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WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND:
Gen. Marshall Won t Guess
The Pendulum
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By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON-In a highly secret session be-
fore the Senate Military Affairs Committee
last Thursday, General George Marshall, Army
Chief of Staff, refused to guess when the end of
the war with Germany. will come: According to
all logic, he said, the German resistance should
be at an end now, but there is no sign that the
army is collapsing. The Gestapo still retains
its hold of terror on Germany.
Marshall pointed out that German gasoline
stocks are practically dried up, and that the
Nazis do not have enough fuel to move their
supplies, let alone their armored vehicles and
artillery. On the other hand, he said, their
supply problem is far simpler than ours be-
cause they are fighting at home. Their re-
pair and replacement job for tanks and other
vehicles is also comparatively simple. When
Allied armor is knocked out, it means that .
it is lost if the damage is too much for the
field repair bases, while a Nazi tank which has
suffered far more serious damage can be
taken right into a tank factory not so many
miles from where it was hit. This is a tre-
mendous advantage, he said.
The Chief of Staff also told the senators that
it is a mistake to figure that the Japs will
fold up quickly once Germany is out of the
war. Although its losses have been heavy,
Japan still has a formidable army and vast
stores of supplies. He would not estimate the
length of time needed to defeat the island
empire. But insisted it would be extremely
tough going.
Marshall said nothing during this session
about his plan to take over as supreme com-
mander in the Pacific once Germany falls, but
members of the Committee now take that for
granted.
Philippine Mop-Up ...
WORK IS BEING PUSHED rapidly in the
Philippines to ready those islands as our
L etteri to the 6cliiorl
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Whenever possible, Letters to the
Editor should be limited to 300 words. Letters in
excess of that length are cut at the discretion of
the Editorial Director.)
TO THE EDITOR:
On March 23, "Closing Hours," a stimulat-
ing though extremely one sided and picayune
editorial by Milt Freudenheim, appeared in the
Daily. LaGuardia's extention of the curfew was
discussed, and conclusions were reached that
showed the selfishness, moral depravity, and
loss of prestige of New York. There is another
side to the story, however, and I should like
to present some of the arguments that justify
Mayor LaGuardia's actions.
New York is the entertainment center of
the world. Entertainment value for morale
purposes has been repeatedly stressed by the
government, in USO shows, radio programs,
sports, and other amusements. The inflexible
curfew that is now under fire is grossly unfair
to the entertainment centers, and of these,
New York is naturally struck hardest. The
present curfew means that 45,000 people in
New York will lose their jobs or have their
earnings greatly curtailed; it means the loss
of large investments in night-clubs, movies,
bars, gin-mills, restaurants, etc.; it means a
loss of income for both the State of New
York and New York City from liquor, cabaret,
and luxury taxes: it means that servicemen
in New York who previously had some sort of
retreat until three or four o'clock in the
morning, will now start roaming the streets
in frustration two or three hours sooner than
their customary wont.
I am afraid that Mr. Freudenheim has formed
an erroneous conception of LaGuardia's reaction
to the Byrnes' directive, for LaGuardia suspend-
ed enforcement until some sort of compromise
could be reached. The reaction of New Yorkers
to LaGuardia's statement that the curfew would
be enforced .was overwhelmingly unfavorable.
Anyone who takes time to examine New York
papers of the last week in February will find
that out. If my conception of democracy is
correct, I believe that the people are supposed
to govern, and that an official merely represents
public sentiments. It is a great credit to La-
Guardia therefore that he has reflected this
public opinion.
To sum up: the Byrnes' directive was issued
for the purpose of conserving electricity and
man-power. If I am not mistaken, the num-
ber of unemployed in New York City at this
time hovers around 250,000. Electricity is
conserved to no great degree, since parties
continue in houses and hotel rooms. Electricity
is used up as heat to some extent, although
not a few of New York's entertainment spots
are heated without loss, due to the fact that
they have been built directly over the city's
steam pipes. Those that use other heat are
being dealt with unfairly, since this directive
is only a product of the government's inability
to cope adequately with the nation's coal
industry. It may seem ironic that on' the
first night the curfew was enforced, the doors
of the Stork Club, whose famous portals
symbolize the type of entertainment that
is being curtailed, had to be left open: it was
too warE' inside.
-Ralph E. Matlaw '48
chief base for the big push on Japan and the
Jap-held Chinese mainland. Enough Japs are
left in the islands to be dangerous, but they
are being eliminated, with the toughest fight-
ing on the southernmost island of Mindanao.
Manila harbor is now in full use, with dock
installations at the city itself rapidly being
put in shape. Shiploads of vital supplies are
arriving at other island ports as well as at
Manila.
(Copyright, 1945, Bell Syndicate)
PD RATHER BE RIGHT:
Food Shortage
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
THE FOOD uproar is really a price uproar.
Three Republican Senators, Taft of Ohio,
Reed of Kansas, and Hickenlooper of Iowa, have
been orating to their colleagues about the
"meat shortage," and all three have come up
with proposals which would, in the end, mean
price increases. It is fascinating that all three
have had the same happy though, simultaneous-
ly. It ought to make the rest of us ashamed,
that a solution for shortages so obvious as this
has been overlooked so long. If the Senators
are right, their method can be applied in other
fields, too. Let us raise the price of every-
thing, and then we will be short of nothing.
Why not raise the price of battleships.
and thus immediately do away with the bat-
tleship shortage? Or does this magic work
for meat alone? The Senators have impaled
themselves on this reductio ad absurdum by
snatching the meat problem out of the con-
text of the war, and by trying to handle it
as if there were no war. One of the ways to
test an economic proposal is to see what the
results would be if it were applied generally,
in all situations; and it is obvious that if the
price increase proposal were applied gener-
ally, it would wreck our wartime economy.
By BERNARD ROSENBERG
SEMANTICS is a relatively new
science whose protagonists are
concerned with what they call the
meaning of meaning. Korcybski and
Malinowski are the giants in this
field, men like Hayakawa and Chase
the popularizers.
Pref. Hayakawa's book, "Lang-
uage in Action," for the most part
useful, seemed to suggest--absurd-
ly enough-that if Hitler, Hirohito,
Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt
wouldagather round a conference
table and talk. things over in such
a way that each of them could
really understand the other, our
troules would be over. This is
almost as Lad as the extreme Freu-
dian view which apparently rests
on the premise that when (and not
until) the great leaders are psycho-
analyzed can we rest easy. Both
approaches are inadequate and of
secondary importance to the social
sciences because they are curative
in nature, and in nowise prevent-
ive.
Stuart Chase went over his many
economic tracts in "The Tyranny of
Words" and placed "blahs" wherever
a supposedly meaningless group of
words appeared from that work.
There were more "blahs" than there
was work. So, I have been watching
for the influence of this background
on Chase as he returned to his old
metier. It is abundantly evident in
"Democracy Under Pressure"- the
fourth in a series of little books writ-
ten for The Twentieth Century Fund.
I think it safe to say that no otherk
economist writing in English can
explain his ideas with more sim-
plicity and compactness. Yet Chase
deals on an equally high level and
in much the same vein with prob-
lems that preoccupy Keynes and
Hansen. The semantic system is
directly at work when he warns his
readers, "The term-business-refers
to so many complex activities that
it must be very carefully used. No
camera could take a picture of bus-
iness."
The book itseil is primarily a
denunciation of the Me First-
Public Be Damned attitude, that
pervades Washington. Semantics
is put to good use as it was by
Thurman Arnold in "The Folklore
of Capitalism," for the elucidation
of certain basically progressive
ideas. Like his mentor, Thorstein
Veblen, Chase wants to see. an
economy of abundance thrive in
this land. He thus opposes any
organization which engages in re-
striction of output whether it be
the NAM through its 2,000,060 wor-
kers, or labor by way of demanding
unreasonable wages or the Farm
Bureau when it attempts to create
high scarcity prices.
Organized labor can never galvan-
ize the liberal forces of America into
one great democratic body without
broadening its compass to include
the consumer. In this way, Chase{
argues too optimistically, the class
line can be blotted out. Big business
has given rise to big labor and big
agriculture. As pressure groups they
are interested not in high production
but in high unit price. The Chamber
of Commerce, the American Iron and
Steel Institute, the National Coal
Association and suchlike raise power-
ful voices in our capitol.
They had to be countered by
labor which if it is selfish, as corn-
pared with any particular business
lobby, "serves more people, and
people who often need that service
very bitterly." Still, Chase tends to
lump the two groups together and
condemn them both. This is as
unjust as not discriminating be-
rtween first degree homicide and
murder in self defense (though, the
victim here is free enterprise).
Labor has had its share of Bioffs
and Scalises, but nowhere nearly .
as much so as Pegler and Co. would
have us believe.
Labor, moreover, is waking up. It
now demands an annual wage and
at least the CIO expresses a willing-
ness to take ten dollars a day every
day -of the year for its workers in
preferencetodthirty dollarsra day
one hundred days of the year. It is
security the common man wants
above all. Chase warns not only of
technological but of "agrological"
unemployment that will come In
peacetime when hundreds of patents
for farm machinery are released.
In May of last year, Senator
Murray, speaking as head of a
Senate committee that delved into
the matter, said he expected a
post-war army of 19,004,004 un-
employed: Only the cearest think-
ing and the closest kind of govern-
ment-inspired cooperation can hope
to lick a problem of this magni-
tude.
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN*
There is only one way to end the "meat
shortage," and that is to win the war. If the
Senators had thought of the meat shortage in
terms of the war, they would have asked for
' morestringent price controls, rather than for
price increases. It is obvious that, with each
of us eating perhaps 30 pounds less meat this
year than last, each of us will have from $10 to
$15 (roughly) saved on meat to spend on other
foods; and we will need these other foods; there
will be sharper competition in the marketplace
for all foods. The result will be enormous pres-
sure to lift the prices of food in general. When
you take some of the supply off the market,
and leave the same amount of purc1hasing
power, you create conditions for inflation.
Inflation is not the answer to your problem;
inflation is your problem.
If the Senators had thought of the meat
situation in terms of the war their instant
reaction should have been to offer to give
more price inspectors and enforcers to OPA,
rather than launch a headlong attack on OPA,
.such as can only have the effect of weakening
it. When you take any item out of the
food pool, in wartime, you lower the level
of the entire pool; a meat shortage then be-
comes a chicken shortage, and a chicken
shortage may become a potato shortage. The
OPA will have its hands full, trying to control
prices; and to attack OPA, to set precedents
for price increases which would quickly be
taken up by every other food industry, is not
the way to win the battle for a fair distribu-
tion of food; it is the way to lose it by for-
feit.
Second, if the Senators had thought in terms
of the whole picture, they would have realized
that we do not have a meat shortage at all,
properly speaking. We have a war. We pro-
duced 3,000,000,000 pounds more of meat for
civilians last year than in the best peace-time
year, in addition to all that went to the armed
forces. The war creates unprecedented demands
and unpredictable problems, such as cannot be
met by price increases, however thumping. The
Army has to buy three times as much meat for
each soldier as is needed for each civilian, be-
cause of long supply lines, reserve requirements,
losses, etc. Food situations change overnight,
and are nobody's fault; the Army has just
had to take over the feeding of 300,000 Philip-
pine Scouts.
When the war ends, these huge quantities
will start moving backward, and the "short-
age" will end. The only way to end the short-
age is to win the war; to think everlastingly
about the war; to subordinate every other con-
sideration to the war. This approach has the
great advantage that it can properly be applied
to every shortage.
What hurts most about our current food
debate is the manner in which the war has
sort of been pushed back, out of sight; the
meat shortage has been snatched out of con-
text, and considered by itself, as if it were a
mere peactime supply-and-price problem. Per-
haps some moderate utterance in favor of
more subsidies for packers was in order; but
these cries of alarm that have been raised,
these furious onslaughts against our wartime
control apparatus, these unbridled screams
of anger, all give one the feeling that some-
thing rather big has been forgotten.
(Copyright, 1945, New York Post Syndicate)
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1945
VOL. LV, No. 106
Publication in the Daily Official Bul-
letin is constructive notice to all mem-
bers of the University. Notices for the
Bulletin should be sent in typewritten
form to the Assistant to the President,
1021 Angel Hall, by 3:30 p. m. of the day
preceding publication (11:30 a. m. Sat-
n rdays).
Notices
To the Members of the University
Senate: A special meeting of the
University Senate is called for Mon-
day, April 9th, ate 4:15 p.m. in the
Rackham Amphitheater for the pur-
pose of receiving and discussing the
report of the Senate Advisory Com-
mittee, "The Economic Status of
the Faculty".
To the Members of the University
Council: It is planned to hold the
April meeting of the University Coun-
cil on Monday, April 16, at 4:15 p.m.
in the Rackham Amphitheatre.
Attention Engineering Faculty:
Five-week reports on standings of all
civilian Engineering freshmen and all
Navy and Marine students in Terms
1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Prescribed Cur-
riculum are due April 7. Report
blanks will be furnished by campus
mail and are to be returned to Dean
Crawford's Office, Rm. 255, W. Eng.
Bldg.
Attention Engineering Faculty:
Five-week reports below C of all
Navy and Marine students who are
not in the Prescribed Curriculum;
also for those in Term 5 and 6 in the
Prescribed Curriculum are to be
turned in to Dean Emmons' Office,
Rm. 259, W. Eng. Bldg., not later
than April 7. Report cards may be
obtained from your departmental
office.
Major Ruth Woodworth of the
WAC will be available for appoint-
ments today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Appointments with her may be made
through the Office of the Dean of
Women. Major Woodworth will be
in the Director's Suite at Stockwell
Hall from 2 to 3 p.m. and in the
Director's Suite at Mosher Hall from
3 to 4 p.m. for interviews with resi-
dents.
Attention Pre-Medical Students:
The Medical Aptitude Test of the
Association of American Medical Col-
leges will be given at the University
of Michigan on April 13. The test
is a normal requirement for admis-
sion to practically all medical schools
and will not be repeated until next
spring. Anyone planning to enter a
medical school in the fall of 1945 or
in the spring of 1946 and who has
not previously taken the test must
write the examination at this time.
Further information may be obtain-
ed in Room 4 University Hall.
Eligibility Certificates for the
Spring Term should be sepured before
April 1 in Rm. 2, University Hall.
For women students returning
frem out-of-town on the night of
April first, Easter Sunday, the clos-
ing hour will be 12:0 a.m.
Representatives from the Curtiss-
Wright Corporation, will be in our
office Thursday, March 29, to inter-
view all engineers who would be in-
terested in their company. Call Bu-
reau of Appointments, University Ext.
371, for appointment.
American Red Cross War Fund:
If you have not been solicited in
regard ,to your contribution toward
the American Red Cross and wish to
make your pledge, please call at the
Cashier's Office, 104 South Wing,
and receive your membership card
and pin.
There is a very urgent need for
more Dailies.
-Mrs. Ruth Buchanan
Museum
Lectures
University Lecture: Dr. George L.
Clarke, Associate Professor of Zo-
ology, Harvard University, and Ma-
rine Biologist of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, will speak
on the subject "A Consideration of
Oceanographic Methods for Great
Lakes Problems" todaysat 4:15p.m.
in the Amphitheater of the Rackham
Building. The lecture is under the
sponsorship of the Departments of
Geology and Zoology. It will be illus-
trated kith both motionpictures and
lantern slides. The public is cordially
invited.
Spanish Lecture: La Sociedad His-
panica will present the sixth lecture
in the annual series on Thursday,
March 29, at 8 p.m. in the Michigan
Union. Mr. Francisco Villega will
speak on "Deportes en Costa Rica."
Tickets for the individual lecture will
be on sale at the door for those who
do not hold tickets for the series.
Food Sanitation: The last of the
present series of lectures on food
sanitation will be given this evening
in the amphitheater of the Rackham
Building at 8. The speakers will be
Melbourne Murphy of the University
Health Service and John Veenstra
of the City Health Department.
A motion picture "Eating Out,"
produced by the Flint Department of
Health, will be featured. This film
should be of great interest to the
general public.
All persons concerned with food
service to University students are
asked to attend this lecture if they
have not attended a previous series.
The general public is cordially in-
vted.
Academic Notices
Language Examination for M. A.
Degree Candidates in History: This
examination will be held on Friday,
March 30th at 4 p. im. in Room B
Haven Hall. Students should bring
their own dictionaries and are re-
quested to sign up in advance in the
History Office.
may be obtained at 1220 Angell Hall
and should be filed with the Secre-
tary of the Committees at that office.
Students who are planning to peti-
tion the Hopwood committee for per-
mission to compete in the contests
should read paragraph 18 on page
9 of the Hopwood bulletin and sub-
mit their petitions before April sec-
ond.
Registration for Graduate Record
Examination: The Graduate Record
Examination will be given on the eve-
nings of April 16 and April 17 in the
Rackham Bldg. This examination,
required of all degree candidates in
the Graduate School, is open to
Seniors in the undergraduate units
and to students in the professional
schools. The University will pay the
fee for this April examination. Any-
one wishing to take the examination
must register at the Information
Desk of the Graduate School Office
in the Rackham Bldg. before March
30. ____
Candidates for the Teacher's Certi-
ficate for June: Please call at the
office of the School of Education,
1437 University Elementary School,
on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday
afternoon, March 28-30, between 1:30
and 4:30 to take the teacher's oath.
This is a requirement for the certifi-
cate.
The make-up examinations in
Geology 12 and 65 will be given today
at 4 p.m. in Rm. 2054 of the Natural
Science Building.
German I Make-Up Final Exani-
nation will be given from 10 to 12
a.m. today in Rm. 201 University
Hall. Students who missed the final
examination should see their . in-
structors immediately to get permis-
sicn to take the make-up.
Y
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Concerts
Faculty Recital: The final program
in the group of piano recitals by
members of the School of Music fac-
ulty will be heard at 8:30 p.m. Sun-
day, April 1, when Helen Titus will
present compositions by Beethoven,
Brahms, Pattison, and Shepherd. The
public is cordially invited.
Events Today
Seminar: Techniques for streng-
thening the guild programs will be
the center of discussion undertaken
by the seminar on Student Christian
Movements this afternoon at 4 in
Laue Hall.
Chemistry Colloquium will meet at
4:15 p.m. in Rm. 303 Chemistry Buil-
ding. Dr. R. K. McAlpine will pre-
sern "Some Experiments on the Rate
of a Chemical Reaction." All inter-
ested are invited.
The Pact of Chapultepec: Wise or
Otherwise Will be the topic for stu-
dent discussion sponsored by the
Post-War Council this evening. The
meeting will be held in Rm. 31820 of
the Union at 7:30.
Music Seminar: Mr. Lazlo Hetenyi
will continue his record presentation
on rli ,c mcz nn o RP fn4v a,,nn 'c. "10
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BARNABY
By Crockett Johnson
If O'Malley Enterprises has
bought the factory, John-
well-how about your job?
Your imaginary Fairy Godfather
has nothing to do with this, son.
And he flew down there today.'
He figured it was so warm that
there must be a window open-
Mr. O'Malley! Did you get into
your office? Was a window open?
I I
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