PAGE -OUR THE MICHIGAN IDAI LY TH IvCsTTv~aN D.sATTY 1 I I ,:,ka1 aI'TT R~bAV a'i*.---- , ,' J V £J j.85EJ LIm Better Substitutes W HAT IS THIS THING called spirit? Is it the amount of noise that stu- dents make at athletic contests? Is it the vociferous student protest occa- sioned by slanders against one's school? Is it the freshman caps, tugs of war over the river and Black Fridays that our Stu- dent Legislature is considering bringing back? Sure-it's all of these things, but a lot more besides. Important as these tokens of the taditional rah-rah spirit may be, they represent only the most superficial level of school pride and loyalty. Hazings, idolatry of athletic teams and most other conventional forms of that elu- sive college spirit immediately declined when mature veterans returned to America's col- lege campuses. These men and women had learned from long and bitter experience to differentiate between what is important and what is mere pretension. It is little wonder that they saw the usual "variety of, college spirit for what it was-a juvenile form of ostenta- tion. We are now asked to re-embrace a re-' vival of "pre-war traditions and class spirit" in order to incite "school spirit now sadly lacking, which every large school in the country would admire." Perhaps we should all be thrilled at the prospect of humiliating incoming freshmen (all in good fun, of course!) Holding clan- destine class meetings in order to plot the downfall of rival classes might be a lot of fun. Editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. NIGHT EDITOR: GEORGE WALKER Maybe so. But is there no other way to demonstrate our school spirit? Perhaps the Student Legislature, instead of trying to revive pre-war traditions, should help formulate some new, more constructive traditions that would be the envy of every school, large or small, in the country. The most convincing way in which a stu- dent can show his regard for his school is to participate in the school's activities and to help make his a better school. Running for student office, particularly a seat in the representative student organi- zation, is one of the more obvious methods of backing your school. What additional proof of loyalty would you require if you could say that a larger proportion of stu- dents in your school is running for office than in any other school in the country? Few of us can actually hold office; all of us have the power to see that only capable persons are elected. Nor should our job end with elections-we owe it to our school and to ourselves to keep abreast of what our representatives are doing. Push them if they are doing what they should not be doing. Push them if they are not doing what they should be doing. Participating in and supporting all school activities-not just athletics-is another tangible answer to the lack of school spirit. Get behind the debating team. Get on the school paper. Join a campus organi- zation that appeals to you, be it polit- ical, religious or social in nature. If the group you are looking for does not exist, go out and organize it. Know and be a part of what is going on in your school. And as for freshman caps, tugs of war and Black Fridays - leave them buried where they belong with the Passenger Pig- eon, Stanley Steamer and 23 Skidoo. -Bud Aronson. Lesson Learned AFTER the lesson of the recent American election, one would think that American leaders would have an increased respect for the ability of the common man to know what he wants, and to dispose of those who block these desires, whether with ballots or bullets. Apparently these leaders-many of them elected in this people's landslide, haven't learned the lesson as it is applied to for- eign nations. An exhibit drawn from cur- rent news provides outstanding proof of this sentiment. Exhibit A-China-has been hitting ,the news regularly lately with reports of dis- aster and impending disaster. The National- ist government has been using every ra- tionalization in the books, but all its words haven't been able to take away the sting of resounding defeats. The really significant thing about these defeats is not the mere fact that they oc- curred, but why they happened. At this cue, the Chiang Kai-Shek government screams that American help has been inade- quate, and that if we will only send more modern equipment, the Chinese Commu- nists can be driven out in short order. The strange inconsistency about this whole argument is that the Chinese Na- tionalist armies have already received far more war material than the Commu- nists, while the population and resources they draw on are three times those of their adversaries. It is evident, therefore, that we must look elsewhere for the cause of defeat-a job which isn't very hard. There are two inter- related reasons for the Nationalist defeat: 1. The utterly corrupt and inefficient Nationalist administration of both domes- tic affairs and American material sent in.- Unless the grafters are ruthlessly thrown out of the government or shot, sending more American material to China will be like pouring water down a rat hole. 2. The very low morale of the Nationalist soldiers, which is not a surprise considering the conditions under which they fight. On top of the usual mud-slogging, they must endure beatings and sometimes murder at the hands of their own commanding offi- cers as -the result of a defeat. Many of them were merely kidnaped off the streets and thrown into the army like prisoners. The soldiers of other hard-pressed na- tions have even overcome obstacles such as these, providing their all-important will to fight still persisted. But, in every case, the soldiers of other lands have had something to fight for-the Chinese Na- tionalist soldiers have nothing but greed and dictatorship at their backs. Knowing all these facts, American offi- cials in Washington continue to send huge quantities of supplies to bolster up a reac- tionary government which has given no in- dication it will use this equipment any better than in the past. They do this although they know the Kuomintang has. lost its support from the average Chinaman beset with inflation and starvation. All of which makes one look with a cyn- ical eye at election pledges of undying faith in democracy, and pointedly ask Tru- man and his masterminds why they don't practice what they preach, before the Chinese, in their hatred of the American supported regime, take matters in their own hands. -Russell B. Clanahan. I'D RATHER BE RIGHT: "For Congress There Must Be Some Better System" Is ' ! r. w" , r 4=+"-,;_ '; m - b- ,r : ' ;/' .: N/ ' :.a.. ° '- . __ S 2U FjTY ._. - R -- ' t1 .1 . YO A ' .._ ._ , ti ti _ . s ^--i.,i r Letters to the Editor.. I n-r E ',-I-ik . rr , S ,. L The Daily accords its, readers the privilege of subnitting letters for publication in this column. Subject to space limitations, the general pol- icy is to publish in the order in which they are received all letters bearing the writer's signature and address. Letters exceeding 300 words, repeti- tious letters and letters of a defama- tory character or such letters which for any other reason are not in good taste will not be published. The editors reserve the privilege of con- densing letters. * I Twins? To the Editor: THE SIMILARITY between the pictures of "Horace Heidt" (Daily, Nov. 16) and "Bob Strong" (Daily, Nov. 17) is most striking. Perhaps they are twin brothers, huh? Yours for further accuracy in "pictorial" journalism. -Wally Barth. * * * (EDITOR'S NOTE: The Night Edi- tor responsible for the picture error has been thoroughly reprimanded. We apologize to Mr. Heidt, Mr. Strong, and Mr. Barth.) What Price Relief To the Editor: W HEN WE FALL a prey to dis- ease, it +attacks us in our weakest spot. The world's most ob- vious disease today is unfair dis- tribution of goods and lack of or- granization to produce goods. China is the most glaring example of this illness. It cries out for relief and cares not what form the relief takes nor where it comes from. Two great nations are trying to bring relief to China. Russia offers quick relief, of a sort, through to- talitarian communism, a kind of "get-rich-quick" panacea for the underprivileged. Is it any wonder hungry people grab at it? America offers relief of tw( kinds: guns with which to fight the other relief-givers, the Com- munists, and more importantly the long-range cure of democratis education. Since China's own government iI weak and corrupt and Americar aid chiefly long-range and slow the field is left wide open for the Russian - trained Communist to take over for themselves an for Russia, just as has been don( in one country after anothe among Russia's satellites. China is now joining this roster of satellite nations and the iron curtain is al- ready clanking down over her cutting her off from the Westerr nations. Chinese students wil hereafter be attending schools ir Moscow instead of Ann Arbor anc our chance to help guide China' important long-range educatior Till be at an end. What can we do in such a situa- tion? At first glance it is easy to say we can do nothing. It is probably true that we can do noth- ing. It is probably true that w can do nothing in China. But there is something highly signifi- cant that we can do for Chin OUTSIDE OF CHINA: We car settle scores with Russia. Already we are threatening Rus- sia with atomic war. But car threats prevent war? Experience says no. What seems to be needec is an offer to Russia of a way out of the disaster which war would bring to both nations. We can help China o'nly by help- ing ourselves and the whole world namely by resolving the conflict between Russia and America foi world control, for it is this con- flict which is erupting with such violence in China. -Bayard Lyon. ?, a _ _ , . .. w .,.