T H MICHIIAN DAILY




THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Federal Arts Projects: A $125,000,000
Investment For Our National Future
Completion Of WPA's Cultural Program Depends On Popular Support

Edited and managed by students of the University of
Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.I
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Editorial Staff

Managing Editor
City Editor
Editorial Director
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Sports Editor.b
Women's Editor

.r

-

. Carl Petersen
Stan M. Swinton
Elliott Maranis
. Jack Canavan
Dennis Flanagan
Morton Linder
Norman Schorr
. Ethel Norberg
*Mel Flneberg
* Ann Vicary
. Paul R. Park
Ganson Taggart
Zenovia Skoratko
J ane Mowers
. Harriet Levy

Business Staff
Business Manager .
Credits Manager . .
Women's Business Manager
Women's Advertising Manager.
Publication Manager .

NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD SCHLEIDER
The editorials published in The Mihigan
Daily are written by members of the Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only.
A Chance For
Self-Government..
M EN'S COUNCIL, a half-hearted and
poorly-organized attempt to effect
some semblance of student government, has
voted itself out of existence. With the reorgani-
zation and reallocation of its functions, it is to
be hoped that student self-government will re-
ceive a new impetus and develop into an active
progressive force.
Its purposes vaguely defined in, the average
student mind, its activity seemingly concentrated
on the selection of new members who would per-
petuate its tradition of inactivity, the Men's
Council had somehow managed to keep a tiny
spark of vitality alive. It was useless; failing in
its function to dynamically provide the campus
with student government.
The powers of the Council have been delegated
to the Union student staff and a newly-conceived
Men's Judiciary Council which will direct and
consider petitioning of candidates seeking poli-
tical posts and take over the Men's Council func-
tions in dealing with erring students. And, in
many ways, that too is good. The Union staff
has, in the past, shown an enthusiasm and in-
terest in University affairs. The Judiciary Coun-
cil should prove an effective aid. But they toe will
be faced with a problem which has long con-
fronted the campus:
Do we, students at Michigan, desire govern-
ment by ourselves?
Certainly nothing in the past tends to show
we do. The Student Senate, its powers limited
to debate and the force of publicity which its
resolutions win, has not assumed a lead-
ing position. Many members ignore its meet-
ings; many who should be interested do not even
bother to run. It has fulfilled an important func-
tion; it has made many think of problems which
they never before even considered. But it has
not been dynamic, powerful. Instead it has
evolved ridicule from the average student-the
student who will not run for it and who has not
attended a meeting.
The new student governmental organization,
provided one is conceived by the Judiciary Coun-
cil and weaned into maturity, must win a really
important place on campus for itself. It will
fulfill, without the stigma of political "deals"
or other anti-democratic action, impressive
functions. What those functions are will be de-
fined when the new student government wins
University approval and is set up. And when
that will be no one can know. But establishment
of the Judiciary Council, which will surely real-
ize that constructive and wise fction on its part
may open the way for additional delegation of
power to undergraduates, and the new functions
of the Union student staff both are moves in
the right direction. They are an omen which
may well presage revitalization of self-govern-
ment on this campus.
-Stan M. Swinton
Civil Rights At Home -
Attorney-General Murphy hit upon a truism
that is- all too often overlooked, in his address
before the Conference of Mayors and the Nation-
al Institute of Municipal Law Officers. Urging
the delegates to extend and foster the rights of
citizens in their home cities, he pointed out that
"the first battleground of civil liberties is the
local communities."
The guarantees provided in the Bill of Rights

Ry ELLIOTT MARANISS
To fair-minded men of intelligence, the test
of any project is in the work it produces. It didn't
take long, for example for Lewis Mumford to
discover that the "Federal Arts projects are the
salvation of the arts." Or for George Bernard
Shaw and Eugene O'Neill to offer their plays to
the government at extraordinarily low royalties
because they "believed in the work of the Federal
theatre." And to nearly every person who has
read one of the writers' project guides to America;
Robert Cantwell's enthusiastic proclamation that
these books will "revolutionize the writing of
American history and enormously influence the
direction and character of our immaginative
literature" does not seem to be an overstatement
of the fact.
Unfortunately, however, there are men in re-
sponsible positions in and out of the government
who are unresponsive to any claims of worth,
and are agitating for the termination of the
projects. It does no good to tell these men that
the arts projects have given American culture
its most vital impulse in the nation's history.
To some of the single-minded politicos in Wash-
ington it is useless to talk in terms of human
rehabilitation, of a cultural renaissance, of the
creation of a new relationship between artist
and audience. They have clutched at the fact
that the arts projects have cost $125,000,000
in the four years of their existence, and from
that basis they have dragged out every dema-
gogic cliche in their political hand-books-the
time-tested slogans about balancing the budget,
and the new bureaucracy, and the constitutional
rights of the states to let people starve.
But there is something far more profound be-
hind these attacks on the projects. Basically
they arise from an anti-intellectual, anti-creative
attitude on the part of the attackers. They are
frankly antagonistic to the development of great
cultural movements. It is not too far-fetched to
bring in the word fascist at this point: for the
attitude of some of the men in Washington
towards the arts projects is almost identically
similar to that of Herr Goebbels. They are both
fearful of sensitive, unfettered art production,
and they both have the same disdain for an art
that expresses the feelings of the people. Hatred
for civilization, for mind, for sensibility or feel-
ing that shows any degree of complexity or
exhibits any connection with the great humanis-
tic traditions-that is the truest mark of the
barbaric mentality.
There are men and women here, however, who
are keenly aware of the significance of the attack
on the projects, and have begun a spirited de-
fense of them. Early this week 210 members
of the Harvard faculty, 52 of them of professorial
rank, signed a "Petition of American Teachers
in Defense of the Federal Arts Projects." Among
the Harvard signers were some of the most able
men in the profession, including A. N. Hol-
combe, H. M. Jones, S. E. Morison, K. B. Mur-
dock, A. M. Schlesinger, J. M. Landis, C. Haring,
S. H. Cross, W. Y. Elliott, D. W. Prall, A. P.
Usher and W. J. Crozier. The statement contains
a clear and concise presentation of the attack
on the projects, as well as an account of their
place in our national life. It is reprinted here
in full because the writer feels that it should
be made available to every person in the Uni-
versity community: the universities of the coun-
try must be the most advanced outposts in fos-
tering and defending our national democratic
culture.
"It is now apparent," the statement reads,
"that opponents of the present relief policy of
the government propose to center their attack
on the Federal Arts Projects. Attempts have
already been made in the press and in Congres-
sional investigating committees to discredit these
projects on social and political grounds, and an
effort to liquidate them altogether is about t'
be made in the hearings before the Congressional
committee now investigating the WPA.
"The reason for these tactics is obvious. The
Federal arts projects are the clearest and most
characteristic expression of the policy of the
government to give relief to the unemployed by
giving work suitable to their experience and
training. They are also projects which employ
relatively few persons and which therefore can
be assumed to have relatively few friends. They
are, finally, projects devoted to art, which is
held not to be a necessity of life and which the

Americanypeople-or so the enemies of the pro-
jects believe-will not trouble to defend.
"The undersigned believe that these tactics
should be opposed by all who concern them-
selves with the defense of democracy in the
present crisis. The surest defense of democratic
institutions is the conviction of the citizens that
life in a democracy is preferable to life under
any other form pf government. That conviction
rests upon the belief that a democratic govern-
ment can assure its citizens a freedom of life,
of enterprise and of access to the arts of civiliza-
tion such as no other form of government can
or will assure them.
"The democratic government of the United
States will hardly demonstrate its superior abil-
ity to provide these advantages by adopting a
program of so-called economy, which begins by
curtailing or eliminating the government's one
attempt to protect its artists and to carry a
knowledge of the arts to the people."
* * *
The time has not yet come for a final evalua-
tion of the Federal Arts Projects: they still have
not completed the tasks they have set for them-
selves. They are still experimenting with new
tools, new methods. Some tentative judgments
can be made at this time, however. The most
important objectives have been attained: the
WPA has discovered an American auience and
that audience is being tutored; and the WPA
has endowed American artists with a sense of
belonging to their own country. These are by
no means minor accomplishments. To help hope-
less men and women find hope again, to serve
the nation with a Vital native art, and to en-
courage the impulses of audiences who wish to
learn and to participate in this movement-
that is an achievement to make the $125,000,000
so close to Congressmen's hearts appear to be the
soundest investment for the future we have ever
made. There is no dollar-and-cents audit that
will ever compute the value of the educational
work done by federal artists with the children
of the American slums: the whole story of the
federal arts projects will not be in until this
generation of youngsters grows up with the
memories of water-colors and drum rhythms
underneath the darker and more unhappy mem-
ories of its childhood.1,
Some other obvious implications can also be
drawn at this time. It is important to remember
that even in good times it was no new experience
for the professional artist to be close to starva-
tion. In the specialized, competitive organization
of our society, painters, and musicians must, in
most cases, be cither panderers or conformists
to get along. In performing an emergency work
that had to be done, the Federal arts projects
have uncovered an important cultural fact: if
for a long time art seems to have no significant
place in the nation's life it is quite likely to be
some narrowing influence in the form of its
civilization and not a failure of the artist that
is to blame. For given the barest of holds upon
economic security, American artists have re-
sponded splendidly with an outpouring of writ-
ing, music, painting and acting, showing fully
their capabilities, their great ability-and occa-
sional flashes of their genius.
One consideration remains. Artists, perhaps,
have no right to demand security before any
other group in society, nor should they expect
to be able to remain aloof from the main currents
of American life. In this respect the employees
of the federal arts projects have shown them-
selves to be keenly aware of their place in our
national democratic scheme. Federal actors,
writers, painters and historians, are, as Hallie
Flanagan says, "all actors in a larger drama,
pioneers on the frontier against disease, dirt,
poverty, illiteracy, unemplyoment and despair."
They are one with thousands of men building
roads and bridges and sewers; with doctors and
nurses giving clinical aid to a million destitute
men, women, and children; with workers carry-
ing traveling libraries into desolate areas; with
scientists studying mosquito control and re-
forestation and swamp-draining and soil drain-
age. In the final analysis, no theatre or literature
is worth more as an art-form than it is as a life-
form, and this has been the projects' greatest tri-
umph. For whatever one thinks of the work pro-
duced, there is no avoiding the fact that the
government arts projects have produced a greater
human response than anything that has been
done in this country for generations.

u eAA
MEMBERS OF SPHINX, those gay
junior marauders who tapped
Monday night, witnessed an amazing
sight in the Phi Delta house when
they sought out Tom Harmon. It
was after 1 a.m., and the Ace was
thought to be abed long ago. But
when the boys stormed into his room,
there he sat, poring soberly over a
textbook and apparently bewildered
by the nocturnal visitation which had
so rudely interrupted his pursuit of
learning. But no less bewildered
were the clansmen, who reluctantly
separated Harmon from his books
and trousers and subjected him to
"the works."
SPHINX wasn't operating at full
efficiency i their latest forage
for neophytes. Charley Hoyt had is-
sued specific orders thatdtrack men
were not to be maltreated, and there
were no objections because Char-
ley had just cause for complaint. Two
years ago, Bob Osgood sprained an
ankle or something during the Michi-
gamua initiation, and last year Elmer
Gedeon suffered an injured ankle in
the Sphinx shindig. The night be-"
fore, Elmer had clipped Elliot Ma-
raniss on the chin for recalcitrant
behavior, and believing in a fair ex-
change, Maraniss clipped Ged with
a heel, eliminating him from the Big
Ten-Pacific Coast meet.
B EAUTY- without-brains- item: Eli,
the Beta's English bull which
really won the 'Ensian beauty con-
test last month, but which was dis-
qualified when the editors of the
yearbook took the contest seriouslyG
and decreed Marcia Connell the win-
ner, won't concede the physical su-
periority of Rummy, the Chi Psi's
Great Dane. Since Eli joined the
Betas he has been involved in several
scrapes with his gargantuan neigh-
bor, and has always come off second
best. Yet, when the wounds heal, Eli
invariably provokes more trouble.1
Yesterday morning, he tangled with
Rum once again and emerged fromt
the battle with a lacerated shoulder
which required two stitches and two
large chunks taken out of his neck.
Rummy got his mouth torn on Eli's
jagged collar and can't drink for a
few days. But Rum never was much
of a drinker, anyhow. All of whichC
arouses again the age-old problem of
whether brains can ever be recon-
ciled with beauty, or will Eli and hisf
kind ever learn.
.,*. *
WE WITNESSED a flood of releasedr
inhibitions yesterday as a wild-
eyed student stood before the Senate
ballot box in Angell Hall lobby, whichr
was labeled, "What Do You Think of
Your Courses?" He kept scrawling
something hurriedly on little scraps1
of paper and pushing them into the
box, his face becoming more relieved4
as he went along. Curious, we edgedi
close enough to him to see the answer.1
He was writing, "They stink!" t
THE UNIVERSITY, long in doubtf
as to its exact status in the stu-c
dent scheme of things, must havet
emitted a voluminous sigh of relief1
yesterday when it read The Daily
headline, "University Approved By
Students In Poll." Now that the stu-
dent has snapped out of his apathy
long enough to vote on the matter,
the apprehensive University official-
dom may continue its administration
with renewed confidence. .

National Guard
A waits C risis
Situation Beconkes Ten'se
In Harlan County
HARLAN, Ky., May 17.-(AP)-
Every National Guardsman in Ken-
tucky has orders to be ready to move
into the Harlan coal fields, it was
announced tonight.
Brigadier General Ellerbe Carter,
placed in full command of the trouble
zone late in the day by Gov. A. B.
Chandler, at his press conference
said:
"Things have been pretty rough
today, rougher instead of quieter. I
want to tell you one thing, the situa-
tion will be handled if it takes all the
National Guard in Kentucky. The'
others have orders to stand by."
The Governor at the State Capitol
said during the day he saw ready, if
asked, to help bring about a settle-
ment of differences between the Unit-
ed Mine Workers and the operators.
At Washington Secretary of Labor
Perkins said a labor conciliator was
being sent to act as mediator. The
Governor also warned he would "make
a show of force" to "prevent trouble."
The Harlan County Coal Opera-
tors' Association-with a membership
of 42 mines in the county, employing
upwards of 12,000 men-is the last

(Continued from Page 2)
West Engineering Building, and addi-
tional prints may be had at $2.25
each.
Senior Engineering Picture
Commitee.
Academic Notices
Final Doctoral Examination of Miss
Hsi-yin Sheng will be held on Thurs-
day, May 18 at 2 p.m. in the West
Council Room, Rackham Bldg. Miss
Sheng's field of specialization is
Physics. The title of her thesis is
"High Resolution of Infrared Bands
of Ammonia and the Vibrational Ro-
tational Interaction in the Ammonia
Molecule."
Professor D. M. Dennison, 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 advanceddoctoral
candidates to attend the examination
and to grant permission to others
who might wish to be present.
Final Doctoral Examination of Loy-
al Frank Ollmann will be held on
Thursday, May 18 at 3 p.m. in theI
East Council Room, Rackham Bldg.
Mr. Ollmann's field of specialization
is Mathematics. The title of his
thesis is "On Joining Finite Subsets
of Planar Peano Spaces by Simple
Closed Curves."
Professor W. L. Ayres, 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 doctoralG
candidates to attend the examination
and to grant permission to others who
might wish to be present.
June Candidates for the Teacher'st
Certificate: The Comprehensive Ex-
amination in Education will be given
on Saturday, May 20, from 9 to 121
o'clock (and also from 2 to 5 o'clock)7
in the auditorium of the University1
High School. Students having Sat-
urday morning classes may take the1
examination in the afternoon. Print-
ed information regarding the exam-f
ination may be secured in the School
of Education office.
Directed Teaching, Qualifying Ex-I
amination: All students expecting toI
do directed teaching next semesteri
are required to pass a qualifying ex-I
amination in the subject which they
expect to teach. This examination
will be held on Saturday, May 20, at
1 o'clock. Students will meet in the
auditorium of the University Hight
School. The examination will con-
sume about four hours' time; prompt-
ness is therefore essential.
Zoology Seminar: Mr. James W.
Moffett will report on "A Limnologi-
cal Investigation of the Dynamics ofs
a Barren, Sandy, Wave-swept Shoalt
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" tonight at 7:30 p.m. in
the Amphitheatre of the Rackham
Building.
Final Examination, German 1, 2,
31, 32. June 7, 2-5 p.m.
German 1.-
25 Angell Hall. All sections.
German 2.-
1025 A.H. Schachtsiek, Sudermann,
Pott.
West Lecture Physics. Willey, Ry-
der, Diamond, Gaiss.
101 Economics. Philippson, Eaton.
B Haven Hall. Striedieck, Graf.
German 31.-
C Haven Hall. All sections.
German 32.-
301 University Hall. Scholl.
West Lecture Physics. Diamond.
201 U.H. Wahr.
C Haven Hall. Van Duren.

101 Economics. Eaton.
101 Economics. Philippson.
306 U.H. Reichart.
West Lecture Physics. Gaiss.
B Haven Hall. Graf.
Psychology Master's Comprehen-
sive Examination will be held Satur-
day May 27, at 2 p.m. in Room
-3126 N.S.
Exhibitions
Museum of Classical Archaeology:
A special exhibit of antiquities from
the Nile Valley, the Province of Fay-
oum, and the Delta of Egypt, from
early Dynastic times to the Late Cop-
tic and Arabic Periods.
Events Today
Ann Arbor Independents: Lantern
Night rehearsal, today, in the game
room of the League from 4 to 5.
1939 Dramatic Season. Matinee
today at 3:15 p.m. Philip Merivalel
in "No War In Troy!" Only three
more days to purchase season tickets.
Save money by buying for all five
plays. Mendelssohn Theatre Box Of-
fice open at 10 a.m.

for the coming U. of D. Meet will be
discussed. Refreshments will be
served.
The Observatory Journal Club will
meet at 4:15 this afternoon, May 18,
in the Observatory Lecture room. Mr.
Herbert R. J. Grosch will speak on
"The Orbit of Jupiter's Tenth Satel-
lite." Tea will be served at 4 p.m.
Athena: Meeting tonight at 7:30
in the Alpha-Nu room. Election of
ocicers.
Scandinavian Journal Club: Will
meet today in Room 302 Michigan
Union at 4 p.m.
"
Fraternity Presidents: The Execu-
tive Committee of the Interfrater-
nity Council will hold its final meet-
ing today. All house presidents are
asked to submit any business by 3
p.m. on that date. The meeting for
the election of officers will be held
tonight at 7:15 in the Council Of-
fice. All presidents are urged to .at-
tend.
The Men's Physical Education Club
will meet tonight at 9 p.m. in the
Michigan Union. New officers will
be elected and club delegates will re-
port on the recent Physical Educa-
tion convention.
The English Journal Club will
hold its final meeting of the semes-
ter tonight at eight o'clock in the
West Conference Room of the Rack-
ham Building. Professor Rice will
speak oh "The Inflience of Me-
chanical Inventions Upon the Future
of Research." All who are interested
are invited to attend.
Archery Club: There will be a meet-
ing of the Archery Club at 4:15 p.m.
today on Palmer Field. Members are
urged to turn in their score cards for
the Telegraphic 'Meet.
Zeta Phi Eta: All actives and
pledges are reminded of the regular
meeting tonight at 7:15 in the Portia
Room. It is important that every
member be present. Actives should
plan on a few minutes for initiation
practice, and pledges to make plans
for Sunday's reception. Please call
your president at 6755 if you cannot
attend.
Michigan Anti-War Committee will
hold an open meeting at 8 o'clock to-
night at Lane Hall. All interested in
peace are invited.
Coming Events
School of Education Luncheon at
the Michigan Union on Saturday, May
20, at 1 o'clock. There will be an all
School of Education luncheon for
Staff Members, Graduates and Un-
dergraduates. Following the luncheon
there will be an appropriate entef-
tainment. Tickets are now on sale
at the office of the School of Edu-
cation.
Swingout: Senior Swingout will
take place Sunday afternoon begin-
ning at 4 o'clock inafront of the 1-
brary steps. The committee and
senior class presidents will lead the
march. In case of rain, proceed di-
rectly to Hill Auditorium without
marching.
Chemical Engineers: The A.I.Ch..
banquet, terminating the year's ac-
tivities with the- installation of of-
ficers, will be held in the Union,
Wednesday, May 24, at 6:15 p.m. Mr.
McCarroll of the Ford Motor Co.
will be guest speaker. All chemical
and metallurgical engineers are in-
vited.
Notice of Union Elections: On Fri-
day, May 19, will be elected in con-
junction with the all-campus elec-
tions six vice-presidents of the Michi-
gan Union, one each for (a) the Col-
lege of Literature, Science, and the
Arts and the Graduate School, (b)
for the Colleges of Engineering and
Architecture, (c) for the Medical
School, (d) for the Law School, (e)

for the College of Dental Surgery,
and (f) for the remaining colleges
and schools, from the nominees as
filed with the Recording Secretary
by the Nominating Committee of the
Michigan Union.
Eastiern Engineering Trip- Banquet:
All members of the trip who have
not been notified of the banquet to
be held Friday, May 19; at 6 p.m. in
the Union, please get in touch with
Bill Tibbetts or Kenneth Mudie im-
mediately.
Attention, Finnish students: The
Suomi Club's annual spring picnic
is scheduled for Friday evening, May
19. The group will leave Lane Hall
at 7 p.m. In case of rain, the picnic
will be held in the Upper Room of
Lane Hall.
The Graduate Record Club mem-
bers have arranged the following rec-
ord concert for Saturday, May 20:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto Num-
ber Two; Mozart, Symphony Num-
ber Thirty-one; Tschaikowsky, Ro-
meo and Juliet Overture; Debussy,
Afternoon of a Faun; Wagner, Fire
Mune nmnip lnrui. nfh arcti

DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Publication in the Butletin is constructive notice to ali members of the University,
Copy received at the officeof the Assistant to the President until 3:34 P.M,;
11:00 A.M. on Saturday.

j'

ItSems To -e
By HEYWOOD BROUN

I am beginning to wonder whether the two
masked men who kidnapped George Palmer Put-
nam may not have been a couple of Martians
stranded after the late raid led by Orson Welles.

1
'

Mr. Putnam has said defin-
itely that he was not a party
to any hoax. Having known
him for years, I am quite
ready to accept that. But, of
course, it is still possible that
he was hoaxed against, al-
though not personally hoax-
ing.
The west coast is great
growing country for practi-

author of that book, which I've forgotten, several
days before the abduction occurred.
Of course, a rational explanation may be
offered. It could be said that a sincere Nazi would
rather run the risk of apprehension for a crime
than be caught reading the column of Mr. Wir-
chell.
At any rate, I am strongly of the opinion that
George Palmer Putnam was fooled against his
will and that many American newspapers over-
played a story which may not be wholly authentic
in spite of the undoubted sincerity of the man
who supplied the details to his rescuers.
And I think that such readiness to accept in-
cidents which are something less than com-
pletely nailed down is peculiarly dangerous in a
jittery world. It isn't even good journalism in*
piping times of peace.
There used to be a word which was considered
a kind of magic formula upon all copy desks. If
anything less than a complete set of well-proved
facts was in hand you merely found a convenient

cal jokers. Newspaper editors, I believe, should
be suspicious about news from any community
which includes four Marx Brothers and one Ben
Hecht.
Frankly, I believe that George Palmer Putnam
was taken in as well as kidnaped. He is the
publisher of a book, the name of which escapes