'AGE FO THE MICHIGAN DAILY SAttWMXAY, MAY 7, 1949 SAC Proposal SUSPICIONS that the Student Affairs Committee is not representative of cam- pus opinion were prevalent last week after the 7-6 vote on the anti-discrimination rule. These seem to be confirmed by the charges by one of the SAC members that anti-dis- crimination legislation is "gnawing at the foundations of our American way of life." A defense has been made of the student representation on the committee, on the grounds that being chosen from different segments of the campus-the Union, League, Men's and Women's Judiciary, The Mich- igan Daily and the SL-this is a democratic organization. Scrutiny proves otherwise. Only two have been chosen by the student body. Not the president of the Union. He is chosen by the executive council of the Union, composed of faculty, administration, and Union vice-presidents. Not the president of the League, the managing editor of The Daily, nor Men's. and Women's Judiciary. Only indirectly and vaguely, do the students have a say in these organizations. Certainly the SAC, being the most wide- spread in its effects on the campus, should be at least as representative as the Stu- dent Legislature. That it is not, again, is indicated by the way its members are chosen and how some of them have voted and spoken. There are several groups more representa- tive of the student body. A proper voice would consist of an SAC composed of rep- resentatives of AIM, Assembly, Pan-Hel, and IFC, with three members coming from the SL. -Don McNeil. 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 ifitoab dote (Editor's Note is written by Managing Editor Harriett Friedman.) I WAS HIGHLY AMUSED by Union Presi- dent Bob Holland's recent attack on The Daily, Student Legislature and NSA. Of course I feel no need to defend The Daily, as such an attack just proves that this paper is doing a job: is alive and kicking and some of its kicks are landing in the right places.' But Bob Holland is perfectly correct in saying that The Daily believed in the Stu- dent Legislature (despite SL complaints that we're always attacking them). There- fore I will devote this column to showing the foolishness of Bob's cries against the Student Legislature and its NSA sub-com- mittee. No ranting or arguing is needed to prove the point; all I will do is list the accom- plishments of the Student Legislature, and then enumerate the Union's doings in the last year. The variety of material contained in each list should readily indicate whether it's the Student Legislators or the Union officers who could vanish from campus without leav- ing the slightest vacuum. * * * IN THE LAST YEAR, the Student Legis- lature has: 1. Sponsored a book drive for the Univer- sity of the Philippines. 2. Set up the Student Experts to counsel in course selection. 3. Established a Better Business Bureau to control campus salesmen and survey Ann Arbor prices. 4. Fought to remove the Political Speak- ers Ban, with eventual success. 5. Initiated the movement for faculty grading by students. 6. Helped in and out-state voters to reg- ister and prepare for the national election. 7. Established the Michigan Forum, to sponsor debates between campus groups. 8. Worked for a Meet Your Regents event, which failed but will undoubtedly lead to some sort of student-regents meetings. 9. Passed the two motions on discrimina- tion concerning filing group constitutions and recognizing student organizations which passed the SAC and caused Bob Holland's speech. 10. Initiated and brought to campus vote the school spirit frosh-soph week. 11. Planned an orientation program for activities. 12. Conducted a survey on the placing of pencil sharpeners in class buildings which brought more utilitarian settings for these vital (?) implements. 13. Initiated, with NSA, the Purchase Plan system for getting discounts on store spend- ing. 14. Sponsored jazz concerts. 15. Set up through NSA a foreign tour bu- reau to aid students planning trips abroad. 16. Showed free football movies. 17. Established through NSA a foreign correspondence program for exchanging letters. 18. Started an activities booklet to sum- marize the workings of campus groups. 19. Carried out through NSA, an art ex- hibit of college work. 20. Conducted a regional leadership con- ference through NSA. 21. Reduced rates on football programs. 22. Sent NSA delegates to a Human Rela- tions clinic studying discrimination and to a publications clinic. 23. Managed the annual Homecoming events. 24. Operated a calendar of campus events to prevent simultaneous scheduling of sev- eral activities.M 25. Condensed the multiplying tag days down to four a year. 26. Conducted all campus elections, in- cluding those for Union vice-presidents. 27. Produced, in the last two years, better seating for students at football games, and conducted hearings on prices for athletic events. * * * U NION ACTIVITIES in the last year are: 1. Weekly membership dances. 2. The Union Open House. 3. University Day, which provided state high school students an opportunity to see what the University has to offer. 4. Two theatre trips to Detroit. 5. Bridge contests. 6. Union-League Glee Club Talent Show. 7. Union Opera. 8. Ski trips. 9. Faculty coffee hours. 10. Keeping women from using the Front Door. (Unfair sarcasm). I don't want to deride any of the things the Union has done, because they are all very nice. But perhaps Bob warned his colleagues to "fight usurpation of your pow- ers by the Legislature" because he is aware that the Union's activities could be taken over by almost anyone with no harm done, and that the Union represents very little but the Union officers when it speaks on so many committees. I am sort of sorry that Bob, who is us- ually quite calm and rational, rushed into words which he cannot defend with facts. But in a sense the whole controversy is very healthy; it has provided the occa- sion to explain what two campus groups have done, and to let students draw their own conclusions. lb "Good Lord, Silsby! You've GOTi DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN MATTER OF FACT: By Guess, By God By JOSEPH ALSOP, WASHINGTON - It seems unpleasantly like old times, but the fact had better be faced, none the less. A plan for resuming employment-making public works projects on a spot basis, in the regions where un- employment pools need to be sopped up- has been evolved by the President's more left-wing advisers. One must hasten to add that this plan, at present, is hardly more than a by- product of the bitter internecine war over economic policy that is raging within the Truman administration. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer's opinion of the Fair Deal is almost unprintable. Dr. Edwin Nourse, chairman of the Pres- ident's Economic Advisory Council, and Secretary of the Treasury John Snyder are distinctly pallid in their fervor. All three are now jointly and severally cla- moring for withdrawal of the measure em- bodying the President's proposals for wage and price inflation controls, and for govern- ment-directed expansion of industrial plants. The Snyder-Nourse -Sawyer attack is being fought off by the two other members of the Economic Advisory Council, Dr. Leon Keyserling and John D. Clark, supported by the President's close policy adviser, Clark Clifford. The fact that the price and wage cgn- trol sections of the bill are not now urgently necessary, will probably be conceded by the Current Movies At the Michigan . THE DARK PAST, with William Holden and Lee J. Cobb. THIS IS AN OUTSTANDING film. Cer- tainly, with the possible exceptions of "Johnny Belinda" and "Snake Pit," it is the finest picture the Michigan Theatre has shown in many many months. Most important, I think, is that this picture is gripping entertainment. Like "Snake Pit," it details the relationship of an extraordinarily trustworthy psychiatrist to one patient. But unlike the merely edu- cational "Snake Pit," this picture gets its message across in terms of a compelling story. Whether or not you discover any more about psychoanalytic technique, whether or not you agree with the movie's moral, you cannot fail to be thoroughly engrossed in the development of murderer Al Walker as. he gropes to understand what is driving him to kill. It does not try to include so much as "Snake Pit," and consequently by stick- ing to one theme throughout and bring- ing it to a structurally-satisfactory res- olution, it has a beginning, middle, and end in the best Aristotelian manner. I should say this is one of the finest lit- erary adaptations of psychoanalytic tech- bill's defenders in view of the changed economic outlook. But in compensation, the President is entirely likely to be asked to add the provision for spot public works ty the bill. What is implied, of course, is an ad- mission that the present slight recession of business is sufficiently serious to require counter-action. All this is happening at a time when even the less alarmist business men and more optimistic economists are beginning to admit that the present danger signals portend at least a short spell of bad times. The cooler heads indignantly reject the talk of a serious depression. In conjunction with these unpleasing facts and prospects, it is also necessary to con- sider the state of the Federal budget. Even when President Truman sent his 1950 bud- get to Congress, it contained an admitted deficit of $900 million. He then asked for about $4 billion of taxes to cover the deficit, and for debt retirement. The situation has deteriorated since then to a point where the budget would hardly balance even if Congress unexpectedly voted this heavy tax rise. It is acknowledged, moreover, that the President will demand still greater govern- ment spending, on a straight deficit basis, if the expected slump deepens. Meanwhile the Congress shows no sign of paying the slightest attention to the President's eco- nomic recommendations. Altogether, it be- gins to be high time for this country to evolve a national economic policy by hard thought and serious discussion, instead of following the present by-guess, by-God and by-politics method. (Copyright, 1949, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.) CIINIEMA At Architect. Auditori um MURDERERS AMONG US TECHNICAL mediocrity and uninspired di- rection convert much of the good drama in this picture into melodrama. Throughout, the camera focuses for tedi- ous moments on the inanimate relics of postwar drabness in a ruined Germany, and the net effect is that of a shadow play. Darkness and semi-darkness prevail, com- bining with an almost whispered dialogue to fairly smother some buoyant acting. As the guilt-plagued witness of a brutal war crime, Dr. Hans Mertens returns to devastated Berlin and encamps in a near ruined flat, which he soon comes to share with its rightful owner, Susanna. Mertens' life upon his return is some- thing like an elongated lost weekend, with despair and guilt-consciousness as his particular intoxication. He finds noth- ing in the ineffective distractions of wom- en and liquor-he is disdainful of Su- sanna's middle class pride and endeavor to (Continued rrom Page 2) day in the Michigan League Ball- room at 8 p.m. Complimentary ad- mission. Events Today "The Westminster Guild of the First Presbyterian Church will have a picnic at the Island, on Sat., May 7th, from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., to which everyone is invited. Meet at 1:30 p.m. at the church. A.S.C.E.: The student section will hold it's annual spring pic- nic Saturday, May 7, at Professor Housel's farm. Those who wish transportation should meet at 1 p.m. on the parking lot at the south end of the West Engineer- ing Annex. Sign up on the board outside of Rm. 307 West Engi- neering Building. Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences: Topic: Annual I.A.S. Faculty Baseball Picnic; Place: Out Geddes Rd. past riding sta- bles; Date: Saturday, May 7, 1949; Time: 1:30 p.m. All those wanting a ride, meet in front of East Engineering Bldg. at 1:30 p.m. sharp. Refreshments will be provided. Michigan Christian Fellowship: The discussion "Evolution and Christianity" originally scheduled for this evening, has been post- poned until Friday, May 13th at 7:30 p.m. Coming Events Lawyers Guild and AVC will present a discussion of President Truman's proposals for a compul- sory health insurance program on Moiday, May 9 at 4:15 p.m. in Room 3-L of the Michigan Union. Speaker in favor of the proposal will be Harry Becker, Director of the United Automobile Workers (CIO) Health Institute. Speaker against it will be Dr. Wallace Teed, Public Relations Director of the Ann Arbor District of the Michigan State Medical Society. The public is cordially invited. Russian Circle: One Act Play and Program, Monday, May 9th, at 8:00 at the Union, Room 2RS. Sociedad Hispanica: Social Hour, Monday, May 9, 4 to 6 p.m., International Center. Graduating Outing Club meet Sunday, May 8, at 2:15 p.m. at northwest entrance to Rackham building for outdoor activities suited to the climate. All gradu- ates welcome. University Community Center Willow VVillage May 8, Interdenominational church program: 10:45 a.m., Church service and nursery. 6 p.m., Family pot-luck supper. Make reservations with Rev. Edwards. May 10, 8 p.m. Choir rehearsal. Bridge Party. Everybody invited. May 11, 8 p.m. Wives' Club STYLE SHOW at WEST LODGE on Peabody Road. Proceeds to go to Village playgrounds. Open to the public. May 12, 8 p.m. Studio Work- shop Open House. Art exhibit and tea. The public is invited. -Daily-Bill Hampton to stop invoking the Sun God!" Xettep4 TO THE EDITOR 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 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. Holland in Dutch .. . (EDITOR'S NOTE: The writers of the following three unsolicited letters are the student members of the Board in Control of Student Pub- lications.) To the Editor: I READ IN MY favorite news- paper that The Daily editors have been accused by Mr. Robert Holland, retiring Union president, of "sensational journalism of the most vicious kind." And, indirect- ly, Mr. Holland infers that The Daily editors are "gnawing at the foundations of the American way of life." I know that M'4r. Holland is still smarting from an unexpected de- feat on the question of discrimin- atory clauses. As a leader of the "Turtles," the "let's-take-it-nice- -and-slow-on-this-discrimination- stuff" group on campus, he has a right to be just a little bitter. However, I have been associated with The Daily in one way or an- other since 1945, and, during this period, I have never known that group to act in bad faith. I have not always agreed with their deci- sions, but I have always felt that they were the result of sincere democratic convictions. I am nationalistic enough to be- lieve that the "American way of life" is supported by an extremely broad foundation. If irrational discrimination is the plank that is being "gnawed," I think we are fortunate in getting rid of rotten wood before we build too much on top of it. I do not believe that Mr. Hol- land speaks for the majority of students on campus. Ostensibly, he speaks as Union President; actually he speaks as Head Turtle for the fraternities, in this case, a definite minority group. It is about time that Mr. Hol- land and others realize that the democratic tradition at the Uni- versity of Michigan allows no room for privileged groups. If I did not know Mr. Holland to be a sincere individual, I would feel justified in accusing him of acting in bad faith in his Union position. As it is, I believe his statements are unintelligent. -John Campbell, 49E. To the Editor: AN OPEN LETTER to Bob Hol- land : As president of a small but sub- stantial campus organization, you have occupied a position which commands a certain amount of respect on the campus. Consequently, your farewell speech as Union president, in which you negatively attacked several otherncampus organiza- tions, came as somewhat of a surprise and I tend to consider it as bordering on poor taste. Since you have accused others of publicity seeking, I can only conclude that your objective was MUSIC A LARGE CROWD listened to some beau- tiful music well performed last night. The first half of the program was devoted to a performance of the Brahms "German' Requiem." This music, for chorus, orchestra, and two soloists, is one of the most deeply moving works I know of, and it was given a truly magnificent performance. Thor John- son, the conductor, had the immense mu- sical forces required under perfect control, and the balance between the chorus and or- chestra was generally quite good. One could have wished for considerably more volume and ease from the tenors. But this was a relatively minor fault when one considers the general excellence which per- vaded. Shirley Russell, the soprano soloist, sang the music allotted to her quite well, but, from where I sat, she lacked volume and her voice often had a pretty noticeable tremolo. Martial Singher, the baritone solo- ist, sang with what can only be described as tremendous fervor. In connection with Mr. Singher, I have one complaint: Two whole sections, one with a wonderful baritone solo, were left out. These sections, the third and the seventh, contain some of the most won- derful music in the whole piece. - The rest of the program was devoted to a performance of the "Third Piano Concerto in C Minor" by Beethoven, with Benno Moiseiwitsch as soloist. In the first move- ment, one got the impression that both the soloist and the conductor were being very BARNABY r'IT P _ 'V'm