T HE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 1939 U THE MICHIGAN DAILY Ostriches And Professors The Unusocial Social Sciences -.1 F- t 31' ->==, ,7 a air+ataac . e e... , 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 Sumni Session. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this newspaper. All rights of republication of all other matters herein also reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second class mail matter. Subscriptions during regular school year by carrier. $4.00, by mail, $4.50, REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL. ADVERTISiNG SY National Advertising Service, Inc. College Publishers Representative 420 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK, N. Y. CHICAGO . BOSTON ' LOS ANGELES - SAN FRANCISCO Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1938-39 Editorial Staff Managing Editor . . City Editor . . . Editorial Director . . Associate Editor , . Associate Editor . Associate Editor . Associate Editor . . Associate Editor . Sports Editor. . Women's Editor . . . . Business Staff Business Manager . . . Credits Manager . . Women's Business Manager Women's Advertising Manager. Publication 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 Zenovia Skoratko Jane Mowers Harriet Levy NIGHT )EDITOR: WILLIAM ELMER The editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of the Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. Honor System In The Engineering College .. N 1916 there was inaugurated in the College of Engineering an Honor System based on the following principles: 1. It is neither honest nor fair to his fellow students for a student to receive aid in a written quiz or examination. 2. The prevention of dishonesty in examina- tions should be in the hands of the students rather than of the faculty. 3. It is the duty of allstudents to uphold these principles in word and act. Dean Mortimer E. Cooley said at the time of the establishment of the system, "Perhaps the greatest good of the Honor System is in the in- creased self-respect felt by the student . . . I am wholeheartedly in favor of the Honor System when left completely in the hands of the stu- dents themselves.; Since 1916 the engineering college Honor Sys- tem has been in continuous operation "in the hands of the students themselves." Whether this system is to continue functioning as it has func- tioned the past 23 years or whether it is to break down, is in the hands of the students. Each examination is a test if college students can accept maturely the responsibility of taking their examinations without faculty surveillance. There have been evidences of late that such is not the case. Thus, strict adherence to the code of the Honor System is made even more necessary in the present examination period if the system is to continue as the educational ideal it has been the past two decades. -Carl Petersen The Flying Club Reexamined .. . A N EDITORIAL in Friday's Daily identified the University Flying Club as a group comparable to the German amateur flying organizations established to train war fliers in the absence of an air corps, forbidden by the Versailles Treaty. The further implication was made that the program now being sponsored by the Civil Aero- nautics Authority was established with the view of training a potential air corps personnel. In principle, however, this is no more logical than accusing parents of training a potential infantry corps in teaching their children to walk. Actually a great deal more training is necessary to make a combat flier out of a competent private pilot than is needed to train an infantryman. It was pointed out that in intercollegiate flying competitions, the events include "bomb drop- ping," spot landings and paper cutting. Bomb dropping is admittedly a military manoeuver, and it may be held that in this, at least, the Fly- ing Club is a flying corps training group. The other two flying meet events are decried because they are tests of manoeuvering skill. How militaristic it is to train a pilot to be skillful and, to understand his plane! Spot landings, as con- ducted in competition, merely requires the pilot to shut off his engine at a high altitude and then land after making a full circle or a half circle without any power. Paper cutting is an aid in learning to control and understand a plane: it requires the same skill and judgment-in a lesser degree-that By S. R. KLEIMAN IN a short while 1100 graduating seniors will descend upon Ferry Field in well ordered lines of black. There they will receive a white scroll, hear a much-repeated mumbo-jumbo, feel per- haps a pat on the back, and as they turn to de- part, the University, like Pilate, will carefully scrub its hands. Physically these seniors may be slightly calloused from sitting on wooden benches for many wooden hours in an unorganized variety of classes; but mentally they will have obtained no preparation here for -the kick in the pants they are soon to receive. They are better pre- pared than the slap-happy graduates of the Twenties, who hiccoughed their way through school and life only to be fed disaster meat in 1929: the class of 1939 has had ten sobering years; it has accustomed itself to living close to the hangover of a moribund society. It has seen many palliatives injected to stimulate prosperity, to recreate hope, to restore a minimum of secur- ity to a trembling ae. And it has seen the medi- cine men fail. The graduates of 1939 have ob- served their elders "huddling together, nervously loquacious, at the edge of an abyss." They are bulging, like pellagrous children, with the grim realities that have been stuffed into their un- willing stomachs. Some of them, by osmosis, have absorbed an understanding of these realities: they see the pattern of American life and the blurred signposts leading to change. But the University has done little to help them; it has even built barricades in the path of knowledge. That is why those who have achieved under- standing are few; the majority emerge "feeling something wrong," but seeing only disorder, con- fusion, chaos. In recent years the hullaballoo about mass collegiate education has grown deafening. There is great anxiety about the color of the canvas canopy that covers the educational machine, and there is interminable fuss about the relative im- portance of minor nuts and bolts in the machine itself. We pull hair about the lecture system, compulsory class attendance and the grading system; we rant with endless enthusiasm about comprehensive examinations, honor courses and the tutorial method. Seldom do we yank our fingers out of the grease and our heads out of the assembly line to take a peek at the laborers who run the machine and ask the very simple question: do they know what they are trying to do? Unthinking Products What is the function of the liberal arts col- lege in a democracy? To turn out thinking in- dividuals: it is as simple and direct as that. But what are these individuals to think about? The problems that face present day society. The answers to this catechism are easy enough, but the problems are intricate. They are problems in economics, in politics, psychology, philosophy, art-they run the gamut of human activities and human experience. They are problems whose solution demands every iota of knowledge human- ity can command, and more. But both the teach- ing of present knowledge and the further sifting of the unknown are handicapped by fear, in- direction, meaningless "objectivity," atomistic methods, and an emphasis upon empirical re- search that enshrines nowledge for its own sake, neglecting its only value: helping man to under- stand the present and the past so that he may strive to make the world in the future a better place in which to live. It has become a matter of mockery in certain circles to drawl in a voice of sottish content, mingled with over-obvious sarcasm, "What are ya tryin' to do, Bud, change the world?" From the ranks of teachers and scholars and college students alike there should arise in answer an heroic reaffirmation of the,, function of human knowledge: a deafening, "Yes" should smother such obscene questioners. But we all know that the questioners loll among us on the campus. Robert S. Lynd of Columbia, recent Phi Beta Kappa lecturer at this University, and the co- author of Middletown and of Middletown in Transition, has produced a book* that explains why the universities of this country do not turn out thinking students. It is a damning indictment of the social irresponsibility of social scientists, and it carries profound implications not only for scholars in economics, history, political sci- ence, sociology and anthropology, but for teach- ers in all these fields and scholars and teachers in the fields of psychology, English literature and philosophy as well. It is required reading for college professors. Britton's Adolescence However, if the reaction of history Professor Crane Britton of Harvard is at all representative, it may be necessary for students to take the offensive in forcing a change of their teachers' attitudes. Mr. Britton was provoked by Profes- sor Lynd's provoking book to writing an im- petuous, adolescent reply in a "review" in the Saturday Review of Literature. It would be too kind to Mr. Britton to say that he was "hit so hard where it hurts" that he swung back wildly, not bothering to count to ten. His petulant man- ner suggests that he raced home bitterly from the Harvard Club to write the "review" after some Harvard sociologist innocently spilled a drop of soup upon his tailcoat (which he un- doubtedly wears to class). Two paragraphs of Mr. Britton's two and one-half page abortion deal with Professor Lynd's book: they hand down an unintelligible criticism of the chapter on "Values and the Social Sciences." The re- mainder of the space is devoted to a iicious, personal attack, obviously concealed behind the guise of a mocking analysis of sociology and all sociologists. Perhaps the gentlest comment that could be made upon Mr. Britton's piece is that he did not read the book, but merely skimmed through the last two chapters under the influence scholar attacked the subject in so thorough a manner. Thinking men, on reading this volume, will feel again and again, "I've thought this, and I could have written it"-so obviously true are the implications of this book. But, no one before has written so complete and unified an analysis -an analysis that had to be made. lecture at Harvard in 1837, many scholars in America have attacked the "ivory tower," though none has succeeded in sowing the seeds of its destruction. Yet, never before has a man who is profession. Since Emerson's Phi Beta Kappa orthodox and widely respected social scientist has finally arisen to expose the failure of his The subject of Professor Lynd's book is not new. What is startling and refreshing is that an Professor Lynd points out that the dominant characteristic of American life has been its happy-go-lucky casuality, its unconcern with human purpose and direction, its optimistic con- fidence in the ability of all things, no matter how haphazardly planned and executed, to work for good. It is easy to see how this faith developed. The Industrial Revolution imparted a material base to the doctrine of human progress expound- ed by the philosophers of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. As the machine stretched its fingers into the most remote corners of the earth, it carried with it the promise of plenty, of the "abundant life," of unlimited opportunity for human freedom and the betterment of man- kind, individually and collectively. Paternalistic governments were demolished one after the other as the new and powerful middle class struck for commercial freedom and brought with it a, vision of individual liberty hitherto inconceiv- able. When small competing units of production were merged into industrial empires, the machi- nations of the Robber Barons and the corrupt Politicos produced abuses that threatened to wipe out the gains that had been made. It. be- came necessary, in the interest of the common. welfare, to place restrictions upon private enter- prise. But underneath these superficial changes, there remained a widespread belief in the "sur- vival of the fittest" (read, wealthiest), in the emergence through a modified "jungle struggle" of the finest human values, in the automatic creation of an American Utopia. Yet, thinking men everywhere today realize that they cannot go on relying on the "automaticity of 'whatso- ever things are good and true' to bring them to the Promised Land." It is becoming increasingly clear that this nation can no longer "run on the doctrine of 'Each for himself and God for all of us,' as the elephant remarked as he danced among the chickens"-for "the elephants are getting bigger and bigger." Social Structure Lags Change in American life has come about so rapidly through scientific discovery and tech- nological advance that the social institutions upon which individuals depend for the fulfill- ment of their needs have lagged behind disas- trously. "The process of change ruled by private enterprise, unchecked by any clear philosophy of control in the public interest, . . . has been a helter-skelter affair. The accumulated momen- tum of change in certain areas is such that we now have no option but to recognize the need for extensive accompanying change in the many areas of life upon which changes already accept- ed impinge." Yet, although "we exhibit marked hospitality to certain types to change-for in- stance in our technologies . . . the strain of adjustment to these large and rapid changes makes us conservatively resistant to undergoing the tension of change at other points; and we also complicate the situation by leaving inter- ested private power-blocs free to obstruct needed change at many points." As long as the frontier existed, as long as a man was free to leave the park bench and stalre, out a farm or a gold mine, as long as our economy was expanding with irresistable energy, these dislocations, though cumulative, were submerged beneath the careless free-for-all that character- ized the "rape of a continent." But the frontier is gone. Our economy is contracting while the dis- abilities pile up. Berle and Means have pointed to the disappearance of middle class entrepre- neurs as capital is consolidated into larger and larger corporations-corporations so extensively characterized by interlocking directorates that Ferdinand Lundberg has been able to locate the bulk of American wealth in the hands of 60 American families. There is no time for urbanity, or for catchwords about "business confidence,' or for patchwork reform that proceeds by indirec- tion and suceeds sufficiently to alter."depression" to "recession." Let us leave the dictionary alone. Tossing about meaningless symbols and revising the meaning of words are idiotic occupations when growing mass hysteria under the necessity of "doing something" has made civilized peoples follow demagogues to the degredation of fascism. It is "too bad" and "very sad," but nevertheless a cruel fact that the "unseen hand of progress" has absented itself from the scene. Cross-Roads In Economy Even conservative economists and Walter Lippmann have recognized that we have reached a crossroads: we must either accept the inherent collective nature of our economy and rationalize the distribution of goods through democratic control, with whatever changes in our productive machinery may be found necessary; or we must accept the revolutionary alternative (advocated by conservative thinkers) of smashing our large corporations and forcing competition between' small units by minute government regulation and continual "police" supervision. In effect the question is this: shall we remodel our society £d fit the present state of industrial developmer or shall we give up the benefits of large scale production so that our present concepts of "nronerty" and "freednm tn moee nrivfat crain" The Editor Gets Told .. . See You In The Trenches To the Editor: I am beginning to think it fortunatei that the $4.50 price prevents more people from buying the 'Ensian. Thec pictures are nice, the art work O.K.,. the organization is recognizable andE even if the copy could have been more accurately and colorfully written byi the Daily women's staff, that in it- self wouldn't be so bad. However, in the last section of the book (for those who haven't read that far, don't bother) there is a series of sketches, in the whimsical and hum- orous style of a junior high schoolI annual, of various B.M.O.C.'s. Among them is one of Mr. Robert Mitchell and another of Mr. Albert Mayio. In1 these two pieces of substandardI eighth-grade writing it is made to ap-4 pear that The Daily controversy ofi the past year was a battle between rival political factions in which Mr. Mitchell played the part of a sort of St. George guarding the virgin Daily from the assaults of would-be ravish- ers; while Mr. Mayio, according to the 'Ensian's analysis of the situation,, was just seeing things under the bed in his fear of censorship. Without going into the personalities and details involved, I should like to state that the 'Ensian's conception of The Daily situation is simply a mis- representation of fact. Thank God the campus was a few steps ahead of the 'Ensian's editors in its thinking when the elections to the Board in Control were held. One additional point: in the sketch of Mr. Mayio it is rather clumsily suggested that there is something funny about Albert's position as chair- man of the All-Campus Peace Com- mittee. Well, possibly the job was a bit trifling in comparison with so significant and exacting a position as that of an 'Ensian editor. Sort of silly to try to do anything about war, isn't it? See you in the trenches. -Joseph Gies Women's Rights Was Big Problem Back In The '60s By EMILE GELE University men had a rather hard life back in the Civil War days, ac- cording to the earliest known student publications which are filed in the Michigan Historical Collections in the Rackham Building. Strangely enough, no mention is made of the Civil War or the aboli- tion movement, but the boys had their more immediate problems. Wo- men were becoming so audacious as to demand educational rights, fresh- men were unmercifully tortured, and the Legislature wasn't being "very cooperative." Readers noticed the woman's insur- rection raising its wicked head in the April 11, 1867 edition of the Chronicle. In the report of the Meeting of Regents was the signifi- cant statement, "Petition to admit females laid over until June 25." But the petticoats must have been very active, for in the same edition a fierce editorial declares, "Right-minded men admit that since the gunpow- der plot no more mischievious plan has ever set foot than that modernly christened 'women's rights'." headed" business-man and the "real- istic" politician. It is a problem for social science primarily. In fact, it might be said that it is the only prob- lem of social science. If social scien- tists are to justify their existence. Lynd insists, they must accept the responsibility of investigating every "danger spot" in American culture, every instance where "our current culture is found to cramp or distort the quest of considerable numbers of persons for satisfaction of basic cravings of human personality." Some social scientists have seen this as their task and have seized upon it. Most have not, Lynd sees a number of reasons for his failure. There is, for example, the atomistic attitude of many social scientists who stick close- ly to a minute subdivision of a falsely separated discipline and study the theoretical behaviour -under incom- plete conditions of a non-existent ''economic" or ''political'' or ''social'' man. Complete individuals must be studied, Lynd believes, and they must not be studied in isolation, or in rela- I ion simply to a single institution; they must be studied as functioning cogs in a complete culture. Beard pointed the way when he revealed how meaningless it was to study the Constitution purely as a political document; and after many years some investigators have followed his leadl in other fields-but not many. In addition, the recent growth of em- pirical research, prodded by the de- velopment of the statistical method, has encouraged social scientists in all fields to cut off more and more minute sections of the past for detailed an- alysis; but while the new tool is an excellent one, the results of its use hano sgn ificnne unnless the new (Continued from Page 3) be interfered with by outside sounds, and the audience is therefore re- quested to avoid conversation and moving about. Automobile owners are asked kindly to keep their ma- chines away from the vicinity of Ferry Field during the exercises. Tickets may be secured at the Busi- nessmOffice, University of Michigan, Room 1, University Hall, until 6 p., Saturday, June 17. All friends of the University are welcome to tickets. There will be no admission without tickets. In case of rain, the exercises will be transferred to Yost Field House, to which the special Yost Field House tickets only will admit. These tick- ets are also available at the Business Office, Room 1, University Hall, and will be issued 2 to each graduate. The Ferry Field ticket will not admit to Yost Field House. If it becomes necessary to transfer the exercises from Ferry Field, out- doors, to the Field House, indoors, after the exercises have started, per-') sons will be admitted to the Field House without tickets until the seat- ing capacity is exhausted. If it is decided, in advance of start- ing the procession, to hold the exvr- cises in Yost Field House, the power house whistle will be blown at inter- vals between 5 and 5:15 p.m. on Com- mencement afternoon. H. G. Watkins, Assistant Secy. Commencement Week Programs: Programs may be obtained on re- quest at the Business Office, Room 1, University Hall. Herbert G. Watkins Commencement Tickets: Tickets for Commencement may be obtained on request after June 2 at the Busi- ness office, Room 1, University Hall. Inasmuch as only two Yost Field House tickets are available for each senior, please present identification card when applying for tickets. Herbert G. Watkins. To All Members of the Faculty and Administrative Staff: If it seems cer- tain that any telephones will not be used during the summer months, please notify the Business Office, Mr. Bergman. A saving can be effected if instrumentsaare disconnected for a period of a minimum of three months. Herbert G. Watkins Academic Notices The University Bureau of Appoint- ments and Occupational Information has received notice of the following Civil Service examination to be given by the Municipal Civil Service Com- mission of Buffalo. Last date for fil- ing application will be June 20, 1939, at 12 noon. Assistant Examiner, Municipal Civil Servcie Commission. Salary: $2250. Buffalo residence not required. Complete announcement on file at the University Bureau of Appoint- ments and Occupational Information. Office hours: 9-12 and 2-4. 201 Ma- son Hall. To All Students Having Library Books: 1. Students having in their posses- sion books drawn from the Univer- sity are notified that such books are due Monday, June 5. 2. The names of all students who have not cleared their records at the Library by Tuesday, June 6, will be sent to the Recorder's Office, where their semester's credits will be held up until such time as said records are cleared, in compliance with the regu- lations of the Regents. Wm. W. Bishop, Librarian. Seniors: Official Senior Class Commencement Booklets and Fold Announcements are now on sale at Burr, Patterson and Aud Co., 603 Church Street. Summer Employment: John C. Winston Company are looking for young men and women who want summer employment. If interested, please leave name and address at University Bureau of Appointments and Occupational Information, 201 Mason Hall, Office Hours: 9-12 and 2-4. Recreational Swimming for Women on Tuesday, and Thursday evenings at the Union pool has been discon- tinued, since the pool will not be open during the examination period. The Student Book Exchange will be open to receive used textbooks from all schools on June 7, in the North Lounge of the Union. Students can set their own prices on the books which will be re-sold at the Book Exchange next fall. Astronomy 32, Section III, Curtis. The final examination will be held in Room 35 Angell Hall, 9-12 a.m. Mon- day. June 12. 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. Cassidy 1020 A.H. Chang 201 U.H. Dean 205 M.H. Eisinger 205 M.H. Ford 1209 A.H. Green 229 A.H. Greenhut 35 A.H. Haines 302 M.H. Hart 18 A.H. Helm 16 A.H. Helmers 35 A.H. Knode W.Phys.Lect. Martin 203 U.H. McCormick 103 R.L. Ogden '209 A.H. O'Neill 9W. Phys. Robertson .".Phys.Lect. Schroder W.Phys.Lect. Walker 2054 N.S. Weimer 202 W.Phys. Weisinger W.Phys.Lect. Wells 3231 A.H. Williams 1018 A.H. English 1: Arthos 215 A.H. Hathaway E H.H Final Examination in Education FI, General Hygiene will be given on Friday, June 9, 2 to 5 p.m. in Room 23 Waterman Gym. Fine Arts 192: Final Examination will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, Room 1121 Natural Science Building. Sociology 51, Final Examination will be given Tuesday, June 6, 2-5 p.m. Students will be divided alphabeti- cally, A through K meeting in 1025 Angell Hall; K through Z in Room C, Haven Hall. Zoology 32 (Heredity): I will be in my office Monday, June 5, 2-4 p.m., not on the date previously announced. A. F. Shull. The Automobile Regulation will be lifted for all students in the School of Business Administration at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 10. Office of the Dean of Students. Exhibitions Michigan Federal Art Projects In Rackham Building Exhibit Rooms on mezzanine floor. Hours: 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. daily. Saturdays 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Tenth Annual Exhibition of Sculp- ture, in the concourse of the Michi- gan League Building. Museum of Classical Archaeology: A special exhibit of antiquities from he Nile Valley, the Province of Fay- oum, and the Delta of Egypt, from early Dynastic times to the Late Cop- ic and Arabic Periods. Coming Events Graduating Classes: President and Mrs. Ruthven will be at home on Wednesday, June 7, from 4 to 6 o'clock, to all students receiving de- grees in June. This includes gradu- ate as well as undergraduate stu- dents. Faculty, School of Education: The final luncheon meeting of the year will be held Monday noon, June 5, 12:15, at the Michigan Union. Churches First Baptist Church, Sunday, June 4, 10:45 a.m. Dr. John Mason Wells will speak on the subject, "Sons of God." The Church School meets at 9:30 a.m. Roger Williams Guild, Sunday eve- ning, June 4. Mr. and Mrs. Chap- man will be at home from 5 to 7 p.m. in the evening to welcome students who may care to drop in. Refresh- ments will be served. First Presbyterian Church, 1432 Washtenaw Avenue. 10:45 a.m., Morning Worship Serv- ice. "God and The Unexpected" is the subject upon which Dr. W. P. Lemon will preach. Palmer Christian at the organ and directing the choir. 7:30 p.m. Vesper Communion Serv- ice is the main auditorium. The Ses- sion will convene at 7 o'clock for the leception of New Members. Disciples Guild (Church of Christ). 10:45 a.m., Morning worship serv- ice. Rev. Fred Cowin, minister. 6:30 p.m., Open House at the Guild House, 438 Maynard St. Disciple stu- dents and their friends are invited. Unitarian Church, Annual outing at Saline Valley Farms. Cars leave church at 10 o'clock. Service on lake-shore. Topic, "People are Per- sons." Games and entertainment to follow. First Methodist Church. Morning Worship at 10:40 a.m. Dr. C. W. Bra- shares will preach on "Learning How To Pray." Bible Class, in which stu- dents are welcome, at 8 p.m. at the Church, taught by Dr. Brashares, 41