I. PAGE-FOUR. THE -MICHIGAN, DAILY THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1941 THE MICHIGAN DAILY No, Vessels Ready For British Use LETTERS 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 newpaper. All rights of republication of all other matters herein also reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second class mal matter. Subscriptions during the regular school year by carrier $4.00; by mail, $4.50. REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTIZING W. National Advertising Service, Lnc, College Publishers RPresentative 420 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK. N. Y.= CHICAGO * BOSTON * LOs ANGELES * SAN FRANCISCO Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1940-41 THE LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT of the Maritime Commission has placed the Lend-Lease Bill debate in an incongruous position. British aid advocates are clamoring for immediate assistance, but the Commission in- forms us that no American merchant vessels are available for Britain's use. Besides a lack of, replacements for England's hard-pressed fleet, there is an immediate need for sixty ten- thousand ton cargo carriers to handle materials for our own defense program. The latest speeches and reports from Euro- pean belligerents indicate that the invasion of' England will not take place in the Channel, but on the high seas. The United States cannot be, considered an effective ally of England while we offer no defense against this threat. Britain needs ships even more than interceptor fighters or bombers. She needs ships to carry her com- merce and she needs more ships to protect these carriers. America has been releasing vessel af- ter vessel for her use, but our stock of over-age I-og Island types is nearing exhaustion, THE MARITIME COMMISSION was ruthless- ly frank in its report. England cannot load goods into American bottoms for at least nine months. In the meanwhile fighting planes, supplies and food jam American and Canadian docks. Our government is not blindto this emergency, but, it has not employed its plans effectively. For example, two hundred stan- dardized freighters, President Roosevelt's "ugly ducklings", have been authorized by Congress but remain unordered. The Danish vessels in various American ports are ready to be char- tered. but insurance difficulties are withholding their badly needed space. However the Maritime Commission is ponderously moving towards the only immediate, satisfactory solution to the problem. As soon as American and Danish pri- vate operators have convinced each other that the Scandinavian boats cannot be transferred, the Maritime Commission will step in and char- ter them for the United States Government. But the Commission cannot afford to wait. Every European vessel now tied up in an Amer- ican port will have to be chartered if Britain is to receive war materials during the vital months ahead of her. -- Dan Behrman The xeply Curish by TOUCHSTONE Editorial Staff t Hervie Haufler Alvin Sarasohn Paul M. Chandler Marl kessler Milton Orshefsky Howard A. Goldman Laurence Mascott Donald Wirtchafter Esther Osser Helen Corman Managing Editor . . . . Editorial Director . . . . . City Editor . . . . Associate Editor . . . . Associate Editor . . . . Associate Editor . . . . Associate Editor . . . . . Sports Editor .Women's Editor . . . . Exchange Editor TO T HE EDITOR Books And Hysteria To the Editor: Some indication of the hysteria and fasciza- tion being forced upon the American people at this time may be had from an investigation of what is being written and what books are being "plugged" by the press. On the other hand we have the historical and political distortions of Oliver Wiswell, the work of a "polite historian." Not only' does Roberts' book malign the revered leaders of the American Revolution and seek to discredit the people's forces which brought about independence from tyranny, but, subtly, it at- tempts~ to bribe America into an acceptance of Britain's present Tory leaders and support with arms and men of her Tory war. Roberts' love of the traitor Benedict Arnold is high treason itself to the principles of American democracy. Not so polite but equally "plugged" is Jan Valtin's Out of the Night. Valtin, whose police record in this country was not for political mo- tives but for common robbery, who came here as Richard Krebs, Gestapo spy, wrote his book in collaboration with Isaac Don Levine, a pro- fessional Red-baiter (who shares in the profits, see Times Book Review and Newsweek), and benefited from the conspiracy of leading review- ers. For instance, Cue magazine's reviewer gives the book his blessing but adds, "it would be folly to trust a man like Valtin." That this is not a true anti-Nazi book is obvious. Anti-fascist leaders in Germany like Dimitrov and Andree are slandered. The Book-of-the-Month Club, for its special edition, cut many passages, but left the pornography and anti-Soviet chapters intact. As an example of what one can do with pornography and sadism and an appeal to the basest in human nature, it is recommended. As an anti-Soviet concoction of slanders and lies it is superb. What are we coming to in America when such a book, attacking without the slight- est factual substantiation a country with which we are not at war, the Soviet Union, and made appealing by obscenity, is cynically and hypo- critically lauded to the skies by our leading papers and magazines? In remarkable contrast is the Dean of Can- terbury's Soviet Power, written in quiet, scholar- ly fashion by a churchman and a gentleman. Here is a book which does not purport 'to "tell all" nor to answer all questions. But in its sin- cerity and straight-thinking it stands up against Out of the Night like modern science against me- dieval witchery and superstition. Here is our choice, the best-seller of a degenerate or the document of a Christian leader. We had better choose wisely both in our reading and our think- ing. A campaign of silence has been conducted against the Soviet Power and it is high time the common reader indicated his choice. The Dean of Canterbury for me. What about you? - Student Reviewer 11i Ii ~f !/ r r3 \ il11 17~ "r'~"1 -r - - -- I ,w & '' , One More Spring 'I'I -~ 't X n s{ N I /p i ,/ f ff t At'!, - ! Y Business Staff Business Manager . . Assistant Business Manager Women's Business Manager Women's Advertising Manager Irving Guttman . Robert Gilmour . Helen Bohnsack Jane Krause NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT SPECKHARD The editorials published in The Michi- gan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. Free Messages To The Nazis . . THROUGH THE COURTESY of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, the American public was recently amused by an announcement that the Nazis were willing to pay for any messages under twenty-five words wired them from America. This offer called for many insulting messags. Samples: "Please broadcast an account of Hit- ler's funeral," "Have Hitler and Mussolini sing "There'll Always Be An England," The subject of this offer was also most inspiring to the car- toonists and columnists and occupied the Amer- ican press for several days. Why this offer by the Nazis? It can not be supposed that Hitler and his Ministry of Propa- ganda are so completely unaware of the feeling of the American public towards them and their regime, nor can we assume that the uncompli- mentary remarks could have shocked the Ger- man officials as unexpected information from America. ITMAY NOT BE TOO FAR FETCHED to be- lieve that some of these messages carried qualified information of some value, but even so there are still many advantages to be derived from this experiment. At least some of these telegrams will be materially useful for internal as well as external propaganda. Some of them, especially the more serious ones, even though critical, may suggest improvements in the meth- ods of propaganda. Encouraging remarks may indicate possible friends and supporters for future plans and in any case interest aroused will direct public opinion towards their short wave broadcasts. The Ministry announced that they asked the wireless to endthe reception of telegrams after receiving some 4,500 of which only 250 were frivolous. -Rosemary Ryan Hillel Players And Its Work .. . IN ANSWER to the need for lab- oratory work and practical applica- tion of experimental work in drama, there are only two organizations regularly functioning on this campus. The consistently fine work done by Play Production is well-known to the student body. However, the Hillel Players' activities are less familiar to the students at large, al- though the group has been in existence for several years. The Hillel Players are unique among campus organizations, since they are the only drama group completely student run and directed. Each year they present one major production, usually either student written, as were "Roots" and "Hospital Hill" of 1938 and 1939, or containing a socially significant theme. "The Gentle People" (1940) and the current offering "Success Story" fall into the latter class. ALTHOUGH this major production receives more notice than the rest of the group's activities, the latter have a much wider scope. During the school year, the group makes trips ,. -11.+tx..4m4t+,10 1t Mfihiin an uresen- o,,^ ,,...-.. DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN ACCORDING TO MY WEATHER CALENDAR, the weather today will be Damp. Sunrise 6:26; Sets 5:57. Moon sets 1:03 a.m. First Quarter. Check this for veracity. If your stomach is upset, well you know. Saw last Friday night the most amazing dis- play of the Northern Lights I have yet seen, and stood in the middle of the street in front of my rooming house, exposing my body to the on- slaughts of reckless drivers, craning my neck upward, to stare deep into the marvel. Green shafts shooting up from all around the horizon, brittle looking and shifting, and right overhead a wide swath of red, shading into purple and blue at the edges. The air clear like water, so you didn't think about it being air at all, and the stars swimming in it, behind the color of the Lights, as if you could dive for them if there were a roof high enough. The time, 2:30 a.m., and most of the world asleep. Wish there could be command performances for the people who go to bed nights, but that's what they get. Such things bring me right up to the mystic fringe, and it takes as much as half an hour and brush- ing my teeth before I can remember there is a world which gets so it seems important to me. SATURDAY NIGHT to the Cass in Detroit, paid for my tickets, row N in the balcony, and saw very fine job done by Florence Reedl and Douglass Montgomery on Night Must Fall, which I never managed to catch when Robert Montgomery did it in the films. I am a guy who often resents things a great deal, though I try not to show it. For all others who find them- selves such, I recomnmend a serious study ofI Danny in said play, and a little pondering over the idei behind the thing. 1 was worried aboutI being insane, but my girl said not, and she ought to know, though it did enter my mind that she was prejudiced God knows why. And for those who do not approve of self-identification, the aesthetic pleasure of watching what starts out as a good old melodrama going along into a rounded out work of art, and punching at the vitals with powerful last act should be enough. To Florence Allen Small (others may skip this graph if they wish) simply thanks very very much. The times when I don't think I'm so good are all too many, and a letter like yurs puts me back where people ought to be put back once in awhile. For the most part the only letters I get are ones from people who disagree or agree with those not very profound political columns, and though it's nice to know people, a few anyhow, read the thing, until yesterday my count of the letters of just plain praise, oh mortal weakness, was kept on the lower corner of the thumbnail I never clean. I shall frame your letter, and put you on my list of people' who understand me, and burn incense to your memory every high noon. and will praise Allah for your coming. Really, thanks very much, So long until soon. duction. We have often been told of the need for experimental drama work on the campus. Independent organizations like the Hillel Play- (Continued from Page 2) appear as soloist with the University ____._--_-_~~_~~~ Symphony Orchestra in a concert at be given Thursday, March 13, 3-6 8:30 p.m. Monday, March 10, in Hill p.m. in room 207 Economics Build- Auditorium. No admission fee will ing be required. Zoology 31 (Evolution): Examiina- Exhibitions Lion for those absent from the final, will be held in Room 3089 N.S. on An exhibition of Currier and Ives Tuesday, March 11, beginning 1:00 prints and of work by Yasuo Kuni- p.m. yoshi is open afternoons from 2 to 5 in Alumni Memorial Hall, through Mathematics 350 (b), Short Course: March 7. Che I>" Pecimc* Michigan Union. Eligible committee- men bring their eligibility cards. La Sociedad Hispanica presents Professor Julio del Toro in a lecture on "Cuba y Los Estados Unidos," illustrated with slides today at 4:15 p-m. in 231 Angell Hall. J.G.P. Program Committee will meet at 4:45 p.m. today in the League. The number of the room will be posted. If unable to be there, call Virginia Drury, 6562. Central Committee will meet to- night at 7:00 in the Council Room A the League. Call Shirley Silver, 2-3119, if unable to be there. German Play Try-outs: Tryouts for the German play will be held to- day and Friday from 2-4:30 p.m. in room 300 South Wing. All students interested are invited. I This course on "The Plateau Problem" being given by Professor Beckenbach, Exhibition, College of Architecture will meet on Mondays and Fridayi and Design: A collection of drawings from 3:30 to 5, in 3201 A.H. in various phases of Design from Pratt Institute in New York, and an All students interested in a special exhibition of the last semester's work Allstuent mtresed a pecalin Design by students of teClee non-credit course in remedial reading i sig w s nts othe College, are invited to attend an organization are being shown in the third floor ex- meeting today in Room 4009 Unizer- hibition room, Architecture Building. sity High School, at 4:00 p.m. Open daily 9 to 5, except Sunday, through Mar. 10. The public is in- vited. WASHINGTON-British prospects in the Bal- kans are anything but rosy. Confidential figures regarding -the strength of the Nazi army give some idea of what the British-Greek forces are up against. Most people don't realize it yet, but Hitler now has 600,000 men in Rumania and Bulgaria, in addition to the Bulgarian army of 150,000 men, The Bulgars probably won't be used against the Greeks, but will guard the southern border against Turkey.' Against this, the British have one division~ about 20,000 men-in Salonika. More are on the way, but it takes time to transport them. The Greek army has been concentrated in Albania, at the extreme western end of Greece. While more forces have been switched to Macedonia recently, it is a tough job for a little country to spread its forces so thin. Another important factor is that Germany has been preparing for' this move during three months. The German General Staff is the most thorough military organization in the world. Not once in this war-unless it be the reputed at- tempt on England in September-has Hitler moved unless he was completely prepared. And from the first moment Italy was set back in Greece last November, Hitler has been preparing for his present drive on Greece: Concerts P'fessor Palmer Christian will Faculty Concert: Hardin Van Dec- . 'Exhibit ns: Ceramic oemeet those who are to sing in the sen, Baritone, and Mary Fishburne, Mrc S -am The Nem. Clcion Great Vespers, planned for March 27, Pianist, will present a concert at 4:15 March -15, 2-5 p.m., Rackham t the School of Music Auditorium p.m. Sunday, March 9, in the LydiaBui Stelae from Ko Abu Bill. From today at 4:15 p.m. It is necessary that Mendelssohn T tied .b Ava C - Ithe University's excavation in Egypt. all persons namedaby the fraternities in Case. The recital will be open to March 5-15, 2-5 p.m., Rackham the general public. Building. . Christian Science Organization: Ancient Chinese Bronze Mirrors. Mr. Charles V. Winn, C.S.B. will de- Student Graduation Recital: .JQ March 5-15, 2-5 p.m., -Rackham liver a lecture on Christian Science Wheeler, '41, Pianist, will give a rt-- in the Rackham Auditoruim tonight cital at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, March 9, tat 8:00.- in the Lydia Mendelssohn Tlhela e. iA C :t res His program, complimentary to 1e Iw University Lecture: Colonel W. H. Seminar in Oriental Religions: Mr. general public, is in partial fulfill- Draper, of the Selective Service Head- Paul Lim Yuen will talk on "Confu- ment of the requirements for tne quarters, U.S.A., will lecture on the cianism" at the second meeting of tht Bachelor of Music degree. Mr. Wheel- subject, "The Selective Service Act seminar in Oriental Religions at Lane er is a student of Prof. Joseph Brink- and the College Student" under the Hall this evening at 7:30. The seln- man. auspices of the University Commit- mar is open to the public. ---- tee on Defense Issues today at 4:15 University Symphony trche ra p.m. in the Rackham Lecture Hall. Seminar in Religious Symbolism: Concert: Arthur Hackett, Tenor. will The public is cordially invited. producing religious symbols will meet __ ___ ___._._ _-_____-_- in Lane Hall tonight at 7:30. Ayy b The £Cctatchi pad' FDR, Jr.'s Law Firm, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., is only a clerk in the New York law firm of Wright, Gordon, Zach- ry and Parlin, yet he has already performed yeo- man service for one of the partners. Partner Charles C. Parlin returned from Eur- ope on the same clipper with Harry Hopkins. At Trinidad the British made the usual inspec- tion of baggage. In Parlin's bags they found a moving picture film taken in Germany. Parlin; had visited Berlin, had accepted the Nazi invitation to take shots of Berlin areas which the British claimed to have suffered heav- ily from bombing. The pictures showed hardly a scar. So the British seized the film and, for good measure. seized all of Parlin's other belongings University Lecture: Dr. C. N. H. Long, Sterling Professor of Physiolo- ical Chemistry, Yale University, will give the following lectures under the auspices of the Department of Bio- ogical Chemistry: March 7: "Endocrines and the Con- trol of Carbohydrate Metabolism." 4:15 p.m.,. Rackham Lecture Hall. March 8: "Chemistry and Physi- ology of the Adrenal Cortex." 11:00 a.m.. Rackh'am Amphitheatre. The public is cordially invited. Events Today 'The Society of Automotive Engin- eers will meet in the Michigan Union tonight at 7:00, instead of 7:30 as previously announced. It is import- ant that all members be present tc make plans for the trip to the Chrys- ler Engineering Lab. next Monday. Transportation Club will meet to. Michigan Dames: Art Group will have a meeting tonight at the home of Mrs. Carl Weller, 1130 Fair Oaks Parkway at 8:00. Mrs. Harold W. Titus will give a talk on "The Art of the Print." The interior Decorating Group of the Faculty Women's Club will meet at 3:00 p.m. today at the League. Mr. Stephan Munising of the J. L. Hudson Co. will speak on "Working Color into Your Surroundings." Each member may bring two guests. Coming Events Alpha Lambda Delta: Luncheon at 12:00 noon Friday, March 7, in the League, either in the Russian Tea Room or in the grill alcove. Bring your dues if you haven't paid them. Tryouts for the men's riding club, - _. . - - .,1, . 1 1 , , ,, . 3. W e T HE LATEST thing in college sub- jects is knitting, instituted this, semester for girls at Wayne Univer- sity. One matter was not explained: what to tell the boy friend when hel finds you doing homework. We are proud to report that we have the same size feet as Michi- --_ _._ - . . . ,{ .,. .. . 1. - A fi l