THE MICHIGAN DAILY
No Choice At All
WE WONDER HOW the Democratic party
will survive this one. With the left al-
ready peeling off, the southern democrats
are threatening a new split, and Demo-
cratic leaders are faced with the inevitabil-
ity of paying for their pretty words.
Taking the familiar designation of the
south as' "Democratic stronghold" a little
too seriously, southern leaders have served
an ultimatum on national party head-
quarters to abandon Truman's civil liberties
proposals. They evidently figure that their
threat will bring party headquarters around
in a hurry.
But the democratic party is out to
prove that it can win without the help of
the far-left liberals. It may scorn many
of Wallace's arguments, but civil liberties
cannot be dropped from the party plat-
form with equal aplomb. Many liberal
-u,
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: BEN ZWERLING
voters who have avoided Wallace to date,
would find such ar muve too much to
stomach.
The anti-poll tax, anti-segregation, anti-
lynch proposals of Truman's civil liberties
program are not the only issues on which
Democratic leaders will have to show they
really mean it. 'Ihe PEepuhlican party is no
longer it's only critic.
Wallace has shown that there are a lot
of dissatisified voters, enough to form the
basis for a party eager to grab the spot
on which the Democrats once stood. And
unlike some former third parties, the Wal-
lace group will play the game of politics
for all its worth.
The unhappy north-south coalition may
produce one compromise too many and then
even the red scare will not be enough to
save it. The Democratic Party really has
no choice at all. If it accedes to southern
demands, it will be admitting that it has
failed as a liberal party.
And if it does not stand by such issues
as the civil liberties proposals, it will
eventually he replaced by an organiza-
tion which is willing to pay for progress.
--Harriett Friedman
It's About Time
THE DAMNING of the Wagner-Murray-,
Dingell Bill for health insurance is an-
other example of how far behind the times
social legislation can lag.
This bill, if passed, would provide hospit-
alization through federal and state appro-
priations for some 40,000,000 people in the
United States who could not otherwise afford
proper medical care. It would provide a uni-
tary system of hospitalization in which the
talents of the medical profession and the
technological facilities of science would be
concentrated in readily available places in-
stead of being scattered and unrelated..
A health measure providing for care in
time of emergencies would give the com-
mon man a security against dispair and
charity. It would keep him from mortgaging
his home when he is flat on his back. A pri-
vate institution like the Blue Cross which
has established a voluntary health insurance
program throughout the nation and has
gained the support of over 29,000,000 mem-
bers is proof for necessary action on the
part of Congress.
As long as the strictures of the American
Medical Association and the propaganda
spreading of the National Physicians Com-
mittee exert pressure against Federal en-
croachment of the medical profession, action
by Congress awaits the rise of popular
demand.
The fact that millions of people in the
United States have voluntarily sought health
insurance through the agencies of the Blue
Cross is valid indication that the Wagner-
Murray-Dingell Bill for compulsory health
insurance was not manufactured in , the
Kremlin as the National Physicians Com-
mittee would have us believe.
All the technological advances of science
do not mean much if they cannot be applied
to human needs. They will not be unless all
the available talent in the country is re-
cruited to develop methods for applying.
science to human problems.
--Jim Marchewka
-a
MATTER OF FACT:
Real China Policy.
WASHINGTON WIRE.0
Niceties of Resentm-lent
Hy JOSEPH
and STEWART ALSOP
BEHIND the singularly fraudu-
lent China aid program pre-
pared for the Congress, there lies
a remarkable Administration, or
at least a George C. Marshall,
policy toward China. That policy
is being concealed, and its exis-
tence will undoubtedly be denied.
But the realthinking about China,
oan which the present phony aid
program was formulated, may be
bluntly summarized as follows:
To rescue the regime of Gen-
eralissimo Chiang Kai-shek will
require a very great investment.
Its rescue will also be, at best, a
very messy business.hThe United
States has neither the cash nor
the stomach to do the job.
There are several points to con-
sider in connection with this
China policy. First of all, there
is the nature of. its inception. The
man chiefly responsible for it is
Secretary of State George C. Mar-
shall. Marshall is one of the two
or three undeniably great Amer-
icans. Yet every one who knows
the problem privately admits (and
it may as well be said publicly)
that Secretary Marshall is deep-
ly influenced in his views on
China by a sharp personal dis-
taste for the Generalissimo.
This waseborn inethe period
of his friend General Joseph
Stilwell's bitter wranglings with
Chiang Kai-chek. It was in--
tensified in the course of Sec-
retary Marshall's nonsensical
mission to marry the unmar-
riageable, Chiang and the Com-
munists. This distaste is no
doubt the subconscious root of
Marshall's wholly negative ap -
proach to the China problem.
A few, like General Albert C.
Wedemeyer, have been construc-
tive in their advice on China.
But these are exceptions in the
government. The great majority
of policy makers have not even
attempted to understand our own
past tragic errors: such as the gi-
gantic investment in opening the
Burma Road, which cost us East
China, undermined the National
Government, and was officially
declared worthless as a military
highway a fortnight after the
fanfare of the opening; or the
American role in the successive
political crises of the Chiang gov-
ernment, i which our decisive in-
fuence was so ignorantly and stu-
p dly used that we twice promot-
ed the triumph of anti-American
elements.
Because this sort of criminal
folly did not produce good re-
sults in China, it is inferred that
wisdom must also fail to produce
good results. The whole study of
the great majority of those mak-
ing China policy has been not
what can be done, but the diffi-
culties of doing anything at all.
And the impossibility of doing
anything about China has been
proved by grossly, but again no
doubt unconsciously, misleading
documentation.
-The simplest example of this
crudely false documentation is
the talk you hear, all over the
government, of the "billions"
We have already "wasted" on
China since the war ended. Our
major tangible gifts to China
have in fact been Army. sur-
plus officially valued at $700
million, but actually consider-
ed not worth the trouble of
bringing home, and an Export-
Import Bank loan on which we
frankly welched. Our only real-
ly major post-war contribution
to China was the intangible of
transport for the Chinese arm-
ies to Manchuria. Here are no
"billions."
This does not mean that our
present China policy cannot be
defended. The Communists may
conceivably be unable to hold
Chinavafter they get it. It will be
undeniably expensive and messy
to rescue Chiang Kai-shek's gov-
ernment. What is utterly inde-
fensible, however, is the hypoc-
risy of our China policy's pre-
sentation, and the concealment
of its inherent risks. These risks
admittedly include geographical
link-up for the Soviets with the
embryo Communist movements of
southeast Asia, prevention of Jap-
anese trade with the China coast;
and creation of a situation in
which the 80 million Japanese
must either join the Soviet-Asi-
atic sphere to live, or be perment-
ly subsidized by the United States
at unimaginable cost. These risks,
it must be realized, add up to a
clear possibility of Far Eastern
war in a few years.
(copyright, 1948, New York Herald
Tribune, Inc.)
By IRVING JAFFE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20-Harry S. Tru-
man, the man, never comes through to us
from the words of his prepared speeches,
which he reads wit;i a conviction that, after
nearly three years in the presidency, still
sounds forced.
But last night, in addition to his prepared
speech, he tossed out some off-the-cuff re-
marks at a Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner.
At one point, he said, "I honestly can't trust
these reactionaries."
It was a completely sincere utterance. Mr.
Truman has discovered that, in all truth, he
can't trust "these reactionaries." The Re-
publican leaders in Congress have tripped
him up at every occasion. Their eyes focused
steadily on that magic month, November
1948, they have been above no possible means
to discredit him. The men who were his,
Senate colleagues, the men with whom good-
natured Harry Truman joked and chatted
on Capitol Hill, now permit not even con-
siderations of honesty and good faith to in-
BOOKS
OTHER VOICES, OTHER
Random House, $2.75.
ROOMS-
THIS IS Truman Capote's first novel. Only
twenty-three, Capote has already gain-
ed a considerable reputation from his deli-
cate andthaunting short stories, and from
the curious pictures of himself that have
appeared in Life anti many of the reviews.
Other Rooms, Other Voices is typically Ca-
poteian. It is the story of Joel, a rather
beautiful and sensitive twelve-year-old boy
who, after his mother's death, leaves New
Orleans to live with his father and step-
mother in a remote and nebulous area of
the Louisiana hinterland. Here he finds
himself a member of a strange and decay-
ing household which includes Amy, his step-
mother, whom he discovers killing a blue-
jay with a poker, Randolph, her hairless
pink-skinned homosexual cousin, and his
father, a mute and paralyzed wreck living
in a bed filled with red tennis balls. The
hot summer landscape is filled with charm-
ladei hermits, copperheead snakes, sinister
yellow cats, amorous midgets, a hundred and
nine-year-old Negro and his giraffe-necked
daughter whose throat was slit from ear to
ear on her wedding night. It is in this half-
real world that Joel reaches adolescence,
frustrated by a red-haired tomboy, con-
verted to homosexuality by the evil Ran-
dolph.
Although hailed as a prophet of trends
to come in American fiction, Capote has
created nothing essentially new in Other
Rooms, Other Voices. Like so many con-
temporary novels, it is a case history. The
perversities, the pathological characters, all
the psychological abnormalities of Faulk-
ner and Caldwell are present. But what
distinguishes Capote is the beauty of his
prose. His horrors are presented in writ-
ing as exquisite as a Chinese lacquer box,
in sick-sweet colors of lilac, cloud-pink,
lemon and orange. There is throughout the
book an elusiveness and delicate magical
quality that reminds one of the paintings
of the contemporary Magic Realists.
Critical readers may consider Other
Voices, Other Rooms the same old stuff in a
new and more skillfully wrapped box. Yet
in an exceptionally artistic and finely rea-
lized novel form, more effective than a doz-
en clinical reports, Capote makes a definite
contribution to the litei ature on homosex-
uality, a subject, which in the light of re-
cent studies, notably the Kinsey Report,
has taken on new and broader significance.
-Hal Raphael
NTpw Rooks at Gneral Librarv
terfere withtheir all-absorbing aim of bring-
ing about his political slaughter.
Mr. Truman is deeply resentful. He
feels, justifiably, that he has not even re-
ceived the respectful treatment of honest
political enmity.
But the measure of the man is not whe-
ther his disillusioning experience with the
Republican leaders has made him resentful
because of the personal anguish it has caus-
ed him. It is rather whether that experi-
ence has taught him the broader lesson of
what manner of men can be trusted and
which men are not to be trusted, from the
standpoint of his responsibility as President
to further the interests of all the people.
The measure of Mr. Truman's growth is
whether lie has been brought to see the es-
sentially destructive part "these reaction-
aries" play on the larger stage of national
government - not merely with respect to
Harry Truman's personal fortunes.
Unfortunately there is much evidence to
support the doubts about Mr. Truman that
provoke these questions. How can you help
but wonder whether the President's judg-
ment of men has matured when, on the one
hand, his loyalty to his coterie of petty-
minded White House and Administration
aides who are often getting him as well as
themselves into trouble, never wavers, and
when, on the other hand, he persists in his
campaign to rid the government of some of
its best men? How can you help but wonder,
when he demotes Marriner Eccles from the
chairmanship of the Federal Reserve Board,
when he drops James Landis as Civil Aero-
nautics Board chief, when he gives walking
papers to Surgeon-General Dr. Thomas
Parran?
Is it that here too, though for far dif-
ferent reasons, Mr. Truman is resentful
... not because these are not good men to
have in government, but precisely because
they are too good? Perhaps, whether he
understands it or not, the President re-
sents them because they are essentially
better men than he, and he is reducing the
level of his government administrators
down to his own, which is a mediocre level.
There are many reasons for which you
can trust men, and many reasons why you
can distrust them. In Mr. Truman's case
the reasons, and not the mere fact of trust
or distrust, constitute the crucial measure.
At Kellogg Audiforiuin
THE LADY VANISHES, with Michael
Redgrave, Margaret .Lockwood, and Paul
Lukas. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
MINCE ANY ATTEMPT at summarizing
a Hitchcock plot is forever bedeviled
by a host of characters and incidents, I shall
confine my remarks to the more general-
and less bewildering - aspects of this film.
In the first place, then, "The Lady Van-.
ishes" got off to a rather slow start until
the first corpse was produced, after which
episode things became progressively more
lively and, shall we say, breathtaking. After
the initial shock Hitchcock was in control
of the situation throughout, piling one anx-
ious scene upon another with utter abandon.
Acting is always a minor consideration in
a picture of this type, but Mr. Redgrave and
Miss Lockwood seem to have handled their
stock roles with more concern than these
assignments are generally given and Dame
May Whitty lent a steady supporting hand.
What with its suspense and laughs, "The
Lady Vanishes" makes the evening pass
quickly and it is regrettable that the print
which is being shown on campus is marred
in spots by a partially damaged sound
THE GENERAL OUTLOOK of art in Amer-
ica today is fairly well pictured in the
Rackham exhibit of the works of six art
school professors.
Varying from the strictly abstract work of
Don Prendergast and Chet LaMore, through
the expressionistic renderings of Paul Jones,
to the more realistic paintings of Frank
Cassandra, the show reveals the lack of orig-
inality existing in much of current art. Yet,
each of the exhibitors shows a finely devel-
oped style, as well as excellent technique,
to produce good paintings.
Most striking picture in the entire ex-
hibit is Jones' "The 125th Street Vendor."
Painted in bold blues, the picture reveals
the artists ability to use color and lines
in a strong and free manner to create his
effect. Jones' boogie-woogie paintings, on
the other hand, fail to capture the spirit
of their subjects, resulting in rather sterile
work.
Richard Wilt's painting is as interesting
for its social commentaries-mainly local--
as for his style which combines realism with
semi-abstract. The result is an impression
of the type of thing in which a figure is
drawn onto a photographed head. One of
Dewey is especially prominent in a clever
painting entitled, "Holt It, Mr. Candidate."
The abstract art of Chet LaMore reveals
little in originality, some of his best seeming
to resemble that of Joan Miro. "Necro-
mancer II" utilizes triangular shapes in an
excellent composition of grays and greens to
convey an uplifting feeling. In another style,
LaMore's "Equilibrium in Red" attains fine
shape relationships and depth.
Don Prendergast's work exhibits great
vitality in color and line, yet one has the
feeling in most of his paintings that they
are composed of disconnected design units,
which cuts the rhythmic effect. An exam-
ple of this is his "Angry Flowers" which
just misses being a successful design be-
cause of its incomplete rhythm. "Bedside
Companions at 3 A.M." seems to overcome
this defect with excellent design and com-
position.
Both the mural cartoons and paintings of
Frank Cassara are good in composition and
lighting but lack originality. N-ice contrasts
in texture and lighting are shown in the
photographs by David Reider. His "Big Top
Tapestry" is especially fine in these respects.
Too often, however, his work becomes over-
symmetrical in line.
Thehealthiest aspect of the entire show
is the fair amount of variety in style shown
by most of the artists. This would seem to
reveal their continued interest in experi-
mentation, which breeds hope for new de-
velopments and improvements in our art.
-Joan Katz
IN EUROPE, there is a terrible tension in
the air. You are caught at once by the
haunting fear that comes only when Com-
munism is beating at the gates, when the
rich in your country grow flagrantly richer
and the poor grow desperately poorer, and
hatred steals along the streets.
-Christian Science Monitor.
(Continued from Page 2)
Lecture: "Legal Standards for In-
dividual and Official Acts," by
Burke Shartel, Professor of Law.
4:15 p.m., Mon., Feb. 23, Rm. 120,
Hutchins Hall. The public is in-
vited.
Academic Notices'
Botany 1 Make-up final exami-
nation: Wed., Feb. 25, 3 p.m., Rm.
1139 Natural Science Bldg.
Economics 51, 52, 53, 54: Make-
up Final Examination, Thurs., Feb.
26, 3 p.m., 102 Economics Bldg.
Each student who appears for this
examination must have received
permission from his instructor.
Editorial Council Seminar: The
heads of all departments on the
editorial staff of the Flint Jour-
nal will demonstrate to journalism
students how they operate as an
editorial council at 3 p.m., Rm.
E, Haven Hall, Mon., Feb. 23. Cof-
fee hour, 4 p.m. in the News Room.
Concerts
Student Recital: Dolores DiLor-
enzo, Pianist, will present a pro-
gram of compositions by Franck,
Beethoven, Mozart, and Harold
Triggs, at 8:30 p.m., Tues., Feb.
24, Lydia Mendelssohn Theater.
Given in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Music, the recital will
be open to the general public. Miss
DiLorenzo is a pupil of Joseph
Brinkman.
Student Recital: Noah Knep-
per, oboist, will present a program
at 8:30 p.m., Wed., Feb. 25, Rack-
ham Assembly Hall, in partial ful-
fillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Music in
Music Education. He will be assis-
ted by Merrill Wilson, playing the
French horn, and David Hildinger
and Jean Farquharson, pianists.
Mr. Knepper is a pupil of William
Fitch, and his recital is open. to
the public.
Events Today
Radio Program: 9:15-9:45 a.m.,
WJR, Hymns of Freedom. Donald
Plott, Music Director; James Schi-
avone, Narrator.
Graduate Outing Club: Hiking
or skating. Meet at 2:30 at north-
west entrance to Rackham Bldg.
U. of M. Hot Record Society:
3 p.m., Michigan League Ballroom.
All music lovers welcome.
Wesleyan Guild: 5:30 p.m. Sup-
per, followed by a program on
"Time, Talents and Possessions,"
with Dr. James Brett Kenna, as
speaker.
Roger Williams Guild: 6 p.m.
Cost supper, followed by Dr. Wil-
liam Frankena speaking on "The
Christian Attitude Toward Man.
Gamma Delta, Lutheran Stu-
dent Club: 4 p.m. Bible Discus-
sion Hour. 5:30 p.m., Supper meet-
ing. Address by Mr. Alfred T. Wil-
son, president of the International
Laymen's League.
Unitarian Student Group: 6:30
p.m. Dr. Rensis Likert, head of
Survey Research Center will speak
on the subject, "Survey. Research
-a Tool of Democracy."
Lutheran Student Association:
5:30 p.m., Zion Lutheran Parish
Hall. 6 p.m., Supper Meeting.
Speaker: Miss Ruth Wicks, Assis-
tant General Secretary of the Na-
tional Lutheran Council, Student
Service Commission.
Congregational-Disciples Guild:
6 p.m. Supper, Memorial Christian
Church. Dr. Preston Slosson will
speak on "Christianity Demands
Liberalism."
Coming Events
RadioProgram: Mon., Feb. 23,
2:30-2:45 p.m., WKAR. The Medi-
cal Series. Dr. M. T. Fliegelman;
2:45-2:55 p.m., WKAR. The Stu-
dent Questions Religion, John W.
Craig; 5:45-6 p.m., WPAG. The
News and You, Preston W. Slosson.
Association of University of
Michigan Scientists: Mon., Feb. 23,
8 p.m., East Conference Room,
Rackham Bldg. Dr. W. Kincaid
will speak on the subject, "Science
and Public Policy." The public is
invited.
Alpha Chapter of Sigma Alpha
Iota, National Professional Music
ART
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
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
wrters only. Letters of more than
300 words are shortened, printed or
omitted at the discretion of the edi-
torial director.
* * *s
Clear Advertising
To the Editor:
Y ESTERDAY I went to a lecturej
by Mr. Robert Kenny, who was
advertised as speaking on "The
Bill of Rights Today". Unfortun-
ately, what promised to be an
extremely interesting lecture by
an authority on the subject turned
out to be a thirty minute plea for
members in the Lawyers Guild and
a ten minute dissertation on Mr.
Kenny's part in the recent Holly-
wood Screen Writers fiasco before
the Senate.
Now all this may have been of
great importance to the law stud-
ents, but I don't think it fair for
them to display placards promin-
ently around campus inviting the
student body to a lectufe on one
subject or who is simply not in-
terested enough to speak on it.
The Lawyers Guild is not the
only outfit on campus who is
guilty of this sort of thing. It has
happened many times in the past,
and I for one am tired of getting
fcoled. I suggest that when a
speaker is presented in the future
more effort be made in advertis-
ing his subject.
--Mike Zass.
ADA 'Line'
To the Editar:
PLAUDITS to Mr. Blumrosen for
his fearless espousal of the
contraversial issue of the St. Law-
rence Seaway project and our
present tariff policy as the central
points of a rejuvenated liberal
movement.
I should like to offer him my
unqualified support on these issues
(be he for or against, for high or
for low) provided he will join me
in my fight to th death against
the Louisiana Purchase and the
Annexation of Texas.
Mr. Blumrosen and I could per-
haps best expedite the final achiv-
ement of our mutal goals by the
formation of Tea Time Folk Club.
I hasten to assure him that this
would be a club for TALKING
ONLY. At the same time this will
be a vigorous, dynamic organiza-
tion where other liberals like Mr.
Blumrosen can find truly active
support. If wandering liberals will
only subscribe to our simple basic
principles certainly they will find
Fraternity for Women, will pre-
sent a Contemporary American
Musicale, Wed., Feb. 25, 8:30 p.m.,
Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Pro-
gram: Vocal solos and instru-
mental solos and ensembles, and
will include work of Barber, Cres-
ton, and Schuman. The public is
invited.
Gilbert and Sullivan: Full re-
hearsal of the chorus and cast,
7 p.m., Michigan League, Mon.,
Feb. 23.
Films on Public Opinion-World
Trade, auspices of the Audio-Visu-
al Education Center, Kellogg Aud-
itorium, 4:15 p.m., Tues., Feb. 24.
-"Does It Matter What You
Think?" and "Round Trip-The
U.S.A. in World Trade."
Astronomy Club: Mon., Feb. 23,
7:30 p.m., University Observatory.
Le Cercle Francais: Tues., Feb.
24, 8 p.m., Rm. 316, Michigan
Union. Prof. E. B. Ham, of the
Romance Language Department,
will present and comment upon
a film entitled "Toward Tomor-
row in France." French songs and
social games. New members ac-
cepted.
Sociedad Hispanica: Conversa-
tion group, Mon., Feb. 23, Inter-
national Center, 3 p.m.
Armenian Students' Association:
Mon., Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., Rm. 304
Michigan Union. Students of Ar-
menian parentage are invited.
United World Federalist Public-
ity Committee: Mon., Feb. 23, 3rd
Floor, Michigan Union, 7:30 p.m.
Women of the University Fac-
ulty: Meet Tues .,Feb. 24,.8 p.m.,
Women's Athletic Bldg.
Intercollegiate Zionist Federa-
tion of America: Tues., Feb. 24, 8
p.m., Hillel Foundation. Dr. Max
Weinreb, of Tel-Aviv, will speak
on the subject, "Inside Palestine."
Dancing and refreshments. All
welcome.
Faculty Women's Club: Play
Reading Section, Tues., Feb. 24,
1:45 p.m., Mary B. Henderson
Room, Michigan League.
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