I
SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 1945
,THE', MICT.H.GAN - DAILY
A ' 1
T.. _IC_ __DA _
I"AGE THREE
FEATURE PAGE
Appointment BureaU Handles
Plaenent Requesls, Offers
Union Operas Gone from Campus;
Pearl Harbor Ended Old Tradition
FORESTRY PROJECT:
Saginaw Forest's 80 Acres
Planted, Cared for by Students
By ANN KUTZ
The days of Union Operas are not only gone, but almost forgotten.
Few but seniors can remember having seen any of these gay and spectacu-
lar musicals, the last of which was presented in December, 1941.
Even the 1941 production, the last of a three year attempt at revival
of the traditional opera, was but a shadow of its predecessors of 1915 to 1920.
The first Union Opera, "Michigenda" was presented in the old Whitney
Theatre on Main Street in February of 1908. It, like all succeeding operas,
was produced by the Mimes, a sub- -->_ - -._.
the traditional favorite
Night Falls, Dear."
"When
By BINNA RULLMAN
As the end of the semester grows
near, the Bureau of Appointments
and Occupational Information con-
tinues to be as busy, if not busier,
than it has been in job placement
at any time during the year.
In. its unimposing, though pleas-
ant, offices on the second floor of
Mason Hall, the Bureau handles an
amazingly large load, even for war-
time, of job calls and placements in
all types of work. Dr. T. Luther
Purdom, the Bureau's director, takes
it all in his stride, although he says
that he and his staff often work
twelve hours a day.
Interviews, Phone Calls
In addition to the great amount of
correspondence that is carried on
by the Bureau, many contacts are
being made by telephone, and most
importantby interview. Dr. Purdom
estimated a few weeks ago that more
than 250 persons had signed the office
1.
I t
. f
l
A CAREEft
with a
register in one week and that all of
these were concerned either with fill-
ing positions or offering them to be
filled.
The Bureau has departments deal-
ing with personnel and vocational
counseling, with teacher placement,
and with industrial and business
placement including calls from fed-
eral, state and military units, such
as signal corps work.
Teacher Placement.
The division that is extremely act-
ive in placing University students
who are about to graduate with
teaching certificates is the Teacher
Placement Division, of which Mrs.
Jessie H. Cribbs is assistant to the
director.
The large demand and diversity
within this one field is illustrated by
the fact that in one Monday morn-
ing's mail 57 calls for teachers came
in by letters, augmented by at least
fifteen more than reached the Bu-
reau by way of telephone.
These calls ask for both experi-
enced and beginning teachers, de-
pending upon the subject to be
taught. Everything from bandlead-
ers to an assistant professorship in
clothing and textiles were on the
list, along with a constant demand
for languages and sciences to be
taught both in elementary and sec-
ondary schools.
Distant Areas
Besides representing many parts
of- Michigan and other midwestern
states, the calls in one typical mail
may range from Juneau, Alaska to
Istanbul, Turkey. Several candie
dates have been placed in teaching
positions in the Hawaiian Islands
this year, to mention one among the
many unusual placements.
The staff has not been swept off
its feet by the huge number of offers
that it now manages. It emphasizes
standards of care and skill in seeing
that qualified students receive the
best opportunities for future work.
Bond Sales Pass
WASHINGTON, June 9 -- (P) -
Sales to individuals passed the
$5,000,000,000 mark in the 7th War
Loan TDrive .today.
With three weeks to go sales re-
ported through yesterday totaled
$5,022,000,000.
B-Bond sales, which are included
in the individuals' total, amounted
to 57 per cent of the $,000,000,000
E-Bond goal.
Secretarial or Accounting,
training will qualify you for
specialized war service and
a permanent post-war ca-
reer.
Streamlined courses. In-
dividual advancement. Free
Placement Service.
SUMMER TERM OPENS
JUNE 18th
Air-Cooled Classrooms
Hamil ton
BUSINESS C0LLEGE
William at State
Phone 7831 or 4627
sidiary organization of the Union.
The plot of "Michigenda" dealt
with the efforts of a group of stu-
dents to keep a fabulously rich old
Lecture Series
Dates Back to
Civil War Days
Emerson, Greeley,
Mann Early Speakers j
By MARJORIE MILLS
Those who attended Oratorical As-
sociation lectures last winter followed
an Ann Arbor custom more than
ninety years old.
Founded as the Student Literary
Association in 1854, the Oratorical
Association is the oldest of its kind
in the country. Celebrities speaking
here under its auspices range from
Oliver Wendell Holmes to Eleanor
Roosevelt.
Early History
In the first decade of its history,
the lectures concerned themselves
largely with moral and ethical ques-
tions. Speakers such as Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Horace Mann, Wendell
Phillipps and Horace Greeley lec-
tured in the local churches during
the Civil War period.
Subject matter broadened as the
years passed. Literature, travel, his-
tory, politics, foreign affairs, humor,
science, drama and journalism have
become topics for the speeches. In
recent years, movies have sometimes
been used to supplement the lec-
tures.
The variety of interests is reflected"
in the speakers. Artemus Ward, Mark
Twain and Bret Harte reflected the
early appreciation of humor. Jane
Murdoch and Mrs. Mary F. Scott
Siddons were among the first of a
series of dramatic artists. Winston
Spencer Churchill, Josiah Holland,
and Presidents Harrison, McKinley,
Cleveland and Wilson were also
among the speakers.
Moved to 'U' Hall
In 1889 the Association was reor-
ganized in its present form. The lec-
tures had moved into the University
Hall Auditorium after it was opened
and are now being held in Hill Audi-
torium.
Variety is still a feature of the list
of lectures. Dorothy Thompson, Alex-
ander Woollcott,tCornelia Otis Skin-
ner, Ruth Draper, Admiral Byrd,
Julien Bryan, Martin and Osa John-
son, Burton Holmes, Frances Perkins,
Eve Curie, Thomas Mann, Edna St.
Vincent Millay, Will Rogers and Will
Rogers, Jr., have all been presented
in the lecture course.
Although it is operated as a non-
profit organization. The Association
has saved enough money to establish
the Thomas C. Trueblcod Scholar-
ship Fund.
man, Mr. Moneyfeller, from discov-
ering his nephew, to whom he grant-
ed a generous allowance, was not a
member of the faculty. During the
course of the show the "faculty"
was imprisoned in tunnels under the
campus, genie led students to the
fabled land of Michiganda and the
faculty, now released, came on hands
and knees to beg the return of the
students on the most fantastic terms.
(Unlimited cuts was one of the most
sober!)
The libretto for this first opera
was written by Donal H. Haines,
T9, who is now an assistant pro-
fessor of journalism at the Uni-
servity. The music, written by
Ray Dickinson Welch, '09, included
ceaith Service
_ ecord File
d E
Aid :X- (u Onts
The three night performance was
given before a capacity audience.
Profits, amounting to almost $2,000,
were used to raise the mortgage on
the old Union clubhouse.
The second opera, given in Decem-
ber, 1908, centered around the gift of
a Greek temple to the University on
the condition that football be aban-
doned. Students in 1908 were little
different than they are today. The
outcome must be apparent.
Most of the early operas were farces
on college life. Through the years this
remained the most popular theme,
but other ideas and settings were
often used. Costumes and scenery
became more and more elaborate, the
productions at their height taking on
all the sophistocation of a New York
stage show.
In 1914 the seventh Union Opera,
"A Model's Daughter," was taken to
Chicago by the Alumnae Associa-
tion after four performances in
Ann Arbor. This was the begin-
ning of yearly out-of-town tours,
climaxed in 1923 by performances
in Buffalo, New York City, Toledo,
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
The opera, "Cotton Stockings," at
that time'established the record of
receiving the largest box office re-
ceipts of any amateur show ever
produced in New York Metropoli-
tan Opera House. The tour netted
the Union some $30,000.
The tradition of an all male cast
was broken but once, and this be-
cause of the exigencies of war. In
1917 women joined the cast of "Let's
Go."
By 1920 the scope of the opera
had broadened to include seven Ann
Arbor performances and 15 out-of-
town performances. The opera was
usually scheduled so that the cast
could make the out-of-town tours
during Christmas or Spring vaca-
tion.
But from this peak of success the
operas unaccountably declined.
Audiences grew smaller with each
succeeding year. Early in 1930
the Union Board of Directors, un-
able to defray expenses, voted to
discontinue them. The last opera
until the revival in 1939 was given
in February of 1930.
The operas of 1939-41 were pro-
duced on a much smaller scale than
the earlier ones, which on the aver-
age had a budget of some $60,000.
The opening performance of "Full
House" on Dec. 9, 1941, in Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre was before a
small audience, possibly because Pres-
ident Roosevelt was scheduled to ad-
dress a joint session of Congress on
the war situation that night.
i
I
By DORIS WEST
In the fire proof vault of the Uni-
versity health Service are preserved
the confidential health records of
all persons who have attended the
University of Michigan since 1913.
The records of approximately
t77.000 ex-students may be found
here. At least 90 per cent of these
records indicate that while in the
University the students had medical
care.
Some of. the records are thick and
dog-eared, indicating that their own-
ers spent many days in the Health
Service infirmary or the University
Hospital. While glancing over the
names on a few of these records, the
reporter came across the record of
Gov. Thomas Edmund Dewey, 1944
Republican presidential candidate,
who graduated from the University
in 1923. The health records of num-
erous: other now famous Michigan
alumni can be found in these files.,
Although the files are not open to
the oublic, former students or their
physicians can write to the Health
Service for information contained in
them. The Health Service now re-
ceives an average of one inquiry a
day for such information.
Veterans of this wtr who attended
the University will find this informa-
tion of value in determining whether
they are entitled to government com-
pensation. Evidence that a man had
or did not have certain disabilities
before he entered the service may
make all the difference in the world
when he seeks a pension.
Furthermore, ex-University stu-
dents may find facts in this file that
will make a big difference when they
seek to take out life insurance. Cer-
tain conditions which may appear to
be dangerous at the time will not
seem so critical if it can be shown
that they existed 20 or 30 years ago.
I
By JEAN ENGSTROM
Few of us realize that only three
miles outside of Ann Arbor an 80 acre
wood, known as the Saginaw Forest,
was planted and is cared for by
forestry students.
What is a tall forest today was
little more than gravel in 1904 when
the land was first taken over by the
forestry school. Planting the trees
was back-breaking labor for forestry
students in those early years and it
was not until 1910 that the first
plantings were finished. But the
students seeing the land now would
feel their work well rewarded, for
where in 1910 trees barely six feet
tall stood, there are now trees more
than sixty feet in height.
Field Laboratory
Saginaw Forest is used as a field
laboratory where students learn to
apply classroom knowledge. In early
years it was used exclusively for
teaching silviculture and for re-'
search. About 1927 courses in wild
life were first offered and wild life
development in Saginaw Forest was
encouraged. In an article in "The
Michigan Forester" in 1925, Prof. L.
J. Young expressed thanks that most
of "the plantation had passed the
age of greatest susceptibility to
rodents-namely rabbits."
Species of Trees
The tract has been used for purely
experimental purposes. Over 35 dif-
ferent species of trees are found
there including Douglas fir, catalpa,
sugar maple, Scotch pine, and balm
of Gilead. Later plantings included
Japanese red pine, Corsican pine, and
Russian mulberry abong others. A
large planting of Norway pine was
made in 1921.
Careful records have been kept of
the development of the trees from
the 'first planting to the present.
Records show that a few varieties of
trees have been unable to survive in
the poor soil. They show that trim-
ming every five years results in a
larger diameter and greater height.
Valuable Records
These records are, of great value
to Michigan timber growers for they
show them what timber to plant,
what management and protection is
necessary and what volume the
stands will yield. The importance of
these records is increasing as each
year passes:
The forest's value does not stop
with purely educational merit though.
Since the first field day in 1910 near-
ly all the forestry social events have
been held there. After the annual
field day was discontinued, Saginaw
Forest became the scene of the an-
nual campfire. A recent event was a
venison roast given in the wilds of
this student-made forest.
No Mile-A-Minute Rides
DETROIT, June 9-VP)-Mayor
Edward J. Jeffries told the police de-
partment to cease escorting visiting
celebrities on mile-a-minute rides
on Detroit streets.
o r t
Summer Store Hours
Saturduj yr 9:00 iAJI-I:00 P.M
Mondlay-Fridmy .9:00 iI.M.-5:-30 P.M.
The VanBuren Sho
Phjone 2-29 1.4
It Nickeis Arcade
___ T _. ,
i
i r
xDA9
1yHERE
:. Day
TahE yaod ea,
OF II U I BErDSIIIs
TOILET1IES roR MEN
WHO hAVE UITICHlASED
A 4 /5 uNIANd
-and who will not be on campus this summer,
[ _' l(f ( IcV(Jf: V( )lI._. I I I IE I I CJ HId -)aIIllI 17j oddi-et cs
4,
"DO&9.OU'lIt1^;
Correct,
FOR HIM!
cii K'ic
[3t isi I2CSf)
CD icc on I he seCwn fHoor
A GIFT HE WILL APPRECIATE
AN& REMEMBER ALWAYS!
TOILETRIES SNUFF by Schiapare1
2 (()5 on Monday, Jtie 11, t-hrough Fri
doy, June 15
Also
EVERSHARP PEN AND PENCIL SET . . . $125,00
iicords fr'omiwarping, 'scrsa 1 cbg mdll Icakinag. Rccj-
hem stored in a convcnicnt record c~abinct ! I'lcR adlio
&Record Shop brings you a scIcal on of zi nc cabinets
that make smart-looking furmnre pices, too! Stur'd ily
constructed, bcautifiillv finished.
Li-,k)u ['iiL t deICI ve 1 (1(2 le,
fhc 1 )ersion, i
to 1,11l]i .1 copICes of
if $1050
4EK
50 11