9
SUNDAY, JANUARY _10, 1954,
PAGE FOUR
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
',i
STATE OF THE UNION:
Eisenhower's Speech-Two Commentaries
Citizenship Revocation
IN HIS State of the Union address Thurs-
day, President Eisenhower recommended
"that Congress enact legislation to provide
that a citizen of the United States who is
convicted in the courts of hereafter con-
spiring to advocate the overthrow of this
government by force or violence be treated
as having, by such act, renounced his al-
legiance to the United States and forfeited.
his United States citizenship."
Public opinion, reflected in telegrams
and letters to the White House, has since
supported and approved the President's
suggestion. If grass roots pressure con-
tinues in the same direction, it would be
something less than surprising if Congress
did proceed to pass such legislation.
No unusual precedent would be set if such
a law were put into effect. There now exists
a statute that forfeits the citizenship of any-
one convicted of treason or of bearing arms
to overthrow the government. Conviction by
court-martial also entails loss of citizenship.
Although Congress' power to remove citi-
zenship by legislation has never been con-
stitutionally questioned, it seems reasonable
to assume that such power would be up-
held. Any organization has the right to
determine the qualifications for member-
ship in it, and the people of the United
States, acting through their duly elected
representatives should be no exception.
Whether any particular criterion set up is
a good one, or at least harmless, is another
matter.
The Constitution makes little mention
of citizenship. Although the 14th Amend-
ment defines citizens as "all persons born
or naturalized in the United States and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof," the
Bill of Rights is not limited 'tocitizens,
but includes "any person." The only other
instance in which the Constitution con-
cerns itself with citizenship is in listing
it as a prerequisite for public office.
In enumerating the powers of Congress,
the Supreme Law of the Land fails to in-
clude anything regarding citizenship. It
would seem, however, that citizenship regu-
lations are included in Congress' implied
powers. And, in face of existing legislation
on the subject, this proposed law would
hardly be termed unconstitutional. Besides,
loss of citizenship seems to entail so little
loss that no one would be inclined to dis-
pute it on that count. But a law's consti-
tutionality does not prove its wisdom.
Since the extent of loss in losing one's
citizenship is liability to deportation, only
those who have been naturalized should be
affected. Citizens born in the United States
might find themselves hard put to choose
the nation to which they would least dislike
being deported.
And it is hard to conceive of any cri-
terion by which the government would
decide where to deport a born citizen,
unless his ethnic background is unusually
singular. " The impossibility for positive
action in such a situation indicates an
absence of effectiveness in a citizenship
law of this type which tends to disprove
its wisdom.
A further lack of effectiveness is revealed
in its inapplicability. The President ex-
pressly denoted those "convicted in the
courts" as the conspirators to lose their
citizenship. The number of such people
is distinctly small, and so would be the
number to which the law would apply.
When a law becomes ineffective, it also be-
comes extremely susceptible to the abuse
of it necessary to correct its impotency.
Therein lies the lack of wisdom is this
proposed legislation. Despite a past will-
ingness to do so, unwise laws should never
be passed.
18-Year-Old Vote
PRESIDENT EISENHOWER'S plan to al-
low 18-year-olds to vote in national elec-
tions is a proposal long over-due. Many
legislators on both state and national levels
have advocated extending suffrage to 18-
year-olds, but the staements always 'seem
to have the resounding ring of empty politi-
cal promises and are never acted upon.
Even the President's proposal has already
been met with such strong objections from
his own party and the Opposition, that
passage of it seems nearly impossible at
this time.
The old adage, however, that a person
old enough to fight for his country is old
enough to participate in its elections,
though time worn, is still true. Even if
the nation does not choose to draft men
for services until the age of 19, .it is still
a person's right to participate in govern-
ment policy-formation-to the extent of
his one vote-before he is sent abroad to
fight and perhaps die for his country.
Far more important in the long-range
sense, however, is that extension of suffrage
will l'elp maintain the civic-mindedness of
those high-school graduates who never go
to college. At the present time this large
group, after three years out of school, does
not have the incentive to get out and vote
that they would have if just out of high
school, with courses directed toward the re-
sponsibilities of citizenship still fresh in
DR.P
WHERE IS ROSERSHOLM?
YOU WON'T FIND a simple answer. It's
been rumored that Rosmersholm, the last
piece of the Arts Theater's Fall season, is a
"timely" play; indeed, the playbill refers to
the set's "contemporary locale." But where,
one asks, are the strategic parallels? Not in
the issues as issues, surely, for women have
their emancipation to do with as they will
in the seats of prestige and power: have we
not Clare Luce? Are those who might be
termed reactionaries seriously threatened by
brilliant young radicals, apostles of, revo-
lution who shall lead an awakened proletar-
iat to freedom? It's patent today that the
militant "radical" who accepts the defini-
tion of progress from the only authoritative
source is brutally deluded and contradicted
by the dicta of the monolithic totalitarian
state; and as for radicals who hold to radi-
calism circa 1887, which is this play's date,
why, they're the very "infantile left" scorned
by Lenin, who don't know they are no long-
er even in history, in the dialectical sense
of the word. No, the aristocrat Roosevelts
lead the "people's party," while the peasant,
J. Djugashvili, builds himself a state; even
Republican Eisenhower wants 18-year-olds
to vote. In short, politics, or society, in Ib-
sen are not timely, merely ironic.
All this, and more, lies behind Rosmer.
sholm, a play so crammed with irony that
I can't begin to untangle it here, whether
it's Ibsen, or a result of this interpretation.
Let me mention an irony arising from the
latter. Bernard Tone as Prof. Kroll gives
a magnificent performance: for the con-
servative voice he picks a Dixie accent, Mr.
Byrnes' of Carolina, say. But Byrnes we
know is fanatically wrongheaded every
way, while Kroll is, for what he is, human-
ly right. So is the servant, Mrs. Helseth,
another Southerner. However, John Ros-
mer, played by Gerry Richards, the ideal-
ist scion of the family, might well have
been poor Clifford Pyncheon of Seven Ga-
bles, the Puritans' heir, so uncertain or in-
nocent of direction was his acting.He
could have shown the terrific power of
righteous innocence which was Rosmer's in
the script, had it been seen first by the
director. When he was Christy Mahon last
year, Richards caught this power. He is
mind. The assumption is made and well
borne out in fact, that young first voters
retun to the polls in subsequent elections
in far larger percentages than older non-
voters go to the polls for their first time.
Opponents of the proposal argue that 18-
year-olds have not enough education, exper-
ience and maturity to cast a vote intelligent-
ly. An even cursory comparison between the
18-year-old of today and the 21-year-old
of 150 years ago, however, reveals that to-
day's youth is capable of more informed
voting than ever before.
The advent of radio and television, the
increased distribution of newspapers, the
betterment of quick communications
throughout the nation, have enabled to-
day's youth to be far more aware of
political activity than any previous gen-
eration of youth. At 18 they are just as
well prepared to vote as they are at the
arbitrary age of 21, they have usually
finished their formal schooling and are
about to take on the social and economic
responsibilities of living. They should also
be allowed to accept their political respon-
sibilities and rights. If, in the past, they
have accepted seemingly no responsibility
it is because they have not been allowed
to do so.
In spite of opposition, President Eisenhow-
er should not let his proposal become an-
other statement in the long list of empty
political promises to 18-year-olds.
-Dorothy Myers
MA
not Rosmer because Miss Roberts, as Re-
becca West, gives him no chance to love
her passionately.
This is the crux. All the people in Rosmer-
sholm are wrong for the right reasons,
which is tragedy's source, except Rebecca,
who is right for wrong reasons. In Ibsen's
drama a character's brand of morality
doesn't matter much, even to the other char-
acters, so long as he can humanly sustain it
in passion, joy, hate, or politics. But Rebecca,
for all her caboodle of new ideas, is im-
potent. This is revealed gradually in the
play (cf. also Freud's Collected Works, Vol.
IV), but not by Miss Roberts, who is miser-
ably ignorant of who or what Rebecca is.
A tortured, clever, passionate woman does
not mumble in monotone, or hold her face
a stolid mask, in art or life.
It takes some knowledge and imagination
to stage Ibsen today. This is a fascinating
play, it has insight into a situation which
doesn't need current events to flesh it. It is
worth seeing even in a poor reading. (Who
can blame the simple people in the audi-
ence who laughed at key lines in the sad
climax?) So I commend Rosmersholm to you
for Mr. Tone's sake, who reazed his part,
as well as for the play's. And, I hope we
agree to remind the Arts Theater that the
play's the thing after all, and not to forget
that to discover what it is comes first.
-Jascha Kessler
New Books at Library
Bruce, James-Those Perplexing Argen-
tines: New York; Longmans, Green and Co.
1953
"Well, We Got Back Most Of That Missing
$160,000..--- .
kO41 M S.1'QOV4 P0g M.
Xette' TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters or
general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the .writer
and in good taste. Letters exceeding '300 words in length, defmatory or
libelous letters, and letters which for any reason are not in good taste wiU
be condensed, edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the
editors.
1*
Clarification *
To the Editor:
THIS IS TO clarify my state-
ment in yesterday's paper.-
When I said "quite a few people at
Wednesday's meeting did know
what was going on and realized
the Thanksgiving Holiday wouldk
be cut." I also said that "manyj
other legislators felt that an addi-,
tional day could be taken fromi
another part of the school year to
make up for this. Hence we still
could have our four day Thanks-,
giving vacation plus a dead per-
iod before exams."
--Larry Levine
* * *
Citizenship Rem~oval.. .
To the Editor:
THE MOST significant aspect of
the State of the Union address
by Mr. Eisenhower was the Con-
gressional reaction caused by his;
request for removal of citizenship '
from convicted subversives.
A denial of citizenship to any J
American should be looked upon, 1
at best, as a necessary evil. How-
ever, the reaction of Congress wasl
hardly regretting. On the contrary,?
the legislators were overwhelmed1
with joy.a
The President is indeed naive if'
he thinks the removal of citizen- l
ship from Communists is all that,
Congress and the American people l
want. It is the public guillotine
they want; and the heads of those3
identified, in any way, with the
Communist conspirators.,
Yet, there is also an increasing
tendency in this country to iden-
tify "liberalism" with Communism.
In view of these facts, can any1
"liberal" still receive pleasure in
politics?j
able serenity of mind and control
of the emoncns. Jite refreshing
also was the frank interchange of
ideas and opinions among men
apparently devoid of the multiple
fears and inhibitions which beset
our people. Lack of communication
between men (one of the tragic
facts of this era of bad feeling and
suspicion in the U.S.A.) was no
where in evidence in Quebec, even
in public places, such as hotels, res-
taurants, etc. In so far as I could
inform myself, institutions of
learning throughout the Domin-
ion. intellectuals, former govern-
ment officials, and all the church-
es enjoy the confidence and res-
pect of both government authori-
ties and the population.
As for the notable difference in
mental attitudes and emotional
reflexes, there may be two impor-
tant contributingycauses. In the
first place, the tone of the Quebec
and Montreal press seems to be far
more moderate-less inclined to
frighten or infuriate the reader
than the high-pitched, and some-
times squeaky, voice of our one-
party press, which for the most
part (there are exceptions) spec-
ializes in scare-headlines; More-
over, the fear of communism is not
used as a weapon to discredit a
political party which the majority
of the commercial press has op-
posed for several decades.
A second factor in the afore-
mentioned variation of mental at
titudes might reside in the differ-
ence of investigating procedures.
In Canada a single committee, the
Royal Commission, conducts all
inquiries into possible treasonable
behavior. No publicity concerning
suspects may be communicated to
the public until irrefutable proof
of guilt has been adduced.
-Antoine J. Jobtn
Debt Ceiling,
To the Editor:
ALTHOUGH ONE could never
tell it from the tone of her
writing, we must face the scarcely
believable fact that Dorothy My-
ers is not omniscient. In Wednes-
day's "Daily" she writes: "Secre-
tary Humphrey will try to get the
75 Billion dollar debt limit hiked
. ."..In Thursday's paper she
again speaks of "the present debt
ceiling of 75 billion dollars." If
Miss Myers took a little more care
with her Political Science notes
she would know that the present
debt ceiling is 275 billion dollars.
-Dave Kornbluh
7'
-r
i
WASHINGTON-Beauteous Clare Boothe Luce, the U.S. Ambassa-j
dore the Italians didn't want, has two things uppermost in her
mind now that she -is back in the U.S.A.
First-she wants to alert the State Department to the
growing menace of Communism in Italy; second-she's "dying
to get some rest."
A few hours after her arrival, Mrs. Luce hurried to Washington
for top-level conferences with Secretary of State Dulles and other
high officials, including Dulles' brother, Allen, boss of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
Behind closed doors, Ambassador Luce told Washington officials
that her chief worry about Italy is "the continuing" strength of the;
'
,
-B
*
Quebec..,.
ernie Backhaut
* *
x
--Jim Dygert
Communists and "the apathy of the Italians" to the menace in
their midst.
"The Italian people simply don't understand the triue meaning
of Communism and what it will do to Italy," she told Dulles.
"One of our chief jobs as I see it," she said, "is to get across to
the Italians what Communism and Communist imperialism will
actually mean to them if it ever gains the upper hand."
Agreeing with the Ambassador, one of Dulles' aides commented
that the Italians look upon Communism as "part of the political
game" and not a ruthless, anti-religious dictatorship. To illustrate
his point, the aide noted that many Italian Catholics leave Rome
early in the morning to attend mass and then on election day vote
for the Communists.
"That's not Communist conviction, that's total confusion," said
a member of the small group.
During the discussion,.mention was made that the Communists
were spending an estimated $100,000,000 per year on propaganda in
Italy while the United States spent about the same amount for the
entire world, including China, all Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The effectiveness of Red propaganda was illustrated by last
year's elections in which the Communists, plus their cohorts, the
Nenni Socialists, totaled 35 per cent of the vote.
Note-Mrs. Luce timed her return to coincide with the traditional
Christmas lull in Italian politics, but her timing was slightly off.
On the day before. the President threw a big luncheon in her honor,
Premier Pella resigned, throwing Italy into more or less the political
predicament Mrs. Luce had predicted.
ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY
THE HISTORIC and much-debated St. Lawrence waterway, first
proposed by Herbert Hoover more than 20 years ago, and sup-
ported by every President since, is now the No. 1 item on the
Congressional calendar. And a secret poll shows it has the best
chance yet of passing.
However, Sen. Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, leader of the
fight for the seaway, slipped around to see Sen. Homer Ferguson
of Michigan, chairman of the GOP Policy Committee, recently
and, asked him to postpone Seaway debate until February 1
Inside reason is that the U.S. Court of Appeals will rule February
1 on the legality of the license that has been granted by New York
state to build a joint Canadian-American hydroelectric project in
connection with the seaway.
The railroads have challenged this, but Senator Wiley expects
the court of appeals to rule against the railroads, which should
strengthen his position and help insure passage of the bill. If Wiley
can get the bill through the Senate, however, the seaway will have
tough sledding in the House, though Ike can push it through if he
wants to crack the whip. (So far Ike has been loath to do much
whip-cracking.) .
Meanwhile, Sen. Butler of Maryland, the man the other Wisconsin
Senator elected to the U.S. Senate, has threatened to filibuster
against the seaway. Butler, however, is not considered a formidable
filibusterer.
SENATOR-PROFESSOR
SEN. PAUL DOUGLAS, the University of Chicago economics pro-
fessor who enlisted in the Marines at the age of 50 and was
wounded at Okinawa, has a unique approach to politics.
Informed the other day that Clarence Randall, head of
Inland Steel and a Republican, would not run against him forj
the Senate, Douglas remarked:
"That's too bad. He's able and sincere. He would have been a
harder man to beat than some, but would have made a good Senator."
The funny thing was that Douglas was not talking for quotation,
he really meant it.
The Quaker Senator from Illinois has now definitely decided to
run for re-election himself, despite the announced intention of the
Republicans to throw everything they have-including Senator Mc-
Carthy-into the state to beat him.
Their biggest problems are going to be: 1, the business slump
in some parts of Illinois; and 2, the fact that Douglas was the
Democrats' foremost economizer. He began to chop down the
budget long before Ike and this has won him a 'lot of Illinois
Republican support.
Last summer Douglas toured almost every Illinois county, found
conditions in the farm areas better than in the industrial areas, where
farm-machinery manufacturers around Moline, Rock Island, Chicago
have been working part time.
"There's not a recession in those areas," Douglas reported.
"There's a depression."
Douglas, who once taught economics at Amherst, the University
of Washington nd the TTniversit of Chie2o also cites New York
I DAILY OFFICIAL, BULLETIN
Eca de Queiroz-Cousin Bazilio;
York; Noonday Press, 1953
New
A Pre-Examn
Request
UNIVERSITY faculty members have of-
ten criticized students for being more
interested in attaining grade-point averages
than in learning subject matter. This po-
sition is not entirely unfounded, for the
attitude of students that grades are all-
important is a common one.
But in part faculty members are to be
blamed for the stress on grades. Each
year during final exam time this situa-
tion becomes particularly noticeable. The
students take three-hour finals, receive
postcards and transcripts recording their
grades, and thus are able to tell either
that they did very well, fairly well or
poorly on the examination. But in no way
are students able to tell on what part of
an exam they did especially well or failed
to do well at all. Marks provide the only
evidence of progress or failure, and thus
interest is directed toward grades and not
what has or has not been learned.
The old adage that "one can profit by
mistakes" cannot be disregarded; psycholo-
gists have found that when people examine
things they have missed on tests, they are
likely to recall these things more vividly
than things they have answered correctly.
Keeping this in mind, it would seem profit-
able to the entire education system to let
To the Editor:
MAY I CONVEY some impres-
sions derived from a recent
sojourn in Quebec? Incredible as
it may seeib, in view of the proxi-
mity of that city to the United
States border, the Americak visi-
tor finds himself in an atmosphere
entirely different from the one he
has just left. This fervently Cath-
olic stronghold does not appear to
have been afflicted as yet by the
obsession which is wreaking such
havoc upon our national character
and morale. It is interesting and
comforting to note that a people
can be strongly opposed to an
ideology, and still retain a remark-
0
Farrell, James T.-Face of Time; New
York; Vanguard Press, 1953
Lasswell, Mary--Tooner Schooner: Bos-
ton; Houghton Mifflin Co., 1953
Olsen, Oluf Reed-Two Eggs on My Plate:
Chicago; Rand McNally and Co., 1953
Van Doren, Mark-Nobody Say a Word:
New York; Henry Holt & Co., 1953
(Continued from Page 2)
Hillel: 5 p.m.-Hillel Chorus.
6 p.m.-Supper Club: featuring corn-
ed beef sandwiches, noodle soup, potato
chips, a vegetable, and tea.
G-aduate Outing Club meets at 2
p.m. at the rear of the Rackham Build-
ing. There will be a cross-country hike
followed by supper at Rackham. Those
who have cars are urged to bring them
to help with transportation to the
country.
Coming Events
Badminton Club. There will be no
meeting of the badminton club until
next semester. The date of that meet-
ing will be posted in the D.O.B..
Michigan Actuarial Club. Mr. Charles
Spoerl, Assistant vice-President and
Actuary of the Aetna Life Insurance
Company, Hartford, Connecticut, will
give a talk to the Michigan Actuarial
Club on "The Actuarial Examinations"
at 4:15 p.m., Tues., January 12. Room
3017, Angell Hall.
All Mathematics Students are invited'
to hear Mr. Spoerl and especially
those with a main interest in mathe-
matics who would like to combine ma-
thematics with business administra-
tion or public service in their future
careers.
The English Journal Club will meet
Mon., Jan. 11, at 8 p.m., in Room 3G
Michigan Union. Kemp Malone, Pro-
fessor of English at Johns Hopkins
University, and co-editornofsa Literary
History of England, will speak. All grad-
uate students and faculty members of
the English Department a-re invited to
attend.
Economics Club. Professor James To-
bin, of the Department of Economics,
Yale University, will report on the re-
search he has been conducting at the
Survey ResearchCenter during his ten-
ure as Carnegie Research Fellow on
Mon., Jan. 11, 8 p.m., Rackham Amphi-
theater. His topic is "Expenditures on
Durable Goods by Identical House-
holds for the Two Years 1951 and 1952."
All staff members and graduate stu-
dents in Economics and Business Ad-
ministration 'areiespeciallyuurged to
attend. All others are cordially invited.
Lydia Mendelssohn Box Office, north-
ern end of the Michigan League, will
open at 10 a.m. Monday for the sale of
tickets for the Department of Speech
production of Moliere's classic French
comedy, TARTUFFE; OR, THE IM-
POSTOR, which will be presented in
the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at 8
p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Jan.
13, 14, 15 and 16. Tickets are $1n20-90c-
60c with a ,special,1 studejnt vrate ofan
Undergraduate Math Club. There will
be a meeting Monday evening, Jan. 11,
at 8 pm. in Room 3A of, the Union.
Prof. Darling will speak on "How 'o
Make a Decision." The faculty is asked
to remind their students. All interested
are invited to attend.
Museum Movie. "Birds that Eat Fish,'
"Birds that Eat Flesh," and "Birds that
Eat Insects," free movie shown daily
at 3 p.m. daily including Sat. and Sun.
and at 12,~30 Wed., 4th floor movie al-
cove Museums Building, Jan. 12-18.
Deutscher Verein-Kaffee Stunde will
meet for the last time this semester to-
mnorrow at 3:15 in the tap-room of the
Union. The first meeting of next se-
mester will be on February 8 at the
regular time.
I
CURREN TMQilO/IcS
At the State
BENEATH THE TWELVE MILE REEF,
with Robert Wagner and Terry Moore, in
Cinemascope
ALTHOUGH this picture has been filmed
in Cinemascope, under ordinary defini-
tion, it is what has been termed "a program
picture" which means nobody took it very
seriously except possibly the cameraman,
and after all he can be forgiven because
he had a new toy.
The fact that nobody took it seriously
does not prevent "Beneath the Twelve
Mile Reef" from retaining a certain dull
fascination through most of its length,
even though it is fundamentally sopho-
mric n i ts attitude, ntowardlife. a n
and environs. The environs are the Ever-
glade country, and very beautiful country
it is. The plot has to do with sponge-fish-
ing and some synthetic conflict between
the Greek and the Conch fishermen, fo-
cusing around a love affair between a
representative of each group.
Unfortunately, all opportunities to make
anything out of this are dissipated by the
saccharine clumsiness of the two "stars."
At that, the script writers might have res-
cued sections of the film (as they saved
parts of last year's "seascape" picture, "Is-
land of Desire"); but they didn't.
The most interesting question raised by
the movie is: does Cinemascope make a
distinctly second-rate picture any better?
My suspicion is that it does; but perhaps
Sixty-Fourth Year
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