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 x !1 4 ; . { -- . . .-- a ..r- . r !. . .--.,, ' 1 ,.--- C Letters to the Editor. >; t "r;a H > c °, -a . . .r- , I _r ;F A. .t " , -{ ; . ;.: . I II "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- I 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-