PAGE THE MICHIGAN DAILY WED
NESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 194.
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND:
Douglas'Pre-=War Aid to Japs
I-
INDIAN FAMINE:
Offiejals Conplaent As People Starve
Member of The Associated Preis
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Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1945-46
NIGHT EDITOR: MARY BRUSH
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
Army-Navy Merger
A. FEW DAYS AGO Capt. Woodson Michaux,
head of the University Naval Unit, gave
several reasons why a merger of the Army, Navy
and air forces would not be the wise thing to
do.
They were pretty good reasons, too. Perhaps
the most important one was his argument that
creating a huge department of defense to in-
clude Army, Navy and air forces would not tend
to increase the efficiency of that department.
Favoring the Navy plan which calls for smaller
and more integrated coordination of action,
Capt. Michaux pointed out its advantages in
dealing with the "highly specialized probleis of
design, production, procurement, supply, and
logistics."
There would be no chance for a "muddle of
a merger" as Admiral Halsey put it, and the
Navy would retain its "privilege of free de-
cision."
Capt. Michaux again quoted Admiral Halsey
who said, "To plunge headlong into this wild-
est scheme"- the unification of the armed
forces -"which has proved unsuccessful in the
history of war, might well invite disaster. The
Russians long ago tried a single department of
the armed forces and proved it didn't work.
They changed it. Japan and Germany also
had a Navy dominated by the Army and didn't
change it. Look where they are."
So far we do not have a Navy dominated by
the Army and we will not have such a situation
if Congress will slow down and objectively con-
sider the aspects of this proposed "shotgun wed-
ding". Nothing good ever resulted from such
hasty proceedings, and nothing good till come
of a plan in which one group unfairly dominates
the other.
Only when power is divided equally will
there be a smooth-running military organiz-
ation, and only when all groups compromise to
create a strong, combined fighting force, can
we be sure of American security.
-Bettyann Larsen
Responsible Parties
1HE SENSE OF DISUNITY and disorganiza-
tion which is troubling the American people
has one often-overlooked root - the irresponsi-
bility of the political parties. This weakness is
illustrated currently both by the failure of the
Republican National Committee's Chicago meet-
ing to produce a clearcut program, and by the
failure of President Truman to carry his legis-
lative proposals through Congress.
The fact that both parties, have Right and
Left wings complicates the task of party lead-
ership. Between elections the Republicans in
Congress largely manage party policy. In re-
cent years they have been fighting the New
Deal and Roosevelt internationalism. Often on
domestic issues they have won short-range
victories by following the lead of ultra-conserv-
ative Democrats. But when Presidential cam-
paigns had to be fought, the party tried to
forget the Congressional record and to win by
choosing more progressive candidates and plat-
forms.
The Democrats, perhaps even more sharply
divided as between their conservative, rural,
Southern wing and their liberal, urban, Northern
wing, have been kept in some order by party
patronage and Presidential prestige. But it is
rmifii I t fnd in their Cnornasonaranks
By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON. - Last week this column re-
vealed that in 1939 Douglas aircraft had
sold the DC-4, plus blueprints, to Japan, despite
previous denials and despite the plea of Cordell
Hull for a moral embargo against selling air-
planes to the Japs.
The Douglas official who handled this trans-
action was V. E. Bertrandias, later promoted to
be a major general in the U.S. Army despite
representations by the Justice Department point-
ing to his past record of cooperation with the
Japs.
This column is now able to reveal further
evidence regarding the pre-Pearl Harbor co-
operation of Douglas aircraft and General
Bertrandias - a letter from Bertrandias to
Mitsui & Company, arranging for an inspec-
tion trip by General Terauchi, prominent Jap
air commander, to the Douglas plant at Santa
Monica, Calif.
This was at a time when Douglas was mak-
ing important military aircraft for the U.S.
Army. It was also two months after the war
in Europe had started and when many U.S.
newspapers were reporting that Japanese entry
into the war was inevitable. The letter follows:
"October 23, 1939
"Mitsui & Company, Ltd.
350 Fifth Avenue
New York City
Attention: Mr. S. Kohno
Gentlemen:
We wish to acknowledge your letter of October
17, engineering department - M. Sasaoka, rela-
tive to the proposed visit of General Terauchi
and party. Your Los Angeles office has already
contacted us in regard to this matter, and we
understand that General Terauchi and party will
visit our factory on the morning of October 30.
"Please be assured that we shall do everything
possible to make General Terauchi's visit a pleas-
ure to him.
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc.
Very truly yours,
V. E.' Bertrandias
Vice-president."
Outfoxing MacArthur
HERE is the inside reason why the Far Eastern
Advisory Commission is going to Japan by
boat instead of by airplane.
When the commission cabled General Mac-
Arthur for permission to come, he cabled back
that he could handle the delegates only one or
two at a time. MacArthur said there were no
accommodations for the visiting diplomats, so
he wanted them in driblets.
The ten nations on the commission figured
this was a dodge to get them split up into small
groups so they couldn't function as a unit.
The ten nations on the advisory commission,
therefore, took over a ship which they will use
as headquarters anchored in Tokyo bay.
Merry-Go-Round
J ESSE JONES is reported looking around to
find a big banking job for John Snyder, the
reconversion boss, who so many Truman advisers
hope will soon leave Washington. They don't
care where he goes, whether back to St. Louis
or Wall Street, just so his fumbling hands are
taken off the delicate job of reconversion.
President Truman may not remember, but one
important rumpus in the early days of the New
Deal was when Chester Davis, then boss of the
Agricultural Adjustment Agency, purged Jerome
Frank, now judge of the second Circuit Court
of Appeals, for proposing that the big meat pack-
ers open their books to the public in order to
ascertain how much government subsidies they
needed.
Today, Truman is proposing a far more revo-
lutionary step - opening the books of auto-
mobile companies and other big industries.
Simultaneously, Truman has brought Cheser
Davis back from St. Louis to serve on the im-
portant reconversion board, and rumor is he
may step into Snyder's all-important recon-
version job.
Jesse's Hidden Hand
ONLY TIME President Roosevelt really got sore
at anyone was when he fired Jesse Jones as
Secretary of Commerce and Federal Loan Admin-
istrator. Ever since Truman came into office,
however, Harry has shut one eye to the fact that
Jesse Jones, unofficially, is running the powerful
Federal Loan Administration by remote control.
Jones sits in Room 450 of the Statler Hotel,
keeping two phones so busy his wife complains
she can't talk to him. And since no one has
been appointed to replace him, Jesse can do
almost anything he wishes with the headless
loan agencies. This also means that he has
a lot to say about surplus property since it is
largely handled by the RFC.
Meanwhile, Stuart Symington, though given
the title of surplus property administrator, actu-
ally has little to do with its disposal. So Syming-
ton, fed up with getting the blame for the sur-
plus property snarl, finally went to reconversion
boss John Snyder and asked that he be given
full responsibility by taking over the RFC, him-
self. Symington didn't say so in those words, but
he is tired of having the secret hand of Jesse
Jones running surplus property and the loan
agencies while he gets all the headaches.
Snyder, as usual, was noncommittal. Being
an old pal of Jesse's, he isn't anxious to make
a change. However, the final decision is not
up to him - but Truman. If the latter does
not clean house, you can write it down that
battle to the death with the Army.
ful Navy sleuths, recently noted an
the New York papers reporting that
"Touchy" Spaatz, hard-headed Army
entertained a dinner of 65 to 70 editorse
lishers at the Waldorf, with the guest<
Hugh Baillie, head of United Press.
Navy men, knowing the difficulty which any
general or admiral has in meeting even the
family payroll on a government salary, wondered
how Spaatz was able to finance such a big shin-
dig. They investigated, found that the dinner
cost a thousand bucks, but it didn't come out
of General Spaatz's pocket. It was paid for by
the United Press, whose chief was guest oi
honor.
Naturally, the dinner was a good sounding
board for air force propaganda. The airmen,
although staying in the background, have been
the leading motivator of the Army-Navy mer-
ger.
(Copyright, 1945, by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
I'D RATHER BE RIGHT :
Price Control
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
AN OFFICIAL of the National Association of
Home Builders says that price ceilings on new
homes are unnecessary because people won't be
"foolish enough" to pay high prices. This is an
interesting argument, because, if it is true, there
should never have been an inflation in the his-
tory of the world; people should never have been
foolish enough.
This kind of argumentation is typical of the
sort of the pressures now at work to crack price
control. Senator Wherry of Nebraska contrib-
uted his mite during a radio debate the other
evening, when he held two women's slips aloft
before the (studio) audience. One, he said, was
a good -article priced at $1.95; but, because the
manufacturer's price was over the ceiling, he had
been forced to stop producing the item. The
other slip, a bad one, was put out by another
maker as a "new line," at $3.95.
Almost every Congressman has been sub-
jected to this argument during the last few
weeks; Washington is full of people wander-
ing around with two women's slips in their
hands. But another speaker on the program
rather spoiled Mr. Wherry's point by remind-
ing the audience that when OPA asked for
power to enforce quality standards, Mr. Wherry
voted against it. With proper backing, OPA
could have curbed the maker of poor slips, or,
under a proper presentation, it could have been
induced to give relief to the maker of good
ones, as it has done in literally thousands of
instances.
rJ1HE OPPONENTS of price control cannot get
away from the fact that what they want is
higher prices. Usually they work it out to read
that higher prices mean higher production they
then try to call their higher-price plan a higher-
production plan; but it is startling to see Amer-
ican industry, after a generation of convincing
us that higher production means lower prices,
now allowing spokesmen to say for it that lower
prices are a barrier to higher production. What
has happened to the old marriage between mass
production and low prices? What new element
of incompatibility has disrupted that happy mat-
ing? If the country were broke, American indus-
try would be pulling off its customary miracles
to make and sell goods at prices people could
pay; with an assured market, the miracles ought
to be, if anything, a little easier to accomplish.
It seems to me it is a very short-sighted propa-
ganda investment, flabby and ultimately profit-
less, for any segment of industry to reverse its
field in this emergency, and try to build up a
mystic union of high production and high prices.
But even if arguments are sometimes flabby,
tempers arehigh; and so Mr. Truman, going
to work in one special price-control field, has
tried to meet some of the flabby arguments
with a flabby housing plan. It is a typical, soft
compromise, i.e., one which pleases nobody.
The $10,000 ceiling on new houses means that
most new houses will be $10,000 houses, beyond
the reach of most Americans and so housing ex-
perts don't like the plan, while builders don't like
it either, because they don't like any ceilings.
The plan lacks style; and though the ceiling may
'be lowered by the time these lines appear (any-
thing is possible in these days of rapid indecision
in Washington) it is, in its initial form, clearly
not an attack on the housing problem, as such,
but merely an attempted answer to propagan-
dists.
The administration's lack of forthright style
in fighting inflation is encouraging the flabby
argument; and the flabby argument is increas-
ingly meeting with the flabby answer; and vet-
erans are now going to try to live on unsub-
sidized food, in $100,000 houses. Perhaps some-
one in Mr. Truman's entourage should whisper
to him that true compromise is not achieved
by yielding to everybody in sight; true com-
promise is based on doing the best for the
most. On that platform, one can stand; and
if the hollering is no less, the progress is some-
his old friend Symington will not tarry in the
headache-ridden job of surplus property ad-
ministrator.
Death Battle
rPHE NAVY is leaving no stone unturned in its
Watch-
item in
General
ace, had
and pub-
of honor
BENGAL, THE BIRTHPLACE of
the Indian national movement,
is dying. Last year's famine taught
many lessons and it took heavy toll,
but the lessons have not been well
learnt. The officials have remained
complacent, the people are passive,
and the hoarders go on with their
business. The complacency of the
officialdom is reflected in Mr. Casey's
radio talk of the fourth of July.
In this talk, he, the governor of
the province, stated that there has
been a 'striking' improvement in
the food situation. The facts pre-
sent a different picture.
The prices of paddy (a form of
cereal) and rice in every district of
Bengal are 200 to 250 per cent higher
than the government - controlled
prices. Levelling of supply through
storaging was supposed to keep prices
low.
Mr. Casey assured his listeners
that storage arrangements have been
made for twenty million maunds of
rice. (Approx. 72 maunds equal one
ton.) But no effective method was
devised to keep the rice from rotting.
In 1944, 21,600 maunds of rice were
wasted and this year, 159,000 maunds
were wasted in the months of May
and June alone. These figures do
not include the unreported waste and
the profiteering by the government
agents themselves.
The governor of Bengal 'refuses
to believe' that Indian mothers and
sisters are committing suicide for
want of material with which to
clothe themselves. Mr. Casey may
not be 'prepared' to believe this
but nevertheless, it is a fact-"in a
single week, July 1st to July 7th,
thirty suicide cases were reported."
Cloth rationing was to be intro-
duced on the third of September by
the provincial government but was
postponed to October 1. The central
government, which promised to de-
liver 41,333 bales in April, has like-
wise failed in its duty. April, May,
and June passed and then, in the
last week of June, 22,000 bales were
given to the Bengal government. Out
of these thousands, how many bales
reached the people has not been
ascertained. Casey's 'temporary'
cloth distribution scheme has evap-
orated; once again he is 'consider-
ing' a new plan to have a 'cloth syn-
dicate.'
Mr. Casey thinks that the num-
her of destitute persons has fallen
considerably, that the health situ-
ation in the province is hopeful
and is getting back to the pre-war
normal. But the facts are . . .
The following figures are given
by Mr. S. C. Mitter, head of the De-
partment of Industries in the gov-
ernment of Bengal:
There are now in Bengal twelve
lacs of wandering destitutes besides
27 lacs of landless labourers, 15 lacs
of poor peasants, 15 laos of village
artisans and 25,000 school teachers.
(10 lacs equal one million)
Relief sanctioned for all destitutes
put together is 1,679,103 rupees-
i.e., every destitute will get 6 ps.
(about 1 cent) per day for only two
months. The government scheme
provides for 2 per cent of the adult
destitutes and 3 per cent of all
orphan children. Fifteen lacs of vil-
lage artisans each will have 8 as.
(about 16 cents) per day for a year.
10 lacs of houses need rebuilding
in Bengal today. After the havoc
following the famine, the govern-
ment sanctioned for this job Rupees
1-3 (40 cents) for each house for the
year.
And even such scanty help
doesn't reach the people because it
passes through the channels of
hoarders and officials who are
more interested in making money
than in feeding the people.
As for the health situation .. .
Epidemics which have their roots
in the last famine have been raging
in the whole province. In January
1945, two out of every thousand per-
sons had cholera, half the cases
proving fatal. In April, 1945, four
out of every thousand had cholera,
half again being fatal. Besides this,
the "malaria scourge has become
more powerful."
*And at this time, there has been
a cut of about 50 per cent in the
budget for health expenditures. It
was 17,000,000 rupees from 1944-45
and 7,100,000 from 1945-46. De-
spite this cut in health appropri-
ations, the sales tax, which hits
the lower-income bracket hardest,
has been raised from one pie per
rupee to three pies per rupee.
But Mr. Casey's rosey-colored dis-
tortions do pot blind even the most
conservative. The Economist, an im-
perialist organ, claimed on October
13, 1945 . . . "Hoarding more danger-
ous even than crop failure has al-
ready begun, even though the real
scarcity will not appear until next
year. .." The situation is recognized
in this article, but the Economist
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 (11:00 a. m. Sat-
urdays).
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1945
VOL. LVI, No. 39
Notices
The Business Office and those de-
partmental offices of the University
which can properly be closed will not
be open on Monday, Dec. 24.
Herbert G. Watkins, Secretary.
During the University vacation, the
General Library will close at 6 p.m.
daily, beginning Friday, Dec. 21, and
will be closed all day Dec. 24 and 25.
There will be no Sunday Service.
The Divisional Libraries will be
closed Dec. 24 and 25 and will be
open on a short schedule Dec. 26-29.
Hours of opening will be posted on
the doors.
All libraries will resume regular
schedules Dec. 31 and will be open
full time on New Year's Day.
The University Automobile Regula-
tion will be lifted for Junior Medical
students from Dec. 15, 1945 to Jan.
14. 1946.
For all other students in the Uni-
versity, the ruling will be suspended
for the Christmas vacation period,
beginning at 12:00 noon on Friday,
Dec. 21, 1945 and ending at 8:00 a.m.
on Monday, Dec. 31, 1945.
12:30 a.m. permission will be given
to women students for the dance giv-
en by Company A tonight, if these
students present their invitation
cards at the Office of the Dean of
Women in advance of the party.
Closing hours for' women students
on Dec. 31 will be 1:30 a.m.
West Quadrangle Navy men now in
residence in the West Quadrangle
may reapply for rooms for the Spring
Term from Dec. 18 to 21 at the Of-
fice of the Dean of Students. Men ap-
plying during that period will be
given priority over incoming appli-
cants for rooms for the Spring Term.
Faculty College of Literature, Sci-
ence, and the Arts: Midsemester re-
ports are due not later than Friday,
Dec. 21.
Report cards are being distributed
to all departmental offices. Green
cards are being provided for freshmen
and sophomores and white cards for
reporting juniors and seniors. Re-
ports of freshmen and sophomores
should be sent to 108 Mason Hall;
those of juniors and seniors to 1220
Angell Hall.
Midsemester reports should name
those students, freshmen and upper-
classmen, whose standing at midsem-
ester is "D" or "E", not merely those
who receive "D" or "E" in so-called
midsemester examinations.
Students electing our courses, but
registered in other schools or colleges
of the University should be reported
to the school or college in which they
are registered.
Additional cards may be had at 108
Mason Hall or at 1220 Angell Hall.
The following student organiza-
tions have not returned space con-
tracts for the 1946 Michiganensian:
Michigamua
Stockwell Hall
U. of M. Band
American Institute of Archiects
Phi Eta Sigma
A. V.C.
Graduate Council
Latin American Society
These contracts must be received
by Thursday, Dec. 20. The Michigan-
ensian will not guarantee insertion of
the page after that date.
Students, College of Engineering:
The final day for DROPPING
COURSES WITHOUT RECORD will
be Saturday, Jan. 5. A course may be
dropped only with the permission of
the classifier after conference with
the instructor.
Stae nf Mihizan Civil Srvice An-
Hall, Engineering, Music, and Educa-
tion Schools.
Admission to School of Business
Administration-Spring Smester
Applications for admission to the
School of Business Administration
for the Spring Semester MUST be
filed on or before Jan. 15 Information
and application blanks are available
in Room 108, Tappan Hall.
Academic Notices
Veterans (World War H) Tutoring:
There are two Mathematics Tutor-
ing sections: One for those taking
Math. 6 and 7, meeting in Room 3010
Angell Iall; and another for stu-
dents in other Math courses meeting
in Room 3011 Angell Hall.
From now on these sections will
meet from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday.
Biological Chemistry Seminar will
meet today at 4 p.m., in 319 West
Medical Building. 'Lipids and Hem-
olysis," will be discussed. All inter-
ested are invited.
The Botanical Seminar will meet
at 4:00 p.m. today in room 1139, Nat-
ural Science Building. Botany in
Brazil will be discussed by Jose M.
Joffily and Jose C. Paixao. All inter-
ested are invited.
Seminar in History of Mathematics
today from 7-8 p.m. 3001 Angell Hall.
Mr. K. Leisenring will continue the
discussion of Imaginary Elements in
Non-Euclidean Geometry.
Bacteriology Seminar will meet
Thursday, Dec. 20., at 4 p m. in Room
1564 East Medical Building.
Employment in Private Forestry
Seminar-Professor Matthews will
initiate a series of discussions on va-
rious aspects of this subject tomor-
row afternoon at 4:30. As usual, the
seminar will be held in room 2039,
Natural Science building.
Events Today
The Broadcasting Service and the
School of Music present a special
program of Christmas music over
Station WKAR this afternoon at 2:30
p.m. The entire program is under the
direction of Professor Hanns Pick
and includes the combined forces of
the String Section of the University
Symphony Orchestra under the di-
rection of Professor William D. Re-
veli; the Women's Glee Club, di-
rected by Associate Professor Mar-
guerite Hood; the Men's Glee Club,
directed by Professor David Mattern
and Mr. Jerome Horwitz, tenor solo-
ist; a quartet of brass instruments
under the direction of Mr. Haskel
Sexton; and an Organ solo by Pro-
fessor Palmer Christian. Mr. Russel
Howland has written a special or-
chestra arrangement to "Silent
Nicht, Holy 1 icht, and Mr. Theodore
Heger will be ti_clommentator.
There will be an Executive Council
meeting of the Student Organization
for International Cooperation today
at 4:15 in the Michigan Union. No-
tice to the Engineering Council, New-
man Club, and All-Nations Club, rep-
representatives particularly.
The Seminar on the Expansion of
Christianity will take place at 4:30
in Lane Hall.
Junior Girls: There will be a meet-
ing at 4:30 today for those who
signed up and for those who wish to
sign up on the publicity committee
for J. G. Play. It will be held in the
League; the room will be posted on
the bulletinboard in the lobby. Bring
your identification card.
Flying Club: Meeting tonight
at 7:30 p.m. in room 1042
East Engineering Building. Club
By-Laws are to be considered and
agreed upon. Members as well as
all other students and faculty inter-
ested in the club are urged to attend.
There are still membership open-
ings for a limited number. Appli-
cation blanks can be filled out in
room B.308 East Engineering Build-
ing. Additional information can be
obtained through the club officers:
cleverly alibis the government by
blaming the hoarders. Not that
there are no hoarders at all -but is
the government, which decided to
crush the entire Congress in 1942,
too weak to oust them?
The crux of the matter lies in the
fact that the government does not
want the cooperation of the people.
Mr. Casey has ruled the province for
the past year with selected advisers
rather than with elected, ministers.
The Economist knows this well and
so it says that "the greatest danger
in fact will come from further loss
of public confidence in the admin-
istration" and therefore "closer con-
tact between the government and the
people" it needed.
What must be the state of af-
fairs when the Economist, tradi-
tional propagandist for the white
man's burden, speaks for closer
contact between the government
and the people?
-S. D. Mehta
Editor's Note: This is the third in a
series of articles on the Far East
by S. D. Mehta, an Indian national
now attending the University.
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
times greater.
(Copyright,
1945, N. Y. Post Syndicate)
BARNABY
By Crockett Johnson
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We're checking your answer.. . Yes! 1
ALd.If.. .- f-- -An I
By the way, sir, are you
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Eh?. .. Oh. Ha, ha, heh,1
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FMmm, well, thank you.
JOHNSW~
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II