THE MiICHI GAN DAILY WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1939 U THE.MICHIGAN'DAILY Human And Cultural Achievements Stimulated By WPA Arts Projects Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board irk Control of Student Publications. Published every ;morning except Monday -during the University year and Summ r Session. Member of the Associated Press The AssociatedPress 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, #.0 , by mail, $4.50. REIPEDENTED FOR"NATIONALADVERTISING' B NationalAdvertising Service; Int. Colege Pulishers epresentaive 420 MADISON AvE. NEW YORK, WY. CHICAGO BOSTON ' LOS ARGELE - SAI FRANCISCO Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 193839 Editoral Staff Managing Editor , ,. City Editor . . . Editorial Director , Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor , Associate Editor . . Associate, Editor ., Shorts Editor. .; Women's Editor . Business Staff Business Manager. . Credits Manager . Women's Business Manager Women's Advertising Manager. Publications Manager .. . Carl Petersen Stan M. SWinton Elliott Maraniss . Jack Canavan Dennis Flanagan Morton Linder Norman Schorr . Ethel Norberg * Mel Fineberg - Ann Vicary . Paul R. Park Ganson Taggart ZenovianSkoratko Jane Mowers *Harriet Levy I~4IGHErWIToR: HOWARD A. GOLDMAN TThe editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of the Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only: The Polie And The Public . . . NN ARBOR, as has been frequently 'indicated, has its administrative weak- nesses, yet it is encouraging to note that the loeal =police department has recently made a sincere effort to improve the quality and effi- ciency of its personnel.. Working' chiefly on their own time, members off the force have just completed an intensive course in the latest police methods and public relationship contacts. The point to be noted in relaio'n to this course work is the attitude toward it taken by the force. The whole-hearted recep- tion of the opportunity offered and general thirst for knowledge on the part of the individual ioliceman illustrates the recent trend in police work striving toward a more harmonious rela- tionship between law-enforcing agencies and the general public. The traditional view taken by the public toward law-enforcing agencies has been one of fear or disrespect. Too often the policeman is looked upon as a threat to individual liberty. He has been regarded as the "flat-foot" who takes a genuine pleasure in nabbing a speeding motorist or in exploding a tear-gas bomb in the- face of some jubilant student. This misconception of the true purpose of a police force, it true, has not been held by the public alone. There are many examples of police- men who have built up a public-be-damned com- plex, but the widespread acceptance of the police training and public relationship courses which arc springing up in cities all over the country illustrates the effort being made by police officers to right the popular misconception. The potential efficiency of this new attitude toward police work is well illustrated in the case of the Wichita department. Under the theory that courtesy and human understanding are as important a part of police equipment as marks- manship and jujitsu, that department has built up an' enviable record in the low crime and accident rate achieved, not to mention the im- proved relation with the citizens of Wichita. This marked improvement was not attained by increasing the size of the force or the de- partmental budget, but rather by a sane pro- gram of education. The first step was to build up a well educated force. Members of the de- partment were selected. from among students at Wichita Municipal University. These, pros- pective policemen were taken on as rookies and encouraged to continue their studies. Above all, they were trained in courtesy and encouraged to develop a pleasing personality. Ann Arbor has so far taken the first step toward the creation of a better police force. The result' will depend upon the sincerity of the police personnel and the cooperation of the students and 'citizens. -Karl Kessler Bayonte 0GeS AmericanIit Bayonne. N.J., adjoins Jersey City in Hudson Courity. Though ~Jersey City is the larger, the two municipalities in other respects are virtually twins-in their factory-ridden environment in the composition of their population. Yet Bayonne has just decided it has had enough of Hague Variety And Regionalism Aims Of Federal Artists By ELIOTT MARANISS When the United States Government entered the lists of art patrons in the summer of 1935 it found itself faced with a peculiar problem. It must be remembered that the immediate task facing the WPA was to get people back to work: a man didn't have to be a Picasso or a Stravinsky to be hungry and eligible for a job. Not only starving geniuses were admitted to the projects, and the directors had to work out a program which could make use of all artists, good and bad. Charged with the task of finding useful work for men of varying abilities, the various national directors had to plan their projects in such ways that would take into consideration the human resources at their command, and at the same time turn out important and worth while work. It is exactly' at this point that most of the criticism of the arts projects arises. The placing of a thousand murals in public buildings, it is said, does not in itself produce great mural art; nor does the simultaneous opening in 17 cities of Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" in itself signal a return to the old days of a flourishing and vital theatre. Too much of the work of federal writers, painters, actors and musicians, it is maintained by some critics; is mere hack production, insipid, uninspired stuff. Ir addition the cry is raised that many of the federal people cannot even turn out good hack art, and would be much better off on a road-,gang oi' a farm. Now it is beyond any doubt true that many of the people on the projects are incapable of pro- dueing first-rate stuff, let alone works of genius; for every Mitchell Siropin and Joseph Sheridan there are scores of second-rate muralists; and every production like Detroit's ". . . one-third of a nation . . ." is accompanied by many badly- acted and hastily-contrived plays; and for every ten pages of .colorful, well-documented writing in the state guides there is a tremendous amount of hackneyed and poorly written material. No- body, least of all the directors themselves, would deny these charges. But there are two important considerations, usually overlooked by the critics, that supply sufficient answers to the criticisms. In the first place, it is not at all true that the great bulk of "merely competent" work produced by WA artists is a condition, to be regretted. The nineteenth century emphasis upon solitary masterpieces is primarily a collector's idea, and has little relation to an art movement. It may very well be true that not all of the thousand murals painted by federal artists are great art, but it must be apparent to all that wall-ainting under government auspices, has been firmly established here; perhaps as in no other country in modern times; and that in giving opportunity to hundreds of painters, the project has turned up hitherto unknown muralists who are compe- tent to produce creative work, according to art- critic Sheldon Cheney, beyond any standards believable five years ago. A Guide To Michigan Furthermore the directors have made im- portant use of all the human material on hand. Illustrative of this method of using available talent to produce work that will have major significance in' the national cultural scheme is the Federal Writers Project. Early next month the Michigan writers will publish a guide to the state of Michigan. It will be a meaty, full-sized volume more than 400 pages in length, with over a hundred photographs of places of interest in the state. Following the main road tours, the book will provide a rapid-running encyclo- pedia of background and facts requisite to an understanding of the spirit of the state. This. will be no mere guide in the traditional sense: into it will go all the ability of a competent group of men, alert to the possibilities of such an under- taking, and out of it will come, if the previously published guides can be taken as a criterion, sensitive description and authentic history and invaluable tools for the imaginative portrayal of the particular life and materials of this region. Put the Michigan Guide in its place in the national writers project and its importance be- comes still more enhanced. Though the project was originally designed to give useful employ- ment to needy writers and research workers, it has gradually developed the more ambitious objective of utilizing the talent among the un- employed writers to create a comprehensive por- trait of America. The result has been a collec- tive work to which each writer and research worker contributes according to his talents. State projects compile their guides as separate and independent units, but when completed ea ch guide takes its place in a series of 55 projected volumes that will cover the entire United States, Alaska and Puerto Rico. Regiondisnm In The Theatre Still another new method evolved by the WPA, and also of great cultural significance, is ex- emplified in the work of the Federal Theatre. Previously the most damning criticism made of the American theatre has been that the American theatre hardly existed at all outside of a few square blocks in the Broadway district of New York; In the great cultural desert areas of the United States there are millions of people who have never seen a first-rate production, and there are thousands who have never seen a play at all. In addition, those plays that have been made available to people outside of New York, have for the most part only been those that have gained the acclaim of the narrowly-restrict- ed group of wealthy persons who can afford to pay $3.30 on enough successive evenings to put a new play in the hit class. It is hardly to be wondered at, then, that zens not hitherto able to afford theatre-going, a planned theatrical program, "national in scope, regional in emphasis, and American in demo- cratic attitude." Note the things that the Federal Theatre has emphasized, and its value becomes apparent: centralized, yet. geographically-con- scious planning, developing great regional theatres; exploration of the theatre itself, its relation to radio, movies, and television, its use of:speech, of dance patterns, of the dynamics of light, sound and movement; yet the exploration also of the human material involved, of the vast and exciting new audience it has created. The Federal Theatre is a working example of how a true regionalism can profoundly affect the nature of our culture. It is not the insulated, romantic regionalism of, the self-conscious Agrarians, nor the sophisticated, regionalism of New York and Chicago; it is rather, a regional-' ism that allows each section of the country to. evolve its own particular program, but in which each region is considered in its relation to the whole national picture. Washington does not dictate arbitrarily to Detroit, New Orleans or Denver. Federal Theatre, as the name implies, is a federation of many theatres, each responsible for exploring its own dramatic possibilities. The experiences of the Detroit Federal The- atre is typical of this program of local responsi- bility. Organized in the latter part of 1935, it had presented five major dramas, including "It Can't Happen Here," Robert Sherwood's "The Road to Rome," and the Negro "Macbeth," when its lease at the Lafayette Theatre expired. Faced with the problem of operating a theatrical group without a theatre, the director decided to tour the company as a vaudeville unit, playing throughout the metropolitan area at community houses, churches, orphanages, hospitals, schools and other institutions to an estimated audience of more than 14,000. In the early part of 1937, thg Detroit project leased the People's Theatre, and since that date it has been a continuously-func- tioning organization. Detroit, in conjunction with every other city in the project, has put on certain stock plays, of tested universal appeal:' plays like "Arms and the Man," and "Anna Christie" will pack them in, no matter what the locale. But only in Detroit could Albert Bein's' "Let Freedom Ring," a dramatization of Grace Lumpkin's powerful novel about the hill-folks who have been driven off their dusty mounds and into the factory-towns, play to enthusiastic audi- ences of over 3,000 every night for a long period of time. Index To American Design. Perhaps the most highly developed example of a project that has undertaken to conserve the talents and skills of individual artists, and at the same time to stimulate in the community a greater appreciation of the arts, is the Federal Art Project. While most of the creative divisions of the Michigan Art Project are engaged in the production of murals, sculpture, ceramics, gra- phics for buildings in the local comnlunities of the state, other divisions' are at work upon a national project of the greatest significance-the Index of American Design. Established to make a pictorial record, in black-and-white and in color, of the historical decorative arts in America from the earliest settlement days of the 17th century through the 19th century, the Index of American Design has become one of the most fruitful undertakings of the entire WPA program. The Index has un- covered hidden and long-neglected sources of American design in furniture, costumes, textiles, ceramics, metal-work and other examples of native' o-igin: it has accelerated interest in th decorative arts in America in all their regional, historical and functional phases. When pub- lished, these portfolios of authenticated graphic and pictorial research material will be compar- able to the exhaustive collections of native de- sign compiled and made widely accessible in Euro- pean countries, Once again, the emphasis has been upon the region. Michigan, for example, has one of the largest populations of Wooden Indians, Scotch- men, Turks and Don Juans of the type which used to stand outside cigar stars, and the local artists have recorded all of these in carefully- drawn plates for inclusion in the Index. Michi- gan also possesses an unusual number of early puppets and marionettes, and many of these have been recorded, giving an idea of a type of folk-carving thatno longer exists. In addition, Michigan has been a fertile source of pioneer tools, such as wrought-iron plow heads, wooden plates, and cabinet-makers clamps, many of them of a fine simplicity and functional design, and also scheduled for inclusion in the Index. When the final story of the Federal Arts Pro- jects is written, then, it may very well be claimed that the necessity that led to the establishment of group projects that could best make use of available talent, was its greatest source of life and significance. For what the Federal projects are preparing in America. is the groundwork from which great national art movements will arise. (The final article in this series will be published in tomorrow's Daily.) Farley Scouting Again WASHINGTON--Exactly eight years ago James A. Farley made a trip across thq country which led to the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt for President a year later. Now the Democratic national chairman is headed West again, on a similar scouting trip of the greatest potential importance politically. * * * A reasonable guess is that this trip may lead to one of two things, either the nomination of Farley next year or the renomination of Roosevelt for a third term. TODAY in WASHINGTON -by David Lawrence - WASHINGTON, May 15.-For sev- eral months now the Temporary Na tional Economic Committee, some- times called the Anti-Monopoly Com- mittee, has been nibbling away at some of the larger problems of busi ness operation, but only this week is' the committee getting down to fun- damentals. It is about to penetrate the complicated but highly important question of capital flow in America. Up to now, the committee has had a somewhat legalistic approach, keeping the idea ofconcentration of economic power within rather nar- row areas of business practice, such as grow out of patent monopoly or price-fixing. This angle might be pur- sued for years without revealing much more than the existence of two opposite schools, which believe in amended anti-trust laws and ag- gressive competition, on the one hand, and the establishment of government' cartels or regulation of price levels on the other. This week, however, the committee in effect concedes that all elements of competition, fair and unfair, and all characteristics of monopoly, quasi- legal or unlawful, are directly re- lated to the method by which capital s accumulated and distributed. Something basically different from anything which used to happen be- fore 1930 has come into the picture of capital flow. The old methods of floating issues of common stock to0 make capital available to large en- terprise, and even, to a large extent, the old ways of floating large bond issues, have been modified, if not reduced to a relatively small opera- ion. Today, big business gets its capital from its own surpluses and reservesI or sells privately a large issue of1 securities to an insurance company,i and the days of numerous so-called public issues have passed into his- tory, The investment banking machinery lies idle, and, so far as small business is concerned, it never had any means of getting capital except by the hardi way of finding individual capitalists here or there, or 'occasionally, and very occasionally, by persuading local banks to make three to five-year capi- tal loans. The reasons why investment bank-] ing machinery is idle have never been scientifically penetrated by a public inquiry. There will 'be some bankers in New York, for instance, who will insist that no "confidence" prevails and hence large issues cannot be offered to investors except now and then in a few gilt-edge cases. Other financial men will say that the rigid terms of the Securities and Exchange Act are at bottom responsible and that corporations fear to take the risks of the racketeering lawsuits that might follow if their directors1 have to take personal responsibility for signing the prospectuses on whichj loans can be issued. Certainly, the Securities and Ex- change Commission itself, which is conducting the inquiry before the Temporary National Economic Com- mittee, is not inclined to put itself or the present law on trial on these points, so the main purpose of the commission's counsel doubtless will] be to get at the facts of capital oper- ation without discussing remedies at this time. The study of capital flow is not a sudden affair. Peter Nehemikis, Jr., one of the able counsel of the SEC's] staff, who is Director of Investment studies, has been working for several months now to get an objective sur- vey made on what is actually hap- pening to American capital in respect to large and small business. Witnesses from Wall Street in- vestment banking houses wile de- scribe past and present practices with particular reference to the cus- tom that has grown up among big corporations of avoiding the invest- ment bankers altogether by having a direct private deal between a big bank or insurance company and the corporation in question, a practice that is allowable under present law.. Education The step taken by the Harvard Crimson in waging open and flagrant war on the tutorial schools infesting the mellow Cambridge atmosphere is courageous as well as costly. It is costly only to the Crimson, recipient of $20,000 in advertising from this source each year. Actually the fight evolves around the point-what is an education? Everyone has a different answer. Is it something where every man must sit down and learn certain pre- scribed answers? Or is it an oppor- tunity for young persons to under= stand the world about them, to be- come acquainted with the process of thinking? In the former case, we say that the tutorial school is a valuable aid to such."education." However, we say that if that is "education" we'll take spinach. In the latter case, the move start- enby the Harvard daily is a wise, well-considered step. A tutor will not maint., May 27. Public Health Nurse A. range: $130-150, May 30. Public Health Nurse I. range: $150-190, May 30. Public Health Nurse II. range: $200-240, May 30. Public Health Nurse III. range: $250-310, May 30. All Speech Concentrates and Grad- uate Students in Speech please call at 3211 A.H. at one of the following, hours this week to complete concen- tration records: 3-4 Wednesday 2-4 Thursday Choral Union Members, Refund on deposit for Choral Union music books will be made from 9 to 12, and from 1 to 4 o'clock daily, up to noon Friday, May 19, at the general office of the School of Music. Members are cau- tioned that no refunds will be made after that date. Charles A. Sink. Notice to N.Y.A. Applicants: Stu- dents who feel they will need finan- cial assistance through the National Youth Administration next year should leave their summer addresses with Miss Elizabeth A. Smith, Room 2, University Hall, before the close of this semester. Senior Lit Class Dues will be col- lected on Wednesday, May 17, in both the League and the Union. It is im- portant that these dues be paid be- fore Commencement Invitations are received. (Continued from Page 2) has received notice of the following Michigan Civil Service Examinations. The last date for filing application is noted in each case: Cartographic Engineering Drafts- man Al. Salary range: $140-160 May 25. Prison Vocational School Super- visor I. Salary range: $150-190 less Salary Salary Salary Salary University Girls' Glee rehearsal this week. 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. Club: No German Departmental Library: library books are due. All Academic Notices I Final Doctoral Examination of Mr. William Charles Bell will be held on1 Wednesday, May 17 at 2:30 p.m. inl Room 4065 N.S. Mr. Bell's field of specialization is Geology. The title of his thesis is "Revision of Cambrian Brackispoda from Montana." Professor E. C. Case, as chair- man of the committee, will conduct the examination. By direction of the Executive Board, the chairman has the privilege of inviting members of the faculty and advanced doctoral candidates to attend the examination, and to grant permission to others who might wish to be present. Final Doctoral Examination of Mr. Augustus Taylor Miller, Jr., will be held on Wednesday, May 17 at 3 p.m. in 4017 E. Med. Mr. Miller's field of specialization is Physiology. The title of his thesis is "The Effects of Prolonged Exposure to High Concen- ;rations of Carbon Dioxide on Acid- Base Balance, Blood Cells and Hemo- globin." f Professor R. Gesell, as chair- man of the committee, will conduct the examination. By direction of the Executive Board, the chairman has the privilege of inviting mem- bers of the faculty and advanced doc- toral candidates to attend the ex- amination and to grant permission to others who might wish to be present. Seminar in Physical Chemistry, which was scheduled to meet today in Room 122 Chemistry Building, has been cancelled. Zoology Seminar: Mr. James W. Moffett will report on "A Limnologi- cal Investigation of the Dynamics of a Barren, Sandy, Wave-swept Shoal in Douglas Lake, Michigan" and Mr. Robert S. Campbell on "Vertical Dis- tribution of the Rotifera in Douglas Lake, Michigan, with Special Refer- ence to Submerged Depression In- dividuality" on Thursday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Amphitheatre of the Rackham Building. Physics Colloquium : Professor Ger- hard Herzberg of the University of Saskatchewan will speak on "For- bidden Transitions in Molecular Spec- tra" at the Physics Colloquium at 4:15 p.m. today in Room 1041 E. Physics. Professor Mickle's M.E. Class will have a blue book this morning in Room 336 West Engineering Building at 9 o'clock. the eleventh in the Journalism Sup- plementary Lecture Series todayat 3 p.m. in Room E, Haven Hall, speak- ing on "The Canadian Press." The public is invited. Events Today Student Tea: President and Mrs. Ruthven will be at home to students this afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. Forestry Assembly: There will be an assembly of the School of Forestry and Conservation at 11 a.m. today in the amphithe- atre of the Rackham Building, at which Mr. E. L. Demmon, Director of the Southern' Forest Experiment Sta- tion, U.S. Forest Service, will speak and show some colored motion pic- tures on "Forestry in Puerto Rico." All students in the School of Forestry and Conservation are expected to at- tend and othersdinterested are cor- dially invited to do so. Transportation Club: There will be an important meeting of the 'Trans- portation Club this evening at 7:30 p.m. in Room 1213, East Engineering Building. The election of next year's officers will be held, and various other important matters will come up for discussion. It is abso- lutely indispensible for a quorum to attend this meeting, and therefore all members are urgently requested to come. Refreshments will be served. A Graduate luncheon will be held today at 12 o'clock noon in the Rus- sian Tea Room of the League, cafe- teria style. Prof. Arthur Aiton of the History Department will speak on "Aphival Experiences, Past and Present." All graduate students are cordially in- vited. Hiawatha Club: Members of the Hiawatha Club will meet for the last time this year tonight at 8 p.m. in the Michigan Union. Refreshments will be served. F-4 Scabbard and Blade. There will be aretreat ceremony at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Meet at ROTC Headquarters. Installation of new officers will take place at this cere- mony. Uniforms required. Ann Arbor Independents: Lantern Night rehearsal, today, in the game Room of the League from 4 to 5. Tau Beta; Pi. A meeting will be held at Barton Hills Country Club today. The elec- tion of officers for next year will be held and it is imperative that all members attend. Buses will leave the Engineering Arch at 5:45 p.m. Please sign the list on the bulletin board. Research Club will meet today at 8 p.m., in the Amphitheatre of the Rackham Building. Program: Professor R. C. An- jell will speak on "Society, Com- munity, and Contemporary America"; and Professor N. R. F. Maier, on "Ex- perimentally Produced Neurotic Be- havior in the Rat." The Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Assembly Hall. Phi Lambda Upsilon, national hon- orary chemical and chemical en- gineering society, will hold its last regular meeting of the year tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Men's Lounge of the Rackham building. Election of officers and plans for the picnic form the business of the evening. Refreshments will be served. Members of Pi Lambda Theta are invited to an initiation service this afternoon at 5 p.m. in the Michigan League. Following the in- itiation there will be a dinner and business meeting, also at the League. The program for the evening will begin at .8 o'clock in the University High School Auditorium. Dr. S. A. Courtis will show moving pictures and lecture on his recen trip in the Bal- kans. Guests are invited. English Honors candidates will be interviewed this evening in Professor Rice's office, 3223 Angell Hall. Annual Phi Sigma Banquet to- night at 6:30 p.m. Ethel Fountain Hussey Room, Michigan League. Dr. denry F'. Vaughn wil lspeak. Late reservations may be made by calling K. E. Goellner, Univ. Museums, Ext. 82. No charge to this years initiates. American Student Union: There Executive Committee at 4 p.m. to- day in the League. Coming Events Varsity Glee Club: The election of officers will take place at the business meeting which is to be held on Thurs- day, May 18, at 8:15. Those nominat- ed by the Executive Committee are: For President: Robert Vandenberg Section ing 5 will 5 of Mechanical Engineer-' not meet at 11 a.m. today Charles W. Spooner, Jr. i .. . i