°_THE MICHIGAN DAILY PRA
Open Letter to the Regents
TODAY A RESOLUTION will come before
your board which should be studied very
carefully. The resolution calls for a clarifi-
cation and possible liberalization of a by-
law which bars political speakers from Uni-
versity property.
This resolution was drawn up by the
committee governing student affairs, which
is composed of an equal number of faculty
members and students. The committee
worked on the problem for more than two
weeks. They consulted with the University
Lecture Committee and found that the prob-
lem is one which only you can solve. (The
decision is up to you!)
Speaking for the student body, The Daily
Senior Editors urge that the By-Laws be
changed to allow a limited number of po-
litical speakers from each party to appear
at the University. As the Board of Regents
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
xre written by members of The Daily stafff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: HAROLD JACKSON
in 1926 said " . . . the intelligent discussion
of social issues by qualified persons is of
the very essence of education . .."
in the past the student body has been
aroused only by events relating to the phys-
ical prowess of the various athletic teams.
There has been a "hands off" attitude to-
ward politics-an attitude fostered by the
present By-Law which makes it impossible
for top political spokesmen to appear before
the student body.
This is a presidential election year-a
natural time for students to develop an in-
terest in political issues and candidates.
The appearance of political speakers here
will augment that interest and better pre-
pare students to take a part in political
affairs when they leave the University.
Approval of political speakers will un-
doubtedly bring criticism to the University
from certain points in the State. However
with an equal number of speakers from each
party, charges of partisan politics will not
be valid. It will take vision and courage
to amend or liberalize this By-Law but we
feel that the best interests of the students
will be served by so doing.
-The Daily Senior Editors.
Brief Czech History
SOME TEN YEARS AGO, Czechoslovakia
was bitterly protesting Hitler's demands
on her territory. A conference was held at
Munich, the British and French advised
compliance, and German troops quietly
marched in. Hitler announced that this was
his last territorial claim in Europe and the
world was happy at the smallness of the
sacrifice.
Czech students and professors marched in
protest, out were shot and clubbed. Press
and radio censorship were imposed and
Both Ways
THE SITUATION in Czechoslovakia is only
one more indication that we are "bring-
ing it down on ourselves." The hypocritical
attitude of Americans in high places, how-
ever, is laughable in their righteous con-
demnation of the Czech coup by the
commies.
A Russian retort might be, "Who started
the cold war, anyway?"
The "Holier than thou" attitude seems to
be the whole crux of the botched up mess
we call foreign policy. We make known our
intentions to keep Communism from Europe,
perhaps even drive it back, if possible, and
then complain when the Reds counter,
attack by taking over a Democratic country
with dictatorial ruthlessness. Ho0w much
more evil, if such quantities can be meas-
ured, is the Russian coup than the British
Coup in Greece, than the American support
of that coup, or the resulting Dictatorial
government?
Parables are usually hopeless when they
can be countered with equally streng but
contradictory statements. Hence "Fighting
fire with fire" is answered with "Two wrongs
don't make a right," and with that we are
stuck.
They call people radicals who only ask
that we put democracy across in Europe.
They call people fellow travelers who sug-
gest that the Fascist state we support in
Greece is as wrong as the Fascist state in
Czechoslovakia.
The democratic situation for America
would be to aide the formation of a truly
democratic Greek state, and then back it
up, saying "This is how democracy works.
This is what it means to Qis. We are ready
through the United Nations to see that
every country has the right to choose its
own government, free from the tyranny of
Russia, the United States or the United
Kingdom."
-Don McNeil.
Czechoslovakia soon was "absorbed" into the
greater Reich. During the occupation, 250,-
000 Czechs were killed, but underground
resistance continued. The Czechs, who had
established a free republic, did not take to
dictatorships.
*i*x *
DURING THE WAR, a government in exile
was formed and returned with the lib-
erating armies. First free elections were held
in May, 1946, and the Communists became
the strongest party in parliament placing
their man, Klement Gottwald, in the post
of premier.
Czechs rejoiced over their recovered free-
dom, and visitors related that the country
was one of the freeest spots in Europe:
papers from all countries were sold on every
stand; visitors were free to come and go as
they pleased; Czechs went quietly about
their work of rebuilding.
* * *
ON FEB. 13, 1948, cabinet members pro-
tested the appointment of Communists
to key police posts by Communist Interior
Minister Nosek. Seven days later, after no
action had been taken, the non-Communist
ministers resigned. They expected the prem-
ier to follow suit, as political custom dic-
tated.
But Premier Gottwald didn't resign. In-
stead, party members and workers marched
through the streets, police rule was estab-
lished and an all-Communist government
forcibly put into power. The only open pro-
test came from the students, but they were
clubbed and dispersed. A purge was set up
to remove reactionary elements from all po-
litical parties, and the press and radio were
placed under strict control.
* 4 *
IN WESTERN EUROPE a new fear began
to spread as the people considered the
speed of the whole operation. In Czecho-
slovakia, newspapers were no longer read, as
the people registered a silent protest against
censorship. In America the Czech ambassa-
dor resigned to fight in exile. The British,
French and American governments issued
a statement denouncing the regime as a
"disguised dictatorship."
And after a hard day quibbling over ap-
propriations for Europe, American Con-
gressmen went to bed.
-Harriett Friedman.
Russian Rights
ANY AMERICANS condemn Russia to-
day for "excessive" reparations in Ger-
many.
Those who do so are looking forward to
an economically independent Germany
which will cease to be a drain on American
resources. Their eyes are trained hopefully
on the restored, democratic German state
of the future and they see the Russian policy
as an attempt to weaken Germany and
ripen it for a Communist putsch. Since they
are looking to the future they believe that
Russia must be doing so also.
It is a sad comment on human nature
that only those people who have suffered
barbarous treatment are likely to remember
it. The spectators are horrified, properly
sympathetic and, three years later, com-
pletely forgetful.
If Russia should strip the Eastern zone
of Germany absolutely clean of all rem-
nants of Nazi wealth she would not have
begun to replace the property that was
wantonly destroyed within her borders dur-
ing the German occupation! This is not
to mention the vastly greater riches which
were confiscated and shipped to the Reich
as fodder for Hitler's war machine.
It is easy enough for us to say that what
is past is past, that Russia should rebuild
herself without pursuing a policy that
threatens to transform Germany to an in-
ternational economic sinkhole.
But it is not easy for human beings to
forget having seen the most productive
areas of their country reduced to impotency
and their schools, their factories, their dams,
fh i . . _ . rn u.._ + r>>i n= il~ A
Pledge Hazing
(TUDENTS have been calling for more
studentgovernment for a long time; for
power to legislate, administrate and judge
in their own community.
So far they've gotten what amounts to
nothing in the way of tangible power.
They've a good skeleton set-up for perform-
ing self-governing functions, but no func-
tior sto perform.
the fraternities right now have a rare
chance to help the student camel to get
its head in the tent of student government.
The National IFC passed a law against
physical hazing of pledges last November.
They left enforcement up to the Deans of
Students of the various universities wherein
the fraternities flourish. However, DeaI
Walter, probably recognizing that students
know far more about hazing in fraterni-
ties than the University could ever find
out, turned this enforcement power over to
the IFC to act on.
The IFC, the" fraternity organization, has
proposed a law which will conform to the
national regulations. The law outlaws the
paddle, and anything that looks or feels
like a paddle, and provides for giving the
pledge plenty of time for study throughout
the semester, which would seriously impair
many hell-weeks. The law also provides ex-
tremely stiff fines for violations.
It's going to be pretty hard for many
fraternities to accept. A lot of fraternity
spirit has been built around hazing, espe-
cially the use of the paddle and the pledge-
period-ending hell-week. But d University
law against hazing, the alternative to a
self-imposed law, would not be effective it
the fraternities wanted to get around it.
Most pledges don't mind the paddle nearly
so much as one would think, realizing that
they will have the same privileges in the
future. And hell-week is an experience
which experience-seeking young men dread,
but at the same time look forward to. The
fraternities could get along for years violat-
ing the University rule. Pledges are in most
part more interested in getting into a fra-
ternity than in helping the campus cops
do their duty.
But then consider the self-imposed law.
No respectable organization is going to
make a law and then refuse to enforce
it. Each fraternity would bind itself by a
written agreement to enforce this law on
itself. The WFC, which would hear about
violations long before the University,
would be bound to prosecute.
It would take years for a University rule
to become effective, no time for the IFC's.
It is the fraternities, who will be indi-
vidually considering this law at their next
chapter meeting, who must pass their own
laws if the fraternities and the students are
going to assume self-government. Such a
law would provide a chance for student
legislation, student administration and stu-
dent judicial power, with few strings at-
tached. It's a small segment of student
law, but the hardest part is getting the
camel's head into the tent.
It's a chance that's seldom cffered. It's
an opportunity to keep the authorities of
this university from saying, as so many
college authorities do say: "Student gov-
ernment is fine with me but the students
just won't assume authority when I offer
it to them."
-Jim Wimsatt.
CURRENT MOVIES
II
L - -ooMANS
MoaJ 00
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BILL MAULDIN
Letters to the Editor ...I
EDITOR'S NOTE: Because The Daily
prints every letter to the editor re-
ceived (which is signed, 300 words
or less in length, and in good taste)
we remind our readers that the views
expressed 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.
4 " R
Real Christianity
To the Editor:
3/z.
capr. 148 by Viittd Ftirt Synd;catv. inc.
-All r9ihts rescinod
lo
At the State ...
NIGHTMARE ALLEY, Tyrone
Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray.
Power,
TO MR. EMANUEL M. AMIR:
"That above everything we
are Arabs, we are Arabs before
we were Christians." The Son of
God said,asrrecorded in Matthew
10: He who loves father and
mother more than me is not
worthy of me; and he who loves
son or daughter more than me is
not worthy of me; and he who
does not take his cross and follow
me is not worthy of me."
The "Christianity" of a govern-
ment is not determined by the
number of officials in it who call
themselves "Christian," but rather
by the way in which that govern-
ment acts in the world. Have you
forgotten that Christians, that is
real Christians, confess that they.
have a Savior out of the people of
Israel? It is that confession that
sent many to their deaths in con-
centration camps in Europe, while
Ibn Saud was in Berlin, doing
what?
To Mr. Wadi S. Rumman:
"Religion is something which
is altogether different from the
political situation in Palestine."
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has
something to say in any situation
in which human beings are in-
volved, or I miss the point of "Go
ye into all the world"-and, I be-
lieve, it has something to say as
to the way men live, and how they
feel toward hungry and oppressed
people, of whatever race; and the
emphasis on love to fellow men is
just as important as the soteri-
ological emphasis.
-Merle E. Smith, Jr.
* * *
Russian Intentions
To the Editor:
THE CONCENSUS of opinion on
the campus is that the
struggle of the democracies with
Russia is one of ideologies. Yet
the Russian ideology as preached
does not exist. Certainly practical
Communism as practiced in Po-
land and elsewhere, the breaking
of treaties, etc., is not unlike the
methods used by Hitler and other
tyrants. It was not any philos-
ophy that caused about fifteen
countries and parts of countries
to turn Communistic but the Red
Army. (It was Russian troops that
entered Czechoslovakia, thus set-
ting the stage.)
In the past the sword has been
used to advance certain dogmatic
ideologies but this cannot be the
case with Communism because the
supposed adherents have nothing
like this fictional Communism.
That "true" Communism exists
only in the minds outside Russia
causes one to believe that the
sword is first and the ideology
merely supplants it.
Not even P. T. Barnum was ever
so brazen in perpetuating a hoax.
At least he invited the public in
to see his wonders.
The iron curtain reminds us of
one of Crisler's secret practices
before a big game. Not even the
Nazist with all their emphasis on
the blitzkreig ever struck from be-
hind such an all-inclusive shroud.
The Nazis naively used a display
of power to frighten friends and
enemies into submission, thus giv-
ing warning.
What reason could Russia have
for her secrecy other than that of
waging total war?
-Charles E. Campbell.
* * *
Liberalism
To the Editor:
LIBERALISM' is like an all-
purpose face-cream. It can
cover the warts of reaction or
heighten the beauty of progress.
Mr. George Vetter, in a recent
letter, decried the assumed asso-
ciation of all 'liberals' with the
Wallace movement. Those who
had joined the third party, he
said, were extremists splitting the
moderate vote and securing vic-
tory reaction. And it rattles on
like an oldcar hitting the same
ruts.
The third party is nothing less
than a consolidation of all truly
progressive elements who are in-
terested in securing world-wide
peace, an effective U.N., and a
government which will insure the
rights of workers and minority
groups. Far from extreme, we be-
lieve that capitalism can work,
but not under the throttling grip
of Wall Street monopoly. If any
one doubts the existence of these
iron ties, let him refer to the
TNEC reports, Monograph 24, for
a true evaluation of the power of
Big Business.
We have split no party. The
Democratic party is at present in
the process of disintegration. Can
it reconcile the bigotry of its
southern constituents with its
promises of civil liberties? Can it
claim to favor labor when it
helped theRepublicans to pass
the Taft-Hartley Bill? Is it for
the ordinary consumer, then? Not
when it has the abominable rec-
ord of scrapping OPA, starting the
inflationary spiral by its Little
Steel' formula and then calling
for 'voluntary' price set-backs.
How practical can we become,
Mr. Vetter? Be sure that we'll
not be deterred by the hackneyed
cries of 'pinko' or 'red.' It is those
who clasp the weapon of emo-
tional propaganda that are fear -
ful of reason.
I reiterate that our aims are not
to seat reaction, but to win with
Wallace for progress. Why not at-
tend our meetings and hear our
views personally? As I recall, Shaw
also said that it was the so-called
liberal who would have to be ed-
ucated.
-Hy Bershad,
* *
Surrender
To the Editor:
MR. WELLFORD'S letter to the
Editor published in- yester-
day's Daily certainly surprised
me. Mr. Wellford seems to have
a certain knowledge of the Pales-
tine Problem, but a very super-
ficial one indeed. He does not
realize the sacrifices mad. by the
Jewish Agency in accepting the
second partition of the Holy Land,,
the first partition having oc-
curred in 1922 when the State of
Transjordan was erected. The
Jews accepted the compromise for
the sake of peace while the Arabs
refused to change their policy of
non-compromise and non co-op-
eration. I therefore do not under-
stand what is meant by "a com-
promise based on minimum rather
than maximum Jewish aims."
The most surprising part of the
letter is its conclusion. "My pur-
pose is . . . to urge that a peaceful
settlement is to be desired above
all." I cannot understand how a
college student, who has a re-
quired minimum of general knowl-
edge, makes such a statement. Has
one ever heard of a request to
the Courts to help fugitives in
their fight against the Police
Force? Has ever one heard of
motions to have policemen dis-
armed when trying to arrest
armed bandits? Has ever one
heard of peace restored in a trou-
bled area by disarming the cit-
izens who are defending their
property, rights, and lives? Well
I never had!
What Mr. Wellford is asking is
to allow the rebels to take over
and thus solving the problem. It
is true that such an attitude
would solve the problem alright
by eliminating "one side of the
question," but I do not think that
it would be the best way to do
it.
Well no Mr. Wellford, this will
not be a compromise for the sake
of peace, it will be an uncondi-
tionalasurrender. The right and
just way to enforce the partition
decision is to help in arming the
Jewish army in order to enable
then to keep law and order. The
only. method to attain those re-
sults would be by repealing the
arms embargo and to back the
Jews in their fight for freedom.
-Abraham Lapin.
* * *
Iron Curtain
To the Editor:
THE AMERICAN PRESS has
rung down the iron curtain of
silence on the protests against
political arrests of five Commun-
ist leaders. These leaders are be-
ing held without bail on Ellis
Island-a violation of Constitu-
tional guarantees. They are at
present staging a hunger strike to
dramatize for the American peo-
ple this evidence of fascist-like
political persecution which has en-
tered the American scene.
Has The Michigan Daily joined
the "conspiracy of silence" by ig-
noring the birth of Hitler-like
concentration camps in the Uni-
ted States? it was just such
shrugging off of political crisis
which permitted Mussolini and
Hitler to gain power.
The Daily missed the boat on
several big news items. Last night
the student legislature debated
and rejected a resolution protest-
ing political arrests. Following the
debate, seventeen students, includ-
ing fourteen members of the leg-
islature, sent a telegram of pro-
test to Attorney General Tom
Clark. Not a word has been print-
ed about the hunger strike, which
symbolizes the rejection by the
people of the United States of fas-
cist tactics. The Daily buried on
page five the resolution of the
American Association of Univer-
sity Professors to support the po-
litical freedom of professors, by
they Communist or not.
Take note, Daily, of writer Stet-
son Kennedy's observation that
American fascism will not rule di-
rectly through a dictator, but
through corruption of democratic
processes.
-Alfred Millstein
* * *
No Women
To the Editor:
ON SATURDAY, March 6, the
Michigan Union apparently is
going all out to throw a large and
successful open house. Anyone,
by reading the posters advertising
it, can see that the program of-
fers a large and varied repertoire
of events. The Union can be proud
of this fine program, but must
lower its head in shame at the in-
clusion of the allowance it makes
women to be able to come in the
front door. Women, who in spite
of their recognized inferiority have
been trying constantly to trans-
gress on male rights by attempting
to be classified as our equals, seem
to have reached the apex of their
careers, at least as far as the U.
of M. is concerned.
Once the U. of M. and the
Michigan Union were exclusively
for men; then later after the in-
vasion of the campus by the
"weaker sex" only the front door
of the Union was left as symbol
of male dominance. Now it seems
that even that last stronghold
must fall to the lip-sticked, rouged,
silly and rather infantile members
of our campus; and this with the
consent and desire of the Michi-
gan Union officers. Since, it seems
impossible to convince the poor
decadent males who rule the Un-
ion to change their policy, f b-
seech the women of the college
to remember their lesser rank and
not be shameful enough to dese-
crate this last male stronghold
with their long skirts and nylon
enclosed legs.
I do not wish to be taken as a
woman hater, for, whereas I con-
sider women a necessary evil and
'all right in their place, their place
is definitely not in the Michigan
Union via the front door.
-Bob Scott
The Last Word
To the Editor:
IN MY LAST LETTER published
on Feb. 20 I wrote with a view
to presenting some factual view-
points about the present situation
of China, and not intending to
present my statement in a crit-
ical sense as to the fact whether
the present status of the Chinese
government is truly or partly
democratic, and I did not antici-
pate it would provoke a volley of
opposition from Mr. Hy Bershad.
I have reasons here for saying
that Mr. Bershad drew his con-
clusion and gave remarks about
China in a mood of "impatience
and haste," for they appear too
"definitive," and it is a danger
for any person to be so .. .
Actually the Chinese govern-
ment in organization has been and
still is in a constant and continu-
ing process of improvement. The
new Constitution which, adopted
and approved by the National
Congress, will mark the begin-
ning of a new era of China's Con-
stitutional Democracy has been
in force a very short time; the
organization has been going on
in a period of transition, and it
still needs some years to develop
up to the true .sense of democ-
racy on account of internal strife.
The instances of the corrup-
tion of the Chinese government,
statements of which Mr. Bershad
found on Congressional Records,
are recorded in some more sources
beyond his knowledge; and I
would not be so silly as to avoid
admitting it as a fact already
commonly known to many people.
What I am trying here to point
out is this: Stories of corruption
through being retold from now
and then have gained "additional
force" from gross exaggeration;
and the more times they are told,
the farther they are away from
authenticity ...
During the present condition
owing to the intensification of
hostility, it has been imperative
on the government to put into
force some war-time measures
aimed to save the Republic.-
measures comparable with those
President Lincoln employed dur-
ing the Civil War: suspension of
habeas corpus, anti-sedition laws,
etc. Foreign observers and critics,
if having been long in China, may
have known that many Chinese
colleges and-universities have be-
come places of political rivalry:
students' demonstrations and
strikes sometimes running riot to
disturb the public order. We some
been familiar with thosetb-t-fl eh
Chinese students here, having
been familiar with those activ-
ities in China, have definite and
well-founded proofs for "the in-
trigues carried out by the power
behind the scene."
It seems to most of us the pres-
ent is not yet the proper time for
anybody to lay down definite crit-
icisms, if any. It is our hope
that members of the Reading
Public, if they care, may write
to us c/o Chinese Students' Club
for further discussion (friendly
and frank). With this letter I wish
that the controversy be closed for-
ever on this Daily.
William Huang.
Fifty-Eighth Year
I
t
Golden Days
A NEW ERA has dawned on the University
campus. But like the earliest rays of the
coming dawn, few have realized what was in
store for the post-war-weary student. The
new, perhaps golden, age of press-agentry,
propaganda and organized ballyhoo has
come gradually, but now the true rays beat
down in the full force of high-noon.
It all began last September with the ar-
rival of campus comic, Buck Dawson. He
revitalized the old huckstering stunts an-
nually employed by the Gargoyle and sold
5,500 Student Directories before you could
say "Golden Age." That was only the be-
ginning. Baby contests, tower tests, high-
pressure salesmanship and other crazy
stunts were coal added to the fire. The 1948
Michiganensian topped all previous sales
records.
Does it end here? Buck Dawson graduated.
The 'Ensian has gone to the presses.
But no! The Golden Age is here to stay.
Richard Hitt, Union publicity director,
carries on by dropping hundreds of colored
balloons onto the campus with free tickets to
the Union Open House attached to some.
What other stunts Hitt has up his sleeve
are left for the reader to conjecture.
But if things continue, we can conjecture
n rf wa ivaf, ih- .-n-wuofal, rln a,
A VALUABLE prerequisite for this picture
would be Psychology 31, but even if
you're not so educated you'll enjoy it, for it
is Tyrone Power's best performance since
the war. The movie concerns a low class
carnival troupe and the results when Tyrone
and his gal break away to put on a big
mystification act of their own. Ty is clever
and amusing as the shrewd, young trickster
who gets involved with a female psychologist
and combines his racket with hers. They
have great success, but he attempts to carry
the act too far, so things start folding. There
are moments of suspense and drama and
Ty makes you feel sorry for him in the end.
All this, plus a good supporting cast, makes
the two hours spent a good investment.
At the Michiga.. .
CHRISTMAS EVE, Ann Harding, George
Raft, George Brent, R. Scott.
THIS PICTURE has lots of name actors,
but not much else to back them up. Miss
Harding is a rich old widow who is trying
to round up her three sons to help her keep
the bad men from taking all her gold. The
sons are, of course, Brent, Raft, and Scott.
There is a separate plot woven around each
son, each of which causes some feeble ex-
citement. Randy Scott provides a few laughs
as a goofy brone-buster, but most of the
cast is strictly for scenery.
-A. M. Lindsay.
:#
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authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
John Campbell......Managing EdIter
Dick Maloy...............City Editor
Harriett Friedman .. Editorial Director
Lida Dailes...........Associate Editor
Joan Katz........... Associate Editor
Fred Schott.........Associate Editor
Dick Kraus............Sports Editor
Bob Lent......AssociateSports Editor
Joyce Johnson.......Women's Editor
Jean Whitney Associate women's Editor
Business Staff
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Jeanne Swendeman ......Ad. Manager
Edwin Schneider .. Finance Manager
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emberf ni The Associated Press
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BARNABY .. .
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