FOUR
' THE MICHIGAN DAILY
THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 194G
Attendance Responsibility
Ujnneeded Warnings
HE THANKSGIVING weekend is over
and everyone in the literary college who
wanted to take an extra day of vacation
did so, we are glad to see, despite the evi-
dent disapproval of some officials in the
literary college.
Acting Assistant Dean Charles Peake was'
the only man to come right out and dis-
approve of the post-Thanksgiving absences.
In a statement reported in last Saturday's
Daily, he said that "in liberalizing the at-
tendance regulations last June the faculty
felt confident that the freedom would not
be abused," adding that he was disappointed
at the failure of many students "to under-
stand and accept their responsibility in the
matter of class attendance."
Previously Dean Erich A. Walter, who
didn't actually disapprove in so many words
t of Thanksgiving absences, made it clear that
students would be expected to attend classes
according to the University calendar. Both
he and Dean Peake denied setting up any
special regulations for the Thanksgiving
weekend. It is evident, then, that they are
not reproaching the student for breaking
any rules, but rather for abusing the new
attendance rules.
Of course Dean Walter and the faculty
are not expected to encourage absences by
emphasing that attendance is a matter of
individual discretion and that they really
don't care. But even so we see no justifi-
cation for threatening or reproaching stu-
dents, bluntly like Dean Peake, or mildly
like Dean Walter. It nullifies, to say the
Sleast, the liberal spirit of the new atten-
dance regulations. If liberalized attendance
regulations are to be in effect they should
be sweeping enough to cover a situation
like the Thanksgiving weekend when the
student may feel, rightly or wrongly, that
he needs an extra day off. If the responsi-
bility rests with the student in such mat-
ters, and the faculty came to the conclusion
last June that it does, then why the threats
a and reproaches? Did we do something
wrong last week?
Perhaps the new attendance rule is only
a temporary measure designed to prove to
the student body that they are incapable
of assuming responsibility in attendance
matters. Let us hope that is; not the case.
Let us hope that the present rule will re-
main in effect. Then when a student's ab-
sences begin to affect his academic progress
it will be time to crack down with threats
or punishments. Until that time, it seems
unnecessary to issue warnings and threats
similar to those issued last week.
-Fred Schott
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
Maturity Test
CONTRARY to the notion seemingly pre
valent among many University students,
liberalization does not mean anarchy.
The significance of the newly-granted
freedom regarding class attendance is not
that students will choose whether or not
they will attend lectures and laboratories
but rather that there are now no stringent
rules compelling this attendance-or else.
This clearly implies a definite respon-
sibility on the part of the students to
recognize for themselves the importance
of regular attendance. After many years
of insistence that they were fully capable
of asuming such responsibilities, the stu-
dent body can hardly be disgruntled at
the reproach expressed by Dean Peake and
echoed almost universally by the faculty
members, when they displayed last week
such a widespread ignorance of the mean-
ing of freedom in this usage.
For such anarchical action as that which
made the holding of classes during the
Thanksgiving weekend almost a farce, the
students deserve the reproaches. If dissat-
isfaction with the University calendar is at
the bottom of the situation, "taking the law
into their own hands" is certainly not the
way to achieve a change. It would have
been much wiser, as well as fairer, to have
expressed that dissatisfaction through pe-
tition before next year's calendar is set,
after having shown their willingness to rec-
ognize the unwritten obligation to attend
classes when they are held. The faculty's
refusal to grant a request for an extension
of the Thanksgiving holiday would now be
quite understandable.
The long Christmas vacation now in the
offing may constitute a "last chance" for
the students to prove their responsibleness.
If they fail then, there will be no reason
for the faculty to reject a possible proposal
to return to the old rules.
-Natalie Bagrow
ON WORLD AFFAIRS:
UNIISterility
By EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER
LAKE SUCCESS-After one full month's
debate in the UN General Assembly, this
appears as the most sterile international
conference I have ever attended. If there
were any worse ones, I missed them from
the thirty or forty I have covered.
Compared with the dearth of progress at
Flushing and at Lake Success, the Council
of Foreign Ministers over in the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel seems fairly leaping ahead.
After all, at this writing the Big Four have
all but completed the treaty with Italy, one
of the tasks they set themselves last spring.
The Assembly, however, has gone nowhere
at a snail's pace, doing nothing in a big
way, leaving millions of words to cover up
the vacuum. There seems small chance of
creative action.
At the end, sometime this side of Christ-
mas, a few well-meaning resolutions will be
voted, a number of others postponed and
a couple of prickly questions sent to the
Security Council for the all but inevitable
veto.
United Nations champions will accuse me
of disparaging the hope of the world. What,
they will exclaim, do you give to value to
the votes for the full reports on the armed
forces of all nations at home and abroad?
Wasn't that a step in the right direction?
No, it wasn't. It was a step on the same
old spot. It was marking time. For first
of all, the salient facts are known. Sec-
ondly, there is to be no international or
other outside inspection to check the fig-
ures reported. (Some governments have
been known to lie.) And third, unless the
Soviets obtain the inclusion in the figures
on troops of those on war material, notably
on atomic bombs (which they have been
fishing for), the chances are almost over-
whelming that they will refuse to pro-
duce their figures on the ground that the
UN Assembly can only "recommend"
measures. It cannot see that they are
carried out
This last provision, over which the big
power champions of a powerless United
Nations glide rapidly and gracefully when
discussing their brain child, reduces the
real benefits of an Assembly like this to
these.
First, it is a revelation of the depth of
the earth's disunion. The fatal cleavage
between the Soviets and the Western democ-
racies still looks bottomless. What is new
and disturbing to American eyes is the in-
creasing disposition of France, Scandinavia
and three or four Latin American countries
to vote along Soviet lines or to abstain.
This does not mean that these countries
are. "pro-Soviet." They are not - at. least,
not yet. It merely means that facing a
new world-wide cleavage, they are trying
to remain "neutral."
The second benefit is the Assembly as a
barometer. Here is somewhat more ground
for satisfaction. There is plenty of evidence
that the Soviet Union, for instance, is not
at all disposed to walk out of the UN al-
together - as pessimists and pro-Soviet
people have been whispering they might
lOp main9
SINCE the war's end but fifteen months
ago, the Negro of the South has been
subjected to a wave of Lynch terror as
brutal and widespread as during the decades
immediately following the Civil War recon-
struction period.
There has not been one noteworthy effort
by the Federal government -to stamp out
the activities of the Klan. When four thou-
sand people went to Washington a few
months ago to ask of President Truman
a public denunciation of the terrorists and
their political henchmen, such as Bilbo, he
refused. bf is only recently that the admini-
stration has lent its support to unseat the
Negro-hating Senator. (The added support
of the Republicans is noteworthy, whether
their aim is purely to make political capital
of the situation, because Bilbo is a Demo-
crat, or to gain the support of the Negro.
However, they did not hesitate to join the
Southern Bourbons to kill FEPC.)
Probably the two most important fac-
tors, lying at the basis of this new wave
of terrorism, are the return of the Negro
veteran and the organizing drives of the
CIO and AFL. Thousands of Negro sol-
diers had tasted a semblance of equality
during their service. They were a chal-
lenge to the myth of white supremacy.
The large landowners, the industrial con-
cerns (controlled for the most part by
Northern capitalists) saw their supply
of cheap labor threatened. It had saved
them millions of dollars yearly to keep
the Negro and the poor white divided.
(A Negro laborer who can be hired at a
lower wage than a white laborer will
naturally lower the general wage level in
the South.) The best method of creating
that division is to replenish the myth of
white superiority, to keep the Negro away
from the polls through Lynch terrorism.
In one day alone this past summer, four
Negroes (two veterans and their wives) were
murdered by a white mob. There was little
or no investigation. At Columbia, Tennessee,
twenty-five Negroes were tried for defend-
ing their homes against an invasion by a
Klan-led mob in which two white police-
men were killed. Vincent Sheean, the noted
foreign correspondent, was constantly
threatened by the Chief of Police, Bumps,
for reporting the trial honestly. It was
only thp unflinching efforts by the NAACP
attorneys which kept the twenty-five from
a death sentence. The two who were con-
victed are appealing the case.
Whatever the method employed, be it
the gouging out of a Negro's eyes, as in the
case of the veteran Woodward, on the day
of his discharge, or whether the innocent
victims are carried to the woods and hung,
the ends are the same.
T00 MANY people, in and out of the Ad-
ministration, have turned away from
this native fascism as not of their concern,
ignoring its danger to the democratic meth-
od. Is it not logical to assume that when
a dissident minority can take the law into
its own hands and brutally murder inno-
cent people that those people will arm to
defend themselves? The challenge to Ameri-
can Democracy has gone far beyond the
question of state vs federal rights. We are
no longer a sprawling country of individual
states separated'by weeks of coach travel.
When the Democratic process is destroyed
in one part of the nation, it is threatened
in every other.
It is noteworthy that on this campus
several organizations, as AVC, MYDA,
and the Lawyers Guild are joining with
the IRA in an effort to gain widespread
student support, in the form of an Anti-
Lynching rally, to bring pressure to bear
upon the new Congress for the unseating
of Bilbo and the passage of a Federal
law against Lynching. They deserve the
support of every student who believes in
the democratic way of life.
-E. E. Ellis
I'D RATHER BE RIGHT:
Mexican Problem
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
MEXICO CITY-Mexico is self-conscious
about its problems. Strings of electric bulbs
outline the roofs, cornices and arches of
the cathedral, the National Palace, and the
municipal buildings on the great square. At
nights, during this inauguration week, on
the cathedral facade, lights spell out the
word "trabajo," On the other buildings the
words "industrialization" and "progreso."
It will be noticed that these are not words
of the right or the left but words of the
middle; of that un-easy in-between area
in which one fills in one's own meanings. It
is one of the signs of Mexico's bitter self-
consciousness about politics that one rarely
hears words of the right or the left spoken
openly. There is too much fear of a show-
down for that and so the controversies
which do develop, hinge on ambiguous issues
of the kind which enable hot partisans to
make.sly off-center points..
(Copyright 1946, by the N.Y. Post Syndicate)
BILL MAULDIN
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Letters to the Editor.
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"No teeth."
Prejudice .
To the Editor:
FROM time to time rather parti-
san articles have appeared in
your columns; articles partisan to
the point of seeming prejudiced. I
refer to the written viewpoints of
some obvious Republican sympa..
thizers, Democratic sympathizers
and the so-called "Red-baiters."
Finding Such prejudice among
men and women who are tomor-
row's leading citizens is not com-
forting. Granted it may be a hu-
man weakness; it must also be
granted that it is a very common
failing among people of all sorts
and should be minimized by a col-
lege education. Tne extent of a
man's prejudices could be used as
a criterion for judging his educa-
tion.
Political prejudice must be
our heritage, passed on from
father to -on. It certainly can
not be based on what the vari-
ous parties represent;hbecause
what they represent has been
pushed into oblivion. Most of us
aren't even acquainted with
what a Communist really stands
i
iAlILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Ei-
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Gv
NIGHT EDITOR: FRANCES PAINE
HAPPENS.*.*.*
" War Between the Sexes
Unfriendly Act
T HE MOST astounding move we've known
in our short but turbulent career at
this University is taking place these days.
The Michigan League this week ripped out
the men's lavatory in its main lobby to
make room for an office!
We realize it's too late to stop anything
of this nature, and we're just cynical enough
to believe that we could never have stopped
it, even if we had tried in time. Neverthe-
less, we can't avoid pointing out a few im-
plications.
It has always been a source of pride to
Michigan women and their friends to con-
trast the open-handed, generous attitude
of the League toward men, with the rela-
tively high-handed policy of the men's
Union toward women, regarding use of the
Union's front door, taproom and so forth.
Then there's the purely physical aspect.
Offhand we'd say it's a mighty strange res-
taurant (it's called the Grill room as we
remember it) with no readily available
place for a guy to wash his hands. And
it's a pretty unfriendly ballroom that doesn't
offer you a place to straighten your tie.
We used like to go to the Casbah, come
aa Friday night. We expect to miss the old
League, but if they don't want us . . .
(Continued from Page 2)
Instructors of Freshman Engi-
neers: Ten-week grades for all
Freshman Engineers will be due
in Dean Crawford's Office on De-
cember 7.
Willow Run Village
West Court:
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:
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: 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 Amphitheatre;
auspices of the Department of
English Language and Literature.
The public is cordially invited.
University Lecture: Dr. D. K.
Lieu, R.B. 15, member of the Sta-
tistical Commission of the United
Nations, will lecture on the sub-
ject, "Chas Wartime Economic
Situation," at 4:15 p.m., Fri., Dec.
6, Rackham Amphitheatre; aus-
pices of the Department of Eco.
nomics. The public is cordially in-
vited.
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 Ra; kham Amphitheatre at
4:15 p.m., Fri., Dec 13; auspices
of the Department of Fine Arts.
The public is cordially invited.
Vocational Lecture: The Job
Outlook -- Occupational Trends
and Opportunities, a realistic pic-
ture of jobs in our present eco-
nomic situation by Dr. Ewan
Clague, Commissioner of Labor
Statistics, U. S. Department of La-
bor, Washington, D. C., at 7:30
p.m., Tues., Dec. 10, Rackham
Lecture Hall; auspices of the Uni-
versity Bureau of Appointments
and Occupational Information.
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 Thursday,
Dec. 12.
Algebra Seminar meet at 4:15
p.m. Fri., Dec. 6, Rm. 3201, Angell
Hall. Dr. Tornheim will speak on
the "Valuation Theory."
English 1, section 72 meet in 301
Economics Bldg., beginning Fri.,
Dec. 6 .instead of 3056 N. S.).
Muathematics Seminar on Sto-
chastic Processes meet at 3 o'clock
today, Rm. 317, W. Engineering.
Mr. Max Woodbury will
Markoff chains.
discussI
Physical Chemistry Seminar
meet at 4:15 today, Rm. 151,
Chemistry Bldg. Mr. Raymond
O'Rourke will speak on "Semi-
Conductors. Part I. Electron
Theory of Metals." All interested
are invited.
Concerts
Salvatorre Baccaloni, distin-
guished basso buffo of the Metro-
politan Opera Association, will
be heard in the second extra con-
cert this evening in Hill Audito-
rium.
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.
Faculty Recital: William H.
Stubbins, clarinetist and Mary
McCall Stubbins, pianist, will pre-
sent a program of three sonatas
by Brahms, Saint-Saens, and
Hindemith at 8:30 Friday evening,
Dec. 6, Rackham Assembly Hall.
The public is invited.
Exhibitions
Exhibit of student work of the
Cooper Union Art School, New
York, will be current from Dec. 5
to 20, ground floor corridor,, Col-
lege of Architecture and Design.
The College of Architecture and
Design presents an exhibition of
Advertising Art sponsored by the
Art Directois Club of Detroit. The
exhibition will be current until
Dec. 7 at noon, in the Galleries of
the Rackham Bldg.
India Art Exhibition presented
by Hindustan Association at Rack-
ham Building on Friday and
Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7, 4:00-10:00
p.m. All are invited.
Events Today
University Radio Program:
Thursday. 3:30 p.m., Station
WPAG, 150 Kc. World Master-
pieces.
Association of U. of M. Scien-
tists Discussion Group on Atomic
Energy Control meet'at 7:15 p.m.,
East Council Room, Rackham
Bldg. All interested are welcone.
Sigma Gamma Epsilon (Profes-
sional Geology Fraternity) will
meet from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Rm.
3055, Natural Science Bldg. Wal-
ter Doeringsfeld will speak on the
Carolina Bay area for which he
suggests a new theory of origin.
Alpha Phi Omega, National
Service fraternity, meet at 7:30
p.m., Union. Members are urged
to be present for discussion of ini-
tiation plans.
Field Trip to the Ford plant in
conjunction with the A. I. Ch. E.
Buses will leave at noon from in
front of the E. Engineering Bldg.
The fee is payable to Ed Lau.
J-1op Publicity Committee
meeting at 4:00 p.m., Union. The
room will be posted on the Bulle-
tin Board.
Soph Cabaret final dress re-
hearsals, today and tomorrow,
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre.
Members of cast and stage
committees report at 6:45 p.m.
and be in costume and ready by
7:15 p.m. Members will be ex-
cused from Choral Union prac-
tice by turning in their names at
the office in Burton Tower. Late
permission until 11:30 will be
granted for the Thursday night
rehearsal.
Gilbert and Sullivan rehearsal
of Trial By Jury at 7:00 p.m.,
League.
Annual Spanish Play tryouts at
4:00 p.m., Thurs. and Fri., Dec. 4
and 5; Room 408, Romance Lan-
guage Bldg All Spanish students
are invited.
Foresters' Club meeting at 7:30
p.m., Rm. 2054, Natural Science
Bldg. Refreshments.
Camp Counselors' Club meeting
at 7:30 p.m., W. A. Building. Dis-
cussion of "Types of Camps and
Counsellor Opportunities." All
women students are invited.
La P'tite Causette today at 3:30
p.m., Grill Room, League.
Modern Poetry Club meet at
7:15 p.m., League. See bulletin
board at desk for room.
Coming Events
Economics Club at 8:00 p.m.
Mon., Dec 9, Rackham Amphi-
theatre. "China's Postwar Prob-
lems," by Dr. D. K. Lieu. Business
Administration and Economics
staff and graduate students in-
vited.
Geological Journal Club meet
at 1,2:00 noon, Fri., Dec. 6, Rm.
3055, Natual Science Bldg. Dr. C.
W. Hibbard will speak on "Pleis-
tocene Deposits in the High Plain
region of Kansas and Oklahoma."
Tea will be served Bring your
own sandwiches.
Graduat. Outing Club. Hike and
skating, Sun., Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m.
Sign up at check desk in Rack-
ham Bldg. before noon Saturday.
Kappa rhi Club meet at 5:15
p.m. Fri., Dec. 6 Program theme,
"Living for Others." Pledges meet
early.
Armenia Students' Association
meeting at ':30 p.m. Fri., Dec. 6,
International Center Students of
Armenian parentage are invited.
German Coffee Hour, sponsored
by the Deutseher Verein, is meet-
ing from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., Fri.,
Dec. 6, League Coke Bar.
Films on Life and Culture of
India, Dec. 6 and 7. 7:15 p.m.,
Rackham Amphitheatre. Admis-
sion free. All are invited.
Ann Arbor Baha'i Assembly:
Mrs. Roberta K. Christian, lectur-
er on the Baha'i peace program,
will speak on the subject, "Per-
sonal Peace Comes First," at 8:15
p.m., Fri., Dec. 6, Allenel Hotel,
Huron Street. The public is cor-
dially invited.
for let aone what the word
means. The Democrats and Re-
publicans can't find a better
campaign issue than mud-sling-
ing.
This p'ujudice is what keeps
men like Dilbo, Taft, Rankin and
Hoffman (Rep., Mich.) in office.
It is what brought our country to
an all-important time in modern
history whhout adequate leader-
ship. Moc than one war was in
some part due to seeds of unrest
sown in ignorant and prejudiced
minds.
I would like to suggest that the
faculty, administration and stu-
dents of the University really put
their cards on the table and see if
their cards are "stacked" in any
way. And where they are that
facts and thinking rather than
emotions oe applied; that personal
and selfish interests be dropped.
Then perhaps some day we shall
be able to stamp out the scourge
of cheap ipolitics with which we
now suffer. Then perhaps even
all the races will be on friendly
terms.
-Roderic 'E Hall
Rescue Plus .. .
To the Editor:
AFTER the oeating that The
Daily -olumnist E. E. Ellis has
been taking in your department,
I think it is time that someone
came to his rescue. Mr. Ellis has,
I think, done an excellent job of
commentating. It is not necessary
to agree completely with the ideas
in order to realize that he is one of
the few writers on The Daily who
know how to think-and equally
important -to communicate the
results of his thinking.
However, I think he succumbs to
a weakness prevalent among eco-
nomic materialists: he overlooks
many aspects of contemporary
problems which arenot directly
economic in nature. His column
on Palestine is an example of
what I mean. Admittedly he has
a passing word or two to say for
the Jews and Arabs, but the body
of his column deals with oil. Of
-course, oil is important, but even
more important is the fate of the
remnants of world Jewry.
It is important to note in an
article on Palestine that, para-
doxically as it may seem, the
ancient home of the tribe of
Abraham is the seat of the
greatest amount of anti-Jewish
legislation in the world today.
In Palestine a Jew can not buy
land. He can not own a gun. He
can not read everything that he
might wnt to. His only radio
station, Kol Yesroal, is of neces-
sity underground. And, the most
terrible thng of all, he can not
enter the country legally.
All these things should be said
in an article on Palestine, Mr.
Ellis. Bring in your oil, by all
means, bat also bring in some
words for the suffering people.
They may be less interesting from
the economic view, but they too
have a ca se that needs pleading.
In any case, keep up the good
work, your column, right or wrong,
is always thought provoking, and
I think you will agi'ee that what
the world needs now is more and
better thinking, and QUICK.
-David L. Segal
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.
3ia~uu~IIir
Fifty-Seventh Year
A.
Faculty Monopoly
:
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
MiltonnFreudenheim .Editorial Director
Clayton Dickey...........City Editor
Mary Brush..........Associate Editor
Ann Kutz...........Associate Editor
Paul Harsha.........Associate Editor
Clark Baker .. ......Sports Editor
Des Howart . .Associate Sports Editor
Jack Martin ...Associate Sports Editor
Joan Wilk...........Women's Editor
Lynne Ford .-Associate Women's Editor
Business Staff
Robert E. 'otter ....Business Managel
Evelyn Mills
E...y. -iAssociate Business Manager
Janet Cork Associate Business Manager
THINGS -something-should-be-done-about
department: The plight of the coed who
staggered out of a chemistry lecture to
look for a drinking fountain where she
might relieve her coughing jag. She could
not find a single spout anywhere in the
whole building, so, purple with attempts
in swalnw the tickle in her thront .h re-