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Fpam-tv, vrtnmrp. ,. i947
PAGE FO-UR
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
l
_ '
F;y-Fighth Year
Evolution Needs Push
Edited and managed by students of the Uni-
versity of Michigan under the authority of the
Board in Control of Student Publications.
John Campbell...................Managing Editor
Nancy Helmick ...................General Manager
Clyde Recht........................City Editor
Jeanne Swendeman........Advertising Manager
Stuart Finlayson ................Editorial Director
Edwin Schneider.................Finance Manager
Lida Dailes .......................Associate Editor
Eunice Mintz ...................Associate Editor
Dick Kraus ..........................Sports Editor
Bob Lent................Associate Sports Editor
Joyce Johnson.................. Women's Editor
Betty Steward.........Associate Women's Editor
Joan de Carvajal ..................Library Director
Melvin Tick ..................Circulation Manager
Telephone 23-24-1
Member of The Associated Press
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
the use for re-publication of all news dispatches
credited to it or otherwise credited in this news-
paper. All rights of re-publication of all other
matters herein also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan, as second class mail matter.
Subscription during the regular school year by
carrier, $5.00, by mail, $6.00.
Member, Assoc. Collegiate Press, 1947-48
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: NAOMI STERN
Real Education.
LIBERAL GROUPS ARE always accused
of talking a lot and doing nothing. But
now that IRA has come up with some ac-
tion, it is accused of trying to force changes
which must evolve through time.
Some students have decried the barber-
shop picketing as radical, others simply
claim it doesn't do any good. These are the
people who advocate the slow process of
education to destroy prejudice.
But "Operation Haircut" has been effec-
tive in forcibly bringing to students' atten-
tion the simple fact that Michigan has a
law prohibiting discrimination in barber-
shops, and that this law has been ignored
in Ann Arbor.
More than this, it has pointed out the
means that students can use to end dis-
crimination. The barbers' claim that cus-
tomer prejudice has prevented unrestricted
service, will be refuted when students
withhold their patronage.
This is real education, more effective than
leaflets or lectures. It's unfortunate but
true that even vital issues have to be thrown
in people's faces before they become aware
of them.'
-The Night Editors.
At Hill Auditorium
SHOESHINE, with Rinaldo Smordini and
and Franco Interenghi
APPARENTLY, the Italians have no in-
tention of abandoning the excellent
standards they set for themselves in Open
City. This time they have turned to an-
other aspect of war-its effect upon chil-
dren - and treated it with the same high
degree of intelligence and understanding
that went into their first postwar produc-
tion. The principal children involved (in-
aldo Smordini as Giuseppe and Franco In-
terlenghi as Pasquale) are a pair of boot-
blacks who became trapped in some black
market operations in wartime Rome and
whisked off to a reformatory that resembles
something out of the Middle Ages. Here they
and their fellow delinquents become sub-
merged in a system whose impersonality and
complete disregard for the individual quickly
destroy their childish decency. The impact
of the system upon their characters and
their friendship is slowly traced through a
series of penetrating scenes until the full
force of adult stupidity and criminal deceit
is laid bare. Cause and effect are related
with such simplicity and realism that even
the final shocking scene comes as a natural
consequence of all that has gone before.
Since it cuts pretty close to the bone
t ,1A KS0 N , in hilair, t loial I, t r.s
thiat " . prjiauics w %rjlwy sunw-
ly like stone steps, rliaishei not ipy tramp-
ing feet or sledge hammers, but by the
weathering proceses of n:eaon, common
sense and understanding."
Evidently, he has no faith in modern sci-
ence. Sledge hammers that demolish stones
have been invented and have proven effec-
tive. In fact, a man named Nobel devised
something called dynamite which easily
breaks up stone steps. There's even talk of
things called "bombs."
So, one needn't wait any longer for ugly
stone steps to wear away by the weather-
ing process. It's possible to give evolu-
tion a push every so often. And when ev-
olution lags, it's necessary to goad it for-
ward.
I refer Mr. Jackson to Amendments 13.
14 and 15 of the U.S. Constitution. I refer
(4th ted
de
'HE CRITICAL FUROR raised by IRA's
action against the local barbershop as-
sociation demands a careful consideration by
everyone wh considers himself a citizen of
a democracy.
The discussions T leave no doubt on
the basic question -- "Discrimination is
wrong." Everyone seems to agree, in .pirit,
that racial discririnatinn is not only in op-
position to every democratic principle)i[ b,
that it is also an ugly mnani fe>ation of the
fascist 'master race" theory.
The splitting issue seems to be of the
"I don't believe racial discrimination can
be erased by IRA's radical methods" kind.
It makes some of us think that Univer-
sity students believe that picketing is a
"radical" action.
Picketing, as a medium of protest, is no
more "radical" than casting a vote in next
November's election or writing letters to rep-
resentatives in Congress, even to the polit-
ically naive. Basically, what the critics seem
to imply is that a philosophy of inaction
can remedy all kinds of ills, and that stirring
up the wrath of the barbershop association
is more important than protecting the rights
of human beings.
The percentage of students who resent
being counted as actively against the
fascistic policy of the association, repre-
sent that proportion of sit-at-homes in
the future who bewail the condition of
their country and' vote a straight ticket.
The "do-nothing" attitude represents a
far more dangerous frame of mind than
does the fascistic attitude, because it al-
lows the potentially dangerous to get into
strong, inviolable positions.
If we have anything to get angry about
in the next Legislature elections, in the '48
elections or in the country's condition in
1951, we should ask ourselves, "How many
people sat at home and were embarrassed
by 'radical' action?"
-Lida Dailes.
IRA Dilemma
IN THE MAZE of smoke, sparks and verbal
brick-bats that are being tossed around as
a result of the IRA's anti-discrimination
campaign in Ann Arbor's barber shops, most
people have lost sight of a couple of facts
that put this struggle in a.new light.
One is that almost all social progress
comes as a result of militant action on the
part of the people in favor of it who are
called "radicals" when they propose it.
Another is, that without some violent lead-
ership, the majority of the people who are
passively in favor of the ends that this lead-
ership has in mind, would do nothing at all
to attain these ends.
If the action of IRA has any possible
significance in the fight for racial equality
and democracy, it should be supported. If
not, support should be withheld.
By significance, I mean that, if the cam-
paign, which, obviously will not be the im-
mediate ends that IRA wants, will have any
bearing at all on the big issue involved, it
should be supported.
In this case, it does have significance. The
arousal of passive approval to the ideas that
IPA has is a step forward.
Last spring, I opposed the picketing of
"Song of the South" by IRA. I do not believe
that picketing a movie in Ann Arbor could
affect the actions of Hollywood.
But on a local scale, this is a different
matter. Picketing here can have some effect
here, and this move for progress, however,
limited, is better than mere stagnation.
In this instance, the picketing may have
some effect and, if it does, it is good.
This is not a blanket approval of all
actions on campus by the so-called liberal
element. Each phase of the activities of
These elements must be analyzed and judged
for themselves.
In this case, the advantages of the rad-
iti to the afi e ijlt the Suipreme court, to
the wartlinen ational TEPC and the current
FIEPC' n New York State.
Negro slavery, as siich, might still be
with us if it were not made illegal in the
13th amendment. Jim Crowism in employ-
ment offices might yet be common practice
in New York State if a legislative ban had
not been established.
Supreme Court decisions have created an
atmosphere in which Southern Negroes are
gradually finding it possible to have their
say in government.
The process is slow. But it's not as slow
as the process of inaction, of waiting for
the elements to take their course, of tacit
resignation which was advocated..
These acts, these decisions did not legis-
late away racial prejudice. But they helped
to re-rarify the atmosphere under which
racial prejudice thrives. They have helped
to bring white people into closer contact
with the colored - closer than had ever be-
fore been the case - closer than "weather-
ing processes" had ever been able to effect.
And they have taught white people that
the colored people are just like themselves.
Wherever this lesson has been learned,
discrimination has broken down. Whenever
people have come to know and to accept
the fact that there are no grades of citi-
zens in a free society, racial dogmas have
collapsed. Whenever the light has been
sought, blindness has been cured.
Constitutional amendments, court de-
cisions, legislative action have serv-
ed to break down 'his blindness. They
have proved to be effective sources of
light - more effective than the pending
dawn of which Mr. Jackson speaks - a
dawn which imay or may not arrive.
The Diggs Act of Michigan is one of those
legislative beacons. It stipulates that dis-
criminatory practice in serving customers is
a misdemeanor. By the barbers' admission,
they are violating that law by refusing to
serve Negroes.
The Inter-Racial Association is placing
that direct, willful violation of the law be-
fore the public eye. The group will soon
bring that violation to the courts to de-
termine whether the Diggs Act is something
with which to dress up the statute books,
or whether it is a living force.
The "weathering processes" of inaction
have no priority to the reason, common
sense and understanding of which Mr. Jack-
son speaks. Those same ingredients - rea-
son, common sense and understanding -
have been used to forge the sledge hammers
and the dynamite of legislation which can,
in our time, demolish those stone steps of
prejudice.
-Ben Zwerling
I'D RATHER BE RIGHT:
Private Spirit
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
THIS IS the first real peacetime Christ-
mas. It's not just that the uniforms are
gone. They were pretty well gone last year.
It's as if, this year, we are demobilized in-
side as well as outside. We have gone pri-
vate in a big way. That part of us that was
concerned with public affairs has been par-
ed down; it is in our private capacities now
that we look at each other, and can be seen.
You don't peep into your neighbor's plate
anymore. If he has more than you on Meat-
less Tuesday, that is a private win for him,
not quite the public outrage it used to be.
One can even feel the rebirth of the private
scheme of life in the way the stores are
slugging to sell goods, really trying.
We are watching a world in operation
now; we no longer have the feeling that
we are making one. It is a world of inci-
dent and happenings once again, rather
than of ideas, and one's friends speak,
not of where the world is going next year,
but of where they are. One can see them
now, sitting in their steamer chairs, with
the book on modern sex by their sides.
One can feel a change in attitude toward
Christmas itself, for it will be a less poig-
nant Christmas, less public, more private.
A sense of loss goes with all this. The
restitution of private life is a victory.
But it carries with it a shift in the center
of interest, from the question of what
one can do for the world to what the
world can do for one. It is over, now; the
individual blots out the world again; see
what a fine, curious creature he is, and
how interesting! He is, too, but as the
private round takes over, there is a blur-
red sense of loss, as for something mis-
laid, perhaps that temporary public ca-
pacity which each of us had to grow dur-
ing the war.
A pity, for it is precisely during those
periods when 'we go sweepingly private that
the really basic decisions about the future
are taken. The critical times, when we put
on our public moods again, are only the
moments when what has already happened
becomes visible.
(Copyright, 1947, New York Post Syndicate)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Because The Daily
prints EVERY letter to the editor
(which is signed, 300 words or less
in length, and in good taste) we re-
mind our readers that the views ex-
pressed in letters are those of the
writers only. Letters of more than
300 words are shortened, printed or
omitted at the discretion of the edi-
torial director.
IRA Controversy
To the Editor:
IF THE BARBERS' refusal to ac-
cept Negroes is based upon the
assumption that a majority of
their white customers would re-
fuse to patronize them if they also
accepted Negroes as customers, I
believe the barbers are in error.
Careful survey methods applied to
an accurate sample of the total
population would, I believe, re-
veal that a large proportion of
white citizens do not believe in
discrimination, and that many of
them would actually prefer to
have Negroes-treated equally with
whites in the same barber shops.
This represents my own position,
and I am sure that there are many
others who agree with me.
-Theodore M. Newcomb.
Professor of Sociology
and Psychology.
To the Editor:
IT CANNOT BE SAID that the
IRA is disregarding the import-
ance of education in its drive to
eliminate local discrimination in
barber shops. By their action the
issue is focused. The community
is made aware of the problem. The
private white supremacists (the
Barber's Association and support-
ers) must make their views public.
The fence straddlers are forced
to take sides. All the ideological
arguments are put to a pragmatic
test and those of us who are wont
to be academic are made to con-
sider and reach a decision.
Those who approve of the IRA's
purpose but not its tactics refer
us to the unhappy experience with
the Eighteenth Amendment. And
they ask, can prejudice be elim-
inated by legislation?
The Prohibition attempt is a
poor analogy. Consumption of al-
cohol is no more detrimental to
the public welfare than many
other of our civilized refinements
and tastes. It only becomes so
when used imnioderately or un-
wisely. By the Prohibitionist ar-
gument, we would outlaw automo-
bile driving because a couple mil-
lion screwballs crack up every
year.
Organized suppression of any
minority group in public life is,
on the other hand, decidedly un-
wholesome in terms of the public
welfare. One must decide which
is the root of the problem: the
suppression or the prejudice. I
think, tracing back to historical
origins, it is quite clear that prej-
udice is the convenient rational-
ization for slavery, rather than the
original cause.
Insofar as human nature is con-
cerned, we can only say that peo-
ple are born with the capacity to
hate. The particular hate must be
directed and nurtured by elimi-
nating them from our environ-
ment. Fundamentally people
"learn" on the basis of what is,
not what ought to be.
To defend the "individual
rights" of the Barbers is to de-
fend their essentially anti-social
attitude, hardly a right in a de-
mocracy.
-William T. Carter.
To the Editor:
SINCE THERE are four shops in
' Ann Arbor, one of them the
smartest in town, which will af-
ford barber service to Negroes, I
think the recent accusations that
Ann Arbor is a hot-bed of racial
bigotry are totally unwarranted.
White people here have always
had a kindly regard for colored
people. It is this same regard
which led Northerners to liberatel
them in a fierce war within the
lifetime of people living. It is this
same regard which has resulted in
freedom of the city for Negroes.
who are distributed throughout
the city.
Negroes are by nature cheerful,
cooperative, and friendly, and it
is their personal example which is
gradually breaking down social
barriers. To force an issue on a
racial basis, however, will never1
succeed. It merely creates antag-
onisms that would never have
otherwise existed. It disrupts the
mutual respect which individuals
have for each other as individuals.
I think the Negroes are doing a
commendable job through per-
sonal example of working out a
harmonious relationship, but stir-
ring up resentment on both sides
over trivial discriminations sets
back the whole process and de-
feats its purpose.
-Pat Avery.
BI L MAULDIN
) \r
KA)
Cop, 1947 6y Uifd ptv yd Fe.'. , Ina-
" - I i h s r s nd"R e m e m b e r t h e g o o d 0 1 ( 1 d a y s w h e n a t i n t s p a i d m e w i t h
meats, butter, and eggs instead of money?"
to the editor ..._-
In areas where Negroes andf
Vhites lived in close proximity,I
previously acquired prejudices ac-i
tually disintegrate at an astound-f
ing rate. Prejudice and discrimin-i
tion are mutually reenforcing. By
destroying the overt fact of dis-I
crimination you are actuallyc
bringing into play education in a
dynamic sens'e--in a healthier en-
vironment.
In closing. T should like to
recommend several things to the,
proponents of the "do less" school.
First, a course in social psychol-
ogy; secondly, reading "The Negro
in American History" by Dr. Her-
bert Aptheker: and finally, and
fully as important-an afternoon
on a picket line.
-Morton L. Rosenthal
To the Editor:
N THIS A'TTEMPT to answer,
The Daily editorial of the 4th,
we are speaking not as members!
of any organization, but only for
ourselves.
In the main, we agree that it
is impossible completely to legis-
late away race bigotry. A law say-
ing: "All persons convicted of
confined . . ." would admittedly
having racial prejudice shall be
be a farce, but this does not mean
that laws aiming at specific prac-
tices cannot be effective. Laws
need not be standards in them-
selves; they may be guides which
eventually lead to a standard.
Everybody has certain "rights"
which the law will protect. We
know of no law that gives a
person the right to be a bigot we
know of many which safeguards
the rights of persons not to be
discriminated against because of
race or color. Bigotry is a power,
not a right. Since no rights have
been held to be absolute (slander
limits free speech; libel limits
free press; anti-trust laws limit
free enterprise) then certainly no
power is absolute. When a "pow-
er" conflicts with a "right," the
"power" should be curtailed-.
-Arthur E. Moskoff.
Bruce L. Monks.
John E. Russell
* * *
To the Editor:
THERE HAVE BEEN many who
felt that IRA's campaign to
attain equality of the individual
has been pressed too hard. It's un-
fortunate that these folks, among
them a recent writer in your col-
umn, Roger Hubbell, recognize
the right of the barbers to refuse
service to Negroes on the basis of
free choice.
It is not merely barbers that
are the target of this recent drive.
Every person who refuses the
rights of the individual because
of iace or religion should be point-
ed out as a definite undemocratic
element of society. The right of
an individual is an established tra-
dition of democracy. But, and this
is the important point, the re-
fusal to serve an individual, not
because of motives common to
that individual alone, but be-
cause of his chance color or re-
ligion, is an infringement upon all
and every democratic principle.
Those who feel that this disease
will, if left alone, die out, are
the very moral folk that are un-
knowingly perhaps, aiding this
growth of intolerance. The 'time
has come to either be for or
against democracy and not equiv-
ocally so.
-Hy Bershad.
* * *
To the Editor-:
forced to accept colored trade.
But some pointed means must be
ing others of their rights they are
endangering their own. Even their
used to awaken them. In depriv-
white skin wouldn't restore their
rights in a Communist-governed
country. Our safeguard is the Con-
st.titution but a chain is only as
strong as its weakest link, and
little people like our barbers can
further weaken the Fourteenth
Amendment, which already is our
weakest link.
-Fred S. Honkala.
* * *
To the Editor:
THE DENTAL of first class cit-
izenship to a man because of
the color of his skin is certainly a
shameful practice in a democratic
country. There are people among
us who are afraid to stop in an
eating place for fear of embarrass-
ment they will feel upon being re-
fused service. What a limited life
they are forced to live! And, of
course, the problems are more
than those of inconvenience and
embarrassments for sometimes
they must live in fear for their
lives, in fear of being beaten up
by a mob, of being lynched, or
having their houses destroyed, etc.
Some people have not ignored
this condition but have felt a true
nain in their own hearts in real-
-.ing the pain suffered by the
Negroes in our country. They have
felt this pain so strongly that they
have acted. They've gone out on
surveys and spoken to barbers,"
they've formed plans, spent their
time and energies printing a leaf-
let, painting signs, and marching
on picket lines. I cannot criticize
them .. .
-Jeanne Tozer.
* * y
To the Editor:
HOW CAN WE EVER expect to
have a world we'd all like to
live in, if, in our own small com-
munities, we aren't willing to live
in peace and harmony with each
other? After all, in a hundred
years, who would know whether
all reaes were served in every bar-
ber shop in Ann Arbor?
. . . Those who served in this
last conflict did it because the
world had lost sight of the real
meaning of peace and freedom.
Each community must do its part
to uphold that precious freedom
and to bring into being peace and
harmony within its own borders so
as to really have a part in bring-
ing peace to the world :. .
-Ruth Bacon Buchanan.
To the Editor:
IRA STARTED this investigation
not because we consider this the
most important wrong to be right-
ed in America but as a starting
point. People are hungry and
cafes refuse to serve them, people
need places to sleep and the Mich-
igan League refuses to serve them.
These are much more important
than a haircut but the principle
of segregation cannot be weighed
in measures of degrees, it is a vile
principle that Americans have dis-
regarded in eighty-five years for
fear of arousing indignation. Shall
its citizens wait for the gradual
change or is it possible to accel-
erate that change? ...
The light has been thrown on
twenty-two barbers, I hope light
can be thrown on 6,000,000 more
people who believe America is
made for the select few. America
was built on hope, exists on hope
and I'll continue to fight for the
hope of equality whether 30,000,-
000 people turn against me.
-W. Madison Presnell,
V. President, IRA.
' 1' *
To the Editor:
ROGER HUBBELL presents a
very sound argument when he
defends the barber's right to
choose his clientele-a right just
as inalienable as is the Negro's
right to be served in any place
of business which satisfies the
wants of white men. But Mr. Hub-
bell weakens his position consid-
erably by saying that IRA (as
most radical organizations) pushes
too hard for immediate realization
of its goals. To my way of think-
ing, this is the very characteristic
of radical organizations which
makes them so valuable a part
of our political and social struc-
ture. For, although IRA in all
probability will never abolish dis-
crimination in barber shops by
picketing those shops, it WILL
keep us from forgetting even for
a little while that such an an-
achronistic situation actually ex-
ists and that it merits our sane
consideration. Only from an ob-
jective, unimpassioned approach
can come any solution with a
guarantee of long-range satisfac-
tion
As for the statement by the
Lawyers' Guild that the situation
"is unworthy of argument pro or
con" . . . such arbitrary evalua-
tion of an issue certainly is un-
worthy of any student organiza-
tion at the university level . .
there NEVER was ANY issue to-
e tally unworthy of argument pro
or con, from the point of view
of a person with even a few lib-
eral tendencies.
Getting back to the question:
"Should barbers be forced to serve
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To the Editor: MR. HUBBELL, let's just sort of
tear your letter apart to see
THIS IS IN REPLY to that mi- where you're mistaken, and broth-
nority on this campus and in er, you really are!
American life generally which You say that the barber, as a
while asserting "concern" (what- wage-earner. has the right to re-
ever that means) for the "Race fuse his services to anyone. He is
Problem" wallows in ignorance offering a public service for sale.
and hypocrisy-a sea of rational- If he can refuse his public serv-
ization over "moral issues" and ice to some, so can the banker,
if the elementary rights -. the restaurant owner, the doctor,
"radical action." It is a sad thing the utilities companies and any-
RIGHTS, I say, not "desirable one else. No one offering a public
objectives"-of 10 percent of the service has a right to refuse any-
American people are merely moral one because of race, color, or
issues. creed.
It is strangely true that those You fling the word "radical"
who in general decry "radical around more often than Wallace
action" and point to a "slow pain- uses "reactionary."r You would use
ful process" are rarely themselves education rather than "radical
discriminated against. How com- methods." Those conservatives, the
fortable an argument! However, as Democrats, tried educating Bilbo
is often the case with some er- for a long tmie, but when the rad-
roneous arguments, there is a germ ical Republican party took over
of truth presented-namely that Congress they radically tossed
education is necessary to over- him out the very first day. The
come prejudice. True. What is not Thomas Committee, notwithstand-
understood, however, is the dif- ing, 1 must declare, that I too,
ference between prejudice and dis- am a radical Republican.
crimination.Y You say that the IRA is in-
People are not born prejudiced creasing resenmtent and indigna-
-observe children. People are ed- tion. They are, but I think most
ucated to prejudice by an environ- of it is against the barber shop
ment which discriminates. It is owners. In any event, any con-
important to realize that discrim- troversy will do the same so we
ination is much more a cause of won't worry about it.
prejudice than a result of it. Dis- So much for Mr. Hubbell; the
crimination comes first as a issue itself is more important. As
means of segregating a group a. white officer in a colored bat-
whose exploitation is advantage- talion overseas, our hair was cut
ous--as has been the case, histor- by colored barbers. Though we
ically, with the Negro in the were a decided minority, there
South. Prejudice is merely the ra- was no sign of prejudice on the
tionalization of this iniquity in. part of the barbers or their cus-
the mind of the exploiter and its, tomers, even if we were at times
development into a 'reasonable" not as clean as the barbers.
system. I hate to see the barbers here
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