w 1'AGE FOUR TE MlC-H IG A N ,DA 1, L Y a : a mgr a e a a v a ...,.. s a Published every morning except Monday during the University year by the Board itr Control of Student Publications. Member of Western Conference Editorial Association. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis. patches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and the local news published herein. Entered at the posto..ce 'at Ann Arbor Michigan, as second class matter. Special rate of postage granted by Third Assistant Post- master General. Subscription lby carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.so. Offices: Ann Arbor Press Building, May- nard Street. Phones: Editorial, 4925; Business, 21214. EDITORIAL STAFF Telephone 4925 I MANAGING EDITOR r ELLIS B. MERRY Editor....................George C. Tilley City Editor...............Pierce Rosenberg News Editor .............. George E. Simons Sports Editor ........Edward B. 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Gentry TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1929 FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE Condemning four years of col- lege as a background for business, a New York banker of considerable note, wealth, and ability said re- cently through the columns of The Daily Princetonian: "The most formative period of the average college man's life is spent in a place where he acquires lazy habits of thinking. A university cannot produce in men the drive that bus- iness gives them." The author of these remarks is Floyd L. Carlisle, head of the banking firm which bears his name, president of the St. Regis Paper Company, former head of the Northeastern Power Company, and a graduate of Cor- nell. It is not hard to guess the kind of life Mr. Carlisle leads. Awaken- ing with thoughts of efficiency, he reads his mail enroute to the office, shouts letters into a dictophone be- tween conferences, carries a huge mass of details in his head the bet- ter to reach million dollar decisions instantly, and by his personal ex- ample of dynamic energy instills that drive into his associates which will mean dividends for the stock- holders. For recreation he proba- bly talks shop with his associates between bridge hands or chip shots. The wonder of it is how the Princetonian reported got the in- terview, and the pity of it Is that by a strange warp in our civiliza- tion this is called success. Sinclair Lewis has painted the outlines of Mr. Carlisle's portrait, but it is doubtful if Babbitt's crass- ness can approach the absorption of the modern business tycoon in the highly competitive art of mak- ing a million. And with the dol- lar placed upon so high and rever- ed a pedestal, we have small cause to wonder that a mere college edu- cation looms trifling in the eyes of a money magnate. Colleges, as yet praise God, have not utterly for- saken mellow culture for that min- ute specialization, high-geared ef- ustifying his condemnation of col- eges, is nevertheless a fair Indict- ment of today's college methods. In defending themselves against this charge, our colleges with their low standards of admission, huge enrollments, "pipe" courses, and easy degrees have no leg upon which to stand. But the whole theory and value of education is not vitiated, and the day must soon come when our educators will awake to the sloth of their stu- dents and eject the impostor who sleeps instead of prays at the shrine of knowledge and culture. 0 NEEDLESS POLITICS Although it is not one of The Daily's policies to stir up needless issues which have lain dormant for some time, it is our sincere belief that there are certain organizations on the campus which should (and for their own good must) be re- moved from the political vagaries of the student body and party bosses. Particularly notably among these organizations is the Union, which year after year employs the spoils system in placing men in its important offices. For the past two years both fac- ulty men on the Union Board of Directors and the student officers have made a conscientious effort to pass an amendment to the con- stitution which would guarantee the election of officers entirely on the basis of merit. The first time this was attempted the ballots had to be denied because of the farcical way in which the students voted Last year the amendment was ve- toed at a pep meeting by voters who wished to please their incon- gruous vanities by defeating a wor- thy measure. Now the faculty men are through They have been reasonable enougl during the entire affair, but fee] that if anything is to be done about reorganizing the Union, thc proposals must come directly from the students. Because a certair man, who controls many votes throws his support to a particula political candidate does not mak the former the proper person t hold a responsible position. A situation quite similar to the one at Michigan has arisen at Il- linois, where a petty politica squabble has caused all of the Un- ion officers to threaten resignatior just at a time when they are great- ly needed. In commenting on the trouble, The Daily Illini says: "One thing which does seem pos t sible as an outgrowth of the whole affair is the removal of Union of- fices from popular election. We predict that within a few years the officers will be appointed by a board of students and faculty members similar to the present Il- lini board, which appoints th staffs and supervises work of th campus publications." The attitude reflected in thi comment is identical with that o: many interested persons on thi campus, and indicates the trend i other large universities. The only way to increase the popularity of the Union, to make it in fact as well as in name o men's club and the center of cam pus life, is to provide by selective precedence capable men for all of fices. When this has been accom plished, it will be a small matte to delegate powers to these men ix proportion to the importance o their positions, and a general im. provement in the health of the en tire organization is sure to ensue The merit system is by no mean, a dead issue, and it is The Daily'; hope that the time for the next all campus elections will not pas, without some definite action hav ing been taken on this matter.. .About. Books, in 3-- L_. Music And Drama Heyward's Negroes: No matter how devout the negro may be in his religious belief, su- perstition plays an important part with him in all matters of the spirit. It is his natural right through centuries of African in- t heritance. Of the writers of this frantic quality in the American ne- t groes, none have captured the high emotionalism to the degree thatt Du Bose Heyward has. He has re-s cently shown his understanding of" the psychology of the primitive! blacks of his native Carolina inh two immensely popular volumes,C "Mamba's Daughters" and "Porgy."d We are told that Heyward in his latest, "The Half Pint Flask," hasB built up once more a Poe-like at-o mosphere of mystery and suspense.- It is a tale of conjuring on thef part of a white man who has takenb a flask from a grave in a buryinga ground. By their concentratedt mental efforts, the outraged ne-P groes, through their knowledge ofr the occult and ready practice ofv black magic, succeed in reducingt the man to a state of abject ter-1 ror and helplessness.f * * *t Hawthorne Biographyc Of all the American authors,t none is more individual, more ap-Y pealing to the biographer, or more engaging to the student of Amer- ican life and letters than Nathaniel Hawthorne. In a new biography,1 "Hawthorne," by Newton Arvin, the thesis is made that the writer'sf creative characters grew out of his.f subconsciousness and that a studyI of them illustrates Hawthorne'sp own disastrous struggle to adjust; himself to the everyday world. t From the very start, the uniquet quality of Hawthorne's spirit, hisI strange shrinking from normal hu- man contacts and the misanthro- pic fields where his imagination ranged, set him lonely and apart from other writers. Nothing new is presented concerning the life of Hawthorne. The book is meant to be a critical and mental biography.- Newton Arvin is one of the.I youngest of biographers. He is a native of Indiana, and a graduate; from Harvard with high honors. At the present tine he is an as- sistant professor of English at Smith college. He was selected by Hawthorne's authorized publishers to edit "The Heart of Hawthorne's Journals" which came out earlier this year. The most valuable and individual quality of Mr. Arvin's re- cent study is his understanding of' the man and his appreciation of I his works. "Field of Honor" "The last of the traditional Irish story-tellers," Donn Byrne was sud- denly cut off in his prime a little more than a year ago. Born on Manhattan Island, in the city of New York, Mr. Byrne returned to Ireland before he was able to talk.- In 1911 he came to the United States and became an assistant on the staff of the Century Dictionary. He soon won prominence with his short stories, but it was the pub- lication of "Messer Marco Polo" in 1921 that definitely caused him to be. hailed as an interesting writer. ."Field of Honor," the last novel that Mr. Byrne wrote is leading the fiction best seller lists of fourteen representative book houses throughout the country. It is a novel of the Napoleonic wars. To - Castlereagh, sitting in London and spinning his cunning web of sol- diers, spies, and money around the head of Bonaparte, comes a young Garret Dillon bent on serving his country. The book tells two stor- ies in one. It tells the love story of Garrett Dillon for his wife Joce- lyn, and in its wider scope it is an epic of the overthrow of chiv- alry with the vanquishing of Na- poleon. * * * Week's Best Severs4 Fiction: "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway, Scribner, $2.50;l "The Methodist Faun," Anne Par- rish, Harper, $2.50; "Field of Hon- or," Donn Byrne, Century, $2.50;I "The Dark Journey," Julian Green,, Harper, $2.50; "Ex-wife," Ursula Parrott, Cape and Smith, $2.00; "Enough of Dreams," Francesco Perri, Brentano, $2.50.I Non-Fiction: "Dynamo," Eugene O'Neill, Liveright, $2.50; "The Spec- ialist," Chic Sale, Specialist Pub., TONIGHT: At 8:15 in Hill Auditorium, Madame Louise Homer, American Soprano, in the first of the Choral Union Series. "THE TRUTH ABOUT BLAYDS" A. A. Milne has long been one of the most popular entertainers in America and England. Both coun- tries have given up hope of his ever becoming very important; there is a certain quality of sprightlyness and lack of the great "high seriousness" in each of his plays that quite clearly expresses his desire to avoid importance. Contrary to most of the British dramatists who adopt cynicism as a sort of defense reaction, Milne seems quite proud of the famous British sentimentality and trades on it boldly. He writes scene after scene sentimentally in the Barrie fashion and indulges in threadbare happy endings. He very carefully avoids the more serious implica- tions of any of the characters or problems that he creates. He is not ashamed that he is merely whimsical and delightful but rather looks upon it as a duty not to be anything else. The result of his sincere avoidance of a grand fling at an immortal drama is that' he invariably succeeds in being a very good entertainer-quite an ac- complishment in the theatre. Even the critics with the highest and most serious brows cannot carp at Milne because he obviously ac- complishes what he sets out to do. A nimble and altogether smooth gentleman writing drama is Mr. Milne. "The Truth About Blayds," the first dramatic morsel for the hun- gry campus, is one of the best, and probably the least flimsy, of the Milne plays. With a few deft strokes Milne paddles us back to the green and shady waters of Vic- torianism. The play is laid in the home of Blayds, nonogenarian, the last of the Victorians, a poet who is clad in light and walks in glory. The whole household-fussy son- in-law, idolatrous daughters, op-j pressed and mutinous grand chil- dren-revolves around the figure of the old poet. In fact, he is sort of an institution, a vested interest. Under the guidance of the son-in- law . the family cultivates Blayd's reputation, extracting all possible advantage from the enviable and amiable British habit of honoring I Ul f U'. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION ,.. Announces that PREFERENCE IN SEATING w . a ; y . 4 FOR LECTURE SERIES c 'i Will be given to all applications mailed season ticket on or before 1 October 16th t Hear the Men You Hear About u ; o I 14 Tickets for Entire Series $3.50-$3.00--$2.50 -t t, 1~ "4: ADDRESS ALL ORDERS TO 3211 ANGELL HALL ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN I . ., great poets. At the moment of death, Blayds, either in a moment of senile aberration or remorse, confesses to his daughter that for seventy years he has been palming off the poems left to him by his roommate who died young. The daughter takes this disclo- sure to the family and they are faced with the disconcerting vision of their whole world crumbling with the exposure of the literary crime. The last two acts are taken up with the reactions of the fam- ily to the confession and their so- lution to the problem, of whether the public should know of the mute T O] Jenks, who had really written all this poetry while still a youth. This is a good store for humor here and Milne fills it with delicious turns, carefully shunning any possible profound implications the problem may have. One critic confessed that the play inspired in him a grim dis- trust of all literary reputations and -O a suspicion that sooner or later it will turn out that Longfellow was a crook (an exposure which he said would give him much satis- faction). W. J. G. "THE PERFECT ALIBI" Well, this man Milne is quite important. The only play coming to Detroit this week is his latest' "The Perfect Alibi." This is a new type of detective thriller, which re , doesn't sound very promising, but - which critics actually called "at + least ninety times better than a mystery play." In the play one sees a vendetta murder, coldly and iii A i d it cunningly planned, carried out with the only mystery falling on the actors themselves. The bal- ance of the play is concerned with Sao ikt the solution of the problem arisinge from the peculiar ,circumstance that Scotland Yard has found all- Still Availal bis for everyone and declared "sui- cide." It is left for a young slip of a girl, an ardent reader of de- tective tales, to bring about jus- tice. It is in watching this so ten- der heroine track the murders that the audience derives its thrills. Milne's name suggests immedi- ately that there will be no shrieks in the dark, no bony hands grab- bing bony necks, or other blatant Auditorium nfttmnlt try thill and gfavrflp. Anrl frilm ilm ll ill I II Iil 110 1M i : nlen Co ncerts K ---.'--. . -.p.. .+ NIGH'T 0 1 AMERV AWN MEL w smobbb- LOY A" I xY Campus Opinion Contributors are asked to beabrief, confining themselves to less than 300 words it possible. Anonymous com- munications will be disregarded. The names of communicants will, however, be regarded as confidential, upon re- quest. Letters published should nut be construed as expressing the editorial opinion of the Daily. RATHER BACKHANDED To the editor: Dr. Clarence Cook Little was the subject of a dissertation by one of the department heads of the Lit- erary college during the course of a lecture on modern languages. Said he, "If the University of Michigan had not been as big as it is, it would never have survived the irreparable damage done by Dr. Little." The speaker elaborated upon. his theme, maintaining that he and several others had realized from the first that the University was ,an Contrallto orium 8:15p.m AI at $6.0h, $8OO M$10-00t$12.00 ble at the School of Music lividtia Concerts S50$ $2.00, $2-59 A. Box Office Open 7:00 P. m.