PACE rOUR
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
IlIU1tbDAY, APtt1L 17, IU54
PAUE tOUR IkiIJRSUAY. AIfsLIL 17, 1~k5~
U N _______________________________________________________ N
Taft's Policies
LRAMA
"There Ain't No Such Animal"
I T WAS THE same old line, the same old
demagogic oratory, softened only by Sen.
Robert A. Taft's one virtue-his candid
honesty.
Mr. Republican's perspective on contem-
porary problems centers around a rather
negative approach, which includes hack-
neved tirades on corruption in govern-
ment, influence peddling, Pendergastism,
Red spys, and fat bureaucrats. Thus the
courageous and profound observation yes-
terday at Hill-"We need a return to hon-
esty and integrity."
The fact that nearly everyone-even the
Democrats-is forthrightly against organiz-
ed sin did not preclude the Senator's inces-
sant hammering on these topics.
Agreed, a change in Administration would
more likely than not eliminate the fetid as-
pects of the present federal government, but
Mr. Taft's ideas on domestic and interna-
tional problems do not necessarily indicate
the need for a Republican Administration.
The Republicans will have to stand on
a much more positive platform before the
GOP will be able to displace the Demo-
cratic Party.
Fighting Bob once more side-tracked
pressing domestic issues. Nowhere did he
mention the drastic unemployment situation
and the need for a strengthened federal un-
employment compensation act designed to
alleviate the birth pains of a wartime in-
dustry.
In fact, Mr. Taft doesn't seem to consider
any kind of social legislation important at
the present time, whether it ik the enact-
ment of a federal mining law te prevent the
recurrence of mine disasters, or the sorely
needed, much abused FEPC.
He is content to criticize President Tru-
man's executive directive ordering seizure
of the Steel Industry. Taft, of course, would
have affected the seizure differently-by an
explicit law. But the effect-he won't admit
-would have been the same, whether ac-
complished by presidential order or by re-
troactive law. In this vein, the Senator still
will not recognize the steelworker's right to
a just wage boost, after 15 months of lavish
profiteering by the steel industry.I
Senator Taft has allied himself with the
forces of McCarthyism. In his eyes, the
crude McCarthy has performed a "worthy
public service," this despite the fact that,
as Mr. Taft insisted, "Americans must be al-
lowed to live their own lives and think what
they want to think."
Finally, there is Taft's opinion on for-
eign policy, a policy which borders on
myopic isolationism. It follows the Mac-
Arthur line of throwing our troops into a
Chinese blood bath. It debunks our pre-
sent policy of containment, while ignoring
our Allies in Europe. It miserly refuses to
come to a showdown with Communism at
the grass-roots by forwarding economic
aid.
It should be pointed out that in the past
the Senator has voted against:
. 1-Arming of American vessels prior to
Pearl Harbor.
2-Selective Service.
3-Extension of Selective Service on the
eve of Pearl Harbor.
4-Lend-lease.
5-Revising the Neutrality Act in 1941.
6-Continuance of the Hull reciprocal
trade program.
7-American participation in the United
Nations.
8-The British loan.
9-The North Atlantic Security Pact.
10-Point Four.
If the Republican Party snubs Eisen-
hower and his liberal backers and nomi-
nates this man, we may as well resign
ourselves to another four years of Demo-
cratic reign.
Indeed, Mr. Taft, "everything is incidental
to the peace and liberty of the American
people,". .. . and so are you.
-Cal Samra
Xettet 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.
MOST OF
greatest
US bring to Shakespeare's
plays the shadowy vestiges of
He stands opposed to the
Seaway project, which would
the economic development of
St. Lawrence
be a boon to
this country.
He is implacably against Federal Health
Insurance, but refuses to consider a rea-
sonable alternative to the plan, which per-
haps might be a grass-roots sponsorship
of co-op hospitals to nurse slum and farm
areas deficient in medical care.
Inflation to Mr. Taft is only the mali-
cious result of government spending. A rigid
system of price controls, forestalling pres-
sure from the bottom and not from the top,
escapes his thinking.
Report fron
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a series
of three articles written from Vienna by Harvey
Gross, a Fuibright fellow and former Daily
music critic.
T HAVE TRANSLATED this story from an
underground humor magazine which ap-
pears now and then in the Russian control.
led areas of Eastern Europe. Its obviously
apocryphal nature does not invalidate its
psychological truth.
Comrade Ivan, fresh from the steppes,
arrives one night in Vienna. Because of
crowded living conditions, Ivan is forced
to share a room with an American. About
midnight Ivan rushes from the house,
screaming wildly and holding his left
hand,' which is bleeding. A four-power
command car rushes up, and the Russian
officer asks Ivan what's the matter.
"This damn Vienna!" shouts Ivan. "I ar-
rive here late and I'm forced to share my
bed with a swine of an American. When it's
time to go to sleep I take off my shoes and
tie them to my back, like a man: this Am-
erican puts his shoes under the bed, like in
the movies. I take off my watch and put it
under the pillow, like a man: this American
puts his watch on the bed-table, like in the
movies. When I think this American sleeps,
I take his watch, like a man: and then this
American pulls out a revolver and shoots
me, like in the movies!"
Perhaps the only clue to Russian be-
havior is its fine irrationality. One never is
sure how they are going to act: some weeks
they are friendly and accommodating; other
weeks they may refuse to let you walk on
the sidewalks which run in front of the
Hotel Grand. They also have a sense of
humor. They think it's very funny to issue
travel permits to the wife but not to the
husband, or to issue the travel permits five
minutes after the one good train has left for
Rome.
We met our first Russians at the Enns
River Bridge. We left Salzburg in the aft-
ernoon, and at six o'clock we passed
through Linz. A few minutes later the train
slowly crossed over the Enns Bridge and
stopped on the other side. Everyone stop-
ped talking in our compartment, and an
Austrian girl told me to hide my camera.
Two soldiers came into our compartment;
both of them were very blonde and both
very young. The younger one was not ov-
er sixteen years. That is always the big-
gest surprise: they are so young. The boys
who looked at our gray cards should have
been in high school. It was the same when
we went to Venice through the Semmering
Pass. Except one of them was older: he
looked at our papers and then he looked
at us and sneered. He had his hat pushed
back on his head and he lounged in the
doorway; he was treating us to the ap-
proved brand of socialist sarcasm. "Am-
erikaner!" he said and looked at us and
i Vienna-Il
Sometimes they are very friendly. We
think it depends on what the official line is
that particular week. Sometimes they talk
and make jokes. That is they make jokes
with those who can speak Russian. Also they
play jokes. One time they took an Austrian
off the train at the Semmering. He was
trembling all over and went dead white. He
was sure he was going to be shot. They took
him to the guard house and another Rus-
sian came in carrying a bottle and glasses.
They poured three glasses of vodka and they
motioned him to drink. One of them pointed
to him and said in bad German, "Prosit,
Geburtstag, dein Geburtstag!" When they
looked at his passport they saw that it was
the man's birthday and they decided to
have a celebration. It was a very happy
birthday party.
In Vienna you only see them on the
trolley cars and walking on the Ring-
strasse. They are never seen in restaur-
ants or cafes; we have never seen them
at the opera, at concerts, or in the theater.
Russian civilians are more in evidence at
the opera and the theater. They are ob-
viously accorded more privileges than the
soldiers, although we understand there
is a "permitted" list of operas and plays
they can attend without incurring any
risk to their ideological outlook.
Most of the Russian soldiers look very
tough and in condition, although they are
generally smaller than Americans. They still
go armed in Vienna, although the war has
been over for seven years here. They wear
long coats that come down almost to their
ankles, and the smaller ones look like the
good soldier Schweik. Often- you see a pair
carrying tommy guns walking along the
Ring or the Kaernterstrasse. They are not
on duty, but they carry their tommy guns.
You cross the street when you see them com-
ing like that because if they are drunk it
might mean trouble. Any drunk soldier with
a gun is trouble. We heard a story about
the friendly American who tapped a Russian
soldier on the shoulder and the Russian
turned around and sawed him in two with
his tommy gun. If they are walking in back
of you and you know they are armed your
back begins to crawl. Of course nothing ever
happens, and there have been no incidents
in Vienna for a long time. Vienna has been
the quietest of the four power cities.
-Harvey Gross
Referendum,
Results
THE RESULTS of the speaker's ban ref-
erendum show clearly that two thirds
of the student body are opposed to the
Pv~tnf #the T ,.Pn f lCnmmittppna 'fha
private productions staged in the ill-illum-
ined recesses of our own brain by Shakes-
peare and us. These dim ghosts can some-
times give an actual production a very rug-
ged run for its money. The current Arts The-
atre Production of Othello meets this com-
petition with very spotty success.
The most telling failure lies in the al-
most staggeringly incredible conception
of Iago. Bob Laning plays Shakespeare's
crafty, subtle and intelligent villain with
all the hammy grimacing and snickering
of a comic "vice" in the old medieval,
morality plays. His silent-movie crouch,
leers and slyness couldn't have deceived a
blind saint, much less the intelligent char-
acters of Shakespeare's play. I offer proof
of the comic distortion of a character who
manages even in the enormity of his evil
to gain our grudging admiration: He was
facetiously hissed three times during the
performance! For the villain Shakespeare
created this treatment is about as logi-
cal as the facetious hissing of Quisling
would have been for the Norwegians in
1940. Iago on any stage should be under-
played-the accumulating force of his evil
engulfs the play and becomes the measur-
ing rod of Othello's greatness as it is-,
but an in-the-round production demands
the most artful deception, Laning's ap-
proach not only dulls Othello's tragedy,
but slows the play up as well.
Emilia, Iago's wife is almost as badly in-
terpreted. It is conceivable that the director
thought that a modern audience could not
accept a lady's maid who didn't look like a
Hollywood doxie with a toothsome grin and
an empty head. Emilia can be played that
way (and was) for four acts, but that leaves
you with quite a problem in Act Five where
her worldly wisdom, her quick wit and her
great courage bring her to her somewhat
glorious death. Ladies of some rank used to
wait on ladies of higher station as a matter
of course in Elizabethan times. Emilia was
one. Not a great lady, but nota dumb trol-
lop either. I don't think a modern audience
would have any harder time accepting this
arrangement than they do seeing men run
around in tights. Jo Willoughby did what
she was expected to do in this role quite ex-
pertly, I thought, but she was asked to do
the wrong things.
The idea of having the Duke of Venice
played by a young boy to better explain the
need of Othello to the state, is not a bad
one, but one more in the domain of the
dramatist than the director, I would say.
Erik Arneson played the young Duke with
much aplomb, but the audience was a little
tested in appreciating him because despite
the switch in age, he was left with such
lines as "I think this tale would win my
daughter, too," and others just as difficult
to swallow.
Before I leave the complaints I would
like to suggest to the director, Strowan Ro-
bertson, that he read Act V again with an
eye to the possible irony of some of Othel-
lo's speeches of "fear." As director, Mr.
Robertson has escaped the big problem of
Iago's motivation by making Iago absurd,
but if he faced the issue I think he would
have to make Iago honestly and vehement-
ly mad in the first scene of Act One,
which should serve not only to reveal
Iago's problem but also to set the mood of
the whole play.
From this one might conclude that the
play offers a very unhappy evening's en-
tertainment. It does not. Joyce Henry and
Don Douglas as Desdemona and Cassio are
not strikingly impressive, but both are very
competent. The minor roles don't have the
professional touch that has marked past
Arts Theatre productions, but they are not
handled clumsily. Harry Elton's Brabantio
(Desdemona's father) is a bright tribute to
Robertson's direction and Elton's remarkable
talent.
The justification for sitting through this
production for four hours though rests sole-
ly and magnificiently in Dana Elcar's por-
trayal of Othello. From the first time Elcar
opens his mouth, even with his first en-
trance, one is siezed with the half-terrifying
awareness that he is living to see one of
Shakespeare's great characters brought ful-
ly to life on the stage. Elcar has always been
a superbly accomplished actor, but it seems
incredible to me that someone not removed
from Ann Arbor by immeasureable fame
could do what he has done with this role. It
is impossible for me to say how good I think
he is. About the best I can do is say that, as
artists, Laning and Robertson owe it to Mr.
Elcar to do something about Iago. Mr. Lan-
ing has unlimited potential as lago. He has
ability, stage sense and intelligence. He
could improve his characterization enor-
mously just by buttoning his collar and
standing erect like the soldier Iago was. He
has the talent to do much more. For the
integrity of the play and for the audiences
that are to see it during the next three
weeks, I sincerely hope he does.
--John Briley
New Books at the Library
Ambler, Eric-Epitaph for a Spy. New
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V
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ON THE
Washington MerryGo-Round
with DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON-Senator Pat McCarran, czar of the powerful Sen-
ate Judiciary Committee, has dropped his senate duties cold and
gone out to Nevada to mend some snarled up political fences.
In so doing, he has left the Justice Department without a
chief and rudderless, since the new Attorney General, Jim Mc-
Granery cannot be confirmed until McCarran comes back to
Washington next month. Actually, the Judiciary Committee
could proceed to act without MCarran, but if so, every member
of the committee would risk the wrath of the most vindictive
senator on capitol hill.
Vindictiveness is one reason why McCarran has suddenly scooted
back to Reno.
For the Democratic czar of Nevada has suddenly found that his
vindictiveness has got him into trouble-namely, into a million-dollar
suit for the restraint of trade.
Last month, McCarran got on the long distance telephone to
Las Vegas and gave an ultimatum to gambling friends to yank
their advertising out of the Las Vegas Sun. Reason was the
Sun's support of a young Democratic candidate for the Senate,
Tom Mechling, who has daredachallenge McCarraneand his
former law partner, Alan Bible, also aspiring to the Senate.
Following McCarran's phone call, the gamblers, hotels, bars and
restaurants did yank their advertising out of the Sun. But Hank
Greenspun, publisher of the Sun, is not a man to take things lying
down. Last week he fired back with a lawsuit against the Senator,
plus his secretary Eva Adams, plus various members of the Las Vegas
gambling world. It's a conspiracy in restraint of trade suit which
may be hard for McCarran to beat.
* * * * *
V. FOR VINDICTVE
THIS IS NOT the first time McCarran has shown that his middle
initial should be "V." for "vindictive." When Denver Dickerson
of the Nevada Labor News dared criticize McCarran, the Senator
also brought pressure on advertisers.
More recently, McCarran discovered that Newbold Morris,
the ex-crime-buster, was a member of the "Committee on Na-
tional Affairs," which'has sought to improve the quality of the
U.S. Senate. To this end, it contributed to Senator McCarran's
opponent at his last election.
According to Senate colleagues, this was why McCarran was so
hostile toward Morris and refused to give him subpoena powers for
his corruption cleanup.
Again, when Columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop dared criticize
McCarran for his highhanded handling of the Internal Security Com-
mittee, McCarran started an investigation to see whether one of
their columns had violated the Espionage Act.
This is the man who now has stymied the Justice Department
by going back to Nevada for a month, letting the new Attorney
General cool his heels waiting for confirmation.
Note-Another thing that worries McCarran is Nevada opposition
to his old law partner Alan Bible whom McCarran wants in the
Senate. Nevadans figure that two law partners representing them in
Washington would give McCarran a complete political monopoly hold
on the state. They also like hard-working Tom Mechling who's run-
ning against Bible.
* * * *
GLOOMY PALACE GUARD
GLOOM CONTINUES to hang over the palace guard - the boys
immediately around the President-who now see themselves out
of office, out of limousines, out of other lush perquisites come next
year.
Gloom was deepest immediately after the Jackson-Jefferson
day dinner when their chief broke the bombshell. That evening
they lingered on, weeping in their cups and talking hopefully of
another possible candidate on whose coattails they might cling.
Only prospect that appealed to them was Governor Adlai Steven-
son. But even this thought ended gloomily, for they agreed that the
Governor of Illinois had two great handicaps: 1. his divorce; 2. the
fact that he testified for Alger Hiss. These two factors, they believed,
might prove political suicide.
Actually, Stevenson's divorce was not of his choosing. His wife
laid down an ultimatum that he get out of politics or she would go to
Reno, and he felt that his job of being Governor of Illinois was not
something he could drop, once elected,
His record on Hiss is contained in a deposition dated June 21,
1949, and is based on Stevenson's association with Hiss when they
both served in the State Department. Most of Stevenson's friends
believe it would not hurt him.
* * *, *
POLITICAL PIPELINE
TWO TRENDS are shaping up in the two political parties. Among
Republicans it looks more and more like a Taft-Eisenhower dead-
lock in convention, in which case the man to watch will be Governor
Warren of California . . . Among Democrats more and more leaders
are getting reconciled to Senator Kefauver. They admit that a man
who has taken all the political hurdles and not trippe once must
have real appeal to the voters . . . The man shaping up as the
Democratic vice president begins to look like Averell Harriman, am-
r 7 3#
3.II
C'f WS*qK-jP.rA
Peace , ,
To the Editor:
IT SEEMS to us that here at the
University more attention
should be focused on the central
question of the day-war or peace.
For all students, regardless of
political belief, it would be stimu-
lating and important to have dis-
cussion in the Daily on such im-
portant issues as: "Is greater
rearmament necessary?" "Can
peace be achieved?" "Is it possible
that big power negotiations would!
be beneficial in opening the road
to peace?"
For instance, in the last few
years there has been great feeling
that some of the leaders of the
big nations should meet to discuss
and attempt to settle the differen-
ces that are carrying the world
to war. In the past year this feel-
ing has manifested itself in a
world-wide signature campaign
calling the leaders of the U.S.S.R.,
the U.S., Great Britain, France,
and People's China to such a
meeting.
Many object on the grounds
that the U.N. is the vehicle for
such talks. Yet the most populous
country in the world is barred
from the U.N. and now the U.N.]
has become something of ,a. tool
in the hands of the t.S. and other
Western powers.
The force of 600 million signa-1
tures so far collected has made
itself felt. Among eight others of1
the United Nations, the Indiani
government has supported the ap-
peal. Rece%ly the French Presi-;
dent has suggested a Big Four]
meeting. Last week even the De-
troit Free Press printed an edi-
torial sympathetic to a similar
proposal. But even so our admin-
istration has so far been unrecep-
tive to the idea of such confer-1
ences. However, the people can1
change' that attitude by making
their opinions known.
-Stephen Smale
Frederick BurrI
* * *
Anti-Stevenson ...
To the Editor:
I F YOU are a liberal you can be
a Young Progressive (they are
the most liberal); a Young Demo-
crat (they are all liberal) or a
member of the Students for Demo-
cratic Action, Civil Liberties Com-
mittee or the Labor Youth League
(these are the most loudly liberal).
All of these groups think that Gov-
ernor Stevenson of Illinois would
make a fine president. Let us look
at his record.
Adlai Stevenson's administra-
tion has been tainted by corrup-
tion as you know it must be, when
you look at the kind of men that
secured his nomination. He was a
political compromise from the
hands of the Chicago political
leaders. The first payoff was a
thirteen million cigarette tax fraud
in the Chicago area, that he knew
about; the second was allowing
his lieutenants to sell tens of mil-
lions of dollars of inspected horse
meat as beef. The only reason it
came out is that Adlai wanted to
drop John Boyle from the Demo-
cratic ticket in Cook County,
Boyle is States Attorney. So in-
stead of covering up the scandal,'
as was his duty, Boyle brought it
into the open; the third blot on
his administration was the pre-
ventable mine disaster at Bloom-
ington that claimed 119 lives.
Let us examine the man's char-
acter. He continues in the younger
Roosevelt tradition. His wife has
gotten an uncontested divorce. He
hasn't the-character insight to see
that Alger Hiss was a traitor. He
follows the lead of Felix Frank-
furter and Dean Acheson by call-
ing Alger Hiss a man of fine char-
acter.
By now the college student
should be able to distinguish be-
tween honesty and dishonesty. The
party bosses however, do not, nor
do they want to. They want a man
who will continue the great hand-
outs so they can skim off the 5%
cream. And the liberals fall in
line right behind. The liberals
want a man who stands, like an
earthworm, for the all inclusive,
nebulous liberal concept. Adlai
Stevenson, with his character as
an asset, seems to possess this
liberal appeal. Students watch out
for the Stevenson boom.
-Ronald E. Seavoy
* * *
Pr o-Steveson*...
To the Editor:
THE reactionaries with their bil-
lions of ill gotten profits have
bought themselves victories in
Nebraska, Wisconsin and Illinois.
This proves that the greatest seg-
ment of the Republican Party
supports such un-American and
reactionary policies as the Mc-
Carran Act; the Un-American
Activities Committee, and the hate
A~rr. nno c Omnn.lng cv n Cttn
who most stands for liberal prin-
ciples. He has had the backbone
to stand up against the railing
attacks on such astute and liberal
statesmen as John Carter Vincent,
Owen Lattimore, John Stewert
Service, John Remington, and
Oliver Clubb. He has the integ-
rity and foresight to lead our
country down the road paved by
the masterful work of Dean Ache-
son, Felix Frankfurter, and Alger
Hiss.
-Gordon Comfort
* * *
'Liberal Edueation' . *
To the Editor:
PLEVEN schools and colleges
carry out instruction on the
undergraduate level at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. Ten are voca-
tional: one educational. But the
literary college itself has fallen
prey to similar forces. "We are
living in an age of specialism, In
which the avenue to success for
the student often lies in his choice
of a specialized career ... Spe-
cialism is the means for advance-
ment in our mobile social struc-
ture; yet we must envisage the
fact that a society controlled
wholly by specialists is not a wise-
ly ordered society .. . In order to
discharge his duties as a citizen
adequately, a person must some-
how be able to grasp the complexi-
ties of life as a whole."
Hence arises the distinction be-
tween general and special educa-
tion in the literary college. The
former indicates "that part of a
student's whole education which
looks first of all to his life as a
responsible human being and citi-
zen," while the latter "that part
which looks to the student's com-
petence in some occupation." It is
the very prevalence and power of
this demand for special training
that clearly demonstrates the
need for a concurrent, balancing
force in general education.
To meet this need liberal arts
colleges all over the country have
added general education courses
to their curriculum. Harvard Uni-
versity perhaps best exemplifies
this movement.sConcentration has
been retained, but the pre-con-
centration period offers such
courses as Humanism in the West,
Individual and Social Values in
Fiction and Philosophy, Demo-
cratic Theory and Its Critics, The
Physical Sciences in a Technical
Civilization, Principles of Biologi-
cal Science.
In contrast, our literary college
has taken a cautious, half-step
forward. A Great Books course has
been grudgingly established, a few
of the natural sciences have added
"liberalized" courses.
These measures are manifestly
inadequate. The need for an ex-
panded curriculum embracing
courses of the Harvard type is
imperative. The college must not
continue to neglect the forces of
vocationalism and specialism and
their attendant evils. The problem
is undoubtedly the most serious,
facing undergraduate education
today.
For these reasons, the Thursday
night meeting of the literary col-
lege conference assumes great im-
port. As in previous conference
meetings a small group of inter-
ested students and faculty will at-
tend. It is to be hoped that addi-
tional undergraduates and teach-
ers will find the topic of education
of sufficient consequence to merit
their extra-curricular attendance.
(Quotations from the Harvard
report "General Education in a
Free Society.")
-S. Cain
((
'I
A
Sixty-Second Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Chuck Elliott ........Managing Editor
Bob Keith ..................City Editor
Leonard Greenbaum. Editorial Director
Vern Emerson ........Feature Editor
Ron Watts.............Associate Editor
Bob Vaughn ...........Associate Editor
Ted Papes..............Sports Editor
George Flint ....Associate Sports Editor
Jim Parker .....Associate Sports Editor
Jan James............Women's Editor
Jo Ketelhut, Associate Women's Editor
Bvsfness Sta ff
Bob Miller.........Business Manager
Gene Kuthy. Assoc. Business Manager
Charles Cuson .. ..Advertising Manager