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OF

Sitr igan

ttl

Editorial
National Defense
And South America

VOL. XLIX. No. 7 Z-323 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, THURSDAY, JAN. 5, 1939

PRICE FIVE CENTS

New Premier
Builds Cabinet'
For Japan On
Fasc stie Lines
Movement Behind Scenes
Forces Prince Konoye's
Removal For Hiranuma
Strong Army Group
Stands Behind Shift
TOKYO, Jan. 5 -(')-(Thursday)- -
Baron Kilchiro Hiranuma, fascist-in-
clined president of the Privy Council(
and premier-designate succeeding the
compartively liberal Prince FuimaroI
Konoye, today completed his cabinett
with three new ministers.
Ishi Watari, minister of finance;r
Chuji Machida, minister of agricul-
ture, and Yonezo Maeda, minister ofr
railways, were the only new members
of the government in the list pre-
pared by the 73-year-old Japanesea
Nationalist whose powerful, behind-
the-scenes backers yesterday thrust(
aside the retiring premier for a more
authoritarian form of governmentI
Premier A Nationalist t
Hiranuma, 73, is one of Japan'st
outstanding Nationalists. Prince Fum-r
imaro Konoye, retiring Premier, wasl
thrust aside by a powerful movement,t
mostly behind the scenes, for anI
even more authoritaria government.t
This movement represented ele-
ments within the army, inside andr
outside the government of the com-I
paratively liberal Konoye and withinI
ultra-patriotic groups.
Among its demands were more rigidt
control of economic life, new policies'
to consolidate conquests in China and
the fusion of all political parties into?
a single nationalist group.
Gets Konoye Support
Konoye, whose 19-month tenure
started a month before tie outbreak
of the undeclared war with China,
said in resigning that it was "urgent-
ly necessary to enhance the confi-
dence of the nation by formulating
new policies under a new cabinet."
The time had come, he added,
"when the government must concen-
trate its efforts on construction of a
new order to)aintain lasting peace
in East Asia."*
Because feeling in some quarters
was intense, fear was expressed for"
the personal safety of some retiingt
ministers, especially Seihin Ikeda,
elderly finance minister. He had
angered extremists by blocking army
demands for Government control ofE
corporation capital, dividends and in-
vestments.l
WPA To Adopt
Merit System!
New Order Will Apply
To 35,000_Employes
WASHINGTON, Jan 4-(RP) Aid
a storm of charges of politics in re-
lief, Administration officials an-E
nounced today that 35,000 adminis-
trative enployes of WPA would be.
placed under civil service Feb. 1.-
Col V. C. Harrington, new Relief
Administrator, said the move would
involve all administrative personnel,
in Washington and the field, with the
exception of a "small number of
policy-making positions"
He said the step was mandatory
under a Presidential order approved"
last June 24, and that he heartily1
endorsed it. It was announced that

non-competitive examinations were
being given the employes.
Senator Byrnes (Dem), chairman'
of a special Senate Committee on
Relief, said that civil service provi-
sions prohibiting political activity by
federal employes would apply by
WPA employes as soon as they were
installed under civil service.
'Sinister Six' Sponsors
Beauty Queen Election
"The Sinister Six," sponsors of the
second annual University Ice Carni-
val to be held Friday, Jan. 13, will be-
gin the distribution of ballots for the
election of a "beauty queen" to rep-
resent the carnival today, The bal-
lots will be given out by ticket sales-.
men on the campus.
The Carnival, which will be held
in the Coliseum, will feature a pre-
sentation of a figure skating exhibi-
tion by the Olympic Skating Club of
Detroit. There will be a number of
n-h ,fa...rc ininai r rnpnt

Factors Causing Agrarian
ProblemsToday Analyzed
Writer Asserts Modern Industrial City Is Indebted
To Rural Communities, Despite Influence It Wields
Politically And Economically Over Nation

(Editor's Noe: This is the first in a
series of articles in which the writer
w-ill investigaite the history and the
nature of the present problems co-
frcnting American agriculture, and the
various proposals for their solution.)
By ELLIOTT MARANISS
The dominant factor in American
social history during the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries is generally
recognized as being the growth of
large cities.
The process of urbanization, an in-
evitable outgrowth of expanding in-
dustry and commerce, is undoubted-
ly dominant in our civilization, and
the problems attendant to this
growth have naturally attracted the
major part of our attention. But if
industrial urbanization is the domi-
nant factor in our society, it owes
its position to, and exercises its econ-
omic, political and cultural domin-
ance over a non-urban, agricultural
group that comprises 25 per cent of
our population.
This outline of the economic and
political background of the agricul-
tural problems confronting the na-
tion will necessarily only cover the
more important ones. It is useless, as
Secretary Wallace has said, to set
the problem against an imaginary
background of conditions as they used
to be and will probably never be
again, but it is essential that the
real past conditions and forces that
have shaped our present agrarian
problem be understood.
To arrive at this understanding of
the extent and character of the cur-

rent maladjustment, and to let the
reader himself draw from it a basis
for judgment of the various programs
offered for agricultural re-adjust-
ment, is the task we have set before
us in this series.
Before proceeding to the specific
economic and political aspects of the
problem, it is pertinent at this point
to make one observation, a matter
for sociologists and other surveyors
of our culture. Out of .the depression
and its concomitants has come a new
back-to-the-land movement, a new
regionalism centering about agrarian
communities in the Middle-West, the
South-west and the far North-west. It
is, ofcourse, mainly an economic con-
dition, but it is of great importance
to our national life. Grant Wood sees
in it the basis of a really indigenous
culture and art; Richard Neuberger
feels that the regionalism of the
North-west embodies all the attri-
butes of the old frontier, with im-
portant bearings on our future eco-
nomic and political development. It is
certainly a trend in contemporary
American life, the implications of
whichmust be further studied. Its
relation to our particular problem is
apparent.
By the end of tie Civil War the
American farmers had lost, irrevoc-
ably, their central position in the
nation's :political life. The political
control they had possessed in the
Jacksonian era ended with Appoma-
tox, and in the ensuing years they
were forced to fight strenuously for
(Continued on Page 2)1


Spanish Rebels
Claim Captuire
f Key Town
Government Denies Fall
Of Artesa; 40 Perish
In Tarragona Air Raid
HIENDAYE, France-(At the Span-
ish Frontier)--Jan. 4 -(A)- TheI
Spanish Insurgent command tonights
officially announced the capture of
Artesa, "Gateway to Catalonia" 651
miles northwest of Barcelona.,
Fall of the oity was claimed by In-
surgent dispatches from Burgos, In-
surgent military headquarters, 24
hours before, but was flatly contra-
dicted today by thte Government
comm and.
Insurgents did not reiterate the
claim until tonight, when the offi-
cial communique asserted the textile1
town fell before attacks of two In-
surgent columns which crossed the
Segre River on pontoons and waded'
through fields flooded by diversion
of water from the Urgel Canal.
BARCELONA, Jan. 4-(M-At least{
40 persons were killed and 30 wound-
ed in Tarragona today when Insur-
gent planes rained heavy bombs on
two passenger trains loaded with
refugees from the fr6nt line areas.
While rescuers worked at the
wrecked train and dug at debris in
the city's port area as well as 25 more
Insurgent planes circled over the
city, 60 miles southeast of Barcelona,
for several hours, dropping bomb
after bomb.
It was one of the war's worst at-
tacks on a behind-the-lines city, and
the extent of casualties still was not
fully known.

Famed Pianist
To Play Here
Next Tuesday'
Virtuoso Josef Hofmann,
To Give Recital in Fifth
Of Choral Union Series
Josef Hofmann, who last year cele-
brated the 50th anniversary of his
debut in this country as a concert pi-
anist, will give a recital here Tues-
day, Jan. 10, in the fifth Choral
Union presentation of the year.
Born in Cracow, Poland, 60 years
ago of a mother who was an operatic
soprano and a father who was a con-'
ductor, pianist and composer, Hof-
mann began playing the piano at
three, making his professional debut
in Warsaw at five.' Shortly there-
after, he toured Europe and was in-
troduced to American audiences in
1887, at the age of 10. New York
concert-goers were amazed a n d
thrilled at the slight Polish youth's
rendition of the Beethoven Piano
Concert No. 1, and, steadily, since
that time, his 'fame' has grown and
'he now is accepted as one of the fin-
est piano virtuosos of the day.
Present Ensian Price
To Increase Saturday
Only two days remain during which
to take advantage of the prevailing
Michiganensian price of $4 according
to Charles L. Kettler, '39E, business
manager of the yearbook.
Students planning to subscribe to
the book at the present price are
urged to contact the 'Ensian salesmen
on campus or at the 'Ensian office
in the Student Publications Building
today or tomorrow,

Damage High
In Fraternity
House Blaze
Early Morning Fire Razes
Phi Kappa Tau; Losses
Estimated At $26,000
Spread Of flames
Perils Occupants
Twenty-six thousand dollars in
damages were left in the wake of
early morning flames which raked
the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity at 1023
Oakland Ave. yesterday. The estimate
of the loss was advanced by the
fraternity treasurer, Richard Jay,
'39E.
The blaze, of undetermined origin,
was discovered by Robert Jackson,
'41E, when he was awakened at 4:10c
a.m. to find his room filled with
smoke. The third floor hallway at the
north end of the house was a mass
of flame as the fourteen men in
the house at the time of the fire1
escaped down fire-escapes and back
stairs. The building was a wooden
frame house which burned rapidly.
The exterior of the house is not un-
duly scarred, but the inside was al-
most completely gutted by flame andt
the water employed to check the
conflagration. Outside rooms on the
second floor were the only ones from
which occupants were able to rescue£
a few personal belongings.
Most private possessions werel
abandoned as the fraternity members
fled the building clad only in pajamas,
few having overcoats and shoes. They
took refuge in adjoining sororityt
and league houses as the fire depart-E
ment, summoned hastily to the scene1
fought the blaze until shortly after
7 a.m. when it was brought underc
control. Surrounding sororities were
untouched by the fiercely' burning
fire due to the segregated location
of the house and the lack of wind to1
carry sparks.
Mrs. Helen Gukor of 849 Tappant
St. reported that the house went up
so rapidly that it was miracWous
the occupants on th 4hird floor dorm-j
itory were able to escape.
Fortunately the flames missed a
particular room on the southeast sideI
of the building, directly under the]
dormitory. The men in -that room,
Frank Carstens, '39E, and Jay, make
a hobby of collecting shells and rifles.7
Had the explosion of this miniature
arsenal occurred, serious loss of life
might have resulted
Seats Contested
In Legorislature
Opening Day Of Session
Faces Usual Uproar
LANSING. Jan. 4-(API--The 60th
Michigan Legislature convened6to-
day, precipitating a fight over the
seating of 13 members elected to the
House of Representatives. Cloakroom
rumor said two Senators also would
face a contest for their seats.
The lawmakers, with Republicans
firmly in the saddle, devoted most of
the opening hours to routine formali-
ties. Governor Fitzgerald will deliver
personally to a joint session of the
two chambers tomorrow afternoon his
message outlining the Administra-
tion's legislative program.
Victor H. Meier, acuing as a "Detroit
taxpayer," filed with the House of

Representatives a challenge of the
qualifications of 11 Democratic mem-
bers elected from Wayne County. He
contended the defeated Republican
candidates should have the seats, be-
cause the 11 members held minor
county positions that disqualified
them as nominees. Under the consti-
tution the House of Representatives is
the sole judge of the qualifications of
its members.
HAlma Mater Will Sue
Hewitt On $200 Debt

Paris, London

Senator Pittman
President Will
To Deal With

Predicts
Be Free
Fascists

Speaks Tomorrow

Europe Observes
Shift In Neutrality
LONDON, Jan. 4-(01)-Great Bri-
tain and France tonight officially
welcomed what they considered Presi-
dent Roosevelt's veiled threat of eco-
nomic sanctions against aggressors.
Britain quickly rebroadcast in Ger-
man and Italian pointed passages of
his address to Congress.
The speech was heard clearly in
England from semi-official British
Broadcasting Corporation facilities.
Thousands stopped in the rain to lis-
ten at open shop doors. Newspapers
displayed the address prominently.
The Italian press said the new con-
gressional session opened in an atmos-
phere of "scandals and charged
United States officials with using
relief money for political purposes."
Though there was general agree-
ment on all of the President's observa-
tions about aggressors, both Britain
and France gratefully noted the two
passages on neutrality legislation.
One of these statements was ac-
cepted here as a prelude to a modi-
fied, new neutrality act. The other
was taken as a threat of economic
sanctions against first, Japan, then1
perhaps Insurgent Spain and- finally
against any major aggressor in Eur-
ope.
WASHINGTON, Jars. 4 -(AP)- A
prediction that Congress would give
the administration freedom to pursue
a stiffer policy toward dictators came
today from Chairman Pittman (Dem-'
Nev) of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
After hearing President Roosevelt's
message to Congress, the Senator ex-
pressed the opinion that the Chief
Executive had decided "moral, finan-
cial and commercial sanctions" were
necessary to bring treaty violators to
terms,
Seven peace organizations said in
a joint statement tonight that the
President's message "must come as
a heavy disappointment to all Ameri-
cans who desire to see this country
lead in the present world struggle
for the abolition of war."
t "In a time of international hysteria
where is there evidence in his mes-
sage of a sense of the responsibility
of .this country torreestablish calm
and reason in world affairs?" the
statement asked.
BERLIN, Jan. 4 -()- President
Roosevelt's message to Congress to-
day in which he referred to "storms
from abroad" as a challenge to Ameri-
can democracy was "what was ex-
pected."
This was the first German reaction
appearing in the morning edition of
the Berlin Lokal Anzeiger, The news-
paper's comment was headed, "in the
tracks of Wilson."

DR. EDITH SUMMERSKILL
~Spain In 1939'
Will Be Theme
Of Talks Here
Nelson Named Chairman
Of Program Featuring
Member Of Parliament
Prof. Norman Nelson of the Eng-
lish department will be chairman of
the meeting at 4 P.m. tomorrow in
the Union Ballroom to discuss "Spain:
1939" at which Dr. Edith Summer-
skill, member of the British Parlia-
ment, Jay Allen, war correspondent,
and Robert Cummins, '3', and Elman
Service, '39, who have .iust returnedf
from 15 months of active service for
the Loyalists in Spain, will speak, it
was announced yesterday.
Dr. Summerskill, who was elected
to the House of Commons last sum-
mer in the first by-election after
the resignation of Anthony Eden, has
been working, since a recent visit to
Spain, to aid homeless child-refugees
and war orphans in a scheme for
"Children's Cities" in Government
Spain.
As a member of the Labor Party,
her election from a county with a
long Tory tradition, West Fulham,
provided the first expression of
British public opinion in opposition
to the Chamberlain foreign policy
of "appeasement." She is the moth-
er of two children and as a physician
has specialized in child health.
Jay Allen, former correspondent of
the Chicago Tribune in Spain, was
barred from Rebel territory after
sending from Elvas, Portugal the
bloody story of the Badajoz mas-
sacres in which four thousand men
and women were killed. Eighteen
hundred of them were mowed down
in 12 hours in the bull ring and Al-
len reported that "after the first
night the blood was supposed to be
palm deep on the far side of the
lane."
The meeting is being sponsored by
a number of organizations including
the American Student Union and the
Ann Arbor Committee to Aid Spain.

Asks Congress To Perfect
New Deal Acts Without
Impairing Usefulness
Spending To Go On
Until Income Rises
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4.--(/P)-With
Adolf Hitler's chief envoy, Dr. Hans
Thomsen, an impassive listener in the
gallery, President Roosevelt today
warned that America would resist
"strident ambition and brute force"
in world affairs.
Addressing a dramatic joint session
of Congress in the House of Repre-
sentatives, the chief executive, with
slow and deliberate emphasis, asked
that that resistance be bulwarked by
increased military preparedness.
And equally necessary, he said, was
the elimination of class prejudices
and internal dissensions through the
abolition of social abuses so that a
Nation united in spirit might combat
all threats of "military and econom-
ic" aggression from abroad.
Hints Immediate Steps
Moreover, Mr. Roosevelt hinted
ghat immediate steps might be under
,onsideration. He asserted that "there
are many methods short of war of
cringing home to aggressor govern-
:nents the aggregate sentiments of
>ur own people."
Linking domestic problems with
foreign policy through his plea for
national unity, Mr. Roosevelt an-
nounced that the period of New Deal
Social and economic innovations had
reached at least a pause, if not an
end.
He applauded the accomplishments
4f the six years he has been in pow-
3r and asserted the tipie had arrived,
Zor Congress "to improve the new
nachinery (which we have perman-
.ntly installed, provided that in the
>rocess the social usefulness of the
nachinery is not destroyed or im-
paired."

1 ressed

I

Roosevelt arns Dictators
L.S. May Adopt Sanctions;

Democrats Approve
While the augmented Republican
.anks of Congress listened silently
ind a roar of apprQval arose from
se Democratic side of the crowded
louse chamber, he made it amply
;lean 'that government spending
could continue, in the expectation
;hat it would increase national in-
:ome to a point at which the budget
:ould be balanced.
Turning to what might be done
xithout war, the President said that
At least the United States could and
;hould avoid any action or 'lack adf
ction, which would "encourage, as-
:st or build up" an aggressor.
"We have learned," he said, "that
vhen we deliberately try to legis-
ate neutrality, our neutrality laws
nay operate unevenly and unfairly-
nay actually give aid to an aggres-
,,or and deny it to the victim. The in-
tinct of self-preservation should
varn us that we ought not to let that
dappen any mores"
Suggests Revision
He suggested revision of the So-
Aial Security Act, and the Wagner
tabor Relations Act-to end both
"factional" disputes within the ranks
A labor and disputes between em-
ployer and employe. He renewed his
aid appeal for reorganization of the
government, and added a call for
legislation on the railroads.
To achieve a balanced budget, Mr.
Roosevelt said, a national income of
$80,000,000,000 is necessary, and
moreover can be attained "within
he framework of our traditional
profit system." And he called "'Fed-
eral investment" a necessity to
achieve such an income.

Advance Of Democracy Sought
By Delegates At ASU Convention

Letter Fro Franco Prsisoner
Dimis ElopesOf Neafus' Safety
Hopes of his friends here that we both came from the University of
Ralph Neafus, '36F&C, is still alive Michigan (although I was at Ann Ar-
in one of Franco's jails or prison hos- bor, of course, long before he). Ralph
pitals were dimmed yesterday by the was a swell soldier and the finest of
disclosure of a letter received by a friends; his service both as political

friend from Sam Romer, former
Michigan student. who fought with
Neafus in Spain and was captured on
the same day.
Romer, who recently returned to
the United States after being re-
leased in an exchange of prisoners,
said that he was inclined to believe
that Neafus was killed after his cap-
ture, "since we were given to nder-
stand that all 'international' prison-
ers were sent to the jail at San Pedro"
and Neafus was not there.
Neafus, who came from Las Vegas,

delegate of the headquarters staff
and as Battalion Observer showed
him as a man who knew neither fear
nor hesitation in doing his duty.
"All I know of him since his cap-
ture, however, is the following:
"When we saw Carney on June 10,
one of the questions he was most in-
terested in was whether we had seen
behind Fascist lines either Ralph,
Babsky or Tyser, all three of whom
were seen by Carney when captured
and who later disappeared. The same
interest was displayed by the U.S.

Upholding its reputation as a
simon-pure educational institution,
the University brought suit yester-
day against William E. Hewitt, '31,
former Varsity gridiron star and now
a professionai football player.
This reversali of the usual pro-
cedure was occasioned by a scholar-
ship loan of $200 to Hewitt payable
in 1936. Hewitt claims he would re-
pay the loan gladly-if his financial
condition permitted.

By JUNE HARRIS
Peace, education, human rights,
and political action were discussedi
and debated by almost 1,000 college
and high school students when theI
American Student Union met for its1
fourth annual national conventionI
in New York City during the Christ-
mas holidays.
With "Keep Democracy Working
By Keeping It Moving Forward" as
the theme of the conference, dele-
gates from all over the country as-
sembled to hear the views of such
men as Mayor Fiorello La Guardia,;
of New York City, Max Lerner, Ord-
way Tead, chairman of the Board of
Higher Education in New York and
Roger Baldwin, director of the Civil
Liberties Union and to formulate the
policies of the ASU for the coming
year.
Declaring itself to be "vitally con-

and the steps taken by the United
States at Lima to strengthen de-
mocracy in the Western hemisphere
were approved. The recall of our am-
bassador from Germany was sup-
ported as well as the action taken by,
the government in connection with
Secretary Ickes' anti-Nazi speech.
In regard to national defense, the
convention believes that the main
weapon of the United States should
be its foreign policy, but feels in the
present circumstances that it is un-
wise to urge unilateral disarmament
for American democracy. In this
connection the national executive
committee of the Student Union in
cooperation with other student
groups is to undertake a study of
the defense needs, of the United
States. A chapter referendum on
their findings and on the student
pilot program recently announced by

r

Conference Planned
On' Job Information
A Guidance and Occupational In-
formation Conference, to be spon-
sored by the Union, League and
Bureau of Appointments and Occupa-
tional Information to aid students
in selecting their vocation will be
held here March 8 to 11, it was
announced last night by Don Tread-