIUM OF FREEDOM, by Alphus T. Mason, Uni- versity of Michigan Press, 208 pages, $4.95 The University Press has recently pub- lished Prof. Alpheus T. Mason's book based on the William W. Cook Lectures he delivered here last spring. Prof. Mason, who is a noted student of the Supreme Court, retraces some of the more basic political crises of the Court and concludes with an impassioned de- fense of the Court's recent trends - an activist role in the area of "preferred freedoms." This is a difficult book to evaluate, be- cause it is a curious blend of impressive scholarship, perceptive insights, incred- bly sloppy writing and cavalier disregard Df viewpoints with which the author does not agree. The book gives a fine general panorama Df some of the more important "politi- al dilemmas which the Supreme Court has faced. It nicely sketches the back- ;round of these issues and presents a ;ruly impressive amount of source ma- terial. Prof. Mason's book ought to whet the ntellectual appetite 'of persons unfamil- ar with constitutional law. It is also raluable to the student studying the .ourt. He forcefully presents the argu- nents in support of one view of the Court. But on the other hand, the book is oorly written - one almost suspects hat after completing his exhaustive re- earch, the author was too tired to write book, so he merely pasted his notes ogether. It is often extremely difficult to dis-. over where one idea leaves off and an- ther begins. Prof. Mason sometimes makes refer- nces to cases without giving sufficient nformation about them for the reader o fully understand what he is saying. his is especially irritating in the last hapter where he bases his major thesis in a footnote by Mr. Justice Stone: the ext of the footnote does not appear in he book. In addition to being sloppily written although it was apparently researched n'th great care and diligence), the book uffers from Prof. Mason's biases. Mr. Justice Frankfurter is apparently ne of Prof. Mason's judicial "bad guys." 'here is nothing wrong with this per se -many people disapprove of Frankfurt- r's notions. But Prof. Mason seems to egard him as a fool, and dismisses his rguments out of hand. Prof. Mason is robably the only individual who has ead Frankfurter's opinions to come to ie conclusion that his ideas do not merit erious consideration. A similarly dogmatic assertion by Prof. fason is contained in his discussion of hief Justice Marshall's judicial tech- ique in Malbury v. Madison, which is, r Prof. Mason's words, on an "abstract, lympian plane." He thinks this was just ie right tone for the opinion. This is Is privilege and he may be correct. But i a book which pretends to be a piece f serious scholarship, it is inexcusable 3 dismiss without discussion the counter- rgument that judicial review could have een more effectively defended by resort y historical materials. --James Seder HE BORDERLANDS by Delia and Fer- dinand Kuhn. Alfred A. Knopf, 321 pages, $6.75. I'H E REGIONS surrounding the Soviet Union and China are probably some of ie least-known countries in the entire orld. Until recently, the lack of familiarity q the part of even the well-read Ameri- an was primarily due to the lack of a Dod, readable authoritative book on this rea. This is no longer true. Delia and Ferdinand Kuhn have pro- vided the book; its title is Borderlands. Borderlands is a readable book by two of America's outstanding travelers, jour- nalists and free-lance writers. Its subject matter is the area, life and character of six remote, tense, struggling, and restless regions roughly encircling the Soviet Un- ion and China: Hokkaido; the Sulu Is- lands; Northern Burma; Sikkim; Afghan Turkestan; and Eastern Turkey. The reader rides along with the Kuhns in their interesting travels through these varied and beautiful spots in the world. He stands beside them' as they talk to the strange and unusual and questioning peo- ples who have come to play a large part in the recent world events. The Kuhns have accomplished some- thing which many other writers have tried to do-they have created a book which is a travelogue that does not read as dryly as a travelogue, a documentary of current events which has the added spice of personal observation and a chron- icle of past history with the readibility of a great novel. -Daniel Shafer FAIL-SAFE by Eugene Burdick and Har- vey Wheeler, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1962, 286 pages, $4.95. "TES, WE both trusted these systems too much. . . You can never trust any system, Mr. President, whether it is made of computers or of people. .." "But we did trust them, . . . We, and you too, trusted our beautiful Fail-Safe system, and that's what made use help- less when it broke down." With this warning, Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler add a stark new novel, Fail-Safe, to the literature of dis- armament. Through 286 pages they warn that ao system, not even one as intricate and double-checked as Fail-Safe can save the world from the ultimate end of the arms race. Fail-Safe is the story of the senseless destruction of Moscow and New York when SAC bomber group inadvertantly gets a positive Fail-Safe signal and at- tacks Moscow. United States defenses had been put on major alert when radar picked out the trail of an unidentified plane heading for the United States. SAC bombers were placed on Fail-Safe sta- tions and missiles were being- readied. However, the plane proved to be a dis- abled British Boeing 707, off its usual course. The alert was cancelled, but one bomb- er group, getting a mechanically verified signal to attack the Soviet Union, pro- ceeds despite the lack of oral orders re- sulting from unknown experimental Sov- iet jamming of the Fail-Safe network. The President (unnamed, but obviously John F. Kennedy) orders the six-plane bomber group shot down. Unfortunately, the squadron is out of range of fighter- interceptors. A taught interplay with the Russians begins, during which Russia is warned of the impending disaster. The President, faced with the need to prove to the Soviets that the United States had not attacked intentionally prepares the "Sac- rifice of Abraham"-the destruction of New York for Moscow, the murder of the Soviet UN ambassador for the United States Russian ambassador, the death of the President's family for the death of Khrushchev's. The United States bomb- ers reach Moscow; a SAC bomber drops four megaton bombs on the United States' major city. Intermingled with the action are some character sketches of the major players of the Cold War game, drawn from con- temporary models with their chess board view of nuclear war. There is Prof. Wal- ter Groteschele who rose to Pentagon importance on a shrewdly deducted theory of counter deterrence. He seems a composite of current deterrent theor- ists, like Herman Khan, and through his characterization the authors speculate as to what makes these men play their grizely and amoral game. Col. Walter Cascio is the type of pat- riot who holds-to an extent of an epi- leptic-type seizure-to his background and will not give the Russians the vital secret information they need to save themselves. Counter to this are the SAC and other military personnel who per- form their highly-trained tasks without considering their ends-a totally deper- sonalized machine without ethics. Burdick, with a different co-author this time, scores on his third attempt at fictional documentaries. Based on known unclassified material, he extrapolates and weaves a suspenseful and shocking story of disaster. Like Greek tragedy it winds to a predestined end. While this sort of writing graphically visualizes the warnings of the peace groups, it suffers from an inherent ten- dency to over-generalize. Burdick and Wheeler paint their picture too inexor- ably. In spots, the incidents seem con- trived and artificial. The Soviets are par- ticularly cast'in this manner. The auth- ors consider them exact counterparts of Americans and fail to weave the Russian character and Marxist ideology into them. ' However, taken as a whole, Fail-Safe should serve a sober warning about the drift of the Cold War. In a time of ex- treme crisis, when the press indicates that that the armed forces were alerted to peak readiness against attack, this book triggers frightening second thoughts about current policy. -Philip Sutin conductors who have already recorded the work; in ~hoth cases the superior sound quality justifies the new record- ings. Paul Kletzki's earlier performance of Mahler's First Symphony (with the Israel Philharmonic) dates back to Angel's earlier days. The performance per se is a personal one, with several ritardardos not inserted by Walter. The basic tempi utilized by Kletzki do not differ signifi- cantly from those in the older version, and except for a refinement of the sound quality the newer performance is quite similar to the earlier Angel. In addition, both of Kletzki's editions share a common fault: the coda of the final movement suffers a deletion of some 24 bars. Whether or not this constitutes a gross lapse of judgment on Kletzki's part depends on how avid a Mahlerite one is, since the portion omitted is some- what repetitious to one not totally in- volved with the spirit of Mahler (such as Kletzki?). Walter's recording is not marred by such a blemish. On its own terms, the Kletzki disc is a very good production indeed; but it is nevertheless outclassed in many respects by Bruno Walter's long-awaited new stereo recording, with the Columbia Sym- phony Orchestra (his earlier one featured the New York Philharmonic), of a per- formance rich in both majesty and vigor, not to mention that special brand of gemutlichkeit common to so much of Mahler's music. Both conductors do well with shaping the first movement, with its slow pastoral introduction an dits vigorous coda, al- though Kletzki tends to whip the tempo up more near the end of the movement. Likewise the scherzo emerges under the batons of both Kletzki and Walter with all due vitality, although Walter's tempo seems slightly more so. The horns of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra a r e brought out with full splendor by Walter throughout, but this is also due in part to the recording, which is much more vivid than that which Kletzki obtains on Angel. The third movement, which utilizes the well-known "Frere Jacques" trans- posed to the minor mode, is beautifully done on both records, but I question Columbia's judgment in splitting the movement between both sides. Although the cut comes at what is probably the most appropriate point if such a cut need be -made at all, I find the Angel version (with no such split between sides) more in keeping with Mahler's direction that there be a long pause between the second and third movements. The fourth movement (which shows some similarity to that of the Shostako- vich Fifth Symphony) begins amid such a mass of sound that one cannot help immediately being arrested by it. The new recordings are certainly no exception; but where Kletzki's brisker tempo maintains the excitement set by the opening meas- ures, Walter is slower and hence, I felt, less successful here. The Kletzki version of this symphony features quite good sound, but it seems almost muffled compared with the -ex- tremely vivid sound which Columbia's evidently closer miking secures for Wal- ter. The bass drum in particular sounds at times as if it were located directly_ beneath the microphone, and the Colum- bia brass sound makes that of the Angel disc seem rather pale by comparison. Stereo aspects of both discs are fine in all respects.' I have no doubt that the Walter read- ing' will attract the greatest critical acclaim; indeed, it is probably the finest memorial to the genius of -this conductor which Columbia could have made avail- able. But the Kletzki version is hardly less outstanding an achievement in both sound and interpretation. Either version is a superb documentation of the artistry of Gustav Mahler. -Steven H~ale. World University Service Helps Students Around, The Globe By LOUISE LIND THOUSANDS of students who believ charity should have a place on a col lege campus are involved in an organiza tion known as the World University Ser vice. Situated in nearly 600 educationa institutions throughout the world, thes students annually raise millions for an organization that professes to "help stu dents help themselves." Managing "pro grammes of action" in 27 countries, WUS is dedicated to helping institutions o higher education in foreign lands mee their basic needs and to fostering cooper ation and understanding among the uni versity communities of all nations. In ,an age when too often an IBM car and a tennis racket are the only keys necessary to unlock the portentious gate of higher education, it is not an easy task for most people to imagine the pligh of the student in a land where the aver- age per capita income several years 4g was under $300. The Algerian student must somehow struggle to earn his tui- tion money; the student in Hong Kong must look forward to four years of poorly balanced meals at prices he cannot af- ford, and the Nicaraguan student must find lodging in one of two existing hostel which sleep five or six to a room and offer no bathroom facilities. WUS members are but too familiar with such sordid conditions existing in many institutes of higher education around the e Poor Meals Are Common to Algerian Students GUSTAV MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D;Paul Kletzki conducting the Vien- na Philharmonic Orchestra: Angel Stereo S 35913, $5.98 (Monaural 35- 913, $4.98.). Bruno Walter conducting the Colum- bia Symphony Orchestra: Columbia Stereo MS 6394 (Monaural ML 5794). :j.t AS IS THE case with so many now-well- liked works which were attacked by narrow-minded critics at the outset, it seems strange to recall that Gustav Mah- ler's Symphony No. 1 in D ("Titan") was labeled by the German musical press at its first performance as "a crime against law and order in the realm of symphonic music. To be sure, the newcomer to the works of Mahler, especially if he has been nur- tured primarily on Brahms, might find: the going a bit rough at first. But those leery of starting-out their acquaintance with this composer via his later and lengthier symphonies (often more than an hour in length) could do worse than to investigate the manifold beauties of his First Symphony. Mahler himself seems to be the subject of a revival of interest since the centen- nial observance of his birth was held two years ago; but lovers of his First Sym- phony have not had'much opportunity to' experience its splendor in the stereo- phonic medium. This problem has only recently been solved with the addition to the catalogue of two new stereo versions, together with their corresponding mon- aural editions. Both performances are by -world. They not_ only comprehend the - facts and their implications-they have - taken measures to remedy them. l Their mutual aid programs to students e and institutions which, whenever possible, n match WUS funds dollar for dollar, have - built libraries, language laboratories, stu- - dent hostels and activity centers; have S bought books, lab equipment and student f supplies; have paid staff salaries and t have offered scholarship programs in - underprivileged nations around the globe. - Their two-year, six-million dollar pro- gram is able to undertake sizeable pro- d jects on an appreciable scale. Such has s not always been the case. e y WHEN members of the World Student t Christian Federation began in 1919 - the European Student Relief, the original o ancestor of the present WUS organiza- t tion, all activities were carried out strictly - on an emergency basis. The early workers g in the spirit of the present WUS move- y ment were appalled by the devastating ~ effects of the First World War, especially t its crippling action ton thousands of_ s European students. While they under- I took assistance to these unfortunates with funds contributed by others in many parts of the world, their activities were y definitely of a continental, even a re- gional nature--a long distance from the current global operations. Yet even on a reduced scale, the early group, which had sprung phoenix-like from the war-created emergencies, was. founded not on ashes, but on several sound principles. These concepts, which have happily been the heritage of all successors to ESR, were five in number: 1) Assistance was not to be random charity nor was it to be based on pre- judiced policies. 2) Aid was to be administered along sound economic lines. 3) Wherever possible, conditions would be created in which students could help themselves rather than relying on others. 4) Aid was to be provided without regard to race, creed, nationality or sex. 5) Ability and proven need alone were to be the criteria for aid. So effective was the work of this early group and so compelling was that spirit in whose name it operated that its mem- bers chose to continue their activities even after the war-created emergencies had been met. In 1926, ESR was succeeded by the International Student Service. Its work was aiding victims of natural and man- made calamities. When the 1930's saw the Jews and other refugees from Ger- many, Austria and Czechoslovakia under- going a sub-human variety of oppres- sion and persecution, ISS added several thousand more names to its list of recip- ients of moral and financial aid. To cope with the calamities.of World War II, ISS augmented by a new genera- tion of students who found its cause com- pelling, established the World Student Relief (WSR) which aided student pris- oners of war, internees and refugees by supplying books, food and clothing and by giving them hope for the future. At the war's end, it began once more the attempt to reconstruct university and student life out of the havoc and despair of the post-war years. In 1950, the student aid organization once more changed its name, expanding its extensive relief and rehabilitation operations in Europe to comprehensive programs of mutual assistance in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Far East, and later to the continent of Africa. Its new nomenclature - World University Service-was an aptly chosen one to describe the much extended stu- dent aid programs now operating on a global basis. WUS, WITH headquarters in Geneva, gathered strength each year and is presently represented in 46 countries with an equal number of autonomous national committees. Attempting to do the most good for the underprivileged of the world, WUS maintains continuous contact with many world-wide and na- tional organizations operating on some- what similar principles. Thus, it cooperates with the special- ized agencies of the United Nations, such as the U.N. Economic and Social Council and UNESCO. On the national level, WUS has cooperated with programs of the American State Department, the American Committee for Refugees, the Peace Corps and CARE. In this country, WUS, the child of the conscience of the religious community, is sponsored by religious and non-relig- ious organizations alike. Among these are the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundations, National Newman Club Federation, the National Student Association, National Student Christian Federation and Na- tional Student Councils of the YM-_ YWCA. Associated member organizations are the Association of International Re- lations Clubs, Federation of Jewish Stu- dent Organizations in New York and Institute of International Education. The National Association of College and Uni- versity Chaplains is a participating mem- ber organization. WUS and its program are endorsed by the Collegiate Council for the United Nations and the American Association of Junior Colleges. In the United States, WUS programs consist of interpreting the needs of stui- dents around the world on the American campuses, stimulating various activities contributing to the betterment of inter- national understanding and raising funds from campuses, individuals and founda- tions for the International Program ad- ministered from the Geneva head- quarters. At the University, the local WUS com- mittee, with a mandate from Student Government Council, operates with a small nucleus year. Its prima zation of a spi incorporates a an auction and ners" as means the programmes Peter Eisinge cal committee, the yearly can funds collected their way to th ters at Geneva, aid programs in tries chosen by singer has desi Basutoland as from this year's ed criterion of these nations. T THE UNIV giers, when damaged or des prior to indepe contribute to th versity life by tion of the educs In Peru, at ti ga, high in th will assist in th dent center to a The university, because it is de indigenous India nological trainii works under ex tions. At the pr accommodate i majority of them fit for human be In the Britis WUS monies wi a library at Pit The university-1 ern Africa is no (racial segregat of South Africa tion for non-wh high standards. Meanwhile, a some 500-odd c WUS and its have become ar Ann Arbor vol that charity sh college campus. know how it fee sometimes count often, the lack who eats bread and goes to bed realize that the "help WUS he' selves." Louise Lina literary colleg editor on the Per.