Two
VUHE MICHIGAN IAILY4
rl TUESDAY; DECEMBER 3, 1949
Economic Situation
ALTHOUGH we are inclined to think of
the current economic situation in this
country as an inflation, it has been observed
by columnist Samuel Grafton that it lacks
many of the earmarks of one. In a real
inflationary period, prices spiral upward
without a sign of reduction anywhere along
the line. However, he points out several
instances in the present situation of drastic
price slashing that should not De lightly
regarded as isolated cases.
Grafton cites the paradox of the de-
partment stores running full-page adver-
tisements announcing price reductions
just at the start of the Christmas shop-
ping season, and the announcement of a
prominent men's hatter of a 40 per cent
drop in prices. Occurrences such as these
would not exist in a true inflation, and
have led many economists to expect a re-
cession by the spring. This phenomenal
turnabout may be partly explained by
the buyers' strikes in many cities which
have been instrumental in preventing a
large-scale inflation. -
Yet there is an important group in this
country that is determined not to let the
last stages of even a small inflation pass
into oblivion without reaping some individ-
ual benefit from it. That group is the land-
lords, with their increasingly louder cries
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: EUNICE MINTZ
to move rent ceilings upward. They are
obviously determined to get in their licks
before the true situation is more widely real-
ized. And landlords happen to be just the
people who will have the least to worry
about once prices start falling in earnest,
because of the enormous demand for hous-
ing which will enable them to do capacity
business even during a recession.
Not only would raising rent ceilings
be an uncalled for move under these
circumstances; it would be dangerous as
well. Rents, unlike prices on other con-
sumer goods, freeze into leases, and do
not go down quickly by means of natural
processes. This would give landlords an
unmerited advantage in the economy
when all prices would be declining while
their own incomes remained high.
The howl of businessmen to let prices
take their natural course was answered by
removal of OPA restrictions from the great
bulk of commodities. Rents continued to
be controlled since it was generally, agreed
that this was necessary in order to prevent
unscrupulous practices on the part of land-
lords who might take advantage of the
acute shortage of housing and charge ex-
orbitant rents. Now, feeling cheated, land-
lords have taken up the martyr's cry, in-
sisting that if they must be burdened with
ceilings, at least they could be higher ceil-
ings. There is no reason to assume that
housing will be more plentiful in the near
future, and in light of this fact and the
prospect of declining prices in most other
spheres of our economy, their demands can
hardly be justified.
I'D RATHER BE RIGHT:
Toward 1928
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
HAVE a kind of incomplete idea to offer
today; nothing rounded and thought-out,
call it an intimation. It is an odd feeling
that our economy is beginning to be pulled
out thin, so that there is a greater distance
between richer and poorer than there was
a year ago, or two years ago. The New York
Journal of Commerce tells us, for example,
that there is a decline in meat consumption
in the low income groups; that would make
this the first time in five years when all
the meat being offered couldn't. be sold.
At the bottom of the economic scale,
say, typically, people on relief in New
York City, there is something close to
hunger again, as inadequate city pay-
ments fail to match grocery prices. That,
too, is a new note; the shortages from
which these people are suffering are not
like the shortages of wartime, which were
shortages-in the stores, shortages for
everybody; these are shortages in the
kitchen, at a time when stores are loaded.
It's new, it's different; and I have a
feeling that this new economic attenuation
goes rather far. The typical small extrava-
gancies to which the lower income groups
turned, with such zest, during the war were
travel, restaurant meals, good clothing, and
theatre tickets. It is in just these fields,
according to the Journal of Commerce sur-
vey, that activity is now dropping, and that
barkers are being used in place of the cops
who were recently required in order to keep
the customers out.
My incomplete thought about our ec-
onomic attenuation projects a picture of
a great productive machine busily com-
peting for a small market. That is not
an attractive picture, nor a very Ameri-
can picture, in the mass production sense;
yet one feels that it is forming up when
one hears the automobile industry, for
example, declaring that it looks forward
to good sales for three years even if
car prices do rise further and some cus-
tomers drop out.
We may be moving, even if slowly, toward
an atmosphere, politically and morally, very
much like that of 1928, when woe was form-
ing below, even though the luxury trades
were still doing pretty well above. The
problem is one for those to solve who have
so heedlessly welcomed and fought for in-
flation, and who, just as blithely, now reject
any prior planning to head off*a recession.
As to what they will get for their pains no
one can, of course, rightly say; the last
time they got Roosevelt.
(Copyright 1946, by the N.Y. Post Syndicate)
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BILL MAULDIN
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EDITOR'S NOTE: No letter to the
editor will be printed unless signed
and written in good taste. Letters
over 300 words in length will be
shortened or omitted; in special in-
stances, they will be printed, at the
discretion of the editorial director.
* * *
Flag of Liberalism . ..
IN MANY QUARTERS a flag of
liberalism is flown. This liber-
alism by limitation of definition
carries the meaning of freedom
of opportunities and employment
on the basis of merit. Neverthe-
less when racial minorities seek
these opportunities or apply for
employment this liberalism is
found to be only a camouflage
over racial hatred and prejudice.
This liberalism is found to be only
a shell; such a shell is only a cover
to gain favor, or protect itself
from criticism of society. Often
by concerted efforts of an individ-
ual, groups of individuals or or-
ganizations to show the shallow-
ness of any person or any groups,
there comes a sharp rebuke from
the latter.
Systematic "passing of the
buck" is used to exclude individu-
als from these openings. Agencies
who state that they have no au-
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-DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Letters to the Editor...
t__ _ __ _ _ _-__ I-Gloria Bendet
Housng rogram
T IS a curious sign of the times when a
public official with his hands on the na-
tion's purse strings expresses concern over
the disposition of the taxpayers' money.
Nevertheless, this is the crux of the con-
troversy now waging between George Allen,
head of the Reconstruction Finance Cor-
poration, and Wilson Wyatt, Federal Hous-
ing Expediter. Wyatt seeks a loan of $50,-
000,000 for the Lustron Corporation for
the purpose of building prefabricated homes.
Since this company is putting up only
$36,000 of its own capital, Allen has taken
a stand against this exploitation of the
country's tax money. Wyatt contends that
the loan is essential in carrying out the
government's program for providing the
necessary housing so urgently needed.
Incidental to the story is the claim of
a' new auto manufacturer,' the Tucker
G'rr"tion. to use the plant facilities
that have been leased to Lustron. In the
first stages, this appeared to be a battle
of homes vs. cars, lut a proposed com-
promise that the plant be shared has
thrown the issue back to the more funda-
mental question.
- Shall an individual company be allowed
to profit through the indiscriminate use of
public funds? The RFC, in exercising its
proper 'control of these funds, has stead-
fastly said no.
In the war emergency just past, RFC
loans were made to expedite the flow of
war materials. In the final analysis, the
issue to be decided would seem to be-
is the gravity of the present housing sit-
uation comparable to the urgency of the
war period? Millions of homeless or home-
hunting veterans would say that it is,
other millions of- taxpayers would un-
doubtedly take the opposite view.
The rate of return Lustron would receive
from the use of its loan is considerably in
excess of the RFC interest rates, and the
profit on $36,000 of invested capital be-
comes enormous. The ideal solution would
seem to be the granting of the loan on a
conditional basis, allowing a fair return
only on Lustron's own, capital, and passing
on the benefits of the loan to the public in
reduced cost of housing. But this has the
drawback of imposing a limit on the profits
of private enterprise, and would meet op-
position on that account.
Compromise is not unknown to our econ-
omy when the public interest is at stake.
The immediate need for new housing should
provide the incentive that will lead to a
satisfactory settlement of this current con-
troversy.
-Ken Herring
CURRENT
MOVIES,
LL
'ALL or NOTHIN G
THE foreign ministers departed
from Paris several weeks ago, the out-
look for the future was dim indeed. The
Wallace-Baruch controversy had brought
to light the friction underlying the most
basic issue confronting the big Powers, the
atom bomb. The crux of the matter lay in
the fact that Russia refused to submit to
the International inspection of Atomic re-
sources, claiming infringement of sovereign-
ty, though her real concern was that the
United States would continue to manufac-
ture the bomb during the interim stages
of development of international control.
The Trieste and Danube questions were a
major point of difference. The United Na-
tions opened at Flushing in a somewhat
dubious atmosphere.
Since that time we have come a long
way. Molotov offered a disarmament pro-
posal soon after the opening session. Af-
ter a few days of headline news, in which
opinion ranged from the purely obstruc-
tive (bemoaning the absence of specific
proposals by Molotov) to the ridiculous
(fearing disarmament as impractical at
this time) the proposal gave way to
other issues.
Trieste and the Danube took the spot-
light. Major concessions by the Soviet
Union have erased some of the points of
friction, bringing the issues closer to a
final settlement than they have ever been.
The Trusteeship question was left hanging
after several imperialist utterances by Smuts
and Dulles.
A week or so ago, the Soviet delegation
brought up the disarmament question
again. They asked for a troop census. The
British delegation -objected that there
must be "on the spot" observation by
United Nations representatives. The dead-
lock 'was broken last Friday when the
Soviet delegation agreed to International
inspection of all troops and arms, pro-
vided that the atom bomb were included.
To this the British objected on the ground
previous position. First, they asked for a
census in all occupied territories which were
not enemy countries. This the British and
American delegates refused. Then, the So-
viet delegation asked for a- troop census in
every part of the world, including troops
within the Big Five. This was objected to
because United Nation representatives could
not be present to verify the nations' figures.
They asked for International Inspection.
This, the Soviets have agreed to. They ask
in return that the Atom bomb, which in
Vishinsky's words, "hangs as a sword of
Damocles over our heads," be included in
the Inspection.
This is the most important question
that has faced the United Nations, and
that which will make or break it. There
can be no real inspection unless the atom
bomb is included. Is it not somewhat
absurd for our delegates to ask that the
Soviet Union allow full inspection of her
arms and equipment, while we reserve
the right to retain in secret the most
powerful weapon?
It remains for our representatives, along
with the British, to respond to the challenge
and follow through with real disarmament,
without reservations. They could not but
gain the support of all but a few of the
whole population.
-E. E. Ellis
DecidingIssute
ELEGATES to the UN now understand
that this General Assembly may be a
great success or a disistrous failure. Spain.
has become the deciding issue.
A majority of the delegates favor the
resolution backed by the Giral government
to cut off all imports 'roin Spain. Giral has
pointed out that this action will increase
At the Michigan...
TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
(Paramount), Alan Ladd, Bill Bendix,
Howard da Sylva.
THIS PICTURE is dedicated to Richard
Henry Dana Jr. who, throughout most
of the action, sits to one side writing in
a small black notebook. Through the haloed
haze of his literary activity can be detected
the toupee of Brian Donlevy. But the plot
is more concerned with the regeneration
of Alan Ladd, who characteristically looks
just the same when he is playing the weak-
ling spendthrift as he does when he is
playing the stalwart stalwart. The sympa-
thies of the audience are admittedly sup-
posed to be with the crew members of the
cast. The script-writers, however, could not
resist throwing in sympathetic explanations
of why the captain and his officers are
such brutes. The results of this were that
my sympathies, at least, were with the
captain. Howard da Silva as Captain
Thompson walks away with the acting hon-
ors. The opportunity for effective use of
such players as Roman Bohen, Albert Dek-
ker, and Frank Faylen was completely over-
looked. Love interest was dragged in by
its hair.
I * * *
At the State .
THE KILLERS (Hellinger-Universal),
Burt Lancaster, Sam Levine, Edmund
O'Brien.
'WHEN A competent producer and director
combine with a group of lesser known
but equally competent actors and a tightly
knit, swiftly moving story, the results are
usually excellent. That term, and such ad-
jectives as "sweet" and "neat" can easily be
applied to The Killers. The picture could
easily have been spoiled by the use of the
usual Hollywood big names and extras.
As it is, everyone and everything fits-so
well in fact that it is difficult to determine
whether this is due to excellent acting or
beautiful type casting. Regardless of the
reason, the picture is one of the better
attempts of the year and should be seen
if only to find out what can be done in the
realm of the motion picture.
-Joan Fiske
Publication in The Daily Official
Bulletin is constructive notice to all
members of the University. Notices
for the Bulletin should be sent in
typewritten form to the office of the
Assistant to the President, Room 1021
Angell Hall, by 3:00 p.m. on the day
preceding publication (11:00 a.m. Sat-
urdays.
TUESDAY, DEC. 3, 1946
VOL. LVII, No. 60
Notices
Veterans: Opportunity is af-
forded to those veterans who have
been enrolled in the University 30
days or longer and have not re-
ceived either a subsistence check
or a Notice of Award of Subsis-
tence, to report this situation to
Sthe Veterans Administration.
Those affected may have special
attention given to expediting their
checks by contacting the local
guidance Center office, Room 100,
Rackham Bldg., December 2, 3, 4,
or 5, between the hours of 8:00
and 4:00.
Petitions for admission to the
Combined Curriculum in Letters
and Law are again being accepted
from out-of-state students. Pro-
spective applicants who have be-
gun the first semester of their
junior year may apply for admis-
sion to the program provided pe-
titions are filed with the Chair-
man of the Committee, 1220 An-
gell Hall, not later than April
19, 1947. Prospective applicants
are referred to a description of
the curriculum on pages 38-39 of
the current Announceilient of the
College of Literature, Science and
the Arts.
Deadline for Veteran Book and
Supply Orders: Dec. 20 has been
set as the final date for the ac-
ceptance of veteran book and sup-
ply orders at the bookstores. All
faculty menbers are requested to
anticipate material needed through
the. end of the semester and au-
thorize same on or before Dec. 20.
All back-orders for material not in
stock at the bookstores will be
canceled as of Dec. 20.
University Women Veterans As-
sociation has offered to assist the
Student Legislature in conducting
a house to house survey for the
purpose of locating available
rooms for next semester. Volun-
teer canvassers sign your name to
the lists on the bulletin boards,
Willow Run dormitory and Un-
dergraduate office at the League.
Instructors of Freshman Engi-
neers: Ten-week grades for all
Freshman Engineers will be due
in Dean Crawford's Office on De-
cember 7.
1946 'Ensian: Anyone who ne-
glects to pick up his 1946 Michi-
ganensian by Wednesday, Dec. 4,
will lose all rights to it, according
to the statement on the receipt
issued when purchased. 'Ensians
are being distributed in the 'En-
sian Business Office, Monday
through Friday, 1 to 5 o'clock.
Willow Run Village
West Court:
Tues., Dec. 3, 8:00 p~m., Wives
of Veterans Students Club meet-
ing; 8:00 p.m., Extension class in
Spanish, Ross School.
Wed., DecA4, 8:00 p.m., Wednes-
day Lecture Series, "Votes and Ve-
toes in the United Nations" by
Professor Lawrence Preuss; 7:30-
8:30 p.m., Personal Counselling by
Rev. J. Edgar Edwards.
Thurs., Dec. 5, 8:00 p.m., Exten-
sion course in Psychology.
Fri., December 6, 8:00 p.m.,
Classical Recordings.
Sat., Dec. 7, 8:30-11:30 p.m.,
Open House for all couples. Danc-
ing, bridge, refreshments.
West Lodge:
Tues., Dec. 3, 7:00 p.m., Special
meeting of Athletic Directors; 8:00
p.m., Fencing Club; 8:00 p.m.,
Women's volleyball and badmin-
ton.
Wed., Dec. 4, 6:30 p.m., Basket-
ball League; 7:00 p.m., Duplicate
Bridge Club; 7:00 p.m., Social Di-
rectors meeting; 8:30 p.m., Dance
entertainment committee meet-
ing.
Thurs., Dec. 5, 7:00-8:30 p.m.,
Volleyball; 8:30-10:00 p.m., Bad-
minton.
Fri., Dec. 6, 8:00 p.m., Bridge;
8:30 p.m., U of M Student Dance
with Hal Jackson's Orchestra.
Lectures
University Lecture: Charles P.
Parkhurst, Jr.; curator of the Al-
bright Art Gallery of Buffalo, will
lecture on the subject, "The Dis-
covery an'i Restitution of Art
Loot in Gemany" (illustrated), at
4:15 p.m., Tues., Dec. 3, in the
Rackham Amphitheater; auspices
of the Department of Fine Arts.
University Lecture: Professor
W. V. D. Hodge of Cambridge Uni-
versity, England, will lecture on
the subject, "Harmonic'Integrals,"
at 4:15 p.d., Wed., Dec. 4, in 3011
Angell'Hal'. under the auspices of
the Department of Mathematics.
The public is cordially invited.
University Lecture: Professor A.
S. P. Woodhouse, University of
Toronto, will lecture on the sub-
ject, "Christian Liberty and Order
in Milton," at 4:15 p.m., Wed.,
Dec. 11, Rackham Amphitheater;
auspices of the Department of
English Language and Literature.
The public is cordially invited.
Dr. Wolfgang Stechow, profes-
sor of Fine Arts at Oberlin College,
will lecture on the subject "Rem-
brandt: Genius and Tradition"
(illustrated with lantern slides),
in the Rackham Amphitheater at
4:15 p.m. on Fri., Dec. 13,; au-
spices of the Department of Fine
Arts. The public is cordially in-
vited.
The fourth lecture in the Mar-
riage Relations Series will be given
at 8:15 tonight, Rackham Lecture
Hall.
Lecture with motion pictures at
8:30 p.m., Wed., Dec. 4, Lydia
Mendelssohn Theater. "Holiday
in Cuba," Robert Friers; auspices
of the Sociedad Hispanica. The
public is cordially invited.
Academic Notices
Graduate Record Examination
will be offered on January 7 and
9 for graduate students who have
not yet taken the examination.
Application forms may be ob-
tained in the Graduate School
offices through December 10. All
fees must be paid and applica-
tions submitted by
Dec. 12.
Education B291. Dr. Warner G.
Rice, Diector of the Universityr
Library, will discuss the topic,
"The Library and Its Services to
the College Teacher." Members
of the faculty and graduate stu-
dents are invited to hear Dr.{
Rice.
E.M.2a Classes Please Note. The
answers to any two questions at
the end of experiments 9 and 101
can be omitted.
R. T. Liddicoat
Inorganic Chemistry SeminarY
meet at 5 o'clock today int
Room 303, Chemistry Bldg. Mr.
J. E. Boggs will speak on "The Use
of Mass Isotopes in Tracer Reac-
tions and Rate Studies." All in-
terested are invited.
Physical Chemistry Seminar
meet at 4:15 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 5,
Room 151, Chemistry Bldg. Mr.,
Raymond O'Rourke will speak onj
"Semi-Conductors. Part I. Elec-
tron Theory of Metals." All in-
terested are invited.
Seminar on Special Functions
meet at 10:00 a.m., Wed., Dec. 4,.
Room 340, W. Engineering. Mr.
Hansen will talk on Laguerre and
Hermite Polynomials.
Concerts
Salvatorre Baccaloni, distin-
guishe.basso buffo of the Metro-
politan Opera Association, will
be heard in the second extra con-
cert Thursday night, December 5,
at 8:30, in Hill Auditorium.
Mr. Baccaloni has built a spe-
cial program of opera and other
numbers in the performance of
which in the-major opera houses
of the world he has attained the
reputation of the outstanding
basso buffo of the day.
The public is requested to come
sufficiently early as to be seat-
ed on time, since doors will be
closed during numbers.
The University of Michigan
Symphony Orchestra, Wayne
Dunlap, conductor, will be heard
at 8:30 Wednesday evening, Dee.
4, in Hill Auditorium, assisted by
Andrew B. White, baritone, and
Nelson Hauenstein, flutist. The
first half of the program will be
devoted to the works. of Brahms;
the latter part will consist of
compositions by Ross Lee Finney,
Kent Kennan, and Cecil Effinger.
The concert will be open to the
general public without charge.
Faculty Recital: Three sonatas
for clarinet and piano will be pre-
sented by William H. Stubbins,
clarinetist, and Mary McCall
Stubbins, Pianist, at 8:30 p.m.,
Fri., Dec. 6, Assembly Hall, Rack-
ham Bldg. The public is cordially
invited.
Events Today
University Radio Program:
Tuesday, 3:30 p.m., Station WP-
AG, 1050 Kc. Tuesday Playhouse,
"A Little Learning," Moliere.
Science Research Club meeting
at 7:30 tonight, Rackham Amphi-
theater. Program: Spaces and
(Continued on Page 3)
Thursday,
thority other than to refer leave
the situation a problem for more
unified action.
FEPC as a policy, should come
from the heart, but in order to
aid the process of establishing
"the right to the pursuit of happi-
ness" such legislation affords new
basis to instill these concepts in
the minds of men.
Institutions supported by public
taxation should already exercise
fair employment, but they do not,
especially those of higher learning
where men and women are taught
to reason by learned men and wo-
nen.
The question that lingers in my
mind is when will Americans rea-
lize that all of its citizens are
Americans (Meaning citizens of
the U.S.A.).
Rev. David A. Blake, Jr.
* **
Free Reporting . .
To the Editor:
IT HAS BEEN very gratifying in
reading The Daily these past
weeks to discover that unlike most
sections of the American press,
The Michigan Daily is adhering to
the principles of free reporting
and still respects the opinion of
the writer, regardless of the posi-
tion of the controlling board. We
are referring specifically to the
highly informative and well writ-
ten column, "All or Nothing," by
E. E. Ellis.
While the respectable N. Y.
Times, the Detroit News and the
Chicago Tribune do not deem it
expedient to criticize the appease-
ment of one Francisco Franco by
the U.S. State Department, it was
a relief to read Mr. Ellis's very
clear presentation of the actual
situation.
The black-shawled women wait-
ing in the dawn outside empty
food stores in Spain, the Republi-
can militiamen held without trial
in Franco's jails can tell the
gentlemen of the U.N. very well
whose planes blackened the Span-
ish heavens during those bloody
battles of '36, and whose cannons
and shells were responsible for the
death of thousands of innocent
Spanish men, women and child-
ren.
The war in Spain in 1936 was
not merely a civil war between
factions of the Spanish people,
but an attack by German and
Italian fascists, in cooperation
with their representatives in
Spain, upon the majority of the
Spanish people and their popular-
ly elected republican government.
The gentlemen of the U.N. are
asking for further proof of
Franco's guilt in spite of the evi-
dence against him and the Ameri-
can press has certainly not been
conscientious in supplying this in-
formation.
Once again, congratulations to
The Daily on its impartial char-
acter and especially to Mr. Ellis
on his courageous reporting and
constant attempts to give us a
true account of the current scene
-something which we seldom
find these days.
Doris Pfeffer
Jeppy Madison
The effect of consumer resis-
tance on some prices was dis-
closed by a Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics report showing that in 12
large cities the cost of 20 foods
dropped from one to two per cent
during the first two weeks of Nov-
ember. Meats, poultry, butter, eggs
and oranges led in the downward
price swing.
-New Republic
Fifty-Seventh Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Robert Goldman .....Managing Editor
Milton Freudenheim .Editorial Director
Clayton Dickey...........City Editor
Mary Brush............Associate Editor
Ann Kutz............Associate Editor
Paul Harsha......... Associate Editor
Clark Baker..............Sports Fditor
Des Howarth . . Associate Sports Editor
Jack Martin ... Associate Sports Editor
Joan wilk...........Women's Editor
Lynne Ford . Associate Women's Editor
Business Staff
Robert E. Putter ....Buginese Manager
Evelyn Mills
E...y..... ssociate Business Manager
Janet Cork Associate Business Manager
Telephone 23-24-1
BARNABY
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