"It's Easier If You Keep Your Eyes Closed"
Sixty-Seventh Year
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or
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DAY, MAY 10, 195"- NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN WEICHER
Censorship
In Its Place
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AT THE CAMPUS:s
'La Strada' Sensitive,
Original creation
FEDERICO FELLINI'S La Strada (The Road), now showing at the
Campus Theater is, in our opinion, one of the most sensitive and
original creations in the trend away from orthodox neo-realism in
Italian movie-making, along the lines of attempting to transcend mere
documentation and irrelevant sentimentality and move, towards a
more generalized and universal synthesis of human experience.
And, rarest of all qualities nowadays, La Strada is a true movie,
conceived and executed not as an adapted novel or play on a plodding
verbal level, but as a work which makes full use of the unique magic
of implicitly expressive details and situations which constitutes the
distinctive power of the film medium.
Like some of the gentler stories of Franz Kafka, La Strada is a
kind of parable about man's fate. A brutish and cowardly vaudeville
performer (Anthony Quinn), traveling about the country in a ram.
CENSORSHIP, particularly of newspapers,
books and motion pictures, has become a
very controversial subject in recent months.
A wide variety of organizations and "decency
committees" has lately arisen to do battle
against whatever they choose to define as "in-
decent" or "obscene."
State legislatures and local law enforcement
agencies, often under pressure from these self-
appointed guardians of the public welfare, have
passed obscenity laws, banned books and closed
burlesque houses-for the public welfare. Many
of these laws and bans of one sort or another
have been declared unconstitutional or unlaw-
ful, but this doesn't seem to have dampened the
current enthusiasm for censorship.
CENSORSHIP properly directed and adminis-
tered, is useful and often necessary. When,
however, a group of self-righteous purists set
themselves up to dictate public morality, to
impose their own moral codes, their own defi-
nitions of "indecency," their own tastes in
literature and entertainment on the entire pop-
ulace they violate the rights of all of us to
choose for ourselves what we shall read or
see.
Censorship aimed, for example, at'protecting
children from exposure to indecency is justi-
fied-children are not capable of properly
choosing for themselves or distinguishing pro-
ducts of an author's imagination from reality.
Too many censorship groups, however, seem
to regard the average Americanadult as an
intellectual child who also must be protected
from from his own indiscretion or lack of
discrimination.
Again, censorship of publications which
thrive on gossip, tearing down reputations and
libeling individuals cannot be argued ,against.
Such publications themselves infringe on the
rights and the privacy of others and deserve
to be condemned. Scandal magazines-the most
notorious of them "Confidential"-fall into this
category.
But when self-appointed "protectors of the
public morality" take upon themselves author-
ity to "protect" the public from even such con-
temporary greats as Hemingway Huxley, Stein-
beck, Buck, O'Hara and Orwell, they infringe
on the personal freedom of all of us.
EVEN SUCH extreme censorship would be
acceptable were it limited to merely screen-
ing and recommendation. There is little room
for objection to someone simply suggesting that
a certain book or movie would be better not
read or seen, or alerting us to the moral evils
in our environment.
But too many of our censors refuse to stop
there. They endeavor to force us to conform
by forcing out of our reach all they consider
unfit for our consumption-threatening and
organizing boycotts against theatres, publishers
and dealers-all without proper justification.
Censorship in its place is a fine thing; cen-
sorship, mistaken and misdirected, is as dan-
gerous as that which it seeks to protect us
against.
EDWARD GERULDSEN
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WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND:
Furcolo Proposes Loan Fund
By DREW PEARSON
A
Faculty Should
Fulfill AAUP Resolution
IT IS USUALLY unwise to say a stated opin- of segregation" - lack of motivation to fur-
ion of a national group reflects a condition ther better human relations by integration
that exists in every local group composing the or whatever methods may be advisable.
national. But neither is it wise for the local We would suggest the faculty use the Resi-
group to ignore such an opinion - particular- dence Halls as a starting point, because there it
ly one like that passed recently by the annual would be easy to see there is no desire for a
convention of the American Association of policy of integration. It would be hoped, that
University Professors. should they find the Residence Hall system, or
The opinion was a resolution criticizihg any other area of the University lacking, they
schools where pressure is brought against stu- could use their considerable influence to im-
dents and faculty members who belong to or- prove the situation.
ganizations seeking the lawful elimination of This assumes, of course, two conditions:
segregation in education. first: that faculty members believe integration
For some areas of the country this resolu-
tionwasnottoo trog; he Asocatin's as a method of improving human relations is
tion was not too strong; the Associatione desirable and can be profitable at this Uni-
committee on academic freedom reported some versity; second, that they are not fearful of
faculty members in the South had been dis- overt or subtle pressures from their colleagues
missed because of their views on desegrega- or department superiors. This latter considera-
tion. But for many institutions, particularly tion was indicated by the Association in its
northbern ones such as this University, the resolution, and should be the greatest concern
stand of the Association only hints at an the facly
equally important problem - tacit approval to aculy.
of segregation in the institution.
ITIS UNFORTUNATE the administration
WHILE it is doubtful the situation the reso- will not take the initiative to improve the
lution descried exists at this school, the unsatisfactory situation in the Residence Halls,
faculty here would be showing a lack of con- but it has become evident they will not. And
cern for the school if it were not to reflect until the faculty gives some attention to the
on the status of human relations here at the problem it is rather unlikely anything will
University. The reflecting might well be done change.
on another interpretation of "tacit approval -DAVID TARR
Power of the Atom
FOSTER FURCOLO, dynamic
young governor of Massachu-
setts, paid a call on President
Eisenhower last week.
He laid before Ike a plan for the
federal government to set $3,000,-
000,000 aside from which the
states could borrow at two per
cent interest to build school build-
ings and various public works.
"What the 48 states are up
against, Mr. Eisenhower," ex-
plained Democratic Governor Fur-
co, "is the highest interest rate
in years. We have to pay four or
four and one-half per cent on
bonds to build schools, hospitals
and highways.
"It's prohibitive.Theresult is
that a lot of states just aren't
going to build.
HOWEVER, the governor con-
tinued, "If the federal government
set aside $3,000,000,000 from which
the states could borrow at two per
cent, the banks would probably
lower their interest rates."
Furcolo told Ike that he had
queried the other state governors.
on the idea and about half seemed
to favor the plan.
President Eisenhower, however,
was noncommittal. He listened at-
tentively, but made no comment.
Later the Massachusetts gover-
nor tried the idea out on Speaker
Sam Rayburn and Congressman
John McCormack of Boston, the
Democratic Iouse leader. He got a
much more favorable reaction.
* * *
DEMOCRATIC LEADERS made
no effort to hide their irritation
with Sen. Lyndon Johnson, the so-
called Democratic leader of the
Senate, for leaving Washington
when the former President of the
United States, the Democratic can-
didate for president and other top
leaders of the party came to at-
tend-a money-raising dinner and
confer on Democratic strategy.
In addition to being irked at
Lyndon's boycott they learned
that he is secretly grooming Sen.
George Smathers of Florida to re-
place Paul Butler as Democratic
Chairman when Butler retires to
run for the Senate from Indiana.
Smathers, one of the handsom-
est senators, sometimes referred to
as a member of the "Lyndon John-
son Charm School," is well re-
membered by Adlai Stevenson for
the way he sat on his hands in
Florida in 1952.
Smathers made not one speech
for Stevenson, did not lift a fin-
ger in that election. Finally, to-
ward the end of the campaign, he
was asked to introduce Steven-
son at a Democratic rally in Tam-
pa, but refused-unless he were
permitted to make a speech during
his introduction explaining why
he differed with Stevenson. In
brief, he wanted to make a speech
against Stevenson before Steven-
son spoke.
This was rejected.
Smathers did come to Tampa
and sat on the platform. When
asked to take a bow he was greet-
ed with long, loud and continuous
boos.
This is the man Lyndon John-
son wants to push as chairman of
the Democratic National Com-
mittee.
Note-to atone for his past, Lyn-
don pushed Smathers into the post
of money-raiser for Democratic
senators last year. But Democratic
leaders point out that Smathers'
activities helped Lyndon's senate
friends, not the national ticket.
1' * *
WHEN CALIFORNIA Demo-
cratic Committeeman Paul Zifron
introduced the resolution banning
a right-to-work bill he told fellow
Democrats: "A right-to-work bill
has no more place in a civil rights
bill than a right-to-live amend-
ment has in the national defense
appropriation" . . . Alabama's
Committeewoman Thomas urged
that the segregationist questions
be reconsidered at Washington be-
cause the press had been present
at the San Francisco Democratic
meetings, so delegates could not
express themselves freely. Col.
Jack Arvey, kingpin of Chicago
Democrats, voiced Lyndon John-
son's earlier squawk that "Drew
Pearson published the record of
our closed-door sessions. How do
you suppose Drew gets it?" Arvey
asked.
It was no accident that the
Southerners stayed home, almost
en masse, from last week's $100-
a-plate Democratic dinner. Senate
Leader Lyndon Johnson organized
a "passive boycott" as a deliberate
snub to the Democratic National
Committee . . . He believes the
committee is dominated by north-
ern liberals but should be run by
Southern congressional leaders -
meaning himself primarily .
EX-PRESIDENT Truman's pri-
vate reaction to Senator McCar-
thy's death was slightly different
than his public statement. Upon
learning of the news, Truman told
fellow Democrats: "I am sorry to
hear of McCarthy's death, but I
am always sorry when a critic of
the Eisenhower Administration
dies.",... Both Truman and Adlai
Stevenson swiped a gag from Min-
nesota's Governor Freeman, who
wisecracked , at a private break-
fast: "When President Eisenhower
goes on the air to defend his bud-
get, the Republicans will probably
ask for equal time." . . . Truman
liked the crack so well that he
planned to use it, in his public
speech. But Stevenson was called
on first and beat Truman to the
punchline.
Michigan's Gov. G. Mennen
"Soapy" Williams was the final
featured speaker. The other
speeches dragged out so long that
only a tenth of the audience stay-
ed to hear 'him. While Williams
was still talking the waiters began
folding up the tables. Then a
moving van drove into the huge
armory to haul away the tables
and chairs. This was the last
straw. The exasperated Williams
snorted: "I can understand the
waiters clearing the tables and
even folding them. But when they
bring in stretchers to take out the
audience, that's too much."
(Copyright 1957 by Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
shackle motorcycle van, buys him-
self a girl assistant (Giulietta Ma-
sina) who becomes his docile and
suffering stooge in a series of
nondescript slapstick and weight-
lifting acts.
He treats the girl cruelly, train-
ing her with whip lashes, and re-
mains callously indifferent to her
strange devotion and her child-
like wonderment in the face of
the simplest and most ordinary
things of life. Upon joining a rov-
ing circus, they encounter a
clownish young acrobat (Richard
Basehart) who torments the
clumsy weight-lifter with jibes
and pranks.
After a fight, both parties are
banished from the circus and
continue on their separate ways.
Unfortunately, they meet again
on the road and the acrobat is
murdered by the vengeful strong-
man. The gi, horrified, loses her
reason and is abandoned by her
master.
Many years later, he learns that
she has died, and suddenly he
knows - as she had known al-
ways - how lonely he is, and he
weeps.
ALTHOUGH this strange and
moving story takes place in the
vague present and its Italian vil-
lage and country scenes are re-
produced with absolute fidelity,
it could very well be set in any
period or locale.
Its photographic realism serves
more as a means of making the
superimposed "fable" more imme-
diate and accessible, than as the
necessary expression of a 'narra-
tive arising from given social cir-
cumstances.
Fellini's symbolism in La Strada
is not religious but seems to re-
fer more to the fundamental exis-
tentialism which underlies so
much of modern literature. All
men are inescapably lonely and
their fleeting comprehension of
one another comes to naught.
.S * *
GOODNESS, strength and ar-
tistic talent reside together in no
one, but are fragmented amongst
separate individuals and are ren-
dered negative or ineffectual in
meekness, cruelty and frivolity.
And we all live on the precarious
brink of a vast and alien universe,
like the sea on whose sunlit shores
the girl first appears and at whose
edge the strongman collapses in
darkness in the final scene.
Sucha film, whatever its nega-
tive implications, cannot be
viewed other than as a profound
and sincere expression of . our
troubled times and of modern
man's sense of frustration and de-
sire for transcendance. Its
* * *
JUDGED as an example of film
art and technique, La Strada is a
work of unusual accomplishment.
Under Fellini's direction, the per-
formances rendered by Anthony
Quinn and Richard Basehart are
so fine as to make these artists
unidentifiable with their usual
American roles.
Both of them, however, must
take a back seat to the extraor-
dinary Giulietta Masina, in whose
interpretation of the girl Gelso-
mina the distinction between ac-
tor and imaginary personage al-
most entirely disappears, so com-
plete is her mastery of gesture
and mute expression.
--James E. Irby
AT THE STATE-
Radiation
Sickness
FAMOUS scientists wander about
in dirty clothes, speak in ob-
scure dialects, and call each other
"doctor." Female scientists have
heaving bosoms and long hair.
Monsters are created by ubiquitous
atomic radiation, and they kill
everyone but the female scientist
and her cute boy friend, who
flunked Zoology 1, but she loves
him anyhow.
This is the curious world set
forth in "Attack of the Crab Mon-
sters," a film filled to the'very
brim with glaring inconsistencies,
charming nonsense, invigorating
violations of many of the hitherto
accepted concepts of physics,
chemistry, logic, common sene,
billiards, and what not.
Of course the monster~ gets the
girl in the end and they ooze off
into the sunset, but until then it's
pure rot, all the way down.
* * *
NOT OF THIS EARTH is actu-
ally not so bad. The beginning is
actually mediocre. The screen
credits are shown to a background
of real good amateur spook draw-
ings. The actors are people just
like us; in other words not pro-
fessionals.
The film describes in bloody de-
tail how a strange man from outer
space, wearing dark glasses and
carrying a little suitcase, wanders
here and there, unobtrusively
gathering blood samples to send
back to the home office Where they
are having radiation trouble.
He meets a kindly MD who
provides blood transfusions for
free to keep his withered arteries
full. A nurse even helps with 'the
needle. The alien is eventually
knocked off in an auto accident (a
good argument against safe driv-
ing), but another alien soon ar-
rives, so the earthmen don't quite
win this film.
HOW FORTUNATE, that the
State Theatre arranged to have a
nurse in the lobby to care for
frightened spectators, During the
course of the horror-filled after-
noon, much of the audience was
transformed into a bloody mass of
groping protoplasm, restrained
from hysteria and degredation
only by the fortuitous presence of
the nurse and sixteen stout ushers,
each armed with a bucket of sand,
a pipe wrench, an umbrella and a
set of leg irons.
Thus are the weak of heart
warned in advance that these
films are dangerous.
-David Kessel
Nehrutralism
NEHRU HAS offended the Hin-
dus by saying he did not think
more of a cow than a horse,
Friends of the Hindus can only
counsel patience. Everyone knows
about Nehru's old habit of carry-
ing neutralism too far.
-National Review
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
The Daily official Bulletin Is a
official publication of the University
of Michigan for which the Michi-
gan Daily assumes no editorial re-
sponsibility. Notices should be sent.
in TYPEWRITTEN form to Room
3519 Administration Building, be-
fore 2 p.m. the day preceding
publication. Notices for Sunday
Daily due at 2:00 pm. Friday.
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 195
VOL. LXVII, NO. 156
General Notices
Undergraduate Honors Convocation,
The annual Convocation recognizing
undergraduate honor students will be
held at 11 a.m. Fri., May 10, in Hill
Auditorium. Dr. Robert F. Goheen,
President-elect of Princeton University,
will speak on "The Not So Serene
Temples of Learning."
Honor students will be excused from
attending their 10:00 classes. All classes,
with the exception of clinics and grad.
uate seminars, will be dismissed at 10:45
for the Convocation. However, seniors,
may be excused from clinics and semi-
nars.
Academic costume will be worn by
faculty members, who will robe back-
t«
,{
THE FUTURE of Europe's industry will de-
pend on the extent to which nuclear power
is utilized.
A report, recently submitted to the Atomic
Energy Commission, outlined Europe's increas-
ing power demands and increasing inability
to fill these demands from her own resources.
Europe's growing dependence on the Middle
East for oil was emphasized. With the cur-
rent rising nationalism and the political in-
stability of this region, Europe's assurance of
sufficient oil to power her industries becomes
weaker.
T THE PRESENT time, the bulk of Europe's
oil and coal imports are used to produce
electricity. Only one-third of the increased
demand for power in the next twenty years
Editorial Staff
RICHARD SNYDER. Editor
will be filled if Europe employs only conven-
tional power sources.
Europe, therefore, must begin to construct
nuclear power stations immediately or face
the possibility of sharply limiting her future
industrial development.
At the moment there is no excuse for the
European nations to let atomic power pass
them by. The United States, Britain and Can-
ada have offered to train technicians and sell
fissionable materials with the stipulation they
will be used only for peaceful purposes.
ENGLAND has already shown the practical-
ity of atomic power plants. English atomic
electrical stations are no longer experimental
projects but commercial actualities. The only
apparent difference between England and the
rest of Europe is that Britain has been more
far-sighted.
Atomic power will not soon entirely replace
the need for coal in many important indus-
trial processes, but production electricity, the
biggest consumer of conventional power ma-
terials, could be handled entirely by nuclear
power plants.
If Europe is to maintain a competitive po-
sition in the present and future world she must
begin immediate development of atomic power
sources.
-PHILIP MUNCK
New Books at the Library
Brown, Joe E. - Laughter Is a Wonderful
Thing; NY, A. S. Barnes, 1957.
Fitzlyon, April - The Libertine Librettist;
NY, Abelard-Schuman, 1957.
COUNCIL COMMENTARY:
SGC Debates Spring Rush Calendars-At Length
RICHARD HALLORAN
Editorial Director
LEE MARKS
City Editor
By RICHARD TAUB
Daily Staff Writer
IN STRONG CONTRAST to last
week's SGC meeting, the Council
meeting Wednesday night was a
shoddy affair.
Debate on the two different
rushing calendars was long, in-
volved and repetitious. Almost
every Council member saw fit to
emphasize several times that the
Council should take the individual
into consideration that Junior
Girls' Play was or was not so im-
portant, and that Panhel had the
right to administer its own intern-
al affairs.
Jean Scruggs, in a remarkably
candid speech during members
time, underlined the problems of
the meeting. She felt the "fiiss was
unnecessary" and was actually a
"question of ethics."
* *o
then there was Panhel's method
of introducing the minority calen-
dar.
Following their Monday meet-
ing, Joe Collins, chairman of the
SGC Spring Rush Committee,
thought there had been complete
accord within the committee over
the recommended spring rush cal-
endar. He thought all the problems
had been worked out.
And then, about an hour before
Wednesday's SGC meeting, mem-
bers of the Council learned that
Panhel was dissatisfied, and a new
report was to be introduced.
And there was the way figures
were tossed around. Miss Houck
told the Council delegates- had
approved the minority calendar by
a vote of 21-0. The vote was not
21-0.
People kept talking about the
2400 girls involved in rushing.
About 1400 girls actually do rush
Maynard Goldman introduced a
slight change to the majority cal-
endar which seemed to satisfy
most of the objections of Panhel
and the League, but it neverthe-'
less proved unsatisfactory to Pan-
hel.
What it really amounted to was
that the fight over the two calen-
dars probably weren't fights over
calendar programs at all.
Panhel, it appears, introduced
its report for two reasons. The first
and probably most important, was
to save face. The second was to
preserve internal responsibility for
their organization.
It would have looked bad indeed,
if, after this group couldn't pro-'
duce a calendar, SGC came up
with one. And certainly no group
wants some outside body dictating
its ativities-
JUDGING by its report to the
Council, one group ,which should
contribute a great deal to the
activities of SGC in the future is
the Education and Social Welfare
Committee, headed by Gerald
Blackstone.
There may be disagreement over
some of the areas the committee
plans to study, but one thing is
sure: The committee's work will
be highly stimulating and pro-
vocative, both for the Council and
the campus at large.
The committee plans studies of
the University marking system,
causes and possible cures of aca-
demic' failure, library hours, schol-
arships, student-faculty commit-
tees on academic policy, and the
Alumni Lecture Series.
Investigation of comprehensive
exams, revamping of the grade
point system or even abolishing it,
may not reisut in any croncrete
A
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GAIL GOLDSTEIN.... ....Personnel Director
ERNEST THEODOSSIN ....Magazine Editor
JANET REARICHK . Associate Editorial Director
MARY ANN THOMAS..............Features Editor
DAVID GREY...............Sports Editor
RICHARD CRAMER ........ Associate Sports Editor
STEPHEN HEILPERN ........ Associate Sports Editor
JANE FOWLER and
ARLINE LEWIS .............. Women's Co-Editors
JOHN HIRTZEL ................ Chief Photographer
Business Staff
DAVID SILVER, Business Manager
MILTON GOLDSTEIN ... Associate Business Manager
2,.-