PAGE FOUR.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
T
TUESDAY, DEC. 12, 1939
.
------------
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Freedom OfLatin American Peoples
Is Hailed As Impetus To Democracy
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 Summer 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. ADVERSING BY
National Advertising Service, Inc.
College Publishers Representative
420 MADIsoN AvE. NEW YORK, N. Y:
CHICAGOB SOSTON'* Los ANGELES - SA FRAt cIS
Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1939-40
Editorial
Carl Petersen .
Elliott Maraniss . .
Stan 2M.'Swinton
Morton L. Linder . .
Norman A. Schorr.
Dennis Flanagan ,
John N. Canavan
Ann Vicary . . .
Mel Fineberg
Staff
Managing Editor
Editorial Director
. A City Editor
. Associate Editor
*Associate Editor
*Associate Editor
*Associate Editor
. Women's Editor
. Sports Editor
Paul R. Park
Ganson P. Taggart
Zenovia Skoratko
. Jane Mowers
. Harriet S. Levy
Business Stafff
Business Manager.
Asst. Business Mgr., Credit ,Manager'
Women's Business Manager
Women's Advertising Manager
Publications Manager
NIGHT EDITOR: ROY BUEHLER
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of The Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only.
A Letter
To Santa Claus .. .
(Editor's Note: The Daily editorial page has a
regular space for letters. but the following is
sometinrg found on one of the desks, not meant for
publication we are quite sure. We disclaim all
responsibility for the fact that our Mr. Linder
still thinks there is a Santa Claus.)
DEAR SANTA CLAUS,
I had promised myself I wouldn't
write to you this. year because you were so
nasty to' me last Christmas. Remember, you
didn't bring me that red racer or the boxing
gloves? But, I'm going to forget all that be-
cause I have some pretty important things to ask
of you. Bring the usual stuff, of course, but, in
addition, see what you can do with some of these:
1. Bring a little rational thinking to the men
who have plunged Europe into a futile and
needless war. Make them see that marching one
nation against another isn't going to solve any
of the real problems. There will be another
treaty and there will be more injustices and
there will be more wars. Bring them a notion
of equality and make them understand that
every man has an inalienable right, not only
to freedom and justice, but also to take part in
and benefit from the great abundance in the
world.
2. To the people in this country, bring a posi-
tive notion of unalterable peace, a peace not
merely the lull between wars, but a peace that
is permanent, the normal situation. And bring
to these people some realization of the fact that
unemployment, slums, poverty and suffering are
not necessary evils to be accepted with a pitying
shrug, but rather outgrowths of a rotten and
vicious culture where greed and selfishness have
corrupted the society. And make them know
that America is the one remaining hope in
this mad world for a true democracy, that it is
up to them to guard it and to build it so that no
force, however strong, can possibly overthrow it.
3. Bring to the publishers of our large news-
papers and magazines some idea of truthful,
unemotional reporting and undistorted news
stories. Make them see that theirs is the re-
sponsibility of informing the. people correctly,
and it is absolutely not within their province
to stir up mob emotions. .And remind them that
according to all principles of journalism, the
advertisers come second to the news readers.
4. To our own state of Michigan, bring back
the civil service and bring a little straight think-
ihg and administrative order to some of the
tangled departments and agencies. And above
all, make the legislature or the Governor or
somebody see that those crippled children, who
were put out of the University Hospital because
necessary funds weren't appropriated, are taken
care of. Make them understand how inhumane
and cruel it is to turn out these children without
the medical care they need so badly. Show them
that it is not real economy to cut the budget at
the expense of human lives.
5. To the voters who will elect a President next
year bring the ability to overlook all emotional
campaign appeals, but to elect that one whom
they think will give .the most progressive and
true democratic government, one whom they are
sure will continue the unfinished and abandoned
reforms attempted .by the present Administra-
tion. Especially, do not allow them to b
fooled by rash promises 'of a' balanced budget or
an end to unemployment. And do not allow
them to be taken in by "he kept us out of war"
talk.
By DOUGLAS FOWLE
For some time Secretary of State Cordell
Hull has found much deserved praise coming
his way. Largely through his efforts has a
solid amity between the United States and her
hemispherical neighbors been established. But
what has been won is a great deal less valuable
than the American people realize.
Let's bring back to mind a little history of our
attitude toward Latin America. Until the
present decade the United States had for a
good many generations considered it her right
to intervene in Latin American affairs when-
ever any of the weak governments there seemed
to have lost control. Then, out of a pretty clear
sky, this right was renounced, and a new prin-
ciple of non-intervention was adopted. This
much we all know.
What followed, howevr, is not commonly
known. There happened to be a number of
revolutions that strangely enough took place.
Seven South American countries, Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and
Venezuela fell victims to dictatorships at this
time. Moreover, they had bedfellows in Guate-
mela, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua of
Central America. And of Latin America's 20
so-called republics, 11 had now fallen under
dictatorships.
Natives Win Power
America as a whole could never have expected
such a turn of events, because she did not know
what was actually going on. The American
people never knew that by the beginning of this
same decade the masses in Latin America had
begun to feel and use the power of their num-
bers for the first time. Only a few men with
wealth at stake were much aware that the
Latin American people were beginning to out-
number all opposition at the polls, so that there
seemed little likelihood of the conservative ele-
ments ever again winning the elections.
But these few interested men realized that if
America was to continue her old policy of in-
tervention, the then democratic forms of gov-
ernment in Latin America would be preserved
and the masses would keep gaining strength as
the ruling group. And these men had six
billions of dollars invested to our south. They
were most anxious to avoid the very type of
thing that occurred just a while ago, when
Mexico, with a government quite responsive to
her ,masses, expropriated "American" oil wells.
So instead of maintaining the dollar diplomacy
through the right of intervention, our State De-
partment turned to the latent method of re-
taining the same by the new plan of non-inter-
vention. And, with no United States to inter-
fere, the ultra-conservative minorities of wealthy
landowners thereupon instigated uprisings and
seized governmental power from the people. Un-
deniably, that was just what certain Americans
wanted.
But things did not end here. For when the
Roosevelt administration landslided into Wash-
ington in 1933 it was finally realized that dic-
tatorships across the oceans were taking more
and more of Latin America's trade. American
big business and Washington now believed the
time for intervening and setting up more friend-
ly governments in Latin America was past. The
only scheme with which to fight the influence
of the foreign fascist governments appeared to
be a concerted effort to follow their lead and do
our own winning of friendship. The effort was
earnestly started at the Pan-American Confer-
ence of 1933, when America emphasized her new
doctrine that "no state has the right to inter-
vene in the internal. or external affairs of an-
other." Indeed, this doctrine seemed to please
the Latin American governments as much as
anything.
United States Wants Friendship
And so, our "democratic" government found
itself striving to win the friendship of the
dictatorships it had made possible,-in order
to compete with foreign dictatorships. This
is the paradoxical kind of friendship we have
now won.
However, and this is the sad part, but the
part that counts, direct efforts to win over the
DomMinkSay
By DR. EDWARD W. BLAKEMAN
Christmas smothered beneath sales, advertis-
ing, forced charity, bazaars, greetings many;
amusements meaningless, and gatherings pro-
fuse or formal, is upon us. How shall a Univer-
sity student, for whom life is precious, approach
the day? Shall we deck the tree, hasten to her
door with a remembrance, join the Carollers, seek
out aged friends, or deliver holly as guarantee to
some sick benefactor. All of these perhaps.,
That is well.
None of us can overlook the fact that eleven
million families, during the year just passed,
have had to live upon less than one hundred
twenty-five a month, that several millions face
permanently idleness, that social workers are
jaded by the long lines of applicants, that crime
mounts and hospitals for the mentally ill are
crowded. Yet he serves best who knows God,
believes in the power of good to vanquish evil,
and can project his ideal into the real world.
Let every believer exert the power of the ideal,
embody in his own character that ethical love
which purifies human society, and claim God's
promise as we join in faith to sing
"It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
. O'er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains, They bend
on heavenly wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds Thy blessed
Latin American people themselves have not
been so successful. Hull introduced a series of
radio broadcasts to offset European ones. But
most American programs are heard at untoward
hours, frequently have no special appeal, and
do not register clearly. Fortunately, talking
pictures are making Latin Americans conscious
of their neighbors to the north, although this is
not to our credit since the English language is
merely a bit more common than foreign ones.
Some day the whole of Latin America may
acquire the habit of turning her eyes northwest
to North America instead of northeast to Europe.
But the change will be gradual. Old customs,
old ties and old traditions are hard to break-
and old suspicions hard to remove..
Latin America Warming Up
Surely we can never speed the change by
imitating the tactics of the fascist powers, bid-
ding against other nations for influence with
the little gilt-braid Hitlers and Mussolinis whose
regimes infest the Latin American countries in
defiance of the will of the people." The Latin
Americans, it should be known, have been far
more favorably impressed by the late trend in
our own government toward legislation for the
people than they have ever been by the "cold-
blooded, calculating, mercenary, uncultured
Yankee upstarts" many of them have contacted.
Americans must realize that the only way we
can exercise sound influence in Latin America
is by standing squarely with the democratic and
progressive forces in those countries. In the
people themselves is the real Latin American
bulwark against penetration of foreign ideology.
Whenever given the chance to express a true
opinion, they have indicated the desire for more
democracy.
If the Latin American people even win the,
right to govern themselves, the new surge of
democracy would give a much needed impetus to
a crusading movement that has bogged. It
would deliver half the world complete in democ-
racy. It would mean a great community of
nations, 'with each individual government and
people interested earnestly in the welfare of the
other. It would make the Monroe Doctrine, as
never before, a watchword to be supported with
our last dying breath.
Drew Person
Robert S.Allen
WASHINGTON-Navy sleuths have been
gum-shoeing around to find where the leaks
have been coming from regarding defects in
the brand new U.S. destroyers.
Naval officers do not deny that the defects
exist, but are hot under the collar that the facts
leaked out.
Meanwhile, some of the civilians who work
on naval design in the Navy Department, think
the Annapolis men might well check up on the
small amount of money spent by the Navy on
research. At present, the Navy is spending a
huge amount on construction, but relatively
little on laboratories to test out and improve
that construction.
In fact, civilian naval engineers are paid so
little that there is constant temptation to accept
higher pay from the private shipyards. The
private yards spend all kinds of money on re-
search for new design, while the Navy spends all
kinds of money on building ships on insufficient-
ly proved design-which of course, may turn out
to be a terrific waste.
Inside fact is that most naval research today
is after mistakes are made, rather than before.
For instance, the Navy's civilian research experts
will be sent a defective engine, built in a hurry.
And they will be told to ascertain why it became
defective.
Building Trades Crack-Down
In other words, instead of using research in
advance to avoid mistakes, the Navy does its
building first, and then leaves it to the research
men to pick up the pieces.
And when the civilian research men do suc-
ceed in correcting the faults in an already built
engine, about all they get from the admirals is
a letter of congratulation.
Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold
is playing no favorites in his anti-trust crack-
down on labor leaders. . Nothing is being said
about it, but certain CIO chiefs are under
grand jury investigation and headed for indict-
ments.
The AFL has been yelling bloody murder since
Arnold indicted some of their moguls in his
clean-up of the building industry; while heavy
undercover pressure has been brought on the
President and Attorney General Murphy to call
off Arnold. But these efforts have been unavail-
ing. Arnold not only is proceeding against
other AFLers but is moving in on the CIO.
Dies Doings
Only un-American committee members knew
it, but heroic Chairman Dies was sulking at his
home while Mrs. Roosevelt attended the Youth
Congress investigation . : . Dies staged this
run-out just 24 hours after his Madison Square
Garden speech, in which he demanded that the
Roosevelt Administration declare its stand on
the Committee. . . . After Mrs. Roosevelt had
declared her stand, Dies slid off to Texas . . .
GULLIVERS
CAVILS
By Young Gulliver
A LOT OF PEOPLE had the good
fortune last Sunday to see the
Murnau picture, The Last Laugh, at
the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre.
Gulliver has seen a goodly number*
of moving pictures, and he counts
The Last Laugh as among the top
five. F. W. Murnau was a great
director and a great artist. His un-
timely death in Hollywood in 1931
robbed us of a man who considered
the cinema as a genuineart form and
who labored to make each film that
he directed a work of art. The Last
Laugh is a work of art; it represents
the apex of the art of the silent film,
and after you have seen it, you can
understand why historians of the
film say that the advent of sound in
1927 set film art back a good ten
years.
We are only now beginning to see
talking pictures that can boast of
anything approximating the unity of
mood and technique of. The Last
Laugh, which was made fifteen years
ago. There is absolutely nothing in
the picture (excluding the last few
minutes) which can be looked upon
as extraneous, either to the simple
story or to the exigencies of film
technique. Of how many recent pic-
tures can that be said?
INCIDENTALLY, Emil Jannings,
who did so magnificently by the
leading role of The Last Laugh, is
now in Germany. Gulliver happened.
to see one of the movies he made
for the Nazis a few years ago. It
was an impossible picture, long, dull,
and shot through with nauseating
Nazi ideology. Jannings might bet-
ter have died with Murnau in 1931.
YOUR daily ration of humor: Half
the population of the state of
Ohio is starving to death. The United
States extends $10,000,000 credit to
Finland for food relief . . . Premier
Mussolini sends fifty planes to Fin-
land to defend what he has referred
to as the rotting corpse of democ-
racy . . . Generalissimo Franco
condemns Bolshevik bombing of Fin-
land .m Nine-tenths of the people
who are being vocal about Finland,
including those who have not been
vocal about Spain and China, are
suffering from a quick rush of fat
to the head.
TUESDAY, DEC. 12, 1939
VOL. L. No. 661
Noticese
Student Tea: President and Mrs.
Ruthven will be at home to students
Wednesday afternoon from 4 to 6a
p.m.
Juniors and Seniors, College of Lit-C
erature, Science, and the Arts, who
expect to qualify for the Teacher's
Certificate, but, have not yet regis-
tered with the Teacher's Certificatex
Committee should do so immediately.
Those concentrating in Group I (Lan-
guages and Literature) should see
Prof. C. D. Thorpe, 2214 Angell Hall,
MWF, 11-12, TuTh 2-3; in Group II
(Science), Prof. Paul S. Welch, 4089
Natural Science Building, WF 11-12;T
and in Group III (Social Studies),
Prof. B. W. Wheeler, 316 Haven Hall,
TuTh 3-4.
Seniors: College. of L.S. and A.,
School of Education, School of For-t
estry and Conservation, and School
of Music:
Tentative lists of seniors have been
posted on the bulletin board in Room
4, U. Hall. If your name does not ap-
pear, or, if included there, it is not
correctly spelled, please notify the
counter clerk.
Student Loan Committee meeting
on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 2 p.m. in
Room 2, University Hall. All appli-
cations for loans to be considered
for the meeting must be filed in Roomk
2 by Wednesday afternoon and ap-
pointments made with the commit-1
tee.
Library Hours: During the vacation
period the General Library will be
pen daily from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m.
eginning Dec. 16, except on Dec. 25
nd Jan. 1, when it will be closed all
ay, and on Dec. 23 and Dec. 30 (Sat-
rdays), when it will close at noon.
The Departmental Libraries will be1
open from 10-12 a.m. on Saturday,
)ec. 16, and regularly each day from
10-12 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. Monday
hrough Friday, beginning with the
week of Dec. 18.
The Graaate Reading Rooms will
loe at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, andj
bserve the usual holiday schedule
thereafter: 9-12 a.m. and 1-5 p.m.
Monday through Friday, and 9-12 on
Saturdays.
The Automobile Regulation will be
lifted for the 'Christmas vacation
period from Friday noon, Dec. 15, un-
til 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3.
Senior Aeronautical Engineers: Thej
Material Division of the U.S. Army,
Air Corps, at Wright Field, Dayton,1
Ohio, desires to obtain the names
and qualifications of senior students
interested in employment as civilian
engneers; A limited number of ap-
plication blanks may be secured in
the office of the Department of Aero-
nautical Engineering. Official an-
nouncement of a Civil Service exam-
ination for which February and June
graduates would be eligible has not
as yet been announced, but the Ma-
terial Division wishes to have on
hand information pertaining to those
men who may become qualified
sometime within the coming year.
International Center: Immigration
eports from students from foreign
ountries must be in the office of the
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
DANCE
By JOHN MALCOLMN BRINNIN
To those who have decried the
archaic themes and effete manner-
isms of the continental ballet, the
published purpose of Mr. Lincoln Kir-
stein's Ballet Caravan has offered
promise of a new vigor and reorien-
tation to the American scene. How.
that promise is being realized was
demonstrated last night in a per-
formance of three representative
ballets at Lydia Mendelssohn The-
atre, and the verdict of even the most
favorably predisposed must be in the
negative.
In Air and Variations, danced to
the Goldberg Variations of Johann
Sebastian Bach, the balletomane was
afforded a fluid sequence of four-
teen variations in the classical man-
ner not, to be sure, marked with the
needle-point precision of the Rus-
sian ballet, but with a freedom and
warmth that, on first glance, seemed
to strike a definite note of inde-
pendence. However, the possiblilties
of this freer idiom were unrealized,
and as the variations progressed the
particular excellence of the music
took dominance from the dancers.
The most successful of the variations
here were those danced by Marie
Jeanne and the ensemble; the least,
those in which the men added neither
vigor nor the finesse of continuity.
Unfortunately, the low point of the
evening's performance was reached
in the heralded Billythe Kid. Here
the bareness of any integration of
American vernacular caused an im-
mediate shift of suggestive weight
to the heavy and unimaginative cos-
tumes. When the choreography
should have incorporated essences of
Americana in both individuals and
in attitudes, it was allowed to loosely
fill the stage with superficial panto-
miming. Whatever drama may be
inherent in this brief story of Billy
the Kid was unexciting as portrayed
here, given incidental interest only
in easy attempts at burlesque of the
stock wild-western characters. Cer-
tainly all the elements for an Ameri-
can classic were presented, but loose-
ness of structure and the trappings
of programmatic dancing robbed
them of any freshness they might
have contributed.
There was some redemption for
the company in Charade: Or the
Debutante. In satire that neverthe-
less but nipped at the foibles of the
Mauve Decade, the stage was gay
with filigree from the side-burns of
papa to the ridiculous lamp-shade
perched on the head of the veiled
enchantress. However, those whc
looked for a sharpness of method be-
nternational Center by Dec. 15. This
nformation is required from the
niversity by the United States Gov-
)rnment
J. R. Nelson.
Dictaphone Station will be open
after 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 22, only
o receive work, and will be closed
>n Saturday morning, Dec. 23.
The Station will remain open on
all other days during the University
Christmas Vacation. It will be ap-
reciated if those desiring work to
e completed during the first week
f the new year will leave their copy
with instructions before Dec. 22.
Choral Union Members: Choral
Union rehearsals will be discontinued
unti 1 after the holiday vacation.
Members are respectfully informed
that tickets for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra concert will be given out
Thursday from 9 to 12 and 1 to 4 to
such members who are in good stand-
ing, and who return at that time
their copies of the "Messiah." After
4 o'clock no tickets will be given out.
Academic Notices
Psychology 33 Make-up Examina-
tion will be held Wednesday, Dec.
13, at 4 p.m. in Room 2125 Natural
Science Building.
Concerts.
Organ Recital Postponed: On ac-
count of conflict, the organ recital
by Palmer Christian, scheduled for
Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 13, has
been postponed until after the Chris'-
mas vacation.
Exhibitions
Paintings by William Gropper and
prints by the Associated American
Artists shown in West Gallery, Al-
mni Memorial Hall, daily, 2-5, until
Dec. 15. Auspices of Ann Arbor Art
Association.
Exhibitions, College of Architecture
and Design:
Photographs of tools, processes,
and products representative of the
Department of Industrial Design at
Pratt Institute. Dec. 1 through 14.
Open daily, except Sunday, 9 to 5,
in Third Floor Exhibition Room,
Architectural Building. Open to the
public.
Lectures
University Lecture: Dr. Martin P.
Nilsson, Professor of Classical Ar-
chaeology and Ancient History, and
formerly rector, University of Lund,
Sweden, will lecture on "Rural Cus-
oms and. Festivals in reek., Reli-
ion" (illustrated with slides) under
the auspices of the Department of
Greek at 4:15 p.m. today in the
Rackham Amphitheatre. The public
is cordially invited.
University Lecture: Dr. Veit 'alen-
tin, Lecturer at University College,
London, will lecture on "Austria and
Germany" under the auspices of the
Department of History at 4:15 p.m.
on Thursday, Dec. 14, in the Rack-
ham Amphitheatre. The public is
cordially invited.
University Lecture: Dr. Michael A.
Heilperin, formerly of the Graduate
Institute of International Studies,
Geneva, will lecture on "Liberal and
Totalitarian Methods in Internatiow-
al Economic Relatiqns" under the
auspices of the Department of Ec-
onomics at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, Jan,
5, 1940, in the Rackham Lecture
Hall. The public is cordially invited.
Extracurricular Medical School Lec-
ture: Dr. Clarence D. Selby, Medical
Consultant of General Motors Corp.,
will speak at 4:15 p.m., Thursday,
Dec. 14, in Rackham Lecture Hall on
"The Relationships of General and
Special Practice to Industrial Medi-
cine." Medical School classes will be
dismissed at 4 p.m. to permit all medi-
cal students to attend.
The public is cordially invited.
Today's Events
Botanical Journal Club meeting to-
night in Room N.S. 1139.
Continued Fractions Seminar will
meetttoday at 4 p.m. in 3201 A.!1.
Dr. Scott will speak on "C. F. and
the Pad6 Table."
Biological Chemistry Seminar vill
meet in Room 319 West M-,Pical
Building, at 7 tonight. Subject: "Bio-
logical Methylation." All interested
are invited.
Romance Languages Journal Club
meeting today at 4:10 p.m., Room 408
R.L. A new chairman will be elected.
Tau Beta Pi dinner meeting tonight
at 6:30, Michigan Union. The meet-
ing will be over in time for the Kal-
tenborn lecture.
Cercle Francais: Song rehearsals
tonight from 7:15 to 8 p.m. in 408
R.L.
Ann Arbor Independents meeting
4
E
a
i
r
:
'
e
Seeing Isni't elieving
Now is the time to believe nothing.
News originating overseas is not to
be swallowed by Americans, regard-
less of the man who wrote the news
or the press service distributing it.
The English are as capable of dis-
torting truth as the Germans, and
there are no natioris between Eng-
land and Germany which would not<
benefit from American participation
in the current conflict. As soon as
American sympathy swings to one,
side or another our chances of peace
are diminshed immeasurably.
Those who send out and originate
propaganda have been trained in the
psychology of mass appeal, even as
our advertisers are employed in peace
time. They play on our emotions,
and it is a well known fact that
America, like any other country, will
make mistakes which will be re-
gretted later if emotions rather than
reason govern any of her moves.
There is no nation, much less the
United States, which can afford to
step into an, international 'breach
and attempt,to settle it by force of
arms. Once again corpses lie near
Flanders Fields, and the fact that
some of these corpses are not yet
American is no fault of the organized
and government-controlled press
services in belligerent nations.
So long as ,death is profitable, so
long as trade areas and trade routes
must be kept open, so long as war-
fare is the means which man has
chosen to settle his differences, it is
necessary that we be our own censors.
-Denver Clarion
to marry archaic form with new ide-
ology cannot be wholly answered
until they have perfected the letter