Seventieth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSIrY Of MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
"When Opinions Are Free
Truth Will Prevail"
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staf writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
Y, OCTOBER 27, 1959
NIGHT EDITOR: KATHLEEN MOORE
State Constitution
Causes Tax Crisis
THE PRESENT financial chaos of the state
has been blamed on the Supreme Court, on
the Legislature, on the governor, and even to
some degree on the University. Perhaps these
could be partial factors in the dilemma, but
the ultimate cause is mainly to be found in the
decrepit nature of the Michigan constitution.
In view of the constitution's three per cent,
maximum sales tax provision, it is 'impossible
to quarrel with the Supreme Court's fatal
decision. It is unnecessary even to question the
wisdom of that very tax ceiling. But it is
necessary to question why this provision should
have been a part of the Constitution, rather
than merely a statutory law subject to revision
by ordinary legislative methods.
A constitution, by definition, must provide
Open?
WITH THE NEW change in elections rules
whereby posters and candidate pictures
cannot be distributed as part of the campaign,
it is important for Student Government Coun-
cil candidates to meet their public.
And the only way left open for this meeting
is the series of open houses, scheduled by vari-
ous living units. Here the candidates can state
their platforms, meet their constituents and
hear what the masses are wanting. Thus candi-
dates can benefit by these experiences as much
as the constituents.
With only 12 candidates for eight posts on
SGC, however, much of the fun is being taken
out of campaigning. Many probably figure that
with only four being dropped from the cam-
paign roster, it will be another four, not him-
self. Thus the campaign seems to be slow.
At one recent open house only three candi-
dates managed to show up. This is a rather
telling commentary on the seriousness with
which various people asking us to elect them
are taking the campaign. It seems that anyone
desiring a vote should at least take enough
interest in the campaign to go out and ask
for it.
Only four candidates will not sit on SGC this
fall. The four who see the least of the con-
stituency will probably be them.
-ROBERT JUNKER
City Editor
the pattern for the system of government and
its pervading philosophy. It should be the very
fundamental law for the governing institutions
of the state, not just a series of legislative
enactments. Details should be in laws and
statues, not in the constitution.
NHERENT IN A constitution must be the
quality of flexibility which can allow it to
keep pace with the times, without being sub-
stantially modified. It should not need frequent
amendment, but should remain a constant,
almost immutable testament to the ideals and
philosophy of the government.
This flexibility is intrinsic only to constitu-
tions whose provisions are purely general. Prin-
ciples and general provision seldom become
outdated, but procedural details invariably
must.
The perfect example, of course, is the federal
constitution, which has undergone only twelve
amendments since 1790. Despite its broader
scope, the federal constitution is only one-third
the length of the Michigan Constitution, yet
the same constitution has had to be amended
sixty times just since 1909.
The federal constitution succeeds in its pur-
pose of outlining concisely, but completely and
clearly, the structure of the national govern-
ment. That is why it has stood the test of
time so well. The Michigan constitution; how-
ever, is so cluttered with odd little provisions,
statutes, and procedural matters (the 3 per cent
tax ceiling being just one example), that it
can't help but be totally ineffective.
MOST OF THIS might all seem quite obvious,
perhaps to the point of insulting the read-
er's intelligence, but solving the problem is not
quite so easy as perceiving it. In 1958, when the
voters had the chance to request a constitu-
tional convention to remedy the situation, the
necessary vote approval was not obtained. Al-
though the majority of those who voted on.
the convention issue were in favor of it, this
was nowhere near the majority of those voting
in the general gubernatorial race-most of
whom do not vote on other issues.
Without this required, but virtually unob-
tainable majority, a convention cannot be
called. So, ironically, part of the constitution's
inadequacy is that it actually helps to prevent
its own correction.
--SHERMAN SILBER
LETTERS
to the
EDITOR
Flag...
To The Editor:
OPEN LETTER TO THE
FLAG THIEF
S0 YOU TORE off the Hun-
garian flag and ran away with
it. It had been put up on the Diag
by us, a group of University Hun-
garian students, for commemora-
tion of the Hungarian Revolution
of 1956. The necessary permission
had been granted by the author-
ities. We had planned to guard
this flag with torches in our hands
between 7 and 12 p.m. Friday night
not against thieves but to honor
those who gave their lives for free-
dom. The guards with the torches
appeared at their place, The flag,
thanks to you, had disappeared.
But why did you do it? Was it
only a childish, irresponsible joke?
Then you, even though uninten-
tionally, dishonored the memory
of our martyrs. Or did you have
something against the flag? Is it
that you thought it threatened
peaceful co-existence? If so, does
it threaten peace if we remind
people of tyrrany? Or did you
think that, by tearing off the
symbol of freedom, you can dis-
courage the desire for freedom?
No, you cannot. Or didn't youlike
the flag just because it reminded
the people of a free country of
the crimes of Communism? That
we cannot help. The fate of our
suffering nation and the memory
of our dead oblige us.
No matter what your motives
were, it must have taken a lot of
courage to wait until it got dark
when nobody could see you ac-
complishing your noble mission.
--A group of Hugarian students
Dying for a Smoke
t
;(itl~i
3 # ,
.~,,, -
ti 4~
"M l.0 w Pte, Th PIrtvPoblira" Csd
SL Les oDtspetc
Hlerbl ock is away dice to ilaesm
WALTER LIPPMANN:
Framework. of World Relations Changing
Editor's Note: The following are
excerpts of a speech delivered to the
Foreign Policy Association in Wash-
ingto~n by Walter Lippmann.
1 WOULD LIKE to say a few
words about our common task,
which is to report and interpret
the world as it is today. In doing
that it is a delusion to suppose that
we can or should observe events
with an open and empty mind.
Like anyone who does research, be
it in the natural sciences or in the
history of mankind, the raw facts
are what William James used to
call a blooming, buzzing confusion
until we approach them with an
hypothesis, with a conceptual
framework into which they may
fit.
What I should like to note is
how in my own experience the
hypothesis has changed with which
we interpret our relations with
the rest of the Eyorld.
Until very recently, very recent-
ly indeed, our views of American
foreign policy were controlled by
the underlying conception of the
nineteenth century - the concep-
tion that this is one world whose
political center is in the North At-
lantic region of the globe. This
conception has underlain our
thinking in foreign affairs not only
throughout the nineteenth cen-
tury but down through both of the
world wars of this century.
* * *
THUS IN the First World War
we were drawn in when Britain
and her ally France were threat-
ened with defeat. We were no
longer to remain isolated from
Europe and unentangled in the
wars of Europe, as we had been
able during the nineteenth cen-
tury. But how were we drawn into
the First World War? We were
drawn in to reinforce Great Brit-
ain.
When the war ended In 1918,
we hoped and believed that we
had won a victory for the idea
that the principles and ideals of
our Western society are universal.
Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a
world order. But it was a world
order based on our Western prin-
ciples and ideals. Moreover, it was
to be an order in which the na-
tions of the North Atlantic region
would continue to be the political
leaders of mankind.
In 1918 there was much on the
surface to justify this optimistic
view. The North Atlantic commu-
nity had won a smashing military
victory, and the United States had
emerged as a new and powerful
member of the Western society.
Russia was still a primitive and
backward country in the throes
of a deep social revolution. China
was a feeble and backward coun-
try, divided up among foreign
powers. India was still under Brit-
ish rule; North Africa, the Middle
East, and Southeast Asia were
under British or French imperial
dominion. On the surface, in
AX LERNER:
Soldiers and Civilians
NEW DELHI-On the whole Asian continent,
from Iraq to Indonesia, the new figure on
the landscape of power is the Army com-
mander who has taken over the government
from the hands of the civilians, on the plea
that the latter are faltering, confused, dis-
cordant and corrupt.
Within the past few weeks there have been
visits to New Delhi by President Ayub Khan
of Pakistan and Prime Minister Ne Win' of
Burma. Both are generals, both are cut from
the same cloth-young, able, honest, level-
headed, practical-minded, anxious to keep the
military and civilian spheres distinct despite
the fact that their own rise was in the Army.
A visit is also expected here soon from Presi-
dent General Nasser of the U.A.R. It would
have come earlier, except that Nasser is having
to watch the progress-both medical and politi-
cal-of still another General, Prime Minister
Kassem of Iraq, who has thus far managed to
survive several assassination attempts perhaps
not unrelated to Nasser's designs on Iraq.
OF THIS WHOLE group the most promising
are Ne Win of Burma and Ayub Khan of
Pakistan, in the sense that their probable suc-
cess should lead to the establishment of a
tolerable Constitutional democracy.
The usual Army slogans ascribe the fall of
the earlier governments to civilian corruption
and party bickerings. This is true but doesn't
cut deep enough. The deeper truth is that most
of the new Asian nations simply do not have
the economic, political, administrative, and
social base on which a functioning democracy
can yet be built.
We are learning these days that a lasting
democracy is the end-product of a long process
of development, in which men learn in their
daily lives to value and trust each other as
equal persons, and leaders and administrators
are trained to give them direction.
The efforts to short-cut this process, through
native revolts like those in Iraq and Egypt, in
Nyasaland and the Congo, may bring libera-
tion from colonialism. But that is a very dif-
ferent thing from = saying that they bring
democracy. Nationalist revolt may achieve free-
dom from an imperial power, but it does not
achieve freedom from' the shackles within a'
social system and a tribal tradition. The great-
est distance that an Iraqi or Egyptian, an
Algerian, a Pakistani or Burmese .or Indonesian,
must traverse is not the distance from his real
Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. Well, Pakistan
is now ruled by a general, Burma is ruled by
a general, Ceylon has had a senseless assassina-
tion of its Prime Minister, with a political
situation that is still touch-and-go.
India is the only remaining area, liberated
from British rule, which is a stable democracy,
with civil liberties and the rule of law, free
elections, a multi-party system, a functioning
popular press which can air its grievances, a
strong civil service, an independent judiciary,
and civilian control over the military.
In the whole of Asia there are only Japan
and India which have stable constitutional
democratic governments. Of the two it is India
which, by its example, will have to help its
neighboring countries to traverse the steep
road to democracy.
INDIA RECENTLY had its own little flurry
over civilian-military relations, in the con-
troversy between Defense Minister Krishna
Menon and the head of the Indian Army, Gen.
Timaya.
Piecing it together as best one can, the story
has less to do with any basic civilian-military
clash than with a clash of personalities. Since
Nehru puts his emphasis not on the Army but
on foreign policy and domestic reform, Menon
might have made an enviable record as Defense
Minister. Being personally close to Nehru, he
could for the first time have served as a link
between the Army and the Prime Minister, and
have got for the Army the appropriations it
needed.
But trouble developed when Menon asked for
the advancement of two generals whose politi-
cal leanings were considered too Leftish by
Timmaya and the others. Given the Chinese
border aggressions the timing for such promo-
tions was particularly unfortunate, whatever
their merit may have been. Despite his protests,
Timmaya signed the orders under Menon's
pressure.
ONCE, WHEN HE had an interview with the
Prime Minister on other matters, Nehru
mentioned the question of the promotions, and
Timmaya unburdened himself about it. Nehru
told him to talk to Menon, who would get
everything straightened out. When Timmaya
went to see him, Menon accused him of going
over his head to the Prime Minister. There
were angry words, and Timmaya-feeling that
hp n lnnpr art he efpnp Mii .,r's nri
AT THE CAMPUS:
Pair of Movies Offer Fine Comedy
IF ANY GROUP were to draw up
a list of the funniest movies
ever made, Fernandel's "The Sheep
"Mr. Hulot's Holiday" would be
Has 5 Legs" and Jacques Tati's
certain to rank high on it. Though
their individual approaches to
comedy are distinctly different,
both end up with the same result
-one laugh right after another.
In his film, Fernandel displays
his comic genius in the area of the
wild and uninhibited farce. The
story concerns an old Frenchman
who fathered quintuplets, Alain,
Bernard, Charles, Desire and
Etienne, instead of what he hoped
for, a dead, little Alice. The quint's
papa did not become very close to
his sons. They were five instead
of his hoped for one, and they
were declared a historic monu-
ment and raised by the funds sub-
scribed for them.
The monument's birthplace
wants to have a big celebration
in honor of their fortieth birthday,
so the quint's godfather is sent to
find them; and what he finds
makes an extremely funny movie.
Fernandel has an absolute field
day in the roles of the father and
the five sons. It is a tribute to his
acting talent that he can create
characters as different as Alain,
the rich and vain tsar of a female
beauty factory, and Desire, a poor
but happy soul who washs windows
for a sinister little undertaker who
personally tries to furnish his own
clients. It is hard to choose which
of the six roles is the best and/or
funniest, but it seems to me that
if the moviegoer is as enchanted
by the character of Charles, a
newspaper reporter who writes
advice to the love sick under the
name of "Aunt Nicole," as this
reviewer was, he might choose
"Aunt Nicole" as his favorite.
* * *
"MR HULOT'S HOLIDAY" of-
fers equally funny humor as the
Fernandel picture; but Tati's
night and are the first in the din-
ing room for every meal. One par-
ticularly delightful touch is fur-
nished by the BBC broadcasts that
the tourists listen to. Whenever the
BBC is turned in, it is always a
doleful commentator predicting
doom and destruction. Most likely
he has not seen either of these
two films for they would certainly
make him at least smile.
-Patrick Chester
AT DETROIT INSTITUTE:
Dele osFine Job
In Early Music Concert
Woodrow Wilson's time, it looked
as if Britain and France, rein-
forced by the United States and
Canada, would prolong indefinite-
ly the world order that had exist-
ed in the nineteenth century.
We now know that this was a
brilliant illusion. Both France and
Britain were profoundly weakened
by their fearful losses in the First
World War. As representatives of
the Western philosophy, they were
challenged as imperialists over all
of Asia and of Africa. We did not
know this in 1918.
* * * .
IN THE Second World War, the
role played by the United States
was no longer that of an associat-
ed power bringing up the rein-.
forcements and the reserves. But
before Pearl Harbor and before we
actually entered the Second World
War, we still thought of ourselves
in terms of the First World War.
Yet we had not only to supply the
weapons and the other economic
necessities but we had to raise a
great army ourselves.
The difference between the two
world wars is marked by the fact
that in the second, as distin-
guished from the first, the su-
preme commanders on sea and on
land were Americans. Neverthe-
less, until World War II ended, we
could still believe - perhaps I
should say we still tried to believe
-that as and when Britain and
France and Western Europe re-
covered from the damages of the
war, the North Atlantic commu-
nity would still be the political
center of the world.
I venture to believe that in the
last analysis this was the under-
lying assumption in the minds of
both Churchill and Roosevelt at
the close of the war. They believed
that as Britain and America, act-
ing as partners, they could handle
Russia and have the deciding
voice in the postwar settlement.
They were mistaken. The fact of
the matter is that Churchill him-
self was so big that he made the
British power look bigger than it
was. It soon appeared that Brit-
ain, though it was a great power
by the old standards, was not like
the United States and the USSR,
a super power.
* * *
SINCE the war, we have found
ourselves in a position different
from anything in our whole pre-
vious experience. We are no long-
er members of the world order
which is accepted by mankind as
being universal. There are other
world orders which challenge ours
The greatest powers with which
we have to concern ourselves are
no longer in the North Atlantic
region. They are in Eastern Europe
and in Asia. While the welfare of
the Atlantic community is a close
and vital interest of the United
States, the Atlantic community is
no longer he political center of
the world. We are living in the
midst of the decline of Britain as
one of the leading powers of the
world and we find ourselves with-
out a powerful ally in the face of
the new powers of Eastern Europe
and of Asia and of Africa.
* * *
I said earlier and I mnust say
AT HILL:
Symphony
Excellent
PERFORMING before a thrilled,
-standing-room-only audience
at Hill Auditorium, the Boston
Symphony began their two-concert
visit on Saturday night with the
presentation of a program con-
sisting of works by Bach, Bloch,
and Brahms.
Forsaking the traditionally
smaller ensemble for that com-
posed of the entire viola section,
elevent cellos and four basses,
Charles Munch's obvious wish in
the initial work, the Bach Bran-
denburg- Concerto No. 6, was to
emphasize its broad sonority. To
understand the matter, he suc-
ceeded.
Especially enjoyable. were the
second and third movements. The
former possessed an almost ethe-
real quality, while the latter rol-
licked forward with a noble, per-
sistent drive. The inner voices
regardless of the dynamic levels.
emerged quite clearly at all times
over which Munch exercised a pre-
cise control.'
The Bloch "Schelomo," Hebrew
Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
is a highly evocative work In
which the cello assumes the role of
a human voice. Although the com-
position attempts to present a
sonic portrait of King Solomon,
what must inevitably distinguish
this work is not any historical
consideration, but the simple fact
that the cello does, after all,
manage to convey the intonation
and wide range of emotion possible
in the voice of any expressive
spirit. It is a work at once vibrant,
plaintive and sensual, and its per-
formance was equally so.
* * *
SAMUEL MATES, the cellist,
was magnificent, and along with
his sensitive phrasing displayed a,
vicious attack that on one note,
at least, got out of hand. The
Brass section, in both this and
the Brahms, was similarly superb.
In many respects, the "Schelomo"
was the high-point of the concert
and it's a shame that a distracting
vibration due, I suspect, to the
microphones, had to occur during
the final, quiet measures.
If Munch's interpretation of the
Brahms Second Symphony was re-
freshing, I found it also somewhat
disturbing, particularly during the
first two movements. His hurried
tempo tended, in spots, to obscure,
or minimize th epotential lyricism,
and this symphony is capable f
moments of high lyricism.
This, however, is admittedly a
matter of taste. Let us simply say,
therefore, that he gave a dramatic,
rather than lyric, presentation.
Taken all in all, it was a fitting
conclusion to a fine concert,
-James Forsht
AT THE STA E:
'A ng el'
Tarnished
IT IS A BIT difficult to discover
just what great truth lies rea-
sonably well concealed in "The
Blue Angel." Perhaps it is that old
adage, "Oh, how the righteous do
fall."
It may be the notion that one
should play one's role in life with-
out deviation. . . don't trespass on
the other side of the fence no
matter how green the grass may
look. Or perhaps it is that equally
old adage, "Let the buyer beware."
Chief deterrent to understand-
ing is May Britt. If the audience
could get a hint from her, just
once, as to the kind of character
she is portraying, it could help.
Miss Britt contents herself with
strange glances, smiles so subtle
they hardly' movehr' aca
muscles, and occasional antisep-
tically sultry stares.
* * *
AS THE slowly disintegrating
schoolmaster, Curt Jurgens is
more often pitiful than pitiable.
He is so bumbling at the beginning
of the picture that his "downfall"
becomes more testimony to sub-
lime stupidity than the result of
uncontrollable obsession.
Some moments in the film are
truly painful, such as the final
scenes when the c o mp l e t e l y
shamed husband, playing a clown,
is pelted with eggs while offstage
his wife makes love to another
man. But this is the emotion of
melodrama.
Between the inadequate acting
of Miss Britt and the portrayal of
a man too lacking in pride to be
worthy of sympathy, the audience
is most likely to view the "trage-
dy" of the teacher's degradation,
shrug and say "so what?"
* * *
PERHAPS the greatest problem
with the film is that it attempts
to reproduce a highly successful
motion picture of many years ago.
Comparisons are odious.
While Marlene Dietrich is a fas-
cinating woman, May Britt is, at
least for the present, merely a
rather seductive little gamine.
Another problem is the attempt
1
4
4
FRIDAY EVENING at the Detroit
Institute of the Arts the Alfred
Deller Trio performed a delightful
program of early music before a
small, but deeply appreciative au-
dience, half of which was from
Ann Arbor.
Hearing Deller is an experience-
comparable to that of a young
child's first glimpse of an ocean
. . . its vastness . . .its beauty.
One can't image how astoundingly
pure the human voice can be until
hearing one such as Mr. Deller's.
Alyfred Deller is one of the very
few recognized counter-tenors in
the world today. The counter-
tenor voice, or male-alto, has the
E to E, two octave contralto range,
making the voice, in a male, noth-
ing short of a phenomenon.
S *
THE LISTENER'S disbelief is
doubled in this case, since Deller
is a good six feet tall, and could
probably do a decent job as a
'tackle on the Michigan team.
When Deller was a youth, he was
reputed to be one of the finest
soccer players in England.
The program opened with a per-
formance of "Songs with Lute" by
John Dowland (1563-1626), the
outstanding lutenist of his day.
Here, for some, was the first op-
portunity to hear Deller's precious
phrasing, a talent which enhances
his already rare, and precious
to be a master of ancient stringed
instruments.
* * * . -
TO CLOSE the first half of :the
program, Deller sang two songs
with viola da Gamba and harpsi-
chord by Claudio Monteverdi, the
great Italian opera . composer of
the Baroque era.
The second half began with a
rendition of five English folk songs
with lute. "Black is the Color of
My True Love's Hair" was the
finest, and the author has never
experienced so pure a performance
of it. The lute parts were strictly
contrapuntal and enhanced the
beauty of the folk songs.
Dupre, who. is quite 'a humorist,
gave a lecture on "the lute" and
proceeded to play six pieces for
lute, three by Dowland, and the
remainder by Thomas Robinson.
The lute is a magnificent instru-
ment; and Dupre exploits every
facet of its magnificence.
* 4* *
THE CONCERT came to a close
with Deller performing songs by
Henry Purcell, the noted 16th cen-
tury English composer. lere, as in
the entire concert, Deller's unbe-
lievable use of dynamics became
evident. It is impossible to describe
his dynamic range. It must be
heard to be comprehended. Deller
sang, a "Lullaby" by Monteverdi
for his encore.
I