THE MICHIGAN DAILY
rRIDAY, !OCTOBER 31, 1952
Saga of a Court
"QEND IT TO COMMITTEE! We must re-
organize!" cried a peer and 2/2 score of
perplexed Assembly members threw up their
papers and madly scrambled to re-organize.~
"Unfortunately," said the king shed-
ding a distracted tear, "we have been un-
able to set up an efficient committee
system. Our personnel is totally incap-
able."
"Sent it to committee," shouted the ex-
chequer, stuffing the Lecture Committee
Bill into one of the handy pigeon-holes.
A sudden silence fell as the sovereign rose
to speak once more.
"We are accused of being "do-nothings,"
he said amidst cheers of hearty approval.
"This is not so. We have done something.
Our public relations is ufmatched."
With this, 50 awe-struck legislators pros-
trated themselves on the ground facing the
Administration Building.
"We must continue to represent the popu-
lace or else we shall all lose our seats in the
next election."
This stern rebuke sobered all present and
the lords quietly filed back to their places..
"We have before us a bill which needs
immediate compromise. Do I have any
bids?" queried the prince.
"Strike out the first clause," ventured the
queen.
"Rewrite it all. Rewrite it all," put in the
First Minister.
"I move we table the whole thing until
we improve our public relations," said the
court jester, well-versed in the ways of gov-
ernment.
"Bravo," chorused the cabinet. "'Tis
done, 'Tis done."
"What is our next piece of business?" the
king asked.
A timid soul rose from the assembly. "In
my hands I hold a referendum of popular
opinion on the question of the L ....."
"Stop!" another peer exclaimed. "Don't
you realize if we act on popular refer-
endums now, we will take another beating
from the Regents, and we won't be able to
act on any referendums in the future."
"Oh," answered the rebuked peer.
"I move we adjourn," demanded a sleepy
bailiff.
Everyone approved of this judicious state-
ment and the group danced merrily from the
hall singing, "We are going to re-organize.
We are going to re-organize."
-Mark Reader
i
ON THE
Washington Merry-Go-Round
with DREW PEARS0N
WASHINGTON-During the latter years of
his life, Sen. Arthur Vandenberg of
Michigan, Republican, was troubled with
severe headaches from the 'brain tumor
which eventually brought his death.
Dropping in to see him late one after-
noon, it was obvious Vandenberg was not
feeling well and I remarked on it. He re-
plied:
"These headaches aren't half as bad as
those given me by some of my Republican
colleagues in the Senate."
Vandenberg was then in the middle of his
fight to put across appropriations for the
Marshall Plan, and went on to explain that
almost every night Republican isolationist
senators were meeting privately to hatch
their strategy against him.
These senators .he named as Jenner of
Indiana, Ken of Missouri, Watkins of
Utah, McCarthy of Wisconsin, Ecton of
Montana, Cain of Washington and Bricker
of Ohio.
No factor played a greater part in stop-
ping the march of Communism in Western
Europe than the Marshall Plan. For this
stopping of Communism, Vandenberg, Paul
Hoffman, and the authors of the Marshall,
Plan deserve great credit.
EISENHOWER AND SOUTH
EN GENERAL Eisenhower first decided
to invade the South, GOP .chairman
Summerfield cautioned: "the only time to
go South is in the winter."
A secret Republican poll now indicates
that Summerfield was right. It states:
"It is now doubtful whether General Eis-
enhower will be able to carry more than
two states in the South .. . best informa-
tion available shows that Eisenhower's
popularity reached its highest during the
period Oct. 1-15."
The two Southern states are Florida and
Virginia.
- TAFT'S PRIVATE MEMO -
POLITICIANS are mystified as to why
Senator Taft should have let a confiden-
At The State...
LES MISERABLES, with Michael Rennie
and Debra Paget.
T HE TRANSFORMATION of a ponderous
-and well-known- nvel into a success-
ful movie can be managed in several ways;
this attempt falls far short of the mark.
By preserving i many of the romantic fea-
tures and practically all of the archaic
dialogue of the Hugo novel the producers
of "Les Miserables" made it almost impos-
sible for the film to be anything but an
unpleasant melodrama. Although Sabatini's
"Scaramouche" is an inferior novel, the re-
moval of much of this "dated" material for
the latest movie version made it a far better
picture.
Michael Rennie, as Jean Valjean, adapt-
ed himself well to the general atmosphere,
and thus his role becomes that of an over-
ly emotional hero type. In the same way
Robert Newton is an exaggerated per-
sonification of evil, Debra Paget a white-
tial memo critical of Eisenhower's support-
ers leak to the press at this time.
The memo was written by Taft to his
backers right after he lost the GOP nom-
ination, and in it he blamed his defeat
on New York financial interests and the
pro-Eisenhower press. The memo was
given to a few newspapermen, and states:
"First, it was the power of the New York
financial interests and a large number of
businessmen subject to New York influence,
who had selected General Eisenhower as
their candidate at least a year ago.
"Four-fifths of the influential newspapers
in the country were opposed to me con-
tinuously and vociferously," Taft declared,
"and many turned themselves into propa-
ganda sheets for my opponent -.- .
"The control of the press enabled the
Eisenhower people to do many things which
otherwise could not have been done," Taft
continued bitterly. "The making of a moral
issue out of the - Texas case was only pos-
sible because every internationalist paper
sent special writers to blow up a ontest
which ordinarily would have been'settled
fairly by the national committee and the
credentials committee."
Taft added that the Eisenhower strategy
was to reverse the convention rules and
garner enough votes "to steal all the con-
tested delegates." He claimed that he
would have been "glad (to withdraw) in
favor of some other candidate holding my
own general views," but that he could
not bow out in favor of Gen. Douglas Mac-
Arthur before the first ballot, because
this would have been "a surrender of prin-
ciple and a betrayal of thousands of work.
ers who supported me."
Taft also had a barb for Republican
governors.
"Like the editors," he complained, "the
majority of Republican governors were sold
on Eisenhower support."
(Copyright, 1952, by the Bell Syndicate)
DRAMA
SAt Lydia Mendelssohn .
THE SHADOW AND THE ROCK, an or-
iginal play by James Murdock, presented
by the Department of Speech.
THE PROBLEM of producing original plays
with Speech Departmnt personnel is
apparently a difficult one. In all honesty,
student writers, in spite of their "gratitude"
at receiving a production, undoubtedly main-
tain dark suspicions that their golden words
might better have lived unspoken. Likewise,
young actors must experience a tedious im-
patience with the less-than-liquid prose of
most amateur playwrights. Such a conflict
was apparent in the opening offering of the
Speech Department season, "The Shadow
and the Rock," a 1950 Hopwood play by
James Murdock.
As written, the drama relies chiefly on
three important elements. Its tone is bleak
and murky, set in a stark Maine fishing cot-
tage. Its structure is tight and traditional.
Its meaning seeks for some coherent view of
life and death.
As far as the first was concerned, the
effort of the production unit was unfor-
tunate. Although realizing perhaps that
the unrelieved "shadow" of the play was
not the best theater, Director Valentine
Windt has apparently gone too far In the
other direction. At least, two of the four
residents of the cabin are positively ra-
diant from the opening curtain; and the
other two characters, without human
dreariness, are mere animals.
Murdock's structure, able throughout, is
relied on pretty heavily in the production.
Chief weakness here is the abundant co-
incidence, something the actors generally
manage to cover by wise underplaying. Un-
fortunately, however, the last act erupts
when they suddenly forget the level they
have set and start reaching heavily for cli-
maxes.
The third and, perhaps, most important
element, is the moral substance. This un-
happily is defeated, in general, by the fail-
uke to sound the fatal note in the early
scenes. The talk is very much of life and
death, but it is enforced uneffectively by
either the set or the performances. Life
and hope are supposed to be born out of
the dead sea. Easy as the symbols are, how-
ever, they are beaten by the visual evidence
we have, that of a ghost with a sepulchral
voice disturbing the sturdy warmth of a
happy home.
Of the five players, Martha Beck, as
Mrs. Revere, and A. Vernon Lapps, as the
imbecile son, come closest to looking their
parts. When Miss Beck is at long last
given command of the stage, she is up to
holding it. Lapps, on the other hand,
seems to fade with his character; he
should be somehow more acute.
Ralph Beebe, as Kim, generally achieves
the hearty fisherman he seeks. However,
Murdock might have made him a less good-
humored balance wheel. The lovers, played
by Joanne Kaiser and Nafe Katter, are not
well cast. Although both have fine tech-
nique, Miss Kaiser is far too radiant
throughout. Katter deserves credit for try-.
ing something out of his usual style. How-
ever, his portrayal of an "artist" is too
studied; it needs more of the common touch.
At that, the effort made in bringing
"Shadow and the Rock" to the stage was a
noble one. For that the Speech Department
deserves credit. Although Murdock is no
Arthur Miller yet, neither was Miller when
he was winning Hopwood prizes.
4 - -Bill Wiegand
McCarthy ...I
To the Editor:
JOS. R. McCARTHY, probably
the most diseased phenomenon
to ever disgrace American politi-
cal life, has again spewed forth
his twisted and foul middle-of-
the-gutter concoction of half-
smears, half-lies. His victim this
time is no less than a presidential
nominee who is governor of one of
our largest states. This was ex-
pected. By this time we know that
there are no limits to the dema-
gogic smears, lies, and innuendo
of this megalomaniacal rabble-
rouser (and those unfortunates, as
myself, who have been his con-
stituents are also well-acquainted
with his record in Wisconsin of
income tax evasion, misuse of ju-
dicial office, curious -stock mani-
pulations, etc. etc.)
What does matter much more is
what General Eisenhower will do
about it. No action on his part, or
a mere faint-hearted statement
that Joe is a good, helpful, worth-
while boy at heart who should be
encouraged and endorsed for re-
election even though we aren't in
complete agreement over methods
(Eisenhower's position on McCar-
thy to date), will point out to
what unbelievable depths Eisen-
hower has sunk in his unprincipled
scramble to get votes. For any-
thing short of a complete repudia-
tion by Eisenhower of McCarthy,
and his charges against Steven-
son will mean that Eisenhower, the
great "crusader" for morality, is
tacitly willing to sanction McCar-
thy's methods and to accept the
expected benefits in votes from his
disgraceful tactics. In doing this,
Eisenhower shares Mc Carthy's
guilt. This is almost worse than
McCarthy, if anything could be,
because it adds on to the rest of
McCarthy's sins, in Eisenhower's
case, an unmatched hypocrisy. For
at least McCarthy comes straight
forward to let you see his filth, but
Eisenhower stands back in the
wings appearing piously moral
while hanging on from the rear
to McCarthy's coat-tails.
Unfortunately, on the basis of
the record to date, there is little
to lead one to believe that Eisen-
hower will recover his lost con-
science. For, while Eisenhower
poses as respectable from a front
view, behind the scenes he en-
dorses McCarthyism and tolerates
its use for his advantage. He even
went out of his way to pick an ex-
pert at it, Nixon, to peddle this
seamy side of the street in the
great smear campaign (pardon
me, "crusade") i
'--Neil J. Weller
Birth of a Nation...
To the Editor:
I AGREE strongly with the senti-
ments expressed in Mike
Sharpe's letter (October 29th) that
we as students and citizens should
work diligently to rid the country
of undemocratic discriminatory
practices against minority groups.
However, I doubt that the film
"Birth of a Nation"-granted it is
humiliating and slanderous to the
Negro people - is such a potent
propaganda weapon for the "white
supremist" that it should be
banned from a university audience
by an .arbitrary and undemocratic
censorship. If this film were being
used as a demogogic tool to ex-
ploit ignorance and restlessness in
the population by a Huey Long or
a Bilbo then I think our indigna-
tion and loud protest would be
demanded. But the Gothic Film
Society is bringing "Birth of a Na-
tion" to an audiencethat is by-
and-large intelligent and mod-
erately imbued with a sense of
justice and human dignity. The
film should be of particular inter-
est to this audience since it is a
classic expression of a doctrine
that has been instrumental in
shaping the lives of millions of
Americans.
I think the effects of the film
will be sobering to most of the per-
sons who see it. Far from making
them nostalgic for the "good old
days" of the Klu Klux Klan, I ra-
ther think it will leave them nau-
seated and momentarily in the
throes of soul-searching. I once
saw one of Hitler's true master-
pieces of propaganda, a film en-
titled "The Triumph of the.Will."
Along with my other friends who
saw it, I was left dumfounded and
If anything more devoted to dem-
ocratic values than ever. Such I
think (and hope) will be the dom-
inant effect of "Birth of a Nation."
I happen to be a Negro who, in-
stead of being humiliated by the
film, would be motivated to inten-
sify my dedication to fight for the
rights of any minority, whether
Negro, Jewish, Communist . .. I
want to see "Birth of a Nation."
But (sob) I don't have a season
ticket !
Al McQueen
'Birth of a Nation',. .
To the Editor:
rW . WA ?N TTN.T'K!).wNT thatf the
No. 1 M
4 -
kI_'
L
cRR ,y
SAM
"Naughty Naughty'
- e?-iICo-t-6tdta,
I
*q w.. M.L WD ~
'
,>I
r
IRNT MOVIE S
criminating between freedom fori
Progressive Elements and anarchici
license for Racist Reactionaries.
As consistent democrats, we, the3
undersigned, should like to state4
once again the simple, fundamen-
tal canon underlying the entire1
Civil Liberties aspect of traditional
Western political democracy. It is
simply this: every faction, regard-
less of the content of its ideas, is,
to be allowed free access to the
arena of ideological competition,
without either prior censorship or
consequent repression on political
grounds. That this involves certain
risks to democracy is readily ac-
knowledged; that the risks involv-
ed in attempting to use anti-1
democratic methods for the pres-
ervation of democracy are im-
measurably greater has long since
been apparent to all but either the
intellectually sterile or that pecul-
iar brand of political schizoph-
renic known as the "Totalitarian
Liberal."
The genuinely democratic ideals
of all liberal and left movements
can be appreciated by all who are
familiar with their history; any at-'
tempt to utilize their symbols as'
a cover for the suppression of
Communists, Fascists, or other dis-
sident groups, can be nothing more
nor less than a cheap imitation,
all the more pathetic if it is un-
conscious, of that Counterfeit
Revolution which today holds a
greatportion of the world's popu-
lation enslaved.
-Henry Elsner, Jr.
Stanley Solvick
Al Leja
John Leggett
* * *
This I Believe *
To the Editor:
AFTER READING the Sunday
article of "This I Believe" by
Alfred Hunting, I can see that
there is a need to bring out cer-
tai facts which show why Mr.
Hunting's philosophy is opposed
to that of religion.
A great number of students, al-
though small in proportion, have
become serious in their belief in
God and troubled over the con-
flicting ideas, so I feel I am jus-
tified in my attempt to tell those
things which 'I wish I had known
before I accepted in part or in
whole some other's beliefs.
Mr. Hunting has the philosophy
of a scientist, which accepts the
importance of man but places new
found knowledge of the unknown
far above the individual. The sci-
entific philosophy places the cre-
tion of the world as a product f
chance but leaves off philosophiz-
ing when concerned with how
easily chance could have made the
earth inhabitable if we did not
have so many ideal conditions
such as the moon and, its ideal
distance from us, a balanced and
protecting atmosphere, the angle
of inclination of the earth which
permits a wider distribution of the
more direct sun rays and inhabita-
tion of the earth, and most im-
portant the natural healing powers
of the human body plus many
more. The scientific philosopher
accepts the possibility of the na-
tural powers of heredity as a
means of the everlasting. life.
With these things in mind one
can petter judge the value of the
scientific philosophy and can re-
ject those things which at first
glance may seem true, but some-
how lack acceptability.
-C. Thomas Nakkula
* * *
Sader Again
upon making woopie than follow-
ing the game.
An observant newspaper photog-
rapher noticed the situation and
edged a few of the woopie boys into
the first row of seats. He then
proceeded to photograph them-
catching several placid members
of the New York Rangers lulling
in the background. This made for
an excellent contrast and was cer-
tainly newsworthy from even the
most objective point of view.
But someone, evidently a Ranger
fan, objected. He leaped bravely
into the midst of the exuberant
spectators and then wildly wav-
ing his arms, signaled several
burly men to come to his aid.
These men, probably shareholders
in the New York franchise of the
National Hockey League, objected
to the manner in which their
team was being photographed.
They sat immediately behind the
photographer for the rest of the
game.
Eventually, on the ice, the fac-
tory owners and warmongers of
Detroit exploited the impotent fac-
ifists from New York by a score of
five goals to three.
But the air among the specta-
tors was far more bellicose. In an
atmosphere of war on earth and
ill will toward men, if not for the
resoursefullness and alert action
of several policemen, there would
have been a fight, perhaps a riot so
intense that even the Uiversity
of Michigan chapter of the Society
for Peaceful Alternatives could
have done nothing.
-E. Sterling Sader
UMW Stiike . .
To the Editor:
C WAS A little amazed. to read
Mr. Vincent Guiliano's letter in
The Daily Oct. 2. This lad has
succumbed to some slovenly think-
ing-which I'd like to point out.
He chastises Mr. Stevenson via
Mr. Truman via the Wage Stabili-
zation Board for not allowing the
whole $1.90 a day wageboost to
the United Mine Workers. First
Mr. Guiliano quotes the Detroit
Free Press that "the mine oper-
ators were more or less on the
sidelines on the issue" and then
draws an inference that "it (the
Democratic Party) has taken up
the sword for the coal operators"
and the Mellon-Morgan interests
"who own the coal mines and steel
mills." In itself a loose generality,
but for the sake of Progressive ex-
ample, let's assume this ownership
assertion correct.
. Still Mr. Guiliano has completely
failed to see and take into con-
sideration at all who is going to
pay the bill for the increase.
The econsuming public, Mr. Gu-
iliano, and that's why the coal
operators are "on the sidelines of
the issue."
If to try to acconplish wage
controls and protect the public
from an even more severe infla-
tion than we have now, is to be a
tool of the Morgan interests, what
would satisfy Mr. Guiliano?-Nc
controls-If that's what he wants
he should vote Republican. This is
not an issue in black and white-
Mr. Guiliano has indulged in the
semantics of totalitarianism and
Joe McCarthy. If you're not for me,
you're against me-and in this
case with no middle ground for
consideration of the nation's eco-
nomy.
Let's hope the Progressives have
better reason for wasting a vote
than does Mr. Guiliano.
-Robert Pick
The following is an excerpt
from Sunday's New York Times;
"After the picture had been shown
around the country a bit, during
August and September, it became
obvious to its distributors that
"The Ransom of Red Chief" was
laying, as they say in the trade,
an egg. In plain language, it was
disappointing . . . So, before the
picture had its premiere in New
York, "The Ransom of Red Chief"
was cut out. The Messrs. Allen and
Levant were dumped."
This doesn't seem to concur
with Mr. Holloway's verdict. Also,
he did not like "The Last Leaf."
Said the story was trite and pedes-
trian. Funny, the Times' critic
seemed to like it, as well as the
exhibitors.
All of which proves that The
Daily is still having trouble with
its film critics.
-Joel McKible
Halby-Liberal...
To the Editor:
WHEN I TURNED to the editor-
ial page of Thursday's Daily,
I fully expected to find the usual
drivel about the "bloody reaction-
aries" who are destroying the
country and who refuse to help
the peasants of Tambooluland
overthrow their feudal overlords.
After three years of this tripe, one
gets a little numbed by it all. But
this morning I was pleasantly sur-
prised to find that The Daily e-
tors had managed to squeeze in &
short article that seemed to be
more than the usual tempest-in-a-
teapot. It was an excerpt from an
article by Bertrand Russell on the
subject of liberalism.
Bertrand Russell said, "The es-
sence of the Liberal outlook lies
not in what opinions are held, but
in how they are held: instead of
being held dogmatically, they are
held tentatively, and with a con-
sciousness that new evidence may
at any moment lead to their aban-
donment." Those are mighty words
and they give new meaning to a
term that as been somehow cor-
rupted albeit unknowingly by the
writers on the editorial staff of
The Daily.
To Russell, the important thing
is not whether you are a leftist or
a rightist. Holding to any views is
not a crime. It is not your view that
is so important as it is the atti-
tude which underlies that view. Do
you approach the world with .an
open mind? A willingness to revise
your viewpoint to meet new facts?
Being for FEPC or against it, for
Taft or against hint--these things
are unimportant, but being scien-
tific and understanding in your
approach to modern problems--
that is important. That is liberal-
ism. Dogmatism has no part in
liberalism, whether you are dog-
matically for the Republican Par
ty or dogmatically for the Demo-
cratic Party.
Perhaps The Daily would do well
to remember this the next time
they bandy words like "liberalism"
and "reaction" around.
-William G. Halby, '55L
'Deeply Moved'...,
To the Editor:
WAS DEEPLY moved by Mr.
Neumann's impassioned plea in
behalf of Artur Balsam. No doubt
the great privilege of turning
pages for such a distinguished per-
former has temporarily distorted
Mr. Neumann's sense of values. I
was not aware that pianists com-
pete for the rank of "World's
formost Accompanist." In any
event, a careful hearing of the re-
cording of Beethoven's Violin So-
nata No. 7, played by Kreisler and
Schnabel, will show that Balsam's
performance - while adequate-
was hardly definite.
s -Persse O'Reilley
"THERE IS none of you so mean
and base,
That hath not noble lustre in
your eyes."
washed Pamela, and Edmund Gwenn an
incarnation of Christian kindness. All of
the characters are grossly overdrawn and
wholly incredible, and as a result the
story is completely unbelievable.
That the 19th century romantic novel can
be effectively made into a good movie has
been shown by the British productions of
"Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist."
Their success was due partly to better act-
ing, and partly to the conception that the
characters were essentially human. In "Les
Miserables" the impression is that the peo-
ple are meant to be romantic exaggerations;
with a story of realistic actions they be-
come exceedingly unconvincing.
--Tom Arp
* *.*
Architecture A uditorium
WILSON, in technicolor, with Alexander
Knox.
IN THIS, at least its third time around
the circuit, "Wilson" should get its first
dispassionate appraisal. When it first saw
the technicolored light in 1944 Darryl Zan-
uck's contribution to contemporary history
generally drew plaudits, but these were, al-
most drowned out in a burst of controversy
over whether it really wasn't simple pro-
Roosevelt propaganda.
Its second time around inspired almost a
repeat performance on the part of critics
who admitted that, while superb history, as
well as exciting, entertainment, "Wilson"
still carried overtones of supporting Roose-
velt's heir, who coincidentally enough, was
pursuing the presidency at the time.
This weekend's run of the epic tale of
the first World War again coincides with
a presidential race, and happily enough,
at that.
But here, we believee, the resemblance
ends for neither candidate in the current
race would seriously adopt the role of Sena-
tor Lodge in Wilson's day and this assump-
tion permits one to hope that the film will
at last be appraised on its merits, without
arousing politically-grounded Ire:
Judged on 'this basis, "Wilson" comes
out better than ever, its real values unob-.
scured by charge and equally irrelevant
countercharge. Its two-hour length, for-
midable though it may sound, almost does
justice to a man whom both candidates
would acknowledge as a titan among the
leaders of this democracy.
"Wilson" is perhaps over-simplified bio-
graphy, and too uncomplicated history, but
it is nevertheless exciting, absorbing, and
altogether human film-making.
Incidentally, it should be a pre-requisite
DORIS FLEESON:
Adlal 'In Trouble' in Own
Backyards; Illinois Pivotal
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--King Henry V
Sixty-Third Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Crawford Young.......Managing Editor
Cal 6amra...........Editorial Director
Zander Hollander. Feature Editor
Sid Klaus......... Associate City Editor
Harland Britz.......Associate Editor
Donna Hendleman..s.. Associate Editor
Ed Whipple.....,.......Sports Editor
John Jenks....,Associate Sports Editor
Dick Sewell..Associate Sports Editor,
Lorraine Butler.......Women's Editor
Mary Jane Mills, Assoc. Women's Editor
Business Staff
Al Green..............Business Manager
Milt Goets.......Advertising Manager
Diane Johnston...Assoe. Business Mgr.
Judy Loehnberg..... Finance Manager
Tom Treeger.......Circulation Manager
CHICAGO-Gov. Adlai Stevenson seems to
be in trouble in the state he carried for
Governor in 1948 with a historic plurality
of 572,000.
Chicago is Illinois to a Democrat. Unless
hopes of putting Illinois' 27 electoral votes
into a pivotal-state. jackpot.
The Stevenson headquarters privately ad-
mit they would give a good deal for a few
bosses who could really deliver in the old
Ed Flynn or Frank Hague style. They claim
,I