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April 17, 1947 - Image 1

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The Michigan Daily, 1947-04-17

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TOTALITARIAN

METHODS
see Pa'ge 4

SirF

Dati4

CLEAR,

;[OLDi

Latest Deadline in the State
VOL. LVI, No. 134 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1947

PRICE FIVE CENTS

i

'U' Wind Tunnel
At WillowAirport
Sees First Action
Operation Marks End of 13 Months
Of Design and Construction Work

SinlReveals
NewConcert
Series Plans

'I

Extra Programs
To Be Presentedl

I

The University's supersonic
wind tunnel at Willow Run Air-
port went into action for the first
time yesterday before the eyes of
awed newsmen.
On signal from Ray Schneyer,
proiect suvervisor, the main con-
trol valve was opened and a blast
of air, traveling about 1,300 miles
per hour, roared past the small
observation window, marking the
sjaccessful culmination of thirteen
months of design and construc-
tion work.
The tunnel, which will be open
to visitors Friday in connection
with the Engineering Open House,
was built for the purpose of gain-
ing exact data as to the behavior
of different shaped bodies at
speeds ranging from 1,000 to 3,500
miles per hour.
Widespread Significance
The success of this tunnel, the
Robot To Host
At En ineers
Open House'
The visitor at tomorrow's Engi-
neering Open House will be greet-"
ed officially by a robot which up
to now has led a pretty lonely ex-
istence in the dynamo lab of the
West Engineering Building but
which has now learned to shake
hands.
Other displays, supervised by
the robot and several engineering
students, will include various con-
trol and testing hook-ups for in-
dustrial machinery, a 40mm anti-
aircraft gun in operation, not
fired, however, and a display in
which a metal ring floats in the
air without support.
A quoit game, which according
to Walter Bergner and Tom Stout,
co-chairmen of the Open House
committee, no one has ever been
able to win, will be open to guests.
The chairmen declined to say why
the game was impossible to win.
A demonstration of stroboscopic
light, which can make water ap-
pear to run uphill, a model of a
machine used to dim theatre lights
and other exhibits of recent re-
search development will be fea-
tured at the open-house,
The University ROTC, in con-
junction with the Army Air Forces,
has announced that several P-80s
are scheduled to fly over the cam-
pus at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Army Air
Force equipment will also be flown
in for the exhibition.
FWalsh ChallengYes
Senator To Debate
Tom Walsh, University sopho-
more, last night challenged State
Sen. Matthew Callahan to an
open debate in which the pur-
poses of the legislator's "Little
Dies Committee" might be - re-
vealed.
Walsh is chairman of the Na-
tional Student Organiaztion's
Michigan Region committee on
campus investigations.
He said that the Callahan com-
mittee, thus far, has capitalized
on emotional publicity to bring
hysteria to the people of Michi-
gan.
"Thle Committee accomnplished
nothing at Wayne University" he
added. "Driving the AYD under-
ground will only make it mire ef-
fective"tdet
High School Students
To Be in Band Festival

only intermittent supersinic tun-
nel in the country, has been of
great interest to other institu-
tions planning to buildewind tun-
nels. The advantage of this type,
in which the air rushes past the
model for only a period of 15 sec-
onds, over the continuous type of
tunnel are smaller initial cost and
smaller cost of operation. The
tunnel here cost about $100,000,
Schneyer explained, while a con-
tinuous tunnel attaining the same
velocities could not be built for
less than a million dollars. As for
operating costs, a single 65 horse-
power pump does the work for
this tunnel, instead of the 1,000
horsepower pump a continuous
tunnel would demand.
The main disadvantage of the
intermittent tunnel is that the
time necessary to evacuate the re-
ceiving tank permits only about
three tests per hour.
Disadvantage Overcome
The apparent disadvantage of
the brief, 15 second observation
time has been overcome by an
elaborate arrangement of record-
ing instruments, many of them
specially designed, which keep a
permanent record of all forces
acting on the 12-inch odel.
The two key items in this wind
tunnel, the vacuum tank or re-.
ceiving tank into which the air
rushes, and the storage tank from
which it comes, both had to be
improvised in the construction of
the tunnel.
The vacuum tank, capacity 13,-
000 cubic feet, was built by con-
necting the bodies of nine rail-
road tank cars, and the flexible
air storage tank of 24,000 cubic
feet capacity, was formerly an.
Army barrage balloon.
Pipe in Operation
In operation, air is pumnpecd out
of the tank cars until a very low
vacuum is formed. Then the valve
is opened, and air from the stor-
age baloon, always at atmospheric
pressure because of the flexibility
of the balloon, rushes through the
small testing tunnel to the tanks.
The shape of the tunnel deter -
mines the speed of the air. This
one is designed with a constric-
tion in front of the point where
the model is suspended. In pass-
ing through the constriction the
air is speeded up to the velocity
of sound, after which it expands,
reaching a maximum and con-
stant speed while passing the
model being tested,

In an effort to provide greater
musical opportunities for the in-
creased student attendance at the
University, two major concert ser-
ies will be provided by the Uni-
versity Musical Society during the
1947-1948 season, Charles A. Sink,
president, announced yesterday.
An extra series of five concerts,
comparable in quality to the per-
formances included in the Choral
Union series, has been planned,
Dr. Sink said. The schedule for
the new series follows:
Patrice Munsel, soprano, Oct.
18; Cleveland Orchestra, George
Szell, conductor, Nov 9; Don Cos-
sack chorus, Serge Jaroff, con-
ductor, Dec. 2; Minneapolis Sym-
phoney Orchestra, Dimitri Mitro-
poulos, conductor, Feb. 15; and Al-
exander Brailowsky, p i a n i s t.
March 10.
Ten Concerts Planned
Ten concerts will be included in
the sixty-ninth annual Choral Un-
ion series: Zinka Milanov, soprano,
Oct. 8; Chicago Symphony Or-
chestra, Artur Rodzinski, conduct-
or, Oct. 26; Daniel Ericourt, pian-
ist, Nov. 4; Set Svanholm, tenor,
Nov. 14; Westminster Choir, Dr .
John Finley Williamson, conduct-
or, Nov. 24; Boston Symphony Or-
chestra, Serge Koussevitzky, con-
ductor, Dec. 8; Myra Hess, pianist,
Jan. 10; Detroit Symphony Or-
chestra, Karl Grueger, conductor,
Feb, 23; George Enesco, violinist,
March 2; and the Cincinnati Sym-
phony Orchestra, Thor Johnson
conductor, March 18.
Mail orders for both these series
of concerts will be accepted be-
ginning May 12.
'Messiah' To Be Repeated
Two performances of Handel's
"Messiah" will be given again next
season, Dec. "13 and 14. Frances
Yeend, soprono; Mary Van Kird,
contralto; Harold Haugh, tenor;
Mark Love, bass; the University
Choral Union and a special sym-
phony orchestra will present the
work.
The eight annual Chamber Mus-
ic festival will be held Jan. 16 and
17 in the lecture hall of the Rack-
ham Building. The Paganini
string quartet, which includes
Henri Teminanka, Gustave Ross-
eels, Robert Courte and Robert
Maas, will be heard in Ann Arbor
for the first time at the festival.
Dr. Sink has also scheduled the
55th annual May Festival for April
29, 30, May 1 and 2.
Manila Square Refund
Tickets for "Manila Square," a
dance to aid the Hayden Memo-
rial Library Fund which was can-
celled Tuesday, may be turned in
for refunds from 3 to 5 p.m. today
at the travel desk of the Union.

Daily-Wake
'SUPER -ATOMSMASHER'-Arthur H. Williams, graduate stu-
dent from Minneapolis, is shown constructing the condenser bank
for the new synchrotron,
* * *~ *

300 MILLION ELECTRONIVOLTS-

Re-designed Atom Siiashler
Being Built Here For Navy
By BOB BALL here for the Navy had a circular
Even in nuclear physics it's "runway" for the stream of lec-
sometimes an apparently simple trical particles used to bombard
little idea that makes a big dif- the target, but that didn't quite
ference. , suit Prof. H. R. Crane of the ph-ys-
Such is the case of the Univer- ics department. He decided that if
sity's big, new "super-atomsmash- the runway were elongated to the
er," officially labeled a synchro- shape of a racetrack, it would give
trop, the electron beam a "hoine
All cyclotrons and synchrotrons stretch" on which to gain speed
previous to the one being built and increase its force of impact.
--___ _ Performaiice lImproved
uMi-Vaterimaticians, aunong them
NIrof. D. M. Dennison of the de-
partment, worked out empirical
formulae and decided he was
right, and that the change would
greatly improve the performance
Is Propnosed ' / of the synchrotron.
That's why this synchrotron will
- e lat e Seek . different.
The cyclotron, built here about
Athletic Board Okay ten years ago under the direction
of Prof. J. M Cork, will be sup-
Recommending a split stirdeait plmcnent ed, not replaced by the new
football section,with student scat- atorn-smasher.
ing beginning at the 50-yard line 300 Million Electron Volts
on both sides of the field, the Tgr
Student Legislature will ask the The most significant difference
Board in Control of Intercollegiate between cyclotron and synchro-
Athletics for a revised football tron is that the former uses a 10
Aseatisrlan esda million electron-volt stream of
seating plan Tuesday. deuterons, while the latter uses a
Meeting with alumni and lac- 300 million electron-volt stream of
ulty representatives as well as electrons to bombard the target,
members of the Board, the Legis- T
lature's athletic committee ;tri a The cyclotron was used for much
propose that tickets be distributld preliminary research in the field
to students on the basis of the of energy relationships as part of
number of semesters completed at tle atomic bomb project.
the University. The committee exm. Atomic Pile Not Planned
plained to the Legislature last Yet another means of produc-
night that the regkitrar will be lig radioactive substances is the
asked to stamp this information atomic pile, child of the "Manhat-
on athletic registration coupons, tan Project" I sinoe m ases it can
Students will be divided into produce such substances much
four categories on the basis of the more cheaply than the cycirtron or
proposed criterion, the first in- sviclirotron, but it isn't likelythat
eluding students with one or less the University will own an atomic
semesters completed, the second pile in the near future. Too ex-
students with two or three, the pensive at present, according to
third those with four or five and Prof. Crane.
the last those with six or more. Both the cyclotron and the par-
Students who wish to sit together tially completed synchrotron, as
will receive seats in the section well as a scale model of a, complet-
assigned to the lowest category of ed synchrotron will be on display
the members of groups. in the East Physics Building to-
Married students applying for morrow in connection with the
seats for their wives will receive Engineering Open House.
tickets for the next lowest cate- -
gory unless both are attending the , p E , ,
University. [n this case the rulo DOE le o E'l o
outlined above will hold.
The Legislature will also ask F
that no students be assigned seat So phomore _
in the first 30 rows of the erc
zones,.
Under the system in operation ByNATALIE UAGROW
this fall student seating started yalypeBiaGWriter
in the middle of section 24 and ex- The m s ipatia test grader
tended around to the end zone, iemstiprta tsgae
with seats 'apportioned on the ba- on campus never gets a rest.
sis of class standing. The grading machine located in
Announcement of the Legisla- the office of the Bureau of Psy-

Destruction,'
ChaosReign
In Gulf City
Observer Reports
50 Acres in Ruins
By WILLIAM BARNARD
Associated Press Reporter
TEXAS CITY, April 16-(IP)-
This is a city of flames, torn steel,
and smoking rubble, a city where
the dead are uncounted and the
living are too dazed and weary to
cry.
Tonight scores of bodies of ex-
plosion and fire dead are stacked
on benches and tables in a brick
mid-town garage and in the near-
by high school gymnasium. Out-
side these places the people gath-
er in silent expressionless groups.
A mile away black smoke from
six roaring fires billows 5,000
feet into the air and drifts
southward out over the gulf. A
50-acre area of devastation
marks the scene where the twin
explosions of a ship and a chem-
ical works wrought the greatest
tragedy this area has- ever
known.
In the light of the towering
blazes a few hundred yards from
the grotesque mountains of twist-
ed steel, I talked to Philip Flores,
young army veteran.
"I was working in a warehouse
25 yards from the ship when it
blew up," he told me. "The con-
cussion knocked me down.
"I crawled over to some flour
sacks and buried my head under
them. Then a few seconds later
the chemical plant exploded.
The roof and walls of the ware-
house were coming down around
me. I got up and ran for my
life. Later I helped pull the
bodies out of the wreckage. It
was the most terrible thing I've
ever seen.
Juan Torres lives in a house a
quarter of a mile from the des-
troyed chemical plant. I found
him sitting on a bed in the front
room staring at the floor. In the
back part of the house the walls
had caved in and the place was
in a shambles.
Torrey was away at work when
the explosion took place.
"I came home," he said, "and
found my brother, my father, and
my sister-in-law missing. They
may be dead"
We went out into the back
yard. It was pitted with huge
pieces of jagged steel. One piece
weighed half a ton. It had bur-
ied itself three feet into the
ground. The smoldering ruins
of a small house were in the
back yard.
"This," said Torres, "was the
house my brother lived in."
He went back into the ruined
larger house and threw himself on
a bed.
Mayor J. C. Trahan, who wears
a Purple Heart as a souvenir of
buzz bombs in Belgium, said "No
buzz bomb could ever compare
with what happened here today."

SI have never seen a grae
tragedy in all my experiences. I
have come here to offer this strick-
BLLEI
TEXAS CITY, Tex., April 17
(P)-A 7,000 ton freighter, the
High Flyer, loaded with 900 tons
of ammonium nitrate, was burn-
ing fiercely early today at the
explosion-torn Texas City docks.
Hundreds of rescue workers
were menaced by the danger of
a second explosion such as that
which tore apart the French
freighter Grandcamp early yes-
terday, killing hundreds of per-
sons5 and injuring thousands.
en community every facility that
the Army can place at its dis-
posal."
Wainwright now is commanding
general of the Fourth Army.
Many of the fatalities oc-
curred on the waterfront after
the nitrate-loaded Grandcamp,
an American-built liberty ship,
exploded, killing all of its crew
of about 40 men. Sightseers
flocked to the docks, to be
caught. by following blasts
which demolished the $19,000,-
000-war-built plant of the Mon-
santo Chemical Company.
The Grandcamp explosion at
9:12 a.m. (SCT) followed a firc
that broke out about 8:30 a.m..
while it was being loaded with ni-
trate and, the Houston Post said
"possibly with small ammunition.'
The Texas City fire department
'Bloody Pulp
To Be Sold
The Gargoyle, accredited humo-
magazine of the University o.
Michigan will go on sale tomorrow
its staff proudly announces.
The April issue, which inspired
the new American foreign policy
is billed as The Bloody Pulp, com-
bining under one cover all th(
love mysteries of the ancient
orient and the leaden virility o'
old New Mexico. On receiving his
complimentary copy, Henry Wal-
lace broke a two-day silence t(
announce, "I enjoyed the adver-
tising, but you could never sel.
that stuff in Iowa."

Mayor J. C. Trahan said he
knew of 300 dead. G. B. Finley,
state highway commission offi-
cial, said at Austin that officials
at the scene had indicated the
toll would reach 1,200. Houston
Police Sergeant Wiley Whatley,
at the disaster scene, estimated
that the death total would be
between 450 and 500.
"Rescue parties bringing out
casualties from the blast area es-
timated that about one out of every
three persons had been killed,
Finley said, "which would indi-
cate around 1,200 dead."
He referred to the dock area,
where principal damage occurred
and where there were some 3,500
persons at the time of the major
blast.
Records of the Metropolitan
Life Insurance Company in
Washington showed that the
disaster was the country's worst,
in lives lost, in the last ten
years. The next worst, the At-
lantic Coast hurricane of Sep-
tember, 1938, took 682 lives.
The Houston Post's report from
State Editor Elbert Turner said
ghat residents were racing in all
lirections to get out of town
ahead of the expected new blasts.
Turner also said that chlorine gas
'ad saturated the dock area and
vas feared to be moving toward
the city's residential and business
sections.
Midwestern headquarters of
the Red Cross at St. Louis re-
ported that 500 bodies had been
brought out of the explosion
area late today and that more
bodies were being found con-
stantly,
Relief and r e s c u e workers
;warmed into the area from all
lirections., National Red Cross
ieadquarters in Washington set
aside $225,000 for relief work and
;ent 30 disaster experts to the
scene.
WanesA YD,
Ban Attacked
A gift of $25 to the Committee
.or Academic Freedom was made
y the campus chapter of the
American Veterans Committee at
ta regular meeting in the Union
last night,
A report on the rally held at
Wayne University yesterday con-
lemning the banning of the AYD
;hapter there was given by Sid
3raber, chairman of the Wayne
chapter of the AVC.
Followin~g the report the Aca-
lemic Frceedomi Committee of the
Local AVC was empowered to plan
action protesting the banning of
he AYD chapter at Wayne.
Deans To Discuss
Faculty Research
A panel of the University's deanz

Texas Disaster Is
Worst of Decade;
Living Flee City
Explosion of Nitrate Ship Kills Whole
Crew, Starts Chain of Fires, Blasts
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEXAS CITY, Tex., April 16-Giant explosions smashed the wat-
erfront of this industrial gulf port today, killing hundreds and in-
juring thousands, and tonight survivors fled the danger area under
threats of fresh disasters.
Fire, which spread to the docks and industrial area after the
French freighter Grandcamp blew up at its berth, drew close to an
ammunition dump, a gas plant and a ship holding nitroglycerin.
Estimates of the dead ranged from 1,200 down to 450. Father.
M. A. Record of Houston, who with other priests probed the wreck-
age to administer the last sacra- -
ments to the dead, said fought the blaze and seemingly
"There are hundreds of bod- had it under control when an ex-
ies still to be found." plosion ripped the ship apart.
General Jonathan M. Wain- The blast at the Monsanto
wright, hero of Bataan, visited the Plant, in the heart of the dock
scene and said: area, followed.
" uav 1VI U1 1 ct~

k ,
/"

World News at a Glance
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, April 16-The Senate agreed tonight to vote at
3 p.m. (CST) next Tuesday on legislation to extend $400,000,000
worth of military and economic assistance to Greece and Turkey.
The decision was reached after the Senate had been held in ses-
sion well into the night to speed action on the proposal.
Earlier in the day the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved
the program 12 to 0.
MOSCOW, April 16-The Kremlin conference of U. S. Sec-
retary of State Marshall acd Prime Minister Stalin was understood
today to have solved no deadlocks and the Foreign Ministers Coun-
cil slated a double ineetingon Austria tomorrow in an apparent
drive to end the conference.
WASHINGTON, April 16 --The leader of the striking telephone
workers said tonight the countrywide tie-up will continue until the
Bell System "gives in or until the workers are starved into submis-
sion."
Joseph A. Beirne, 36-year-old president of the National Federa-
tion of Telephone Workers, an independent union with 39 striking
affiliates, made the statement in an ABC broadcast.

Local Schools To
$34,000 in Sales

Get
Taxes

$34,000will go to the Ann Arbor
Board of Education after May 1
as its share of the sales tax di-
version money.
The board learned at a meet-
ing yesterday that it will receive
funds at the rate of $5.95 per
census child, covering the period
from Dec. 5 to April. Use of the
money in paying increments to
teachers for the current year is
being considered,

TIRED)
Tests Graded By Machine

Seated at the controls of the
machine, which closely resembles
a small metal knee-hole desk, was
Mrs. Amelia Needle, statistician in
the testing division of the Bureau
of Psychological Services. Hav-
ing nlaned the correctly nunched

right answers, the number o
wrong answers, the wrong answer:
subtracted from the right, or 4
fraction of the wrong answen
subtracted from the right. By
pressing additional buttons, the
machine can also register negativ(

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