.. FOUR THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1952 I; BEHIND THE LINES, 0 Into the Cellar of Stupidity 1. By CAL SAMRA Daily Editorial Director FSOFAR AS it has intensified the politi- cal consciousness of millions of Ameri- cans, television has no doubt contributed im- measurably to democracy. During the GOP and Democratic conventions, TV beams brouht into hundreds of American homes a score of rascals and villains who were not, as in the movies, fictitious. And today, in the heaet of the presidential campaign, po- litical issues are being focused over some 16 m"Von TV sets around the country. But there is another side to the un- folding television story, which is just now beginning to cause concern in many circles: namely, the ridiculous diet of programs which' is being led the nation with monotonous regularity. Competitive private enterprise ordinarily results in finer products; but not so in the infant TV industry, where commercial sponsors seem to be vying with each other in whit- tling down their programs to a level commensurate with the intelligence of an U-anda ape ... ad captandum vulgus. On an average day, the television fan, like it or not, is forced to digest a motley par- ade of soap-box mammies, second-rate Bo- hemians, murderers, puppets, giggling blondes, clowns, space hawks, private-eyes, lady wrestlers, and "clever" commercials. Preponderantly, TV programming appears to be geared to appeal to a puerile mind not yet resolved out of its" oral fixation. The editor of the "Saturday Review," Norman Cousins seems to have put the case most pointedly: "Out of the wizardry of the television tube," he writes, "has come such an assault against the human mind, such a mobilized attack on the imagination, such an invasion against good taste as no other communications medius has known. "There has been mass-produced a series of plodding stereotypes and low-quality pro- grams. And behind it all, apparently is a grinding lack of imagination and original- ity which has resulted in the standardized television formula for an evening's enter- tainment: a poisoning, a variety show, a wrestling match . .. To date, the excruciating abundance of TV trash has brought protests from such groups as the American Medical Association, who are primarily concerned with possible harmful effects on the mental health of children. (According to surveys by Cunning- ham & Walsh and the NYC United Parents Association, young children are the most consistent TV viewers and watch television on an average of four hours a day.) It is rather cogently argued that tele- vision is breeding a new generation of es- capists, escaping from thinking, escaping from parental responsibility, escaping from the world of reality (to pass over the psychological aspects lightly). To be sure, a comprehensive study of the im- pact of TV on the juvenile mind is now in order and when that's completed, it would be interesting to know just how far tele- vision, as presently constituted, is drag- ging the adult population into the cellar of stupidity. Meanwhile, as a possible way out of the unhappy TV mess, it is high time for the Federal Communications Commission to pressure TV stations into setting aside more and better channels for the use of educa- tional institutions. It would seem that the televiewing public could be treated to more extensive, higher-level programs, perhaps modeled along the lines of the University's own Television Hour, which has achieved an admirable measure of popularity. MATTER OF FACT: Stevenson's Campaign Being Run by Political Amateurs rI By STEWART ALSOP SPRINGFIELD, Ill.-The more one sees of the Stevenson campaign headquarters here in Springfield, the more peculiar the whole set-up seems. Where, the visitor asks himself, are the cigar-smoking, infinitely knowledgeable citizens of Irish descent, who always abound in a Democratic political headquarters? Where are the "minorities representatives," the labor advisers, the farm specialists? Where are the glossy pub- lic relations experts? Where, finally, are the professional politicians, the. men who really know how to win elections? Instead of these conventional charac- ters in the political drama, the visitor finds a small group of energetic people who have, for the most part, never had anything whatsoever to do with practical politics. These people work very hard-- it is considered here shamefully sluggish to work less than eighteen hours. Even so, the Stevenson headquarters has a lit- tle of the air of a congenial house party, made up of pleasant people who have known each other for a long time. Both this unconventional character of the Stevenson headquarters and the loca- tion of the headquarters here in Springfield, of course, reflect a bold and carefully cal- culated decision by Stevenson himself. He wanted, first, to divorce his campaign from "the mess in Washington." And he wanted, second, to give his campaign an un-bossed and un-political coloration. There are certain obvious disadvantages in this course Stevenson has adopted. In the first place, the relations between Spring- field and the Democratic National Commit- tee in Washington are both tenuous and dis- tinctly strained. A good many Stevenson staffers here are inclined to mutter that L &Saboteur By K. L. RYAN AP Foreign News Analyst HERE HAS BEEN an inclination among people in the West-particularly those in officialdom-to shrug off the Moscow at- ta-ks on "bourgeois nationalists" and on shies and saboteurs within the Soviet Un- ion. The reaction has been that these at- tacks were nothing more than a means of' dangling phantoms before the workers to keen them producing. Bt- these blasts now deserve a long second look. Above all, in the Soviet V'-4main, the violence of the denunciations htnfs there is more to this than just cry- rm"wolf!" "'ourgeois nationalism," a pet bogey of p"cw, is a sin that can happen only out- se Great Russia. In the 15 other Soviet r -lb~lcs, it is a serious offense to forget fr" a moment that the Great Russians are t,-" p-ip^sters of all the Soviet Union. Along with "bourgeois nationalism," the V -nin's organs of education and enlight- e-?nt also are discovering spies, saboteurs cr° 'ents of the American imperialists. Democratic Chairman Stephen Mitchell has been one of Stevenson's most serious mis- takes, and no doubt the attitude of Wash- ington to Springfield is equally acid. This kind'of friction is inevitable, where author- ity is divided geographically and in other ways. Even here in Springfield the lines of authority are blurred. It is not clear just who° Is3 rttnliing what. Stevenson's cam- paign manager, Wilson Wyatt, officially stands just below the candidate in the Springfield hierarchy. Actually, Wyatt concerns himself largely with the me- chanics of the campaign, finance, sche- duling, and the like. The man who really has the most influence here is Stevenson's administrative assistant and alter ego, Carl MacGowan. MacGowan seems des- tined for the role of a Colonel House or a Louis Howe in the next Administration, if Stevenson is elected. These men and others have various rather vague special assignments, but their real function is to act as a corps of idea men. When Stevenson returns here periodically from his forays anong the voters, he has long discussions with them, and reads the first drafts of speeches they have prepared for him, but, his aides all insist, Stevenson not only writes all the final draft of his speeches, but he makes all the important decisions-and some unimportant ones-..- himself. Stevenson has thus dealt with the prob- lems of divided authority by assuming all final authority himself. This does not meaen that his staff here has no influ- ence on his strategy. Indeed, his Spring- field staff has with some difficulty per- suaded Stevenson to change his mind on at least three important points-repeal of Taft-Hartley, civil rights (on which Stevenson at first wanted to maintain a middle position) and, more recently, the disclosure of the details of his Illinois fund. But the fact remains that Steven- son is verey much master in his own house. The second problem arising out of Stev- enson's decision to locate his campaign headquarters in Springfield and staff it with amateurs, remains ungolved however. There is literally no one here, or in Wash- ington for that matter, who really talks the language of the professional politician. Aside from Stevenson himself, there is no one with prestige, the authority, or the po- litical background necessary to assuage the vanity of the professionals; to give them a sense of personal participation in the cam- paign; and to reassure them about their own future. The Stevenson advisers themselves are given to exclaiming dolefully, "What we really need is another Jim Farley." The obvious choice for this role - Chicago Democratic leader Jacob Arvey -- is ac- counted a political liability, and he has been kept carefully at arm's length. So have all other potential Farleys. Meanwhile, the able amateurs in Spring- field seem a little withdrawn from the poli- tical mainstream, and even a little bewild- On Rushing NOTES TO THE RUSHEE ALONG WITH MORE than 700 others, you have been making the rounds of 44 fraternity open houses. By now you've had a glimpse of "fraternity life" in a variety of houses, and you have undoubtedly been making a series of comparisons between dif- ferent fraternities as well as the fraternity and dormitory systems in general. Next week when you begin attending dinners at the various houses, the advan- tages of fraternity cookery over the Quad menu will be apparent. Equally obvious are the improved housing facilities offer- ed by fraternities. A fraternity house is built like a home-it has a living room, in- stead of a lounge; study rooms and sep- arate sleeping rooms, dining rooms, not cafeteria lines-in short a homelike rather than a hotel-like atmosphere. However, it would be superficial to judge fraternities and dormitories by merely study- ing their food and housing facilities. Cer- tainly the most important factor should be the men you choose to live with. In a dor- mitory you get acquainted with a good many people, but you probably will make few last- ing friendships because the dorms have a fairly high resident turn-over rate. On the other hand, a fraternity "brother" is just that-a life time friend, rather than a casual acquaintance. Thus it is very important to choose the fraternity which has the type of men with whom you would like to be associated throughout life. Your choice is no small mat- ter-it will be one of the most significant decisions in your life. Companionship is the essence of the fraternity system. The feeling of unity within a group lasts a lifetime. During your undergraduate days, you will enjoy the seranades, bull sessions, bridge parties, Arb parties and other social gatherings which affiliated men find part of their campus life. After graduation you will re- turn for football games and Homecoming when old friends gather on campus. You will have several weeks to get to know the men in the houses you are rushing. Don't worry about which group has the big- gest house-if the members are not too in- terested in working together, the house will be in bad shape within a few years. And don't be too concerned with a house's loca- tion, or whether all the members have white bucks. Instead, try to find out about house acti- vities. They will give you an idea of how well members get along. Find out how they stand scholastically and how active they are in intramural sports. See if the individual members are interested enough in the cam- pus to work on extra-curricular activities. , Of course, you have heard of fraternities being charged with immaturity and callous- ness. Bear in mind, however, that fraterni- ties are constantly working for their own improvement. Hell Week has turned into Help Week at most houses, and pledges par- ticipate in community projects. The 14 groups with bias clauses are, on the whole, working through their national fraternity head- quarters and the local Intrafraternity Coun- cil to eliminate this discrimination. Fraternities are interested in working toward common goals, as seen in the newly proposed system of cooperative buying. In short, the Greeks are meeting their responsibility with increasing intelligence and maturity. Finally, remember that if you have any questions about rushing our individual groups, the Intrafraternity Council rushing counselors will be glad to help you. -Harry Lunn -Eric Vetter -Gene Hartwig DORIS FLEESON: Ike and Dick WASHINGTON-For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, Sen. Richard Nixon has become a national figure as a result of the furor over his privately endowed, tax- free expense account. Questions of Republican-which may be American-policy arise out of the new bal- ance in the relations between the two men. So do questions of their personal association. The first reports from the Nixon camp are not very encouraging. In a dispatch to the Wall Street Journal from the Nixon take-off at Missoula, Mont., reporter Wil- liam Clark wrote that the struggle between the two candidates already had begun. His major points: 1-Senator Nixon's decision to proceed to Missoula, before hearing from General Eis- enhower, was a gesture of independence. When announcing the flight, the Nixon press agent had in his hand Ike's telegram ask- ing his running mate to "fly to see me at once." 2-The senator is convinced of his na- tional stature. His aides were telling him that "Ike must from this moment on nego- tiate . . . . not as a commander deploying a foot soldier, but as a General treating *ith a valuable ally." A Nixon aide is quoted by Mr. Clark as saying to Nixon before the Montana take-off; "You're not a G.I. in this war. You're not going there to be cross- examined an yfurther." 3-The Nixon managers are further described as "making acid comments about the way Mr. Eisenhower had dealt with #=Ft33Loewp. "He's Sure Making Use Of The Barrels, Anyhow" L n ~ j i M0 I t f i 0 a x 4 27 C v c t t g Death of a Tradition ... To the Editor: HAVE been waiting anxiously for the Daily editors and re- porters to note the passing into oblivian of a great Michigan tradi- tion during the summer months. 'he great block "M," around which generations of exam-bound Michigan students carefully walked, has been quietly removed from the middle of the Diag. In its place we have a vast expanse of concrete, soon to be converted, according to rumor, into a new parking lot. I had hoped that The Daily would, in its own inimitable way, make this it's "great crusade" this Fall. Every student leader and stu- dent organization interested in de- veloping "Michigan Spirit" on campus should be aroused. Isn't this another sign of administra- tion thoughtlessness and disre- gard of the students and the tra- ditions which really make this a great University? The least the Daily should do is to give this tradition a decent obit- uary. When was the "M" installed? How did the tradition grow up? And, most important of all, how and by whom was it killed? --Jack Hale, Grad Charles Hewitt, Grad * * * Garbling Facts .. . To The Editor: THE ARTICLE presenting "The Case for the Republicans" con- tains at least one serious misstate- ment of fact. It arose, innocently no doubt, from unguardedly re- peating General Eisenhower's ac- cusation that Secretary Acheson, in a speech of January 12, 1950, excluded Korea from the "defens- ive perimeter" of the United States, so inviting the North Ko- rean aggression. Mr. Acheson exposes this mis- representation, in a statement carried in full by the "New York Times" of Sept. 27. He points out that two areas were defined: one, an area, including Japan, the Ry- ukyus, and the Philippines, which we would defent "just as we would our continental area"; the other, an area, including the Asiatic mainland, which we would defend jointly with the nations involved and the United Nationsfi I quote from Secretary Acheson's state- ment: "The general or those upon whom he relied dealt with my spe- cific statement on these other areas by cutting it out from be- tween tow other sentences they quoted to make their point. "Here is what I said about the other areas of Asia: 'Should such an attack occur-one hesitates to say where such an armed attack could come from-the initial re- liance must be on the people at- tacked to resist it and then upon the commitments of the entire civ- ilized world under the Charter of the United Nations which so far has not proved a weak reed to lean on by any people who are deter- mined to protect their independ- ence against outside aggression.' "That was the warning which I gave in January 1950. "That was the warning which the aggressor disregarded. "That was the warning which the United States and its allies of the United Nations backed up with deeds. "General Eisenhower's combina- tion of paraphrase and quotations left out that warning and thus en- abled him to go ahead and dis- cuss the Korean situation just as if no such utterance had occurred and as if. his own Government rather than the aggressor bore the guilt for Korea's tragedy." Such garbling of the facts could not have been other than inten- tional on the part of the advisers who prepared the general's speech. It is to behoped, I suppose, that the general delivered the speech in all ignorance, rather than in mal- ice. -Arthur J. Carr Department of English "I LIKE man, but not men." --Emerson WASHINGTON-In 1946 when this columnist exposed the stock market manipulations of Senator Elmer Thomas, Democrat of Oklahoma, I suggested to Senator Wayne Morse, Republican of Ore- t gon, that he introduce legislation requiring every member of Con-n gress to file with the securities and exchange commission a state-n ment of his gifts, stocks, bonds, commodities and the clients of hisp law firm.c Senator Morse, a Republican, introducedsuch legislation. Then only other senator who strongly favored such a move was Senatore Glen Taylor of Idaho, a Democrat, and he put his name on the bill as co-sponsor.r Though I talked to several other senators who expressed sympathy, none except Aiken of Vermont and Sparkman of Alabama were will-r ing to support the bill.c The bill, I regret to say, did not pass.' I still believe that such a bill should be passed-together with an t increase in congressmen's salaries. I also believe that every candidatea for president and vice-president should make available to the public his income, net worth, nature of his property, gifts, etc., and to that end I shall in future columns attempt to diagnose the financial backgrounds of General Eisenhower and Governor Stevenson; Sena- tor Sparkman and Senator Nixon. NIXON'S LAW FIRM IT WOULD BE much better from the public's point of view to have the financial background of all four candidates scrutinized by- either a Senate committee or an impartial, non-partisan group.- Sen- ator Nixon in his telecast report to the nation suggested that Steven-Y son and Sparkman should subject themselves to financial examination, which is a good idea. But he omitted Eisenhower. He also reported on his own financial affairs. But a report by one man about himself is a lot different from a Senate investi- gation, and, unfortunately, Senator Nixon omitted certain factss about his senatorial career which may have a bearing on his fi- nances.t For instance, Nixon's law partner, Thomas Bewley, happens to be secretary of an interesting $12,000,000 company which plans to build seamless pipe in California, the Western Tube Corp. The man reallyr behind this corporation is a Roumanian, Nicola Malaxa, regardingT whom there has been considerable controversy as to whether he is pro-Communist. The reason for this suspicion is that Congressman Keating of News York, a Republican, and Congressman Walter of Pennsylvania, a Dem- ocrat, both have objected vigorously to letting Malaxa reside per-' manently in the U.S. It has been point out during this controversy, that Malaxa enjoyed excellent relations with the Communists after the Soviet occupied Roumania, and was one of the few industrialists who got the Soviet to return three of his factories, seized under a previous Roumanian regime. The Communist Government, is was charged, even paid him half a million dollars for the profits he could have made during the period these factories were taken from him. It was also charged that Malaxa sent jewelry to Ana Pauker, former Communist boss of Roumania, and finally was able to get $2,400,000 out of Roumania. NIXON INTERCEDES THIS YEAR, however, Senator Nixon interceded for Malaxa, and through his friend Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada and his friend Congressman Pat Hillings of California who took Nixon's place in Congress, Malaxa's name was placed on a bill giving him permanent residence in the U.S. and urged for passage. The bill passed the Senate, but when it got to the House of Representatives, Congressmen Walter and Keating struck off Malaxa's name, though Hillings of California did his best to rein- state it. As far as the human aspects, of the case are concerned, I believe Nixon was right. Malaxa got caught in a cross-fire of controversy between different Roumanian groups, and is paying the penalty. However, the interesting thing is whether Senator Nixon, who has been very suspicious of anyone who associated with Com- munists, was influenced by charity or by other motives. Why did he goso far in trying to help Malaxa? The answer could be that Malaxa was smart in getting Nixon's former law firm into the picture. Not only is the former Nixon firm attorney for Malaxa and his steel company in Whittier, California, but one law partner, Bewley, is secretary of the company, while Nixon has done an important favor for the firm in a federal tax case. TAX REDUCTION ON MAY 16, 1952, Malaxa's company applied to the National Pro- duction Authority for a certificate of necessity to build the steam- less tube factory in which Nixon's former law partner is an officer. A certificate of necessity shows that the plant is so important to the defense of the nation that he company can get its depreciation allow- ances increased, and thus write off the cost of the plant in five years or so. However, the National Production Authority apparently did not think Malaxa's western tube corporation was too essential to the defense, because no tax reduction certificate was granted. At this point, however, Senator Nixon, whose former law partner was involved, got busy. He wrote a letter to Manly Fleischmann, NPA r,. JettePJ 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. 4 .t 4 DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETINj (Continued from Page 2) gy, and sociology. 7:30 p.m., 170 Busi-( ness Administration Building. Sixteen weeks, $18.] Graduate Students who are or will be working for the Ph.D. degree. Dr. Hirsch, Hootkins, Language Examiner for the Ph.D. degree will discuss the methods and procedures surrounding the lan- guage requirement for the Ph.D. de- gree, Sept. 30,,8 p.m., Rackham Amphi- theatre. Department of Mathematics eminars. The following seminars have Teen ar- ranged in the Department of Matke- matics: Analysis, Kaplin-3:15 Tues., 3214 AH Applied Mathematics, Churchill--4:00, Thurs., 247 WE Class Field Theory, Tornheim-2:30 Mon., 3214 AR Extremal Methods in Complex Vari- ables, Reade-3:00, Mon., 279 WE Geometry, Lefsenring-4:30 Wed., 3001 AH Hilbert Spaces, Rothe.-Those inter- ested should get in touch with Mr. Rothe. Integration in Abstract Spaces, Hilde- brandt-3:00, Thurs., 3217 AH Logic & Foundations, Harary - 3:00, rues., 3001 AH Order Types, Dushnik-3:15, Mon., 274 W E Orientation Seminar, Rainich - 3:00 Wed., 3001 AH Representation of Classical Groups, Thrall-1:30 Thurs., 3218 AH Statistics-Organization meeting Tues., Sept. 30, 12:00, 3020 AH Topology, Wilder-3:00, Wed., 3217 AH Topological Methods in Analysis, Young-4:00, Thurs., 3217 AH Three Dimensional Point Set Theory, Mois-2:00 Wed., 3217 AH Theory of Games, Copeland-Time of first meeting to be announced. Exhibits Hokusai School Drawings. Sept. 30 through Oct. 26, Mueseum of Art, Alum- ni Memorial Rail. Weekdays, 9-5; Sun- days, 2-5. The public is welcome. Events Today Young Progressives. Organizational meeting, 8 p.m., Michigan Union. W. E. B. DuBois, "Peace Can Be Won." Christian Science Organization: Tes- timonial meeting, 7:30 p.m., Upper Room, Lane Hall. Le Cercle Francais will meet at 8 p.m. in the Michigan Room of the League. Refreshments will be served. Ballet Club. Organizational meeting 7:30 p.m., Barbour Gym Dance Studio. All men and women students inter- ested are cordially invited. MIMES of the Michigan Union Op- era. Business meeting. 7:30 p.m., Room 3G, Union. Students for Demorcatic Action. Meeting 7:30 p.m., Union. Plans for the election campaign and post-election plans will be discussed and formulat- ed. Deutscher Verein. First meeting, 7:30 The Society of Automotive Engineer- ing invites you to hear William Bogan, Chief Engineer of Dodge Division of Chrysler Motors Corporation, tell about his work and problems as an automo- tive chief engineer, at 7:30 p.m., 229 West Engineering Building. The Soci- ety also offers Engineers an opporturda ty to join their Student Branch. Square Dance Group meets at Lane Hal. Special instruction, 7:60-7:30 p.m. All interested students welcome. Coming Events English Journal Club will meet Wed., Oct. 1, 8 p.m. Clements Library. Messrs. Calvin Lane and Colton Storm will address the Club. Graduate students in English are urged to attend. The Hillel Social Committee will hold its first meeting of the year on Wed., Oct. 1st, at 4 p.m., Hillel Fodn- dation. All interested are invited to at- tend. If you cannot come, but are in- terested, please leave your name at the Hillel offiae. Hillel News organizational meeting, Oct. 2, 4 p.m. at 1429 Hill. Positions are open for writers, photographers, and other staff members. All those, inter- ested are invited to attend. Hillel Publicity Committee organiza- tional meeting. Oct. 1 at 4:00 at 1429 Hill. All those who are interested are invited to attend. Roger Williams Guild. Mid-week Chat, Wed., Oct. 1, 4:30-:45, First Baptist Church. Roger Williams Guild. World Under- standing Institute., Wed., Oct. 1, 7 p.m., Chapman Room, First Baptist Church. "The Country and People of Africa," Prof. Horace Miner. CSixty-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 Samra.........Editorial Director Zander Hollander .....Feature Editor Sid Klaus.......Associate City Editor Harland Brits.........Associate Editor Donna Hendleman ....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 Goetz .......Advertising Manager Diane Johnston .. .Assoc. Business Mgr. Judy Loehnberg..... Finance Manager Tom Treeger ._. Circulation Manager ' 1, J