THE MICHiGAN DAILY SUN i ig ilg A every morning except Monday during the University Board in Contro! of Student Publications. of the Western Conference Editorial Association. sociated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for re- of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise his paper and the local news published herein. at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second Special rate of postage granted by Third Assistant 3eneral. tion by carrier, $4.00; by mail, $4.50 Ann Arbor Press Building, Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, hones: Editorial, 4925; Eusiness, 21214. EDITORIAL STAFF Telephone 4325 MANAGING EDITOR RICHAeD L. TOBIN ................................. David M. Nichol .. ........ ......... ...........Carl Forsythe -eCtor ............................Beach Conger, Jr. r .............................Sheldon C. Fullerton itor ..........................Margaret M. Thompson ws Editor ...... ............ Robert L. Pierce his. findings in detail, while the uninterested mem bers look at their watches and wait for refreshment or wish they were somewhere else. Perhaps the members would look at their watche even if the problem was important. But they fee justifiably bored when several hours are spent dis cussing some trivial problem that never affecte anyone until the activities committee happened upon it. Is it worthwhile to engage in such activitie simply as an excuse to hold irksome meetings an to make others think that the honorary is active We think not, but leave it with the banquet speaker and incoming presidents to decide. What are the problems confronting the problem solving heads of the world in any field? Any boar of directors, board of trustees, any business man o any private individual has, essentially, no potentia problems excepting those of present and future exist ence and management. A board of directors doe not look for obscure problems because it wants t have more meetings and look busy. It should be sufficient problem for honorary or- ganizations to do their required work to perfectior before pondering irrelevant matters. There is th objection, of course, that without activities they appear to be only mutual admiration societies, bu the business of grappling with time-killing projects does not actually change this situation. If the hon- orary president must have something to keep him busy, let him first solve the problem of cliques and politics in his organization. With this done, mem- bership wil become truly a signal of accomplishment and its attainment an inspiration to underclassmen NIGHT EDITORS Gilbreth J. Cullen Kennedy James >lawl A. Goodman Jerry E. Rosenthal Karl Seilhi(t George A. Siamivs IInglis Sports Assistants Jores John W. Thomas REPORTERS Arnheim harold F. Klute Tllankertz 1lh S. Marshall Campbell PomId Martin unellan I I u'ry -Meyr Deutsch Albert 11. Newman luher ]J. Ierome 1eilit rver Prmlence Foster olin Ale t(illert ndal F-ran:ee ]Mvl a;nch ester man Elizabeth Mann Charles A. Sanford Joln W. Pritchard Joseh Reihan C. hlart Schaaf ijrack-y Shaw Paiker Snyler GrimN R. Winters Margaret (O'Bri-n NBverly Stark rlma w1 l swodrh Josephine wood hams STUDENT GOVERNMENT? BUSINESS STAFF Telephone 21214 S T. XTIINE.......... ........Business Manage) P. J611 N ,'O N .............. ... Assistant Manager Department Managers g .... ........................Vernon Bishop ig Contracts........................... arry R. Begley ig Service.................. ........ 13ron C. Vedder )ns ........ .. .................Wiliam ''. Brown ..' ....n.'..................li.hrd. Stratemeir L'usiness MWanager ...................... Ann W. Vernor Asmistanits ison Arthur F. 1ohin Bursley l erna d S hoacke k { ralton W. Sharp in :ker Virginia MAlcComb schgrund Caroline Mosher ever Ifelen Olsonl Jackson 1 clearSchmnude 'in M 'a efrir d JonaldI A. Johnson, II 1 ean '1'uriur Don Lyon Bernardi. Good Hlelen Sfncer Kathryn Spencer athiryn Stork (la linetrh tt 'ay ay 0ee Ic ary m e ats IGHT EDITOR--GEORGE A. STAUTER SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 1932 x (The. Daily Cardinal) The failure of student government may be a con- clusion too quickly drawn by some who read too much into the demise of the interfraternity council. The fact that a group of individualistic fraternity representatives have admitted their incapability to govern themselves should not loom as a big enough argument for the downfall of the entire system of student government. / As unsatisfactorily as they did administer it, the duty of enforcing rushing regulations, we must admit, was a more difficult job than that of any other stu- dent organization. And the conclusion that student regulation and enforcement of rules is a failure can- not be denied. If there are to be rules and regula- tions, their epforcement, in order to accomplish the restraints for which they are set up and to inculcate respect for the law, should be administered by- some other body than students themselves., But student government includes a larger func- tion than the enforcement of rules. It includes the undertaking of'special projects, such as publications, debates, forums, concerts, theatre presentations, etc., and in these their own administration is sufficient. The fact that The Badger, The Daily Cardinal, and The Octopus are published, that three or four plays are presented with student casts in Bascom theatre each semester, and the fact that high class concerts are sponsored by student organizations should -be -sufficient to refute any indictment that the university student is entirely incompetent to perform certain educational functions in his own government. SAMPLE QUESTIONS )vating the st tution atter of political importance to the entire tion faces the state legislatures at this time. orris amendment, or th& Lame-Duck amend- s now before the states for ratification. en, the Constitution was first adopted, rtation facilities were so inadequate for the r that ample time had to be allowed for ssmen to reach Washington, as well as gers bearing electoral votes. Consequently, "short" or "lame-duck" session, Congress- ho had been defeated in the November elec- ontinued to legislate from December until They also had a voice in the choice of a nt, should the election be thrown into the and obviously could not represent the will r constituencies. s proposed amendment, by changing the f Congressional meetings and terms to Jan- of every year, corrects this defect in the ive system, a hang-over from the first years nation's existence. ile this part of the proposed amendment m stressed above all others, the sections with disputes in presidential elections de- s much attention. No provision had ever wade in case a President-elect should die his inauguration. Nor had any provision nade in case one of the candidates from the House might choose a President be- f no majority vote in the electoral college. >rris bill takes care of such an emergency. entire amendment brings part of the Presi- election machinery up to date, and should ied by the state legislatures at once. With >litig1 of the electoral college, the entire would be made more representative of the the people and make the Constitution the nt molded to the trends of thought of the its founders intended it to be. ACTIVITIES OF HONORARIES (The Purdue Exponent) pril, 1930, an editorial writer for the Expon- an a series of articles analyzing a number hen stagnant honorary organizations on the . each ending with a conclusion that the ation either was or was not worthwhile. The ied away, and since that time nothing hasl id upon the subject. - aver, the policy was established early this giving more publicity and larger headlines activities undertaken by honoraries. But out the entire year there has been almost irtunity to apply the policy, for few, if any, les have engaged in any projects of interestl their own membership. e this is the season of initiation banquets and s of next year's presidents, this moot subject more, timely. The topic is often us.ed by ban- eakers, and too often gets no farther than i a new angle we ask, "Must an honorary, ation necessarily engage in activities?" There ny reasons why no work is necessary. The g president is charged by the banquet speak- outsoing president with the trite exhortation better next year." Accordingly, the president, )mmittee appointed by him, begins castingI - sand Drama el ALL GOD'S CHILLUNS d A review, By Robert henrierson. n I like negroes. Much. d I.like their rich rare voices. I like their free loose bodies, their in- stinct for rhythm, their quality of concentration and their powerful sense of show and the theatre. All of them have that throated hearty r emotionalism; they know, no doubt, more about acting than the rest of us can ever know. Someday I hope to have the priviledge of presenting; o the Othello of Paul Robeson. And if we are lucky in attracting that great artist we will have a sensa- tion on our hands. It is Martha Graham-herself on a straighter track than anyone else I know- t who has said, "America's great gift s to the arts is rhythm; rich, full, unabashed, virile. Its two great fountainheads are the Negro and the Indian, each as dramatically contrasted as the land from which they spring. The art of the negro is toward freedom, toward forget- fullness, often Dionysiac in its abandon and the raw splendor of f its genius." But to fawn before the negro, to accept bad diction and slovenly stage business, to condone confused and fumbling direction, is as stupid as to sit cold and superior before all the warm, direct talent he can give us. The negro himself laughs at the silly sentimentalism of the dilletantes who grow hysterical in praise of his cheapest wares. They ' even hate us, as they hate a poseur like Carl Van Vechten. The negro can be as bad as a bad white actor. And he can be better than the good white player because he is instinct with the pas- sion and earth-to-earthiness which alone makes real art. "Art!" My god. Off in his nether grave Avery Hopwood must be savoring his last amusing joke. I know little of the Hopwood awards save that they are grotesquely large and in high dan- ger of being as ridiculous as pigs- is-pigs. I suspect Mr. Hopwood smiled a bit, out there on his Ri- viera pazza, as he left a strange will in favor of a campus he thought well-lost. The cirocco side- cars must have tasted doubly good as he sipped them down and put his solemn signature to a solemn fund to foster the new, the original and the radical. Out of this fund in creative writ- ing has come Miss Price, a negro herself, with three negro plays that are promising and full-flavored and rich in vitamine-D. Last night they were produced, amidst difficulties,. in the laboratory theatre by an all- negro cast and before a charming unsympathetic University audience. If the audience was difficult, in fairness, it was not entirely their fault. In the first piece, which I saw the negroes play at the dress rehearsal with flow and vitality, they were plainly frightened. The comedy was "The Bright Madallion" and in it Miss Price strove to com- press, loosely and naively, her whole' negro race-its spirituals, its mob flavor, its superstitions, its brutal- ity and poignancy. None of this came through-which is no real fault at all. With a large cast and constant shifting sense of actionI it calls for an expert direction and a beautiful child-like setting. It!I calls, of course, for the peasant poetry that made "The Green Pas- tures" a first hall-mark in the American theatre. ,This means much more time and skill in stag- ing that the negro company, under difficulties, could give it last night. This means, too, that a fine start has been accomplished, and tha< Miss Price has caught a fantastic simple idiom that can someday make her a very exciting authcr . The final play, "The Eyes of the Old," was achievement. It tells a tight, compressed story of a grand- mother and mother, and a young daughter who runs off with a no- count nigger to live again the tra- gic, ruined life her parents have completed before her. She starts sleeping and eating like ll poor sinners since time began.'T e whole play has form and a fine circle to its simple picture of life repeating itself. Perhaps it is the beginning of the answer to that ironic gift. of Mr. Hopwood. It was more than a fine thing to stage Miss Price's plays; more than a mere performance to bring these colorful negroes to the University. It means that the plays have a chance to come before an audience, without which there can never be any real creation in the theatre. Personally, I know ft means a mem- ory, full-flavored, of the angels in white sheets; of the wierd negro irkonne" zin e p vnn , pvnifi (Purdue Exponent) , Last autumn, President Robert Maynard Hutch- ins of the University of Chicago started a group of students to work in an educational system entirely di'eren.t from the type used in the larger universi- ties of this country. Since that time the members o this group have worked as they pleased, studying of loafing according to the way they felt. No one forced them to do more than they wanted to do, although it was understood that the students would try tc get a college certificate in two years or so, and ther- do specialized work in one of the 'VDivisions." Thos interested in educational progress all over the coun- try have waited with interest for the event whic- was announced last week at Chicago. After length3 studies, the Board of Examinations issues a set of nearly one thousand questions which are samples of the four comprehensive tests to be given later The work covered last autumn will be included in the samples, but the real tests, to be answered in six hours, will be for the whole year. These will be offered in June, September, and December. Student, who fail may try again as often as they wish, but the first repetition carries a fee of $5, subsequent ones costing $10 each. Following the four examina- tions there are further tests over two of the foul fields the college work covers, plus other requirements before the college certificate award is made. The sample questions in the four fields are based on lectures, conferences, and readings. Whether or not college students will work on their own initiative when such a loose schedule of study is outlined is a question which will soon be answered when the results of the sample tests are made public. Perhaps the outcome of this experiment will be that more and more universities of this country will adopt that plan of study which allows the brilliant students to advance as rapidly as they desire to do so and which also permits the slower groups to get as much as is possible out of their studies without being rush- ed. Undoubtedly the cost of additional examinations will eliminate those who are neither slow nor fast but who will not study the required amount of time in order to absorb the subjects in which they are supposed to be interested. AND WHAT THEY DISCOVER (Kansas State ColIegin) And another faculty member just yesterday dis- covered a little book entitled "The Age of Reason" written a number of years ago by a fellow by the name of Paine. The same f. m. discovered also, with a little reading in the book, that Brother Paine had a philosophy worth some consideration. Funny though, the things these faculty members wil discover, once let alone. Most of us cannot re- member having read a sixth grade history without having read something about "The Age of Reason" or "Commonsense,' written by the same Paine. Or perhaps later we came across a reference to the dickens Paine stirred up among some of the old Quaker fathers when we were reading early Ameri- can literary history. These faculty members do discover things.