P"AGE FOUR THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1939 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Propaganda In The Press f. t.. 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 University year and Suzor cSession. 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 MADPOION AVE. NEW YORK. N. Y. CHICAGO +OSTOR' * Los AnGELES . SAN FRANCISCO 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. Mayic Horace W. Glilmore * Robert I. Fitzhenry . . 8. R Kelman . . Robert Perlman S . . Earl ilman * . William Emvin . . Joseph Freedman . . . Joseph Gies . . Dorothea Staebler . . Bud, Benjamin #, I i Business 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 . . . Marian A. Baxter NIGHT EDITOR: MORTON C. JAMPL The editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of the Daily staff and represent the views of the writeri only. ' Bias' In The N.Y. Times... THE DIFFICULTIES under which the National Labor Relations Board op- erates in trying to carry out the purpose of the Wagner Act-recognition of the employes' right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing-is being well illustrated in the case of the New York Times. On the 57th day of the hearings before the NLRB on the firing of several members of the American Newspaper Guild from the Times, pub- lisher Arthur H. Sulzberger summed up his atti- tude when he said that if his paper were forced to recognize the Guild he would consider it his duty to "place The New York Times on sale." The union claims that its members were fired and "transferred" to other departments as part of the management's campaign of intimidation and coercion to block and weaken the unioniza- tion of the editorial workers on the Times. However, lest the public think that his motives spring from a concern over wage increases and a less favorable income statement, Mr. Sulzberg- er stated at the hearing that the Times refuses to recognize the Guild because that paper main- tains an "unbiased attitude" toward labor and such recognition would amount to showing a "bias" toward labor. Furthermore, unionization of editorial writers, he said; would interfere with "objective" report- ing. Now the first argument that recognizing the union is tantamount to aligning the Times on the side of labor isthe purest type of rational- ization. The Times, like the Hearst chain and every other newspaper, for many years has recog- nized the linotypers, engravers and other unions in the printing trades. And through those de- cades of collective bargaining with mechanical employes, neither Hearst npr The New York Times has exhibited an appreciable pro-labor "bias."6 The second point that unionization of the writers would interfere with "objective" news- reporting holds even less water. Would the mere signing of a contract providing for wages, hours and working conditions change the reporting technique or accuracy of those men on the Times staff who now hold pro-labor or. for that mat- ter, anti-labor views? Sulzberger's contention about the loss of "objectivity" dissolves completely when one con- siders that at present, and probably for some time to come, newspaper publishers have the same "right" as any employer to discharge workers for refusing to carry out the management's desires. On a commercial newspaper that means that re- porters and headline writers either conform to the paper's policies of slanting certain news one way or another (see article in the next column of this page), or they are unemplhyed news- papermen. At least that seems to be the way things work on the Detroit Times, which is among the latest of the Hearst papers to sign a contract with the American Newspaper Guild. The cry of "freedom of the press" is still raised whenever a publisher comes face to face with the No. 4: More Catch Phrases And Or Look Who We've By JOSEPH GIES The second most famous catch-phrase used against the New Deal in recent years (after "Dictator gill") is the "Court-packing scheme," of the spring of 1937. This was the standard title of the court reorganization bill in such papers as the Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Tribune and Daily News, the Hearst and Gannett papers and the New York Sun and HeraldTribune. Frank Gannett made an attempt, according to one source, to induce the Associated Press to use the phrase, but the A.P. declined. The President's attempted "purge" of Senate foes last summer was the best catchword since the Dictator Bill, conjuring up, as it did, pictures of dictatorial violence and the shooting of politi- cal opposition. The list of candidates opposed by Labor's Non-Partisan League was referred to fre- quently in the press as the "Lewis Blacklist." In the 1936 campaign, the New Deal never appeared as a phrase in the Hearst editorial columns, it was always the "Raw Deal," day after day, in editorials and cartoons. The excess-profits tax was a "tax on wealth" to the New Dealers; to the press itwas a "tax on enterprise." Capitalism is a phrase which seldom appears in the press. Newspapers generally defend it un- der the name of "private enterprise" or "free competition." In the 1936 campaign in particu-. lar, the press fought for "freedom of enterprise." The press constantly speaks of "business" and "industry;" never of "big business" or "mono- poly," as do liberal writers and politicians. Even the term "labor" has a special value attached to it, particularly when coupled with the adjec- tive "American," for it is the conservative way of speaking of the "working class," an unmen- tionable in the press, since it implies the division of society into classes. The whole economic sys- tem is often summed up as "the American sys- tem," or "the American way," thus cloaking it with the impeccable robe of nationalism. 'Youth Control Bill' When the Child Labor Amendment was up for consideration in the New York Legislature, it appeared in the Herald-Tribune as "The Youth Control Bill." At the end of the 1936 campaign when the Republicans threw caution to the winds and launched an attack on the Social Security Act, the sympathetic portion of the press joined in by calling it "the Social Insecur- ity Act" and even a "reduction in wages." The favorite catch phrase for labor-baiting is "alien radical." The San Francisco papers and others have used this to the limit in their fight against Harry Bridges. It is worth noting that Bridges is benefitted by the fact that his foreign origin is not reflected in his name. The attempt- ed assassination of Roosevelt in Florida in 1933 was played up by part of the press as the act of "an alien Red." Other papers called it the act of "a fanatic." Little attention was paid to the assassin's mental derangement. The press was too busy exploiting a stereotype to bother with the facts of the case. The important factor in every favorable catch- phrase is the "virtue word," in every unfavorable one, the "vice-word." Labor unions are frequent- ly assailed for "violent tactics," though no news- paper has ever undertaken to prove that indus- trial violence is due as a rule to union provoca- tion. Changes in the Wagner Act are urged for the sake of "fair play" and because the act as it stands is "one-sided," but no study yet made has borne out the contention, although several thorough researches into the history of the Na- tional Labor Relations Board have been made in the last year. "Company" unions have now become "inde- pendent" unions in the official language of the press. It is often amazing how completely an impression of an event, talk or circumstance can be altered by the switch of a word or phrase in a headline. A "national defence" program is much more easily defended than a "super-arma- ments" program. Relief is more easily attacked if it is called "dole." Dozens of catch-phrases have been coined in the effort to mobilize public opin- ion against New Deal spending, all containing at least one such word as "waste," "profligate," "orgy," etc. The Testimoniad A widely-employed form of propaganda de- vice generally thought of in connection with ad- vertising but also used editorially is the Testi- monial. Henry Ford's views on government are highly valued because Ford is a Big Name and a Successful Man. (Cf. the famous 29-word ad- dress to the newspaper publishers which Ford made at a banquet a year ago and which was spread all over every paper in the country al- though no two publishers could agree on what it meant.) Douglas Fairbanks and Nqel Coward are eagerly interviewed on affairs in Europe. (Mr. Coward reported the situation abroad to be "somewhat tricky.") For propaganda purposes, of course, business men's views are of special value because they are likely to coincide with those of'the publishers:The United States Cham- ber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other reactionary business groups have lost a great deal- of their public appeal by going through their routine too often; nowadays newspapers try to get slightly more novel sources for their views. The Testimonials of "experts" have become of premium value in recent years. We now have ex- perts on government, finance, foreign affairs and things in general in every newspaper we pick up. Some of these are probably out-and-out fakes, like the little man in the derby hat who writes the lovelorn column for a certain promi- nent metropolitan newspaper in this area under a feminine pseudonym. Most of the well-known columnists are probably honestly convinced of *lna ...iIAO rif fnh+lai4. r an~, ,,hic Qva . r 1nn Catch-Words; The Testimonial, Got On Our Side the staff of the borough president of the Bronx. The Hearst American and the World-Telegraph filled their columns with the views of the local American Legion, D.A.R. and other patrioteering organizations on the appointment, and "New York's one-man Red scare" as the Daily News called it, was a chief source of copy for months. Harvard Red Scare When Hearst conducted a campaign through his Boston American to drive Granville Hicks out of Harvard, his reporters got 20 members of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Watertown Lodge of Elks and the national commander of the American Legion to protest. They button- holed students on the Harvard campus, and al- though few of them lent their aristocratic Har- vard names to the gag, the American head- lined: STUDENTS REVOLT ON RED PROFESSOR Two years ago a similar incident occurred here when 10 faculty members voted for Earl Browder in the Daily's presidential poll. The Hearst De- troit Times got a Regent to say the Communist instructors ought to be removed, but that was as far as it went and even the lone Regent some- what lamely explained later he was only kidding. In connection with the Testimonial, it would be interesting to know just how honest most newspapers are with their letter columns. Even granting that most of a newspaper's readers agree with its editorial policy, which is a pretty large assumption, it seems incredible that the let- ter columns of such papers as the Deroit Free Press and the New York Herald-Tribune should be filled every day with favorable comment on the editorials unless there is a certain alhount of editing done. A Testimonial that backfired was that printed by the Seattle Star from the Columbia press service May 1, 1938, in. which Senators Schwel- lenbach, Bone and Nye were quoted as endorsing the Star's four-point program in opposition to the New Deal power policy. All three senators de- nied that they had ever made any statement on the Star's program. Nye declared he had never heard of the program, or of the Star. Schwellen- bach denounced the story on the floor of the Senate next day. The Star blamed it on the press service, which in turn said the whole thing was a mistake on the part of a "new employe." THEATRE By JOHN WEIMER (Of the English Department 'Die Gegenkandidaten' A review of a play presented only once can probably do no one or thing any good or harm, unless it be the reviewer. But so generally com- petent and entertaining a performance as tha of Die Gegenkandidaten by the Deutscher Verein in the Mendelssohn last night demands a place in the record of dramtic activity on the campus this year. Ludwig Fulda's comedy, originally produced in 1923, is contemporary only in a loose sense of the word. Developments in Germany since that time make such a political satire as this practic- ally a matter of historical interest only. In fact, reflecting on the circumstance that events such as those constituting the action of this play would be almost the last possibility in Germany today, one almost forgets that it was intended as comedy. Happily, however, the author packed his play with so much besides political satire that it stands up well regardless, even when acted by amateurs in a foreign land. This is particularly true of the novel application of the "war of the sexes." Die Gegenkandidaten, husband and wife, representing reactionary and liberal parties, respectively, in a minor but spirited election campaign, are a constant source of humor as the action proceeds to a conclusion dictated by their. relationship. Placed locally in the able hands of Otto Graf, Fulda's clay provides one of this semester's the- atrical triumphs. It is possible that last night's chuckling audience was not aware of the weeks of shaping and polishing that made possible their pleasure. The quality of the .performance was no doubt due to the patience and skill of a director who gave the play pace and fluidity. The climaxes, especially that of the second act cur- tain, came with excitement not merely similated by the actors. And the intervals of relief were not mere lapses into dialogue. In evaluating the work of the performers, one is inclined to bestow a general benediction, and let it go at that. But the special skill revealed by those in character roles, Henry Ohrt, Marie Bachmann, William H. Berry, Elizabeth Wat- kins, and Carl W. Petersen deserves special men- tion. Other able support was provided by William B. Elmer, John Wolaver, Raoul Weisman, Ken- neth B. Marble, Ethel Winnai, James E. Gilbert, and David H. Gibson. Honors go to the leads, veterans in the Verein's productions, Edward Wetter and Emma M. Hirsch. Wetter's natural verve and Miss Hirsch's looks and poise did much for the play. But all of the actors looked nice. They wore their own hair and clothes. Consequently the former stayed on and the latter fit. It doesn't always happen in the amateur theatre. What wiil Hitler's next move be? That is the question that most are seeking to answer. The majority of the collegians believe that he is head- ed for the Ukraine and its vast wealth of raw materials of one kind or another. And in that l l.. escapes me, "replied not unwittily." At least, that is how it read in thet crib which I used in preparing my- self for lessons in elementary Latin. If thebtranslation issaccurate I would be inclined to say that the dead Emperor was more expert in1 such matters than the little CaesarI who follows in his footsteps. Benito is better at bombast than epigrams. Andt yet there are both hope and humor in the reply of the dictator. The humor is unconscious and the hope is veiled. Nevertheless, it seems to me that, although Mussolini chose to shout "No!" a whispering thread of assent runs through his discourse. And often the still small voice may carry more weight than the mostl brazen sort of trumpeting. Benito's speech must be read with full atten- tion to the footnotes. Even on the surface Mussolini does not indulge int praise of war. In effect he undertakes to say that the axis powers are event more intent on. the preservation of1 peace than the democracies. *-*-* Promise Non-Aggression To be sure, that word "peace" has been most curiously defined in re- cent months. But, at least verbally, there is a promise of non-aggression in the citing of Italy's plans for a' world's fair in 1942 as a "promising indication that we do not intend to at-' tack anyone." And so, although he stood at the foot of Caesar's heroic figure, it may be possible that Mus- solini at the moment is more moved' by a desire to grow up into the stature of Grover Whalen. In this laudable, howbeit arduous, ambition there is every reason why II Duce's friends at home and abroad should wish him well. Indeed, I think that immediate cooperation should be furnished byt America to promote the success oft Mussolini's Midway.I My own attention has been so much absorbed by the imminence of the Flushing enterprise that I admit I had not heard until now that Fascistr Italy was putting on a show of its own. Say what one will about Il Duce, it must be admitted that he certain- ly got himself front page publicity, including pictures, for the attraction which he is ballyhooing. And yet, as he begins to dispose of this concession and the other, Mus- solini will do well to bear in mind the experience of other entrepreneurst in similar ventures. Experience seems to show that buildings devoted to art and industry and education are properly the backbone of any exposi- tion. But there are other spines whichI seem essential if the ,excursionists from the outlying districts are to be lured into the big tent successfully. * * * Opportunity For Rand The Italian Premier has often proved himself to be one of the finest. of press agents. But this time he nodded twice. His crack at newspap- ers may cause him woe when the re- views begin to drift in, and he failed to state what he proposes to put for- ward in competition with San Fran- cisco's nude ranch and the Congress of Beauties of the New York exposi- tion. Quite frequently I Duce has submitted to photographs in which he poses stripped to the waist. But by now that act is ancient and the roto- gravures have had their fill of Mus- solini's chest. The Editor Gets Told... In Re Peace Rallies To the Editor: Your consistent partiality in the current disagreement withi~n the ranks of anti-war workers on cam- pus has been a thorn in my flesh all Spring. Far from making the fact clear to the University Community that this has been a conflict between two irreconcilable ideologies, you have -painted the Anti-War Commit- tee as a group of dogmatic idealists who allow no outside participation in forming their program; this is made all the more inexcusable since this cominittee is formed of repre- sentatives of many campus organiza- tin.s, whereas the so-called All- Campus Peace Committee consists of practically all ,the members of two miinvi ri n£-iVn 7o in,-ithi I the swinging phrases and a few wise- cracks for good measure. Possib-, ly II Duce re- membersthat in the Commentar- ies Julius at one point sets down the fact that he himself, upon an occasion which (Continued from Page 2) Present Day Status of the Struc- tural Theory of Organic Chemistry," in Room 303, Chemistry Building, Thursday, April 27, at 4:15 p.m. W. Webb McCall, publisher of the Isabella County Times-News, will give the eighth lecture in the Journalism Supplementary Lecture Series at 3 o'clock on Wednesday, in Room E, Haven Hall, speaking on "The Busi- ness Side of the Weekly Newspaper." The public is invited. University Lecture: Dr. August Krogh, of the University of Copen- hagen, will give a lecture, illustrated with lantern slides, on "The Regula- tion of Circulation in Man in Rela- tion to Posture" on Thursday, May 4, at 4:15 p.m. in the Natural Science Auditorium under the auspices of the Department of Zoology. The public is cordially invited to attend. Mayo Lecture: The annual William J. Mayo Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Harold I. Lillie, in the Hospital Amphitheatre, 'University Hospital, on Friday afternoon, April 28th, at 1:30 o'clock. 'Doctor Lillie will speak on the "Correlation of the Special Practice of Otolaryngology with the General Practice of Medicine." All Junior and Senior classes will be dismissed to permit students to attend this lecture. The Staff and Internes of University Hospital are cordially invited to be present. Events Today Applicants for Summer Field Courses in Geology at Camp Davis, Wyo.: Students, planning to enroll in the summer field courses, are re- quested to attend a meeting in Room 3065 Natural Science Building at 7:30 p.m. this evening. Infor- mation regarding the necessity for early payment of tuition, field equip- ment, typhoid immunization, etc., will be given at this time. Botanical Journal Club, tonight at 7:30 p.m., Room N.S. 1139. Reports by: Gregario Velasquez: Contribution to the Knowledge of the Natural His- tory of the Marine Fish-Ponds of Batavia. L. H. Harvey: Phytogeography of Disjunct Areas. Mary Mooney: The Role of Ter- restrial Algae in Nature. S. S. White : Life and Works of C. G. Pringle. Evelyne Eichelberger: The Garden of Pinks: L. H. Bailey. Chairman: Prof. H. H. Bartlett. Christian Science Organization: 8:15 p.m. League Chapel. Students, alumni and faculty are invited to at- tend the services. All Graduate Students in History and their wives (or husbands) are cordially invited to a reception in honor of the History Faculty, this evening from 8 to 10 in the Assembly Room of the Rackham Building. Semi-formal. League House Presidents will meet today at the League at 3:30 p.m. Presidents, must be there since Of- ficers will be elected, and there is other very important business to transact. Michigras: There will be a meeting tonight at the Union at 7:30 for all house chairmen. It is necessary that every one be present. Archery Club: The archery club will have the first meeting outside on Palmer Field today at 4:15 p.m. Be- ginning and advanced archers are invited. Hillel Players: A regular meeting will be held tonight at 7:30 at the Hillel Foundation for the purpose of electing officers for the coming year. A special program has also been planned. All members are strongly urged to attend. The Michigan Dames general meet- ing will be held in the Rackham Bldg tonight at 8:15. Officers for the com- ing year will be elected and all mem- bers are urged to be present. Faculty Women's Club: The Play Reading Section will meet this after noon, April 25, at 2:15, in the Mary B. Henderson Room of the Michigan League. Coming Events Seminar in Physical Chemistry wil meet in Room 122 Chemistry Bldg at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26 Doctor E. H. Eyster will speak o "Intramolecular Distances from Spec troscopic Data." Navy Pilot Training: A represen ) tative of the United States Navy wi' would like instruction in the speak- ing of English are invited to attend. Wednesday, April 25. 7:15. Tea will be a symphonic program in the recreation room of the Center. Thursday, April 26. 4 o'clork. Tea will be served to all foreign students and their American friends. 7:15. Speech Clinic. Friday, April 27. 8 o'clock. Recrea- tion night. Informal and group games will be played. The duplicate bridge tournament will be continued. Saturday, April 28. Two o'clock. The group will meet at the Center before going to Burns Park where a baseball tournament will be started. Institute of the Aeronauticel Sci- enees: All members of the Institute are informed of a meeting to be held Thursday, April 27, at which time an election of officers will take place. This meeting will be held in the Am- phitheatre of the Rackham Bldg. at 7:30 p.m. Movies will be shown, and the inspection trip to the Curtiss- Wright Corp., Buffalo, N.Y., will be discussed. The Beta Chapter of Iota Alpha will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday evening, April 27 at 8 p.m. in the West Lecture Room on the mezzanine of the Horace H. Rackham School Building. The speaker of the evening will be Dr. E. C. Case, Director of the Mu- seum of Paleontology, whose address will deal with the excavation of the dinosaur, which took place last sum- mer in Montana. An interesting evening is promised and every member is urged to be present. Deutscher Verein. The Deutscher Verein wishes to call the attention of its members and friends to the fact that Dr. Otto Graf's lecture on "Musi- kalische Reise durch Deutschland," which was scheduled for Tuesday night, April 25, has been postponed two weeks and will be given on Tues- day night, May 9 instead. Varsity Glee Club: There will be a business meeting Thursday night. We are to make a short appearance in the Union that night. On Friday night we are doing "Trial by Jury" for the Schoolmasters con- vention. This appearance will be in the early part of the evening. Phi Beta Kappa. Annual Initiation for members elected this year will be held in the Michigan League Chapel on Thursday, April 27 at 4:15 p.m. Professor HerbertsA. Kenyon will address the initiates. All new mem- bers are expected to be present at this meeting. Phi Beta Kappa. The Annual Initia- tion Banquet of the Alpha Chapter of Michigan will be held at the Mich- igan League on Saturday, April 29 at 6:45 p.m. Price one dollar. Profes- sor Robert S. Lynd of Columbia University will speak on "Scholar- ship in Time of Crisis." All members of Phi Beta Kappa are urged to at- tend. Especially are members of other Chapters invited. Reservations should be made at the Secretary's office at the Observatory by Friday evening, April 28. Hazel Marie Losh, Secretary Phi Beta Kappa. La Sociedad Hispanica: Dr. N. W. Eddy, of the Department of Romance. Languages, will present the final lec- ture of the current series sponsored by La Sociedad Hispanica on Wed- nesday, April 26, at 4:15 p.m., in 108 R.L. Dr. Eddy's subject will be Pio Baroja, contemporary Spanish novel- ist. This lecture (in Spanish) will be open free of charge to all those in- terested. The Michigan Christian Fellowship will have its regular business meet- ing Wednesday, April 26, 1939 at the Michigan League starting at 7:30. . All those who have attended the meetings of the Fellowship are urged to be present to consider certain mat- ters of importance. The Annual French Play: The Cer- . cle Francais will present "Ces Dames - aux Chapeaux Verts," a modern - French comedy in one prologue and three acts by Albert Acremant, at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Friday, Y' April 28 at 8:15 p.m. - All seats are reserved. Tickets will y be on sale at the box-office Thurs- n day, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday, April 28, the day of the play from 10 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. A special reduction will be made for holders of the French Lecture Series 1 card. . The Tenth Anniversary of the Mich- n igan League Building will be cele- brated with a dinner in the League Ballroom at 6 p.m. and entertainment in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at - 8:30 on Thursday, May 4. Tickets $1 11 in charge of Mrs. Donald May, on sale A It Seems To Me By HEYWOOD BROUN Mussolini has rejected the Presi- dent's plea for pledges of non-aggres- sion. Speaking in the shadow of Caes- ar's statue, he threw in a number of DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN Publication in the Bulletin is constructive notice to all members of the University. Copy received at the office of the Assistant to the President, until 3:30 P.M.; 11:00 A.M. on Saturday. i I V