ol4r AM4d1-gan Batty
Seventy-Fifth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BT STUDENTs O' THE UNIVERSITY O MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLCATIONS
DIFFERENT PURPOSES:
Community Colleges
Follow Many Models
s Are Fe,420 MAYNARD S?., ANN ARDo., Mxcw..
Prevail
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
'URDAY, 30 JANUARY 1965
NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN KENNY
'Accommodation' Approach
Delays Long-Term Solutions
THIS NATION has a large number of
dangerous social and economic prob-
lems ranging from economic inactivity
to poverty. The conservative feels that
almost any proposal to deal with these
problems, inasmuch as it involves any
expense of money and resources, is
wasteful, and must be avoided. The lib-
eral recognizes that these problems
themselves are wasteful, and hence to
him almost any proposal to deal with
them, inasmuch as it involves a plaus-
ible expense of money and resources,
must be a solution.
The conservative approach, because it
is vaguely inhuman, has rarely been tak-
en. The usual liberal approach, which has
prevailed, entails short-range expedients
rather than actual solutions, i.e., unem-
ployment benefits rather than jobs to
solve" uhemployment. While he recog-
nizes that the nation's problems mean
waste of human beings and resources, the
liberal has merely tried to ease their im-
pact. In so doing he simply perpetuates
them and the waste they imply.,
In short, the country has tried only two
approaches to its problems: ignore them,
or accommodate them. But there are in-
dications that the administration is
about to attempt a third approach. It is
apparently determined to devise solu-
tions to end them.
0 NE OF THE major reasons 95 defense
installations were closed down recent-
ly is simply their wastefulness. The
Brooklyn Navy Yard, for example, had
extremely high labor costs fostered by
years of political interference with the
wage structure. The yard, like many
other such installations, was more an ex-
pedient directed at the employment
problem than a Aecessary part of the
nation's defense program. In view of more
efficient and less costly private yards,
Secretary of Defense McNamara's de-
cision to close these defense installations
while providing adjustment assistance
for career workers displaced by the deci-
sion is a real solution at last.
Tariffs are another good example. The
great American tradition has been to
ease the unemployment problem by tol-
erating inefficient industries through a
convenient tariff wall against more ef-
ficient foreign producers. Again, this ap-
proach combines inefficiency with ac-
commodation. Finally, however, the Trade
Expansion Act of 1963 recognized that
neither is a national asset; it lowered
tariffs and provided adjustment assist-'
ance for workers in industries that are
affected by tariff cuts, thereby pro-
moting a movement of capital, human
and material, 'to where it will be more
efficient.
INDEED, THIS approach ought to be ap-
plied to a good many problems-and
there is evidence that it is. For example,
poverty, a singularly wasteful problem,
is sometimes assumed to be essentially
the result of low purchasing power,. This
diagnosis, which, regrettably, confuses
cause with effect, implies that the prob-
lem can be solved by in increase in pur-
chasing power. Consequently, a large
number of expediencies such as welfare
payments, unemployment compensation
and the like have been established.
This approach may be helpful to a few
in the short run. However, it has be-
come evident that, for the majority in
the long run, poverty is rather the re-
sult of low earning power, of insufficient
education, of obsolete skills.
WELFARE PAYMENTS very largely fail
to end poverty in this instance; they
merely ease its burdens somewhat. In-
deed, as Henry Caudill, Kentucky state
senator and author of Night Comes to the
Cumberlands, noted in a recent lecture
here, welfare payments, in the hands of
cynical and conservative political ma-
chines, actually prolong poverty; they,
provide help enough to ease it, but too
little to end it-and the patronage from
such endeavors creates a huge vested
interest in their cause and their confir-
mation.
Fortunately, however, through re-edu-
cation and retraining, this country is now
attempting to change the poor from "taxN
eaters" on welfare rolls to taxpayers on
payrolls. By providing financial grants,
work-study plans and education for the
young, we are attempting to erase the
"culture of poverty" and ensure that it
will not arise in the future. Rather than
tolerate poverty by making it somewhat
more endurable, the country has finally
decided to end it.
QNE WONDERS, indeed, how the ob-
vious simplicity of the right solution
could have escaped so many leaders for
so long. However, this solution costs mon-
ey, and, in the short run, more money
than it costs merely to ease poverty.
By spending the far smaller amounts
that the wrong approach requires, our
leaders have felt that they have "solved"
the problem. These inexpensive expedi-
ents .are largely unrequited expenses,
however -while education, retraining,
improved medical care and other ele-
ments of the new approach to poverty,
though more costly at the outset, are in-
vestments repaid perhaps a thousand-
fold after twenty years.
But the Congress heretofore appar-
ently has overlooked these long-run gains
and, comparing the short-term costs of
the two approaches, has decided that it is
cheaper (and hence, more desirable) to
accommodate the wasteful problems it
is confronted with.
THE CLASSIC example of the old ap-
proach is the way this nation tolerates
its agricultural problem, though, para-
doxically, it is one of efficiency, not waste.
Thanks to technology, which has in-
creased output enormously, our farmers,
now only 8 per cent of the population,
annually produce far more than the
country needs or is able to dispose of
abroad. Consequently, these surpluses
are used in the vital tasks of filling large
storage bins and the time of our agricul-
tural secretaries.
'Such a use is suspiciously wasteful; one
wonders whether the labor and capital
required in their production might con-
ceivably find some better use. However,
thanks to the political implications of
such an economic problem, the farm poli-
cies of both parties have studiously ig-
nored such an approach. Instead, by
providing support prices and similar
benefits, the government attempts to les-
sen the impact of the low prices which
such vast surpluses have created. The
government simply eases the pains of be-
ing wasteful through such expedients,
and, again, the problem is not solved.
SPEAKING OF the farm problem in a
1960 television debate with the then-
Sen. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, of
all people, provided, in a slip of the
tongue, its real solution. "We simply have
to get rid of the farmer, er, I mean, the
farm surpluses," he said. One wishes he
had stopped with his first thought,
though it might have provoked his sev-
enth crisis. The farm surplus, experience
indicates, can't be gotten rid of. It keeps
growing. The farmer who produces it,
however, can be gotten rid of, and he
should be.
This betrays no animosity toward the
farmer. It simply recognizes reality. By
providing farmers with greater educa-
tional opportunities (they have, as a
group, a very low educational attainment
which severely mitigates against their
economic survival in an industrial so-
ciety), counseling services, resettlement
aid and the like, the country may finally
end its farm problem; again, by promot-
ing the efficient use of all resources rath-
er than accommodate the partial waste of
some. ,
SUCH A NEW approach, particularly
toward agriculture, does not tread
lightly on the toes of ancient and vested
interests. It tramples all over them. This
approach, however, seems to be one of
President Johnson's firmest beliefs. Not-
ing in his essay, "My Political Philoso-
phy," that "government can waste the
people's resources by inertia, quite as
much as by vigor," he declared: "I re-
gard waste as the continuing enemy of
our society, and the prevention of waste-
waste of resources, waste of lives, or waste
of opportunity-to be the most dynamic
Second of four articles
By LEONARD PRATT
TVHE TERM "community col-
lege" has come to indicate a
certain type of institution and so
has become rather stereotyped.
Yet within this stereotype are
many diverse institutions serving
various purposes and ini various
stages of completion. A brief sur-
vey of several key representatives
of "community colleges" clarifies
the picture of this vital element in
Michigan education.
Established in 1963, Grand Val-
ley State College probably comes
as close as possible to the ideal of
the community college. Located
in eastern Ottawa County, GVSC
serves the tri-county area of Ot-
tawa, Kent and Muskegon coun-
ties. By 1973, enrollment is ex-
pected to reach 7500.
* * .*
ACADEMICALLY, GVSC is typ-
ical of many community colleges
in that its curriculum is organized
to resemble that of large universi-
ties very closely. Entrance re-
quirements include English, social
studies and mathematics; a sys-
tem of distribution requirements
incorporates the social studies and
the natural sciences.
The college offers no vocational
education except for teaching. It
therefore is representative of
those institutions which have been
accused of "academic' status-seek-
ing." One of the principal argu-
ments for the establishment of
community colleges is that they
can provide the advanced voca-
tional education students need
but cannot get at a large institu-
tion. Yet often, as in the case of
GVSC, the community college will
seek to model itself on larger
colleges and thus defeat the voca-
tional-trainingpurpose of much
of community-centered education.
Not all community colleges are
guilty of this "status seeking."
Last November, for example, vot-
ers in Cass County approved plans
for a community college there.
* * *
PLANS CALL for not only a
liberal arts curriculum, butalso
courses such as drafting, blueprint
reading, automotive servicing,
nursing, electronics and cosmetol-
ogy. To the degree that plans for
these vocational courses are car-
ried out, the college will fit the
ideal for the community college
much better than, say, Grand Val-
ley State.
Cass County's plans illustrate
another reality of current com-
munity college planning in Mich-
igan. Current estimates tell Cass'
planners they will need around
$1.1 million to construct facilities
for the estimated 400 students in
1967. Obviously this load could
not reasonably be assumed by a
single county or even a group of
counties.
But many community college
planners are now able to take ad-
vantage of state funds which
match local funds on a fifty-fifty
basis. Also, the new Higher Edu-
cation Facilities Act makes some
$2.3 million in federal funds avail-
able to Michigan's 18 community
and technical colleges.
* * *
SOME EDUCATORS have felt
justified in keeping the commun-
ity college modeled after the high-
er educational institution, ignor-
ing vocational education alto-
gether. They fear that a vocation-
ally-oriented institution would
soon stagnate because of its intel-
lectual shortcomings. What hap-
pens to a vocational institution as
it matures?
Ferris Institute in Big Rapids is
such an institution. It was found-
ed by Woodbridge N. Ferris in
1884 and for years served as a
"second chance college" for those
who could not compete at a non-
vocational college. Yet recognition
as a state college has boosted Fer-
ris' enrollment some 500 per cent.
Crucial to Ferris' success is ito
unorthodox curriculum, itself a
product of a vocational college
which finally found its role. Ferris
is actually three colleges: a four-
year liberal arts college, a two-
year junior college and a voca-
tional school. Perhaps its success
comes from its mixing of a voca-
tional with a liberal arts educa-
tion.
FERRIS HAS also been a pio-
neer in the type of courses it of-
fers. It was the first in its region,
to offer courses in surveying and
graphical drafting. Ferris is now
one of the three colleges in the
country offering an optical tech-
nology program. It also is develop-
ing a course in visual cojmmunica-
tions to train students in micro-
filminguand other reproduction
techniques.
In its growth, its curriculum and
its popularity, Ferris has illustrat-
ed the varied potential of the vo-
cation-oriented community col-
lege.
By MICHAEL JULIAR
A LOOK at the unique prob-
lems presented by the pro-
duction and distribution of a
motion picture may help to an-
swer many questions students have
been asking about the recent ad-
mission increase at the three But-
terfield theatres in Ann Arbor.
First of all, the production of
a motion picture is a very expens-
ive proposition, especially when
compared to other modes of ex-
pression such as writing, paint-
ing, speaking, music, dance or
even a play. The skill of many
men-the script-writer, director,
producer and actors, the photo-
grapher, the lighting and sound
technicians, the set designers and
builders, and many others of les-
sor importance-are all intim-
ately involved in the creation of
a commercial motion picture. Even
the so-called "art" films and low-
budget gambles must use a mini-
mum-sized crew that is far from
inexpensive to produce a film of
adequate technical quality.
All of the work of these men is,
with the aid of reflected light,
transferred onto a strip of cellu-
loid. The light effects a photo-
chemical reaction in the emulsion
of the film. Every set designed
and built, every subtle motion by
the actor, every action order by
the director, is captured on this
piece of celluloid. Each separate
frame may represent hundreds or
even thousands of dollars of time
and meticulous work.
* * *
AND EACH separate frame will
be projected on a screen for an
audience willing to pay the pic-
ture-makers for the privilege or
enjoyment of seeing the cinematic
creation. This piece of celluloid,
by itself a very inexpensive ob-
ject, is worth more than the
crown jewels if it can attract
a large paying audience that will
return the original investment and
a profit on top of that. "
Financiers rise and fall on the
Students react to price increase with picketing and stay-ins.
Theatre Dscount ew ngle.
chance that several reels of film
will attract hundreds of thousands
of people. An important part of
their success lies in the hands of
the distributors. Working close-
ly with the producer, the distri-
butor naturally tries to get as
much in rental fees for his film
as the market will bear.
The theatres that present the
films-independents as well as
chains such as W. C. Butterfield,
Inc.,-naturally try to get the
most popular films for the least
possible price.
TODAY'S film market is a sell-
er's market. With Hollywood pro-
ducing fewer pictures than it did
during its heyday a few decades
ago and foreign films still a big
risk, even for the wealthiest dis-
tributor, theatres have to pay
larger prices to get the films they
think will attract customers.
Distributors can and do ask for
60 per cent of the theatre's gross
receipts. They often demand a
certain length for the picture's
run, a certain number of week-
ends, special clauses in the rent-
al agreement calling for holding
over a film if it makes a certain
amount of money during the be-
ginning of its run, and so on.
Distributors are asking for these
terms and the theatres have to
agree to them. There are always
plenty of class Z films that can be
rented cheaper, but they would
never attract a paying audience
in a cosmopolitan area, especially
one with a university, such as Ann
Arbor.
SO, MANY theatres are in a
bind. Their building rents are
high, their payroll is small but al-
ways rising, and their advertising
costs show no 'signs of leveling
off. Gerald Hoag, the manager of
the Michigan Theatre, may be ex-
aggerating when he says that ad-
vertising that cost him $500 five
years ago now costs him $1000.
But still, advertising today is very
expensive. Prices for display ads
in The Daily went up 20 per cent
last fall. The Ann Arbor News
also recently raised its rates.
The type of film shown in a city
is important to the theatre mana-i
ger in gauging what will attract
the crowds. In Ann Arbor, for
instance, documentary films, bob-
by-soxer, and Elvis Presley pic-
tures aimed at the teen-age audi-
ence are not popular. Doris Day
films, very popular in almost any
American city, do very poorly in
this college town. More important,
Hoag says, is that few films break
even at movie theatres; profit is
made on the big smash hit.
HOAG emphatically cantends
that the lack of competition with
the Butterfield monopoly in Aln
Arbor is what has kept prices low
for years. Bringing another chain
or even just an independent the-
atre into town would, he says,
cause admission prices to go up.
Since there is such a scarcity of
quality films today, the sellErs
market means that the distri-
butor can wait for the best' bid for
his film. Ann Arbor competition,
Hoag points out, would cause rent-
al fees, and subsequently admis-
sion prices, to go up.
This is true in many larger
cities where admission prices are
higher than Ann Arbor's. This is
the reason, Hoag points out, that
such popular films as "Tcm
Jones," "Mary Poppins" and vari-
ous other blockbusters cost more
to see. The distributors know the
theatres will make money on such
filmsrand they will therefore hold
out for the higher than usual
bid.'* *
ALL OF these facts do not an-
swer the one question that has
been hanging in some student
minds since the protests began.
Why can't a discount be given to
students? Hoag admits that most
of his customers are Ann Arbor
residents and not students. And
students usually are on the tight-
est budgets of any people, these
students say. Why can't a discount
be given like the one for Calvin
College and high school students
in Grand Rapids.
The Wealthy Theatre there is
independently owned, but it ac-
quires its films through Butter-
field. The student" discount is $.35
off on a $1.25 ticket. There are
two- theatres in East Lansing
owned by Butterfield which just
raised their prices from $.90 to
$1.
There is one Detroit theatre, not
owned by Butterfield, but right
next to the University of Detroit
campus which offers $1.50 tick-
ets to students for $1. Another
theatre in Detroit, one night a
week when business is usually
low, gives the same discount to
students.
OTHER University students
probably can come up with more
discounts and lower prices at com-
parably sized college towns around
the country. If all of these facts
were presented to Butterfield rep-
resentatives, students might have
some powerful ammunition with
which to attack the Butterfield
stand. Right now they can only
shout. "monopoly" and "greedy"
and "unjustified" and other ep?-
thets which do not help to clear
up the air of fiction surrounding
the entire theatre admission price
rise controversy.
MEDICARE:
No One Likes Changed Bill
By HAROLD WOLMAN
T HE PASSAGE of medicare leg-
islation is virtually certain
early in this session of Congress,
but no one is likely to be very
satisfied with the results.
Proponents lament that the
medicare bill has been gradually
diluted over the years so that it
is no more than a shadow of
previous proposals. Opponents fear
the bill even in its diluted form,
viewing it as one foot in the door
leading to socialized medicine.
Contrary to widespread public
belief, the administration's pro-
posed benefits now include nei-
ther payment of doctor's fees
while hospitalized nor. costs of
surgery. Both were part of ori-
ginal medicarerproposals and
many consider the program use-
less without them.
THE PRESIDENT'S program,
proposed earlier this month,
would pay basically only for 60
days of costs payable to the hos-
pital, with the patient paying the
costs of the first day.
This would cover about one-
third .of the total average cost
of hospitalization. The adminis-
tration's program also would pro-
vide payment of certain post-hos-
pital costs for a short period of
time.
The administration .'proposal
would give these benefits to all
citizens over 65. The program
would be financed through a pay-
roll tax similar to, but separate
from, the present social security
tax. The program would be ad-
ministered by the federal govern-
ment through the Social Security
Administration.
* * *
THE AMERICAN Medical As-
sociation, which has been tn im-
placable foe ofrmedicare legis-
lation, finally proposed its own
alternative earlier this month.
According to an AMA lobbyist the
proposal is based on the concept
that "every needy person ought
to get complete care; instead the
medicare people have come in with
this silly bill paying only 30 per
cent of everyone's care."
The AMA has suggested that
federal and state money be used
to purchase private health in-
the present Kerr-Mills program
was quite sufficient.
INDEED, THE AMA proposals
reflect more than an abstract be-
lief in the way society should be
organized. Their program can be
seen as a stratagem designed to
stave off what they fear most:
ultimate socialization of American
medicine and the placing of con-
trol of the medical profession
outside their own hands.
Under the AMA program, the
financing of the federal funds
would not be through social se-
curity, but through general reve-
nues. Thus, administration of the
program would not be through
the Social Security Administra-
tion, which the AMA dreads as
big government bureaucracy.
Instead the AMA proposes that
the program be administered by
the state governments. Even with-"
in the state government itself,
however, the AMA. is concerned
about retaining control. They in-
sist that the program be handled
through the state healthedepart-
ments (often under the influ-
ence of the AMA) rather than
through state welfare agencies
which usually are more liberal
in outlook.
* *
AGAIN THE AMA is quite con-
cerned that this program should
apply only to the needy, (whom,
it must be admitted, the AMA
has always been willing to aid.)
If the administration's proposal
giving benefits to all elderly re-
gardless of financial condition
does pass, the medical profession
fears this will give legitimacy
to the principle that all citizens
should be given medical services
by the government as a matter
of right.
There is no doubt that many
medicare proponents would simp-
ly agree with that principle. In-
deed, it is fair to say that there
are leaders in the medicare fight
who do see passage of the now
watered-down administration bill
as merely a means of providing
an opening wedge, some form of
socialized medicine being their
ultimate goal.
However, it is doubtful that
President Johnson or the bill's
These people are opposed to a
means test because they believe it
is impossible to devise a satisfac-
tory test given the unpredicta-
bility and wide variance of hos-
pital costs.
THE VARIOUS proposals advo-
cated by both sides rthus include
both some interesting ironies and
some inexplicable features:
-The program proposed by the
AMA which is very afraid of so-
cialized medicine includes far
more benefits paid for by the
government than does the ad-
ministration's program;
-The AMA and the Republican
party in general have proposed a
method of financing which then
usually oppose and the Demo-
crats usually' favor. Financing
through general revenues would
be in effect taxing the rich to
pay for the poor, since the well-
to-do pay a greater proportion
of their income in income taxes
than do the poor.
-The Democrats have insisted
on sticking to the social security
system of financing, which is
basically a regressive tax. Rich.
and poor alike pay an identical
percentage and they pay on only
the first $5600 of income accord-
ing to the President's proposal.
In effect every person derives
benefits because of the contribu-
tion he himself has made-a po-
sition Republicans could be ex-
pected to take.
-It has been suggested that
many . medicarenproponents are
insisting on financinjg through
the social security system because
this will guarantee federal ad-
ministration of the program. Fed-
eral administration would make it
easier to expand into a program
of socialized medicine if that is
what is desired. Aside from this,
it would also be a blow aimed at
the AMA, an organization which
many consider far too ,powerful.
Nonetheless, there is nothing to
stop the federal government from
administering (perhaps through
H EW) a program financed
through general revenues.
THESE considerations only be-
gin to scratch the surface of a
host of perplexities surrounding
the pending medicare legislation,
'THE IDIOT':
Compared to Original
French Version Fails
At the Cinema Guild
LIKE MOST attempted transpositions of works of art from one
medium to another, the French film version by Claude Pississ of
Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" suffers from a confusion of purpose and
an inability to capture the tone and spirit of the original. Missing
entirely from the film is the essential "Russianness" of Dostoevsky.
The difficulties in transposition would seem to arise especially
in the case of Dostoevsky. Much of the significance in his work
derives from his own comment on his characters and their inter-
actions, and from his own descriptions and observations on a setting,
a situation, or some particular action. Unless these-which usually
have little if any visual impact-can somehow be transposed to the
film medium, any film of one of his works will miss the interplay of
ideas and particular personalities that is the essence of his work.
Any transposition demands a comparison to the original work,
and in this instance, the film version compares not too much better
than a good classic comic book might.
* * * *
THE FILM is perhaps interesting and somewhat faithful in
storyline, but little more. It shows the return to Russia of Prince
Myshkin, an epileptic, from several years of medical care in Switzer-
land. Myshkin is extremely sensitive and, as he says: "I'll always
have the artlessness of a child." He is taken by the extreme unhappi-
ness and suffering he sees in Nastashya Filippovna, mistress of
Afanasy Totsky, and is present at the meeting where she is to be
"bought off." Out of compassion and concern he offers to marry
her, thus becoming linked to her fate even while he loves Aglaia,
General Epanchin's daughter, and while Nastashya lives with Parfyan
Rogozhin, the flour merchant. In the pompous pre-Revolutionary
Russian society his actions and his concern for Nastashya cause him
to be taken for an idiot.
The failure of the film in comparison to the book-and a weak-
ness in its own right-is its poor development of the main character.
This is less the fault of Gerald Phillipe, who plays Myshkin, than of
the script. Nastashya actually appears to be the central, important
character; she dominates the action and the unfolding of the pl.!t
while Myshkin hovers about on the periphery. The camera work
might have concentrated more on Myshkin and his reactions-thereby