THE MICHIGAN DAILY
MICHIGAN DAILY
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Edited and managed by students of the University of
Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control
of Student Publications.
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Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1940-41
Editorial Staff
Emile Gele
Robert Speckhard
Albert P. Blaustein,.
David Lachenbruch .
Bernard Dober .
Alvin Dann
Hal Wilson
Arthur Hill
Janet rHiatt
Grace Miller
* . Managing Editor
*. Editorial Director
. . . . City Editor
. . Associate Editor
. . Associate Editor
. . Associate Editor
* . .Sports Editor
. Assistant Sports Editor
Ast . Women's Editor
Assistant Women's Editor
Daniel H. Huyett
James B. Collins
Louise Carpenter
Evelyn Wright
Business Staff
. . . Business Manager
. . Assistant Business Manager
. Women's Advertising Manager
Women's Business Manager
NIGHT EDITOR: HOWARD FENSTEMAKER
The editorials published in The Michi-
gan Daily are written by members of The
Daily staff and represent the views of the
writers only.
Establish Price
Limitations . .
A SHORT TIME AGO President
Roosevelt appointed Leon Hender-
son as director of the newly-formed Office for
Price Administration and Civilian Supply. Al-
though a wise move, difficulties were foreseen
then and now they have materialized.
In the first place there is the question of au-
thority to enforce Henderson's decisions. The
President has been reported to be considering
some sort of legislation to back up the OPACS.
However, Henderson has his priority power and
threat of bad publicity to coerce balking manu-
facturers.
Much more important even than this is the
question of 'the general policy of OPACS. Should
an over-all ceiling on prices be established or
limits be placed merely on certain commodities?
At the present time increased industrial capacity
is demanded. This can either be obtained by
allowing prices to go their way and thus get
more capacity by the profit incentive or by lim-
iting prices with government encouragement of
increased capacity. Bernard M. Baruch, Chair-
man of the War Industries Board in the First
World War, favors an over-all price ceiling. His
theory is that in war-time the government deter-
mines demand for goods rather than the price
and that the Law of Supply and Demand, which
in peacetime is based on prices and competition,
takes a holiday.
BARUCH'S over-all ceiling recommendation is
based on his experience in the First World
War. At that time there were complicated com-
missions, advisory boards and divided authority.
In October, 1916, Woodrow Wilson set up a
Defense Advisory Commission to insure a steady
flow of war materials and make other drastic
moves if war really came. This commission was
superseded by the War Industries Board on
July 8, 1917. Baruch was made chairman with
real power of this board on March 4, 1918. Al-
ready, however, inflation, profiteering and ma-
terial shortages were prevalent. It is to avoid
this that the former War Industries Board
Chairman advocates an over-al? price ceiling.
So far OPACS has set price limits on only
.strategic war necessities, notably steel. Further
steps ought to be taken. Civilian consumption
will have to be decreased. Price limits should
be set on all basic commodities-not only those
basic for war but those needed by the civil
population. By remaining inactive OPACS is
giving rise to more profiteering, hoarding and
inflation. Rising food prices are not welcomed
by the public. Therefore, it seems that OPACS
and Leon Henderson would do wise to adopt
Bernard Baruch's advice and establish an over-
all price ceiling with Congressional authority
behind it if necessary.
- George W. Sallade
Paging Jack Garner!
A LMOST EVERY AMERICAN with a claim to
fame has had his say on the peace-or-war
issue. We have heard Roosevelt, Lindbergh,
Willkie, Hoover, Wickard, Landon, Knox, Ken-
nedy, Stimson, Lewis, Conant, Hutchins and now
Mrs. Roosevelt. Soon we shall hear, no doubt,
from Joe Louis Walter Hagen. Lefty Gomez.
:. A Few Facts
On Mr. Mascott
By TOM THUMB
AT LAST REPORT it seems that, the Army
willing, Touchstone and his Reply Churlish
will be with us for another semester, but the
campus will miss-I use the term freely-my
pessimistic predecessor, who signs his name
"Mascott," just like "Hitler" or "Napoleon."
I have often been asked by members of the
Mascott Fan Clubs, questions such as "Just
what kind of a guy is this Mascott?" and "Is it
true that Mascott gets that way by drinking
denatured alcohol?" or "If Mascott doesn't like
it here, why doesn't he go back to R-----, where
he came from?" Well, in this column I shall
attempt to answer these and other questions
about The Mascott.
I believe that I am in a position to write ob-
jectively a careful and analytical study of this
most complex and yet most simple of human
beings, as I have been his roommate for three
semesters, and some things about him are actu-
ally printable.
LAURENCE (JOE STALIN SENDS ME MON-
EY EVERY FRIDAY) MASCOTT worships
two gods: (1) Morpheus, and (2) Publicatius.
Publicatius keeps him happy when his name's in
the paper and Morpheus solaces himn when it
isn't. The notorious author of Fire and Water
is happy to read any type of item in the news-
paper so long as his name's in it. He even loves
derogatory comment, just so it's not rational.
When he received a letter calling him *&X6%,
Mascott ran to the Daily office, screaming with
glee, asking that it be printed in the letter
column.
The communication, however, was signed
merely "A Better American Than Mascott," and
that could have been practically anybody on
campus. (Ed. note-The Daily does not print
unsigned communications, but will withhold a
contributor's name if specified). So Mascott
printed it in his own column, rejoicing in his
"open-mindedness."
BUT A WEEK AGO when The Daily received
a logical, well-organized and convincing let-
ter condemning Mascott's views on education,
signed by a specific person, Mascott, seeing i
in the copy basket, removed and carefully
burned it.
Mascott takes pride in being the campus' prize
heel. He has constantly used the editorial col-
umns of The Daily in furthering his own ends.
Here is a typical example of Mascott's rational-
ization (Mich. Daily, Wed., Dec. 4, 1941):
"This being a senior is a terrific nuisance.
Things were so much easier when we were jun-
iors- no 'Ensians or senior pictures to worry
about-and we had' already solved the concen-
tration problem as well as having learned how
to get a C out of a course without too great
effort or too consistent attendance. As a senior
we don't seem to be able to do the latter. That's
why we openly apple-polish with Mr. Palmer
and give him free space in The Daily."
THIS IS MASCOTT-the same Mascott who
condemns our educational system for not
shoving learning down his throat. His intellec-
tual dishonesty is carried to the point where he
laughs off criticisms of his writings, dismissing
the efficacious arguments with such comment
as "You don't think I really mean that stuff I
write, do you?"
Mascott cannot make a statement or write
a column without using his favorite phrases.
Last semester his pet was "terribly, horribly,
totally." Recently he had a deep admiration
for "as such," and upon being criticized for the
continued usage of the term, translated it into
the Latin, "per se." His latest is "wholeheart-
edly."
This self-styled Bolshevik (he has since been
repudiated by the Bolsheviki) has his own ideas
on education, as implied in his farewell column.
The column itself read very well, and expressed
ideas with remarkable clarity of thought-for
Mascott-but if you were to ask him what his
idea of the perfect form of education would be,
the answer would again prove his complete in-
tellectual dishonesty. Mascott's ideal day in aij.
ideal college would probably be something like
this:
My Day
BY MASCOTT
1 p.m.-Arose bright and early this afternoon.
The fresh air smelled bad, but I soon becam
horribly, terribly used to it, as such.
1:05-Had my afternoon drag of marijuana
in the Angell Hall smoking room.
2:00-Attended wholeheartedly my two o'clock
class in dishonesty. It was exceedingly interest-
ing, per se. We discussed betrayal today. I
think I'll try it on my followers.
3:00-In music we learned another verse of
My Name Is Samuel Hall, Damn Your Hide.
4:00-Wrote a column for the Volkischer Beo-
bachter.
5-8-Alcohol, women, and so to bed to dream
of the downfall of free, economic enterprise.
That's Mascott, as he prefers to be known.
That's the campus heel-that's what he wanted
me to write.
But Mascott isn't such a bad guy. His col-
umns show sound, logical thinking and I know
I'll miss him next year. In fact I even like him
as a person, somewhat.
But the trouble with Mascott is that he won't
let you callhim anything but a heel. He pre-
fers to be known that way.
I guess maybe he is a heel at that.
P.S. If Mascott's mother reads this, I'm only
kidding. He paid me two bucks to write it.
All + 1-, +vwc1'o'i7g, n h cra ,'ncn . -zcn
TO THE EDITOR
In Re Metraux And Friend
W HY must the May Festival bear the brunt of
such Quixotic forays as have appeared in
the Letters column recently? I certainly find
no common ground with Mr. Metraux and very
little with his friend, except when he says that
some of Europe's peculiar intellectualism turned
out to be a chimera. One thing is sure-the
sooner we get over writing articles that sound
like an apologia pro patria sua, the better. The
idea that we are a nation of uncultivated semi-
baboons who show a few signs of favorable evo-
lution-"more to be pitied than scorned"-has
never appealed to me. And I have cherished for
some time the notion that I, an unregenerate
American, am slightly better than on jump ahead
of "the sod." By dint of effort I have cultivated
sufficient aesthetic and intellectual agility to
listen to a concert that runs all the way from
Handel to Ravel and still enjoy it. And I would
much rather make the transitions necessary
than run the risk of hearing an all-Wagner con-
cert (if I may indulge a prejudice), let alone
who Mr. Metraux's friend suggests-an all-Wag-
ner festival. One has the feeling that the down-
fall of continental culture was due in some meas-
ure to a surfeit of all-Wagner programs.
LET'S REMEMBER and rejoice that America
has now (and had before Hitler, too) better
orchestras than the continent. Denying that
calls for a citation for bravery in the face of
facts. And our programs are certainly quite
as excellent. The May Festival is just about
what any good May Festival of music should
be. The only changes we need would be brought
about if American audiences in general would
realize their own dignity and not feel they have
to clap long and loud for second-rate music or
inadequate soloists.
- R.
No American' Culture
THE NUMBER OF COMMENTS, approval and
rebuke, which followed the publication last
Saturday of my letter on the May Festival, has
enlarged considerably the scope of the discus-
sion. Especially an answer in Tuesday's issue
has transformed the whole affair into the eternal
opposition of the Culture of the Old World and
that of the New World. But more than this tra-
ditional struggle, the whole problem of culture
in the United States evolves from my letter and
the subsequent comments.
The friend of mine, who explained so clearly
the how's and the why's of the May Festival
weak programs, does not seem to realize very
important facts of intellectual life and cultural
pursuit.
The great mistake of many European writers
and philosophers has been to nationalize their
culture. The day some romantic author spoke
about German or French culture, was the begin-
ning of the end of thought as a factor in the
development of civilizations. Culture is univer-
sal and is not bound by continents and bound-
aries. Culture exists in America, not as an
American product, but merely as a product of
the spirit of many thinkers and many poets.
Never an American culture will ever exist. We
will have American civilization, American stand-
ards of living, American conceptions of the
world. Those are nearly material things. But
culture, the culture which is attained by the
"cultivation" of the major arts (music, sculp-
ture, poetry, drama) is entirely independent of
any material or geographical background. Cul-
ture is the pursuit of the highest standards in
aesthetics, which nearly automatically rever-
berate on the whole understanding of ethics.
I KNOW that there have been difficulties in
the raising of practice of culture in the
United States. I know that some religious tradi-
tions were afraid of that rise. Prejudices and
misunderstandings were abundant. But this is
no longer true. In 1941 America has one of the
best educational systems in the world. There
are more libraries and literary clubs than any-
where else on earth. The most common people
(of our generation) can be in contact with the
best.
Authors, critics, and professors publish every
month remarkable books on interesting and vital
questions. Newspapers consecrate whole pages
to the arts. Yet there are people who seem to
think that America has no culture-or merely
a culture still in adolescence. This is not true.
America has a great culture, it is the culture of
five continents and hundreds of countries. That
is why I felt amazed to see a responsible society
set up a series of concerts which, even according
to my friend, were not responding to the high
standards art requires.
But I doubt that, as a writer puts it, "Ameri-
cans are young people . . . there are many prob-
lems in the assimilation of many varied cut.
tures . . ." There are two grave errors in that
remark. Americans are not a young people;
they form a young "nation," which is quite
different. Then nobody is required to assimilate
these varied cultures. The miracle, the supreme
excellency, would be to have the cultures in
harmony.
AM NOT TRYING to bring to America the
"full-fledged intellectualism of Europe."
First intellectualism is never full-fledged since
it has far higher reaching purposes: the better-
ment of man. Then I did not come from Europe
n hrin+o, nvtia N+ +n M gin wdta n f rom
THE PACIFIST, as we all should know by now, con-
demns the use of force in the resolution of difference
between human beings. In the use of force he finds
the contradiction of the finest aspects of human per-
sonality-the denial of mankind's highest hopes. Vio-
lence is futile and brings about evils greater than those
which it is intended to eliminate; war never accom-
plishes anything. In the positive features of his philos-
ophy, the pacifist loop1s toward a world society
constructed on a foundation of completely equitable
relationships in the social, economic, and in every other
field.
What fault can be found in such an ethical system?
Admittedly, when at last we are willing to view it with
a vision unclouded by nationalistic prejudice, it at first
impresses us with what appears to be the shining clar-
ity of its utterly convincing logical structure. In fact,
each premise is so attractive and can be supported so
easily with a quantity of circumstantial evidence, that
it is doubtful that any specific part of the logical
fabric can be cut down. But at the same time every
proposition on which the pacifist builds his case is just
enough at variance with the fundamental principles
of the architecture of argument that, although nothing
will actually come apart, the whole structure carries an
air of unreality.
Suspect Because Absolute
TO begin with, there are certain absolutist doctrines in
pacifism, which, as we begin to see how few ab-
solute principles there are in human affairs, are sus-
pect simply because of their positivism. It can reason-
ably be questioned, for example, whether an absolute
division can be made between physical force and other
compulsive factors in human living. Actually the oc-
casions are few when the average man is influenced by
physical force or the threat of physical force in de-
termining his course of action, and yet how often can he
be said to make a free will decision? The merest scraps
of his life are left to his unforced judgment - whether
he shall go to the show in the evening or in the after-
noon - or whether he shall go home by way of Peter
or Paul streets. Every significant choice is closely qual-
ified by the fear of hunger, by the fear of group dis-
approval and by other factors the operation of which is
just as terrible and if anything more inevitable than
force. What is there to recommend any of these ele-,
ments of coercion over physical compulsion? It can
hardly be argued that long continued want or ostracism
is not just as demoralizing and as destructive of morals
as the use of force. All of which indicates some basis
for the belief that the distinction is simply one of
mechanics.
If we become doubtful as to the logic of classifying
force separatelW from other coercive factors in society,
we are naturally led to question the assumption that
the use of force is inherently evil. Many of the pacifists
themselves are confused on this point, for they will ad-
mit that they would employ violence to defend them-
selves from the attack of a madman. This position is
upheld by the argument that a person out of his mind
is not amenable to those influences of the spirit, the
promptings of conscience and so forth, upon which the
pacifist depends for the efficacy of his sacrifice. The
redemption of mankind, according to the pacifist form-
ula, will be gained from the cumulative effect of con-
tinuous appeal to the best instincts of human nature -
an appeal which cannot be made when these sensibili-
ties are blurred by insanity. What weakens this argu-
ment is the difficulty of defining insanity. Anyone who
has been thoroughly enraged recognizes the kinship
between fury and insanity - knows that brief moment
that is deaf to all reason and blind to all scruple. May
we not question, for example, whether a soldier, over-
come with nationalistic passion and inflamed with hat-
red for his foreign enemy may not appear to be so
nearly demented as to share with an insane man the
characteristics which authorize a suspension of the
practice of pacifism in restraining or combating him?
The unhappy inference which might be drawn from
these reflections is that force is totally evil only when
employed in that atmosphere of reasoned calm where
it seldom appears anyhow.
LETTER
S
Is The Pacifist Position Tenable?
As Others NO, says John Huston, '41-declares that absolute principles
are suspect-maintains that other 'than physical forces must
be recognized, and says that force maybe good.
john Huston, '41, in winter issue of Controversy, Student Religious Association Publication.
Editor's Note: This is the first of two articles by students on the question, "Is The Pacifist Position Tenable." Today's
article is written by the editor of Controversy. Tomorrow there will appear a defense of the pacifist position by Robert Besse,
Grad., of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
War May Be Useful
AND THUS the shadow of doubt lengthens from one
premise of pacifism to another. If violent methods
may not always-be mischievous, then perhaps war may
sometimes serve as a useful end. It has always been
difficult to reconcile the known consequences of partic-
ular wars with the theory that force unfailingly contains
within itself the defeat of its own purposes and the
corruption of the people who employ it. Now we are
permitted to hypothesize that the wars of Rome pre-
served an ancient civilization from early destruction by
the barbarians-that the' wars of Hellenic Greece and
of Revolutionary America cleared the ground for the
construction of new cultures. Even when we grant that
war is horrible, and that it is the virus of many of the
worst maladies which can afflict society, nevertheless
it remains a fact that when Marius hurled back the
maurauding Teutons in 102 and 101 B.C., he guaranteed
the growth of maturity of the most brilliant civilization
of the ancient world; and it remains a fact that when
Washington defeated the British at Yorktown he con-
tributed the first essential to the development of what
must be the most brilliant society of the modern.
This is not intended to hint that war after all may
be beneficial to the race or that we ought to slacken
our efforts to diminish its extent and forestall its ap-
pearance. Taken as a whole, war is evil; this is espe-
cially true of the wars of Europe where we see the dissi-
dent factions of an inspired but unbalanced civilization
scrapping miserably over the tattered remnants of their
common heritage. But it is not equally self-evi4ent
that war is always evil. Even when, we consider the
deleterious effect of war upon the public morals, a
ground where the pacifist regards himself unbeatable,
a strong case can be made for the argument.that a stout
resistance to a threatening foe involves less decay of
the human spirit than non-resistance and subsequent
submission to tyranny, We may well admit that some-
thing happens to the mind of a man who finds him-
self killing a fellow being; but we will not be rushed
into the conclusion that this brutalizing effect is neces-
sarily worse than the slow corrosion of the soul that
afflicts the victims of defeat and subjugation.
Practices Non-Resistance
OF COURSE the basis upon which the pacifist justi-
fies the practice of non-resistance even in national
terms, is the theory that resistance through the use of
force simply forges the link by which future outbursts
will be chained to ancient quarrels; non-resistance,
though involving great initial sacrifice, will break thw
catena of discord, and men will then live in peace. Per-
haps we have uncovered here the "be all and the end
all" of pacifism: a profound belief in the mutability of
human nature. By slow degrees the pacifists hope to
shift the compass of our minds and pilot us into the
unvisited seas of human concord. And what shall we,
say to them? To argue that we cannot change is to
confute the very hopes that keep us alive and striving
day after day. Nor does the circumstance that we
have not changed over the last three thousand years
necessarily preclude our improvement over the next
three thousand.
Still and all, we may find our answer in history.
There is something inescapable about a close inspec-
tion of our past and a contemplation of our savage
present: in every age we find mixed in varying propor-
tions the same lust for fighting and the same horror of
war-until at last the conclusion forces itself upon us
that man is in his very chemistry as much animal as
he is divine. He seems foredoomed to scratch over the
rubble of this world's ills-and to be able only for
brief moments to flap himself into that aerial realm
where, breathless, he catches the fleeting feeling of an
entirely different life he can never quite attain. War
is an aspect of our imperfections and while deplorable
in itself is often as purposeful as anythingwe do. If
we are told that in the long run it is futile, we may
reply that in the long run, anything we do is futile.
Whatever is mortal is in vain.
:>_.
i
tion of my friend is that, as many
others, he is the victim of the popu-
lar fallacy, that art is a kind of
amusement with not much effect on
our lives. But art, as much as othert
less noble crafts, requires precision
and concentration and specialization
to attain perfection. Medicine and
law are highly specialized branches
of human activities, so are all other
crafts, art comprised. Only concen-
tration and attention (progressive
and intensive betterment) can bring
the dreamed perfection. If a man
is capable to do that in the everyday
life, why is he not capable to do it
when dealing with art? Why not to
be precise, sober, discreet, concise,
in music when one uses all those
qualities in the making of a living?
DO OBJECT to the actual setup of
the May Festival. It hurts me
to see culture spoiled. I realize the
difficulties of perfectionment. But
difficulties are not an excuse. And
I do not excuse America, the Uni-
versity of Michigan Musical Society
in that case, for not trying to do
their best for a great cause, and for
culture.
- Guy Serge Metraux
DAILY OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
(Continued -from Page 2)
Churches
Carillon Recital: A special feat-
ure of the carillon recital to be pre-
sented from 7:15 to 8:00 p.m. Thurs-
day, May 15, in the Burton Memorial
Tower will be a duet by John Challis,
guest carillonneur, and Percival Price,
University Carillonneur. They will
play the "Second Rhapsody for Two
Carillonneurs," composed by Profes-
sor Price. The program will also in-
clude German and Chinese folk songs
and a composition by Debussy.
Exhibition: Paintings by Oscar Ko-
koschka, May 7-20, at the Rackham
Building presented by the Ann Arbor
Art Association and the Institute of
Fine Arts.
the Department of Zoology at 4:15
p.m. on Thursday, May 15, in the
Natural Science Auditorium. The pub-
lic is cordially invited.
University Lecture: Dr. Elmer A.
Culler,-Professor of Psychology at the
University of Rochester, will lecture
on the subject, "The Limiting Form
of the Learning Curve" under the
auspices of the Department of Psy-
chology at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May
45, in the W. K. Kellogg Founda-
tion Institute Auditorium. The public
is cordially invited.
University Lecture: Professor R. B.
Mowat of the University of Bristol,
England, will lecture on the subject,
"Literature and Society in Eighteenth
Century England" under the auspices
of the Department of History at 4:15
p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, in the
Rackham Lecture Hall. The public is
cordially invited.
Alpha Omega Alpha Lecture: Dr.
Henry E. Sigerist, William H. Welch
Professor of History of Medicine and
Director of the Institute of the History
of Medicine- at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity, will give a public lecture un-
der the auspices of Alpha Omega
Alpha, honorary medical fraternity,
in the auditorium of the William K.
Kellogg Foundation Institute to-
night at 8:15. The public is cordially
invited.
Lectures
University Lecture: Professor Otto
Neugebauer of Brown University will
lecture on the subject, "Problems and
Methods in Ancient Astronomy," (il-
lustrated) under the auspices of the
Department of Mathematics at 4:15
p.m. today in the Rackham Amphi-
thatr. The nhic is cordially in-
r
r
Erma Velber, immigrant from
Vienna now working as research as-
sistant in horticulture at Michigan
State College, is selling personal art
treasure to bring her friends from1
Events Today
-TMathematics Club will meet this