THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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TIlE MICH0IGAN I)AILY
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MR.. LASKI'S W~AR
By ROBERT SPECKIARD
WHERE DO WE GO FROM
HERE?"; Harold J. Laski Novem-
ber, 1940: Viking Press, New York;
$1.75.
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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.
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 Ain Arbor, Michigan, as
second class mail matter. t
Subscriptions during the regular school year by
carrier $4.00; by mails $4.50.
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College Publishers Representative
420 MADISON AVE. NEW YORx. N. Y.
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Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1940-41
Editorial Staff
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Hervie Haufler
Alvin Sarasohn
Paul M. Chandler
KnrI Kessler
Milton Orshefsky
Howard A. Goldman
Laurence Mascott
Donald Wirtchafter .
Esther Osser
Helen Corman .
. . . . Managing Editor
. . . . Editorial Director
. . . . . City Editor
. . . . Associate Editor
. . . . Associate Editor
S . Associate Editor
* . . . Associate Editor
. . . . . Sports Editor
. . . . .Women's Editor
. . . . Exchange Editor
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: LAURENCE MASCOTT
The editorials published in The Michi-
gan Daily are written by members of The
Daily staff and represent the views of the
Writers ony.
lie A Real.
Goodfellow...
IT'S A DAILY CUSTOM that insists
that the editor of the Goodfellow
Daily\write the "lead" editorial of the Good-
fellow issue. It is assumed that that editor
knows best the obligations incurred by the
issue and the spirit that prevailed in its whole
creation: the writing of the stories, the procur-
ing of the advertising, and above all the ar-
rangement of campus and downtown, sales.
This Goodfellow editor therefore wishes to
extend the sincere, deep gratitude of The Dailf
staff and implicitly that of the nedy of Ann
Arbor and the University to:
(1) the faculty which gave their fullest coop-
eration in helping arrange details and assisting
in sales.
(2) the campus groups and honor societies
which performed valiant service in offering
their time throughout the week and today to
sell these issues.
(3) the advertisers who went beyond their
contracts to buy advertising in this issue.
(4) the varied groups, like the hardware mer-
chant, that loaned u$ 16 pails to hold the con-
tributions.
(5) the sororities, fraternities, co-ops and
other housing units and individuals that made
advance subscriptions.
B UT POSSIBLY the work placed into this
edition by all groups, including The Daily,
is over-emphasized. For charity-work, we be-
lieve, is not an extra-curricular volunteer func-,
tion but rather an inherent obligation of citi-
zenship.-citizenship in a democratic univer-
sity or in a democratic nation. We feel, then,
that it is our duty as fellow citizens of a democ-
racy to help the less fortunate -such a duty
is implicit in any definition of democracy; we
feel, then, that all of us, students, faculty and
townspeople are today concretely expressing
ourselves as citizens in a democracy.
Our obligations, our duties, however, cannot
.stop at that point, cannot cease after merely
one day's activities in seliing a newspaper whose
proceeds will be devoted entirely to charity.
Democratic citizenship is broader, fuller than
that. If our assumption is valid, if year-long
activity is a duty of citizenship, then all of
today's Goodfellows must not only help in this
charity drive and in other charity drives but
also strive unceasingly to obviate the necessity
for such campaigns.
IT IS OUR DUTY THEN to support whole-
heartedly such plans that clearly aid in the
removing of the necessity for charity. We list
as such plans those of nation-wide health pro-
gram, public housing, and support and demand
for extension of such laws as the Federal Fair
Labor Standards Act, the Wagner Act, the
Social Security Act, the NYA, and other educa-
tional aids. For it is by these programs that
we can raise the standard of living of our peo-
ple and their degree of happiness.
It is only when we have supported these pro-
grams that we have most practically served as
Goodfellows and as citizens of a democracy;
it is only then that we will have to a great ex-
tent obviated the necessity for holding such
campaigns.
- Laurence Mascott
_
..e..rr
The Problems
Of College
Admissions ;
EVERY YEAR hundreds of well qualified high
school graduates receive letters from the
better colleges and universities throughout the
country informing* them that they cannot be
admitted to that particular school for the com-
ing semester.
The result of these admittance refusals is,
first of all, a great deal of unhappiness for the
individuals concerned, but it goes much farther
than that. The institution which refuses the
student loses a potential asset, the person who
is turned down is forced to go to a school of
possibly lesser prestige and may get less out of
his college career.
There is no doubt that there are too many
good men who can't get into a good college and
too many inferior people who do get in.
UNIVERSITIES and colleges themselves can-
not be blamed too much for the condition.
In order to maintain a certain amount of pres-
tige they must accept students from as many
states and varied localities as possible. They
must try to get athletes and scholars, men of all
races and creeds and men from. all classes in
society.
In addition, and most important, there are
the state schools who have to accept every ap-
plicant from their state, and others which are
morally pledged to accept a certain percent of
state residents. The University, for example,
tries to make its freshman class consist of one-
half Michigan high school graduates and one-
half from out of state.
And Michigan is fortunate to have this privi-
lege of being able to refuse certain inferior
applicants from the state. As far as it is known
there are only six state institutions with this
power while the rest must accept everyone
from the state. These schools are Michigan
State College, University of Minnesota, Univer-
sity of California, University of Idaho, Okla-
homa A & M and Michigan.
FORCING INSTITUTIONS of higher learning
to accept certain peaple because they are
from the same state - or because it is necessary
to do so to maintain prestige or be exclusive
in some sort of way is unfortunate. We can be
thankful that the Michigan high school prin-
cipals are strict about recommendations and
only favor admittance of the best students to
the University.
We don't believe that marks are the only cri-
terior for admission into a University but we do
believe that every applicant whose grades qual-
ify him highly (and whose moral character
seems all right) should have a chance to go to
college.
This necessitates some sort of uniform high
school system throughout the country so that
a rating received in one locality can be easily
compared with that received in another. 1N
may be that uniform examinations, such as exist'
in New York state through regents' examina-
tions, may be sufficient, but it would be much
more desirable to have a uniform curriculum.
JOST COLLEGES try to be fair. They i t'r-
view as many students as possible and get
rid of misfits as best they can but they are
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The
City Editor's
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TN WASHINGTON they argue over the ques-
tion of allowing American bankers to loan
money to England; meanwhile it's doubtful
whether Uncle Sam's financiers would be will-
ing to take the risk even if they had the chance.
* *' *
FDR is back home again, and The Duke is
back with Wally. But while Edward must help
ease the pain of a toothache, the President
has to prepare two important speeches to Con-
gress. Maybe there's no justice after all.
* * *
Note to Bennie Oosterbaan: one of our
old friends, and an excellent Michigan bas-
ketballer has moved from a coaching spot
at Sault Ste. Marie to Lansing Eastern High
School. His name is Ray Altenhof.
T HE ASSOCIATED PRESS tells .this one:
Frank and Harry Kilbane, 35-year-old twins
of Waukegan, Ill., will run for mayor on op-
posing tickets. Frank will file as a Democrat
and Harry as a Republican.
4 - ,.: -
The twins have had political differences
before. They are partners in a tea room
and last year when Harry advertised a
Thanksgiving dinner a week after the hol-
iday fixed by President Roosevelt, Frank
picketed the establishment and gave away
hot dogs!
*: *3 *:
One of the campus rumors these days is tha'
some kind of effort is being made so that
Fielding H. Yost will not automatically retire
when the 70 year limit arrives next spring.
Lowell Parry, Creston, Mich., high school
senior, won an essay contest entitled, "Why
I'd Choose Banking As My Profession", they
turned to the judges and remarked, "I wouldn't
want to be a banker. No, sir, I'm going to be
a pharmacist."
That's independence, young man.
NOTE TO THE LOCAL CHAPTER: General
Thomas S. Hammond charged today that
William Allen White's Committee to Defend
America by Aiding the Allies is endeavoring to
prepare the public mind for a declaration of,
war by the United States. Hammond is chair-
man of a Chicago committee seeking to build
up the nation's defenses and to keep America
out of the war..
Students from New York will find the
S26,00O,OOO new Sixth Avenue subway in
operation when they return to spend Christ-
mas with mammy and pappy.
TOT THAT IT HASN'T BEEN DONE ELSE-
where, but we'd like to offer our thanks to
the men who have played Goodfellows today.
That even includes the faculty.
r. 3
Editor's Note: The Goodfellow hasb
made us more ragged than ever so
Tom Goodkind of the Garg staff C
takes over for the day and in the S
spirit of charity. I
t
THERE WAS AN ARTICLE in one
of the Chicago papers a short t
while ago with a Cambridge, Mass., r
dateline. The lead paragraph read: i
"If a youth could resist the temp- r
t.
tation of scantily-clad girls and richn
foods set before him for three days, s
he would be "incorruptible" and d
could enter the super-university en-
visioned today by Prof. Pitirim A.
Sorokin of Harvard University." w
'The rest of the story goes on to u
state how Prof. Sorokin would have t
entrance examinations for this uni-c
versity, entitled, by the way, "Genius k
Tech", in which glamor girls would
be imported from Hollywood and
strewn around on various chaises
longues. Rich foods would be set on t
the tables, and the "incorruptibles" b
could go to it for three days. After i
this time, those who had succumbed t
to the temptations would be given a
their passports, while the lucky few s
who remained could enter Genius d
T'Ich for forty-eight years of monas- I
tic training.
l
WFE CAN SEE the results of such A
a test. We can see the sturdy f
Michigan male playing hard-to-get s
to the feminine wiles of Madeline A
Carroll, Marjorie Weaver, or a great-
ly improved and glamorized Shirley S
Temple. Picture it yourself. The p
room in which the test is to be held
is painted a very alluring shade of L
blue. Soft lights play tantalizingly r
over the voluptuous charms of ther
female guinea pigs. In the back-w
ground, a hidden orchestra playsd
gently such tunes as "All of Me"
and "Jeannie With the Light Browno
Hair". Liveried Ethiopians wanderw
noiselessly around bearing trays of
chocolate cake and pate de fois gras.
Double Divans, soft luxurious ones
at that, contain the bodies of the tl
ta, too alluring movie stars clad in
filmy negligees. Over in one cor-
ner, huddled together in a little i
group, are the examinees. They area
talking earnestly about the foreign t
situation, Roosevelt's domestic pol-
ily, or the basis for free will in Pla-i
to's philosophy. Once in a while
one of them glances covertly over hise
shoulder at the temptations, but hisa
mind is pure, his stomach full. t
Seated on a dais, surveying thisa
field, is none other than Prof. Piti-b
rim A. Sorokin. On his right is ao
gorgeous blonde feeding him duck
a l'orange while he washes it down°
with a glass or two of burgundy.a
He is paunchy and rather well-fed.f
BY THE THIRD DAY, the group
in the corner'has shrunk con-
siderably. Those who have suc-b
cumbed to the. evil influences have1
been removed from the room. Those
who are left look tired, haggard,o
and hungry. The busboys pass them
oftener, and their eyes bulge witht
longing. This is the tough period,
the making or breaking point in the
career of a student at Genius Tech.'
The third day is always the hardest.s
Comes the fourth, and they know
for sure that they have either re-f
turned to the soft ways of the WPA
or else they are in for forty-eightt
years in a monastery. At the endr
of that time, they will know every-
thing there is to be known; andE
they can sally forth into a work-a-
day world in search of relaxation.
Then, and not until then, will theyt
be able .to enjoy the delicious tastet
of a hamburger with onions.t
TO QUOTE PROF. SOROKIN,1
"Unfortunately, there is toot
much soft living at Harvard. Thef
students are fat and lazy from too
much to eat and drink. They liveE
too luxuriously in their separate'
houses and their beds are too soft."
The last phrase about the soft beds
is perhaps the crowning glory to the
whole criticism. We once read a
book by Groucho Marx concerning
the virtues of the lowly bed. His
theme was that one-third of a man's
life is spent in bed. Therefore, why
not make bedtime a happy time.
Prof, Sorokin , however, would do
away with the inner spring mattress,
and would substitute hard boards
and cotton sheets.
This forty-eight years training,
would suit the little seniors for noth-
ing better than government leader-
ship. We can see Professor Soro-
kin's point. In the first place, the
man is a Republican. Figure it out
for yourself. A person would enter
Genius Tech at the age of twenty.
At his final examinations, he would
be sixty-eight. Government em-
ploys are retired at seventy-five.
Therefore, no one could have more
than one term plus. Certainly never
three in a row.
O TOP IT OFF, Harvard Univer-
THESE FIRST WORDS come slow-w
ly. To attempt to evaluate this l
ook whose hope is so great and c
ourse so true, but the realization i
o improbable, is difficult. Where b
)o We Go From Here? is one of t
hose beacons to the future by which e
'eople of the world may know that t
hey have taken the right path, t
eads the comment on the flap. But t
t is a greater sorrow to know the a
ight path, when one cannot escape w
he immense conviction that it will
not be fellowed, that strife and
lavery will remain the order of our
ays. t
Only a magnificent declaration of n
rope could give rise to such a con- n
iction of sadness. Mr. Laski has a
written such a manifesto in lang- t
age so clear and truth so compelling u
hat the reader is placed on the I:
rossroads of our destiny, there to v
now, there to hope, and there to t
orrow. n
WITH SURE COMMAND of fact d
and phrase Where Do We Go r
From Here? retells the omnibus his- a
ory of post-war years to develop in i
old relief the basic flaw in capital- b
st democracy that has made possible p
he flow of fascism into every corners
f Europe. To the end that this flaw
,hall be eliminated audaciously to-1
day, Mr. Laski has dedicated his
book. o
Why did the "democracies", Eng- a
and and France, stand idly by while a
Abyssinia was ruthlessly invaded by t
fascist Italy? why did England sub- t
idize Hitler and allow him to take n
Austria? by what rationale did p
'democratic" England help destroy b
Spanish democracy? what inter- i
pretation of democracy justified I
he "peace" of Munich? To Mr. s
Laski the answers lie in the funda-e
mental conflict in capitalist democ-
'acy between capitalism, striving al-o
ways to protect its privileges, and
democracy, which has produced in
he masses an urge to use politicalt
power for their material economica
welfare. b
IF0 CREATE its vast economica
power capitalism had to invoker
he help of the masses of laborf
which demanded deocracy; bt
the acceptance of democracy by cap-~;
talism has been conditioned by the;
always implicit understanding that't
the concessions demanded by the
masses must not go beyond the lim-
ts deemed reasonable by capitalist
power. During the post-war years r
he definitionof whatwasreason-
able was limited by two factors -
the economic crisis, on one hand.
and the profound fears engendered ;
by the Russian revolution on the g
other. The psychological effects oft
these were tremendous, Laski points
out; they meant, all over the world
a panic-stricken search by property
for security.1
IN GERMANY AND ITALY proper-t
ty tried to insure its privilegesr
by supporting the movements of Hit-
ler and Mussolini, which offered dis-
ciplined working classes and loud
opposition to the Communists. The,
Allies sabotaged the effort of collec-
tive security because it meant union
with Communist Russia and the
downfall of Hitler and Mussolini.
They feared the first becausesthey1
saw in itsideas a threat to the vested
interests they represented, and they
feared the secondrbecause they sa
in it the implications of a social
revolution they were unprepared to
meet.
Nothing, says Laski, in the antag-
onism of either Hitler or Mussolini
toward democracy aroused any gen-
Ural indignation against them among'
the privileged classes of Britain un-
til the dictators' insatiable need for
conquest threatened vital British in-
terests. At that point came the drift
toward war, and with it, the iden-
tification by the governing class of
the protection of British interests
with the preservation of democracy,
essentially a rationalization needed
to obtain national unity.
T ODAY England fights for her
very existence against the out-
laws of fascism who only understand.
those values that consist in theexer -
cise of power by themselves. British
privilege fights to preserve its privi-
leges, which, it saw most convincing-
ly in the fall of France, will be as
subject to the power of Hitler as
would be the lives of labor. To pre-
serve their own liberties, to lay the
basis for genuine security and peace
in Europe, the English masses today
are joined with privilege in that
great effort.
Will they defeat Hitler? More im-
portant, will the English people win
peace and security, through democ-
racy, for themselves and Europe,
Mr. Laski says, yes, if British leaders
begin today to transform Great Bri-
tain into a more equal and just soci-
ety. As this is accomplished, argues
Laski, it will at once steel the en-
durance of the masses to make the
sacrifices necessary to a dynamic war
effort, and as knowledge of this so-
cial revolution in England permeates
- 1 n n . ...- no .... . ~~n+ rcn c~ rn
'ascist war is total war and England
Hust mobilize the full capabilities of
er resources if she will win.
Laski grants that there is the pos-
ibility of a British military victory
ithout a fundamental social revo-
ution in England. Temporary con-
essions and promises and the stark
nminence of fascist conquest may
e able to maintain that devotion of
he English masses to the united war
ffort to give England a military vic-
ory. But this victory will only be
he beginning of a new period of
emporary calm, before the world is
gain torn by the strife concomitant
ith another Versailles.
T IS THIS mentality of Munich,
that is above all anxious that
,he present war should be won with
minimum invasion of existing eco-
xomic rights, that must be broken,
rgues -Laski. To break it means
hat, if England wins the war with
tnexpetced speed, we shall not, as
ast time, lose the peace; while, if the
ictory is long in coming, breaking
he power of this mentality enor-
nously increases the power of the
masses to resist. We must use the
tramatic opportunity of the com-
non danger, the deep sense of unity
nd the psychology of change that is
nherent in every great crisis to
break this mentality for ever, that
eace and security, not further blood
hed, may be the heritage of victory.
[T IS TO THE LEADERS of the Bri-
tish government, which the need
of unity in wartime has made less
an arena of opposing interests than
a composite body devoted strictly to
he greater welfare of all England,
hat Laski specifically directs his
message. They should institute his
program of social revolution in the
best interests of the British state. It
s the crucial task of the Labor and
iberal leaders to insist, with per-
uasive intelligence, upon the go-
ernment using the procedures of
lemocracy to inaugurate the process
of change, as the price of their sup-
port. To the leaders of privilege,
threatened as it is between annihila-
ion by the Nazis on the one hand,
and the masses demanding that a
beginning be made of a fundament-
dl redistribution, of economic power
n the other, Laski argues that the
repulse of the first threat means
finding terms of peace with the sec-
nd. To cooperate with the masses
n the social revolution that has be-
,ome necessary has immense advan-
sages, Laski argues.
1. Strengthens power to wage war.
2. Best assurance available that
mood of resistance abroad will be
mepared and adequate when the time
nomes for its effective evocation.
3. Mitigates suspicions of purposes
;hat have unnecessarily thrown away
the support that was available from
the Soviet Union.
4. Gives privilege a chance to gain
time to work things out by consent.
5. Permits forces of privilege to
prepare themselves for, and adapt
themselves to, the idea of funda-
mental change.
6. Persuades workers to recognize
hat there is not danger of resist-
ance to that idea.
THIS IS LASKI'S manifesto for
action. If it is adopted, and
only if it is adopted will peace and
freedom triumph. Of that I am sure
but also sad. It is the "if" that
;Hakes one sad, for in it are involved
orobabilities of such slim propor-
*ion to make the manifesto for social
revolution through consent a modern
Vassandrian prophecy.
I do not quarrel with Laski; One
cannot, I believe, deny the truth of
his fundamental thesis that a demo-
cratic social revolution in England
today offers the only hope of Free-
dom and peace for Europe. We dif-
fer (and perhaps not as great as I
think) in the evaluation of the pro-
babilities. I weight the probabilities
as one who is to be convinced, whose
bias is peace for America, Laski is
arguing a cause.
Moreover, this must be said. Laski
undoubtedly is the most advanced
political and social thinker in Bri-
tain today. Although he writes as
a Labor Party spokesman, it is
doubtful whether his views receive
the full, unqualified support of Labor
leaders like Morrison, Bevin, Atlee
and Greenwood, although these
gentlemen have spoken in terms of
fundamental change. Certainly one
can question the extent to which the
English masses, organized or not--
think in the terms Laski does. The
English people. have been generous
to a fault and it is unlikely that they
possess enough solidarity in time like
these to withstand the arguments of
the English government for national
unity, as indeed there must be. I
doubt, in other words, whether fun-
damental social adjustments are
needed to retain the support of the
English masses for the war. Laski
admits that the war effort must
make the socialrrevolution he asks
for, symbolical, rather than conclu-
sive, and symbols can serve to repre-
sent temporary concessions as well
as fundamental changes. When one
is dealing with symbols much de-
pends on the rhetoric of the leader,