PAGE FOUR
THE iICEIG N ILY
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. . .. . . ........... . .....
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
A
WEEK'S
REFLECTIONS
'[raiin Camp?
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.
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rights of republication of all other matters herein also
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rHICAGO * BOSTON * LOS ANdELES * SAN FRANCISCO
Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1940-41
Editorial Staff
Hervie Haufler
Alvin Sarasohn
Paul M. Chandler
Karl 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
S . . . omen'sEditor
. . . . Exchange Editor
By HERVIE HAUFLER and ALVIN SARASOHN
SO TODAY our names return to the masthead.
We have had a week's vacation - enforced
and without pay, and we return to work duly
chastised and penitent for our well-publicized
sins.
We haven't been idle, even though we were off
the payroll. A lot of things have happened, and
no one can keep our brain cells from working,
suspension or no suspension. Most important
local event to think about was, of course, the
disciplinary action against the American Stu-
dent Union.
NOW we want to make it clear from the first
that we feel no more friendly toward the
ASU than toward the Michigan Party. If any
group on this campus has any clearer right to be
sore at the ASU than we of The Daily have, we
would like to know about it. With the ASU out
of the way our job should be a comparative snap.
No more will we have to wonder about how much
of their voluminous, and very often cogent,
letters we can run without leaving ourselves
open to charges of discrimination. No longer
will we have to try to foresee whom this charge
will upset or that one enrage. Without the ASU
there is a slim possibility that one day someone
besides us will realize that The Daily is not a
Red sheet.
But despite these things we don't like to see
the ASU go. We are apprehensive about some-
thing we like to call The Great Oneness - the
reduction of all viewpoints to one common de-
nominator, the cancellation of checks and ob-
stacles, the streamlining of all America into
one pattern of unquestioning thought. We pull
the big volume of 1917 Dailies out of the files
and look at the yellowed pages, see how students
were quieted, professors ejected. And we wonder.
It is clear to us that there is a very sharp
difference of attitude among the disciplinarians
in this case. Some of the principles involved
are apparently sincere in saying that they are
not motivated by the ASU's radical policies. The
only indictment they make is that the ASU has
broken University regulations and must be chas-
tised. They would put the Michigan Party on
probation if it pulled the same type of shady
tricks and if its finances were equally as shaky.l
Others were manifestly out to get the
American Student Union because it is radical.
THE ONE VIEWPOINT we can condone, with
reservations; the second we firmly and hotly
oppose -not because we are radicals, not be-
cause we are bedfellows of the ASU, but because
we believe there can still be tolerance here and
because we think this is a hell of a time to start
knocking down opposition that may be just as
right as you are.
We don't think an organization ought to
be excused or propped up simply because it
expresses the opposite, checking side of the
case. If the ASU is guilty of misconduct, all
right. But if any part of the reason for the
ASU's emasculation lies in the fact that af
gang of reactionary Red-baiters saw in
America's present fifth-column jitters a,
chance to clean out the opposite camp and
remove these "annoyances" and deterrents,
then we are so opposed that we could gladly
get hoarse arguing about it.
We personally believe in America First in-
stead of William Allen White. To the Stop-
Hitler, DL .d - A ,- i, y - Aiding -the -Allies
forces, we are already dangerous and annoying
heretics. How long will it be before we are
liquidated so that The Great Oneness can roll
a little faster? What infractions are we guilty
of, so that the zealots can (just supposing this is
the process followed) thrust them before the
disinterested but strict disciplinarians and say,
"Do your duty"?
We look at the files of 1917. They tell us a lot.
* **
AS FOR our own personal case, we are intrigued
with the idea that right now we could be
the Messiahs for another "academic freedom"
campaign if we had wanted it. We could be
carrying on the torch of the Case of the Nine
Students. If we had accepted the offers, we
would probably be trying to find a Masonic
Temple or a wind-swept baseball field where we
could hold a protest meeting.
What irks us about all this is that it had to
happen at all. Right at present we have no de-
sire to get our names into print except when we
sign a Daily editorial according to the dictates
of that little box under the masthead. We think
it was unnecessary for this business to have been
dragged outside the Publications Building and
served up to fact-manglers who managed to work
up all sorts of misstatements that didn't help us
or the University.
The Associated Press quotes Dean Bursley as
saying this was a matter of "negligence and bad
judgement". To us that word "negligence" has
a harsh ring that we don't believe we deserve.
If we had never read the letter, did not know
what was going into The Daily, we would gladly
have admitted negligence. But we read it, com-
pared it with that first letter from the conserva-
tive Judiciary Council (which owes just as many
apologies as we or the ASU, but which has not
been forced, or even asked, to make them) and
decided it was only fair to give the ASU as much
freedom as possible. The earlier letter by the
Judiciary Committee which assumed that the
nine students were dismissed last summer be-
cause of their political affiliations, had aroused
no protest. However, we agree now that it was
a mistake in tact to permit such unjustifiable
attacks - of either group - to be printed in
The Daily. We are continually being lulled into
the idea that a letter box is a letter box and not
an editorial column, and now we must realize that
many people do not recognize the difference.
EAN BURSLEY told us he believed the AP
misquoted that line about "negligence". It
it difficult, however, to right these mistakes.
We say these things not out of resentment
toward the Board. We know these men and
respect them very much. Our only hope is that.
if a similar case comes up, they will learn from
their mistakes in handling this one.
Maybe we can forget the whole business and
get back to work.
- 4
KID AD(
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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: GERALD E. BURNS
The editorials published in The Michi-
gan Daily are written by members of The
Daily staff and represent the views of the
writers only.
How Self-Sufficient
Is America? ..
IN YEARS OF INSECURITY, the
American people have made much
ado about the problem of American self-suffi-
ciency. They have been taught to believe that,
among the nations of the world, the United
States is the only one able, in an extreme emei
gency, to throw a non-intercourse wall around
its shores and to provide for all its needs sans
external aid or cooperation. But, when the
facts are examined, such a belief is seen to be
mere grasping at pro erred straws.
Even admitting that the United States is a
country peculiarly blest with an abundance of
varied resources and is self-sustaining to a de-
gree not approached by any other nation in
the world, it cannot follow that the United States
is a country completely self-sufficient; for the
technology of modern industry has assumed an
extrnely complex nature. So complex has tech-
nology become today that it would be ludicrous
for any modern nation even to attempt self-
sufficiency measures. The demand created by
industry for materials places on a single coun-
try a burden too great to be borne without out-
side help. The United States is no exception.
MANY ARE THE STUDIES that have been
made on the subject of American raw-materi-
al deficiencies, all with a view toward upholding
the self-sufficiency theory. Let us consider the
methods suggested for getting at this problem
of increasing our production in a time of crisis.
First, there is the "stock pile" idea. This simply
means storing up materials in times of peace
with an outlook toward the future. But, since
goods are known to be relatively perishable, it is
doubtful whether we could stock pile for a very
long period of time.
Another plan that has been urged concerns
itself with developing those deficiency resources
within the United States and adapting tropical
crops to the temperate ;zone environment of
America. Yet minerals either ocu ord6''not
occur within a country's bounds; and experience
has already shown that crops do not just adapt
themselves to a new climate. Recognizing this, ,
our analysts have come up with the "substitutes
policy" proposal which is even now being prac-
ticed somewhat. Develop substitutes to take
the place of those products in which we are de-
ficient, is the kernel of their argument.
Such a policy, however, would take both time
and a great deal of money. The chances are
strong also that the substitute product would
be inferior to the original. We are making syn-
thetic rubber today with a considerable measure
of success but we still are not sure that it can
satisfy all the requirements for rubber use. Our
experimentation has shown that we can produce
synthetic rubber at a cost varying from thirty-
two to forty-eight cents a pound. British Ma-
laya, on the other hand, can produce the real
rubber for six cents a pound.
THE TIME OBJECTION to the "substitutes
policy" comes into sharp focus when we dis-
cover that our present annual synthetic rubber
capacity can only keep us going for a period of
three weeks. We have to build up that capaity
- which is no mean trick.
And, a last objection. If we were to build a
aviat nw svnthetic rbhhr indstry we would
_L. _ ____ ____
... ..
THE REPLY CHURLISH
By TOUCHSTONE
I QUOTE FIRST from a carbon copy of a letter
sent to the editor of a literary magazine at
another and smaller school by Dr. Frank E. Rob-
bins in answer to an earlier letter from the
editor asking to exchange copies with Michigan's
literary publication. Dr. Robbins says he has
referred the matter to the editor of Perspectives.
"This," he goes on, "is the nearest thing we have
at present to a student literary magazine at the
University of Michigan. It appears four or five
times a year as a supplement to the Sunday
Michigan Daily, and is the present-day progeny
of a long line of ancestors which in years past
have died from various causes, mostly natural."
The second sentence is a sad but all too true
story. But, Dr. Robbins, how should I construe
that "nearest thing which we have at present?"
Because I have gone through stacks of beauti-
fully printed, handsomely bound literary maga-
zines, quite obviously aided financially by the
small schools where they are published, and
the quality of writing in these typographically
praiseworthy efforts is far below that which
:seems to be more or less taken for granted in
Perspectives. The Hopwood awards have drawn
to this campus many writers with far more talent
than is common among student theme writers
or the devotees of the personal essay commonly
called "writers" by their fond professors and
their easily impressed classmates. I think Per-
spectives, "the nearest thing which we have to a
student literary magazine" here is also probably
the best student literary magazine in the country.
Hypothetically let's put it this way. A large
state university, called by some "the Harvard
of the Middle West", but with a cultural indi-
viduality of its own, offering to the growing
literary movement of this region prizes amount-
ing to ten thousand dollars a year for creative
writing, publishes five times a year on cheap
pulp news stock paper, in seven-point type, the
type used for regular news columns, a literary
magazine, distributed free as a supplement to
the college newspaper, just as the college news-
paper also distributes free supplements on fash-
ions and travel. The staff of the magazine is
not paid, there is no room for advertising in
the twelve pages which are expected to contain
a fair selection of short stories, essays, poetry
and reviews of important books done by a cam-
pus which is probably the most writing-con-
scious in America, perhaps with the exception
of Columbia University and the University of
prone to despise anything that's free. On the{
other hand, past flops of Michigan literary maga-
zines, "ancestors which in years past have died
from various causes, mostly natural," would
indicate that there is always needed financial
aid for a serious publication. But when you say
"nearest thing we have," smile, Dr. Robbins, for
the failure lies not with Perspectives nor with
standards of writing here at the University.
Always hypothetically.
AS ALWAYS, too much to say, and not enough
room to say, it, so I'll finish off with the
columnist's last resort, rambling notes. The Daily
has adopted for the time being a small puppy,
of indiscriminate ancestrage, known td the dot-
ing journalists, their hardened faces lighting up
with a strange sentiment, as "Typo." All regular
functions of the fast-paced newspaper staff have
been throw into disorder by the less regular func-
tions of this latest addition or edition to or of
the paper as the case may be . . . . In today's
paper, the sports staff is putting out the women's
page, and the women's staff is putting out the
sports page, and if you love me like I love you,
and isn't life just too cute when you have bore-
dom thrust upon you. Insanity indeed; we are
merely tired . . . . Special note to G. H. Smith,
ghost writer, 130 Morningside Drive, New York,
N. Y. Dear Mr. Smith, if I may call you such.
Received your postcard in re did I want you to
write anything for me. Hell no, Mr. Smith. Will
not "Save!" nor "File!" your communication.
Warning to all who are blearily considering do-
ing business with Mr. Smith. One trusting stu-
dent at an Eastern college handed in a sociology
paper, written in the inimitable style of ghost
writer Smith. Result, student nearly thrown
out on his ear, student asked ungently to take
course again, tears, mental distress for student.
Cause, four other duplicates of paper handed in
by members of same class. . . Mike Dann received
a package in the mail recently. In it, a severed
and well preserved animal tail. *The note with
it said "For your information this is the only
kind of a tail (tale) a rat should carry. Sirs-
cerely." Note unsigned. For information of
person who sent tail, tail is that of a muskrat.
Mike is tracing down sender through zoology
department. Watch out. So long until soon.
Froslh Grow Shorter This Year
DRAMA
From the smirking oriental-harem
opening chorus to the vegetable bou-
quets presented at the final curtain,
this year's Union Opera "Take A
Number" kept its first night audience
in an acceptable quota of stitches-
and the laughs, after all, are the
measure of its success.
Handicapped first of all by an ex-
tremely short rehearsal period which
was evidenced last night in the Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre by an unpro-
fessional production, "Take A Num-
ber" gained pace as it proceeded and
succeeded in giving the campus
something different in entertainment.
When football players went sexy with
suggestive slithers and startling songs,
the University's male contingent en-
joyed howling at their peculiar bro-
ther counterparts, and coeds sheep-
ishly acknowledged the feminine an-
tics with applause. It is apparently
a fact that all a union opera needs
is an all-male cast to go over.
This year's production bettered last
,eason's "Four Out of Five" for the
most part in the music. Two of the
.ongs in particular rate Hit Parade
selection, "Your Page In My Mem'-
rie's Is"Blue" and "A Dream And IL"
Chan Pinney, the male lead, put them
over with engaging histrionics, aid-
ed in the background by 'girly leg
lines,' which even though they did
lack "Four Out Of Five's" origina
dance routines, made up for it with
more precision and grace.
A great improvement in the whole
show would have been the injection
of more enthusiasm in the cast itself,
for more than one scene lacked life
and more than one line failed to click
thanks to "dead-pan" expressions. It
is to be hoped that this failing was
merely an all-round' attack of first
night jitters. It is also to be hoped
that something can be done for future
performances about a corny pit or-
chestra.,
The only actual touches of musical
comedy polish, which usually dis-
tinguishes Harvard's Hasty Pudding
Show and Penn's Mask And Wig pro-
ductions, were added by the Varsity
Men's Glee Club, a well-trained,
smoothly performing outfit, and by
Bob Lewis, a Groucho Marx-like com-
edian who seemed to have stepped out
of the old vaudeville days with his
professional leers and Jerry Colona
singing antics.
However, even more than adequate
costumes and scenery could not tem-
per the opera's worst fault-and that
was its unforgivable length.
And to praise where praise is due
"Take A Number" presented a goo
musical comedy plot embellished wit
well-directed continuity and excel-
lently cast actors. It is a show worth2
seeing. More than that, if the Mimes
production committees can rectif3
its mistakes in show of undue lengt
(which characterized last year's opera
also), inadequate preparation anc
amateurish assembling, the Unior
nn~o wll l-, Pwrihnrneservin
From the opening pulse of the Leo-
nore overture, the audience at Hill
seemed to sense that it was in for
an unusually inspired performance.
Koussevitzky swept the orchestra up
to a pitch which it never left through-
out the concert. He demonstrated
finger-tip control over precision and
dynamics, and that control hardly
wavered ali night. Suffice to say
that it was performed beautifully.
Beethoven's Fourth Symphony,
which followed was given a superb
interpretation. Movement followed
movement in perfect cohesion, the
stirring first giving way to the warm,
lovely melody of the second, that
melting into the stronger allegro vi-
vace, the whole nicely summed up
in the last.
Then came a truly monumental
work, one so much so, that we felt
the adjective had been wrongly be-
stowed on the majority of symphonic
works that have found their ways in-
to the concert hall.
Shostakovitch's Fifth symphony is
a very different work, and, for all
it is not the conventional type of
thing, was exceedingly well received.
Its unusual, heavy orchestration,
(shades of Hector Berlioz) and light-
ning changes of rhythm, dynamics,
and color, must have produced on
some ears the sensation of wild dis-
order. That is not the case at all.
We found it very coherent, very musi-
cal, and well balanced.
It is a piece of tremendous im-
pulse, teeming with strong life. It
demanded, and Veceived, the entire
attention of the audience. It was
marvelous music, splendidly interpre-
ted and performed by a group of the
finest musicians in the country.
-K.K.
.
MUSIC
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 2)
Those men who have not turned in1
their eligibility cards will be droppedt
from the roll, as will those men who
have had three or more unexcused
absences.
Al-Thaqafa Society will presentI
Mrs. Howell Taylor, formerly resident
in the Near East, speaking on "Sec-
ond World War from the Dardanelles
to the Suez," tonight at 8:00 in the
Rackham Amphitheatre. The meet-
ing is open to the public.
Michigan Sailing Club: First meet-
ing Winter Lecture Series. Subject:
"Basic Definitions and Principles of
Sailing." All sailors welcome. Michi-
gan Union, 7:30 tonight.
Ann Arbor Independents will meet
today at 4:45 p.m. in the League.
All members please attend. Very
important.
Phi Kappa Phi semi-annual dinner
and initiation of candidates will be
in the Ethel Fountain Hussey Room
of the Michigan League tonight at
6:15. Professor Mischa Titiev of the
Department of Anthology will talk
on "The Hopi-A Peaceful People."
Reservations still available.
The Young People's Socialist
League will meet today at 4:30 p.m.
in Room 302 of the Michigan Union.
Everybody is welcome:
Seminar in the Bible meets today
at 4:30 p.m. in Lane Hall.
J.G.P. Central Committee will meet
todav at 5 o'clock in the Council
Hillel Institute of Jewish Studies:
The class in Marriage and the Family
will be held tonight at 8:00 p.m. at
the Hillel Foundation.,
The regular Thursday afternoon
"P.M." will be held at the Hillel Foun-
dation this afternoon from 4:00 to
6:00. All Hillel members and friends
are cordially invited to attend.
Garden Section, Faculty Women's
Club will meet at 2:30 p.m. today in
the Michigan League Garden Room.
Mrs. E. B. Mains will give a talk and
demonstration of making Christmas
decorations.
The Interior Decorating Group of
the Faculty Women's Club will meet
today at 3:00 p.m. at the League.
Mr. Perrine of Nielsen's will give a
demonstration lecture on Christmas
decorations.
Coming Events,
The Research Club will meet Wed-
nesday, Dec. 18, at 8:00 p.m. in the
Amphitheatre of the Rackham Build-
ing. The following papers will be
read:
"Plant Hormones," by Prof. Felix
G. Gustafson.
"The Origins of a National Net-
work of Railroads in France from
1833 to 1852," by Prof. Arthur L.
Dunham.
Coffee Hour will be held Friday,
4:00-5:30 p.m., at Lane Hall. All
students are welcome.
Art Cinema League: Tickets for
the new series are on sale at the
Union, League, Wahr's and Ulrich's.
The first feature in this eie is