THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, I'
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Local 600
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AF
JN CONJUNCTION with the Inter-Arts
festivities this weekend, a student art
show is featured in the North and South
Galleries at the University Museum, replac-
ing the two Museum of Modern Art peda-
gogic displays. This is the best student art
show I have seen in five and a half years
on the campus. You have until March 27 to
see it
The, show consists chiefly of paintings,
with a liberal sprinkling of ceramics,
sculpture, mobiles, drawings, and the like.
There are, happily enough, many good
works in each of the media, but on the
whole, the paintings are the most satis-
factory.
The canvases of Jamie Ross are certainly
among the best present; his severely disci-
plined In Memoriam is the best item in the
show. The interesting thing about Mr. Ross
is that he isn't in the School of Architecture
and Design. (He is also responsible for the
nice mobiles, but they are not nearly so
effective as his oils.
John Goodyear is represented by two
"blue" canvases that are very good, but I
can't help regretting that he has offered
none of his drawings for sale. Actors, a
ST+
watercolor by Helene Lazarus, is vibrant with
color and tastefully composed. Many other
excellent paintings are on display, and it
would be useless to try to catalogue them in
this space, but I must recommend especially
the efforts of Steve Kash, Marianne Gil-
more, and Carolyn Pickle.
Nearly all of the pieces on exhibit are
for sale and, judging by the price list
posted in the North Gallery, they are,
modestly eviuated by the artists. Even
so, I am afraid that a good many of the
oils are out of the average student's price
range. Perhaps the show will also attract
the attention of off-campus collectors;
unless one is interested primarily in ar-
tists' names, the student work is, penny
for penny, a better buy than most modern
art available in the galleries.
Some of the contributions are overcom-
plicated a bit, some a little too contrived,
but for the most part the artists have
achieved an extraordinary level of aesthetic
achievement; any slight failings are more
than justified on the grounds of inexper-
ience, and if you want ,to see who the artists
of tomorrow will be, go to Alumni Memorial
Hall today.
-Siegfried Feller
BOOKS
MR. PRESIDENT: Letters, Documents,
and Interviews of President Truman.
Edited by William Hillman.
IN AN EFFORT to have "the people know
the Presidency as I have experienced it
and to know me as I am," Harry S. Truman
has made a move unprecedented in Anieri-
can political history. In a presidential elec-
tion year, when neither office nor incumbent
is ever clearly characterized, President Tru-
man has had a frankly partisan biography
of himself published and has supported his
conception of the Presidency with his own
private papers. The results are both varied
and interesting.
The initial limitations of the book are
patent. No material covering the period
after 1949 was taken from the President's
personal diary for both political and security
reasons. Mr. Hillman-substitutes direct in-
tei'views with the President concerning cer-
- tain important occurrences after 1949, and,
since many of the interviews took place in
the past year, the President's views are def-
initely sharpened by hindsight. This pro-
vides a valuable tool for rationalization, and
its potentialities caotainly could not be whol-
ly ignored. The emphasis on President Tru-
man's plan to put Collectors of Internal Rev-
enue on a civil service basis points to a
right-down-to-press-time revision and edit-
ing. Judge Truman's record of clean, efli-
cient government in a Pendergast-ridden
area is almost monotonously repeated.
This Is in keeping with the personal tone
of the book, for Mr. President is a story of
men, not issues. Foreign policy is dismissed
with generalities about world peace and the
security of the United States; Point Four
is briefly recommended as an Implementa-
tion of that policy. The President is content
to state his main tenets of government. How
these principles have been articulated in
the past is sporadically explained, and pre-
dictions on future policy are never made.
There is even little mention made of the
controversial and important figures that
surrounded the President. The two incidents
of real importance center around James F.
Byrnes and Henry Wallace. Truman relates
how he read his Secretary of State a vigor-
ous order to immediately convey to the Pres-
ident, all information concerning agreements
made by Byrnes in Moscow. According to
the President, Byrnes had failed in briefing
his superior. Wallace is only drawn into the
book by indirection. There are repeated
references to a "Mr. X" who is "a one-hun-
dred per-cent pacifist," and who advocates
the placing of atom secrets in the hands of
the Kremlin's "political adventurers."
In the main, however, the correspondence
and anecdotes are about the routine chores
of a new type of political leader. President
Truman has written more letters than any
other President. Although he claims to be
preponderately influenced by the Jefferson-
ian and Jacksonian theories of the Presi-
dency, he insists on being more than the
tribune of the people. In a very real sense,
he is a "super public relations man" at-
tempting to achieve a type of people's rep-
resentation which he believes Congress can
never attain.
There is also another important part of
Truman's conception of the Presidency
which is implicit in much of the book. After
thirteen years of having a "national" lead-
er, a person irregular in his party contacts
and casual in his administration, President
Truman welt that the country's governmental
system needed considerable reorganization.
The President takes pride, with some justifi-
cation, in his creation of the Central Intel-
ligence Agency and a streamlined process
fnr sreenine hil nresented for the Ppi-
Truman's hard work and self-imposed edu-
cation. Captain Truman's exploits in World
War I are minutely described and his slow
political progress is recounted with great
relish. His relatives from Independence are
pressed into the mold of typical small-town
folk. In stressing his differentiation from
his predecessor, Mr. Truman seems to draw
a robe of triumphant mediocrity about him
which hardly does him full credit. His know-
ledge of history and music is presented in
scattered fragments, but his Missouri back-
ground is played up to the hilt.
President Truman's desire to identify with
the common man leads him to two extreme
statements which have unhappy conse-
quences for the content of the book. The
first, that "The human animal cannot be
trusted for anything good except en masse,"
may be a acceptable catch-phrase for egali-
tarianism, but it is hardly democratic and
certainly not courageous. Then, speaking of
Tom Pendergast, he unflinchingly backs the
convicted boss of Jackson County with "I
never deserted him when he needed friends."
President Truman sees prevention of war
and inflation as the two notable successes
of his administration. He does see other
areas where improvements are to be made
in the American governmental system, and
his proposals are definitely unique. The
President believes the House should be elect-
ed for a four year term concurrent with that
of the President, so that off-year election
discords can be prevented. With his eye on
the Southern dissidents, he proposes that
the Senators and Representatives should
have twelve-year limitations on their service
in Congress so that the hold of the seniority
system on important committees can be
broken.
President Truman also advances the con-
tention that impeachment proceedings
should be improved and become a regular
part of the legislative process for obtaining
responsible government. Finally, he main-
tains that "There should be a real liberal
party in this country and I don't mean a
crackpot professional liberal one. Opponents
to liberalism and progress should join to-
gether in the party of the opposition." While
the latter pronouncement may be regarded
as merely a partisan utterance, the first
statement would indicate that the President
has not completely mastered what he con-
siders to be his two strongest fields-history
and administration.
Whatever disposition may be made of
these suggestions, however, it becomes clear
that the President bases them very directly
on his axioms of responsible, representative
government. In this sense, Mr. Truman may
here be called altruistic, since he offers them
convincingly without hope of any immediate
personal gain. As in many other instances,
he offers here some proposals which can
only be interpreted as a direct reflection of
his moral beliefs and his faith in this system
of government. Furthermore, it is difficult
to be cynical about the small-town milieu
which produced these beliefs and sustains
their sincerity. Mr. President cannot be read
without the feeling that the author has a
strong sense of his own and America's his-
torical position. His rise is still the Great
American Drama, and he deserves his day
in court.
And after he has had his say, what then?
Will he run again? Although Truman quotes
Plutarch's saw about "statesmen breaking
down," he gives no real indication of his
intentions. Perhaps the format of the book
itself could give soje indication. There are
fifty-four pictures of the President, hordes of
color pictures, and enough charts and graphs
to make Mr. President look like a farewell
commemorative. Or, if it sells, the book
could well mark a refreshing innovation in
WALTER REUTHER'S take-over of the
administration of Ford Local 600 marks
the end of one of his bitterest battles and
paves the way for his unchallenged suprem-
acy within the union.
Five officials at the top of Local 600
were relieved of command because of a
provision in the UAW constitution which
bars Communists or persons subservient to
Communism from holding 'local or inter-
national union office. Charges that the
union was Communist-dominated came
out at hearings of the House Un-American
Activities Committee in Detroit last week.
But even though local president, Carl
Stellato, agreed that there were Commun-
ists Inside Local 600, Reuther did not give
him a chance to carry out reforms or try
to remedy the situation.
Officially, the take-over was made by the
international UAW-CIO, but Walter Reu-
ther is the UAW-CIO. For more than a
year, Reuther's strongest opposition has
come from Local 600, under Stellato's lead-
ership. At the union's last national conven-
tion, Stellato fought to prevent Reuther
from raising union dues. Stellato, a "Reu-
ther man" when elected, is now one of the
union chief's most intense rivals, and his re-
moval smacks more of politics than of an
earnest desire to rid the local of Commun-
ists.
The rivalry of the two men is heightened
by the fact that if Stellato could rid Local
600 of Communists, his standing in the in-
ternational union would be greatly increased.
He would be the biggest threat to Reuther's
power-and presidential office.
The union officials have already been
relieved of their jobs, although they still
"hold" their titles. More than 300 more
will be weeded out from the top according
to Reuther. This is about all he needs to
be rid of his most formidable opposition.
Then reorganization of the local will fol-
low-at Reuther's direction.
Theoretically, Stellato and the other oust-
ed officials can run again in a special elec-
tion which must come within 60 days, ac-
cording to the union constitution. But even
if Stellato should run again and be re-elect-
ed, there is no assurance that Reuther could
not have the local president "relieved of his
duties" again on similar charges. Reuther
cannot afford to have Stellato raise more
havoc with his personal plans.
-Arlene Bell
Open .House
TRADITIONALLY, as many candidates as
residents show up at the Student Legis-
lature open houses in the men's andwomen's
dorms. This poor attendance leads to ran-
dom voting on the part of many indepen-
dents, random election of candidates and
finally, random complaints about student
government.
Sincere hardworking representatives are
necessary for a good Student Legislature.
But such representatives will not be elect-
ed, except by chance, unless the students
are acquainted with the candidates and
their platforms, and can vote selectively.
The S.L. open houses serve as a convenient
meeting ground for the candidates and the
electorate. The agenda usually consists of
a short speech by the candidate, followed by
questions from the audience. The speakers
can be asked to define nebulous campaign
slogans or present a specific program. The
voter inevitably leaves the meeting better
informed.
Open houses this week will be held at
the followingdormitories: Tuesday, Tay- ,
lor House, S.Q.; Wednesday, Betsy Bar-
bour House and Mosher Hall; Friday, Jor-
don Hall and Martha Cook Bldg.; and
Sunday, Stockwell Hall.
It will be worth while to drop in.
-Sid Klaus
Arts Festival
TODAY, the final program in the Fouith
Annual Student Arts Festival will be
presented.
Produced by the Inter-Arts Union, the
Festival serves as a concentrated exhibi-
tion of student creative work in all fields
of art.
The first festival was given in 1949, just
after the formation of Inter-Arts Union..
Since then, the IAU has continually encour-
aged campus artistic work, directing its ef-I
forts through such media as Generation,
the Modern Dance Club and the Ballet
Club, and other similar projects. At the
1951 Festival, IAU was able to present the
first student written operas produced on
campus. Features of other festivals have
ranged from original musical compositions
to exhibitions in the fine arts.
The fact must be faced, however, that the
general run of students on this campus
scarcely pay these activities the attention
they should have.
This year's Festival ends today with two
programs o fdance and discussion, to be
presented at 8:30 p.m. in Barbour dance
studio and 2:30 p.m. in the West Gallery
of Alumni Memorial Hall, respectively.
Here is a fine opportunity to get in on
something good-which deserves all the
support it can get.
-Perry Logan
GOP Integrity
THE CAMPUS erupted Thurs-
day night. For seven and a
half hours more than 2,000 stu-
dents, (many of whom claimed to
be from the University of Michi-
gan) ran amuck. Men stampeded
through every women's dorm on
campus-the women retaliated by
parading through the quadrangles.
At first the crowd was good-
natured, but later in the evening
its character gradually approached
near-violence. Though the mob
almost disbanded several times,
new life always seemed to surge
through it. The boys were loath
to relinquish their evening's en-
joyment.
Ten Ann Arbor policemen were
patient observers of the melee.
They wisely refused to interfere,
one policeman explaining, "We'd
only succeed in getting our uni-
forms muddy."
A tired, sweaty group of stu-
dents finally straggled home early
Friday morning after being
drenched by the rain and watei
from a fire hose wielded by husky
Betsy Barbour residents.
The morning after, the damage
was totalled: Two hundred dollars
worth at Martha Cook, a few win-
dows broken in the South Quad,
two minor injuries.
The administration regarded the
affair calmly. Officials reported
that no disciplinary action would
be taken. Student opinion was
widely divided-some thought the
riot disgusting, others looked upon
it as good college fun.
Local .. . *
Jersey Governor Alfred Driscoll
had "broken ,his word" to be
neutral by endorsing Eisenhower,
Sen. Robert Taft angrily quit the
coming New Jersey election.
IS YOU IS, OR IS YOU AIN'T-
Democratic party chairman Frank
McKinney, after spending three
days with the President in Key
West, told reporters that Truman
would probably not run again if the
Korean war is settled. The thought
he said, was an "impression" he
had gotten. Not too impressed
himself, the President lashed back
at McKinney-declared hotly,
"Korea does not enter into the
politics of this country at all."
DISASTER - Spring struck a
deadly blow this weekend when
twisting tornadoes ripped through
four southland states, sweeping,
everything away in ghastly gusts
of wind. As the storms hit a
partial lull yesterday, horror-
struck victims began to dig them-
selves out of the rubble. By mid-
day a populace had counted more
than 200 dead, 1,000 injured.
* * *
A WAR NEARS ITS END -
Six and one half years after the
guns of World War II were silenced
by the Japanese surrender in Tok-
yo Bay, the Senate approved a
treaty of peace with the Nippon-
ese government.
International.
AND ANOTHER DRAGS ON -
The picture of Korea, was the
same as usual last week, as hints
of a "compromise" on the POW
issue proved to be initiated only
by an "Unsatisfactory" new Red
plan.
Donna Hendleman and Sid Klaus
was more than a million dollars
less than the University's original
request of $18,575,000. The ad-
ministration said Friday it hoped
the amount would get a final
boost before final passage.
* * *
National.. .
MINNESOTA SWEEPSTAKES
- General Eisenhower scored an
upset last week as he galloped
through the Minnesota primary,
and, with a write-in show of
strength which surprised even his
backers, placed a close second to
favorite son Harold Stassen.
* * *
OUT FROM UNDER - Taft
men found little to be happy with
last week. Protesting that New
Y
-Daily-Bill Hampton
"About that history test " *.
THE WEEK'S NEWS
. ..IN RETROSPECT . .
16,000 TURNIPS - Though set-
BUDGET CUT-Up in Lansing, ting a new county record, the Uni-
the University budget for the next versity's two week blood drive suc-
school year received another jolt ceeded only in collecting a third of
as the House Ways and Means its 3,000 pint quota. (Latest fig-
Committee pared $200,000 from ures show that more than 17,000
Gov. Williams figure, which itself students are enrolled at Michigan.)
/tteO'4 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.
CM
Vote Yes . ,.
To the Editor:
THE QUESTION of free speech
has been of increasing import-
ance and controversy on the Uni-
versity of Michigan campus re-
cently.. Five student organizations
--the Young Republicans, Young
Progressives, Young Democrats,
Students for Democratic Action,
and Civil Liberties Committee --
have joined in a drive to support
a "Yes" vote on the following ref-
erendum, to be taken in the all-
campus student elections April 1-2.
"Do you oppose the empowering
of the Lecture Committee to re-
strict any recognized campus or-
ganization in its choice of speak-
ers and subjects?"
Any outside speaker, whether he
is to discuss politics, religion, sci-
ence, philosophy, or the popula-
tion trends in Washtenaw Coun-
ty, must gain the formal approval
of the Committee, which is placed
in the unfortunate position of
having first to define subversion
and then of having to prophesy
whether a proposed speech might
possibly fall under this definition.
It is,by necessity, an ambiguous
assignment; further, it cannot
help but lead to serious injustice.
The Committee can never really
know enough about a person to
label him; it must resort to short-
cuts: the Attorney General's list
(declared unconstitutional by the
Supi'eme Court), accusation by the
Un-American Activities Commit-
tee, other assumptions of guilt by
association -- anything, in short,
which indicates opposition to the
majority viewpoint. In this sense,
they have been charged with an
unworkable responsibility.
Only one excuse for the Lecture
Committee can be presented with
any validity: that students are
incapable of thinking for them-
selves, and must be carefully led
around dangerous ideas. This is
openly contrary to every philoso-
phy which says students are going
to be citizens, and must learn to
cope with all ideas in all stages
of their maturation. More than
any overt restriction of the free-
dom of speech, which it certainly
represents, the operation of the
University Lecture Committee dir-
ectly prevents students from grow-
ing up in a very important way.
For these reasons, we are unequi-
vocally opposed to its existence.
-Dick Phillips for the
Civil Liberties Committee
Blood Drive -.. .
W HY had only 885 pints of blood
been donated as of Wednesday
night?
Why, with only two days left,
have less than 5% of the campus
population bothered to donate?
- 1 - _ _, - - .- . . . - - __ , _ - _ .
Why, do we bother to ask these
questions?
Because you can still register
and donate today!
Bob Leopold & Art Graham
M*. * *
Mr. Giraffe . .
PICTURE TO yourself the fol-
lowing scene: an official of
a University questioning a student
about whether he had been at a
dinner at which a certain Mr. X
spoke. The dinner was booked
under a Mr. Giraffe. The frighten-
ed student admits he was at the.
"questionable" dinner at which
some unfashionable ideas were
prsented. Now they have him.
"Who invited you?" If you "co-
operate" you will be safe. (All you
lose is your status as a human be-
ing.) If you refuse to tell who was
there, you 're "unloyal" to the Uni-
versity. You try to "get out of it"
gracefully and honestly. You raise
the real questions which are in-
volved: freedom to pursue the
truth, freedom of speech, a desire
to understand the Jewish ques-
tion. No, they would have none of
that. Stick to the straight and
narrow. Tell us who invited you,
who sponsoredit. who was there.
Help us find a rule which can be
interpreted as having been broken.
Help us, as it's really not so easy
to find something as you might
think.
No, this did not happen in some
foreign land. Substitute Arthur
McPhaul for Mr. X, Mr.' Henry
Gerard for Mr. Giraffe and the
Negro question for the Jewish
question and one might say that
it happened to me at the U. of M.
campus a few days ago.
Is there anything to worry
about? I leave that up to you.
Respectfully,
-Robert Schor
Sunshine Special . .
HAVE read about the "Sunshine
Special" with some interest in
the pages of the Michigan Daily.
This Florida trip is ostensibly
being offered to any student of
the University. It is to take place
during spring vacation.
The question immediately
raised is whether this really ex-
tends to all students or if the in-
vitation is for whites only. Res-
ervations in the "luxurious hotel
for $2.00 a day" obviously cannot
apply to Negro students. Negro
students will be segregated on the
train, will not go swimming with
the rest of the "Sunshine Special,"
cannot eat at any of the same res-
taurants.
The Wolverine Club and the
Senior Class, by sponsoring a trip
to Jim Crow Florida, are adding
fuel to an already deplorable situa-
tion. Such sponsorship allegedly
AT JUST ABOUT the time when
spring fever hit a thousand
male students on campus last
Thursday, manifestations of a sim-
ilar nature were being revealed in
Hollywood some three thousand
miles away. The annual Academy
Award Oscars were being bestowed,
and evidently most of the eleven-
hundred-odd voters in the indus-
try had gone light-headed and
sentimental all at once, judging by
the results.
The Academy hoveled so
many statuettes inhe direction
of the people responsible for the
technicolor musical, "An Ameri-
can in Paris" that even Hum-
phrey Bogart, who got' pushed
forward somehow in the melee,
has been photographed wreathed
in smiles, and looking as if he
contemplated a fast buck and
wing-just to keep in the spirit
of the thing.
The MGM musical not only won
best picture, best costume design,
best art direction, best musical
score, and best cinematography
awards, but also copped the Thal-
berg Award for producer Arthur
Freed and a special award for
Gene Kelly (because he is a nice
guy.) For the topper, they gave
the scenarist, Alan Lerner, a prize
for the best story and screenplay.
At last reports, no tribute had yet
been paid to Oscar Levant's piano
teacher.
This seems all very well in one
way. "An American in Paris" show-
ed some imaginative choreography,
performed a lot of staple Gershwin
0 r
with vim and vigor, and managed
a tasteful and sensible use of tech-
nicolor-for a musical. Also, it
had a ballet, sine qua, non. The
rest of the picture, however, con-
sisted wholly in blowing around the
"romantic Paree" cliche, ground-
ing it occasionally on the devas-
tating wit of Oscar Levant. The
prize screenplay handed you a
potluck artistic conflict to hold,
then pretended it was all resolved
by the twelve-minute ballet.
Maybe it is hairsplitting to be
so fastidious about a musical
comedy. For all that, "American
in Paris" was an entertaining
picture. But this has been a
great year for the films, especial-
ly a great year for Hollywood,
so it is a particularly unfortun-
ate footnote that the people of
the industry have bowed not In
the direction of the superior
products of the year, but towards
what have been referred to as
Shop Girl Dream Worlds.
A movie like "A Place in the
Sun" has demonstrated a signifi-
cant advance in the whole poten-
tial of the film, for instance. A
technically brilliant, remarkably
integrated picture, it is one of the
best things any country has ever
done. In every department, its
sensitivity and its subtleties were
exceptional. The freshness and
depth of its symbols and the uni-
versality of its impact have given
an additional poetic dimension to
the fine novel from which it has
been adapted.
"Detective Story" for dramatic
coherence and attention to detail
registered on film better than any
stage adaptation that I can re-
member. For sheer versimilitude,
it was equalled perhaps onlyby
"Decision Before Dawn," a very
different picture, that captured in
many the same respects the dra-
matic feeling for the influence of
time and place on a character in
conflict that the Kingsley play did.
What reservations I have
about "Streetcar Named Desire"
and "Death of a Salesman" does
not forbid their recognition as
competent adaptations of good
plays. The former unfortunately
loses itself too often in the In-
conclusive vagaries of its char-
acters, most of whom apparently
received Oscars as a result.
"Salesman," an ultra-conserva-
tive adaptation, transcends the
merely clinical too rarely.
Still, these are only the much-
publicized nucleus of the lot. Re-
member *"Red Badge of Courage"
for its lyric originality; "Fourteen
Hours" for-its documentary tight-
ness; and 'The Brave Bulls" for
its honesty. On a lesser level, and
despite their flaws, also notable
were "Ace in the Hole" for its dev-
astating implications; "The Well"
for its structure and editing;
"Strangers on a Train" for its glos-
sy excitement; "The Thing" for
making science fiction palatable;
an 're rha Aatn r gPSLSn" for Thel-
I
r'
,
Sixty-Second Year
Edited and managed by students of
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Jim Parker .....Associate Sports Editor
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Jo Ketelhut, Associate Women's Editor
Business Stafff
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