Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS SOUND andCFUsY by Clarence Fanto China Policy: It's Not Even T heir War 4, m Are Free 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Prevail NEws PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: SUSAN SCHNEPP The Dubious Conscience Of a Car Manufacturer SEN. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF (D-Conn) has greeted the auto industry's of- fer to accept federal safety controls vol- untarily with healthy suspicion, as well he might. For "voluntary" acceptance of controls is a well used industry device to escape the worst, a little like a crim- inal turning informer in order to escape with a light sentence. The voluntary trick was used with great success by the tobacco companies last year when it appeared the government was finally going to do something about cigarettes. The cigarette manufacturers volunteered to accept without struggle a Food and Drug Administration order forcing them to place the "Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health" warning on their packages in the correct anticipation that acquiescence to that incredibly mild FDA order would forestall much stronger action, possibly including advertising controls, by the Congress. fI HE RECENT STATEMENT of the auto- mobile industry, which, incredibly, seems to have surprised most observers, is doubtless a similar ploy. Sen. Ribi- coff's skepticism, however, appears to in- dicate that the car manufacturers will not be allowed to get off so easily. The industry is running scared and not, it seems, without reason. Ralph Nader's long testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee has been a damning indictment of the industry's fail- ure to provide even minimal safety stand- ards for its products. Big Business apol- ogists such as A. A. Berle must watch with some sadness as the true nature of the "conscience" of America's largest cor- porations is bared to the public. MANY PEOPLE must be wondering why a company with profits of nearly $2 billion cannot design a steering column which will not turn into a spear aimed at the driver's abdomen in any front-end impact. One is forced to wonder why a rash of call-backs of late model cars for adjustments began only after the Sen- ate hearings were in progress. Was it be- cause the companies suddently discover- ed these flaws in one and two-year old cars or because they finally decided to do something about it? Despite General Motor's disclaimers, a sticking throttle is a distinct hazard. How The Daily is a member or the Associated Press andi collegiate Press service. The Associated Press is erilusively entitled to the use of all news dispatches credited to it or otherwise credited to the newspaper. All rights of re-publication of all other matters here are also reserved. Subscription rate: $4.50 semester by carrier ($5 by mail); $8 yearly by carrier ($9 by mail) Seon d class pOstage paid at Ann Arbor. Mib Published daily Tuesday through Saturday morning. did GM get away with foisting a car as eminently unroadworthy as the 1960 and 1961 Corvairs on an unsuspecting public? These and other equally pressing ques- tions remain to be answered. The standard defense of friends of the industry is that drivers are solely re- sponsible for the 40,000 annual traffic deaths. To be sure, American drivers are hardly all that they should be, but this is a situation that is not likely to be im- proved in the near future. It is much easier to improve the car than the driver. Most of the safety devices, such as col- lapsible steering columns, are designed not to prevent accidents but to lessen the chances of serious injury to the car's occupants once an accident has occurred. In this light, the bad driver charge be- comes meaningless. rE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY can no longer escape vigorous regulation by the federal government. Cars ate cur- rently the only form of transportation remaining unregulated. All public trans- portation modes operate under the eye of the government, and in the private transportation field, the Federal Aviation Agency and its predecessor, the Civil Aeronautics Administration have long set minimum requirements for private air- craft. It is patently absurd that an in- dustry which can help design a vehicle to explore the moon cannot build one that is safe to drive on earthly highways. The time has come for a full-scale in- vestigation of the car industry in all its facets. The Commerce Committee hear- ings are a beginning. A beginning on an- other front was last week's Supreme Court decision ruling as illegal GM's attempts to block sale of its products at reduced prices by California discount houses. The administered price hearings held by the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee in 1957 should be revived to look into the pricing and marketing practices of the irresponsible giants. Un- fortunately, Estes Kefauver is dead and his successor as subcommittee chairman, Sen. Philip A. Hart (D-Mich), does notj appear to be the man to take on theE largest employer in his constituency. However, if Hart won't someone else must; the situation cannot long remain in its present intolerable state. A FIRM GOVERNMENT crackdown on the auto industry will rouse anguished cries of "creeping socialism" from con- servative sectors of the public. The pub- lic interest, however, cannot be sacri- ficed to an ideology sponsored by Big Business in its own interest. As far as the car makers are concerned, unregulated free enterprise has had its day. The cor- porate conscience of Detroit has been tried and found badly wanting. -STEVE WILDSTROM HERE IT IS, a bright spring day, the kind of day which makes a person glad to be alive and ever more appreciative of all the world has to offer. Yet, a gnawing fear plagues many Americans, partic- ularly those of draft age. After 14 months of bombing North Viet Nam, a step which was supposed to serve to induce that nation to enter into negotiations on the war in the South, we seem no closer to a political solution of the conflict. On the contrary, the statements of top administration officials in recent weeks have downplayed or omitted the possi- bility of negotiations to end the war, GLIMMERS OF HOPE that U.S. policy toward Communist China might be undergoing a careful examination with an eye toward a more flexible approach have also faded. Secretary of State Dean Rusk has reiterated several times in the past week the need to contain China since, according to his sensitive antenna, there has been no Indication of any Chinese readiness to respond to U.S. over- tures. The American people seem con- fused and divided over this war- probably the most unpopular fought by this country in the past 100 years. Debate in Congress and other high political c i r c l e s throughout the country continues. In South Viet Nam, Premier Ky has apparently reneged on his promise to hold national elections by Aug. 15, thus setting the stage for renewed political strife. The continued inflexibility of U.S. policy toward China-policy which is closely related to the ap- proach taken by this country in fighting the Viet Nam war-seems even more incomprehensible in the light of recent reports emanating from China. FAR EASTERN sources have re- ported that the status of Chinese Communist party leader Mao Tse- tung is uncertain. His failure to appear at the May Day celebra- tions last week may indicate ill- ness or some other incapacita- tion. Yesterday, a dispatch from To- kyo said that the Communist Chi- nese army newspaper has report- ed the existence of a rebellious group in the Chinese party which is challenging Mao's ideological stand. The article hinted that in- fluential party elements are at- tempting to seek a reconciliation with the more flexible, less ideol- ogically fanatic Soviet Commu- nists. If these reports are correct, an opportunity exists for the U.S. which should not be squandered The appearance of dissension in Communist China-apparently for the first time since 1949-indicates a possible move to end the xeno- phobic isolation and hatred of the U.S. which has characterized Chi- nese Communism. BUT THE U.S. approach toward China has been just as unyield- ing. Unlike our more enlightened Western European allies such as Britain and France which have seen fit to officially recognize the existence of Communist China and establish diplomatic and trade. re- lations with her, the U.S. seems in- tent on continuing to isolate the nation of 750 million people and preventing its entry into the Unit- ed Nations. U.S. actions and policies have helped reinforce China's isolation and its status as an outsider in the family of nations. Perhaps it is now time to re-examine some of our basic policies and see whether there are some steps we could take to encourage a further decrease in political and ideological rigidity on the part of Peking. Recent improvements in Chinese economic conditions combined witl^ a series of grave diplomatic set- backs around the world have ap- parently convinced some Chinese that now is the time to tone down some of the more flagrant at- tempts at inciting revolutions and creating political disorder in the developing nations of Asia and Africa. IT SHOULD BE remembered that China, has not entered the Viet Nam war in any significant manner. Its only contribution has been to provide workers to help North Viet Nam repair damage to highways and bridges. As a close ally, China has also provided some weapons to Hanoi in recent years just as the U.S. has done for many of our allies. There has been nc indication that Peking has sud- denly increased its supplies of weapons to Hanoi. The defensive anti-aircraft batteries and jet planes which North Viet Nam has received were contributed by the Soviet Union. Thus, the U.S. has become mili- tarily involved in the Viet Nam war to a far greater extent than China has. Although Chinese propaganda has often been hars, and threatening, it has never been backed up by deeds. What would the U.S. response be if a Commu- nist nation were to continually bomb a neighboring ally such as Mexico, even if Mexico has been providing assistance to Cuban reb- els trying to overthrow the Castrc regime? Undoubtedly, the U.S would do more than bluster and threaten. Thus, in action if not in words, the Chinese have been re- markably restrained during the Viet Nam war. U.S. HOSTILITY toward China has had such a strong impact on Peking that dramatic gestures are required in order to create even a modicum of good will. For a start the U.S. should: -Drop its opposition to the ad- mission of Peking to the United Nations-provided the Communist, agree to permit continued repre- sentation for Nationalist China (Formosa). -Offer to enter into multilat- eral talks on the Viet Nam war with North Viet Nam, South Viet Nam, the Viet Cong and Commu- nist China among the participants Such an offer should be accom- panied by a pledge to halt the bombing of North Viet Nam, which has been generally ineffective any- way, for an indefinite period un- til and unless North Viet Nam un- dertakes aggressive action. --Make it clear to South Viet- namese Premier Ky that contin- ued U.S. participation in the war is contingent upon the holding of free elections wherever possible in South Viet Nam by August 15, the date Ky promised to Buddhist and student leaders last month. Ky's attempt to, move back the date of elections to October may create new political chaos in South Viet Nam. Some correspondents in Sai- gon have written that U.S. lack of enthusiasm for the elections may have encouraged Ky to move the date back. -State clearly that all political elements-including the Viet Cong -should have a role in determin- ing South Viet Nam's future. The Viet Cong should be offered legi- timate channels through which to advance its program, giving it the chance to abandon its tactics of terrorism, sabotage and subver- sion. If the Viet Cong refuse to abandon violence as a tactic, it will be clear to the South Vietna- mese people as well as the outside world where the blame for Viet Nam's troubles lies. THESE STEPS will only be a start in the interrelated jobs of helping bring the Viet Nam war to an end and improving our rela- tions with Communist China. But they are an important start, and the sooner U.S. policymakers be- gin considering such measures, the better chance there is to bring this war, which has stained America's image throughout the world and has led to new tensions and con- fusion at home, to an end. x Eggheads and the Republican Decline AS THE POLITICAL campaign gets under way, both parties are in serious trouble, and they know it. For the Democrats the trouble developed when, about a month after his inauguration, the President adopted the war policy which he had denounced in the campaign. For the Republicans the trouble goes back further. It goes back to the 1950's when the Eisenhow- er administration turned its back on the great national majority which elected it and missed the chance to overcome the predom- inance which the Democrats have enjoyed since the great depression PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S trou- ble today and President Eisenhow- er's in the '50's have, I believe a common and exceedingly im- portant element. Both Presidents allowed themselves to become sep- arated from the main body of the American intellectual commu- nity in the universities and in the scientific ,artistic and legal pro- fessions-in other words, the egg- heads. The influence of this in- tellectual community cannot be measured by a Gallup Poll. But the historic evidence shows, I think, that the successful Presi- dents, the two- Roosevelts, Wil- son, Truman and Kennedy, have had the active support of the in- tellectual community, whereas the Presidents who have done poorly have not had that sup- port. The reason for this is not mys- terious. The highly educated and professionally trained men and women are the producers of the new discoveries, the new inventions and the new ideas without which a great, complex society like ours will stagnate and decay. There is no use pretending that almost anybody can run a modern government and that it does not require knowledge and intellectual training along with practical poli- tical experience. Because this is the fact, a political party which fails to recruit a sufficient num- ber of innovators, experts and first class professional men will lose its energy and will fall apart while a party that does those things can succeed. THIS IS SHOWN by what has happened to the Republican Party in the past 30 years or so. It sep- arated itself from and alienated the eggheads who had gathered around Theodore Roosevelt. A; against this, when John F. Ken- 1D1 I~Today anti Tomorrow By WALTER LIPPMANN nedy was elected after eight years of Gen. Eisenhower, he proceeded to recruit into the federal service a new generation from the pro- fessions and the universities. The Republicans have not re- covered from the fact that for more than 30 years they have never welcomed sincerely, in fact have for the most part rejected and repelled, the American intellectua community. At bottom, this has not been, I believe, because the Republicans were conservative and opposed to this or that particular progressive measure. It has been because the atmosphere at the tor was benighted and Philistine. The professors were looked down upon because they had never met a payroll, and it was never regard- ed as certain that an intellectua: was not a subversive or beatnik or both. The Republican Party's main trouble to this day is that it is not very bright at the top, and to govern successfully in America today a great many first-class brains are indispensable. THE DEMOCRATS should be studying what has happened to the Republicans. For they are on the way to making the same mistake that the Republicans made when they split their party in 1912 and when they persecuted the intel- lectual community in the 1950's. The Democrats, too, are now on bad terms with the main body of the highly educated and profes- sionally trained men and women Their hatchet men, in the Senate and in the press, are making tenta- tive efforts to treat the dissenting intellectuals as disreputable. Certainly the Democratic trou- ble began with the military deci- sions taken between February and July of last year. But that is not the only reason for the gradua' exodus of the intellectuals from the Johnson administration. Aftei all the personal excuses have beer made for their resignations, the real reason is the fact that their presence is not urgently desired and that there does not exist a climate in which they can work happily. This does not mean that there is likely to be a serious defection of Democratic voters in 1966, or even in 1968. The Democratic Par- ty can probably count upon the continuing feebleness of the Re- publican Party. But it is ominous for the future of the party, For if the party leadership is separated too long from the best brains of the country, it will lose touch with the realities of the modern world -as the Johnson administration has already done to an alarming extent. If this continues, the Dem- ocratic Party will do what the Republican Party did and enter upon the period of its decline. THAT THE PRESIDENT is un- aware of the trouble he is in is obvious enough, particularly from the recent activity of the Vice- President. But the trouble will not I believe, be cured by words, espe- cially by such unbelievable words as that what we are doing in Viet Nam is the beginning of an at- tempt to extend The Great Society to the whole continent of Asia. If I may borrow the term from Clare Luce, this is globaloney. It will not bring back to the Demo- cratic Party the support and con- fidence of anybody who has any sense of reality and a knowledge of the facts of life. (c), 1966, The Washington Post Co. 4 it LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: No, The Teaching Fellows Are Not Rich VI t U pf) °-ris - To the Editor: IS IS IN ANSWER to the letter written by Mr. Harold Harrison. I would like to congratulate him on the fact that he is well paid for his services. Alas, there are many teaching fellows who cannot make the same joyful claim. THOSE OF US who teach in L S. & A. spend an average of 20 to 25 hours a week on our teaching. Sad to say our teaching period is not "12 weeks," but closer to 15 weeks. Therefore, we do not make "slightly over $6 per hour." We teaching fellows feel we are performing a definite service tc the University, and considering the cost of living in Ann Arbor, we feel we are not being compensated enough to enable us to exist at a reasonable standard of living without going into debt to do so. MOST OF US who teach in L S. & A. do not have grants or research projects available in the summer. Thus we are forced tc live on our salary of $2,475 for l2 months, unless we borrow money or prolong our program by work- ing in the summer. Is this the case in the Physics Department? We receive $2,475 a year for halt time teaching. At this rate we would be paid $4,950 for full time teaching. I ask Mr. Harrison how many instructors with MA de- grees does he know of, who teach full-time at the University and earn less than $5000. We are not asking for a pay raise; we are asking for a salary adjustment. There is a difference and it is not in semantics. The mere fact that every faculty and nAministrative official we have conceptions we might have con- cerning the equity of our position. -Robert Rockaway Teaching Fellow, History Election Practices To the Editor: DURING my campaign for city councilman from the First Ward, I was happy to see your paper showed a keen interest in city government and politics Therefore, I am submitting the below news item for publication in your newspaper. This has also been brought to the attention of the City Council and the Human Relations Commission. AN UNDATED NAACP Voting Bulletin was distributed one day before our last election, April 3. 1966. It was distributed on the Sabbath at four Negro churches to worshippers as they left their churches. It is reported that the bulletin was not distributed to the St. Thomas Catholic Church which is in the First Ward. Emma Wheel- er, president of the local NAACP and her husband are of the Cath- olic faith. Apparently they think it is all right to deliver political smear literature to Negro Protes- tant churches, but they do not think it would be appropriate to deliver this literature to a church of their faith. It would appear that there is religious and racial discrimination as indicated by the above. This bulletin is and was a smear sheet in order to help my oppon- ent, Mrs. Burns, win the elec- tion. Parts of the bulletin are false. Other parts are purposely distorted and words taken out of context from statements I have made in the campaign. and I do not believe that voters and citizens of the First Ward and all Ann Arbor want people who publish this type of literature, in this manner attempting to influ- ence their voting by such unfair un-Christian and immoral tactics It has been alleged that Mrs Burns was aware of the publica- tion of this bulletin. It is alleged that she was verbally against its distribution. However, as a can- didate and incumbent she was re- sponsible for conducting her cam- paign to include the publication and distribution of all literature on her behalf. I feel, if she had taken a stronger position on this matter, this bulletin would not have been published and distribut- ed. BECAUSE Dr. Wheeler was a part of this, I do not believe he is qualified to be a member of the faculty of our University, because by being a part of the above pub- lication he has shown a weakness of character, lack of decent prin- ciples, racial and religious dis- crimination and unethical conduct --A. Mallory Thomas China Policy To the Editor: THIS LETTER is addressed to those who attended the China conference on April 3 as well as Whispering LISTEN TO THE winds, 0 God theReader that wail across the whip-cords stretched taut on broken human hearts; listen to the Bones, the bare bleached bones of slaves, that line the lanes of to those who are interested in the current U.S.-Chinese relationship. Since Red China refuses to get down to business with the United States until the status of National- ist China is determined, any dis- cussion of China becomes mean- ingless unless it concurrently probes the way of solving the question of Formosa. And since the Formosan people abhor Mao Tse-tung's dictatorship as intensely as they detest Chiang Kai-shek's tyranny, the most ra- tional solution to the problem seems to be to kick Chaing Kai- shek's dictatorial regime out of Formosa, while keeping the Chi- nese communists from getting into the island. Hon. Weston Vivian's call for a United Nations-sponsored -plebis- cite in Formosa to let the Formo- san people choose their own gov- ernment is thus the most con- structive and most insightful pro- posal to come from a U.S. Con- gressman. AS PROFESSOR Robert Scala- pino says in his preface of George Kerr's book, "Formosa Betrayed," self determination for the For- mosan people is one of those causes which happily unites Amer- ican values and American nation- al interests. The independence of Formosa from both the Communist and Nationalist regimes, that is, adop- tion of one-China and one- Formosa policy instead of the so- called two-Chinas policy, should be given more careful considera- tion by those who are really con- cerned about the future of democ- racy. Flying Saucers? To the Editor: YESTERDAY, as I was languidly strolling in the Arboretum, I unexpectedly came upon what I assumed to be a flying saucer. Be- ing by nature intrepid, I was not intimidated by this extraordinary event, and, in a determined gait, approached the machine. To my chagrin and disappoint- ment, I was greeted by the most ugly creature imaginable-a typi- cal human being (it, convenient- ly, even spoke English). I immedi- ately asked him, in a polite tone, what the Hell he was doing here. He quite casually replied that he was part of a great conspiracy to destroy the planet earth. BEING AN AMERICAN, this didn't shock me in the least, and I asked him how he intended to go about it. He told me, with serious intent, that men of his group were in high places in the governments of the world, and that they were planning to precipitate a cataclys- mic atomic war. He added, quite parenthetically, that his society is called the Great Society, and that his leader is of the genre which we call Texan, Needless to say, I, with the bril- liant insight which is to typical of me, immediately comprehended the situation. I am now consider- ing actions which some might not call exactly patriotic, P.S. TO THE Secret Service, F R T p1t It1 n not nanic. Reneat, * X4 i