THE MICHI-AN DAILY
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Propaganda In The Press
No. 3: The Name-Calling Device, Use Of Stereotype Words;
To Label People And Ideas On The Other Side
Spring Parley Panels
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Editors
. Robert D. Mitchell
. . Albert P. May1o
Horace W. Gilmore
* Robert I. Fitzhenry
. . S. R. Kleliman
. . Robert Perlman
. . Earl Gilman
* . William Elvin
Joseph Freedman
* . . Joseph Gies
. . Dorothea Staebler
. . Bud Benjamin
Business D
Business Manager .
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)epartment
. Philip W. Buchen
eonard P. Siegelman
William L. Newnan
. . Helen Jean Dean
. . Marian A. Baxter
By JOSEPH GIES
To take up another phase of newspaper pro-
paganda, let us turn to the Name-Calling Device.
This has reached a singularly refined form in
modern American journalism. It is to a large
extent one end of a vicious circle; the press builds
up a public stereotype in a certain word or
phrase, and then, having established it as a
Name, proceeds to label all enemies with it. In
past history many celebrated Names have been
employed: Tory, Copperhead, Black Republican,
etc. Contemporary Name-Calling has outdone its
predecessors in resourcefulness; and yet, the,
public appetite being satiable in this respect
political partisans have in general concentrated
on a small number of Names and Bad Words
and have been content to wrap these around the
necks of their opponents with the most tenacious
repetitiveness. There is, unfortunately, a psycho-
logical basis for expecting that an untruth, even a
fairly obvious one, will, if repeated often and
long enough, gain some of the power of truth.
This is especially the case when the matter is one
of word-stereotype.
Several studies have been made in the last
three or four years of the relative value of com-
mon stereotypes as Names. Two, made in 1937,
should be enough to indicate the general trends.
Dr. Ross Stagner of Akron University conducted
a research on the subject among a group of
workers and small business men. These reacted
unfavorably to the following words and phrases
in the percentages indicated:
Ku Klux Klan - 90%
Communist 80
Child Labor 74
Nazi and Fascist 73
Townsend Plan 48
Liberty League 30
Socialist 43
Prof. Selden C. Menefee of the University of
Washington made a study of political symbols
among 742 students, teachers and professional
men. Positive (favorable) responses were made
as follows:
Conservative 33.0%
Fascism 9.8%
Patriotism 63.6%
Pacifism 69.1%
Liberalism 83.8
Radicalism 17.7
Socialism 47.0
Communism 8.9
It is somewhat surprising that Professor Mene-
fee omitted from his list the greatest stereotype
of them all, "Americanism." And yet, "Ameri-
canism" requires no testing; its hallowed place
in the propaganda picture is so securely fixed
that we can accept it a priori as the favorite
virtue-word in American politics, better even
than "democracy" because it is even more in-
definite.
Americanism And UnAmericanism
The Name-Calling aspect of "Americanism" is
the epithet "Un-American," which has reached
its zenith in the hearings of the Dies Committee.
The Chicago Tribune has been the leading spon-
sor of the Dies publicity, and is, in fact, the best
Name-Caller among the large newspapers. The
following excerpt from an editorial of last fall
furnishes a typical example of the Tribune's use
of this device:
The purge of the Democratic Party is being
conducted to throw out the conservatives and
give control to socialists, communists and col-
lectivists who call themselves Democrats and
radicals whose program is something that no
Democrat could associate with anything here-
tofore represented by his party.
Continuing in the same vein for several para-
graphs and speaking of "imported ideas of dicta-
torship" and "alien-minded outsiders" the Tri-
bune makes a plea for a coalition of Democrats
and Republicans in "an American front." Notice
above, incidentally, that "conservative" is not a
Bad Name in the Tribune, but rather, in fact, a
virtue-word. This is quite certainly a faulty
technique; "conservative" has a bad connotation
for the majority of Americans. The "American
front" is better. The caption on the editorial was
"American Democrats and Republicans."
The Double Thrust
The Tribune, more than any other paper, pur-
sues a consistent and thoroughgoing policy of
what might be called the Double Thrust and of
which mention was made earlier-the simultan-
eous creation of a stereotype and exploitation of
it against the enemy. Cartoons, editorials and
news stories concentrate on the two-fold pur-
pose of making Communism a bloody villain and
of making Roosevelt, the C.I.O. and other enemies
of the Tribune tools of Communism. Occasionally
other Names are introduced into the fight against
the New Deal-Waste, Corruption, Crime. When
Dewey was running for governor of New York,
Crime briefly regained some of its old-time pres-
tige in the press, but it is a pretty jaded term by
now, as is corruption, though the Tribune still
makes the most of both-a head on one of a
series of WPA articles during the 1938 campaign,
for example:
Graft, Frauds,
Theft! WPA Reeks
With Corruption
Communism, however, clearly remains the
best of the Name-Calling devices against the
New Deal. (It has also been called "fascist" by
many newspapers as well as by Glenn Frank,
who at the meeting of the Republican Program
Committee in Chicago last summer made a plea
for the abandonment of propaganda devices by
the G.O.P. The Tribune has also called it Nazi.)
The pro-New Deal press, although hopelessly
outnumbered, makes good use of these devices.
For Name-Calling, the best example is perhaps
the New York Post, which never mentions the
opposition newspapers except by the appelation
"Tory press" and, almost constantly by that.
The Daily Worker once called Dewey "Wall
Street's Fig Leaf" in a head.
The Dictator Bill
The commonest Name used directly against
Roosevelt is "dictator." This Name reached its
apogee in that curious phenomenon of the spring
of 1938, the fight against the Reorganization
Bill. To inquire into the reasons for the tremen-
dous battle waged against that measure, which
Time Magazine called "a straightforward at-
tempt to increase efficiency" in government, does
not lie within the scope of these articles. Per-
haps it was merely a good opportunity to use
the label "dictator," although almost any other
occasion would serve as well. At any rate the
Hearst papers, the Tribune and the New York
Sun never referred to the bill save as the "Dicta-
tor Bill." The Detroit Free Press, the New York
Herald Tribune, the Chicago Daily News and
many other papers all over the country also used
the phrase freely.
For a prize example of the value of Name-Call-
ing, consider the treatment of the combatants in
the Spanish civil war. The general press, most
of which has been neutral or mildly pro-Loyalist,
at first spoke of the "Government" forces and the
"Rebels." Franco's objections coupled with those
of the Catholic Church led to the introduction of
the term "Insurgent." Papers friendly to Franco
called his troops "Nationalists," and when the
outcome of the war became assured, the wire
services adopted this term. The Loyalists, on the
other hand, have been the Reds, the Marxists
and the Communists to the Catholic press, Hearst
the Ne York Sun and the Volkischer Beobach-
ter.
NIGHT EDITOR: MORTON C. JAMPEL
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of the Daily
staff and represent-the views of the writers
only.
'The Student Looks
At The Forties' ..-0
i
AgBOUT 500 STUDENTS and faculty
members crowded into the North
Lounge of the Union yesterday to convene the
ninth annual session of the Spring Parley. They
indicated thereby that they are seriously con-
cerned about the problems that face them as
they face the forties.
Elsewhere on this page we present a summary
of the subjects that will probably be discussed
at the panel meetings this afternoon and evening.
Most encouraging about the general meeting
yesterday was, the attitude of the students who
refused to accept the pessimistic remarks of one
faculty speaker and the blanket optimism of an-
other. They demanded a realistic appraisal of
the difficulties blocking American progress and
a concrete program of action. And their refusal
to accept fears and hopes as adequate analysis
promises much hot debate in a creative manner
at the sessions today.
What was most discouraging about the session
yesterday was the fact that no more than 50Q
out of 10,000 students are willing to discuss c:.
listen to a discussion of the problems of the
day. The 500 are already thinking about these
problems: their presence testifies to that. From
the Parley they will gain a new perspective of
their society, they will be in a position to re-
evaluate the beliefs they hold and form tenta-
tive convictions on issues they have not consid-
ered.
We are the youth of a depression era. We were
born in one world war, and events abroad are
promising that we shall die in another. It would
seem that 9,500 students on this campus are
willing to accept tihese fatalities, or at any rate,
that they are insufficiently interested in them
to seek a solution. This cannot possibly be trt.\
of all those who did not attend yesterday's Par-
ley session. It is to, these students that this edi-
torial is addressed.
The panel sessions today offer an excellent op-
portunity for thorough student debate with the
aid of many faculty members capable of provid-
ing invaluable source material. Theadivision of
the main topic "The Student Looks at the For-
ties" into six sections, meeting separately, will
permit a more intensive discussion as well as a
wider range of subjects.
The Parley meets but once a year, and that
for merely three days. The opportunties it offers
should not be ignored.
-S. R. Kleiman
AsOthers SeeIt. .
For the "pros", on the war referendum propos-
al the Spectator of Eau Claire (Wis.) Teachers
College says: "This amendment is a reasonable
demand on the part of American citizens and is
consistent with the rights and obligations of in-
telligent and responsible citizenship. Certainly
it should not be thought foolish or un-American
to have a referendum on the spending of lives
and blood."
The summaries of the plans for dis-]
cussion in the Spring Parley panels
today which follow were written for(
The Daily by the student chairmen1
of the panels. In addition to those
below, there will be a panel on+
Science and Civilization.
Americl Culture
The culture panel of the Spring
Parley, under the chairmanship of
Bernard Friedman, will first hear1
brief talks on the following arts by+
a panel of six: Poetry and Literature,
Criticism, Movies, Drama, Music, the
Plastic Arts. The six men, who will+
speakfor about five minutes each,
will attempt to point the direction of
these arts in the immediate future and
sketch the principal problems which1
confront the artist. The attempt will
be made to center the discussion+
about this direction and these prob-;
lems rather than to have too general
a treatment, although of course most
of the broader considerations (for-
mal analysis, art and propaganda,i
etc.) will enter in their relation to1
the immediate situation. Following;
the introductory statements the floor
will be open to discussion, comment
and questions.r
In the past the discussions in the:
art sections have been vitiated by a
lack of relevance to the present situ-
ation and by failure to recognize con-,
crete exemplification of general prin-I
ciples-in short, by being discussionsi
of esthetics rather than of art in
practice. This year, in accord with(
the theme of the Parley as a whole,i
The Student Looks At The Forties, it
is hoped that this defect will bei
remedied and that the discussion
stemming from the opening remarks1
will not be dissipated into esthetical
generalities.
Religion
There is no subject more integrallyt
bound up with ways and circum-1
stances of lifethan religion and re-
ligious trends. That the Michigan
University student is alive to this hasc
been evinced recently by the wide at-
tendance and attention received byI
the S.R.A. lectures last fall, by the;
enrollment in courses on religion,t
religious literature, and theory andi
psychology of religion, by church at-
tendance, and, most important of all,E
by the amount of informal discussion
in lobbys and halls, in rooming housest
and fraternities, and in beer hall andt
"coc" joint. The Parley panel on
religion is an effort to call together,E
on common ground, students, faculty,
and others who have questions to
ask opinions to expound, -or disinter-
ested curiosity in what will be said.
The discussion will be directed
along lines compatible with the gen-
eral theme of the Parley, and ant
effort will be made to keep it con-
structive and informative rather thanl
solely critical. Emphasis will be onE
the student and his theories and re-
actions to future trends, the status,E
quality and character of religion and
church in the coming decade, the,
'40's. Some of the questions whichE
have been raised and will be consid-
ered are: (1) Should the church beE
liberal or conservative in its poli-
cies? (2) Can and should the uni-
versity influence religious ideas?
How much of a factor in religious ,
education is the high school? the
primary school? the family? How
and to what extent shall children be,
educated in this line? (3) What should
our religious ideals be in this decade,
and what part' should they play in
our lives? (4) What part does relig-
ion (the church) play in. politics?
(5) What is the place of scientific
method in religion?
The faculty panel, which will in-
clude W. R. Humphreys, English,
Dr. W. R. Lemon, Presbyterian
Church; H. L. Pickerill, Church of
Christ; Kenneth Morgan, S.R.A., Dr.
Rabinowitz, Hillel Foundation and
Arthur Wood, Sociology, will be pres-
ent as resource material and to stim-
uate the discussion. Daniel Suits is
student speaker, and Dekle Taylor
will chair the meeting. Students, both
ones who are thoughtful and well in-
formed on the subject, and ones who
are not, have been invited, in fact,
all are invited, and it is hoped that
the panel will provide an ideal setting
for palaver and prognostigation.
The University Student
The student looks at the forties and
sees a progressive university and pro-
gressive students under an extended
form of the Honors System. The edu-
cational panel this year will attempt
to confine itself to interpretations of
present trends in the university func-
tions and to describe the student's
concept of an ideal university. In-
stead of negative criticism, the em-
phasis will be on the positive con-
struction of the student's picture of
tomorrow's educational institute.
Prof. Howard Y. McClusky of the
Education School will open the panel
Saturday afternoon at 2:30 by de-
scribing the recent tendency to shift
the organization based upon subject
matter toa reorganized system built
around the individual. student. Mr.
McClusky will present some facts
from his own recent studies and
Ronald Freedman, '39, will speak of
his ?xperience with the Honors Sys-
tem and urge its extention to all
students after the university has fin-
ished their high school education.
Then William Centner. '39BAd.. will,
Bible, solved a quadratic equation,
read a German novel, composed 10,-
000. words, and systematically sought
the causes of some social ill?
The university - concentration
camp for intellectuals? Is this the
place where the student and the pro-
fessor may come to escape the reali-
ties of life? Do we have a monastary
where we only pursue the truth, and
sun ourselves in the pleasures of
knowledge? Or do we have a techni-
cal institute where we learn how to
sharpen lawn mowers, manipulate a
slide rule, and say witty things to;
please the public? How may the en-
gineer appropriate a larger slice of
culture? Or must he forever remain
the "white man's burden?" What is
the social responsibility of a univer-
sity? What is the social responsibility
of the Chemistry Department, of the
Business Administration School?
Government, Economics
The university student panel ex-
pects to build out of student opinion
the dream university that we hope
and want to see in the forties.
During recent years the relation-
ship between government and eco-
nomics has grown ever closer. Among
some groups the increasing partici-
pation of the government in the eco-
nomic life of the nation has aroused
grave misapprehensions while others
have hailed this trend as represent-
ing the beginning of a new era in our
economic life. It will be our task to
evaluate this trend with respect to
the specific areas in which govern-
ments and economics come together
and to consider the directions in
which it is desirable that the rela-
tionships of government to econom-
ics should develop during the '40's.
The problems which we shall con-
sider will be those which have arisen
in the fields of Labor, Transporta-
tion, Money and Credits, Businessa
Cycle Control, and Monopoly.
1. Labor. There will be a discussion
)f labor in its legal, economic, ethi-i
cal and social relations to business.
This will lead to an analysis of the
Wagner Act and the proposed revi-i
sions of it. The problems arising from
the inauguration of the Social Secur-
ity Act will be given treatment, as
well as those arising under the Wages
and House Act.
2. Transportation. The nature of,
and currently suggested remedies for,'
the "railroad problem" will be con-3
sidered first in a discussion that will°
expand to include the whole problem
of transport coordination.
3. Money and Credit. A number of
proposed reforms in the field of
money and credit will be considered,
including the 100 per cent plan,
branch, groups and chain banking;
the restoration of an international
gold standard; strengthening of the
Bank of International Settlements;
continued and increased use of stab-
ilization funds; and adoption of the
commodity.
4. Control of the Business Cycle.
Various methods of controlling the
cycle will be demanded with partic-
ular reference to thedrole of the Fed-
eral Reserve System and government
spending.
5. Monopoly Problems raised by the
current Federal investigation (TNEC)
will receive attention, along with the
regulation of the administrative pro-
cess through increase in government
competition.
Science AM Civilization
Professor McFarlan will keynote
a discussion directed toward clari-
fying, first the part that science and
scientists play in the present order
and the present disorder. He will
sketch a history of the development
of technics as a social tool, its conse-
quent appropriation by the entre-
preneur class to its own ends and the
decay of individualism in science to
a point where the scientist disclaims,
by pointing to his social inaction, any
responsibility for political, economic,
or social consequences of his dis-
coveries. Second, Prof. McFarlan will
state briefly what will be the social
responsibility of the scientist, par-
ticularly the engineer in the coming
decade.
Professors A. D. Moore and Mene-
fee are two members of the panel who
will undoubtedly take issue with Pro-
fessor McFarlan.
Speaking of the conservative stu-
dent, J. Anderson Ashburn, the new
editor of the Michigan Technic, will
present the demands that should be
made upon the scientist and engineer
in the '40's, and what concessions
society should grant.
Further discussion is expected from
a consideration of socialized medi-
cine versus individual practice, with
argument upon various group medi-
cine plans suggested in various sec-
tions of the country.
The Editor
Gets Told.. .
The Peace Rally
To the Editor:
About 600 students attended the
All-Campus Peace Meeting of Thurs-
day afternoon. It is to be hoped that
By HEYWOOD BROUN
.DAILYOFFICIAL
BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 2)
advanced doctoral candidates to at-
tend the examination and to grant
permission to others Who might wish
to be present.
C. S. Yoakum.
The University Bureau of Appoint-
ments and Occupational Information
has received notice of the following
Pittsburgh Civil Service Examina-
tions: Residents of Pittsburgh who
are attending the University may
take the examinations providing
their applications are on file in Pitts-
burgh not laternthan Saturday, April
29.
Summer Recreation Leader (male
and female) $5.25 per day.
Head Counselor (male and female)
$5.00 per day.
Junior Counselor (male and fe-
male) $2.50 per day.
Complete announcements are on
ile at the Bureau of Appointments
and Occupational Information, 201
Mason Hall. Office Hours: 9-12 and
2-4.
University Bureau of Appointments
and Occupational Information.
Bureau of Appointments and Oc-
cupational Information: A represen-
tative of a young and expanding flour
mill and baking company will be in
this office, 201 Mason Hall, at 10
o'clock this morning, Saturday, April
22, to interview men. Preference will
be given men who have worked their
way through school.
University Bureau of Appoint-
ments and Occupational Xnfor-
mation.
Carillon Recital: Sidney F. Giles,
Guest Carillonneur, will give a recital
on the Charles Baird Carillon, Sun-
day afternoon, April 23, at 5:15 p.m.,
instead of the usual time, because of
conflict with the organ recital by
Palmer Christian, University organist,
at 4:15 p.m. in Hill Auditorium.
Organ Recital: ,Palmer Christian,
University organist, will play a pro-
gram of compositions by Johann Se-
bastian Bach, on the Frieze Memorial
organ, Sunday afternoon, April 23,
at 4:15 p.m., in Hill Auditorium. The
general public is invited, but is re-
spectfully requested to be seated on
time.
Graduation Recital: Gwendolyn L.
Fossum, pianist, from Havre, Mont.,
will give a piano recital Tuesday eve-
ning, April 25, at 8:15 o'clock, in the
School of Music Auditorium, in par-
tial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Master of Music degree. The
general public is invited.
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.
Exhibition, College of Architecture:
The annual exhibition of student
work from the member schools of the
Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture is being shown in the
third floor exhibition room, Archi-
tecture Building. Open daily, except
Sunday, 9 to 5, through April 28.
The public is cordially invited.
Lectures
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 Graduate Outing Club will go
bicycling today. The group will meet
at 3:30 p.m. at the Campus Bicycle
Shop, 510 E. William. They will take
a short ride along the river to Delhi
and back. Sunday there will be the
usual outing. Faculty and graduate
students are invited.
The Outdoor Club will meet at
Lane Hall today at 2 p.m. for a
hike. Members are urged to come
and bring a friend. Students are
welcome to attend.
Biological Chemistry Seminar,
today from 10-12 a m., Room 319
West Medical Building. "The Sulfur-
Containing Amino Acids of the Pro-
tein Molecule-Their Determination
and Biological Relationships" will be
dicussed All interested are in-
4
Concerts
t4
At the moment this is written it seems likely
that President Roosevelt's appeal for world
peace will be rejected by Hitler and Mussolini.
But even this indicated contingency should not
be set down as a failure of
the efforts which we must
make to save the world from
ruin. The phrase "World
Peace" must come to be as
familiar to our ears as
'World War." Once upon a
time two householders had
A"little homes which stood in
a clearing in the center of a
forest. One night they both
were awakened by dancing flames. The woods
were on fire. As yet this conflagration was fa
good many miles away, but it was evidently ap-
proaching the clearing. Both men went to work
to save their homes. One undertook to dig a deep
moat around his house and filled it with water.
"You see," he explained, "when the fire comes
in this direction I do not think it will be able
to leap across this water." But his neighbor said,
"I think I have a still better idea. Let's join the
neighbors and by our combined efforts stamp
out the blaze while it is still miles away.
If everybody joins in with a neighborly spirit
and understanding we can quell the danger be-
fore the entire forest takes to blazing. In tha,.
event your moat may not be wide enough, and
even if it proves to be sufficient you will be
compelled to live under a pall of smoke. Surely
we will be much better off if we can manage to
see that there isn't any fire at all in the forest;
even though it is still well down behind the bend
waging war here within our borders. The words
of Senator George almost convey the implication
of an invitation to aggressors to come over here
and meet us on our home grounds. The State
which George represents still harbors a few old
people who dimly remember the actual experience
of war right at their doorsteps. And it was a
conflict which moved even the invading General
to say, "War is hell."
We cannot tolerate the thought of hell in the
lands across the sea. Those are the fires which
do leap oceans. We must try and try again to
end the theat of carnage by international agree-
ment. And surely something of American tra-
dition will crumble if it is said, as it has been
said, that our President should not be allowed
to talk of freedom for fear that the word may
be annoying to some dictator. It would be well
for each one of us to look again at the funda-
mental document which was the cornerstone of
our nation.
The Declaration of Independence was an
appeal to the moral sense of the entire world.
It was not written simply for consumption by the
embattled colonists. Thomas Jefferson wrote,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by ,their creator with certain inalienable rights,
that among them are life, liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness." And note well that Jeffer-
son did not say, "All Americans" or even "All
in the western hemisphere." He wrote boldly
"all men," and to that statement our forefathers
affixed their signatures. America will be less
than faithful to its genesis if it fails to hold the
torch of liberty high ononiah far+ha m r +.1t sa
"This new aggrandizement of Nazi territory
points the finger of condemnation at the 'peace
by agreement' policies of France and England,
makes them seem more shortsighted and futile
t.n ,, erPrett' non itvv fto nla- tefor
I