TAE SUMMER MICHIGAN DAILY WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1930 t "I tWr ot t a t Published every morning except Mondey during the University Summer Session by the Board in Control of Student Publications. The Associated Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of all news dispitches credited to it or not otherwise credited inrthis paper and the local news pubiished herein. Entered at the Ann Arbor, Michigan. postoffice as second class matter. Subscription by carrier, $x,5o; by mail, $ 2.00. Offices:: Press Building, Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. EDITORTAL STAFF Telephone 4925 MANAGING EDITOR GURNEY WILLIAMS Editorial Director .... . Howard F. Shout City Editor -.... ....Harold Warren, Jr. Women's Editor .... ........Dorothy Magee Music and Drama ditor. . . William 7 Gorman Books Editor......Russell E. McCracken Sports Editor ...............Morris Targer Night Editors Denton Kunze Howard F. Shout Powers Moulton Harold Warren, Jr. never privileged to see. Surely the attendance is not sufficiently un- satisfactory at any time to war- rant a failure to secure these. If flms of a high order were regu- larly shown, the theatre owners would certainly find the increased interest of the students and citi- zens large enough to guarantee a greater use of their playhouses for entertainment and recreation. --p . : |I Editorial Comment f ,' Dorothy Adams Helen Carrm Bruce Manley Assistants Cornelius H. Bertha Sher M. Beukema Clayman Quraishi Constance M. Wethy BUSINESS STAFF Telephone 21214 BUSINESS MANAGER dEORGE A. SPATER Assistant Business Managers William R. Worboys Harry S. Benjamin Circulation Manager........Bernard Larson Secretary ........... Ann W. Verner Joyce Davidson Dorothy Dunlap Lelia M. Kidd ~ WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1930 Night Editor-Harold O. Warren MOTION PICTURES We have mentioned this before on numerous other occasions; we have deplored the situation as it exists; we have solicited and sug- gested improvements; but the floodl of poor and mediocre films has con- tinued to pour into Ann Arbor. There is but one mitigating cir- cumstance, that they are no worse now than they were during the reg- ular session. This, however, may evidence a lack of interest on the part of the local theatre magnates and their mighty overlord in the grade and variety of pictures that the Ann Arbor populace, student and otherwise, has to see; it may show supreme assuredness that they will go to see them, no mat- ter what kind they may be. Possibly, and it is only barely possible, they are unable to secure films of a better quality. If this is the case there would seem to be few- advantages to the maintaining of a huge chain of theatres. If a producer on so large a scale is forced to accept what is sent them, he is surely business man enough to obtain the inferior ones for a low price. But the peculiar angle of this is that the admission price for all of them is the same. COLLEGIATE DRINKING (From The Dartmouth) Contrary to the rabid assertionsr of matronly sewing circles and pes- simistic male reformers, the college student of today is sober ninety-f nine one-hundredths of the time. When he does drink, it is usually to parade his drunkenness,-at a football game, at a dance, during a vacation, at a social gathering,- and it is on such occasions that a. shocked older generation is most: liable to see youth in action. False' conclusions are natural.l It is proable that if any of the undergraduates who sometimes get thoroughly oiled on midwinter Saturday nights were to be com- pletely isolated, with no chance of! anyone seeing his antics, and no possibility of telling anybody about them afterwards, he would find something more interesting than, drinking to do. Since the pecuniary element lim-; its undergraduate liquor consump- tion from one angle, and since moral considerations limit it to a certain extent from another, it is evident that much of the too wide-. ly scattered ballyhoohabout "the deplorable state of affairs in Ameri- can colleges with regard to the liquor situation" is founded upon a basis of fairly flimsy fact. p ASTED ROLLr T OTRUE WORDS IS SPOKE FROM THE CHEST While the press may be muzzled, Rolls this morning is barking-par- don, embarking on a policy of rev-! elations which will turn the cam- pus upside down. Aided by the Planting and Dig- ging department of the University, Rolls wholly favors the annual summer shake-up and dig-up. Formerly pedestrians were safe. from the pit-falls of college life. Today, and for the last few weeks, treaders of the campus walks marched carefully, fearful that at every step they might suddenly fall through the campus. This is decidedly not a criticism. We are strictly in favor of the P. and .D. department's system of starting to plant an electric light pole and ending up by filling in a cistern in back of University hall. But, asks we, what if somebody, us excepted, of course, should fall into the inter-corner rapid transit tun- nel for allowing heat to wander from here to there? We refer of course to the gigantic excavations back of Memorial hall. We may be digressing. But we wonder whether the recent hot weather which has resulted in fill- ing all lectures with "Uhs" and "And-uhs," not even fastened to- gether by a few bolts, although also as a result of the weather the nuts are present, has not resulted from the opening of the heat tun- nels. The P. and D department should offer some announcement.l C About Books MRS. HEY WARD'S "RAILWAY STATION" NOVEL. Three A Day by Dorothy Heyward; The Century Company; Price $2.50; Review Copy from Wahr's Univer- sity Bookstore. Dorothy Heyward is the wife of Dubose Heyward and was co-au- thor with him of the splendid book of negro life, Porgy. Mr. Heyward surely must have been the better half, for there is no evidence in this book by Mrs. Heyward of writing of the calibre of Porgy. The novel is a very light one, flimsily written, and its only literary value rests in its abundance of colloquialisms of the stage. These are quite interest- ing, and something that should be watched, for out of such broken language, or dialect, if you chose to call it by that name, may develop a truly American dialect fiction. But the story is trite and dull. The Characterization is not particularly acute. Three A Day is the story of life on a vaudeville circuit. Ric, the hero, leaves, early in his twenties when success is smiling upon him, a vast audience to wait for him while he sits home in his bathtub composing a concerto. For this heresy he is thrown off the concert stage, and lives in a garret where he com- poses very poor mtisic. At last he hitches up with a musical pair, Jan and Tad, and the three fight the conventional obstacles in the road to stage success until they land a contract for a three-a-day at the Palace (theuPalace is the symbol of success). But again R.ic forgets to show up because of that wretched concerto. Jan is peeved at this un- forgiveable sin, for she had been born and bred in the ethics of the stage that "the curtain must go up." They go back to a two-a-day routine, and after a time Jan makes up with Ric. But he is doomed to be a second rater always because of the hybris he displayed in his early TE ACHERS NEEDED FREE REGISTRATION WESTMORE TEACHERS' AGENCY 716 OLD NATIONAL BANK BLDG., SPOKANE, WASHINGTONt GRUEN WATCHES DIAMONDS HALLER' Jewelers State Street at Liberty WATCH REPAIRING FINE JEWELRY w ww~ ENGINEERS AND ARCHITECTS MATERIALS.= STATIONERY, FOUNTAIN PENS, LOOSE LEAF BOOKS TYPEWRITING AND POUND PAPERS SCOLLEGE PENNANTS AND JEWELRY LEATHER GOODS -; % Bloch from Campus 1111 Sough University Ave. E w em w M w w r sm w em w ±! - sm w w - LAGU w em w em w em w OI w em em em e w me emw ~ TNr1e ROMw = w w MI wm .w..~ ~ 1=adSoda F'utai (s UU e em 4LAI LL . AL II - em11 rN 1111 111111111111111H1t111t1flt11111IT1l111111 fI '} -. ;) HAS OPENING' NEL BROUGHT WEATHER? THE HEAT TUN- ON THE HOT CRIME AND WAR (From The Daily Illini) "Unconsciously the United States is preparing for war on a tremen- dous scale," writes James Stephens, Irish philosopher, in the New York Times magazine. "Americans will deny this, will say that it is unthinkable," he con- tinues. "I have read a great num- ber of short stories in a great num- ber of your 'magazines. Have you ever stopped and considered that most of the plots of your short stories are based upon violence and crime? Crime is in the air here." By developing in the public mind an acceptance of violence and crime, these stories and newspaper reports take the first step in foster- ing acceptance of war, the Irish- man points out. As soon as we automatically accept violence and crime, he believes our foreign re- lations will show new and violent tendencies. Jingoism and war might logically result. There is some basis in his charg- es that the public mind does influ- ence a nation's attitudes. Recall the public hostility to the League of Nations idea because many of our citizens held to the long-taught principle that the League would end our "splendid isolation." Ab- olition of war depends not alone up- on statesmen negotiating peace treaties, but upon the point of view of the masses they represent. In passing, we might point out that 70 per cent of all money ap- propriated by the Congress recent- ly adjourned went for the prepa- ration of and payment for future and past wars. This fact, combined with more wide-spread education in the horrors of modern war, should offset any "unconscious ac- ceptance" of war which Mr. John1 Public might get from readingj crime stories. * * * Here is our diary, showing the result of the sweltering, listering, broiling, frying and etc. weather, all of which means that our goose m ll f a M-M ^%Ia At no one time in the last month or two has there been more than a single picture of major interest or importance in the city. This, we realize, is largely a matter of taste and consideration, but when we find such a large majority of the campus and town population agreeing with us, there must be some foundation for it. Ann Ar- bor is sufficiently large and suf- ficiently intelligent to deserve something better. Of course, as we intimated be- fore, the fault may lie in the mo- tion picture producers. We have heard a great deal about catering to the public taste, which is de- scribed as consisting of a mixture of sex, jazz, and brainlessness. If the result of satisfying this de- mand is to throw on the theatre screens of the country such trite, sentimental, low-comedy pictures as we have been forced to witness on the majority of our visits to the motion picture houses, it is time that some long and loud com- plaints were made. The theatre is recognized as one of the most potent educational forces in America, along with the press and the radio. Three-fourths of the nation experience all the joy and romance of their lives vicar- iously through this medium. If the sum total of the effect of this education has been a history of sordid crime, a deadening of re- ligion, a general moral decadence, it is not too much to suggest that it has been the wrong kind of edu- cation. True it is that there have been some signs of change for the bet-< ter but they are few and isolated.1 Some of the great epic pictures, one or two more powerful of theI war dramas, and the simpler and ' more realistic of the romances have I shown the possibilities.t However, the fact remains thatI thre are many notable nroduc- t i 1 l l 1 f I f C r t nTnaz we are cooked. twenties when he let a full housei July 27-Sunday. Met a Sorosis wait forty-five minutes for him on- i sister from Alabama. Hot evening ly to have the money returned at "Why," said she "You look hot',; the box. The story ends on this "Wy," sid" e " look hot? note. Alabamy Bound is a good song. Mrs. Heyward, however, in thej July 28-Took a home-bred Mich- story, had possibilities for a good igan girl to audible portraits. News novel. The story of a second rater real-Atlantic squadron. "Is that," can always present opportunities she says coyly, "a battleship?" for writing, and interesting writing. Especially in this case with Ric, July 29-Still warm weather. And whose violation of the most holy of just suppose the P. and D. depart- holies of theatrical ethics offers a ment should line the heating tun- kind of foreboding to his second nels with ice-packs. We ask you, frateness, does she have a splendid would that help? opportunity. When one looks at But that is only what we wrote such a portrait of second rateness down. As a matter of fact we went ,as is found in the portrait of the canoeing Saturday, but dared not artist in Aldous Huxley's Antic Hay,1 record it for fear we might be iand places it beside Mrs. Heyward's found out. picture of Ric, there is quite a1 draft. I think the latter cannot She seemed like a nice girl. come up to Huxley because of the Didn't smole Didn't drink. Ob- shallowness of her work, she is not jected to profanity. Even discover- intense, or deliberate enough in the ed that she goes to church. working of her effects. I think she So, liking her, and who knows has been too interested in writing a why, we said, "May we go to church story that would appeal to the Sat- with you tomforrow?" She said yes.urday Evening Post reading public So that was all arranged (Thisi s to spend enough time on fine draw- So utt was all arraged (This ings of character, to spend enough t sd time to develop fully a significant must wear a tie and a coat." idea for her novel. It is because1 But having gone to the Sorosis Huxley has done this that his story habitation to apologize for not is a better one. One does not need' having gone to church, she and we to exert oneself a bit to read about! entered upon an argument. She and understand the people of Mrs.' referred us to "Either the fifth or Heyward's book, they are all quiteI the twentieth chapter of Exodus. stereotyped, romanticized; you havej [ forget which, but if you read all met them all before in other of Exodus you will find what I wretched "railway station" novels! mean." such as this is. You will probably always meet them as long as there By mistake we read the fifth and are railway stations to sell such twentieth chapters of Proverbs. If novels in. 1t I ilk Varsity Methods I 1F 11 Insure w r Shirts-that are white, spot. lessly clean and comfortably ironed. Collars-that fit perfectly. E Sox-soft, shrunk. fluffy and un- U fi Ifi THE STUDENT AND MILITARISM (From The Butler Collegian) The effect of military training upon the student has never been, demonstrated. Since the introduc- tion of forced military service into the schools we have been able to see the effect only through pa- rades, fake manoeuvers and other "make - believe." If war were to thrust itself upon the United States now, would those men who had been trained in compulsory service in state universities prove the worth of their military education? It is not necessary to be a jingo- ist to see the value of military training for the student. Among the numerous elective courses now offered in universities, it would seem to be a sort of balance wheel. The average college student needs discipline. He needs to be taught how and when to obey. He needs to have ingrained into him a little respect for his superiors. The main difficulty that college heads have found with incorrigible students is their tendency toward irreverence. What is better for the abolition of this irreverence than a taste of s t s n d fn d b d you don't know it, they are warn- ings against wild women and strong drink. Don't ask us if there is a destiny that "heaves through space and moulds the times with mortals for its fingers." In my diary I noted down 12 resolutions for next *ew Year's day. And the mere 10 commandments are in the discard. Have been for a long time, but don't you dare tell. Don't you dare! And while we are on the subject of making confessions, we will make a few that other folks don't. Did you know that Michigan moonshine goes sour when made into cocktails? Somebody told us that. This is not a personal state- ment. Do you know why three personal friends have fastened their frater- nity emblems to the bottom of the mattress this summer? We know. Do you know why summer is no time to date red-heads? Do you know what football play- ers do in the summer when they can't get their names in the paper for carrying ice? R.E.M. Alec Waugh, whose "Hot Coun- tries" was the Literary Guild's choice for May, has departed for England where he will play cricket and drink beer. He will return in' the early fall to witness the publi- cation by Farrar and Rinehart of his new novel, "Sir, She Said," and will then proceed westward to set sail from San Francisco for Tahiti. Did you catch the fast one? i a And as a final note we toss out the following headline, without comment, but filched from the front page of the Daily:f TEXTBOOK SELLING ON ETHICAL BASIS STATES EDMONSON We're glad to know it. To be brief, let us launder your clothes in our modern plant with the ultimate of care and exactness that is so typical of Varsity Service. Phone 4219 i Liberty at Fifth