THE MICHIGAN _DAILT


Grading System'

WITH THE END of the semester rolling
around, the usual professorial hullaba-
loo about marking will begin again.
The result of all this confusion will be,
of course, gra'des.
And although nobody particularly likes
the idea, the peculiar question of measur-
ing a student's ability will have been con-
veniently resolved by cramming it into one
of the five well-worn pigeon-holes.
Through thick and thin, this archaic
method of letter grading has managed to
remain a part of our educational system.
With sweeping improvements on every
hand, it has remained as firmly entrenched
as ever, an obstacle to, professors who want
to be fair and a bane to the student who re-
ceived the fatal plus.
To do away with the system altogether
would be impractical, we are assured by edu-
cators. It provides incentive, we are told.
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: PHOEBE FELDMAN

But the fact remains that it is notoriously
inflexible, and to give an accurate estima-
tion of a person's ability within the range
of five arbitrary classifications is close to
impossible in most cases.
An alternate solution might be this: in-
stead of using strict letter grades, which are
changed into honor points on the records,
use honor points all along the line. Then
gradations between marks could be given,
such as a 2.5 instead of having to be shoved
into either a B or a C, and a much greater
range of pigeonholes could be created.
It's easy to say that a grading system
is simply a necessary evil, and leave it at
that. But when a close examination is
made, it becomes obvious that any system-
of grading is bound to be unfair and in a
way illogical, and can be of no use at all
unless it is accurate.
The existing system is especially poor be-
cause as it stands it cannot be accurate with
such broad classifications. The suggestion is
offered only in an effort to make it more
flexible, and hence, more accurate. But
this can only be a single step in what should
be a trend toward the eventual abolition of
grading.
-Chuck Elliott

ON THE
Washington Merry- Go-Round
WITH DREW PEARSON

WASHINGTON - Some time before leav-
ing on his whistle-stop trip, President
Truman held a hush-hush dinner with one
of his most vigorous political enemies-
Senator Brewster of Maine.
The dinner was held not in the White
House, but at the Carlton Hotel. And it was
the President who inspired the meeting. He
and Brewster had worked together on the old
Truman committee, once had been warm
friends.
Chief result of the Carlton dinner was
a challenge to test out the fair deal.
Brewster is chairman of the Republican
senatorial campaign committee, and has
the job of electing as many GOP senators
as possible next November.
Knowing this, Truman challenged: "I'll
lay my program out and you lay your pro-'
gram out, and we'll have a showdown."
Brewster agreed.
Though they didn't actually plan it that
way, part of the showdown is coming right
now. Truman is now putting his policies
before the public, while Brewster has been
Political
Climate
THE weathermen have stared meditative-
ly into their crystal ball and announced
that May would be cool and wet in most of
the country. With seemly trepidation, we
venture to differ. There may be some people
who will be all wet, but the atmosphere def-
initely will be very warm, especially for
May.
The trouble with the weathermen's pre-
diction is that it was based on isobars
and isotherms and various stratospheric
matters. Unlike Gov. Thomas E. Dewey,
the weathermen failed to consult the
headlines.
Not that headline-consultation turned out
to have spared the Governor the intoxica-
tion of a flight into the heady upper atmos-
phere. He noted that the coffers of the
G.O.P. are sady depleted, and concluded
that the Democrats have become the party
of big business.
Forgetting about such pillars of society
in his own state as Frank Costello and
Frank Erickson, he shook his head sadly at
Kansas City, and concluded by implication
that the Democrats think elections should
be decided by the "pistols of gunmen."
Ignoring the Taft-Hartley Act's prohi-
bition against labor union political cam-
paign contributions, he said the Demo-
crats tax union treasuries without the
consent of the members. Assuming that
Senator McCarthy had proved something,
\he implied that Democrats like to keep
spies and traitors out of jail.
He saved the best for the last. Apparent-
ly in a conscious effort to capitalize on pub-k
lic indignation against molesters of children,
he confused sex offenders and homosexuals
and accused the Democrats of harboring
"sex offenders" in the State Department.
Very hot stuff, for so young a political
campaign, in an off-year at that. But
Harold Stassen beat Gov. Dewey to the
gun by two days with his description of
President Truman as the "worst Presi-
dent ever to occupy the White House."

lining up speakers to refute him. He has
already lined up Taft for a speech in
Chicago, Wherry in Nebraska, Hicken-
looper in Iowa, Morse in Oregon, and
congressman Keefe in Wisconsin.
Brewster says the battle, hatched over the
dinner table at the Carlton Hotel, will con-
tinue until november.
* * *
SPEECH BACKFIRED
A Minnesota farmer may lose out in be.
coming Undersecretary of Agriculture, be-
cause he tried too hard to drum up an au-
dience for his boss. The eager beaver is
Charles W. Stickney, Minnesota committee
chairman for the Production and Marketing
Administration.
Stickney wanted to be sure Secretary
of Agriculture Charlie Brannan had a full
house when he came to St. Paul, so he
passed the word that 8,000 Minnesota far-
mer committeemen could collect $8 a day
expenses for listening.
Word of this, however, leaked back to
enemy No. 1 of the Brannan Plan, Sen.
George Aiken, the Vermont Republican. Ai-
ken promptly raised such a howl that the
General Accounting Office is now investigat-
ing to see if an improper use of government
funds is involved.
However, here is another aftermath.
Until recently, Stickney was all set to suc-
ceed Al Loveland as Undersecretary of Ag-
riculture. Now he isn't.
Note-When Secretary Brannan found out
that the St. Paul audience was getting $8 a
day each for expenses, he changed his speech
to a non-political farm discourse.
WHAT McCARTHY REALLY SAID-Sec-
retary of State Acheson now has two affi-
davits from people who heard and recorded
Senator McCarthy's famous speech at
Wheeling, W. Va., stating that the State
Department had 205 card-carrying Com-
munists. The manager of the local radio
station, who recorded McCarthy's speech, is
one of those who is giving the State Depart-
ment an affidavit.
AIKEN'S PAID AUDIENCE - Good old
Senator Aiken of Vermont can add the name
of another public official who has been
speaking to paid audiences-himself. Aiken
stirred up a national hoopla over the fact
that the Agriculture Department paid Min-
nesota county committeemen to hear Secre-
tary of Agriculture Brannan speak in St.
Paul. But the other night, Aiken, himself,
addressed a. similar meeting of Vermont
county committeemen in Burlington. They
were also paid, as is the custom in every
state.
PROPAGANDA TRAP-Secretary of State
Acheson sent word to U.S. Ambassador Lew
Douglas in London to contact UN Secretary-
General Trygve Lie and ask him to stay out
of Moscow and not see Joseph Stalin. Ache-
son is afraid that Lie is walking into a
propaganda trap; that Lie might be Mos-
(ow's excuse for a new Soviet propaganda
drive which would mean nothing, but get
he world very much confused.
** *
UNDER THE DOME
THE NEXT GOP complaint on security
leaks will be against government officials
who drink too much at cocktail parties, then
blab too freely about their work. Republi-
cans are now investigating a report that
one high official told cocktail guests how
many atomic bombs we have, where they are
hidden and how they are protected - - -
'Ph.kn rlI. A amnnn,,-in -lnorA hoz in.

THOMAS L. STOKES
Moscow Mission
WASHINGTON - Just before announcing
his mission to Moscow this week to try
to bring Russia back into a co-operative
working basis with the United Nations, Try-
gve Lie, U.N. Secretary General, deplored re-
cent proposals to ban Russia from the U.N.,
warning that it would divide the world into
two hostile camps and lead eventually to
war.
Among results that would follow break-
ing-up the U.N. as now constituted, he
said that it would "condemn all the poor
and hungry in many parts of the world
to remaining poor and hungry."
In this reference, he directed attention to
the so-called specialized agencies of the U.N.,
notably among which is the Food and Ag-
riculture Organization, FAO, which is work-
ing in 63-member nations to increase the
efficiency of farming, forestry and fisher-
ies and thus help raise the standards of liv-
ing and improve nutrition of people all over
the world.
It operates in some parts of the world
within the Soviet orbit, above politics and
"cold war" animosities, which would not be
possible if Russia were outlawed from the
U.N.
* * *
IT is hard for us in this country, pros-
perous and well-fed as we are; to realize
the desperate plight of millions all over the
world and to recognize how much we can
help them through our highly developed
techniques which are being made available
through FOA. It is our creation. It grew out
of a conference at Hot Springs, Va., in May,
1943, in the midst of war, a tribute to the
far-sightedness of our leaders. It became
the first of the U.N.'s specialized agencies
which work in social, economic and human-
itarian fields all over the globe now.
The still-acute problem is aptly des-
cribed by Norris E. Dodd, director-gene-
ral of FAO, who formerly was in our De-
partment of Agriculture, who says:
"Because populations have kept increasing,
the amount of food available to each person
is still below the prewar average which,of
course, even then was inadequate. This
means that milllions-an estimated half of:
mankind - are hungry and poorly clothed
and housed, and lack even hope to sustain
them.
"The task before us, that of raising the
multitude of the underprivileged to a better
standard of living, will be much more prodi-
gious than anything we have done before.
The task carries the central element of a
moral recompense for war in the waging
of peace. In fact, it has in it the seeds of
becoming- the biggest and most helpful
movement of modern times."
* * *
THE FAO's function for the world at large
is comparable to that of our Agriculture
Department for our nation, and any farmer
can tell you the value of that. It co-operates
with governments, just as our Agriculture
Department co-operates with state and local
government units in this country, to supply
technical advice on all sorts of food an)
related problems. It carries its help, too, to
the individual farmer through an "exten-
sion service" similar to that of our Agricul-
ture Department.
This year it has opened up many new un-
dertakings in the field of technical assis::
tance, with emphasis on production of food,'
clothing and housing. New missions are be-
ing added to those which have worked, and
are now working, in numerous parts of the
world in co-operation with governments.
Rice, for example, is the basic food of
half of the people of the earth. The new
International Rice Commission set up by
FAO is the first to deal specifically with
the problems of that food. A commission
on forestry already is organized and at
work in Latin America and others are
projected for the Far East. Fine and help-

ful work is being done in eradication of
food and animal pests. Another world
service recently inaugurated is a seed
stock of outstanding cereals, grasses, leg--
umes, oil seeds and vegetables, which is
maintained for the present here in Wash-
ington, -whence samples are distributed
for experimental purposes all over the
world.
Since the war countries where people
were ill-fed before the war are worse off
now, while better-fed countries before the
war ar surpassing prewar production, rais-
of the prosperous countries to help the less
ing the familiar pattern of want next door
to plenty. This suggests the need of some
means to close this gap by using surpluses
favored, and a special committee now is
working on that.
(Copyright, 1950, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
Statehood
PRESIDENT TRUMAN is right in urging
favorable action on the bills to admit
Hawaii and Alaska to statehood. The mea-
sures have passed the House. Hearings on
them have been conducted by the Senate
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
What remains now is to bring them out to
the Senate floor and adopt them.
The balance of argument on these mea-
sures weighs heavily in their favor. They
are, we believe, enthusiastically endorsed by
a substantial majority of the public. There
is reason to suppose that if they can be
brought to a Senate vote they will have

The Big Push.
C
- t
. f Si*
5J~%~27

t( ,,,A W/SMIflGTOM Po ST O.

Xete TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters of
general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the writer
and in good taste. Letters exceeding 300 words in length, defamatory or
libelous letters, and letters which for any reason arenot in good taste will
be condensed edited or withheld from pubication at the discretion of the
editors.

Quad Radio...
To the Editor:
WHILE we are hotly engaged in
a discussion of the abroga-
tion of the freedom of speech by
a committee of the University,
another example of totalitarian
tactics is being furnished to the
residents of the East Quad. We
have, operating in the Quad, a
fine radiorstation using the call
letters WEQN. This station oper-
ates twelve hours a day and uses
carrier current for transmitting
its signal.
Ordinarily I would have the
highest admiration for the enter-
prising individuals who operate
this station, but it seems these
gentlemen are not too sure of the
quality of their programs for they
are afraid of competition. Another
new and struggling station has
begun to operate and has been
using the call letters WSHO. This
new station has introduced a few
new mechanical devices not in-
corporated in the operation of
WEQN.
Instead of trying to compete
with this new station on a merit
basis WEQN has resorted to an-
other plan designed to eliminate
competition. They have fallen
back on the all-preserving hand of
the University and are demanding
that this station be closed. If we
allow WSHO to be closed down
without a fair chance at life, we
will be grossly negligent of our
duty to guard our American
Rights. First we lose freedom of
speech, now it seems we are los-
ing freedom of opportunity; What
Next?
-Frank Stocking, '52LS&A
* * *
Sundown .. .
To the Editor:
AS an engineer looking across
campus at the activities of the
student body and especially at The
Daily, I am exteremly disgusted
and wonder if what the average
engineer thinks of a lit student
might be true.
I'd like to know what you lit
students have in mind when you
turn out such trash as the edi-
torials in The Daily. Is this the
kind of paper we really want?...
Almost to a man, 20,000 students
have been led to believe that if
Phillips hadn't spoked the wrath
of hell would have been sent upon
us. We have been told that if
McCarthy continues we'll all be
under the black fascist whip; big
black headlines scream that we
are being persecuted and denied
our civil liberties; the pro and
con letters are almost disgusting;
the name Robeson makes head-
lines with the biggest pack of Red
lies I have ever heard spoken even
from a Communist on Union
Square; pro-Communists are in-
vited to speak in our churches...
I personaly don't give a damn
if Robeson or Phillips shout their
lies from the Washington Monu-
ment or Burton Tower. But just
because they do or not isn't one
tenth as important as what the
Communists are doing in Russia
and Europe and Asia...
Here we are, 20,000 intelligent
students, several thousand vets

"who know what war really is, being
led by the nose by a small group
of liberals who have very effect-
ively confused the whole student
body-and even some of our pro-
fessors have succumbed to the hys-
teria of the "fight for civil liber-
ties"-bickering among ourselves
in an ivory tower filled with the
confused intelligentsia of modern
youth who will one day do an
even better job of confusing the
nation...
And here we sit, befogged by a
student paper wailing in the dark,
unable to see beyond the edge of
campus.. .Russia doesn't need to
fight a war to beat us-all she
needs is time, more time to keep
us confused and bickering among
ourselves.
What a bunch of fools and suck-
ers we've been taken for! One
measly weak Communist can dis-
tract the whole student body's at-
tention from the real issues in-
volved. And we claim to be ma-
ture students-we who haven't the
Courage to face the facts. And our
great learned professors, where,
oh where, are you?
The twilight of civilization is
here and the sun begins to set.
-John A. Marcon, '51E
S* * m
Demonstration ..
To the Editor:
JUDGING from the way the re-
a cent diag demonstration against
the speaker's ban fizzled out, it
would seem that the students are
not so enraged over it as The
Daily has been so desperately try-
ing to make us believe they are.
Too bad, really, considering your
valiant efforts.
I think it indicates too, that The
Daily does not make student opin-
ion, nor does it even report it.
The slant on campus news that
is given in The Daily seems to be
inclined toward what you, the
editors, would like it to be.
I would appreciate more re-
porting of facts by you, and less
trying to create them.
Orris O. Nagle
. * * *
Communism .. *
To the Editor:
R. MARX in recent comment
on the abortive .Phillips-Wer-
nette debate has written his edi-
torial with the totally invalid as-
sumption that the Communist
group is a "party" in the demo-
cratic sense. He continues by
drawing some vague analogies be-
tween the truly democratic parties
as now constituted, and the Com-
munist group. Dr. Phillips, having
deviated from a basic tenet of,
Communism (violent overthrow of
government) becomes thus only a
jovial Marxian Dixiecrat.
The international manifesta-
tions of Communism are enough to
show us what it is. It has inflict-
ed its environmental genetics on
Russian biologists; it has dictated
its own nationalistic artistic cri-
teria on music; in Poland it has
formed its own national church
without the support of the people
or the primates. It has even gone
so f'ar as to deny the Czechoslo-
vakian hockey team the pleasure
of defending its world champion-

!b

,. C£
'

ship. Mr. Marx must agree that
Communism in all its manifesta-
tions is trying to be "all things to
all men." It is the promulgator of
religion, philosophy, biology and
of art. Its aim is to dominate every
social strata. It is hardly "debat-
able" that the American Commun-
ist "party'.' shares in the general
aims of. international Communism.
There have been no "Titoists" or
heretical deviates that have stay-
ed in the "party." World revolution
and violent overthrow of bour-
geois governments are not party
platforms. They are dedications.
If Dr. Phillips does not ascribe to
it, would be better if he called
himself a Fabian Socialist (as Mr.
Marx 'does charitably for him).
Dr. Phillips cannot believe that a
vital shift from the traditional
American two party system to a
one party rule will not involve a
great deal of violence to both men
and to tradition- Jan Masaryk and
many others could attest to the
violenice of "parliamentary me-
thods.,
Communism then is not a party
in the accepted sense and our
quest must be to answer it in all
its philosophical, religious and so-
cial implications, but hardly by
looking for facile answers to any
trite phrases that Dr. Phillips
might mouth. That is what makes
The Daily's crusade so futile. This
violent espousal of "the cause"
has an element of Hearstian hys-
teria. This is not a relatively
simply and innocuous issue nor
would The Daily consider it so.
Why then does it give so much at-
tention to a peripheral skirmish
which only adds dust to an already
clouded perspective?
Our fight is against the Dialec-
tical Materialism of Marx, Engels,
and Lenin and its manifestations
in the present day. If one under-
stands the challenge offered and
rhas a positivedanswer then a ma-
turity of mind has been reached.
Our fight must be from the depths
of our souls and in all the glory of
the Christian tradition and faith.
-E. J. McCullough
* * *
Food Packages ... ,
To the Editor:
THE UNDERSIGNED men of
Williams House, speaking for
the entire West Quad., would like
to express its sincerest, and deep-
felt thanks to the needy people of
Europe for the food packages they
have so graciously sent to the men
of West Quad. These parcels of
food are about the sole barrier be-
tween us and utter starvation, and
only through them is out continued
existence at the University made
possible.
This program of "Save a Starv-
ing Student" was arranged through
the World Student Service Fund,
with- the vital cooperation of the
Intenational Center. The first
consignment of food was parachut-
ed in last Wednesday night at 46
a.m;, a time that will probably be-
come as famous to West Quadders
as the first day of Spring Vaca-
tion. Continuance of the program
will depend on two factors; one,
the persistence of the famine here,
and two, the amount of contribu-
tions °tat can be solicited abroad.
In regards to the first, we have
the asurance of Mr. Shiels, the
Busine " Administrator of Resi-
dence Halls that food will definite-
ly not improve in the foreseeable
future. About the continuance of
food contributions from Europe,
we can only hope and pray for
the best.
Thanks again to those who have
made this program possible.
-Robert Bard, '53

-W. Harvey Friedman, '53
-Lowell R. Satin, '53
-William B. Eberhard, '53
Decent of Tailgate...
To the Editor:
VERYONE KNOWS that slav-
ery involves the sale of a per-
son's free body. Does everyone
Irealize that songwriters today,
and the "musicians" who play
their hopeless drivel, are selling
their souls to us? Every single one
of us who spends a nickel to hear
"Whoop-de-do" or "Call of the
Wild Goose" or "Chewing Gum"
is buying their souls and per-
petuating the' downward trend of
modern music.
For those who like music and
feel, as I do, the sterility of spirit
in "popular music" I suggest lis-
tening to what is called Jazz.
Every once in a while a Pete Daily
record will inadvertently get into
a juke box - play it - it may be
the last time you will hear a tuba
or a banjo in a band. Or spend an
hour at the Hot Record Club sofne
Sunday night - try it - catch the
inspired improvisation on the re-
cords they play up there. Once
you listen to real Dixieland music
you will probably want to help
save practically the only contri-

-John R. Gray, '51
A**
Reply To Feller
To the Editor:
IN REPLY to Siegfried Feller's
Sunday letter:
Re paragraph 1), I always be-
lieved the fine print at the top
of this column to be true befoe,
but now I doubt it. The "good
taste" of your reference to my
ilk's dorsal flaccidity is mighty
moot.
Re paragraph 2), You know that
all political schools are not equal-
ly voluble, that the incidence of
letter writers and agitators is not
the same in all schools of thought.
Therefore a ,policy based on the
proportion of Letters to the Edi-
tor espousing the several bands
of the political spectrum would be
distorted . However, in this case,
even the proportion of letters for
vs. against the Lecture Commit-
tee's decision has not been, re-
flected by The Daily's editorials
on the subject. Not one editorial
defending either the integrity or
wisdom of the Committee has been
printed, although the addition of
such an editorial (written by in-
vitation, by a member of the Com-
mittee or other) would have given
the Michigan students both sides
of the picture. This principle is
the very one the Lecture Commit-
tee is accused by The Daily of vio-
lating. This is the principle which
I suggest The Daily adhere to in
its presentation of news and se-
lection of editorials.
Re paragraph 3) I agree per-
fectly. My above, and earlier, de-
fense of the right (and obliga-
tion) for all sides to be presented
in an equitable, undistored man-
ner is proof that even non-Com-
munists favor such a policy, for
I am not a Communist. Further-
more, I have not asser.ted that.
Stalin defends this right.
Re pragraph 4) Your admoni-
tion, albeit pointlessly unrefined,
is one which should be heeded.
-Taylor Drysdale
Quotation . .
To the Editor:
FOR MANY YEARS The Daily
carried on its masthead the
quotation attributed to Voltaire:
"I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your
right to say it."
Is there significance in the fact
that it has disappeared from its
place?
--John B. Waite
(EDITOR'S NOTE: No. As a matter of
fact the sentiment expressed in this
quotation is one thing upon wyvhih
all members of The Daily staff, no
matter what their other beliefs, agree.)
The United Nations is too im-
portant to the interests of each
and every member government for
any of them to permit lasting or
irreparable damage to be done to
the organization by the present
political crises.
-Trygve Lie
i110

bution the United States has ever
made to world culture - save it
from Whoop-de-do commercial-
ism.

x

1,

. ,

x

"1

k4

4) =P
Fifty-Ninth Year
Edited and managel by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Leon Jaroff.........Managing Editor
Al Blumrosen ...........City Editor
Philip Dawson.......Editorial Director
Don McNeil..........Feature Editor
Mary Stein ............ Associate Editor
Jo Misner...........Associate Editor
George Walker........Associate Editor
Wally Barth....... Photography Editor
Pres Holmes .......... Sports Co-Editor
Merle Levin..........Sports Co-Editor
Roger Goelz... . Associate Sports Editor
Lee Kaltenbach ......Women's Editor
Barbara Smith. .Associate Women's Ed..
Business Staff
Roger Wellington.....Business Manager
Dee Nelson, Associate Business Manager
Jim Dangl........ Advertising Manager
Bernie Aidinoff........Finance Manager
Bob Daniels.......Circulation Manager
Telephone 23-24-1
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of all news dispatches cerdited to it or
otherwise. credited to this newspaper.
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matters herein are also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann
Arbor,rMichigan, as second-class mail
matter.
Subscription during regular school
year by carrier, $5.00, by mail, $6.00.

41


BARNABY

[ Hury, rBcirnciby. There's not-.. .W,1

[No use bothering with them. }

The census;of course, Barnaby.

I figure there'll be at least

1a