THE -MICHIGAN D A1LY~
Union Proposals
A T A GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, in-
terested members of the Union will con-
sider an amendment (X,b) to the Michigan
Union Constitution which proposes direct
election of the organization's President and
Recording Secretary.
If passed, the amendment would trans-
fer this electing power from the Union
Selections Committee to the 15,000 Un-
ion members and result in substantially
weakening the Union.
The Board of Directors is charged "with
full power to supervise and control all Un-
ion activities" and in this capacity forms
the heart of. the Union. Composed of six
elected student vice-presidents, two Union
alumni, three faculty members, and one
Regent, this group is ultimately responsible
for the election of the President and Re-
cording Secretary under the present system.
Direct election of these officers, whose du-
ties are mainly administrative, would diffuse
and considerably weaken the policy-making
power of the Board.
Secondly, direct elections would substan-
tially endanger the opportunity for the
most able men to take office. The Union
member would be faced with four candi-
dates, nominated by the Selections Commit-
tee and all qualified by their experience,
primarily on the Union Executive Council.
In theory, the voter is best-fitted to
choose the two top men. In practice, how-
ever, confronted in the All-campus elec-
tions with numerous SL candidates, class
officers, Board in Control candidates,
and Union vice-presidents, very few voters
are in a position to make the choice pri-
marily on merit.
On the other hand, the Selections Com-
mittee, closely associated with the candi-
dates and in possession of their Union ca-
reer records, is more qualified to make this
important decision primarily on merit.
Thirdly, the representative power of the
elected student vice-presidents would be
severely decreased by action which would
place the President and Recording Secretary
beyond the veeps' jurisdiction.
In contrast to this, Amendment IX
would strengthen significantly the posi-
tion of the Union vice-presidents. This
is a wise move. If the amendment is pass-
ed, veep membership on the seven man
Selection Committee would be increased
from three to five.
If the veep is to represent his particular
electorate completely, his power must con-
tinue to entail final censure or approval of
these Union officers.
-Pete Thorpe
III
ON THE
Washington Merry- Go -Round
WITH DREW PEARSON
W ASHINGTON - One of the most signi-
ficant primaries in the country takes
place in Pennsylvania next week. And long-
range political observers believe it may help
to decide three things:
1. Whether the Republicans can cast off
the old-fashioned leadership which lost
them five straight presidential elections.
2. Whether the Republicans can elect a
president in 1952.
3. And to some extent the Pennsylvania
primary may help to pick a presidential
nominee for 1952.
The issue in Pennsylvania is not whether
Jim Duff, scrappy, red-headed, liberal
governor, will get the senatorial nomina-
tion. Of that he is almost certain. The
real issue is whether the famed Grundy
machine and the Pennsylvania Manufac-
turers Association, which for years have
exploited the state's natural resources and
the state's political vote, can be unseated.
That's what GOP leaders in other stalA
will be watching. For if Grundyism is defr
initely and categorically defeated in Penn-
sylvania, then it may mean a contagious,
progressive turning point in the Republican
Party.
* * *
Grundyism got a terrific jolt, however,
when a Democrat, George Earle, was swept
into office in 1934 and when the secretary
of the United Mine Workers, Tom Ken-
n e d y, became lieutenant governor of
Pennsylvania.
This was the first Democratic regime to
rule rock-ribbed Pennsylvania in half a cen-
tury, and it put across sweeping social and
economic reforms. Significantly, Republican
legislatures which followed did not remove
any of those reforms. And Governor Duff, a
progressive Republican, has now gone fur-
ther than the Democrats by voting $50,000,-
000 to clean up the polluted Schuylkill River,
by planning new bridges across the Dela-
ware, reforming the state's overcrowded in-
sane asylums, and in making Pennsylvania's
teachers the second highest paid in the
U.S.A.
* * *
Esperan to
.ESPERANTISTS JOHN Van Der Weele
and David Firestone have jumped to the
defense of the "international language",
Esperanto. (In letters column). These gen-
tlemen claim that Esperanto, contrary to
a story which appeared in The Daily Sat-
urday, is still very much alive.
To prove this, they point to a UN petition
which has been circulating for the past five
years, Esperanto congresses and conventions
and the practical value of the language.
In spite of their protestations, I still
say Esperanto is dead.
I set out to garner information about Es-
peranto with all good intentions of making
note of current Esperantist activities.
Maybe I give up easily, but, after con-
tacting twelve professors of English, lan-
guage and political science, inspecting the
library files, scanning in vain through so-
cial science indexes, magazine indexes, in-
ternational congresses and convention in-
dexes, and news of the year reviews, among
others, for news of Esperanto doings, I
changed my mind.
Of the professors contacted, three
claimed some scanty knowledge of the
subject, and only one thought he could
tell me anything at all about the Esper-
anto movement itself.
The indexes led me to one (1) two-page
article in a small 1909 literary review ad-
vocating the language's adoption.
Since the early 1900's, the Esperanto
conventions have not been deemed im-
portant enough to be noted in the inter-
national convention lists. The few Es-
peranto books in the library are dated
1929 or earlier,
As for the practicability of Esperanto, pig
latin has its practical uses, too. But to be
a living language, a tongue must be accept-
ed and used by innumerable persons, not
just a few interested students. Esperanto
alive?
Ixnay.
-Donna Hendleman
CilNIEMA
At Architecture Aud.. .
THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, with
Thomas Mitchell, John Wayne, Ian Hunt-
er.
THE SEA and the men it creates, courtesy
Eugene O'Neil, appear to great advant-
age in "The Long Voyage Home." Four
O'Neil plays, blended, tell the story of the
men on the British merchant ship Glen-
cairn on an early war crossing from the
West Indies to England.
Although' the main action revolves
around four of the crewmen, the inter-
action among the characters gives th
impression of a group picture rather than
individual portraits. Humor and tragedy
rise from the characters themselves, not
so much from the situations sea life
thrusts them into. A shipboard brawl,
storm at sea, shore leave and personal
hostilities furnish the main plot mater-
ials. Each incident gives the overall effect
of the lives of merchant seamen while
dealing with the story of one of the crew-
men.
Expressive acting by the whole cast
reaches a peak in scenes depicting the death
of one of the sailors, the humiliation of
another, the drunken lust of the group, so
that dialogue becomes secondary. Emotions
as well as action is conveyed superbly by
facial expression and body movements. No-
body in "The Long Voyage Home" talks
much about the thraldom of the sea, but the
terrifying ambivalence of their attitudes
toward their life comes through in every
movement, every gesture.
-Fredrica Winters
Grades
WHILE Chuck Elliott's editorial advocat-
ing a grading system for individual
courses on a 0.0 to 4.0 scale makes a sound
point in that such a system might make
for more accurate grading, it fails to men-
tion some drawbacks of the system.
Perhaps the most important would be
that the system, instead of being "a .. .
step . . . . toward the eventual abolition of
grading," would throw more emphasia
on grades than ever, both from the stu-
dent's and instructor's point of view.
The student, for whom grades are pre-
sumably an incentive, would not only have
to worry about getting a B but would have
his prestige depend, say, on whether lie
got a 3.1 or a 3.2. Every student, instead of
falling into a broad range, would be "typed"
in an individual class as, say, not a C stu-
dent but a 2.3 student.
And the instructor would have to fit his
students into a scale of 40 possible grades
rather than five. He might better spend the
additional time this would require in pre-
paring a better lesson or writing his next
book.
The new system would, further, be very
cumbersome in classes where the grading
tends to be subjective. In these cases the
grading would be difficult, and in many
cases rather innacurate, to have to mark on
so fine a scale.
Further, it is questionable whether the
r
4
.. . gYER
n
I1/ d t a wr6 2>8:
ICI
DUFF FIGHTS
GRUNDY'S HEYDAY
XetteA/' 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 are not in good taste will
be condensed edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the
editors.
"Hey-I Vote Too, You Know,,
JOE GRUNDY himself, 86 years old and a
staunch advocate of the old GOP theory
that high tariff will cure everything, is now
only a symbol. But he is a powerful symbol
of Pennsylvania's industrial heyday when
factories polluted rivers, railroads ran the
legislature, mine operators refused to keep
props in coal shafts and the streets of coal-
mining cities caved in as a result of the
public-be-damned attitude of the Grundy
group.
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.,
NIGHT EDITOR: PETER HOTTON
FURTHERMORE, Duff made the Grundy-'
ites gnash their teeth and howl to the
high heavens by plumping for special taxes
on cigarettes, and soft drinks.
And in the primary next week, they have
no great objection to sending Duff to Wash-
ington as a Senator, where he will be out of
the way and can't meddle too much with the
state of Pennsylvania. But what they do ob-
ject to is nominating Duff's friend and rue'-
ning-mate, Judge John S. Fine, to be the new
Republican governor.
This is the real battle to be decided next
Tuesday.
Note-Whoever the Republicans nominate
will face a stiff run-off with the Democrats
in November. For seldom has the Democra-
tic ticket been stronger. Sen. Francis
Myers, Democrat, and popular with many
Republicans, is running for re-election;
while the Democratic candidate for Gover-
nor is Philadelphia's "treasurer Hugh Dil-
worth, who will also have Republican sup-
port. Whatever happens, Pennsylvania will
be an interesting political state to watch
between now and November.
(Copyright, 1950, by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
Modern Art...
To the Editor:
HAVING inspected the current
exhibit in Alumni Memorial
Hall at some length (albeit due
more to grim determination than
to appreciation). I feel constrained
to inquire how to set about get-
ting twentieth-century "artists" to
admit that we are living in a dark-
age of art. Our attitude toward art
has become warped. The artists
themselves, being unable even to
approach the excellence of the
masters of by-gone eras, set up
their own feeble standards, com-
pare their work to these, and con-
clude they are on a pinnacle of ar-
tistic achievement. In this psycho-
logical maneuver, the so-called ar-
tists have been accompanied. and
even encouraged by non-artistic
souls who are the patrons and ad-
mirers of the results.
That these artists are talented
cannot be denied; they are per-
haps our most skillful salesmen.
How they pass off their vague
and grotesque creations onto the
gullible public, leaving them nod-
ding in agreement like the apes
in the fable, is indeed a wonder.
"Ah, yes - Profound! - Deeply
moving!" . . . Paleolithic poppy-
cock, I say!
From where we stand in his-
tory, it is easy to perceive the
"golden-ages" of sculpture, paint-
ing, orchestral music and vocal,
and of the various forms of liter-
ature. We may likewise ascertain
where were the dark depths in
both are and, for example, tech-
nology. Seeing ourselves riding
the wave of technological ad-
vancement, we have, in our in-
finite modesty, said to ourselves:
"We are in the golden-age of
scientific achievement, ergo we
must also be in the golden-age of
everything else cultural." And,
since art has reached a new peak,
we must be uncultured, indeed,
not to accept and approve it.
And so it is, while "artists" are
groping for new ways of wrenching
beauty all out of shape, the "pa-
trons of the arts" are groping for
more and more obscure ways of
describing the great depth of
feeling and profound emotion in
these ridiculous dabblings.
It is high-time these artists con-
ceded they are lost in the shadow
of the gorge our civilization is
now in, as far as the arts are con-
cerned. We must stop saying dark
is light (because of false stan-
dards), and work to encourage
that dark shall become less dark.
As long as the public continues to
accept confusion as art, the sales-
men will continue to manufacture
chaos.
-George W. Byers
* * *
South Quad.. ..
To the Editor:
URING the past semester there
has been interest in the overall
picture of the strength, weakness-
es, and possibilities of the Michi-
gan Residence House Plan. The
projected opening of the South
Quad has quickened in this field,
and there have been several plans
proposed in which the new Quad
would become an all-freshman
dorm, leaving the other Residence
"Units to Upperclassmen. In this
way it is hoped that some life
can be pumped into the veins of
a system that is rapidly becoming
moribund, and is failingto serve
its purposes.
That the system has possibilities
of attaining its desired end of pro-
viding a medium for both social
and academic activity is obvious.
The dorms have the advantage of
the inclusion of students of vary-
ing backgrounds, personalities, and
abilities in one unit, thus afford-
ing opportunity for any student
to broaden his interest and views.
That the system is inadequate is
equally obvious, as evidenced by
the tremendous turn-over to be
found in the personnel of almost
every residence unit.
While no one can be positive as
to the exact causes of the sys-
tem's failure so far, a few excel-
lent surmises can be put forth.
First there is the crowding, and
over-large units that result. Then,
and more pertinently there is the
inertia, built up over many semes-
ters, that greets the entering
Freshman and effectively stiffles
any interest he might have in the
house.
In the South Quad, there are
none of these drawbacks to start
with, and the University had, and
still might have the opportunity
of trying an experiment that
might lead to a solution of the
Residence Hall problem. The New
Quad, in all eventualities will be
heavily loaded with Freshmen, plus
a sizeable number of upper class-
men in addition. The University
could determine now the number
of Upperclassmen to be housed in
the new Quad, and bring together
in a type of council those who
would be interested in setting up
an ideal house system. From these
men, and any others who might
be interested in the future of the
Residence Halls, a nucleus could
be built which would plan and or-
ganize plans of operation for the
new houses, along the lines found
to be advantageous through pre-
vious experience ...
The experience of the first se-
mester makes the most lasting im-
pression on a student, and if he
finds himself in an exciting, co-
operative, enterprising a t m o s-
phere, it is very likely he will keep
this spirit, and transfer it on to
to the next group of men coming
up. In such a manner a real
"House" might be built that will
satisfy all the needs of any Dor-
mitory system.
If the University is interested
enough in its Residence Halls, this
plan, or a similar one, could be
instituted, and I'm equally sure
that the possible rewards far ex-
cel the effort that might be neces-
sary.
-Robert Bard, '53LSA
* * *
Debate Con.
To the Editor:
IT is extremely unfortunate that
that the University student body
-reared as it has been, under the
influence of capitalism-is to be
denied the dubious privilege of
hearing ex-Professor Herbert J.
Phillips set forth the values of
Communism on this campus.
It might be well for those who,
in the words of Mr. Reifel, SL
Cabinet member, "want to know
what we are fighting for," to ex-
amine the Manifests of The Com-
muniist Party. This document pro-
mulgates, more fully than ex-Pro-
fessor Phillips could conceal, the
basic tenets of Red Fascism. Its
most skeptical reader will have no
difficulty in concluding that this
Red Fascism is a power essen-
tially atheistic, militaristic and to-
talitarian. The prositution, by So-
viet Russia, of the little ideal good
in Marxism is one of the greatest
hoaxes ever perpetuated upon an
ignorant population. It makes
even Hitler seem second-rate.
Despite the pseudo-intellectual-
ism of our campus rabble-rousers,
I am convinced of the inherent
worth of our democratic govern-
ment. It is guilty of minor injus-
tices, but what human institution
is not? With time and the peaceful
means at hand, these defects may
be remedied. I see no need for the
imposition of a minority's will
upon the majority, just as I see no
need for an advocate of Red Fas-
cism to practice his sophistries at
an American institution of learn-
ing dedicated to the freedoms upon
which our government is based.
-James R. Andreach
'I * *
Debate . .
To the Editor:
MR. MUNCY and Mr. Reid both
raise some excellent points.
May I point out, however, to Mr.
Muncy, that economists define
"capitalism" as including private
property and freedom of contract,
both of which are absent from the
Russian scene? And to Mr. Reid
that I did debate against Gerald
L. K. Smith in 1942 in a public
platform in Detroit.
-Preston Slosson
Critics .
To the Editor:
U NWIITTINGLY the Daily pro-
vided the casual reader of May
Festival reviews with some high
comedy, the casual reader being
one who patiently struggles to dis-
cover the reviewers' meaning.
Sometimes he agrees with the
paid (or unpaid) fashioners of
campus taste. He is willing, with
Mr. Harris Crohn, to give no small
credit, in the Rachmaninoff Con-
certo, to Mr. Ormandy, "who was
there with the orchestra just pre-
cisely when needed." The thought
of what would have happened if
Mr. Ormandy "and orchestra had
not been there is appalling. The
audience, wild at the end of the
concert, would have been even
wilder, one may be sure.
Our casual reader notes with
pleasure, too, that Mr. Crohn apt-
ly describes the Choral Union
when he says of Conductor John-
son that "his control of the vast
forces required was admirable in-
deed . . . " (Saturday review).
How true, the vast forces of the
Choral Union required every
May! How true, .the vast forces
required to control the vast forces
required every May! In Buxte-
hude's time it was a thrilling dis-
covery that an orchestra could
play both loud and soft. Perhaps
we in the twentieth century
someday may anticipate that dis-
covery about the Choral Union;
more likely not.
Our reader, again, is amazed
and amused that, in Friday's con-
cert, James Wolfe's "playing of
the important piano part in the
superb second movemenf (Bran-
denburg Concerto) was responsi-
ble for never letting the tempo
waver." He feels that Mr. Wolfe
could have played the bass drum
with cymbal solo interludes if all
he was doing was keeping the
tempo steady. Or the orchestra
could have counted time vocally
and let Mr. Wolfe take a breather.
Or maybe omitted the score com-
pletely. Or anything! Down with
piano parts in second movements!
Miss -Oates, in her own right,
provided some comic relief, but
Miss Goss (curses), is a straight-
faced critic.
-Louis L. Orlin
hill Auditorium,...
To the Editor:
was most amused by George P.
Moskoff's "factual" letter to
the Daily which appeared last
Sunday. Let me point out a few
errors in his position.
(1) Hill ,Auditorium was don-
ated with the proviso that its
facilities ;be unavailable for pure-
ly political speakers. Communists
are purely political speakers, and
that was why the recent debate
was not 'scheduled for Hill.
(2) Hill Auditorium is not
available only for Republicans
such as Stassen, Vandenberg, and
Dewey. Mrs. Roosevelt spoke there
a while back, remember?
(3) Senator Vandenberg, while
a Republican, occupied Hill Au-
ditorium not because he was a
political speaker, but because he,
one of the most eminent men in
the United States Senate, was be-
ing granted an honorary degree.
He appeared on a program recog-
nizing the centennial of Dutch
settlements in Michigan, and
shared billing with the Ambassa-
dor of The Netherlands. That is
hardly bias, is it, Mr. Moskoff?
(4) Captain Stassen spoke in
Hill Auditorium because he is the
president of a great university. He
is not running for public office.
His appearance was not consider-
ed as being patently political, in
the opinion of the authorities.
Why, Mr. Moskoff, do you so per-
sistently contradict the facts?
(5) When Dr. Stassen appeared
in Hill Auditourium, he was not
using facilities maintained exclu-
sively at public expense. For Mr.
Moskoff's benefit, I might add
that a fair and sizeable sum was
charged for the use of the audi-
torium.
In other words, Mr. Moskoff
does not know what he is talking
about and really ought to keep his
silence. I was surprised to find no
Editor's Note beneath the letter
straightening out Mr. Moskoff's
pitiful delusions.
J. B. Reid
Treasurer, Young
Republican Club
Union . ,
To the Editor:
AN ARTICLE in The Daily of
May 5, 1950 stated that out-
going Union President Bill Wise
predicted that a proposed amend-
ment to the Union Constitution,
to elect directly the President and
Recording Secretary, would "'toss
out the window' the idea of train-
ing and experience for senior of-
ficers .. "
It will be recalled, however, by
those who read the D.O.B. a few
days earlier, that this particular
amendment is not the only one on
which action will be taken May
16. The fifth amendment to be
voted upon reads: only, past or
present members of the Union
Executive Council are eligible for
the offices of President and Re-
cording Secretary of the Union.
The intelligent voter, feeling that
direct election has merits, but
fearing that unqualified outsiders
will be candidates, can without
compromise vote "YES" for both
these amendments.
Unlike several of the other pro-
posed amendments, this fifth one
was not accompanied by a state-
ment of effect. Certainly, under
the existing system, there is no
need to include in the Constitution
criteria that past and present
members of the Selections Com-
mittee (who now appoint the
President and Secretary) will nev-
er claim have been forgotten.
These criteria are obviously train-
ing and' experience. And what
if the voter says "YES"'to direct
election and "NO" to this fifth
amendment. An outsider could not
petition for the office-the mech-
anism is no where stated in the
present or the proposed systems.
Further, .even if an outsider
could petition, since the Selections
Committee, under the proposed
system, could nominate not more
(Continued on Page 5)
ejj
.'
4
k
,;
CUR E1NT MOVIES
At The State ...
FREE FOR ALL, with Robert Cum-
mings, Ann Blyth, Percy Kilbride and Ray
Collins. Production and screenplay by
Robert Buckner.
THIS FILM is another in what may loosely
be termed "the tradition" of such films
as Twentieth's excellent "Everybody Does
It," and not quite so excellent "It Happeis
Every Spring."
Just take a gander at the basic situation,
and if you're familiar with either of the
other two films, you'll see what I mean: A
young and rather hickish chemist comes to
Washington with some pills he has made.
These pills will turn water into a combust-
ible fuel. What happens to him? Plenty, of
course. First off he starts boarding in a
house inhabited by frustrated inventors, who
have their mechanical abortions running all
over, the place.
There is also, naturally enough-for the
movies, anyway-a beautiful wench in resi-
dence in the residence.
But that's not all. Before this mad fling is
over, our chemist has run afoul of evil
machinations, plotted mainly by a big bad
Western type oil man, afraid of his business
At The Michigan
0 0
PERFECT STRANGERS' starring Gin-
ger Rogers and Dennis Morgan.
S MANY movies picture the jury in their
courtroom scenes as backdrops for a
murder trial that it was refreshing to have
crime take a backseat in this one and give
the twelve people answering the call of duty
a break.
Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan are
the two strangers in the title who answer
the call of the wild for the few weeks that
they are locked up together as jurors and
fall in love. And they answer it adequat.2..
The fact that they are both married and
that Morgan has a couple of kiddies waiting
at home only complicates matters.
Morgan's part doesn't let him act too much
like a married man carrying on a love af-
fair. He goes out of his way not to hide it,
But Ginger (the way she continues to fas-
cinate her second generation of fans with
that eternal beauty amazes me) is more
practical and works out an acceptable John-
ston Office solution.
The rest of the twelve are a little more
11r51ia th.an ,, - ea tnrnaatri
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
MaryStein..........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 l.
Business Staff
Roger Wellington.....Business Manager
Dee Nelson, Associate Business Manager
Jim Dangl.. ...Advertising Manager
Bernie Aidinoff.......FPinance Manager
Bob Daniels.......Circulation Manager
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*1
BARNABY
I"- I
There won't be time to send
to Washington for the regular
I know the sort of thing the
government wants-Do you keep
Oh yes, I'll need proper identification, 1
| too. Fetch your Fairy Godfather that nice
Ii