Page 4-Saturday, July 26, 1980-The Michigan Daily
On cigaret-smoking
in women's dorms
0
Limiting q
imports no
NOT SINCE THE depressio
Motors suffered losses as gr
million figure announced by the a
pany on Wednesday.
American Motors, the country'
company, also reported a record
and Chrysler have suffered more s
and leaders of all three are
profitability this year.
The setback in the auto industry
not only on the current recession, b
more importantly, on the increas
from fuel-efficient Japanese auton
in the auto industry and auto unio
the Carter administration to help 1
of Japanese products sold in the Un
It is certainly true that the enti
the brunt of the auto industry'sr
The human toll of the failingi
ticularly tragic. Every American f
the economy spurred by the
automotive manufacturers. For tf
the lifeblood of the industry the1
ployment makes this time particuli
But, as Carter has wisely realize
restrictions on Japanese autos is.
problems of the American auto in
the competition is, in fact, one of1
that could happen to the industry.
The only way the automakers ar
of their current slump is by prodi
fuel efficient cars Americans ne
it is cruelly painful at times, true c
natural market mechanism that
result far more efficiently than go
ference.
tuto
cure
n has General
eat as the $412
ling auto com-
s smallest auto
loss. Both Ford
everely than GM
predicting no
can be blamed
ut also. perhaps
Vernon J. Brown, Republican
State Representative, thinks that
the names of the women's dor-
mitories on the campus should be
changed because the girls may
smoke in them. Writing in the
Ingham County News, Mason,.
Representative Brown recom-
mends the coed here take up
snuff and pipes. His article
follows:
"Betsy Barbour has finally
capitulated and now the girls
domiciled at the University of
Michigan dormitories may
smoke in peace. Girls housed
within the cloistered walls of
Martha Cook and Helen
Newberry dormitories have been
allowed to smoke for several
years.
"Well, let 'em smoke. There's
nothing we can do about it. But
the names of the dormitories
should be changed. Such simple
and forthright names as Betsy
Barbour, Martha Cook, and
Helen Newberry seem out of
place above the entrances to
smoking dens of cigaret-sucking.
coeds at our state-supported
university. Betsy Barbour should
give way to Boxcar Annie. The
name of Martha Cook should be
changed to Black Meg. Some
such name as the Blue Front
should grace the building now
known as Helen Newberry.
We dislike to see a girl or a
woman puffing a cigaret. There
are so many other and better
ways by which they can assert
and use their emancipation. But
we realize we are living in a new
day and that if a woman wants
to worship Lady Nicotine, that's
her privilege. However, we
should expect a little more of
those who are being given an
education at so great a cost to the
state. To us, and we confess to
being old-fashioned, the names of
Martha Cook, Helen Newberry,
and Betsy Barbour have too
honest a ring to be used in con-
nection with such nonessentials
as smoking cigarets. If the coeds
would turn to snuff or would light
up pipes the names of the dor-
mitories might well remain as
they are, but feeble efforts at
naughtiness as smoking cigarets
seem just a little dishonesti
beneath such stalwart English
names as Martha Cook, Helen
Newberry and Betsy Barbour."
This editorial appeared on
the editorial page of The Daily
on April 18, 1933. It reflects a
time when attitudes on female
emancipation were, to say the
least, in Rep. Brown's words,
"old-fashioned." a
R , a j._ j.
ing competition
nobiles. Leaders LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
)ns have begged
imit the number
ited States. Freedo m r
re country feels
misfortunes.
industry is par- To The Daily: freedom
feels the blow to Your editorial of July 22 to make
losses of the ("Resist Registration" is right in A mar
identifying the issue of draft not to th
hose who supply registration as a moral issue, but truthm
threat of unem- it fails in its explanation of that Declara
arly grim. issue. The argument that embodi
d so far, placing military conscription leads to which f
no answer to the war is dubious at best. Much wor- of limit
se, your argument impliedly con- protect
ndustry. Stifling cedes the justness of conscription dividual
the worst things if we assume (as many intelligent "rights(
persons have argued) that that a m
e going to get out military preparedness guaran- is not ar
ucing the smalltees peace. nment.
The real moral issue facing 19- p ul s o r
ed. And though and 20-year old men is this: to military
ompetition is the what extent may a free gover- tradicts
will bring this nment compel its citizens to spirit of
)vernment inter- make sacrifices? At stake is tions ma
something much more important ds of dis
than peace, for it is something the dan
without which even peaceful Courtr
human life would be argumer
meaningless; namely, the stitution
freedom of the individual to the Sele
determine his own life in accord World W
with his values. In compelling a fundame
young man to register for the jection:t
draft, our government is in effect serviveN
telling him that his own life is ' dment t
nothing when weighed in the was de
balance against political ex- dividual
pediency. Thanks to the blun- the first
dering foreign policy of the Car- of Righ
ter Administration, he must discussii
spend the crucial formative Griswol
years of his adult life with the passing
knowledge that those years are cases, ti
not his own. The young man who forgotten
registers for the draft today may, Yet in a
at anytime in the near future, be most in
forced to give up all plans of his Constitu
own and to risk his very life in Constitu
defense of a cause he may neither Declarat
support nor understand. Only the it protec
most naive or short-sighted of us life, thet
can honestly say that he is is the sou
merely filling out yet another A volu
government form. Is it ap- proper p
propriate for a society which to defen
claims to cherish individual tically, it
om conscription
to compel any individual
such a sacrifice?
n's life belongs to himself,
e state. This fundamental
was identified in the
tion of Independence and
ed in the Constitution,
ormulated a government
ed powers in order to
the rights of the in-
. Those who say that
entail obligations" forget
an's right to his own life
right given him by gover-
Any program of com-
y service-whether
y or otherwise-con-
both the letter and the
our Constitution. Objec-
.y be raised on the groun-
crimination, but there is
ger that the Supreme
may disregard these
nts as it did other con-
al objections raised in
ctive Draft Law Cases of
ar I. At no time has the
ental constitutional ob-
that compulsory military
violates the Ninth Amen-
o the Constitution, which
signed to protect in-
rights not enumerated in
eight articles of the Bill
hts. Except for some
on in the 1965 case of
d v. Connecticut and
references in a few other
hat amendment has been
n by the Supreme Court.
very real sense it is the
uportant clause in the
tion, for it puts into the
tion the principles of the.
tion of Independence and
ts the right to one's own
fundamental right which
urce of all others.
unteer army is the only
ractical and moral way
d a free country. Prac-a
t is one of the best protec-
tors of peace, not only against
foreign aggression but also
against the irresponsibility of our
own government. As the
President's Commission on an
All-Volunteer Armed Force
discovered in 1970, an army com-
posed of volunteers-of persons
who know what they are fighting
for and why-is the best, most ef-
fective army. And because such
an army depends for its strength
upon individual choice rather
than governmental compulsion,
it serves as an additional check
upon the dangerous exercise of
powers by the President and
Congress. Not many men would
volunteer to risk their lives for
such stupid ventures as Korea or
Vietnam. Morally, a volunteer
army is a recognition of a per-
son's fundamental right to choose
his own destiny. Should a man
or woman volunteer to fight if the
country is attacked? Yes-if the
person values his own rights and
freedom. If draft registration is
compelled by a real need for
military preparedness (and not
merely by the current
President's need for respect), let
any adult citizen,of whatever age
and of either sex, volunteer now
to serve in whatever capacity
each individual feels best able to
perform in an emergency. A free
country should never lack volun-
teers in the face of genuine
foreign aggression. As Thomas
Jefferson observed in 1801, ours
is the strongest nation on earth
because each citizen meets in-
vasions of the public order "as
his own personal concern." If
that observation is no longer true
today, perhaps it is because a
government designed to protect
our rights has been asking us to
sacrifice too much.
-David Mayer
e... July 24