PAGE FOUR THE MICHIGAN DAILY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1951 i I - - - f 04. r Monoliths & Vigilantees IN EVERY PHASE of pur national way of life, from government to education, from industry to religion, there is an active move- ment toward regimentation. This movement is what is popularly called thought control, and what has recently been more accurately labeled Cultural Vigilantism. Leading men in every field have decried the movement. Yet it has continued to spread unchecked. Cultural Vigilantism is an attempt to prescribe exactly what makes an American and what makes America. It is an attempt to fix once and for all what we, as Ameri- cans, stand for, what we believe in, and what we should use as a guide for all our judgements. It appears in various shapes and sizes: loyalty oaths, guilt by association, McCar- thyism, bans on all suspected Reds. It is expanded to intimidation of practically ev- ery thought and person that is not popularly approved. COLLEGE LIFE has been a particularly fertile field for vigilantees. Last year there were 35 cases of attempts to stifle academic freedom. They dealt with legisla- tive control on teaching, loyalty oaths, the dismissal of students and faculty members, the banning of speakers, and anti-subver- sive committees. They covered 35 colleges and universities in 17 states. Add to this nine cases of suppression of college newspapers mostly for being left of center editorialwise but occasionally for criticizing -public pressure groups and school officials. Additional charges of shoddy journalism and not being repre- sentative of student opinion were always tacked on to give the suppression an air of legitimacy. And on our own campus all speakers must Editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. NIGHT EDITOR: CAL SAMRA be cleared by the University; all political discussions on the diag are banned. Even last semester's veto of the anti-bias clause can be interpreted as an attempt to stand still rather than move forward against strong alumni and community pressure. The result of our Cultural Vigilantism is the stifling of individuals in America. Before speaking we check our thoughts. We try to guess what will be popularly or officially approved. We stay in the mid- dle with the herd. Those who criticize the publically approved centralism are called leftists, subversives, even Communists by some. Progress in social terms, in all that is non- mechanical, is thus threatened with stop- page. For all human activities that deal with ideals and ideas, are being outlined by a prescribed propriety. We are becoming as monolithic as the enemy we decry. We are assuming a similar character only with a more tragic potential. We have that much more to lose. FOR MOST OF US this critical period of undeclared war, this age of atomic ex- plosions, of world division, is a difficult per- iod to comprehend. It is unreal, and we deal with it unrealistically. Rather than seek new solutions for the new situations, we try to drawl similes with the past. We try to deal with the present and the future in terms of outdated poli- .cies, the worst of which is totalitarianism. We are afraid of new ideas and new reme- dies. We are seeking stabilization, a firm footing, a security where there are no questions, only answers. We are stiffening our ability to change and adjust. We are reaching that point of impregnated stagnation that in its essence destroys the very way of life we are fighting to maintain. If we continue this way we will be the un- knowing victims of our own means. We will not bow to any enemy in the field nor to any foe in the air. We will rather bow to our own fears and insecurities, to our search for peace and stability by looking backwards rather than by working forward. -Leonard Greenbaum f 5 it Seems to Me By DON NUECHTERLEIN THE QUESTION is being asked more and more in Western Europe these days as to what will happen to America's vast re- armament program if there is no war. Some leaders in this country, Senator Taft for one, state frankly that our eco- nomy cannot stand the present military budget for a long period of time. One of the German legislators who spent the summer here asked this very pointed question: "Isn't it possible that when you Americans have reached the degree of mo- bilization you are planning, it will be very difficult for you not to =have a war?" As America moves along with her tremen- dous armaments program many of our friends in Europe, who fear war more than most anything else, are increasingly fearful that America, not Russia, will precipitate the world conflict in order to crush the Com- munist menace once and for all. This fear is based on the theory that mo- bilization on a large scale conditions the' economy in such a way that it is nearly im- possible to cut back the mobilization effort without creating vast unemployment and a severe drop in business. Therefore, say many observers, it will be difficult politically for any administra- tion in Washington to bring about sharp reduction in the defense budget. Another reason for the increasing fear among our friends is that as we become stronger we will also be more beligerent in our dealings with Moscow and perhaps force a war. We hear all kinds of talk these' days about "super" weapons and how our Air Force could bomb Russia into submission. We read in a natiohal magazine exactly how we will conquer Russia and occupy her. Is it unrealistic to assume that the day will come when the American people, led on by boasts of our military might, will demand that we stop negotiating with the Communists and start shooting? The Science Of Not Living To A Ripe Old Age /etteP4 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. i St. Louis Post-Dispatch Fitzpatrick in The T .._ .t _ ..1 . These are the fears of Western Europe who are the disaster than we are. many people in much closer to THE REAL significance behind the re- sumed truce talks may well lie with the coming United Nations General Assembly meeting in Paris next month. For many rea- sons Russia may believe that this is the ideal time to arrange a truce in Korea. Russia recognizes the fact that there is much discontent and disillusion among the Chinese Reds as a result of the war. One sure way of regaining the good will of the Chinese is by United Nations recogni- tion and the turning over of Formosa to the Communists. In the coming United Nations General As. sembly meeting the Russians may well pre- sent a peace plan with the main feature UN recognition of Red China. The truce talks tie in very definitely with such a plan. In the first place the Communists will appear to have made many concessions and sacrifices for the cause of peace if the truce talks are carried out and all or most of the UN proposals accepted. ; it tkuti/60 Secondly there would no longer appear to be any logical objections to UN recognition once the Korean war was ended. Many countries that do not favor recognition will undoubtedly look at the situation in a dif- ferent light once there is peace. Should all this come about at Paris next month the United States may surpris- ingly get the ultimate benefit. It will end the war in Korea and allow Red China in the UN. At last the U.S. will recognize the existing condition of fact instead of ob- stinately supporting the Chinese Nation- alists. Perhaps even now we can accomplish what was proposed long ago-supporting the Chi- nese Communists in the United Nations and gaining their confidence. This is not impos- sible even though it may be the Russians who are instrumental in gaining admission for them to the UN. -Cara Cherniak Of coufse, we can argue that Europe is never satisfied. When we are weak mili- tarily they have no confidence in our ability to back up our "tough" policy to- ward the Kremlin. When we are strong they say that we are liable to force a war on the Russians. But this is one of the problems that faces all great powers. The solution, it seems to me, lies in our ability to prepare for any alternative. We must be prepared for war if it comes; but we must also be prepared for peace in case the Russians decide they have had enough for now. But even more difficult, we must be prepared for a situation in which there is neither war nor peace but an era of armed neutrality. There are many who say it simply cannot be done. But it must be done if we are ef- fectively to cope with-the Russian tactics. A war will only multiply our problems while a period of tension at least holds out hope of preventing war. _ CIINIEMA DAILY OFFICIA.L BULLETIN (Continued from Page 2) Personnel Interviews: On Monday, October 29, a representa- Intercooperative Council tive of the Wright Aeronautical Devel- Interfraternity Council opment Center of Dayton, Ohio, will be Inter Guild interviewing Aeronautical Engineers, International Relations Club Mechanical Engineers, Electronics and International Students' AssociaLion Electrical Engineers. Kappa Phi There will also be a Civil Service Rep- Kindai Nihon Kenkyu Kai resentative who will be glad to talk to Latter Day Saints any students who may be taking the Les Voyageurs Junior Management Assistant and Jun- Lutheran Student Association ior Professional Assistant examinations, M-Club and who may be interested in direct Marching Band assignment to Wright Patterson Air Marketing Club Base. Men's Glee Club On Friday, November 2, a representa- Men'ig car 7 tive of the Boy Scouts ofAmerica will Michigamua be interviewing men wile will be in- Michigan Actuarial Club terested in positions as Field Scout, Michigan Christian Fellowship Executives any time between now and Michigan Crib Michigan Daily next summer, for their executive train- Michiganensian ing program. Michigan League Undergraduate Of- The State of Ohio Department of fices Highways will have a representative Michigan Trechnicj interviewing February and, June civil Michigan Union engineering graduates for their High- Mimes way Training Program on Friday, No- Music School Assembly vember 2. National Association for the Advance- Thursday, November 1, a representa- ment of Colored People tive of the International Business Ma- Nauvoo LeagueI chine Corporation of New York City Newman Club will be interviewing February graduates Panhellenic of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Philippine-Michigan Club Engineering, and Applied Mechanics, Polonia Club with a BS. MS, or PhD. Pre-Medical Society Friday. November 2, a representative Quarterdeck of the Bendix Aviation Corporation of Rifle Club South Bend, Indiana, will be interview- Roger Williams Guild ing February engineering graduates, Russian Circle any degrees, interested in the design, Sailing Club test, development or production field, Scroll and aircraft and automotive accessories Senior Society production field. Soaring Club For further information and appoint- Society of o en Engineers mets concerning the above requests Student Bar Association and interviews, contact the Bureau of StudentLeBatAsoiatonAppointments. 3528 Administration Student LegislatureBidn. Student Organization, School of So- Building. cial Work Student Players Lectures Student Religious Association Student Science Society University Lecture, auspices of the Triangles Department of Psychology. "The Na- Unitarian Students tural History of Neurotic Behavior" (il- Ulir Ski Club lustrated). Dr. Howard S. Liddell, UNESCO Professor of Psychobiology, Cornell Uni- Village Church Fellowship of Willow versity, 4:15 p.m., Fri., Oct. 26, Rack- Run ham Amphitheater. Vulcans Wesleyan Guild Westminster Guild Academic Notices Wolverine Club Women's Athletic Association Non-Algebraic Topology Seminar: omen's Glee Clu Fri., Oct. 26, 3 p.m., 3011 Angell Hall, Women's Physical Education Club Mr. Paul Roth will speak on "Com- World Student Service Fund pact, Paracompact, and Metacompact.' Young Democrats Young Friends Fellowship Doctoral examination for Charles B. Young Progressives Arzeni, Botany; thesis: "The Pterobry- Young Republicans aceae of Southern United States, Mex- ico, Central America, and the West In- Honor Societies. Officers for 1951-52 dies," Saturday, October, 27, 1139 Na- have been registered for the following tural Science, 9:00 a.m. Chairman, R. honor societies. J. Lowry. Alpha Lambda Delta BetaGama Sigma S.L. International Relations Commit- The Lord's Letter .. . To theEditor: T SEEMS TO ME that there are a group of students on this cam- pus that are disgustingly narrow' minded. Mr. John Vriend is not only that, but he is insulting as well. I would like to remind him without losing my temper that there are some groups who do not believe in Christianity. Not only that, but the believers in Jesus Christ are outgrowths from these groups and therefore have no right to call any group "New Bar- barians." Christianity and Judaism have lived on this continent for centur- ies side by side and long before Mr. Vriend was even born. As far as I can see, this situation is slated to continue for a long time, re- gardless of Mr. Vriend and his ideas. I'm sure members of your own Faith are ashamed of you, for I doubt if they would ever approve' of your Fascist doctrine. God gave man a free will, a free will to wor- ship as he pleases-and no one has a right to demand anyone to fol- low a certain conformity. Mr. Vriend, you stand alone on a mountain top, and from here I can't even see you. -Natasha Lisansky Soccer Game . . To the Editor: HASSAN HABIB from Pakistan said in his letter to the Editor which appeared in The Daily Oc- tober 13th that he was disappoint- ed to find that American football seemed to be "a series of fouls and fights . . . where the hands are used all the way." If Mr. Habib would really like to see the type of FOOT-ball match to which he is accustomed, he will have the op- portunity this afternoon when the American Soccer Team will play Ypsilanti State Normal. This game of soccer which is fami- liar to high schools and colleges of our eastern states and to most of the other countries of the world is a fast-moving game which re- quires skill in handling the round ball with the feet and head and does not permit the use of the hands. I would like to invite Hassan Habib and anyone else who would: like to watch a real FOOT-ball game to come to the soccer field, which is east of and adjacent to the University football btadium, this afternoon at 4:15 p.m. -Bob Ely American Soccer Team. Daqily Programs .. To the Editor: A HIGHLY subjective and, rather unenlightened report given at Wednesday night's SL meeting on the ten cent football program problem and its solution points up a significant shortcoming among, some Student legislators. The report announced that the problem had been solved by The Daily issuing a "five cent pro- gram," to be distributed inasfar as is practical by the same students who hawked the old cardboard programs. The, report went on to concede that this settled every one of the grievances that SL sought to rectify when it took up the cru- sade for the dime rosters. First, and most important, this provides for the fan an inexpen- sive program-he is not forced to invest fifty cents in the bulky Uni- versity publication. Second, students are given an opportunity to earn a little money through their own enterprise. Since the same distribution sys- tem will be used, money will be go- ing in the same pockets as of yore. Third, the student vendors will be allowed to sell without fear of the long arm of the law, as pedd- ling newspapers is legal even in Ann Arbor. But not content with stopping here, after he had showed how the problem had been brought to a reasonable settlement (1 a r g e l y through his painstaking efforts, it might be added), the speaker went on to say that he didn't consider the matter solved. He sagely ob- served that the cardboard affairs were what the students really wanted, and that newspapers were rather unsatisfactory as programs. He bemoaned the fact thiat 'the student vendor could no longer go out and print up his own cards, that free enterprise among the ten cent programs had been sub- merged to the pervading monopo- listic control of that all-campus cartl, The Daily, a devotion to laissez-faire that would make Ad- am Smith stir with approbation in his tariff-free coffin. The serious moral to all this is that not one legislator rose to pro- test this rather unusual logic, nor did one legislator ,rise to; thank The Daily for their cooperation. SL should come to realize that our democracy is based on compromise, usually a compromise containing less overall good sense than this one. Nothing is more futile or nar- row-minded than an insistence to the death on accepting only the solution that one starts out to get. And when one can achieve all of one's objectives through compro- mise, it should prove fully as at- tractive as the original goal. SL is making great strides. But unless it can shed this subjective view of things, a view which has on previous occasions clouded SL reasoning, then it will be hindered in the fulfillment of its mission as a student government and will tend to function only as another cliquish campus power group. -Bill McIntyre , j I { N. _ jjg .1 DRAMA i. 3. - t. t- lems of a Minority Group." welcome. Everyone is 1 . L2 I At Lydia Mendelssohn . . IN THE middle of the first act, after rather a slow beginning, Two Blind Mice starts to crackle. The plot centers around two elderly ladies who are still running a r.ost unlikely government agency several years after it has been abolished. Into this interesting situation walks an enterprising young man who takVp over the mythical Office of Medicinal Herbs and builds it up to ludicrous proportions, CURRENT MO VIES At The state.. . LITTLE EGYPT, with Rhonda Fleming, and Mark Stevens. "ITTLE Egypt, the greatest thing since the introduction of the double bed." Or at least so thought one of the char- acters of this extremely mediocre movie. This technicolor extravaganza reworks the tried and true yarn of big-time swind- lers roping in the gullible upper crust, and then deciding that honesty is the best policy. The only new twist is added rather visibly, by Rhonda Flemming as Little'Egypt, a real honest-to-goodness New Jersey-born "Egyp- tian princess" with a flair for doing a hootchie-kootchie dance. After making a sucker out of her part- ner. arch-swindler Mark Stevens. she suc- in the interests of improving the country's administrative system, and to further his personal affairs. The State Department, the armed forces, and a menagerie of sundry civilians partici- pate in the creation of an endless number of comic entanglements, all of them spoofing the quirks of government agencies. Mr. Spewack's play moves along at a good clip once he has achieved sufficient momentum. The lines are well written and well placed. Possibly because of first-night jitters, some of the players stumbled over their lines now and again. Although this was slightly distressing, it must be remarked that at no time did the action slow down on that account, nor did any of the actors lose his poise. The casting was excellent, and Marie Miller deserves considerable credit for her directing. The cast is also to be commended. One or two of the minor characters were per- haps too anxious to appear convincing, but on the whole, the actors behaved with ad- mirable restraint. Ann Husselman and Marie Gilson por- trayed the two old ladies in an admirable fashion. Roy Strozzi as Tommy Thurs- ton, the male lead, is very impressive; his role is doubtless a pleasant one to act, but it is nevertheless a difficult one to handle, for most of the burden of keeping things rolling falls on his shoulders. His ex-wife, played by Barbara Enelow, is appropri- ately and understandably peeved through- out. Of the supporting cast, Mickey Walker, as Major Groh, is especially good. My aes- Architecture .Auditorium DEAD OF NIGHT, with Michael Redgrave, Mervyn Johns and Googie Withers. H AVE YOU EVER, in the middle of some prosaic action, had the feeling that you had done all this before, somewhere, some- how, someplace, perhaps in a dream? Usual- ly it is just a passing feeling, a small frag- ment of what seems to be a larger, more important experience, but when you try to concentrate on it, it recedes back into your consciousness just beyond reach. It is a universal experience. But what if you found that you could re- member almost everything; the things that you felt were to come to pass did happen; the people you expected to meet did arrive; the man you knew you had to kill stood before you, helpless. "Dead of Night" probes deep into the mind of the man who was afraid that his dreams -were coming true, for he could predict the future. But it is an objective, as fell as subjective study. For every weird fantastic experience there is a scientific psychological explanation, but with a deli- cate touch it is the inexplicable, the im- possible which seems to have validity. Ordinarily the attempt to reproduce the impression of chaos by being chaotic is a dubious procedure, but somehow here it is particularly effective. The picture employs a series of flash-backs (in one of which Michael Redgrave does a superlative job as a schizophrenic ventriloquist) to buttress the central fantasy whenever it shows signs of saaina But the