PAEFOUR THE ~'MTVHJr-AN flATTv TiiiTif GtT1it t* 'M&w.Y: 4A 4nWO% __________________________________________________. L'U.Z..d L U 11lAZ.T.KCl\1 .71tlJ.d . __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __!V_ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ THUkRSAY, MAY 18, 1950 i Crisis in Southeast Asia EDITOR'S NOTE - This is the first in a series of three editorials on the present-day situation in Southeastern Asia, and the poli tics o Russia and the United States in that area. ONE OF THE most critical of the cold war battlegrounds is the complex area of Southeastern Asia. Here the confused and often opposing policies of the Western pow- ers has aided the growth of Communism and Russian influence. In Viet Nam, liveliest corner of Indo- China, a Moscow trained Communist gue- .rilla leader, Ho Chi Minh, is waging a suc- cessful rebellion against the French puppet ruler, Bao Dai. The socialist government of Burma is faced with four separate revolu- Dance.Festival DANCE AS A University sponsored func- tion has long been overlooked on this campus. An attempt to fill this striking gap will be made this week-end with the pre- sentation of a two day Dance Festival. The unfortunate lack of emphasis on dance as an artistic medium in Ann Arbor is especially pointed when contrasted to the traditional excellence of local musical and dramatic events. Ann Arbor has long been a leading center of both, professional, and amateur activity in these fields, but throughout the years the Dance has remained a local orphan. It has bypassed this campus for points in Michi- gan where its demand is hardly greater. This year alone surrounding areas have played host to the most celebrated dance troupes and performers in America today. The English company Sadlers' Wells, Uday Shankar and his Hindu company have per- formed at East Lansing, Martha Graham at Albion-all sponsored by smaller schools than the University. Detroit has seen the Ballet Theatre, the Paris Ballet and Jose Limon and Company. But Ann Arbor can only boast a one-night stand by the Ballet Russe brought here by a commerical establishment. That one per- formance, which was sold out shortly after tickets went on sale certainly indicates that the demand is present even with the limited stimulus which campus group have been able to provide. The work of the Modern Dance and Ballet clubs and the Inter-Art-Union cannot be underestimated. They deserve rich applause, but more important, enthusiastic support for their past and projected ventures to bring the Dance to campus. This weekend they are bringing to cam- pus a group of heartily acclaimed pro- fessionals, Dudley Maslow and Bales to highlight the first Dance Festival. Spon- sored jointly by the Womens physical ed- ucation department the Festival will also give a performance by local dance groups. The Dance will present its test case here Friday and Saturday nights. Its future de- pends on the response and support with which it is greeted. --Roz Virshup 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 HOTON tions-two of them Communist led. The jungles of the Malay States are the setting for another guerilla battle, with Chinese Communists directing the fight. The situa- tion in the Philippines is so unstable that President Quirino has reportedly left Mani- la, and Secretary of State Acheson has noted a possible collapse of the government there in the near future. And although Indo- nesia and Thailand are stable on the politi- cal front, Chinese minorities could spell trouble if Communism spreads throughout the rest of the area. Russian and native Communist success in these lands has stemmed largely from two factors: the physical character of the territory, and the rise of a new spirit of nationalism.. Southeast Asia is a jumble of lands, peo- ples, cultures, religions, races, and political units. Here are Buddhists, Moslems, follow- ers of Confucius, Caodaists and Christians. Here are the cultures of ancient China, In- dia, Siam, Malaya and all their mixtures. Here are worn out colonial systems, stayed monarchies, struggling republics. And here are millions of people of all types of racial descent. Despite the richness of the labor force and natural resources-iron, zinc, tin, oil, gasoline, manganese, lead, gold, silver, rub- ber-the area is technologically backward. The people spend most of their time trying to feed themselves. Aside from the religious wars that flare up periodically, Southeastern Asia is the site of a great struggle for freedom from domination by the West. The whole area is seething with a spirit of nationalism, which was stirred up by Japanese occupa- tion in the last war- The Soviet Union has capitalized on the backwardness and especially on this new spirit. It has adopted a policy of encouraging colonial wars and gaining the friendship of native rebel leaders. By this the Russians hope to instill a fear of the West forever in the people here and at the same time gain the confidence of their future leaders. The United States has followed opposite methods. This country has long favored security and freedom from the old colo- nial system in Southeast Asia, despite any threat of Communism. Now we urge this policy even more with the hope that the new freedom will win the friendship of these people to the West. But the United States has been faced with the opposition of such powers as Great Britain, Holland and France who have been adverse to giving up outmoded colonial em- pires. We have feared that financial or mili- tary aid to colonial powers would mean a strengthening of the colonial system. Finally the State Department has real- ized that despite this fact it must act if it is to beat Russia in Southeastern Asia. Secretary of State Acheson has approved aid to the shaky Boa regime in Viet Nam, and Congress has come out in favor of the President's Point Four for aid to back- ward areas. But, unless immediate action is taken, aid may be too late to save the rich resources and the people of this part of the world from falling into the hands of Communist Rus- sia. -Vern Emerson (NEXT: Indo-China - sorest spot in the Southeastern Asia battleground.) IFC Action , TONIGHT, AT the IFC's last house presi- dents meeting of the semester, the new executives plan to include on their agenda a discussion of the old thorn, discrimina- tory clauses in fraternity constitutions. Such a discussion is especially vital at this time, for many fraternities will be attending national conventions this sum- mer, presenting them with ripe oppor- tunities for anti-bias action. The particular issue which the approach- ing summer brings up is whether or not the fraternities should be held responsible for initiating motions on the convention floor for the removal of discriminatory clauses. This measure was originally proposed by the Interfraternity Committee on Discrimina- tion, but was rejected by IFC, which only required that the chapters petition their na- tional organizations by January 1, 1951. The question now, in everyone's mind is what will IFC expect of the representatives of the University chapters on the convention floor? Fraternity leaders are sincerely anxious to see the removal of anti-bias clauses-it would give them a freer hand in choosing mem- bers. They also believe, and rightly so, that the removal of the clauses should be ac- complished by IFC and not be imposed upon the fraternities by some outside group. How- ever, they are reluctant to act before the end of the spring semester. They say it is only a matter of time until the clauses are re- moved. But it appears that if tonight's house presidents meeting doesn't produce at least a strong recommendation to the fra- ternities that they take action on the floors of their national conventions, Stu- dent Legislature will do it or attempt to do it for them. The discrimination question has been in a state of suspense the past few weeks, while IFC awaits the results of its recent ques- tionnaire. IFC leaders don't want to act un- til these results are tabulated, and that may be well into June. Although the information to be gained from the questionnaire would indeed prove valuable in determining the next step, IFC must face the danger that further delay can threaten its own interests and take anti- discriminatory action out of its hands. --Nancy Bylan "4 Know Leopards - I Used To Be A Leopard Myself" ~l (C f f 4*g9fQ ts WASH W WT4dqlO?4 Posy 0. (et tei TO THE EDITOR The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters of general interestand 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. Communism . 0 THOMAS L. STOKES: International Trade ASHINGTON-For the purpose of reviv- ing public interest in the United Nations, which has come to a sort of crisis after five years, there has been discussed here for a few days some of those specialized U.N. agencies that have been doing splendid work in basic humanitarian and economic fields above national differences and politics - among children and refugees, in restoring and increasing the world's food resources, in promoting health. The seuccessful international co-opera- tion here revealed dramatizes how tragic it would be if the U.N. were broken up or allowed to languish. Rather the oppor- tunity now is offered, at this critical stage to strengthen the U.N. and perpetuate it on solid foundations. The discussion here has been confined to some of the U.N. agencies, as examples, and has not covered all of them. There are others doing equally notable work. In concluding this series on this subject, it is fitting to touch on aniother group of agencies doing valuable work in the field of improving economic conditions all over the world, stimulating industry and trade, one of which is in the news just now. This is the International Trade Organiza- tion, ITO, the charter of which framed at Havana two years ago now is before the Senate for ratification. The necessity of our ratification to spur acceptance by other nations was stressed by President Truman on his cross-country tour. He charged its foes with "economic isolationism." RUSSIA does not subscribe to ITO and in this n w nrganizatinn the Prsident see Leading statesmen clearly recognized this after the end of the last war, realized that barriers must be broken down and trade promoted and healthy, stable conditions' created if another World War is to be avert- ed. That inspired the movement which eventually resulted in creation of ITO-be- ginning in a 1946 conference in London, fol- lowed by two in 1947 in New York and Geneva, and culminating in completion of the charter at Havana in 1948. ITO not only aims at lowering tariffs and removing trade barriers of other kinds by international agreements under its auspices, but also in increasing industrial production, improving conditions among workers, and promoting development of less advanced countries. In the last ob- jective its function ties in with President Truman's so-called Point 4 program for development of backward areas as well as with the International Bank for Re- construction and Development. Already it has been successful in arrang- ing tariff concessions by international agree- ment-through the Geneva agreement of 1947-covering 45,000 items to which 23 gov- ernments controlling 70 percent of the world's foreign trade have subscribed, and the Annecy (France) agreement of last year representing 11 nations. ITO also has ma- chinery for settling trade disputes, the first in history, with various steps for arbftra- tion leading, if necessary, to appeal for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. THE INTERNATIONAL Bank for Recon- DREW PEARSON Washington Merry-Go-Round WASHINGTON-One of the most care- fully guarded secrets of the war was the fact that Japan was floating balloons across the Pacific Ocean to Oregon, Wash- ington and even as far east as Illinois and Texas. U.S. censors gave strict orders to sup- press all news of these balloons; and even when an Oregon family climbed into a tree to examine a balloon and was blown to bits, censors suppressed the information. Reason for the strict censorship was that American commanders didn't want the Japs to know how successful their balloon cam- paign was. If the Japs realized their bal- loons were getting across, it was believed they would launch many more thousands. After the war ended, cross-examination of the Jap military revealed that 60,000 of these balloons had been launched from the Kurile Islands and Formosa. They crossed, the Pacific at an altitude of about 17,000 feet at a speed of over 100 miles an hour and were equipped with gadgets which made them descend after a certain distance. The prevailing winds across the Pacific made the flight relatively simple-despite the fact that the Pacific is the widest of all oceans. - The balloons were equipped as incendiary carriers to set fire to northwest forests, and later they were to be equipped as carriers of bacteriological warfare. * * * BALLOONS TO RUSSIA USE OF these same type balloons to carry propaganda into Russia was proposed in this column two years ago. The wind cur- rents from Germany, France, Austria, Tur- key or even England make it easy to float balloons into Russia. In fact, they could be inflated so as to come down in certain planned areas, carrying not only propaganda, but bars of soap, candy, shortwave radio sets, etc. The Weather Bureau, with whom I con- ferred at the time, confirmed the fact that floating the balloons into Russia would be fairly easy. Secretary of Air Stuart Symington and Chief of Staff Omar Brad- ley gave their enthusiastic approval. But at that time the State Department said no. However, with increasing Soviet jamming of the Voice of America, and with the in- creasing urgency of getting American ideas across to the Russian people, the State De- partment under live-wire Assistant Secre- tary Ed Barrett is re-examining the mat- ter. A sincere effort is being made to put across the Acheson idea of "Total Diplo- macy." LOUEY AND IIARIRY (yECRETARY of Defense Louis Johnson's penchant for talking off the cuff is get- To the Editor: ARE YOU worried about Com- munism? Well, stop worrying! Read on before you call mhe Com- mie. I don't think that we in the United States need worry about Communism. It will probably nev- er destroy our government. Our living standard is too high; we be- lieve in free enterprise too much; we like our way of life too much to be destroyed by Communism. But we do have a problem, a real problem. I refer to a few power- crazed men,mainly those in the Kremlin. These men, who simply want to control the world, use Communism as a guise. They are not original; there have been others-two, in my time. History has shown that when men and the empires they build get too big, they crumble.When the Soviet Empire gets big enough it will fall, but should we wait? We may be hurt by the flying de- bris, if not before. How then should we stop the Soviet? We should continue to help those countries which we feel will resist Soviet domination. This costs money, but isn't it worth it? We should quietly remove So- viet agents from our own govern- ment and urge other nations to do the same. We should continue to make clear our intention of helping all nations threatened by Soviet domination as well as any other unwilling subjugation of the people. We mustn't expect miracles. We will always have Communism and Fascism in our time, but by check- ing the spread of the Soviet in- fluence, we may save our freedom a little longer. Our checking Sovietism may not have to occur on the battle- field. It may be done in the gov- ernments of the nations we help. -Maurice Janco . v Fraternity Week .. . To the Editor: SUNDAY'S Daily brought a gra- cious end to a gracious week. Thank you for your tribute to fraternity week, Mr. Fordney and Mr. Niemi. Truly, America's fu- ture is safe as long as tall tanned+ men nobly devote their energy to+ the enlightenment of the less for- tunate. Let the less fortunate hold out grateful hands for drops of culture from IFC dispensers. Indeed, entertainment and ed- ucation are words which only par- tially summarize the activities of the past week. Thank you for rec- ognizng IFC for the deep implica- tions of the past week, Mr. Ford-c ney and Mr. Niemi. -Virginia Moore * * * Music Criticism *. * To the Editor: THE BASIC misconception con- cerning music criticism and its function, voiced by John Neu- feld in Sunday's Daily (and ac- cepted silently by. so many others) invites comment. Mr. Neufeld feels that music criticism is "impressionstic and therefore non-debatable." Yet he proceeds to debate a certainly im- pressionistic Daily music review in the balance of his letter. Im- pressionism in critical reviews is a dangerous attitude. Unfortunately, too many pro- fessional music critics feel sim- ilarly about their duties: their function, they feel, is primarily to record personal reactions above and beyond musical considera- tions. Those two vain and repre- hensible phrases, "I Like" or "I Do Not Like," soil most of the criticism today when actually the reason for such pronouncements may be nothing more than a per- sonal association between the cri- tic's momentary state of digestion and the music heard. Brahms is so much more soothing after a steak diner than Hindemith. The attitude which elevates the personal and essentially unmusical to a position of predominance has done a great deal of harm. The cultism it has bred everywhere, spurred on by the mouthings of Olin Downes and Virgil Thomson (the latter on occasions, the form- er almost always), has done music and musical performance terrible injury. The music critic is rare who will sacrifice notoriety or niceties of phrase and metaphor, to do justice to his position and to his readers. The music critic first must be equipped with a working know- ledge of the scores to be per- formed on the program he is to re- view. He next must be equipped to pass a purely musical judgment on the performance given that music. Such impressions as he may gain from the performer's smile, stage- deportment or technique are per- tinent only if they militate against or enhance a valid recreation of the music. The critic, therefore, must judge the music on musical grounds - from rehearsal listen- ing or careful score-consultation or both - and then evaluate the performance in terms of the score and its execution. Beyond this, if the critic feels it necessary to ex- press a personal impression of like or dislike, it should be in its pro- per place and clearly designated as such. Music criticism not only can, but must be explicit in this sense. The critic generally rebels against such restrictions; in the time and work involved in valid critical preparation. The critic who cannot or will not be bothered to read score, or the critic who knows a work only via the medium of the phonograph in a particular per- formance is both unjust and in- competent. If once the critical profession is delivered into the hands of those realizing their responsibility, recognizing their necessary sub- ordination to music and the per- former, willing to work at their jobs rather than dispense impres- sionism from ivory towers, we shall eliminate further need for debates on "Impressionism" in music criticism. -Roger C. Dettmer * * * Union . To the Editor: WHENEVER A constitutional change is proposed, as is at present true with the Michigan Union, one naturally first asks, "What is wrong with the present constitution?" Anyone familiar with the Michi- gan Union of the past and with the Union of today,tknows there is definitely something wrong with the- Union. As an editorial in The Daily pointed out last spring, the Union does not really do much, especially when compar- ed with its activities of yesteryear. Looking back through the news- papers and scrapbooks, one notices a relationship in the decline of Union activities and the present method of selecting the Record- ing Secretary and President. Whe- ther this is a true or only an ap- parent relationship can not, at present, be determined. However, it is well established that the ac- tivities of an organization or club reflect the abilities and continued effort of its officers. To be a good officer of a club one must certain- ly have an interest in and a feel- ing of responsibility towards the members of the club. The present method of selecting the senior officers of the Union has no provision for insuring that the men selected will have an in- terest in the membership. The Senior officers are chosen by a seven man selections committee. They apparently are chosen on the basis of what they have done in the Union and not necessarily what they have done for the Un- ion members. Under the present Constitution, the Senior officers are responsible to absolutely no one after they are elected (except to the Finance Committee in matters relating to money). The Selections Commit- tee has no power over them once thy are selected. The Union members have no direct voice in their selection or in their conse- quent actions (or lack therof). If, on the other hand, the Re- cording Secretary and President were elected by the Union mem- bers, their interest, if any, in the Union members, as well as in the Union itself would become appar- ent in pre-election campaigning. The men on campus would there- by learn more about their club. After the Senior officers had been elected they would have a geeling of responsibility toward the mem- bership which had elected them. It is my contention that this is the last chance that we, as Union members, will have to cor- rect the situation as it stands to- day. By the passage of proposed amendment TEN-B Tuesday night, we can be assured that the Michi- gan Union will regain its former importance on campus. Thus the Union will be of greater service to its members and the campus, instead of merely being the glori- fied hotel it is today. -Harry McLeod * * s "Birth of a Nation".. - To the Editor: THE ACTION of the Department of Speech in cancelling the scheduled showing of the film "Birth of a Nation" is to be de- plored by all fair-minded students. In yielding to the misguided de- mands of a small committee, the department has deprived many persons who are seriously inter- ested in the development of the motion picture as a form of ar- tistic expression the opportunity of seeing a film which competent authorities have acknowledged to be one of the major advances in cinematic art. If the speech department sin- cerely believes that "the artistic importance of the film in the history of the motion picture out- weighs any criticism that could be lodged against the film" it should stand by its beliefs. Narrow, unjustified censorship by the few of what the many should or should not see could set a dangerous precedent which would prevent the showing of many worthwhile films simply be- cause they did not conform with the muddled ideas of a small group. -Burt Wardenburg *i * * "Birth of a Nation" ... To the Editor: A committee of students and faculty members has convin- ced the speech department to rescind the awaited showing of Griffith's masterpiece, "Birth of a Nation" because it depicts the freed slave, hence colored people generally, in a bad light; such action on this ban-happy campus cannot help but stir up a storm of letter writing among the per- nnial comnientators w h o s e thoughts daily fatten the letter column, so let mine appear with the rest. This action, though apparently well intended, helps no minority group; instead, it brings ridicule and contumely on all their houses. I believe that most people, in- cluding myself, will be far more apt to scurrey after fiery crosses to burn after hearing of some- thing like this than after seeing Birth of a Nation, -a great film, albeit an unfavorable depiction of American colored people. Read these two hypothetical headlines; BAN EX-TEACHER, COMMUNIST SPEAKER FOR GIVING UNFAVORABLE PIC- TURE OF ECONOMY; BAN FILM' FOR GIVING UNFAVOR- OBLE PICTURE OF MINORITY. The parallel is plain, and plain it should be for it is the same un- derlying philosophy behind both phenomena; it is the philosophy which lights the dim way of Fas- cism and Stalino-Communism alike; it is the McCarthyesque philosophy of fear, bigotry and darkness; it is the philosophy which tr;!e freemen and tfruly freedmen have fought since man began; for any man who fights it not, who embraces it and is embraced by it is not free, but is himself a slave. -Phil Parmenter "Birth of a Nation" .. To the Editor: NOW "The -Birth of a Nation" is not to be shown on campus. I don't know if the same people who worked for the banning of this film worked for allowing Phil- lips to speak on campus or not. My guess is that they did. "The Birth of a Nation" may be anti-Negro; that I don't know. I also understand that this film is the leading example of pioneer movie-making. Why not leave it to our students to do some of the discriminating between truth and falsehood; between equality and discrimination; and between the democratic way and commu- nism. Must we be spoon-fed on every turn? Is there no faith on the part of Michigan student, faculty, and administration members that the educational process teaches a man to think; to distinguish between what is good and what is bad? -Tom Dinell McCarthy ., 0 To the Editor: THE ATTACKS on the vicious and slanderous campaign of Senator Joseph McCarthy have come from many different sources. In the recent debate between the Young Democrats and Young Re- publicans on the investigation in the Senate, which centered on Mr. McCarthy, the Republicans were very emphatic in the statement that the views of the Republican speakers did not represent the club itself, but solely the opinion of the speakers. It would seem that even the Republicans were not too proud of McCarthy. The Republican Party is also the advocate of a bi-partisan for- eign policy, and the attacks of McCarthy have hardly helped our relations with other powers. Therefore, it seems rather in- appropriate of the Republicans to have invited Joseph McCarthy to speak at the Young Republican convention on ;the weekend of May 6, in Chicago. Surely they could have done better than that. -Frances Wagman ~~ALA I A .'",I I Fifty-Ninth Year Edited and managel' by students of the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of Student Publications. 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