5Ath A
ANNIVERSARY
Air-
i gan
~Iaitii
EDITION
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1940
1.
Daily
ToC
Alumni
elebrate
Return
50 Yea
To
Old
Haunts
rs
Of
Publication
Two Views Of Union Ballroom Where 'Daily' Alumni Packed Celebration Banquet To Over flow
mng
"I
*C*r*i
Creators Of First
'Daily'
Struggled
hese two panoramas of The Daily's 50th Anniversary Cele&ration~Banquet, held last night in the Ball-
room of the Michigan Union, show almost all of the 450 loyal Daily staff members, past and present, who filled
the banquet ball to ovrerf lowing. Alumni were seated according to graduating classes, with- present staff
members scattered throughout the hall. The speakers' table is at the extreme right.
Former Daily Editors, Managers
Congratulate Daily On Progress
More
Than
450
* ,
*
To Gain Success
'Independent Association'
Fostered University's
First Daily Newspaper
Pioneering Editors
Fought Heavy Odds
By JUSTICE HENRY M. BUTZEL,
.'92L and HARRY D. JEWELL, '91
After a span of fifty years of a
busy life full of eventful experiences,
it is difficult to dig out from the re-
cesses of one's memory the happen-
ings of half a century ago. One's col-
lege life - those happy days - how-
ever, leave an indelible impression.
I shall discuss the Genesis of the Un-
iversity of Michigan Daily. Prior to
the fall of 1890, the news of the uni-
versity appeared in two weekly journ-
als, the "Chronical" and the "Argo-
naut," respectively, published by two
sets of competing fraternities. Each
carried a number of independents on
its staff. I was a "de jure independent
editori' of the Argonaut. What I was
"de facto" I never found out, for I
had no duties to perform. Each journ-
al was largely devoted to the group
of fraternities which it represented.
Neither was representative of the en-
tire University. Both were losing
ground.a
In the spring of 1890 a number of
us decided that the University needed
a real journel. The University had an
enrollment of 2153 students. Ann Ar-
bor was a small town of less than
10,000 inhabitants. We naturally
could not secure the support of those
sponsoring the jo~irnals we were at-
tempting to displace. The University
of Michigan Independent Association
was therefore organized. It was not
opposed to any society or group. Its
Frank Murphy
Congratulates
DailyIn Letter,
Former Daily editors and business
managers returning for the semi-cen-
tennial celebration of The Daily were
enthusiastic over the progress The
Daily has made in its years of con-
tinuous publication.
Finishad -make-up, adequate publi-
cation facilities, the banquet honor-
ing the contribution of each year's
staff 6o The Daily were praised by
many of the former student journ-
alists who worked to put out the
paper in cramped quarters and with
little more than campus news. The
following are comments made by
alumni who toured the Student Puli-
cations Building and critically scrut-
inized the current issues of the paper.
Harry P. Jewell, '91, former asso-
ciate editor: "The wonderful building
is very different from the hole-in-the-
wall in which we worked in the first
years of The-Daily's publication. News
at times became so scarce we had to
manufacture a story and then dis-
Draft Number 158
Catches Daily Man,
But Fellow Escapes
prove our own rumor. With the rap-
idly changing world with its abun-
dance of news, the problem now is
how to publish all of the news avail-
,able."
Harold McGee, '13E: "The Daily
represents a lot of work. Working
with small staffs, staffs with which
I was associated, did a great deal and
had a lot of fun."
Roscoe Huston, '02-'04L: "In my
opinion 'The Daily has always repre-
sented one of the best college news-
papers in the country. When I was
business manager we began the prac-
tice of publishing a Sunday paper. As
one of the first college papers to take
this step, The Daily was severely
criticized in some quarters. For its
all-around representative campus
news coverage, I believe it is excel-
lent."
Chesser Campbell, '17, advertising
manager of the Chicago Tribune:
"The increase of advertising space
has made for the progress of The
Daily. Bigger pages and better typo-
graphy are theynotablendifference in
The Daily of my time and the present
issues."
Fred Buesser, '37: "Students have
made The Daily great and through
student control and initiative it will
have a great future. The banquet
was a wonderful get-together of all
past and present students who have
a vital interest in its future."
Harry Folz, '11, former city editor:
The finished makeup and excellent
coverage of local news are improve-
ments in The Daily. Change from the
five column paper of my participa-
tion to the present seven column
points to the Daily's progress. In view
of the treatment given news by Uni-
versity students, I believe that stu-
dents are capable of operating and
managing their own publication."
Fenn Hossick, '14, former news
editor of The Daily: My experience
on The Daily did more for me than
all of my academic work in the Un-
iversity. Taking the responsibility for
publication of one of the leading col-
those who have participated on The
Daily and those who are now respon,
sible for its publication is a great
thrill. I believe the spirit represented
at this banquet will carry the paper
to greater heights in the future."
Prof. Frederick K. Sparrow, '25, of
the Botany department and former
sports editor: "The paper has made
remarkable progress. The greater va-
riety of news it offers is most out-
standing feature in its recent develop-
ment."
Conger Reports
Nazi Invasion
Of Netherlands
Ex-Daily Editor Witnesses
German Bomb Attacks
In Raid On Amsterdam
By BEACH CONGER '32
Being suddenly thrust into a run-
ning fight between German parachut-
ists and Dutch infantry is not a
pleasant experience, but it was this
writer's baptism under fire and prob-
ably made two other correspondents
and myself the first American report-
er's to come under German fire during
the German offensive in the west last
spring.
It was early the morning of May
10, the day the Nazi invasion of the
Netherlands began. All night we had
been kept awake in our Amsterdam
hotel by the bombing of Schiphol, the
nearby airport, and by anti-aircraft
guns. As the sun came up we could
see huge columns of black smoke ris-
ing from the airfield while occasional
German ships flew westward, followed
b the ineffectual white puffs of smoke
from exploding shells. Amsterdam
seemed quiet enough, so Edwin Hart-
rich, Norman Alley and I decided to
drive down to The Hague where, ac-
cording to early reports, fighting was
See Old Friends
At Uion Dinner
Toastmaster Harold Titus, '11, Introduces
Speakers Jayne, Roesser, Farrell, Wood,
Parker And Stone; Group Welcomed
By Professor Sunderland In Short Talk
Fifty years in The Daily's history were represented last night when
nembers of Daily staffs from 18904to 1940 met in the Union for the paper's
Golden Anniversary Banquet commemorating 50 years of continuous pub-
lication.
The program, sponsored by the Board in Control of Student Publica-
tions and arranged by Howard A. Goldman, '41, comprised a greeting by
Prof. Edson R. Sunderland of the Law School, introductions by toastmaster
Harold Titus, '11, and talks by Ralph Stone, '92L, Charles H. Farrell, '98,
Junius B. Wood, '00, Judge Ira W. Jayne, '05, John Bundy Parker, '17, and
William D. Roesser, '25.
.Professor Sunderland Issues Greetings
Professor Sunderland, who has been a member of the Board in Control
since 1917, commented on the range of activities Daily alumni have entered,
complimenting the paper on being a broad educational activity. He de-
scribed The Daily as giving courses in "diligence, accuracy, responsibility and
cooperation." He expressed regrets for the absence of Prof. William A.
McLaughlin, chairman of the Board, who is ill. The assets of The Daily
at present, according to Professor Sunderland, are $240,637.
Titus, former Conservation Commissioner of Michigan, is known for his
novels and short stories built around lumber camps and wild life of
Michigan He described the Celebration Banquet as probably an enjoyable
occasion for the younger Daily men and women, but more than that for
the older alumni, to whom it came as an "emotional experience."
The fourth managing editor of The Daily, former Regent Stone, who
joined the staff of the paper in time to help put out its 15th issue, recalled
that the paper was born in 1890 as a result of the feeling among independ-
ents that fraternities had dominated activities, especially journalistic, too
long. He reminded present staff members that when he was on the paper,
the editors had to act as delivery boys. At the time the University was the
largest in the country, having an enrollment of 2,400 students, Stone said.
No Room For Office
He also commented on the introduction of outside news to the ppper
which had confined itself to campus news when he was on the staff. He
advised that The Daily eliminate controversial discussions)on matters un-
relevant to campus life.
"Our office was where we hung our hats-and there was not usually room
even for that," reminisced Farrell, ex-mayor of Kalamazoo and former
member of the State legislature. He described the difficulty of the staff in
Your hearty letter has brought to
me once again the rare delight that
never fails to accompany an invita-
tion from Ann Arbor and the Uni-
versity. This one, extended by
The Daily, conveys its own par-
ticular feeling of warm pleasure.
I remember so well and grate-
fully the privilege that was mine
of becoming one of the staff, and
the interesting and satisfying ex
periences that followed. Especial-
ly I recall what fine fellows they
all were-no one ever had a more
congenial and attractive group of
associates.
It would be entirely superfluous,
then, to tell you how greatly I
should enjoy being present at the
So far as is known the only Uni-
versity graduate with registration
number 158 in the recent draft draw-
ing was a former sports night editor
on The Daily.
Dick Sierk, '40, who served on the
sports staff under Bud Benjamin in
1938-39, is the possessor of this dis-
tinction. Now employed as Director of
Publicity for the National Exchange
Club of Toledo, Ohio, Dick did not
know his number was 158 until after
the drawing, at which time he became
interested.
But the story does not end there.
He was not just one of some 6,000
suckers caught first because Secre-
tary Stimson happened to clutch the
capsule containing number 158. Hav-
ing had a premonition of what was
coming, Dick beat Unicle Sam to the
draw.
Only eight days before the fateful