THE MICHIiGAN DAILY TTtVflSflAY, APRTh 20, 1939 ________________________________________ I a U THE MICHIGAN DAILY Propaganda In The Press Some Of The Techniques Used To Make Newspaper Readers Think The Puliisher's Way You M Aiy Sec Terry i -W1 3 ' : - F Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of Student Publications. Published every morning except Monday during the e University year and Sumni r Session. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not °otherwise credited in this newspaper. All rights of republication of all other matters herein also reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second class mail matter. Subscriptions during regular school year by carrier, $4.00;' by mail, $4.50. REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING BY National Advertising Service, Inc. College Publishers Representative 420 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK, N. Y. CHICAGO BOSTON Los ANGELES - SAN FRANCISCO s Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1938-39 Board of Managing Editor . Editorial Director, City Editor , Associate Editor, Associate Editor-. Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor - - . Associate Editor. . Book Editor . Women's Editor. Sports Editor. Editors Robert D. Mitchell * . Albert P. May1o Horace W. Gilmore Robet I. Fitzhenry . S. R. Kleiman * . Robert Perlman * . .Earl Gilman . . William Elvin Joseph Freedman Joseph Gies Dorothea Staebler Bud Benlamin Busness Department Business Manager. . . , Philip W. Buchen Credit Manager . . . . Leonard P. Siegelman Advertising Manager . . . William L. Newnan Women's Business Manager . . Helen Jean Dean *Women's Service Manager . VarianA.Baxter NIGHT EDITOR: JUNE HARRIS The editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of the Daily staff and represent the views of the writer only. 'Baby' Dies Coni ttee .. . A HUNDRED and forty-seven years ago ten amendments to the Consti- tution went in force as a result of the strong opposition in and out of Congress to the lack of guarantees of civil rights in the Constitution as it was originally ratified by members of Con- stitutional convention. These guarantees consti- tute the Bill of Rights which subsequently were incorporated in paraphras in the state consti- tutions, Michigan inclded. Little attention has been paid to a bill now in the process of working its way through the legislative mill at Lansing which aims right square at the very heart of the Bill of Rights. This is the so-called "Baby Dies" Bill or Senate Bill No. 50 introduced by Senator Baldwin. This bill would set up a five man commission, comprising the Attorney-General, the Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Instruction, a member of the Department of Labor and Indus- try and the Commissioner of stat police. Such a commission would be advised by a citizen's committee appointed by the Govyernor, and would have power to examine "books, papers, records, or documents of any natur whatsoever" on the sworn complaint of any individual charg- ing another individual or organization with "sedi- tious or subversive'activity." Not only does the Commission have this power, but it is obliged by law to investigate the activities of the indi- vidual or organization named in the warrant. The bill creates no new crime as the Civil Rights Federation release analyzing the bill points out, and treasonable and subversive acts which are now crimes under Michigan's law can be investigated by the several existing law en- forcing agencies or by means of a grand jury. It attaches no penalties to any decisions of "sedi- tious" or "subversive" activity. The purpose of the bill is, in the light of history of the parent body, the Dies Committee, viciously obvious--to smear the reputation and character of any individual or organization whose political social or economic views are at all progressive. Passage of the bill means that agents of the commisson may search the home of any individ- ual or meeting-place of any organization and may examine any papers, correspondence, docu- ments or literature which they find. Thus the private affairs of any individual or group may be made a matter of public record. From the manner in which the press has handled the filthy business of the Dies Committee, there is little doubt that reputations of innocent per- sons and organizations will be blackened, through the merciless and widespread publicity given to the actions of Dies committees everywhere. It is an ironic, tragic fact intelligible only i a day and age when the fascist anti-cultural monster is on the march that such a bill should be introduced in the legislature of a state of a nation whose entire history has been one of fighting against every kind of tyranny which threatened its existence as a democracy, against the tyranny of such a thing as Snate Bill No. 50. -Albert Mayio The Experience By JOSEPH GIES Propaganda is what the other side tells people; what your side says is information or even education. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to define propaganda except subjectively. In its broadest sense it might be said to include any use of symbols which convey an impression whose inculcation will benefit a certain individ- ual or group. A stirring march tune is military propaganda, for example, in this sense. Goya's paintings are nationalist and at the same time pacifist propaganda. Without going into the art vs. propaganda question, however, I should lik to examine certain phases of political propaganda technique in American journalism, and for the purpose I should like to make the somewhat tenebrous distinction of calling such matter propaganda that creates an impression whose inculcation is calculated to benefit a certain in- dividual or group. By way of introduction, let us list the most important aspects of public opinion phenomena in general. The following points are those that should be particularly borne in mind: a. Public opinion is composed of the activity of individuals acting as members of a conscious public. b. It involves the use of language symbols. c. Generally it is directed toward some immedi- ate rather than long-range object, d. Public behavior conforms sufficiently to established patterns of institutional and conven- tional behavior to be readily admissible as an adjunct to it. Toward The Ballot Box In a democratic political system propaganda techniques are directed chiefly toward getting results at the ballot box. Propanda, although car-, ried on continuously, is brought to a climax at election times. In recent years the volume of propaganda, as well as its variety, has grown to astounding proportions. In September and Octo- ber of the 1936 campaign the Republican Nation- al Committee mailed out no less than 170,000,000 pieces of literature from Chicago alone. The use of radio for propaganda purposes made even' greater strides than printed material, because of the comparative newness of radio as a political weapon. The G.O.P. made the most use of it, quantitatively speaking; in some places it ran a program as often as five or six nights a week. Methods for determining the relative value of various propaganda devices are beginning to ap- pear, but the field is as yet a pioneer one. Several lists of leading propaganda devices have been made, one of the best by Propaganda Analysis, Inc., a non-profit organization of. writers and academic men who mail a weekly news-letter on propaganda to subscribers. I have compiled the following list of propaganda devices used chiefly by the press: 1. The Bandwagon 2. Emphasis. 3. Name-Calling 4. Other Catch-phrases 5. Glittering Generalities 6. Testimonial The Bandwagon, to take up the first, is an old and well-known advertising device. In its commercial form it is intended to convey the impression that "everybody's doing it." In poli- tical propaganda it has an added psychological value: stress is placed upon the victory of the party which the newspaper favors and the de- feat of the opposition. It is not so much a matter of convincing people that the product is popular as it is of surrounding it with the aura of com- petitive success. The September Primaries A good example is offered by the varying treatmneit given the Democratic primaries in Arkansas, Ohio and Idaho last August 10 by Naziism its initial impetus toward complete domination. Aloofness was a traditional trait of the Ger- man bourgeoisie. Because of their interest in the intellectual, they divorced themselves as much as possible from social life. "Culture for me," Mann states, "meant music, metaphysics, psy- chology; meant a pessimistic ethic and individ- ualistic idealism in the cultural field. From it I contemptuously excluded everything political." Although brought up in this atmosphere of political aloofness, when Mann became old enough to seek beneath the surface of thought he realized that the "bourgeoisie had erred Q thinking that a man of culture could remain unpolitical . . "The unhappy course of German history, which has issued in the cultural catastrophe of National Socialism, is in truth very much bound up with the unpolitical cast of the bourgeois mind, and with its anti-democratic habit of looking down the nose from its intellectual and cultural height at the sphere of political and social action." This political passivity permitted the unre- strained growth in Germany of a class which considered the state the dominant force in the field of human affairs to the exclusion of every- thing else. The absence of political experience and the contempt of democracy, Mann explains, resulted in the enslavement of the citizen to the state and to power politics. In the America of today, with popular inter- est in politics becoming increasingly apathetic except for a brief flurry during campaign time, the experience of Thomas Mann should be an incentive to come down off our high-horses of indifference. If we are to come close to our ideal of democracy, we must not seek it in a futile, diffident manner or be so blinded by our own selfish aims that we forget all else. As Mann says, the "political and social are parts of the human; they belong to the totality of human problems several newspapers. The results of the elections were victories for the New Deal candidates for the Senate in Ohio (Senator Bulkley) and Ark- ansas (Senator Caraway) and a defeat for the New Deal candidate (Senator Pope) in Idaho. All three had been given President Roosevelt's personal endorsement. In addition, the reaction- ary Governor Davey of Ohio was defeated by the CIO-supported candidate, Sawyer. The other races, for seats in the House of Representatives, were of relatively little significance. The Chicago Daily Times, anti-New Deal, headlined the story: Pope's Defeat In Idaho Blow To New Deal The New York Post, pro-New Deal, bannered?' 3 NEW DEALERS WIN The Chicago Tribune, most actively reaction- ary paper in the country, said: Defeat Of Idaho Yes-Man Stuns Roosevelt Aids The Daily Worker, twice as pro-New Deal as Ickes, Hopkins and Roosevelt together, three- columned: 0I110 REJECTS 'TEAR GAS' DAVEY: NEW DEAL WINS 3-1 VICTORY IN PRIMARIES The Washington Daily News, Scripps-Howard and treading the tenuous line of avowed support of Roosevelt and subtle attack on the New Deal, said: New Deal Is 1 Down In Its Senate Purge Note the use of catch-phrases, for which news- paper headlines are the perfect medium: Yes- Man, Purge; Name-Calling: 'Tear-Gas' Davey; competition-words: Jolts, Stuns, Rejects. In every case there is clearly an attempt to distort the realities of the events described in order to make it appear -that one side or the other had the better of it. This implication, or its reverse, is contained in every "slanted" headline, story or editorial on American politics appearing in the American press. That, however, is the effect; the devi-e itself is a combination of the Band- wagon and what is known as Card-Stacking, or Emphasis. These two devices very commonly ap- pear together. Adventures In Riga A variation of victory-for-our-side is its re- verse, trouble-for-their-side, carrying the impli- cation of "stay off the Bandwagon." This is ordi- narily a mild distortion, by means of emphasis, of factual reporting. Sometimes it is more than a mild one. The Chicago Tribune, for example, still retains a correspondent at Riga, Latvia, a notorious source of unreliable and unfavorable news about Soviet Russia. It is the only American newspaper which does, and the only one which consistently distorts Soviet news. Last June the Tribune correspondent, Donald Day, wired a story from "the Riga lie-factory" as correspondents call it, describing a revolt of workers in the Josef Stalin automobile factory at Moscow, brutally .suppressed by the government with hundreds o workers killed and wounded and 3,000 arrested. According to the New Republic, few editors both- ered to have their Moscow correspondents check the story; one who did received the cabled reply "Huh?" Anti-New Deal papers frequently play up dis- sension within Administration ranks, often using special writers and columnists to give "inside stories" on such dissension. Similarly, anti-fas- cist papers play up reported internal difficultieis in Germany and Italy, often with a very flimsy factual basis. I ii GARGOYLE - two-bits worth of crude calumny - appears this morning with another make-up orgy by its wayward editor, Max Hodge, and more mash by that prolific hack, Stan (anything-for-a-story) Swin- ton. Swinton, at Hodge's fiendish in- stigation no doubt, really wins a tur- key with his preposterous vignettes of Burton (By-line) Benjamin and Irvin (Life of the Party) Lisagor, both of whom gave him a gracious initiation into the virile task of re- porting sports. Prior to his sports assignment, Swinton had done noth- ing beyond writing University bulle- tins for The Daily. He was chiefly distinguished for his amateur imita- tion of a newspaperman he once saw in a cheap movie at the Wuerth, a chain-smoking, neurotic individual. Swinton disclaims full authorship of the two pieces about Benjamin and Lisagor, allegiing that Hodge made several significant changes. But the little innuendoes can be only Swin- ton's. And to think that his maligned subjects only recently warned him of the cardinal mustnots of sports writing and explained to him with patient detail the difference between third base and a goal post. As for the remark Mrs. Swin- ton was purported to have made about Lisagor's "cute black hair," the truth of the matter is that the kind and gentle lady said, "My, but he certainly is a. philo- sophical soul." Actually, she was misled by his pressing need for a haircut at the time. As for Hodge, this is what an im- pression he made when somehow his name was okayed by Sphinx, junior honorary society. The clan piled into Fletcher Hall, brandishing the usual clubs and beer bottles, and collared a furry-eyed lad in the hall. "Where's Max Hodge?" demanded big Elmer Gedeon. "Why, I'm Hodge," was the meek reply. "Listen, punk," stormed Gedeon, lifting a bottle as though pre- pared to bend it over his head, "We're in no mood for jokes." The lad in- sisted upon his identity. "Does any- one here know Hodge?" someone shouted, and nary a voice was heard. Sphinx was embarrassed, but they finally believed the bewildered lad after he had produced identification cards and pictures, and proceeded to apply the usual ministrations. Hodge wasn't again heard from un- --_ ._ til he was named editor of the Gar- goyle. Now he is so ashamed of some of the copy appearing therein that he obscures it with makeup that would give Hearst the horrors. Candor, compels us to admit there's a clever piece on Daily candidates for the managing editorship, a few mild- ly amusing cartoons, some good pic- tures and one or two excellent ads. But, Hodge again displayed his edi- torial knack for spotting turkeys by letting Roy Heath pick the Kentucky Derby winner. SPEAKING of Kentucky Derbies, we are reminded of an incident that occurred in the Law School recently. It seems the professor was on the verge of assigning,a date for the next bluebook and had suggested a day in May when from the rear of the room came the loud objection, "But, sir, that will interfere with my at- tendance at the 65th running of the Kentucky Derby." It was Col. Fred Buesser, the per- ennial visitor to Churchill Downs on Derby day, the lad who went with your breakfast a couple of years ago as Bonth Williams, conductor of the breezy chatter column, "Beneath It All." Fred acquired the name of "Bonth Williams" through a case of mistaken identity. While bending el- bows at a Chicago bar several years back, following a track meet, someone sidled up and inquired if he were Bill Bonthron, the runner. So pleased was Fred at being mistaken for an ath- lete, he reversed the name and came up with a catchy pseudonym which gained more than a modicum of fame on the campus. Incidentally, the examination date was not changed, so either Col. Matt Winn or the law school will have to operate without the Bonth come Derby day. PEOPLE dream about the thing that happened to Bill Newton, but few ever achieve it in reality. Bill was a student here last semester, relieving the monotony by covering the Inter- national Center for the Daily. Then came the news that a relative had died and left a wad of dough for Bill, on the condition that he must spend it "foolishly." When last heard from, he was in Honolulu, tossing dollar bills off a surfboard. Iy Seems To Me By HEY WOOD BROUN DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN (Continued from Page 2) Course: April 20, 25, 26, 27 and 28 at Intramural Pool, 7 to 9 p.m. given by William C. Lucey, Field Representa- tive of National Red Cross. Economics 124 will not meet Fri- day morning. William Haber Prospective Applicants for the Com- bined Curricula: The final date for the filing of applications for admis- sion to the various combined cur- ricula for September, 1939, is April 20. Application forms may be filled out in Room 1210 Angell Hall. Medi- cal students should please note that application for admission to the Medical School is not application for admission to the Combined Curricu- lum. A separate application should be made out for the consideration of the Committee on Combined Cur- ricula. Concerts Graduation Recital. Marian Karch, harpist, Monroe, Mich., will give a re- cital in partial fulfillment of the re- quirements for the degree of Bachelor of Music, Thursday evening, April 20, at 8:15 o'clock, in the School of Mu- sic Auditorium. The public is invit- ed to attend. Exhibitions Exhibition of Drawings and Models by Jack Williams, architect and in- dustrial designer of Detroit; will be shown in the ground floor corridor cases through April 22. Open daily from 9 to 5 p.m. The public is in- vited. Lectures Martin Loud Lectures: Dr. Ralph W. Sockman, minister of Christ Church, New York City, well-known author and prominent public speak- °r, will deliver the Martin Loud Lec- tures at the First Methodist Church on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thurs- day evenings of this week at 7:30 p.m. The series is entitled "The American Way," and the individual lectures are entitled: "Present Prob- lems" today and "New Horizons" on Thursday. No admission charge. Lecture: Dr. Ralph W. Soekman, Minister, Christ Church, New York City, will lecture on "Is There an American Way to Peace?" on Thurs- day, April 20, at 4:15 p.m. in the Michigan Union Ballroom under the auspices of the Student Religious As- sociatiion. University Lecture: Dr. Paul R. Cannon, Professor of Pathology at the University of Chicago, will lec- ture on "Some Aspects of Respira- tory Infection" on Tuesday, April 25, at 4:15 p.m. in the Rackham Audito- rium. The public is cordially invited to attend. Biological Chemistry Lecture: Dr. Genevieve Stearns, Research Asso- ciate Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, University of Iowa, will speak to the students of biological chemistry and others in- terested on some phases of mineral metabolism on Monday, April 24, at 4 p.m. in the East Lecture Room (mezzanine floor) of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Stu- dies. Events Today The Psychological Journal Club will meet tonight at 8 p.m. in the East Conference Room of the Rackham Building. "Recent Con- will be discussed by Barbara Sher- burne, James Klee, William Gilbert, Charlotte Shohan; summary and critique by Professor John F. Shep- ard. The English Journal Club will hold its regular meeting this evening at 8 o'clock in the West Conference Room of the Rackham Building. Mr. Gio- vani Giovannini will speak on the subject of "Tragedy." All who are interested are invited to attend. Zoology Seminar: Mr. T. P. Haines will report on "Variation of Skulls of some Snakes of the Family Colu- bridae and its probable Significance" tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Amphi- theatre of the Rackham Building. University Girls' Glee Club: No re- hearsal . tonight because . of Choral Union rehearsal. The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 26, at 7:15 in the League. All members please be present at that time. Athena: Regular meeting in the Alpha-Nu room at 7:30. Bring your dues and money for your pins. Zeta Phi Eta: The regular meeting of Lambda chapter will be held to- night at 7:15 in the Portia room. All actives and pledges must be present, and bring the by-laws and song sheets. The arrangements will be completed for the Interpretation Hour. q i THEATRE By NORMAN KIELL The Season Complete Apparently, once the tide of drama starts in Ann Arbor, we have nothing short of an inunda- tion. The early part of this month saw "Trial by Jury," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," and Mac- Neice's "Out of the Picture" here. Now, this Friday and Saturday night the Junior Class of the University High School will present Wallace Bacon's Hopwood Prize Win- ner, "The Bean and the Cod." It is one of three plays that won the award for Mr. Bacon ini 1936; all of them have been given productions at one theatre or another. "The Bean and the Cod" will hold forth at the High School Auditorium. Then, next Monday night, April 24th, the Deutscher Verein will take over the stage at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre with Ludwig Fulda's "Die Gegenkandidaten." It is a modern comedy, dealing with a man and wife, the former becom. ing a candidate for the rightist party, while his wife becomes the liberal candidate ,for the same office. Fulda describes vividly the machinations of political parties and offers as his solution the dictum, politics and happiness do not mix. Fulda satirizes everything in his comedy: women's suf- frage, politics, marital life, and everything else that comes within the ken of his play. The following night, April 25th, the instruc- tional production of three one-act plays will be given in 4203 Angell Hall, at 8:30 p.m. They are all original plays written by ,members of the creative English classes. They will be directed by Frederic Crandall of the Speech Department. The Cercle Francais will present the modern French comedy, "Ces Dames aux Chapeaux Verts," the following Friday, April 28th at 8:15 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Originally written as a novel by Mme. Acremant. it ha hen William O. Douglas was sworn in yesterday as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court at the age of1 40, and he was the youngest man to attain that high honor since a 32-1 year-old stripling named Joseph Story made the grade. And that very young man from Massachu- settes receivedl his appointment1 in 1812, the 'year the British burned the Cap- itol. I was talking with a Connecti- cut friend of mine who studied under. Douglas when he was Stanley Pro- fessor of Law at Yale. "He was somewhat on the dry side," said the even younger barrister, "but we considered him a good teacher. Still, if we had thought about it at all I think that almost all of us would have agreed that he was an able fel- low who wasn't going anywhere in particular. He had no front." That quality "front" has been vast- ly exaggerated in our native inspira- tional literature. Hundreds of thous- ands of mortals pay money to learn how to make friends and have some effect on people. It doesn't make much difference. Perhaps it can be learned from a book, although I doubt i. There is much in tradition which seems to show that it is something which may come overnight to a man in middle age through some sort of miracle. Every schoolboy knows that Grant was a failure until his orbit hap- the Dep't. of Physical Education and offerings by Play Production. The combination is very apropos, for the Lydia Mendelssohn opened, moment- ously, with a dance recital, which was shortly followed by the presenta- tion of "Beggar on Horseback" by Play Production. More definite news concerning the program will be avail- able shortly. This will be followed by the un- expected, nonetheless pleasurable vis- it of one of the first ladies of the theatre, Ethel Barrymore. Miss Bar- ryl-ore will be seen in Mazda de la Roche's adaptation of her own novel, "Whiteoaks," in a one-night stand at the Michigan Theatre May 10th. In it Miss Barrymore nlavs a 100-year pened to coincide with that of the Civil War, and research, as eloquently projected by Bob Sherwood's play "Abe Lincoln in Illiinois," shows thatt the Emancipator was a slow starter who only came to greatness when he was called upon to go a distance.t Nor is there any evidence in foreign lands, as well, that the race is always to the glib or that the col- lege senior who is voted "the mostl likely to succeed" is actually an odds- on-favorite.- I trust that no one will think I am indicating an 'enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler if I make the grudging admis-l sion that he is, beyond denial, an in- fluential person in the world today. And yet there is abundant evidence that he was a fifth-rate water-color painter, and that in his youth even his friends fled, saying "Hsere comes that tiresome little paperhangerwho1 hopes to be an artist."7 It is still my notion that Hitler as a public orator is a ham devoted to many of the cheapest tricks of dem- agogery. As in the case of "Abie's Irish Rose," I feel extremely confi- dent that he will not run forever. But I cannot contest the fact that at the moment he plays to standing room in Berlin and most of the cities of Cen- tral Europe. The man who could not command the attention of two or three futurists, long-haired fellow in a Munich cafe, can now, through the power of his regime, hold a hundred thousand spellbound. And he never took a lesson in his life, and possibly is not even acquainted with the name of Dale Carnegie. Perhaps it is all a matter of luck. Although I will not be around to col-. lect my wager, I am quite willing to bet that Franklin D. Roosevelt is cer- tam to be rated by historians of the future as one of the greatest Ameri- can Presidents. He was a wholly col-' orlessdcandidate when he ran for Vice president as the tail of Governor Cox's lanquid ticket in 1920. In the biographies I see that Mr. Justice Douglas was once a newsboy and that may help to perpetuate a native theory which, in my opinion, is without much substance. It is my impression that very few newsboys ever go on to greatness. Probably I have forgotten a few, but the only good reporter I ever met whQ had once delivered papers was Paul Y. Anderson. Newspaper office boys are quite a different story. Hollywood seems to hb ehiflu mihnari by rq ivr .-..ar... -. o 4~ I