Sixty-Seventh Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241 (I-Letcha Have A Coupla Hunnert Grand Till Pay Day But I ,Just Mislaid A Few Hunnert Grand" When Opinions Are Free Truth Will Prevail" Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1957 NIGHT EDITOR: JAMES ELSMAN " I j Ya I 1--- i State Tax Structure Hurts Higher Education "If you throttle and restrict training, you throttle and restrict the ultimate growth of society" - Regent Eugene Power, discussing the University's annual "struggle for funds" with the Legislature. ' r a AT THE MICHIGAN Dramatic, Artistic Impact in 'Great Man' WHETHER OR NOT there is a real-life parallel to "The Great Man" (Arthur Godfrey comes most readily to mind), the motion picture parallel comes very close to being "Citizen Kane." While Jose Ferrer's film is not such a masterpiece as Welles' production, the technique is quite similar-the revelation of a character by the testimonies of those who knew him. To be sure, "The Great Man" is far less complex and ambitious, but nonetheless Ferrer has provided an exciting and beauti- =i s ) TEAMsks PEPARTMFNT "...'',.r . ,+ THE STATE LEGISLATURE is attacking the problem of appropriations to higher educa- tion with an erector set. In focusing their at- tention on tuition and utilities charges, legis- lators may be losing sight of more basic con- siderations. Present tax structure in Michigan is proving inadequate to meet the needs of higher edu- cation. There are portents in negotiations be- tween the University and the Legislature which indicate troubled times for the University if basic changes are not made. Under the existing tax set-up, higher educa- tion and mental health bear the brunt of sus- taining budget cuts. Roughly 70 per cent of tax revenues are be- yond Legislative control. All gas and weight taxes ($200,000,000) must go to highways. Two- thirds of the sales tax plus all utilities taxes ($250,000,000) go to primary schools. Federal grants (about $1,000,000) must be matched with state funds and are all ear-marked. This leaves the Legislature roughly 30 per cent of its revenue to manipulate. And primary recipients of this 30 per cent are -higher edu- cation and mental health. When it comes to economizing, the Legislature turns to higher education. THE VULNERABILITY of higher education has become more evident this year, with deficit spending facing the Legislature.' Several latent problems have been irritated. The resident-non-resident ratio is being subjected to scrutiny and criticism. The Uni- versity has maintained, over an eight-decade span, the highest percentage of out-state stu- dents (31 per cent in 1956-57) among state universities. Although usually sympathetic to the argu- ment that a diversified student body is valu- able, legislators are now questioning the wis- dom of burdening taxpayers with the responsi- bility of educating non-residents. As the needs of higher education increase drastically over the next decade, and they inevitably will, it is probable there will - be heavy pressure to further limit out-state enrollment. As a constitutional body, the Regents are supposed to govern the University autonomous- ly. In using appropriations as a lever to force tuition up, the Legislature is invading the Re- gents' prerogative to govern as they see best. As the economic pinch becomes more acute, the Legislature is apt to become more preoc- cupied with Regent matters. Several Regents voiced concern for this at their meeting Friday. These factors have been present since the University stopped receiving a guaranteed in- come from the mill tax in the late 1930's. But they don't become serious until, as now the Legislature feels impelled to cut the budget; and then they loom as indicators of the de- cline in quality of higher education. PRESIDENT HATCHER has suggested stabil- izing the 20:80 ratio between student fees and state appropriataions. This would help the immediate problem by removing tuition from the debate-spotlight so that attention can be focused on bigger problems. But it doesn't solve the main problem. Experience has shown that the growth of services in the state is faster than the increase in tax receipts. This means present tax prob- lems will become more acute. THERE ARE two possibilities which would make higher education less vulnerable: ear- mark its appropriations, or remove restrictions ori other tax funds so there will be greater flexibility. Regent Power suggested the first when he called for a corporate income tax pegged for education. This is unlikely to gain support in a state dominated by large industry. The Legis- lature is unhappy now at the large percentage of funds over which it has little control and is not likely to increase this percentage. Another difficulty is that any guaranteed income, especially from a source as unstable as corporate profits, is liable to backfire during economic setbacks. What may help solve the problem is greater flexibility within the state budget, To this end, it might be worth abolishing the numer- ous "special" taxes and instituting an income tax which the Legislature could disburse as it saw fit. This would spread the burden of bal- ancing the budget over a wider area. Pressure groups would fight such a proposal bitterly (because they don't want to lose their assured income) and the total impact of the federal income tax might cause general fear of a state income tax. But if higher education is to remain healthy, some basic changes will have to be made. The Legislature will be forced soon to stop objecting "no more taxes" and take a realistic look at its tax structure. Then it might be worth considering the state income tax. -LEE MARKS City Editor L, x "' j. L f . .... s +t 1 I w a r ; * : , r . . a 1w k co u L I J41Fp7-r'IE 4Lbj6TV'C WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND BecsFinancial-Empire By DREW PEARSON> IT HAS BEEN KNOWN for some time that Dave Beck, potent, harassed head of the Teamsters, was under income-tax scrutiny. But it has not been known how the investigation started. It cant now be revealed that it was actu- ally ordered by President Harry Truman and has been continued by Internal Revenue since. Income-tax troubles are con- sidered to be the reason why the big Teamster boss has been so frantically selling off big wads of real estate and why he also went before the union's executive coun- cil to sell his home and his furni- ture to the union, even though the union had already paid for various . repairs on the home, and thus paid for part of it twice. The skein of Beck's farfiung business operations is difficult to unravel. The tax agents have been working on it for some time and find that he has real estate all the way from the Washington, D.C. suburbs to the West Coast. * * * HOWEVER, here is a quick look at part of his financial empire: Early in Beck's career his family got into the beer business. Not content with organizing the beer- wagon drivers, Beck organized the brewery workers. They had their own union, but he moved in and made them part of the Teamsters. Then Beck's nephew, Norman Ges- sert, became president of Sunset Distributors which handles Rainier beer in North Seattle. Beck him- self, with his wife, has owned about 1,000 shares of Rainier stock. Dave Beck Jr. is also president of K and L Beverage Co., which now handles Budweiser. For a long time, no eastern beer was allowed to enter Seattle. The Teamsters wouldn't permit it. It was not dis- tributed. But now Dave Beck's son has the distributionship for An- heuser-Busch of St..Louis. Dave Beck's wife, Dorothy, also holds stock in K and L Distribu- tors which sells not only beer, but whiskey and wine as far north as Alaska. So the Beck family is right in the beer business from bar back to the brewery. The Teamsters' constitution, by the way, requires that its interna- tional president shall "devote all his time to the service of the broth- erhood." * * * ANOTHER part of Beck's finan- cial empire which the tax agents have taken a look at is his real estate and finance agency. The latter, the Northwest Securities Corp., is an automobile finance agency which does about $2,000,000 worth of business annually on new and used cars, plus auto insurance. Beck has borrowed part of the money for his business ventures from his own union, as he himself said, to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000 without interest. He has also borrowed from the Occidental Life Ins. Co. of California, which handles the health and welfare funds of 300,000 teamsters in the 12 western states. It has been glad to lend Beck money at around 3%' per cent, even at a time when veterans were paying 4 per cent. With this financial backing, Beck has acquired a large interest in the swankiest apartment house in Seattle, Grosvenor House. It's a 356-unit building located across from Teamster headquarters worth about $3,500,000. A group of local businessmen built it, made Beck chairman of the board, and he is now probably the chief owner. Beck also organized the D and B Investment Corp. and owns part of the LBG Realty Corp. Through them he has acquired apartment houses, parking lots, beer-distribu- ting buildings, etc., all around Seattle. * * * SOME OF these were sold in a hurry when he was reported to be anxious to raise tax money. They were sold in many cases to his family or to family corpora- tions at very nice prices. For in- stance, Beck owned a piece of property on 14th Avenue in Seattle which was being used by Sunset Distributors, which is owned by his nephew, Norman Gessert, by Mrs. Beck's niece, and by a Team-. ster official, Albert Irvine. Beck also sold two lots on East Marginal Way to another of his family companies. A family firm, the K and L Distributing Co., had been occupying the lots, and Beck sold them to the Cosmopolitan Co., of which Dave Beck, Jr. is presi- dent, with his nephew Gessert and a Teamster official, Simon Wam- pold, officers of the company. Thus it was hard to say where Beck's interest began and left off. At any rate he made a profit of $134,000 on the lots, having -held them eight years. * '. * ANOTHER interesting real-es- tate transaction was Beck's sale of two lots to his own union for $107,000. The deeds show that Beck paid $1 each for the lots, which are located right across from Teamster Seattle headquar- ters, therefore obviously property the union someday would need. However, Beck bought them in 1951 for the registered price of $1 each, though there may have been some other unrecorded considera- tion. (Copyright 1957 by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) fully made picture that fairly crackles on the screen, building in intensity and power from scene to scene. The plot, in brief, takes little telling: a famous radio-TV humor- ist, beloved by millions, is killed in a crash, and a commentator who is slated to take over the great man's empire goes about prepar- ing a memorial broadcast to honor him. His method is to interview people who were important in the star's life, and gradually he un- covers the truth-that the star was the vilest swine and biggest phony to ever grace the airwaves. * * * AFTER A WHILE, the .focal point becomes clearly the problem of the reporter-will he maintain his integrity or will he gloss over the truth in order to get the prize plum? It is a strong subject and it is handled strongly in this treatment. Before the film ends it is not only the "great man" but the entire radio-TV industry that becomes subject to question. But this is far from one of those films about the "intrigues that go on behind Big Business." The character-vignette tech- nique gives an opportunity for sharply etched characterizations. There is not a single performance that falls below the high standard and many are memorable. Julie London as the star's sometime- mistress, now dissipated at an early age and taken to alcoholic solace, handles her big scene with a quiet intensity that drives right to the heart of the matter. Direc- tor Ferrer here subdues the style so that the punch is below the sur- face. Keenan Wynn plays the despic- able toady who engineers the scheme, acting with style and un- derstanding. Ed Wynn, long re- nowned as a comic, turns in a deli- cate and genuinely touching per- formance as the simple man who first put the star on radio, Dean Jagger's acid portrayal of the smooth and serpentine president of the broadcasting system is unfor- gettable, as are the performances of Russ Morgan as a phony band- leader crony and Jim Backus as a cynical press-agent. * * * FERRER HIMSELF plays the reporter with real ability and in- sight, showing us a man who be- gins to sicken within his chosen world but still functions by many of its strictures. As director, Ferrer keeps the pace moving rapidly, employing a semi-documentary style that gives actuality to the film. By imagin- atively moving his cameras and toning his scenes, he colors the film with various degrees of im- pact. By letting the audience watch the story unfold along with the reporter, he gives a sense of actual participation in the story, so that the suspense is no trick. By certain innovations in style- such as the scene where the char- acters listen to an important tape recording of the great man and the camera concentrates solely up- on their facial expressions for a full five minutes-he lifts the film into the realm of creative expres- sion. There is a great deal of satire in "The Great Man," a devotion to accurate portrayal, a sort of deadly perception, and a lot of simple dramatic excitement. It is a film of many merits, not the least of which is craftsmanship. -David Newman DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN The Daily Official Bulletin is an official publication of the University of Michigan for which the Michigan Daily assumes no editorial respons- bility. Notices should be sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to Room 3553 Adminsitration Building, before S p.m. the day preceding publication. Notices for Sunday Daily due at 2:00 p.m. Friday. TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1957 VOL. LXVIL, NO. 125 General Notices Regents' Meeting: Friday, April 19. Communications for consideration at this meeting must be in the President's hands not later than April 10. Late Permission: All women students who attended the Junior Girls Play Thursday., March 21, at Lydia Men- delssohn Theatre had late permission until 10:40 p.m. Physical Education-Women students Registration for the spring season for women students in the required physi- cal education program will be held on Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Barbour Gymnasium. Please use basement entrance. Naval Officers to Present Officer Pro- grams on March 26-29, in Mason Hall Lobby, LTJG R. R. Randall from the Office of Naval Officer Procurement, Detroit, Michigan will be present to provide information on all Naval pro- grams which lead to a commission. Pri- mary emphasis will be on the Officer Candidate School (OCS) Program. Representatives from the Navy Air Station, Grosse Ile, Michigan wi pre- sent information on all Naval Aviation programs which lead to a commission. Depending upon the educational background, the programs offer col- lege graduates, and students who have completed two years of college, the op- portunity to satisfy their military ob- ligation as a naval officer. There are also programs available for men who plan to enter a professional field. The Officer Qualification Test will be administered during the visit. This is the only written test required for ad- mission to OCS. The Alice Crocker Lloyd Fellowship with,,a stipend of $750 is being offered by the Alumnae Council of the Alumni Association for 1957-5. It is open to women graduates of a, accredited col- lege or university. It may be used by a Universtiy of Michigan graduate at any college or university, but a gradu- ate of any other university will be re- quired to use the award on the Mich- gan campus. Personality, achievement, and leadership will be considered in granting the award. Application may be made through theaAlumnae Council Office, Michigan League, and must be filed by April 1. Award will be announced by the end of the current semester. The Laurel Harper Seeley Scholar- ship is announced by the Alumnae Council of the Alumni Association for 1957-58. The award Is usually $200.00 and is open to both graduate and un- dergraduate women. The award is made on the basis of scholarship, contribu- tion to University life and financial need. Application may be made through the Alumnae Council Office in the Michigan League, and must be filed before April 1. Award will be an- nounced by the end of the current semester. The Mary L. Hinsdale Scholarship, amounting totapproximately $125.00 (interest one'the endowment fund) is available to undergraduate women who are wholly or partially self-supporting and who do not live in University resi- dence halls or sorority houses. Girls with better than average scholarship and need will be considered. Application blanks, obtainable at the Alumnae Council Office, Michigan League, should be filed by April 1. Award will be granted for use during 1957-58 and will be announced by the end of the current semester. Lectures Prof. Simone d'Ardenne, prof. of Ang- lo-Saxon and Middle English at Liege University, will give two lectures on Wed., March 27: "The Open Knight In the Fourteenth Century," at 4:10 p.m., Aud. C, Angell Hall, and "The Influence of Old French on Middle English Ortho- graphy," at 7:30, East Conference Room, Rackham. TeConcerts The University of Michigan Choir and ISymphony Orchestra, with Maynard Klein, conductor, and the Chorale Choir composed of choir members from 23 Michigan high schools and conducted by James B. Wallace, will perform Bach's "The Passion of Our Lord Ac- cording to St. Matthew," at 8:00 Wed., March 27, in Hill Auditorium. Soloists include School of Music faculty mem- bers Harry Jay Thompson, Jerry Law- rence, Wendell Orr, Willis Patterson, Kathleen Rush, Margaret Eddie and Mary Pohly. Organist will be Marilyn Mason Brown, harpsichordist, Charles Schaefer. Open to the general public without charge, x 4 I.. A Bermuda Proposals THE 'UPSHOT of the Bermuda Conference appears to be American acceptance of de- fense budget cut by Britain, as evidenced by the proposal to co-ordinate guided missile de- fense. The best thing about this proposal is the idea that the pool will save money. It is doubt- ful if the pooling of atomic information will supply any new information to the United States scientists. On the other hand, the removal of British troops from bases around the world is a step backward for the administration's policy of keeping soldiers at strategic points, SETTING aside the question of the value of this policy, the move will necessarily force major changes in American military strategy. The plan to base intermediate range missiles in Britain, which will not go into effect for an estimated two years, appears to be a face- saving device for the United States. But, any number of things may happen in that time which will render the whole concept of inter- mediate range guided missiles obsolete. If the new plan represents a change of direc- tion of strategy, from primarily ground to mis- sile warfare, the conference has accomplished something. If, on the other hand, the United States simply accepts the removal of British forces without any substitute then the confer- ence can be written off as an almost total loss, at least on the basis of what information has now been released. THE OTHER proposal to come out of the conference, foreign observation of American nuclear tests, can be dismissed as so much hot air. The proposal'is contingent on Russian accep- tance of similar observers. Since Russia every so often insists that it is not carrying on any such tests, and would in no case admit anyone else, the plan becomes impossible. One wonders if it is but a smoke screen to cover the absence of concrete accomplishment. -JOHN WEICHER a LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Thoughts on cummings, Nasser, Mayor Candidates INTERPRETING THE NEWS: Return to Grand Alliance (Letters to the editor must be in good taste and should not exceed 300 words in length. The Daily reserves the right to delete material for space considerations.) a lam en t i t on * By J. M. ROBERTS Associated Press News Analyst T HE GRAND ALLIANCE is back in business. That is the outstanding conclusion to be drawn from the number of topics covered by President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Mac- millan at Bermuda. For five months, since the government of Editorial Staff RICHARD SNYDER, Editor RICHARD HALLORAN A LEE MARKS Editorial Director City Editor Business Staff DAVID SILVER, Business Manager AILTON GOLDSTEIN ... Associate Business Manager Anthony Eden decided unilaterally and surrep- titiously to use force against Egypt, relations between the United States and Britain have been on a very limited and highly formal basis. Once again there will be pooling of informa- tion and mutual planning. INDEED, after the scare undergone by both nations, the importance of this may be better recognized than ever. Communiques after this sort of conference can mean much or little. "Reaffirmation of common interests" usually means little. The agreement of the United States to participate actively in the work of the Baghdad Pact's miiltary committee, however, is some- thing solid, and something which will require hand-in-glove cooperation with Britain. So is the decision to supply Britain with guided missiles with the tacit understanding that atomic warheads will be provided when needed. To the Editor: ODE to the ment: today English depart- my oke he ar po etic ations idol I not did getto him my aspir Television presentation of Mayor Brown, and Mr. Eldersveld March 22, this subject was directly ap- proached and Mr. Eldersveld gave direct answers. He proposed the formation of a Citizens' Commit- tee to study a long-range plan for capital improvements and to pre- sent this plan to the voters far in advance of election days, as vari- ous projects are well enough planned to be voted upon. Mayor Brown replied that he had formed a citizens' committee, but Mr. Eldersveld pointed out that this was formed in January and elections were in February. The people had not been ,onsulted, their will was not ascertained, ade- 4uate planning had not gone into certain of the issues, so naturally they were defeated. Mayor Brown backed down, and admitted his committee was formed in January. The citizens have lost confidence in capital improvements programs under our present leadership since the ill conceived and unrealistic Veterans Memorial Park proposal support of, worthwhile Capital Im- provements and Urban Renewal. Mr. Eldersveld has given definite proposals for improving City-citi- zen relations, and is capable of dy- namic leadership. It is too bad Mr. Blues missed the TV program where this issue was raised between the two aspir- ants, or his editorial could have more definitely supported Mr. El- dersveld on this issue. -Louis W. Lewis On Nasser's String .. , To the Editor: T WAS rather startled reading As- sociated Press news analyst J.M. Roberts' report on Nasser Friday (March 22). Roberts devotes his whole article to an interview Elmo Hutchinson, former chairman of the Israel-Jor- dan Mixed Armistice Commission, recently had with Nasser. Quoting Hutchinson with a straight face is pretty close to quoting Nasser with r straight gees return, or something to that effect. He might as well have said that Israel should accept an Egyptian army of occupation in Tel Aviv. These conditions are so old and phony no American should be ex- pected to take them seriously. This would be like asking the U.S. to return to its colonial status, giv- ing Michigan to the French and the Southwest to Spain. If the present border is tough to defend, the 1947 lines are im- possible, to say the least. There is no earthly reason for interna- tionalizing the Jewish section of Jerusalem, which is devoid of holy places. And the Arab refugees should be compensated and resettled in the Arab lands which have room for them. The refugees have been so inflamed that very few of them would make good Israeli citizens. -John Neufeld, Grad More! . j To the Editor. have gone down the drain -A. Greenbaum, '59 Bravo!. To the Editor: BRAVO to Messrs. Matecum and Urshel for their letter in Satur- day's DAILY on SGC. They came out and said in print what most of us feel!!! I Films The regular noon showing this week will be a new film, "~Southeast Asia: Land and Peoples," at 12:30 p.m. Wed., March 27, in the Audio-Visual Educa- 1