THE MICHIGAN DAILY
MICHIGAN DAILY
A Letter To Our Readers Regarding
ObjectionsTo TheDaily Editorial
I
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Editorial Stafff
rl Petersen ,
ott Maraniss .
m M. Swinton . . .
rton L. Linder
rman A. Schorr
tinis Flanagan . .
in N. Canavan . .
n1 Vicary
1 Fineberg .
Business Staff
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Editorial Director
. City Editor
Associate Editor
. Associate Editor
Associate'Editor
Associate Editor
Women's Editor
Sports Editor
ness Manager
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nen's Business Manager
men's Advertising Manager
iications Manager
Paul R. Park
Qanson P. Taggart
Zenovia Skoratko
Jane Mowers
Harriet S. Levy
NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD SCHLEIDER
The editorials published in The. Michigan
Daily are written by members of The Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only.
lege Texts
I War Headlines
" " .
W~7HEN college students came to the
University ten days ago they joined
with thousands of others iri our nation in a cry
for ,peace, neutrality, and security. They plead-
ed that there might be some way that they
might keep our nation out of war.
University life is only six days old now, but
already students ate being lulled into _a sense
of security in a world where there is no security.
The gray print of the philosophy book has re-
placed the headlines of war dispatches. The
struggle for grades is moving ahead of the
struggle for peace. That is one of the most
dangerous conditions that youth can face as his
country is struggling to keep its head above water.
In Germany there are- no classrooms filled
with college students. In Britain young men
and women are being plunged into intellectual
darkness. French youth has replaced'- books
with bullets. And in America there is every
danger that the shadow of darkness moving
across the globe may soon reach our own homes.
The time of optimism has passed. Every United
States citizen, every college man and woman,
is faced with an immediate crisis that requires
his constant courage, discernment, and deter-
mination.
This is reflected in the college press, which
almost unanimously employed its opening-of-
the year editorials to call warnings of the future.
Almost without. exception they are urging stu-
dents everywhere to study the causes and effects
of the war, and to exert every .pressure to stay
away from the battlefield themselves. The
college press still realizes the peril of the situ-.
ation, but the students are forgetting. Campus
life is acting as a drug.
Statistics show that the marriage rate among
college-age men and women increased by more
than 15 per cent last month; that attendance
in Universities and colleges .has been reduced
sharply in many parts of the country because
of complexities, of the conflict across the waves;
and that enrollment will probably drop again
next semester. Even in America the war is real.
Every university man and woman owes it to
his nation, to his family and to himself to gather
facts, discuss them, learn the processes of analy-
sis, and help think out the problems of the
world. The culture and facts which they teach
on the other side of State Street will mean
nothing if our nation does not live beyond the
next few years. -It is imperative that textbooks
and gun-bullets be examined in a new role this
semester.
-Paul Chandler
Pendergast's Parole Plea
An application for parole next month has been
filed by Thomas J. Pendergast, former Kansas
City political boss'serving a fifteen-month sen-
tence in Leavenworth penicentiary for income
tax evasion.
The Federal Parole Board, on Sept. 16, rejected.
the application of R. Emmet O'Malley, former
state official who, like Pendergast, was caught
in the 1935 fire insurance payoff scandal and
given a year and a day for evading payment of
income taxes.
The board's action in this case was proper.
Now let it tell Pendergast, in the same manner,
that serving five months of his extremely light
-...-F.....;...:. _.." zsnaw s -- in+ ;+ . nl e
By ELLIOTT MARANISS and CARL PETERSEN
The main objective of the editorial publishec
on the front page of Tuesday morning's Daily
was to bring to the attention of the University-
community the necessity for thinking seriously
and intelligently on the crisis engendered by th
present European war. If the amount of mail
received here at The Daily since the publication
of that editorial can be considered representative
of general feeling, that objective has been
achieved.
Tuesday's editorial, of course, also contained
tentative suggestions for an effective peace poli=c
for the United States. In brief, the editors'
position was this: the war in Europe, like all
modern war, is the inevitable result of the entire
complex of rivalries, political and economic, that
the principle of national sovereignty, upon which
all contemporary states are founded, sets in
motion. Behind the power-political moves of
the present war, behind the eloquent statements
that it is a war to defeat Hitlerism, to restore
democracy to Germany, or to achieve "lebens-
raum" and restore national honor, are the fac
of economic nationalism and imperialism, with
their concrtnitants of heavy armaments, tariffs,
subsidies, hindrances to migration, and the fight
for access to raw materials. In such a war, w
believe, the United States has no legitimate in-
terest. But the United States, too, is an imperial-
istic nation, with vested financial interests
abroad; and if we are to avoid being drawn into
the war, we will have immediately to begin re-
orienting our economy away from production
based on the sale of surpluses abroad, to an
economy that is concerned with raising the na-
tional standard. of living. Neither of the current
neutrality proposals, we believe, can effectively
keep us out of war, because neither of them
realistically grapples with the causes that are
likely to lead to our involvement.
Answer To Prof. Slosson
During the last week, The Daily has been able
to publish- only a few of the many letters we.
received. We are taking this opportunity to
clarify our position by answering a few of the
objections to our proposal that were voiced in
those letters. In his short note, published Wed-
nesday, Professor Slosson raised three main
points: it is contradictory, he said, for us to state
that we hate and fear fascism and yet insist
upon non-intercouse with the nations that are
fighting fascism; isiolationism, he declares, will
not lead to peace because it divides the world
instead of uniting it; and, finally, he indicates
that it is "dishonorable" for us to condemn
Chamberlain for deserting Spain, Ethiopia, and
Czechoslovakia, and to couple that condemna-
tion with a "declaration of indifference". to the
fate of Britain, France and Poland.
In regard to Professor Slosson's fear that our
hatred for fascism and our refusal to help Eng-
land and France "destroy" that system is con-
tradictory, we again refer to the fact that this
Fraternities And
the University .
HIS YEAR, more than any other in
the pest, has seen a vastly improved
working relationship between the Interfrater-
nity Council and the University. The Universi-
ty realizes that fraternities face a situation this
year never before encountered. For the dormi-
tory system seems to have become a permanent
part of Michigan student life and therefore must
from now on be reckoned with as such.
One of the rules of the residence halls, as the
dormitories are now called, is that all residents
must take their meals there, and that there wi
be no refund for any meals taken outside. This
fact alone, was realized last year as a big ob-
stacle to fraternities. For no longer may pledges
begin to eat at the houses as soon as they have
become pledges, The policy of most houses was
last year, in the case of dorm boys, to ask them
to eat at the houses at least twice a week. This
year when the majority of pledges are likely to
be dorm boys, no little difficulty will be experil-
enced in asking them to bear the expense of two
meals, when they may eat only one.
However, this point seems to be the only one
that the University has begrudged the fraterni-
ties. During orientation week, the Interfratern-
ity Council was granted the use of Hill Audi-
torium for a special fraternity night, and the'
turnout was encouraging. Moreover, the num-
ber of students registered for rushing this year
topped last year's figure by more than 100.
The University too, is pleased by the improve-
ment that has been shown in the scholastic
standings of pledge classes. Dean Bursley com-
mented upon this at the pledge banquet last
spring. Another encouraging sign has been the
practical absence of rushing rules this year.
-William Elmer
Spreech Clubs
To Arms..
W ANT OF FUNDS to finance faculty
supervision is forcing the speech de-
partment to abandon intramural debating for
women after two years of successful experience.
"Speech is the index to the mind," said one
author, and it seems that the returns of training
afforded by intramural debate squads should at
least balance the meager costs necessary. The
Varsity squads, it is true, present opportunity
for the training of a limited number, but dur-
ing the entire year not more than a dozen may
receive this experience. The intramural teams,
on the other hand, have trained between 30 and
40 women for each of its two annual rounds.
In these circumstances, therefore, it seems the
is not a war against fascism; it is not a people's
war, it is not a war that is likely to result in a
peace that would attack the vital causes of war,
just as the last war and its peace treaty did not.
Given the leadership of Chamberlain and Dala-
dier, given the imperialistic status of Great Bri-
tain and France, given the fact that the Nation-
alist government of England, is, itself, an alli-
ance against the anti-fascist sympathies of the
British people, only incurable idealists (see
Harold Laski's quixotic piece in this week's New
Republic) could expect a democratic reconstruc-
tion of Europe: the only way to get rid of Hitler,
as the popular saying truthfully goes, is to get
rid of the factors which made him possible.
No Democratic Peace
In our opinion, it seems extremely unlikely,
to say the least, that Hitler, Chamberlain, and
Daladier are fighting a war to insure a lasting,
democratic peace. It is not likely, despite Mr.
Laski's expectations, that out of the ashes of
this war will arise a Europe in which the vari-
ous nations will have pooled their sovereign-
ties in a United States of Europe; will have
guaranteed to their citizens the maintenance
of democratic government and the essential lib-
erties of democracy without distinction of race,
religion, nation or color; will have agreed to
pool their defense forces for the purpose of
mutual security; will have agreed to plan a
cooperative economic life upon the basis of a
customs union and joint arrangements in rela-
tion to currency, migration, and labor standards,
will have agreed to arrange for rapid transfer to
national ownership of the vital instruments of
production, with reasonable compensation to
previous owners. And only if the treaty follow-
ing this war provided for just such a set-up
would the spectre of fascism be driven out of
Europe.
Professor Slosson's contention that "isola-
tionism" will not lead to peace because it divid
the world instead of uniting it, stems, as far as
we can make out, from his opinion that since
the Allies are fighting a righteous war we must
support them to the best of our ability. In
answer to that, we refer to the basic point of our
own position that this is not, by any means a
holy war intent on driving the forces of fascism
from the world. In regard to the paradox of our
"dishonorable" desertion of England, France and
Poland in the light of our concern for Czechoslo-
vakia, Spain and Austria, it must be remembered
that the latter three countries were the victims
of direct fascist aggression aided and abetted by
the conciliatory, and, at Munich, the direct par-;
ticipation of Great Britain and France. We
absolutely abhor the idea of a Europe con-
trolled by Hitler and fascism. But we also doub
very sincerely the value of supporting a war that
will not, as a matter .of fact could not, do.any-
thing to prevent another Hitler from arising. And
Goering would be no improvement over Hitier.
Rosa And Duesenberry
One further communication to be considered
in this discussion is that of Messrs. Rosa and
Duesenberry, published in Thursday's Daily. In
it they demand a reexamination of Tuesday's
editorial on three points; discover whether our
proposal has any chance of becoming a factor
in the present neutrality discussions; discover
whether Mr. Roosevelt's proposal or the status
quo is to be preferred; discover whether our
non-intercourse policy is actually preferable to
the President's proposals.
Messrs. Rosa and Duesenberry point out, quite
rightly, that a program advocating complete
"non-intercourse" has little hope of considera-
tion at the present session of Congress. On that
basis they insist that discussion of such a pro-
gram is fruitless. But we must emphasize, as
strongly as we can, our program is one designed to
keep the United States out of war. We are un-
compromising in our determination to keep this
country free from the present conflict. We re-
fuse to accept Messrs. Rosa and Duesenberry's
recommendation that we make the best of the
lesser of two evils-the presidential cash-and-
carry program. We intend by this series of dis-
cussions to stimulate thought, to lead it into
channels that mean peace for the United States,
not to compromise on half-way measures that
give us no security.
We agree with Messrs. Rosa and Duesenberry
that the status-quo is onerous, that even "cash-
and-carry" as a short-run proposal is preferable
to it. But we must still maintain that our
stand presents a better guarantee of peace for
the United States than does "cash-and-carry"
with its potentialities for American involvement,
and we await with interest Messrs. Rosa and
Duesenberry's further communications in which
they intend to prove the impracticability of
"non-intercourse" and the merit of ."cash-and-
carry."
Youth In The Air
As a memorial to that gallant flier, Capt.
Frank Hawks, the Air Youth of America has been
organized under the auspices of Winthrop Rocke-
feller to help the millions of boys and girls now
flying model airplanes.
This hobby-sport which began about 1907,
just four years after the Wright brothers proved
that man could fly, has some 2,000,000 youthful
devotees now. No one who recalls how the old
"pushmobile" meets and races helped to make
this a motorized nation will doubt that flying
model planes can be made a powerful force for
an air-minded America.
The new sport deserves the stimulus of a
national organization, and Mr. Rockefeller's
friendship for Capt. Hawks promises to have a
happy result for the country. It is a noble
memorial to a great flier.
--chicago Daily News
German liner, the Bremen!
IT WASN'T so much the fact that
there was a trans-atlantic liner in
the Union pool, which is fairly sur-
prising in itself; but Mr. Q. was so
sure that the Bremen had been found
floating around in a bottle of Jack
Dempsey's New York Beef-house. But
there it was; lurching back and forth,
looking as if it were readying to make
an ocean crossing. Mr. Q., being a
naturally curious person, decided to
postpone his long-postponed swim
and go on a little inspection tour.
It was quite deserted: not a soul.
So Mr. Q .walked around, eagerly
taking in all the interesting details.
It was in the captain's room, however,
that he came across the amazing in-
formation disclosed above. There on
the desk, was a little bundle wrapped
in light brown paper with blue specks,
tied with double-strength orange
cotton thread. Cautiously he fin-
gered the bulky package, finally, with
a little difficulty, snapping the
thread. The unwrapped wrapping
paper revealed a pile of perfumed
letters. Mr. Q. shuff~led through
them, quickly discovering that this
was the long-missing "Black Paper,"
the correspondence between the four
munich-men who were now, trying
to arrange another peace meeting.
* * *
THE CONTENTS of these notes are
really amazing and Mr. Q. passes
them on to you as the biggest jour-
nalistic scoop in history. The first
is written in Hebrew, which Mr. Q.
translated since the linotypers trad-
ed in their Hebrew characters for a
matrix of sanscrit, and runs as fol-
lows:
Dear Benny:
I don't care who wins, but the
peace conference must be held in
Berlin. Everytime we've won a
war in France, we've lost the
darned thing at Versailles or
Paris. I lost- a collar button there
once too.
Anyway, we have a peachy new
game here you simply must play.
Instead of giving them castor-oil
in the concentration camps, we
make them eat pickles with a
persimmon wine chaser, and then
sing the Horst Wessel; all they
can do is whistle. Besides the
overhead on the old Olympic Sta-
dium is furchtbar. We can al-
ways stick England for the rent
on the old place.
Keep this secret, Ben, but I've
got a pint of coffee hidden away.
We can split it some night, just
like old times; it isn't cut a bit,
Love, Adolph.
The next one was a Tree verse nar-
ative, which Mr. Q. has paraphrased.
Dear Eddie:
I've just received a letter from
'Dolf-he does take the most
roundabout way since you and he
aren't speaking-and he wants
us all to meet in Berlin for a few
quick ones after the game is over.
I really think he wants another
one of those poker games, but I
don't think you and Nevvie would
exactly relish another one of
those; you both lost your shirts
when he used his deck last time.
So why don't we all meet at
Rome? We can run over to Capri
on weekends, and, if the news-
papermen bother us, I have a
well-oiled system of getting rid of
them: we have a special one-
way ticket rate. My daughter,
Edda-you know, that's Galeaz-a
zo's wife-is so anxious to meet1
all of you again. She has a special
recipe for coffee, if you'll bring
the coffee. I'm sending a copy
of this to Adolphsand Nevvie. As
ever, Benny.l
The third correspondence in "The
Black Paper" was a short typewrit-
ten note as follows:-s
Dear Nevvie:$
fl.......-..".c l fh. annmiyhi
-ministration.
-i
OF ALLIieDALY.
T HINGS!
Dy MrtswQ, ERRY
TRADE MARK
IT'S A GOOD THING these type-
writers are back to normal and By DREW PEARSON a
have stopped being creative because When Senator Taft of Ohio re-
Mr. Q. has stumbled upon the big- turned from his recent trip to the Pa-I
gest story of the year. Just hold tight cific Coast, he told Senator Byrnes
and hang on while he discloses the of South Carolina, who is leading
most amazing bit of information that iRoosevelt's fight to amend the neu-
ever came outofra padded feed-box. trality act: "The big thing you've got
Now get this straight : ANN ARBOR, to lick is the Catholic Church."
IS GOING TO BE THE SCENE OF'
THE NEXT PE~ACE CONFERENCE! At the time Senator Taft said this,
T Th' PE:nAECOr.NERENCyEu he was probably right. The pressure
That's right : Ann Arbor. Now if you of the Catholic Church was then far
will just catch your breath, Mr. Q.
will explain how he uncovered this greater than the scattered and much
story-of-the-century. less effective lobby of some Protestant
He was walking along the street groups. Many members of the churlji
minding his own business, eyes glued hierarchy, dominated by Irish who
mmdin hisown usinss, yes lue ate England, were on their way to
to the sidewalk for any stray nickels, making of the neutrality embargo
self n front ofsudden he found Himanother fight similar to that against
in, read the papers and magazines i oyalist Spain.
on the desk, roamed downstairs to Undoubtedly the attitude of the
the taproom, finally winding up slap- Church had much to do with the
ping down a dime to go into the stand of Senator Walsh of Massa-
Union pool. He undressed slowly, chusetts, and probably caused the
admired his powerful physique, took backing and filling of Senator Lodge,
a shower,' and started for, the pool. who changed his mind on neutrality
And there it was! There, bobbing several different times. In fact, Cath-
up and down at the far end of the olcresureesa on thenHouse
tank, the west end, was the missing of Representatives, was so strong that
_it created mueh conern in the Ad-
,.
t_
r
i
i
i
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V
with a national radio hook-up. He is
making thsi speech on the instruc-
tion of Cardinal Mundelein.
Note-On the afternoon following
Bishop Sheil's luncheon with Roose-
velt, Senator O'Mahoney of Wyoming,
who is close to the Church and who
had been very much on the fence re-
garding neutrality, suddenly an-
nounced that the was standing with
Roosevelt.
Catholic Lobby
Despite the neutrality position of
many high-placed Catholic leaders,
it remains a fact that the most violent
of all the opposition to lifting the
embargo comes from Father Coughlin
and other groups within the Church.
The Sunday Visitor, a Catholic
weekly sold at churches all over the
country, recently published a strong
front page editorial and an article by
Gertrude M. Coogan, formerly as-
sociated with Father Coughlin. Copies
of this were sent to a large number
of Congressmen.
In. Cleveland Archbishop Schrembs
recently sent out a pastoral letter
which was read in all churches in the
Cleveland archdiocese denouncing at-
tempts to lift the embargo.
In Brooklyn last week priests took
a strong stand against Roosevelt on
the embargo, and friends of Al Smith
say that this had much to do with
his sudden decision to deliver a radio
broadcast supporting the President.
All members of Congress testify
that far and away the strongest pres-
sure against them, either Catholic or
Protestant, is brought by Father
Coughlin. About one-half of their
neutrality mail is from Coughlinites,
while even more potent are the
Coughlin delegations which have been
storming Capitol Hill.'.
When Congress opened, delegations
from New York (the Christian Front)'
and Massachusetts (the Paul Revere
Society) packed the halls- in rowdy
mood. --As they entered the House
Office Building- to talk to New York
Congressmen, one husky young dele-
gate called out:
"Don't smash the furniture, boys,
we're going to take over this place
soon."
At the same time it caused certain
New Dealers to act very vigorously in
cooperation with such Catholic lead-
ers as Cardinal Mundelein, Bishop
Sheil and Dr. Sheehy, with the resu'l
that the Catholic Church is now
about as split over neutrality as the
forces within the Church for lifting
Protestants. There are now powerful
the embargo.
White House Luncheon
It was no accident that Bishop
Sheil of Chicago had luncheon with
the President last Wednesday. The
Bishop had just flown the Atlantic
on a Clipper plane, after visiting
Rome, where he had an audience with
the Pope.
- It was also no accident that he
had conferred with Roosevelt just
before he left the U.S. for Rome. Im-
mediately after Bishop Sheil left
Rome, Osservatore. Romano,. Vatican-
City.newspaper, published an editori-
al strongly supporting Roosevelt.
Finally, it is no accident that
Bishop is opening the Catholic Youth
Conference in Cincinnati tomorrow
MA INGTOR
REGISTERED
nd ROBERT S. ALLEN
MUSIC
By RICHARD BENNET
MUSIC AND THE MODERN WORLD
What do we really mean by "the
music of today?" If we are not to
take refuge in the ivory tower of
pedantry or idealism, we must admit
that today's music, at least in the
United States, has come to mean jazz,
swing, and the neo-blues. This is the
music that is now the almost unin-
terrupted diet of the screen, the ra-
dio, and the dance hall. It accom-
panies the cafe meal and the war
news from Europe. It is the sine qua
non of the Republican Party and
the American Student Union. In
while; you'll be feeling like a new
man when you leave here. Answer
soon. Your pal, Eddie.
The fourth was a carbon copy of
a long note, running some 24 pages,
of which Mr. Q. has made a synopsis,
to wit:
Messrs. Hitler, Mussolini and
Daladier:
Gentlemen:
I have before me M. Daladier's
note of the 5th, together with
copies of earlier letters from
Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini.
Apparently there is some dis-
agreement over the place for our
next peace conference. I don't*
see how it could be held anywhere
but in London, where the dense
fog will form a suitable back-
ground for our collective mental
state--sort of a camouflage,
don't y' know.
However, since the disagree-
ment exists, may I suggest we all
meet this weekend "somewhere in
Portugal." If we have any spare
time, we can catch the clipper
from there and spend the night
in New York. The lifts in those
buildings do fascinate me, and
petrol is so cheap. Peace be with
me, N. Chamberlain, Esq.
The next note was a copy of the
minutes of the meeting "somewhere
in Portugal." To make a- long note
less boring, it told, in effect, how
there was no agreement upon a suit-
able place for a peace-pact. So they
finally brought out a huge map of,
the world, hung it on the wall and
played "stick the donkey." The first
place on the map to get stuck three
times was it, they decided. So, after
16 days and nights of sticking, Adolph
finally pinned the tail on a little spot
near Lake Michigan for the third
time. Upon closer inspection, the
short, it is the music of the American
people. It has come to be their stan-
dard of musical judgment (witness
Otis Ferguson in The New Republic);
without it there would seem to be no
tonal literature except, of course, that
of the past and a few eccentrics of
today whom nobody listens to any-
way. It would therefore appear to
be the business of the music critic to
concern himself with this music if
he is to, be at all effective in the life
of musical America.
And yet, one accepts this state of
affairs with a good deal of misgiving,
For can it be that a people making
their plea for world democracy and
freedom in the imminence of uni-
versal chaos are really content with
the narrow formalism (or anarchy,
depending on your point of view); of
the popular song and the swing band?
Granting that popular music serves
one function and probably serves it
well, yet is it necessary that that
which began as play become an opi-
ate of the American people? Indeed,
in an age of rampant racial hatreds,
depressions, and war is the music of
today to be. taken as the true expres-
sion of the attitude of America to-
ward the imperative problems con-
fronting us on every hand? It cer-
tainly is not. And since it is not,
this art of music has become a lie. -
It leads one to suspect that man-
kind is being deprived of contact with
the greater implications of the tonal
art and is being pummeled into a state
of immobility as regards the unvoiced
hopes and fears of his fellow men.
Who is to blame? It is dangerous to
say.. But one thing is certain: there
is a terrible hiatus between the ex-
pressed wishes of the American people
for a free and democratic government
and the kind of expression those
wishes are popularly receiving in
American music.
There is, in the United States, a
minute group of composers who have
been struggling to break through the
sham of popular music and express
in the musical language of the
American people the sound ideals that
this nation would like to see pre-
served. These composers--Siegmeis-
ter, Eisler, Copland, Riegger, Gould,
among others-should be the domin-
ant force in modern American music
and would. be if they were but given
half a chance. They are fighting,
along with their European confreres
Milhaud, Prokofieff, Birykov and the
like, the exclusiveness of the ultra-
super-refined snobbish audience as
well as the regimental commercialism