THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDA
,,
Editorial Comment
GOVERNMENT OF TilE INTERESTED
MINORITY
(Daily Illini
I
tion prices were higher than present day prices
if there s to be fairness in scaling down these
debts.
The European nations have long insisted that
as long as Germany and other Central powers
paid the reparations, they would pay the United
States. Now, having cut down the reparations
to seven hundred millions, they still owe us eleven
billions. If Germany is not going to pay, where
will the already overtaxed Britons find revenue
for their war debts? Or the French?
A reasonable scaling down of these figures has
been necessary for some time. At the Peace Con-
ferences of Versailles and St. Germain, repara-
tions figures were not settled and the defeated
nations signed a, blank check. Now politicians
have realized what economists told them in 1919
--that reparation figures had to be estimated on
an economic basis rather than a political basis.
Because of the high prices which prevailed
during the war, a reduction in war debts oweing
to the United States is logical and fair. The
preseht Congress has firmly indicated its stand
agairst wiping out these obligations altogether,
and justly. These debts are for loans made, and
supplies sold to the Allied powers. As such they
are more legitimate than reparations, which are
more or less tribute exacted from defeated ef-
emies.
The reaction of ,home governments must be
awaited, however, before any predictions are
made as to the success of the plan. Germany,
obviously, cannot pay much at the present time.
On what legislators in the various assemblies,
responsible to the electorate, will have to say to
the agreement, depends its success.
I Ves igations
Are Convenient'
Politicians do desperate things when the prize
to be gained is the presidency. Now, it seems
there is to be an. investigation of the treasury de-
partment and the Federal Reserve board brought
about by action of the House of Representatives
with the definite support of Speaker Garner and
acting Republican floor-leader Michener of Mich-
igan.
American movie fans sometimes feel sorry for
their foreign contemporaries who do not have the
advantage of seeing all the good pictures made,
in Hollywood. "Grand Hotel," however, which is
scheduled for the Majestic on Thursday, Friday
and Saturday of this week, has been released in
French, Italian, German and Spanish.
This business of shooting scenes 4n half a dozen
languages with half a dozen stars cost money,
and, also annoyed foreign audiepees who wanted
to see American actors and actresses and at the
same time have them speak European languages.
Shooting and re-shooting "Grand Hotel" in half
a dozen differ-
ent versions was;:'
out of the ques-
tion..'
So what the 4
M-G-M studios
did was to hold
voice tests in
F r a n c e, Italy,
Germany and
Spain. T ,hen V
they hired the
best of these ac-k
tors and actres-
ses, not to ever
appear on the '
screen, but'
m er el1y le nd
their voices.
So it comes
about t h at in
Berlin's version
of "Grand Ho-
tel" the face will WALLACE BEEQY r"GRAND HOTEL!
be the face of Garbo, but the voice will belong to
some unknown German actress, who possibly gets;
$150 to $350 a week for speaking Garbo's lines.'
" First the foreign actors and actresses were
brought to Hollywood and given their lines to
memorize. Then they sat in the projection room
and watched the lip movements of the characters
of the original version. Then they spoke their
party into microphones at rehearsals where the
picture is run off with the sound omitted.
Their voices were then recorded on a separate
film' and the new sound track adjusted to the
original picture. Tricky? Yes. All done by the
aid of cleverly concealed mirrors.
So that's how "Grand Hotel" will be travelling
all over Europe in a few months, as well as show-
ing in the United States.
Campus Opinion
The problem of voting and of the privilege of
suffrage has become increasingly important dur-
ing the Mast few years. When our government
was first established all those who had the priv-
ilege of voting were zealous to protect their rights
in this regard, and very quick to exercise this
nqw found power in the government.
As the population of this country increased,
cities became more crowded, business became
more efficient, and the pressure of time began
to tell on all things, we have, as a general rule,
given up the idea of any large percentage of the
electorate at the polls. There have bedn several
ways of bringing about better participation in
voting, but none of them comes near being prac-
tical.
Compulsory voting is not to be advocated un-
der any circumstances unless the consideration
that the continued practice gained in this way
woulcd educate the people to their civic respon-
sibilities. This idea is not so far fetched in that
it would actually inform some of the voters of
things they have been letting go during the past
few years. Some voters have not participted in
an election for so long that they do not in any
wise realize what is expected of them.
Those participating in popular government,
are, of course the voters. They are the ones who
shape the policies of the great political parties.
Yes, you may differ with us on the point and
hold that the political leaders and not the voters
determine the policies to be followed. Of course
the members of that reknowned gentry flatter
themselves that they do really shape the policies,
but if it were not for the policies appealing to
enough of the electorate to pass the party into
power there would be no use of the platform of
principles and properties.
Thus, the electorate influences, in absentia the
policies that are placed before them for voting.
Of course the electorate has very little to say
about how the policies voted upon are taken care
of by the officers, but then control to that extent
would not altogether be desirable at any rate.
The root of power in any political party lies
in the local governmental elections. Any new
party always makes effort to carry small locali-
ties and pass out jobs to people in that area. This
practice will get the people working for their own
jobs if not for the sake pf the party, and thus
create a strong foothold for the party in that
area. From this nucleus of power the whole thing
can be fanned out, and, in theory, at least, a new
political party can attain pbwer. The parties in
power now followed the same plan when they
were organizing.
Compulsory voting would doubtless create a
condition that would be easily controlled by vote
buyers. We now have a government of the in-
terested rather than a government of the whole
people, so let us consider some of the aspects of
the present system.
In getting out the vote, local committeees and
workers are the sole source of power any politi-
cal party can have. In state and local govern
ment theme is really no excuse for the party sys-
tem except as a standardization of voting techni-
que for the whole country. People in local areas
should be thoroughly enough acquainted with
the candidates that they would have a basis upon
which to vote. It is only this lack of interest and
lack of even local knowledge or acquaintance
that makes the party system adaptable to local
areas.
Party leaders of the future make their start
by working in and among the local electorate,
creating a following, and then rising in the party
organization on the strength of this following.
Such a system is, of course, open to adverse cri-
ticism on the fact that it, allows influence of
voters instead of education of 'the electorate.
While the goal or objective of a completey edu-
cated electorate may be worthy and one that
should be attained if this country is ever to reach
any place near a truly Democratic state, there
remains the doubt as to the ultimate effectual-
ity or desirability of such a system.
In this connection we do not intend to imply
that voters should not be educated as to their
political responsibilities or connections, but we
do advocate that this should be done locally and
under subheads of a national organization
rather than by nation-wide propaganda, as has
some times been advocted. This personality of
contact with local leaders will, in our opinion,
ultimately bring about a sound basi for voting in
America. The question of mass education always
is brought forth on this issue, but it is doubtful
that such a loosely organized idea as would nec-
essarily be the result of such a plan would have
any lasting beneficial- effect on the electorate as
a whole.
The whole question of a larger percentage of
the electorate revolves entirely around the two
ideas of whether to have a government by the en-
tire people or to have a government of the in-
terested minority. We feel that as long as there
remain people in this country that do not feel
interested enough to vote and vote upon a basis
of fact there is no use to try to gain widespread
participation by compulsion. In this way we get
the majority opinion of those who have taken
the trouble to inform themselves _n the issues
rather than those who do not care one way or
other. The immediately obvious defect n this
plan is that the information upon which many of
the opinions are based is largely party propagan-
da. For the present there seems no other way as
voters will not take the trouble to dig up the facts
for themselves. Until such a time as the journal-
istic world is able to develop writers with the
technical ski; to present unbiased information to
the voters we will have to do as best we can un-
der the party information system.
Some of the national political writers of today
claim to have this unbiased news viewpoint in
their writing, and they have to a certain extent,
but a great deal could be gained if the idea were
more widespread. The University only last se-
mester instituted a new course in political writing
methods which is designed to give a background
for political writing of the informational type
toward a more thorough education of the elector-
ate. We hope that in the next few years a new
attitude will be taken by the voters educated on
a new writing technique that is dependable for
for facts. This will create an informed electorate
that still does not vote by compulsion, but fur-
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FOAM PRESSED
Letters published in this column should not be
construed as expressing the editorial opinion of The
Daily. Anonymous communications will be disre-
garded. The names of communicants will, how-
ever, be regarded as confidential upon request.
Contributors are asked to be brief, confining them-
selves to less than 300 words if possible.
A NEW ANGLE ON 3 CENT POSTAGE
To The Editor:
Permit me to call attention to
your editorial in this morning's Daily: "Keep the
3 Cent postage Rate." An attentive ,reader might
wish that you had treated the subject somewhat
more adequately. I refer to the fact that there
is anotter side to the question of the 3 cent tax
on letters. This side iswell set forth in an edi-
torial of the Detroit News of July 6th. I quote
a short paragraph from that editorial:
"Instead' of increasing the letter rate, the
course which Congress should have adopted, as
part of the economy program, was the organiza-
tion of the Federal postal system on non-politi-
cal lines, eliminating the tremenduous waste
caused by the political appointment of untrain-
ed postmasters and untrained administrative of-