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March 19, 1937 - Image 1

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The Michigan Daily, 1937-03-19

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The Weather
Partly cloudy, coniniied cool
today; rain or snow tonight and
tomori-ow; somewhat colder.

Y r

t i n

~Iuitjj

Editorials
Take Your
Choice,. .

VOL. XLVII No. 121 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, MARCH 19. 1937

PRICE FIVE CENTS

State Leaders
In Education
Open Meeting
For 4nrd Time
150 Members Are GreetedI
At Official Reception;
Anthropology Meets
Dr. James Griffin
Leads Discussion
TheaMichigan Academy of Science,
Arts and Letters, which yesterday
began its 42nd annual meeting here,
will swing into full action today as
educators and students from all parts
of the state arrive for sessions.
A reception for Academy members,
held at 8 p.m. yesterday in the
University Museums, marked the
opening of the Academy meeting for
more than 150 of its members.
Anthropology Section Meets
The anthropology section, holding
the first divisional meeting of the
Academy yesterday, discussed the
various phases of the culture and
growth of the Far,atr civiliza-
tions.,
The meeting, under the direction
of Dr. James B. Griffin of the an-
thropology department, was opened
with a discussion of the zoomorphic
forms in ancient Chinese culture, pre-
sented by B. A. de Vere Bailey ofI
the Museum of Anthropology.
Mr. Bailey pointed out' that "the
pervasive quality of the animal in
Chinese thought has not been fully
explained, it is nevertheless a fact
that the faunal kingdom finds some
representation in almost every as-
pect of China's religious, social and
aesthetic experiences."
Porcelain Development Shown
Two papers, one given jointly by
Miss Joan Niles and Mrs. Elizabeth
McGill and the other by James M.
Plumer of the fine arts department,
were presented on the origin of por-
celain. It was pointed out that the
common idea that porcelain was "in-
vented" }r,.Venice during the 18th
century has absolutely no truth to it,
and that evidence seems to indicate
China knew of porcelain before the
Christian era.
Kinship Terms Discussed
Miss Frances S. Hughes of the
anthropology department presented a
short discussion on Japanese kinship
terms, taking her information direct-
(Oontinued on Page 2)
F. H. Neymeyer
Is To Address
Fraternity Body1
He Will Speak At Banquet
Honoring 500 Initiates
Tuesday Night In Union
Frederick H. Neymeyer, former
member of the National Interfratern-1
ity Conference and an authority on
fraternity affairs, will speak at the
Fraternity Initiation Banquet Tues-
day night at the Union, according to
George Cosper, '37, president of the
Interfraternity Council.
"More than 500 initiates of the 42
fraternities in the council will at-
attend the banquet in the Union
ballroom which will e the first in-
itiation banquet given here for men,"
Cosper said.

Neymeyer will leave his law prac-
tice in New York City to speak at
the banquet, Cosper said. Another
feature of the program will be the
presentation of a gold cup to the
freshman pledge class that had the
highest grades, he said. The cup
will not be a permanent possessionof
the winners but will be given again
next year, Cosper said.
Though a pledge banquet has been
held in previous years, Cosper said
that this would be the first initiation
banquet and that the council hoped
to make it an annual event, having
it asr the yearly occasion for the
presentation of the scholarship
trophy.
Tickets to the banquet are 50 cents,
he said, and house presidents and
pledge masters, as well as freshmen,
may purchase them from council,
committeemen who will contact the
houses.
National Labor Leader
To Speak Here Monday

TwoThousand Hear Workers Hold
Glee Club Concert
Approximately 2,000 people heard Plant; Eviction
the concert that was given last night
by 80 members of the Varsity Glee' c i n H l e
E!ENEIAction Halted
Club in Hill Auditorium.
Prof. David E. Mattern, director of
the Glee Club, conducted, and Leo S. Corporation Working Fast
Luskin, Grad., pianist, and Tom H. To Secure Ouster Writs;
Kinkead, '37, organist, accompanied.Gt
The Glee Club' sang a group of Factory Gates Barricaded
Michigan songs, Finnish and Ameri-
can folk songs, and compositions by Cornpany Lawyers,
Bach and Gounod. Ralph Clark,.^
'38SM, baritone, sang "Pirate Song" Campbell Confer
by Gilbert accompanied by the Glee
Club, and "Brown October Ale" from
"Robin Hood" by De Koven. Prof. DETROIT, March 18.-()--Sit-'
Wilmot Pratt, bariton,e sang "The down strikers solidified positions in
Two Grenadiers" by Schulman and the Chrysler corporation's automobile
"The Friar of Orders Gray" by plants tonight after further legal
Shield. steps toward their forcible eviction

Death

Toll Is Estimated At 670

In Texas School Blast; Explosion
Worst Of Kind In Nation's History

C

Rescue Workers Abandon Texas Explosion Recalls Blast
Hope For Children Still
Buried In Ruins In Bath School A Decade Ago

Gas Accumulation Is Held
Responsible For Deaths;
300 Bodies Recovered

Principal Believes
71) Viftim Srvive Present Disaster Is Like

In dependents
Start To Unite;
Pick Officials
Wolf Urges Them To Move
Slowly; Dinner Planned;
Heller Praises Group
A campaign to organize indepen-
dent men on campus was launched'
yesterday at a meeting called by the
Executive Council of the Union under
the chairmanship of Herbert B.
Wolf, '37, president.
Committee members to investigate
plans and arrange for the first dinner
at 6 p.m. Tuesday, in the Union,'
were Richard S. Clark, '37, president
of the Students' Christian Associa-
tion, William G. Barndt, '37; associ-
ate business manager of the Daily,
and Bruce Telfer, '37, member of
the Executive Council of the Union
and director of the planned organiza-
tion.
Enthusiastic discussion greeted
Wolf's proposal that an embryonic
group be formed to act as a nucleus
for luncheon meetings.
'Must Start Slowly'
"You might start slowly," he ad-
vised,"so that you can pick up
others interested and add them to
the groups. Meanwhile, definite or-
ganizational schemes could be drawn
up and discussed."
Wolf listed as the aims of the or-
ganization the encouragement of
non-affiliated men to take part in
extracurricular activities, provision
of social events, and intramural
sporting games.
"One great advantage which might
be realized," he added, "is that of
close contact with the university
events. It is difficult to reach all
non-organized men, since they are
scattered so widely through the city.
Bulletins could therefore be read at
weekly meetings, keeping the stu-
dents in touch with affairs."
Suggest Zones
Suggestions for distribution of
students according to zones, com-
parable to that of the Women's As-
sembly, were temporarily tabled.
Rabbi Bernard Heller of the Hillel
Foundation, attending the meeting,
'urged the students to put all their
energies to the plan.
"You have a tremendous oppor-
tunity before you," he began. "To
be truly representative, a student
government must include indepen-
dent men."
"But don't feel that you can give
up once you've started. Don't try to
be just another organization of in-
dependents,-there are many con-
structive projects such a group could
'foster."
DIES AT WRESTLING MATCH
YPSILANTI, Mich., March 1.-(P)
-Isaac Stusman, 67, toppled from
his seat-dead-at the conclusion of
the main match of a wrestling show
here tonight.

were delayed. AV r UL1 k3u.V 1v G>
After Chrysler attorneys conferred
at length with Circuit Judge Allan 1,500 In Rescue Crew Use
Campbell, who issued an injunction
against the strikers, court attaches Cranes And Torches To
said a "hearing" was set for 9 a.m. Clear Away Debris
tomorrow.
B. E. Hutchinson, Chrysler finance NEW LONDON. Texas, March 18.
committee chairman, who had an-|-()Ranger Captain Harvey Purvis
nounced -A)Rne that attorneys were work-
ing "as fast as they can" on the kext said tonight that 450 students were!
legal move-petition for writs to oust killed in the New London consolidated
the strikers-said only that the cor- school explosion.

poration's counsel had conferred with.
the judge and would "return to court
tomorrow morning."
One informed source said a dis-
cussion of the legality of service by
the sheriff of the injunction had
taken place.
The six thousand strikers awaited
developments behind heavily barri-
caded factory gates.
Governor Frank Murphy conferred
for two hours with Homer Martin and
Richard T. Frankensteen, United Au-
tomobile Workers' officials, and Frank
X. Martel, head of the Wayne County
Federation of Labor, but none would
make any comment afterwards.
The strikers' disregard of a 3ir-
cuit court injunction in their move
to enforce demands that the United
Automobile Workers of America re-
ceive bargaining rights for Chrysleri
employes, has made them liable to a]
$10,000,000 penalty, if the corporation
decides to try to enforce it.
Meanwhile, the first strikes in Gen-
eral Motors plants since a final agree-
ment with the U.A.W.A. was signed,
interrupted for a short time opera-,
tions of the huge Fisher body plant
No. 1, at Flint.
Bills making sit-down strikers and
employers or employes who refuse to
negotiate in labor disputes guilty of

Other estimates of the dead ran up
to 700. Troy Duran, principal of the
school, said he believed the total
would be 670, studentsand teachers.
There were 740 in the building.
J. R. Peters, superintending re-
moval of bodies, said at 8:15 p.m. that
214 bodies had been removed. Res-
cue workers held only the faintest
hope that any of those still in the
ruins were alive.
Naomi Bunting, 18, was brought
out alive a few minutes after 8 p.m.
after having lain crushed under a
mass of bricks and steel for almost
five hours.
She died as attendants placed her
in an ambulance.
Estimates of the injured were from
150 to 300. It was reported that
between 150 and 160 were in an
Overton hospital, most of them with
serious concussions.
This could not be verified, but most
of the bodies removed frorp the
building had been badly crushed by
the shattered stone.
The scene of the explosion was ap-i
palling. Officers, following declara-
tion of martial law, were gradually
effecting some semblance of order,
but grief-stricken parents could not
be restrained.

One That Took Lives
Of 40 In Ma y,1927
BATH, March 18.-(P)-Classes
had been dismissed in the Bath Con-
solidated School when a schoolhouse
explosion killed hundreds of chil-
dren in the East Texas Oil fields
today, and none of the cheerful
youngsters streaming homeward
could remember a similar disaster
which struck their own school 10
years ago.
But parents still make regular pil-
grimages to the village cemetery to
lay flowers on the 40 small graves
which contain all that remained of
the victims of that tragic dynamite
blast-one of three attributed to a
respected farmer and school official
turned maniac.
Dozens of other children were ia-
jured as that explosion wrecked a
portion of the Bath Consolidated
School building. The principal blast
occurred in the school at 9:43 a.m.
on May 18, 1927.
Half an hour earlier dynamite
charges exploded simultaneously in
the home, barn and wagon shed o
the maniac, killing his wife, who was
one of five adults to die with the
children.vAs rescue work got under
way a third explosion destroyed the
maniac's car as he sat in front of
the school building conversing with
Superintendent of Schools Emory E.
Huyck. Both men were blown to bits.
The school was rebuilt with funds
provided by the late Senator James
Couzens, Detroit multi-millionaire
philanthropist.
Earhart Breaks
Trans -Pacific
Speed R ecord
HONOLULU, March 18.-(P)-Am-
elia Earhart, streaked out of the East
today with a trans-Pacific speed
mark, brushed her hair and caught a
nap for the next over water jump
of her flight around the world-a 1;-
532 mile adventure to tiny Howland
Island.
"I'm terribly tired," she said as
she told of handling the controls most
of last night, relinquishing them only{
as she approached Wheeler Field for
a landing.
Although Miss Earhart and her
crew of three men deliberately throt-
tled down the $80,000 "flying labora-
tory' to save it for other perilous
stretches on the world flight, it cov-
ered the 2,400 miles from Oakland,7
Calif., in 15 hours 5112 minutes. This1
trimmed one hour, 62 minutes fromi
the previous mark of 16 hours, 58
minutes by the Hawaii Clipper last
December.
Amid cheers of several hundred'
early morning spectators, some of
them still in evening dress, Miss Ear-
hart stepped out of the plane behind
Paul Mantz. Then came her navi-
gators, Captain Harry Manning and
Fred J. Noonan.

Record Of Disasters
(By The Associated Press)
Fire and explosion have taken
a heavy toll of lives in institutions,
public buildings and factories.
The Iroquois Theatre in Chi-
cago, Dec. 30, 1903, was one of the
most notable disasters, with 575
counted dead.1
A fire in a theatre and circus
at St. Petersburg, Russia, on Feb.
14, 1836, snuffed out 800 lives.
One of the most horrible holo-
causts was the fire which swept
the Ohio penitentiary at Colum-
bus, Ohio, April 21, 1930, taking
320 lives.
An explosion and fire in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Dec. 6, 1917, cost 1,-
226 lives.
A church burned in Santiago,
Chile, Dec. 8, 1863. Two thou-
sand perished.
Poisonous yellow smoke curled
up from burning film in the Cleve-
land, Ohio, clinic, May 15, 1929.
The fire and fumes killed 125.
Other disasters, since 1910,
which caused a heavy cost:
Sept. 23, 1934-260 miners killed
in the Gresford Collieries, Eng.
April 21, 1934-150, mine ex-
plosion at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
March 15, 1934-150, explosion
at Port La Libertad, San Salvador,
Oct. 22, 1930-262, Alsdorf, Ger-
many, mine blast.
March 25, 1911-148, Triangle
factory fire, New York.
Dec. 21, 1910-300, Mine, Bol-
ton, England.
May 19, 1928-195, Mine, Math-
er, Pa.
Oct. 22, 1913-263, Mine disas-
ter, Dawson, N.M.
Oct. 14, 1913-423, Mine, Sen-
ghenydd, Wales.
Sept. 8, 1934-134, S.S. Morro
Castle burned, off New Jersey.
April 18, 1930-150, Church
fire, Cotesci, Rumania.
May 8, 1918-100, Chemical
plant explosion, Pittsburgh.
Oct. 15, 1918-100, Factory ex-
plosion, Morgan, N.J.
Jan. 28, 1922-97, Knickerbock-
er theatre collapse, Washington.
July 10, 1911-400, Mine, Ont.,
Canada.
Dec. 26, 1911-65, Theatre dis-
aster, Richmond, Va.
July 10, 1926-23, Naval arsenal
explosion, Lake Denmark, N.J.
George Sherwood,
Museum Head, Dies
NEW YORK, March 18.-()-Dr.
George H. Sherwood, 61, honorary di-
rector of the American Museum of
Natural History, died of a heart ail-
ment tonight.
He was stricken a few minutes be-
fore he was to introduce Peter Freu-
chen, Arctictexplorer, to an audience
waiting in the museum auditorium.
He had just had dinner with his
wife, Freuchen and a small group of
friends and was on his way to the
auditorium when he collapsed in the
Bird hall of the museum.

j
1'

felonies, were introduced in the state As each body was removed there
Senate. was a rush to affect identification.
__- -More often than not, those who
pushed forward failed to identify the
Senators Hear child.I
Huge cranes were at work, winches
D a si screaming ,as steel and concrete were
D eans ra ise pulled from the ruins, exposing more
victims. Twisted steel was being cut
Court Chan voe with acetylene torches. Bodies were
being removed at the rate of about
one every five minutes.
WASHINGTON, March 18.-(P)- Fifteen hundred workers scrambled
The deans of two university law over the debris, hastily passing up
schools, appearing today at a tur- the bodies of those obviously dead
bulent hearing in which Senators in their hope to find those in whom
snapped and glowered at each other, there might still be some life.
called for the enactment of the Oil field laborers set up a glaring
Roosevelt court reorganization pro- battery of searchlights which played
posal. up the crushed building and facili-
Dean Thomas F. Konop of Notre tated rescue efforts.
Dame described the measure as a --
"safety valve to save the Supreme Sh*ds Lynch
Court and its jurisdiction." Unless
it is enacted, he said, an "outraged" i
people will put through an amend-! Will Camaian
ment "sweeping the Supreme Court[
out of the constitutional picture."T
Dean Leon Green of Northwestern
urged passage of the bill to obtain a
"reinterpretation of the Constitution"
and provide a "fair Supreme Court." Regents Posts Candidates
The Notre Dame dean said that On Democrat Slate; Both
when the Supreme Court held that
corporations were "persons" under Are Michigan Alumni
the Fourteenth Amendment "it prac-
tically destroyed all powers of the Edmund C. Shields of Lansing,
states to regulate and control the cor- Democratic national committeeman
porations." and candidate for Regent, and John

Governor Launches
Inquiry Into Blast
Explosion Comes Only 10
Minutes Before Time Of
Class Dismissal
NEW LONDON, Texas, March 18.
-(EP)-More than 300 and perhaps
670 children were killed today when
a strange explosion tore to bits a
$1,000,000 school, the worst disaster
of its kind in the nation's history.
The disaster demolished the Lon-
don consolidated school in the heart
of the vast East Texas oil fields.
The school is in one of the most
productive oil fields ever discovered
and probably is the wealthiest public
school in the world. At least seven
producing wells are on the campus
itself.
New London, a town of approxi-
mately 600, is in Rusk County about
100 miles east of Dallas.
300 Bodies Found
Estimates agreed that 300 bodies
had been found. Principal Troy
Duran said he believed the dead
would reach 670.
Chaos developed at the scene.
Gov. James V. Allred declared mar-
tial law in the precinct, ordered in
national guard troops and instructed
that a military court of inquiry be
set up. to begin an investigation.
Red Cross nurses, doctors by the
score rushed against time to allay
the confusion here-1,000 oil field
workers tore at the debris, frenzied
parents strove to find their children
and hundreds of curious blocked the
highways.
Superintendent W. C. Shaw, who
lost a son in the explosion, theorized
that it was caused by an accumula-
tion of gas.
Gas Believed Cause
Shaw said that accumulated gas
in a space between the floor of the
two-story building and the ground
undoubtedly caused the explosion.
The building was heated by gas-
steam radiators and there was 'no
main boiler.
Seven hundred pupils and 40
teachers were in the two-year-qld
building-most of them in the audi-
torium.
It was 3:20 p.m. (4:20 p.m. (E.S.T.)
-just 10 minutes before dismissal
hour.
Suddenly with a force of tremen-
dous proportions the walls of the
building began to shake. Pupils and
students alike were trapped.
Building Wrecked
A low rumble sounded. Many
thought it was a boiler explosion.
No one knew for hours later.
Witnesses said there was an ear-
hammering explosion after the
grumbling roar that preceded the
blast. The roof then, they said,
moved up, the walls crashed outward,
and the roof fell into the wreckage,
crushing those within.
The high school building was
wrecked. Flames shot forth for a
time. Nearby stood the grade school
'--empty-its several hundred pupils
having already been dismissed for the
day.
Bricks hurtled through the air for a
quarter of a mile. Children were de-
capitated. Some were mangled. Some
lost limbs.
Superintendent W. C. Shaw likened
the victims to rag dolls with their
clothes torn off.
Some of the bodies were near the
edge of the desolate heap of wreck-
age.
Teachers' Bodies Found
Rescue workers removed these first.
One hundred bodies of children, few
older than 15, were taken to Hen-
derson where they were laid out in
improvised morgues awaiting iden-
tification. Ten bodies of their teach-

ers were brought with them.
The scene here was chaotic. Thou-
sands of automobiles blocked all
highways leading into this communi-
ty, in the center of the vast east
Texas oil field. Sightseers and curi-
ous thronged elbow-to-elbow with
parents of children trapped within

,)
1

I

Sugar Is Crux Of Philippine's
Economic Problem, Hayden Says

D. Lynch of Detroit, his running
mate on the Democratic ticket for
the two Regents postsnto be filled
in the April 5 election, will speak
at 8 p.m. today at the Whitney the-
atre.
The two candidates will speak after
a dinner to be given by the Wash-

Bear Cubs Can't Quite Follow
Recent Mild Winter Weather

Sugar-the largest item of Philip-
pine export-was described as the
crux of the islands' economic prob-
lem yesterday by Prof. Joseph R.
Hayden, chairman of the political
science department and former vice-
governor of the Philippines under
Governor Murphy.
"The Filipinos desire more specific
knowledge of their trading status
with the United States after July 4,
1946," Professor Hayden said. "They
want to know if they will have an
economic gap to bridge, and if so,
just how large a gap it will be," he
said."

try free at the present time," he said, tenaw County Democratic Commit-
"but this is not a very acute problemtee at the Allenel Hotel. Mrs. Lavina
since the quota allows nearly as much Masselink of Big Rapids, Democratic
as the Filipinos produce." candidate for the State Board of
Under the Tydings-McDuffie Act, Agriculture, the control board of
Professor Hayden explained, the Michigan State College, will also ap-
Philippine Islands are allowed to ex- pear.
port produce to the United States Mr. Shields is a former regent of
free of duty until 1941. The Com- the University, having been appoint-
monwealth from that date will be ed in 1933 by former Governor Wil-
forced to pay five per cent of the duty liam A. Comstock. He is prominent
the first year and an additional five in national politics and is considered
per cent during successive years un- along with Governor Murphy, Mich-
til 946whenthePhiippie Cin-igan 's top Democrat.
til 1946 when the Philippine Cam- He was graduated from the literary
monwealth will come to an end and college in 1894 and the Law School
a free and independent republic will , mP -sa ,,irmn f

{

.
.

By JAMES DUNLAP
Sis and Brother, the two black-bearj
"cubs," weighing 290 and 400 pounds
respectively, of the University Mu-
seums Zoo can't understand this past
season.
All their hibernating instincts tell
them they have just gone through a
winter, yet Old Man Weather just
hasn't seemed to have agreed with'
them at all.
The perplexity of the cubs started
in the middle of November when
they cut their daily diet down from
11 quarts of milk, 11 loaves of bread
and three-fourths bushel of apples
ah. to only three or four uiarts

each time she returned more per-
plexed than ever.
Finally, near the beginning of the
new year, Elmer G. Berry, of the
Museum of Zoology heard the predic-
tions of sub-zero weather. Accord-
ingly he clamped down tight all the
windows and turned on all the steam
radiators.
But again the cold spell refused to
come. And this time it grew so stuffy
within the animal house due to the
radiators going at full force that
Sis found it necessary to prop open
the pen-house door with a barrel so
that a little fresh air might be gotten.
T'his . acordingto Mr.Be ,.s tart_

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