THE MICHIGAN DAIY SATtMfDAY, -DECE MmvR-11, -1948 I) fditer 4 J etc Editor's Note is written by Managing Editor Harriett Friedman. IF YOU'RE NOT SURE yet that the Un- American Activities Committee should be given a quick death, read their latest pamphlet, "100 Things You Should Know About Communism and Education." Th most eye-opening passage concerns the state of text-books in American high schools. On the back cover of the pamphlet are these words quoted from William Z. Foster, head of the Communist Party, U.S.A.: "Our teachers must write new school textbooks and revirite history from the lVarxian viewpoint." Fine, so we're against that. But the Un- American Activities Committee goes on to say that our text-books are already im- pregnated with Marxist thought. Their proof? Well the booklet says that "the success of the United States of Amer- ica is played down by too many of our school books and its failures are played up." The committee then quotes from a report by a Dr. Ralph West Robey, Assistant Professor of Banking at Co- lumbia University, who says: "The whole emphasis is placed on the one-third of the population who are under- fed, rather than on the two thirds who are well fed. The textbooks emphasize the small number of large corporations rather than the large number of small ones. The authors point out the few wealthy people of this country rather than the fact that we have the greatest distribution of wealh in the world." The Un-American Activities Committee then goes on to say that textbooks lie by giving students "the idea that our country is hopelessly ridden with economic evils," when actually our country "sent arms and food all over the world" in World War II and still "kept up the highest standard the world has ever known." These criticisms of America show Com- munist influence, says the Committee. * * * ' BUT ALL IS NOT lost. We can keep the Communists from turning our textbooks into one-sided portrayals of Marxist ideol- ogy. We simply rewrite our textbooks into one-sided portrayals of the glories of Amer- ican free enterprise. For instance, the committee states that the emphasis on economic faults of our sys- tem should be removed. Instead the text- books should point out that America "is the light and hope of the world. Its citizens are the envy of all the rest of makind. People everywhere want to come here but nobody is leaving here to go to Russia or any other alleged 'land of promise.'" And our students should also be told that it's our concept of individuality and inde- Pendeice that has made us the richest coun- try in the world. Our national resources have little to do with it, the pamphlet says, for after all we don't have more of the best natural resources than any other peo- ple. Russia has more than we have. 'M AFRAID that I got rather the opposite impression of my high school texts, sometimes feeling that they sloughed off many economic injustices. But even if our textbooks do, as the committee claims, carry an emphasis on the ills of our sys- tem, I would call that rather healthy. A country that encourages criticism of its correctable ills will move forward. The students who are aware that our country has not yet provided equal eco- nomic and social care for all will work to create more perfect justice. But a nation which allows its young to' know only about its good features, which fills school texts with boasts of its wealth and power will inevitably stagnate by curb- ing that individual initiative so heavily praised by the Un-American Activities Com- mittee. "100 Things You Should Know About Communism and Education" has just let me know, again, that indiscriminate Commu- nist investigations often turn into argu- ments for fascism. Editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. NIGHT EDITOR: PHIL DAWSON --- Whose Inalienable Rights? "Never Git Us Down Offa This Here Hill" THE UN-AMERICAN Activities Commit- tee, the most un-American organization in its tactics that has ever been attached to our governmental system, is striking out in its dying moments in an effort to create a public opinion which will demand its con- tinuance. The Committee has been attacked from every side for its dictatorial methods. It has been condemned by our labor unions in convention-the same conventions in which the Communists were also taking defeats. It has been chastised by the ex- ecutive branch, and by members of the House and Senate; and its investigating methods are being questioned before the Supreme Court. Attorney General Clark expressed it well, when he said, "unlike the committee, the Department of Justice recognizes its respon- sibility to proceed within the framework of the Constitution." The committee has con- sistently sought the headline rather than the courts as a means of self-promotion at the expense of its victims. Two of the most well publicized cases were those of Dr. Condon and the ten Hollywood script writers, all of whom were dragged through the mire of publicity with little chance to defend themselves. Dr. Condon has never received the chance he constantly requested-to be allowed to defend himself before an open meeting of the Committee. Rather, his name has been drawn back into the investigations from time to time with just the right amount of emphasis to continue the shadows on his reputation. And Louis B. Mayer, MGM head, tes- tifying at a trial in Los Angeles, reveals that the reason for suspending the film writers from their jobs was due to the "threat of federal censorship." This does not sound like the work of a Committee to ferret out "un-American ac- tivities." The threat of censorship could have come from only one source. Only the House Committee was involved in the writ- ers' case. Even the present Chambers-pumpkin case is as indicative as any of the older charges against the Committee. Nothing brought out in the last few sensational days of Committee meetings is new. It has been partially hashed over in old Committee meetings and the rest of it has been sub- mitted to a Federal Grand Jury in New York. In fact, the statement of Whitaker Chambers has been lifted directly from the Grand Jury pre-trial testimony. As usual, with complete disregard for justice, the Committee scooped up the in- formation it needed, while Hiss is required to ask the judge for permission to release the balance of 800 pages of testimony, which would help present his side of the case. To the charge that the Committee's ill- advised publicity can seriously impair the administration of justice, chairman Mundt cries that the request is "an unreasonable attack upon the prerogatives of the United States Congress." We submit that the Thomas-Mundt ac- tivities are "an equally unreasonable attack upon the prerogatives of the citizens of the United States" and would remind Congress- man Mundt that while the Congressional prerogatives are delegated those of the people are inalienable. -Don McNeil. , 1 , "' ,., s ,t / 4 1°je a Q, °'1 i m ,p / r a - , . , ?._ -. if . '' _ . CID o P s '- v tiSso1 Letters to the Editor. Y 'Y? \ I / .: " r f, - 1 ' , +,.S l ~g af-acK a On Ruhr Problem EVER SINCE Louis XIV invaded the Rhineland there has been constant an- tagonism between the French and the Ger- mans, which finds its present day outlet in the Ruhr problem. German civilian control of the indus- trial Ruhr has been proposed by the Amer- ican and British military governments of Germany. France has consistently as- serted that the Germans should not be granted sole trusteeship of this highly in- dustrialized region because they might once again make it an instrument of war. France has refused to take part in the U.S. English board overseeing the conver- sion of the Ruhr trusteeship to the Ger- mans. It appears, however, that the French are overlooking some very major issues in the Ruhr problem. (1.) The Ruhr now lies in the British- American zone of occupation. Under the su- pervision of the occupation authorities pro- duction is not hitting the peak that is ex- pected of this powerful coal-coke-steel pro- ducing region. A reason for this under pro- duction may well be the reluctance of the Germans to work for foreign entrepreneurs. (2.) Full scale production from the Ruhr is necessary to European Recovery. France should realize this because she exports iron ore to this region. (3.) The London Agreement of May, 1948, flatly stated that regardless of who had trusteeship of the Ruhr, a permanent board would be set up to allocate ma- terials produced there. France, England, U.S., and the three Benelux countries would hold seats on this advisory council. And, if the German owners wanted to take 80 per cent of the production themselves, and the advisory board felt that this per- centage was too high, it would be in their power to re-distribute the produce. It is about time that the century old feud between Germany and France is stopped. France has an almost fanatical fear of a strong Germany. But France must come to realize that the conversion of Germany to a country that can take its place among a family of nations is necessary for the real- ization of the "One World" dream. Revenge should have no place in this conversion. -Norma Jean Harelik. MATTER OF FACT: Pumpkin Seeds News of the Week INTERNATIONAL Israel .... Efforts to get the New Government of Israel recognized by the United Nations hit another snag this week when the Security Coun- cil cancelled a meeting to act on the membership bid. France and Canada did not want to act on Israel's bid until the General Assembly moved on the Palestine Conciliation Commission. In the war zone, reports indicated that Israeli troops were about to unlatch a trap which holds some 1,200 Egyptian troops in an effort to negotiate an Arab-Jewish peace settlement. China... . Desparate fighting between the nationalist defenders of Suchow and the Communist troops brought a tangle of reports this week. Late- est indications were that Chiang's forces had lost 30,000 men in the last ditch defense of the city. Early in the week, the swift-moving Communist forces had trapped the 250,000 man garrison of Suchow. Chiang rushed reserves from other parts of China in an effort to stem the Communist advance. By weeks end, three nationalist army groups had moved into the Communist trap. The defenders of Suchow were pinning all their hopes on the remaining air power of the na- tionalists to pull them out of the trap. Berlin ... . Anti-Communist groups in Western Berlin elected their own mayor after the Communists in the Soviet Zone had set up a rump government. This was the latest move in the splitting of Berlin that had been going on since last year. UN.... No decisive action came out of the UN this week. Among the de- velopments were: 1. Dulles attacked Communist action in Korea and the General Assembly passed a resolution supporting the Republic of South Korea. 2. Eleanor Roosevelt told Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Vishin- sky that he should bow to the will of the majority. NATIONAL Spy story .... Following the revelation by Whittaker Chambers that he had con- fidential State Department documents from pre-war days given to him by Alger Hiss, Congressmen Mundt and Nixon began an investigation seeking three men who were alleged to have helped the Russians get information as to U. S. codes which they may have passed on to the Nazis. At weeks end, Attorney General Tom Clark asked that the Con- gressmen leave investigations to the Justice Department and asked that the Un-American affairs commititee stop meddling with vital witnesses and information that was needed for the Federal Grand Jury. Mundt refused. LOCAL Year of Decision ... Newly elected Student Legislators held their first session this week and heard retiring Legislature president Blair Moody tell them that the coming year "is one of decision for student government at the Uni- versity." Workers Education .... The Workers Education program got the okay of state labor lead- ers this week, following a meeting with University officials. Although the support was qualified, Victor Routher said he thought "Labor will support the program if the solution of final details move in the direction started today." Report Cards.. .. Students were eagerly grading their instructors this week as the Faculty Grading system cut into the class hours and gave them a chance to comment on the teaching efficiency of the staff. Dark Victory . . . A Daily reporter took a quick check on the University lighting fa- cilities with a foot-candle meter, found that many students were gleening their knowledge under a gleam of light. Officials promptly announced that more light was in the offing. Study Abroad.. .. A Foreign Summer Study Plan, intended to enable students to study abroad next summer and get credits here for their work, was announced last week, and committees were set up to arrange the program. Under NSA sponsorship, it would give qualified students a chance to travel with at least part of their expenses paid. * * * * Sports .... Shortly on the heels of a strong victory over Michigan State on the basketball courts, came the word that Benny Oosterbaan had been named the nation's Coach of the Year. The Daily accords its readers the privilege of submitting 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 bearingi 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. * * * Free Spain Week To the Editor: THIS WEEK is Free Spain Week. In all parts of the world peo- ple act to aid the Spanish guer- rillas who are fighting Franco's dictatorship with ever increasing strength and coordination. Out of over 50 meetings in this country, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refuge Committee will send recommen- dations to Paris where a delega-. tion meets to urge the UN Gen- eral Assembly to act decisively against Hitler's ally. This week, in New York the Committee for a Democratic Far- Eastern Policy meets to urge that the State Department refuse as- sistance to the admittedly corrupt Chiang Kai-Shek government. The people in both China and Spain are suffering severely. They fight for a better life in a cold- war climate for which American financial interests are mainly to blame. Our official press labels them agents of a world-wide Mos- cow-led plot. Our State Depart- ment sees the world through the narrow slits of gun-sights aimed at the Soviet Union and has no other interest but sanitation of the world to make it safe for our DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN (Continued from Page 2) hour before the beginning of the respective performances. University String Quartet, as- sisted by the Michigan Singers, and Marian Owen and Helen Titus, pianists, will be heard in the second program of this semes- ter at 8:30 p.m., Mon., Dec. 13, Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. The program will be devoted to the compositions of Rose Lee Finney, Professor of Composition in the School of Music, and will be open to the general public without charge. Events Today Flying Club, Ensian pictures will be taken at Ann Arbor Airport at 2 p.m. Meet in Aero Service office. American Youth Hostel: Last Square Dance before the holidays. 8:15-11 p.m., Jones School, 401 N. Division St. Saturday Luncheon Discussion Group: 12 noon, Lane Hall. Coating Events Naval Research Reserve: Or- ganization meeting to establish the U. of M. Unit, 7:30 p.m., Mon., Dec. 13, 35 Angell Hall. All Naval Reserve Officers interested in re- search are invited to attend. Michigan Society for Quality Control: 7:30 p.m., Mon., Dec. 13, Michigan Union. Program: An- swers to questions by the "Board of Experts" and a short talk by Prof. C. C. Craig. All interested in the Applications of Statistical Methods to Quality Control are invited. Graduate Outing Club: Meet at 2:15 p.m., Dec. 12, Northwest en- trance, Rackham Bldg., for hike. Please sign supper list at Rack- ham checkroom desk before noon Saturday. All graduates welcome. U. of M. Hot Record Society: A meeting, to be announced, will be presented Sunday at 8 p.m., Mich- igan League Ballroom. Everyone is invited. U.W.F.: Informal discussion, Sun., 7:30 p.m., Ann Arbor Room, Michigan League. Everyone wel- come. United World Federalists: Ex- ecutive Council Meeting, Mon., 4:10 p.m., Michigan- Union. Every person, officer and member, working on a chapter project must present a written report at this meeting. Meeting is open to gen- eral membership. cold-war troops. Sanitation means extermination of all "rebels" and "trouble-makers." Does it matter if the rebels are people who, on Chinese plains and in Spanish mountains, fight for the right to eat bread and to till their own land secure from robbery by gen- erals and landlords? Who is not sickened when America promises safety only to the demolishers of. freedom? But how else can a cold-war be fought? Allies must be sought where found and are most plenti- ful and loyal among Falangists and Kuomintangers with long anti-Communist records. Read Je- tween the lines ! A picture of the cold-war's results is in every pa- per. A vision of the future is not hard to form. For a different fu- ture, every one of us must act to make our foreign policy a peace policy. Listen to great men such as the Dean of Canterbury, Albert Ein- stein and Thomas Mann. Listen to millions of Chinese people who cry "anti-starvation, anti-atrocity, anti-dictatorship"; to the Spanish Resistance speaking in words of Jose Gayso, a guerrilla leader shot by the Falange: "may my death be an inspiration to help, more and more, the liberation of our people." We need their faith. -Jack A. Lucas. *. * * Phoenix Project To the Editor: WHAT HAPPENED to the Phoe- nix Project? Last May, The Daily came out with an extra. "Atom Research to be 'U' War Memorial," shouted the Zeadline. "Phoenix Plan to Benefit Man." There was to be a memorial ro- tunda right here on campus "to draw together the great scholars of the age." Then there was to be a research laboratory "more complete and better equipped for these purposes than any peace- time atomic laboratory now in ex- istence." Finally there was to be a classification of all atomic data "to coordinate -on a world-wide basis all successes or failures that may even hint at progress toward the solution of atomic problems." Work on the Project was to have begun July 1st. I haven't heard a word about it. Maybe the Phoenix Project has been postponed or called off. If so, just say so. Or, maybe the Proj- ect is too secret even to mention. But if it isn't, I sure would like to know what's happened to what The Daily called "a living, time- less, creative force for peace." -Robert M. Uchitelle. (EDITOR'S NOTE: An office has been established on campus for the Phoenix Project, and a large scale fund raising drive is being organized. Announcement of more detailed plans for the Project will be made soon. The Phoenix Project is still to be "a living, timeless, creative force for peace." By JOSEPH and STEWART ALSOP WASHINGTON-It is high time for the affair of Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers to be placed in some sort of sen- sible perspective. The State Department cer- tainly has not helped much by nervously asking the House Committee on Un-Amer- ican Activities to lock up much of the con- tents of Chambers' microfilm-stuffed pump- kin. In fact, those who should know best say that the full texts of the Chambers doc- uments would bore most people to tears. As reliably described, the papers fall into five categories: First, full texts of cables from the Paris and other embassies; second, sets of typewritten sheets contain- ing brief summaries of cables; third, three such summaries in what is alleged to be the handwriting of Alger Hiss; fourth, certain notes on Naval Intelligence re- ports in the handwriting of another offi- cial whose name has not yet been dis- closed; and, fifth and finally, original copies of completely unimportant Navy technical orders on such fascinating topics as light switches. Besides reams of such stuff, there are ap- parently one or two documents of slightly more recent significance. A long intelligence report from China, for instance, shows that Colonel, later General Joseph W. Stilwell sympathized with the Chinese Communists even in 1938. Add up the whole, however, and the best judges assert there is not a line, a fact or an incident which should cause a tremor in any foreign office in the world today, unless foreign officers 'are wise enough to tremble to see what fools eminent statesmen could be in those tragic years before the second World War. If the documents disclose anything at all, in short, they prove that the security of the American government was then virtually non-existent. But everyone who is reasonably well-informed has always known that this was the case. The chances are that most of these very documents, we have acquired an elaborate security sys- tem, widely admired and envied abroad. What the present proceeding thus boils down to is simply an attempt to prove whether the individuals accused by Cham- bers, such as Hiss and the late Harry White, are or are not guilty as charged. The trial of individuals is surely a matter for the courts, and not for committees of Con- gress.' (Copyright, 1948, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.) fCIINIEMA] Al theOr pheum , , PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, with Fran- coise Rosay and Henry Guisol. A SWISS-MADE French film, adapted from the novel by Jacques Feyder, this exceeds the high standards we have come to expect of foreign imports. An unidentified woman leaps to her death in a Swiss lake. Francoise Rosay, by means of flashbacks plays each of four missing women who might have been a suicide. She displays her exceptional versatility by playing in turn, a great actress, a peasant nurse, a sentimental school mis- tress and a life-loving barge-keeper's wife. Her sensitive, convincing portrayal of each enables her to carry off top acting honors, though she is hard-pressed by an unus- ually able supporting cast. Slapstick comedy combines with subtle humor to provide many laughs, ranging from mere titillations to aide-splitting *guf- faws. Along with the comedy, though, there is enough pathos to lend substance to the presentation. The def tness with which the muses are interwoven bespeaks the - fine direction the film received. Ti r Fifty-Ninth Year i Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of Student Publications. Editorial Staff Harriett Friedman ...Managing Editor Dick Maloy ............... City Editor Naomi Stern..........Editorial Director Allegra Pasqualetti ....Associate Editor Arthur Higbee.......Associate :Editor Murray Grant..........Sports Editor Bud Weidenthal ..Associate Sports Ed. Bev Bussey ......Sports Feature Writer Audrey Buttery........Women's Editor Bess Hayes ..................Librarian Business Staf BuiesSafRichard Halt......Business Manager Jean Leonard .... Advertising Manager William Culman .....Finance Manager Cole Christian ....Circulation Manager Telephone 23-24-1 Member of The Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusive5 entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or otherwise credited to this newspaper, All rights of republication of all other mattersherein are also reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as second-claas mail matter. Subscription during the regular school year by carrier, $5.00, by mail, $6.00 Looking Back 50 YEARS AGO TODAY: The total number of women enrolled at the University was 673. They were distrib- uted in the several departments as follows: literary 589, engineering, 1, Medical 59, Law 5, Pharmic 3, homeopathic 8, dental 8. Out of 451 colleges in the United States, 41 were closed to women. 30 YEARS AGO TODAY: .. Farewell suppers were in order as the A.S.A.T.C. units around campus were dis- banded. The chairman of the Spanish department predicted that in a couple of decades Span- iv, ena ~ l h .._e f f n.,,1ar na rt,, 13ARNABLII Mr. Merrie's disappearance is a reel mystery, Ellen. The police grilled the phonv Swami and his nal but- Yes. Your imaginary Pixie is gone. And that Ghost you were so concerned about won't have in lanve hishunted house now. Gus!... What My house is unbearable are you doing now, little boy. It's full ;n our oumm o it t : i.,:a:- nrams.a r