FOUR
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TUESDAY, MARCH 18
____________________________________________________________________________________ m
Investigating Committees
ESPITE much controversy over congres-
sional investigating committees, the
damental political nature of these groups
been largely overlooked.
rhe latent potentialities of a new de-
e for furthering private political and
rty ends has been uncovered. Innocent
n's reputations are being sacrificed to
e ambitions of congressional demo-
gues, and unless a new 'check' is de-
ed there is no reason to believe that
is situation will come to an end.
case ,in point is the recent attack made
n President Truman's corruption investi-
or, Newbold Morris, while he was a wit-
s before the Senate Permanent Investi-
.ons Committee. Although it was never
;e clear what investigators McCarthy,
Dn and Mundt were trying to prove, Mor-
was indirectly accused of helping to
at the government of a large sum of
aey and of being a friend of the Com-
gists. The nature of the evidence used
implicate Morris who is a millionaire
anthropist and long one of New York's
t forthright and respected political fig-
, a leading fighter against municipal
uption, was weak and indirect. It was
rged that a questionable deal in which
e government tankers were purchased
transacted in the office of one of Mor-
former legal partners and that the
kers were found delivering oil to China
months before the Korean War broke
. Hardly sufficient cause for questioning
integrity of so distinguished a public
ant. According to New York Times poli-
.1 analysts the realities of the situation
icate that the senators are not seriously
stioning Morris' honesty. Actually he is
er fire because he is a Republican who
accepted a post from President Truman.
is obvious that these attacks will not
Morris in his present thankless job. The
fare of the nation is being sacrificed for
y political motives.
Many of the injustices which have
ghlighted recent congressional investi-
tions parallel to some degree this one.
The Red,
THERE was a good sized crowd outside the
Federal Courtroom last Wednesday
waiting to get into the Un-American Activi-
ties Committee hearings. It was a varied
group--people who had just come from work
in the Federal Building, men out of work,
a few prosperous looking women, and even
a little boy of seven or eight.
As they stood there, they talked about
the hearings, the Committee, and Coin-
munism in Aperica. "It makes me boiling
mad," one woman remarked and added,
"it's about time people, were alerted to the
danger of Communism."
Three people talked together apart from
the main group: "I know what this business
is all about," a woman said, "they want to
pass some new laws to control Communism,
and the hearings will be evidence of a need
for new legislation."
To which someone replied "you can't
break the Constitution with your new laws."
"They can pass laws," she reaffirmed.
CURRENT MOVIES.
A t The Michigan. .
THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS, with
Joan Crawford, Dennis Morgan and David
Brian.
WITH, or perhaps despite its glittering ar-
ray of "talent," this picture is mildly
enjoyable.
The story is aout a high class gun moll
who, after a taste of the good clean life,
decides to throw over her sinful past. She
fails to account for a few minor complica-
tions-i.e., her old boyfriend and the F.B.I.
Calf-eyed Joan Crawford, as the "danger-
ous woman," lacks the callousness to be
much more than an attractive society ma-
tron; actually, this is far from bad. Before
the first reel is over the audience finds it-
self in sympathy-occasionally bordering on
the maudlin-with the woman. The only
difficulty remaining is to get her out of her
delicate position, and before the picture is
over it looks like an almost insurmountable
task, requiring all the patience and under-
standing an intelligent audience can muter.
Derjnis Morgan sems hard-pressed to con-
vince anyone that he is either an amorous
swain or an efficient medical practitioner.
Luckily, be can be ignored without too
much trouble. David Brian, on the other
hand, is altogether too crooked. Sneers and
brusque "shaddups" were all right on Bogart
ten years ago; this is ten years later.
Still, if time hangs heavy, drop in and
see this one.
-Tom Arp
Inherent Rights
"NO INDIVIDUAL and no nation has a
monopoly of wisdom or talent. When
an individual or a nation becomes self-satis-
fied or complacent, it is time, I believe, to be
deeply concerned. He who closes his ears to
The accusation was made before an in-
vestigating committee that Prof. Owen
Lattimore was a leading Communist shap-
ing State Department policy, but it was
impossible to prove that he was a Red or
that any of his advice was ever taken by
the State Department. Unfounded accu-
ations were also made in committees
against many competent American diplo-
mats-Philip Jessup being an outstanding
example. The absence of convincing evi-
dence did not prevent the reputations of
these men from suffering and the prestige
of the State Department from being dam-
aged.
It is an unfortunate reality that power
unchecked will be abused. The congressional
committee's power to slander innocent men
and advance personal political ambitions
must be checked. The ideal check would be
the election of more responsible and altru-
istic representatives, but the time has not
yet arrived when such can be counted on.
A code of behavior for congressional com-
mittees is now a necessity. Such a code was
presented to Congress last year by Senator
Kefauver and seventeen other senators. It
entailed the following provisions: A person
to be accused by a committee member must
be aware of the exact nature of the accusa-
tion made against him before it is publicly
stated. The accused has the right to present
defense evidence and have an attorney who
can cross-examine within appropriate limits
and can file a limited number of written
questions to be put to the accuser. Accused
persons may put rebuttal statements in the
record.
This code has yet to be adopted. Recent
developments indicate the necessity for
such a code. The unscrupulous opportun-.
ists in Congress are numerically small, but
they are sufficient to shake people's faith
in legislative investigations,
If congressional investigators are to have
a constructive rather than a destructive ef-
fect it is essential that a standard of be-
havior be set.
-David J. Kornbluh
Heanngs
Just as these spectators, the general
public listening to radio recordings of the
hearings or reading about them in a news-
paper were coming to realize the menace
of Communism being revealed by the
.Committee. It was a reaction of shock and
disgust. They were less certain, however,
about how to deal with the Red threat in
this country.
Indeed, their reactions might have been
summed up in the question posed by witness
Archie Acaciann to Rep. Jackson (R.-Calif.)
as the day's hearings ended: "What are
you men doing to fight Communism? When
are you going to outlaw the Communist
Party?" To which Rep. Jackson could only
rather lamely reply "there are resolutions
in Committee calling for the outlawing of
the Communist Party and we are all in favor
of them."
If the spectator were any indication, the
public was generally disgusted by the wit-
nesses who ran for shelter under the Fifth
Amendment when quizzed about passports,
authorship of union newspaper articles, or
anything else that would link them to the
Communist Party. They were inclined to be-
lieve that refusal to answer indicated fear,
and stood as prima facie evidence of Com-
munist affiliation.
On the other side of the picture, how-
ever, there were those who were not Com-
munists, Red sympathizers or propagan-
dists, but were still critical of the Com-
mittee and afraid of its effects upon the
concept that an individual is innocent un-
til proven guilty. They would argue that
the witness had a perfect right through
his ideology to seek protection of the
Fifth Amendment. They would also argue
that a witness has a moral right to pro-
tect his ideology.
This argument has small effect on most
of the public, who seeing these witnesses in
action, have little desire to see their ideas
fostered and protected. Perhaps this is a
denial of liberty, but many feel that a com-
promise of this liberty must be made to
protect the rest of our liberty from the
threat that the witnesses maniflest.
However, despite the dictates of public
opinion, the hearings themselves should be
kept on a higher plain than the prejudices
of the general public. Although the Com-
mittee members were viciously accused of
sanctioning lynching and various other
crimes and were generally insulted oby the
witnesses, they themselves made remarks
which were not in keeping with the purpose
of the investigation. When a Committee
member tells a witness "we've been insulted
by better Communists than you," his remark
is entirely out of order. His function is to
investigate, not to pass judgment.
It should be remembered however, that
argument against the committee is caused
not because their purpose is bad, but be-
cause their methods leave something to
be desired. It would be naive to swallow
the witnesses' contention that the Com-
mittee came to Detroit to destroy union-
ism. Most people are convinced that a very
real danger exists in Communist infiltra-
tion into trade unionism and other spheres
of American society. It is a danger that
Russell
on Russia
THE SHREWD English philosopher, Ber-
trand Russell has advanced his own pet
theory that the present conflict between the
United States and the Soviet Union is root-
ed in the elemental, indeed tribal, impulse
which incites fear and hatred of a neighbor.
Writing in the "Atlantic Monthly" on
"The Springs of Human Action," Lord
Russell disputes the wide-spread assump-
tion that the present conflict is ideologi-
cal in character. To the contrary, says
Russell, it's simply a crude, barbarian
clash, motivated by nothing more than
fear and hate.
."There are, of course, various reasons we
cite for hating Communists," Russell ob-
serves. "First and foremost, we believe that
they wish to take away our property. But
so do burglars . . . and our attitude towards
them is very different indeed from our
attitude towards Communists.
"Secondly, we hate Communists because
they are irreligious. But the Chinese have
been irreligious since the eleventh century,
and we only began to hate them when they
turned out Chiang Kai-shek.
"Thirdly, we hate them because they
do not believe in democracy, but we con-.
sider this no reason for hating Franco.
"Fourthly, we hate them because they do
not allow liberty; this we feel so strongly
that we have decided to imitate them."
Russell insists that these are not the real
grounds for our hatred. He concludes that
"even if the Russians still adhered to the
Orthodox religion, even if they had insti-
tuted parliamentary government, and even
if they had a completely free press, we
would still hate them"-simply because we
fear them and they threaten us. The con-
verse is true of the Russians.
The old philosopher harbors no illusions
about ideological conflicts. To him, it's
just a lot of poppycock, the same old,
crude, rivalry all over again, the Biblical
promise fulfilled.
Indeed, he makes some telling points
which are rather difficult to refute. But
assuming that Russell was serious in his
satire (he probably wasn't), it still seems
quite obvious that the present world conflict
is a struggle for men's minds, a struggle
between ideas. Fear and hate are only one
part of this ideological friction. The clash
cannot be pruned, down to the stark, primal
passions.
Our dislike of the Russians is not, as Rus-
sell implies, a blind, irrational impulse. Ad-
mittedly, it has occasion for ridiculous ex-
pression. But this dislike is rational in so far
as it has its roots in basic differences of
opinion on political, economic, and cultural
institutions.
In the light of ever-increasing Com-
munist aggression, the dislike of the Rus-
sians generated on this side of the ocean
is quite natural and Justifiable.
It is ,doubtful whether we would have
reason to hate a religious, democratic Rus-
sia. But we do have reasons to dislike the
totalitarian, Communistic Soviet Union.
-Cal Samra
INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
I ran's oil
By J. M. ROBERTS, JR.
Associated Press News Analyst
THE world oil situation has so changed
in the last year that the question of
Iranian production has passed almost en-
tirely from the economic into the political
field.
When Iran nationalized her British-
operated fields last May there were fears
of a world shortage. The industry adopted
emergency measures for distribution and
starting stepping up output elsewhere. Dis-
location was held to a minimum.
Now new production, especially in Kuwait,,
Iran's neighbor on the Persian Gulf, has
taken up the slack, although increases in
demand are not fully met.
Thus, as he once again breaks off nego-
tiations with Western interests seeking a
solution to Iran's quarrel with Britain, Pre-
mier Mossadegh faces a changing situation.
The West is demonstrating that it can do
without Iran better than Iran can do with-
out its markets.
In this latest development, representatives
of the World Bank had ought to establish
interim operation of the wells pending some
later agreement between Britain and Iran.
It wanted to use the British technicians
who know the operation. Mossadegh said
he'd have no return of Britishers with their
attempts to influence the country.
The bank was willing to let Iran have part
of the oil for resale at pegged prices. Mossa-
degh apparently wanted the right to cut
prices, thereby helping Iran establish her
own markets as a weapon in future nego-
tiations. The bank said no.
So the negotiations collapsed.
Now the big questions are how long Mossa-
degh will last as premier with revenue from
the fields indefinitely postponed, and
whether Iran is headed for complete politi-
cal chaos and a possible Communist coup.
A worried Iranian senate immediately
sent a delegation to ask Mossadegh what he
intends to do now, and will meet tomorrow
to hear the report.
The failure of the World Bank negotia-
tions will hardly mean that the U.S. effort
ON THE
Washington Merry-GoRound
with DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON-A group of steel executives sat in OPS headquar-
ters the other day listening to OPS officials explain a nice new
price formula by which the steel companies would get a price increase
under the Capehart Amendment.
Most of the steel executives looked bored, twiddled their fin-
gers, gazed out the window.
Reason for looking out the window was not the approach of spring
on the mall outside, but because it has become apparent that the
steel industry is not going to accept a modest price increase merely un-
der the Capehart Amendment but wants a larger price increase above
and beyond this to compensate for a pending wage boost.
So what the bored looks on steel executives' faces meant was
that the American steel industry is heading for one of the biggest
strikes the nation has seen in the last decade.
Here are the factors which make that strike just about as certain
as the setting of the sun tonight:
-15% CENT WAGE BOOST-
1. The Wage Stabilization Board is.recommending a wage increase
for steel workers of about fifteen and a half cents an hour. This in-
crease is based on accepted cost-of-living indexes and the fact that
other workers, such as General Motors, have enjoyed regular wage
boosts while steel workers have been tied down with a long-term con-
tract,
2. The Office of Price Stabilization will oppose any price
boost to compensate for this wage increase.
OPS will permit a price increase under the Capehart Amendment
which probably will average out at about $2.49 a ton. However, the
Capehart Amendment covers cost of production increases only be-
tween the start of the Korean war and July 1951. It does not include
cost of production increases since last July. Therefore, the recommend-
ed wage boost is not covered by the Capehart Amendment.
That was why steel executives looked so bored when they met with
OPS officials last week. They were not particularly interested in the
Capehart Amendment increase which is decreed by law and which
they knew they were going to get. What they were interested in was a
price increase to take care of the expected wage hike..This they knew
they were not going to get.
What they wanted was not $2.49 a ton increase, but from $6 to $10
a ton price increase.
- And they knew they were not going to get this because the
matter has been discussed backward and forward inside the Tru-
man administration, and such friends of industry as Defense Mo-
bilizer Charles E. Wilson and Economic Stabilizer Roger Putnam,
with ex-Gov. Ellis Arnall of Georgia, now price administrator,
have decided against them.
They have decided first that steel profits had skyrocketed so high
that there was ample margin to absorb the wage increase. They also
decided that an increase in the price of steel would knock a hole as
big as a barn-door in the side of price controls, and touch off a new
wave of inflation.
-SKYROCKETING PROFITS-
B EFORE HE LEFT OPS, ex-price Czar Mike Di Salle sent a confi-
dential memo to his superiors which read:
"Steel industry profits are running far above the industry
earnings standard which ESA has instructed me to use as a test for
decision on price increases. The excess above that standard is so
large that the industry clearly can absorb any reasonably probable
wage increase with a substantial margin left over for other cost
increases.
"If a price increase were granted in spite of the industry's ability
to absorb," Di Salle continued, "the most serious consequences for the
stabilizatio program must be envisaged."
Meanwhile, stabilization officials note a significant and vitally
important contrast between the attitude of labor and industry in the
steel dispute. Whereas industry leaders have been cool and uncoopera-
tive, Phil Murray, head of the CIO United Steel Workers, three times
has postponed a strike waiting for the government to reach a decision.
This means, according to high-placed stabilization leaders,
that industry, not labor, will be striking against the government-
if it fails to accept the government's wage recommendations. That's
also why, for the first time, there's talk of the government seizing
the steel plants, not in a move against labor, but in a move against
industry.
At any rate, the showdown date is this week end, and if the govern-
ment doesn't step in, fires in the blast furnaces will start being banked
day after tomorrow.
* * * *
-WASHINGTON PIPELINE-
S ENATOR BUTLER, the new Republican from Maryland, who Mc-
Carthy used to defeat Senator Tydings, is still jittery over what
the Justice Department will do about the Maryland election scandals.
Butler has written a letter to Senate colleagues virtually asking if they
egged the FBI into probing his campaign expenditures . . . . Credit
Congressman Cecil King with tipping the scales for civil service for tax
collectors. His radio appeal, on top of his tax-corruption probe, helped
defeat even such powerful senators as George of Georgia and Millikin
of Colorado . . . . Real reason why ('OP Senators McCarthy and
Mundt went after Newbold Morris so hard was to head off any probe of
certain senators. They know that if Morris ever gets subpoena powers
some of his fellow Republicans in Congress will look sick.
-UNDER THE DOME-
SWitness . . .I
To the Editor:
MUCH TO my surprise, I was
called Friday before the special
committee investigating the Mc-
Phaul dinner. After I was told that
everything I said would be kept in
strictest confidence (I was told
this even though a stenographer
was busily transcribing every word
spoken), I inquired as to the pur-
pose of the investigation. The
members of the committee stated
that they wanted to find out if
any University regulations had
been broken.
This answer amazed me. For
who on campus should know the
rules better than those charged
with student discipline? If eight
days after the incident occurred
these people were not certain of
any violations, how could they
expect me to help them? Further-
more, this investigation does seem
rather strange. This is the first
time I have ever heard of a body
set-up to investigate alleged in-
fractions of rules. Usually such
committees try to discover who
violated the rules, not what rules
were violated.
Obviously this committee is in
a quandary. Its members know,
for instance, that mapy organiza-
tions and individuals rent rooms
both in the Union and the League
for dinners and meetings at which
speakers are heard. These lec-
turers, whose names are not sub-
mitted to the Lecture Committee
for approval, have in recent
months expounded on subjects
ranging from such seemingly in-
nocuous topics as "The Hip Joint
Through the Ages" to such con-
troversial ones as "Some Histori-
cal Aspects of Contraception."
Furthermore, many of these gath-
erings have not been private. The
Michigan League for Planned Par-
enthood, for example, held a
luncheon to which the public was
invited at the Michigan Union on
November 8, 1951. Many of these
conclaves have even been report-
ed in the Ann Arbor News.
By not insisting that the speak-
ers at thesegatherings be approv-
ed by the Lecture Committee, the
University has, in effect, abrogated
its right. to police those meetings.
It has, for all practical purposes,
said it was not interested in who
was speaking in those rooms and
dining halls as long as it was be-
ing paid for their use.hBy this at-
titude the University has left the
door open for anyone toaspeak on
campus, even a person who has
been banned by the Lecture Com-
mittee. Thus it cannot claim that
the individual or group responsi-
ble for the McPhaul dinner violat-
ed any regulations.
It seems, therefore, that only
two courses are open to the Uni-
versity. Either extend the control
:f the Lecture Committee to all
meetings, both paid and unpaid,
or abolish the Lecture Committee.
Which will it be, gentlemen?
-Ed Shaffer
*, * *
Confederate Flag . .
To the Editor:
FRIDAY AFTERNOON a car
with a Michigan license plate
was driving on State Street proud-
ly bedecked with two large Con-
federate flags. Evidently the young
man driving the car thought this
spectacle very clever and fashion-
able. But to any decent person,
such decoration is about as "cute"
as a display of the Nazi swastika,
rDAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 2)
symbol of the gas chamber and the
storm trooper.
The Confederate flag is not an
innocent emblem of provincial or
geographical sympathies. It is
quite specifically a symbol of the
ownership of human beings as
property--of the slave system,
which history has condemned as
economically unproductive and
morally outrageous. To display
and honor this flag keps alive
the anti-human values of that
system.
Newspapers have shown pictures
of white American soldiers flying
the Confederate flag in Korea.
Department stores are selling Con-
federate caps, some of which have,
been seen on this campus. This
'resurgence of 'sentiment" for a
period in which the Negro people
was enslaved in the United States
is particularly ominous when it
coincides with such events as the
recent murder of Harry Moore,
an NAACP official in Florida.
Possibly, the driver of the car
and others like him do accept the
social theories symbolized by the
Confederate flag; even if they do,
one would think they would be
ashamed to prodlaim it on the
streets.
-Natalie Davis
Elizabeth Douvan
Please
To the Editor:
pLE ASE-PLEASE, stop trying
to cram down my throat the
fallacy that there are Communists
that don't advocate the overthrow
of our Government. One of the
main avowed objectives of com-
munism is the ultimate victory of
the proletariat by the overthrow
of government-it has been since
the Communist Party was formed.
Where the toe goes, the heel must
follow!
Agai--Please, stop draw-
ing your monotonous red herrings
across the trail; well typified by
Abner Greene's statement that the
only things threatening to over-
throw our Government are the
Ku Klux Klan, the Un-AAC, and
the McCarran Act.
The KKK was a deplorable or-
ganization--it should have been,
and has been, met with restriction
and prosecution. Today the KKK
no longer exists as an integrated,
strong organization; federal and
state authorities have broken its
back. There are still isolated, in-
dependent incidents; these too are
being met with prosecution. Be-
yond the expedient of prosecution,
the long-term solution for this
problem is social enlightenment-
not revolution,
I am no intellectual; I make no
claims to be one. Icame back from
a few years service to find these
ideals which I had helped uphold,
being used as a screen by those
who wish to destroy us. Civil liber-
ties, rights, and academic freedom
are wonderful things, however,
like other qualities of our system,
such as free enterprise, they may
be abused, as well as used. The Se-
curities and Echange Commission
was the answer to ofte of the
abuses of free enterprise; the Un-
AAC and the McCarran Act are a
partial answer to the abuses- of
our civil liberties. One may de-
plore their existence, and find in-
-dividual instances in their actions
and interpretations to criticize;
the glaring fact remains; however,
they were created by necessity, not
by personal ambition.
-Robert D. Longwish
0 111
"Whut Are The Odds - Er, Prospects --
O.nNebrasa"
XetteP4 TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications fromits 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.
3
t1
r
1
{C
r
Y
Prof.
only.)
Raymond L. Wilder. (MembersI
Undergraduate Botany Club. Meeting,
Wed., March 19, 7:30 p.m., at Dr. Clov-
er's house.Q
Scabbard and Blade actives and as-
sociate members going to the Informal
Initiation Fri., March 21 must make
reservations with Ted Daykin, 1923
Geddes, by Wed., March 19. Actives meet
at TCB at 1600, 1700 or 1800. Associates
please meet at TCB at 1800, Friday.
Forum on College and University
Teaching. Rackham Amphitheater, Fri.,
March 21. "How to Use Teaching Aids,"
3-4 p.m. Presentation: Ford L. Lemler,
Director of the Audio-Visual Education
Center. Film: "Accent on Learning."
Rackham Assembly Hall, 4-5 p.m.
"Planning a Course." Presentation: Al-
go D. Henderson, Professor of Higher
Education. This is the fourth of five
meetings of the Forum, same time and
place on successive Fridays. Graduate
Sixty-Second Year
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