TWO
THE MiUIIMAN lDAIL§Y
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1936
THE MICHIGAN DAILY-Y d a e
Offcial Publication of the Summer Session A vaca, More
While
The
Readers Write
Southern Hospitality
J corre-.
rest. Al-. To the Editor:E
to con- Dear "Southern Gal": 1
d Itvl
Published every morning except Monday during the
University year and Summer Session by the Board in
Control of Student Publications,.
Member of the Western Conference Editorial Associa-
tion and the Big Ten News Service.
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for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or
not otherwise credited in this paper and the local news
published herein. All rights of republication of special
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EDITORIAL STAFF
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MANAGING EDITOR.............THOMAS E. GROEHN
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ..............THOMAS H. KLEENE
Editorial Director...............Marshall D. Shulman
Dramatic Critic...................... John W. Pritchard
Assistant Editors: Clinton B. Conger, Ralph W. Hurd,
Joseph S. Mattes, Elsie A. Pierce, Tuure Tenander, Jewel
W. Wuerfel.
%eporters: Eleanor Barc, Donal Burns, Mary Delnay, M. E.
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The LandedI
Fourth Estate ....
N AN ADVERTISEMENT, the New
Republic makes the point that the
weight of the press is almost entirely on the side
of reaction in this year's presidential campaign.
"The press is big business, one of the biggest
and most selfish businesses," it says. "Newspaper
publishers, with a few exceptions, wrote Mr. Roose-
velt off the slate when they discovered that he
believed that they should stand equal before the
law with other persons engaged in money-making
enterprise.
"Republican papers will be more virulent in theirj
attacks than usual. Some Democratic papers will
turn Republican for the campaign. Other Dem-
ocratic papers will give lukewarm support.
"A majority of the authors of signed columns
on current affairs in the daily press are violently
against the New Deal.
"News columns are printing distorted news.
"The greatest single popular force in radio is
the news commentators; nearly all of them are
hostile to the administration.
"Hollywood is violently anti-Roosevelt. And
Hearst . ."
In our opinion, these statements are true. It is
interesting to observe why they are true, and sec-
ond, what the effect of a hostile press will be.
It is worth noting that there are exceptions to
these charges against the press. The New York
Times, as we might expect, continues to be rational
about its views; where it is pro-Roosevelt, it states
in unemotional terms precisely why, and it has not
overlooked some of the salient weaknesses of the
New Deal. The same is true of the St. Louis Post-
Dispatch.
A newspaper is in business to make money. If
the editor happens to be a man of social conscious-
ness, it may also serve the public. If it should
happen, and it does happen frequently, that the
principle of public service conflicts ',ith its pri-
mary function, the newspaper does what any other
business would do. Even the Times, although it
has been able in most instances to remain above
the ordinary small demands upon it, has been
known to compromise with its laudable policy.
It is for this reason that a liberal magazine has
never been able to make money. The New Re-
public has been on the red side of the ledger for
many years, and the same is true of most honest
publications.
The present administration has done much to
incur the opposition of the press; it has sought
to regulate it in a way that was construed by the
press to mean a curb on its freedom of publication;
it has pursued policies which have been to the
disadvantage of the heavy advertisers; it has re-1
cently passed a bill which, by outlawing all price
concessions through advertising allowances, has
resulted in a withdrawal of chain store newspaper
advertising throughout the East.
It must be a source of considerable discomfort
to these editors to have to report that President
Roosevelt is still the popular candidate, although
the New York Herald-Tribune, the Detroit Free
Press, and George Gallup's America Speaks feature
have at various times and on dubious bases report-
ed that Roosevelt is falling behind Landon. But
the fact that Roosevelt is still popular despite the
ppposition of press and the most powerful business
interests in the country does not mean that these
two-forces are having no effect. The effect of their
attitudes is visibly tremendous, and would defeat
with ease a candidate less firmly intrenched in
the minds of the large groups of those less favored
economically. It may yet defeat him.
By this divergence, however, the press has re-
vealed that it does not have a positive grip on
public opinion, and that the best interests of the
AP Advertsing
To the Editor:
Tuesday's Daily carries two advertisements of
The Associated Press. One advances the slogan-
"If it's an (W) paper-read it!-Clean" The other
claims that the "UP) Grinds no Axes, Punishes no
Enemies, Makes no Profits."
In connection with the second, it is particularly
interesting to note The Nation's work on the (P)
this week. An editorial says, in part-"When a
court bites a news agency, it evidently isn't news.
The most interesting aspect of the recent decision
n the case of the Associated Press versus Morris
Watson was not the decision itself . . . but the
way the Associated Press handled the story. Jus-
tice Mantor of the United States Circuit Court,
with Justices Swan and Augustus Hand concurring,
found that Morris Watson had been discharged by
the UP) in violation of the National Labor Rela-
tions Law and ordered his reinstatement with back
pay. The U) sent out 192 words on the decision
on the afternoon of Monday, July 13, just in time
to make the last evening editions. Ordinarily a
late story of this sort is given a follow-up the next
day, but this was not done. Eighty-two of the
192 words were given to quotation from the deci-
sion asserting the right to hire and fire for cause."
The (P) it seems, punishes enemies when it can.
Perhaps, like many other progressive journals,
The Daily can try not to publish advertising that
involves fraud.
-Guild Supporter.
POLITICS
SEP and the Country Gentleman
To the Editor:
In politics the ,key men are essentially self-
centered. They work together not out of love for
each other but because of a common enemy. Gov.
Landon has disapproved consistently the Town-
send Pension Plan while President Roosevelt at
least has not been discouraging, yet today Dr.
Townsend says he prefers the Kansan to the Pres-
ident. Just why the Doctor feels the way he does
is hard to say, perhaps the bitterness which comes
from disillusionment has something to do with
it, but nevertheless his attitude is illustrative of a
phenomenon peculiar to politics.
There is evidence that Hearst's support of Lan-
don grew out of dislike for others. First, there
was his disappointment in Roosevelt whom he had
supported in 1932. And then the Republican pos-
sibilities were limited to the Kansan and Vanden-
berg, whose views on foreign affairs were unsatis-
factory, and Frank Knox, to whom he had a semi-
personal distaste. So he selected Landon. But
Hearst was not the discoverer of Landon. (Hey-
wood Broun may say so, but he is no more reliable
on the present political situation than Malcolm
Bingay). Besides a number of medium-sized pa-
pers, the Kansas City Star, nationally known for
its independence, backed Landon for several
months before the California publisher arrived in
Topeka.
If the Landon candidacy is little more than a
creation of Hearst it would not have the help of
the Detroit News, and anyone who knows anything I
about the Detroit newspaper situation knows that.
The News turned strongly anti-Roosevelt when
Landon was nominated and when that paper lines
up with its enemies, the Free Press and the Times,
something is happening.
The favor which the Republican nominee is
drawing from business men does not mean he will
take orders from them. They would take anyone
in preference to Roosevelt. Surely no one thinks
that because the Liberty League is not forming a
fourth party that it is getting everything it wants.
from Landon. The men that make up that group
are practical-minded, they are not interested in
splitting the vote.
Landon is consulting a lot of men who are cer--
tainly not "economic royalists." Among them are
Frank Lowden, Earl Taylor, Charles Taft, Ralph
Robey, Ex-Comptroller McCarl, George Peek, Roy
Roberts, William Allen White and Senator Capper.
At Cleveland there was far more time spent bow-
ing to Borah than to any eastern conservative.
But then do the men around him really mean
so much as we are led to believe? There is evi-
dence that Landon, while a ready listener, makes
his own decisions. A half dozen important in-
stances when he acted against the wishes of his
advisers were listed in Raymond Clapper's column
in the Scripps-Howard (pro-Roosevelt) newspa-
pers on June 13.
The Kansan does not bespeak the views of any
single newspaper or any chain. The publications
which he most nearly represents in attitude, are
those of the Curtis Publishing Company, the Sat-
urday Evening Post and the Country Gentleman).
Landon stands, pretty much, for the things which
those magazines have stood for during the past
two or three years.
His attitude on the labor unions is essentially
that of the farmers and the small cities and he is
primarily their candidate. While tariffs in general
may be economically desirable, the failure of the
Roosevelt Administration to do anything with the
Smoot-Hawley protection for manufacturers makes
Landon's tariff for farmers only a matter of fair-
ness for that group.
Landon has a deep respect for the Constitution.
While some of his program may have been held
unconstitutional, he did not growl at the Kansas
Supreme Court. Nor did he place himself in the
Roosevelt class by asking for legislation whether
it was thought to be constitutional or not. There
is a difference in attitude there that is highly sig-
nificant. Landon's mistakes were in good faith.
He never.acted in defiance of the Constitution.
-S.E.P. Reader.
we must read critically and skeptically all informa-
tion-opinion which we read in others. The free
Preserved Smith
To the Editor:
A letter by Preserved Smith, eminent author of
an interesting History of Moder'n Culture, was re-
cently published by the New York Post. The letter
might be entitled: "A Horse-and-Buggy Presi-
dential Candidate." This is what Mr. Smith
writes: "The other day Governor Landon accepted'
the gift of a horse and buggy and apparently en-
joyed having his picture taken in a vehicle of such
ancient vintage.
"If this gift were merely a tribute to the~
giver, this letter would never havebeen written,
but following on the heels of President Roosevelt's
denunciation of buggy-day thinking, it becomes
an occurrence of national alarm. The gage of
battle is taken at last, and nothing Mr. Roosevelt
could say could be as surely prophetic as this little
incident.
"The horse and buggy should be the present
symbol of the Republican party. Only the lack
of the 1936 realism on the part of its leaders
could be more antiquated.
"The basic appeal of the New Deal does notI
hark back to the "Good Old Days" when the sky
was the limit for a few with the rest of the in-
dividuals going ragged, but looks forward to the
day when a balanced economic life is the right of
all; that a balanced economic life is more impor-
tant to our citizens at this moment than a bal-
anced budget.
"For the past few years our needs have been
different, but Roosevelt is one of the few to recog-
nize them and the government responsibilities
I don't for a minute mean that the old virtues are9
outworn. Far from it, for their presence in society
was never needed more than at the present time.
"It is just a question of adding to the accepted
scope of government activities in the interest of
all of us. The economic forces are different and
the obligations of government are changed. This
year of 1936 requires a realistic program, not a
sentimental appeal to the days of the buggy.
"The industrial worker and his employer must
have adequate protection against cutthroat com-
petition, but not at the expense of those of us
who require foreign goods not produced in the
United States.
"They must also accord to our large rural pop-
ulation the same type of protection without sting-
ing our Congress with the bogy of high cost of
living.
"Capital should be secure in its investments, but
not at the expense of the human hopes of its
employes.
"Farmers should be free to farm but not at the
expense of destroying whole states of gwd farm
land or undermining the whole price structure
by great overproduction of foodstuffs.
"It is in times like these that it becomes neces-
sary for the Central Government to attempt to
bring us out of a chaotic state-a thing which
Hoover did not realize and which Landon does
not seem to appreciate-control the forces that
have gotten out of bounds, help those who have
become victims of the system which we permit,
and try to rectify the basic wrongs to the end
that "next time" things will not be so bad.
"It is suicidal for us to depend on the promises
of a party whose candidate takes for himself a
horse and buggy as the symbol of his political
credo."
-A Reader.
aerisc an le~J1Z over 6u woras, I suppose it is not fair of me to
that right has not as yet been ex-
eicised, but it may be necessary criticize, but as a staunch down-east-
in the future. Readers are also erner I cannot disregard the urge to
reminded that letters without sig- teach a damned Confederate a lesson
nat are may not be published. 'in courtesy. Now we up here in the
Further correspondence in an- North have our customs just as do you
swer to 'Southern Gal' is not en- hill folks, and I gather from your
couraged. letter that these customs clash with
yours. A person of average intelli-
girls, remember that love-seats are gence, I believe, would find contact
fine things, but they .aren't particu- with new experiences broadening,
larly conducive background for a girl and would attempt to understand the
who wants to get a partner for a people for whom these experiences
dance. . are customs instead of blatantly de-
The reasons for this are clear. Men laring, "You ought to see the way
like to see how tall the girls are; they it is back home."
like to get a good look. I am sure Northerners have always taken this
that if I were a man it would take tolerant attitude towards the South,
more force than persuasion to make , even in regard,to some of your most
me dance with a girl whom I hadn't unusual customs. For instance, I
seen standing up. In fact, even suppose that any demonstration of
though these summer school men life in the hospitable South which you
sometimes make the officials a bit describe would include at least one,
irked, they aren't to be blamed for lynching. Now we would not attempt.
wanting to "pick out their own part- to compare a good old Southern
ners" after all. lynching with anything back home,
Last but not least, we want to and we wouldn't feel cheated because
thank you for the invitation to the we were witnessing something com-
dance down south, but we wish that pletely unique to us. No, we would,
you would be a little more specific as instead, attempt to understand the
to the time and place. spirit which can drive a people to in-
-Just Another Officious Official. sane mob murder.
The Daily welcomes al
spondence of general inte
though right is reserved
d3 c all 1P ttr M7r n
:
t
3
.
t
SOCIETYJ
To A Southern Lady
To the Editor:
In defense of the League it is only fair thatj
someone say a few words in answer to the southernj
lady whose criticisms were printed in your papert
some days ago.
First, it should be understood by everyone that
summer activities must be self-supporting. The
social committee can't afford to give any more
free parties than it does already. Dances are ad-t
vertised all over the campus at 25c per person.
If we see that there is a particular evening honor-
ing southern people, we should realize that on thatt
occasion southerners are expected to feel espe-
cially welcome. Of course, they are welcome at
any and all times, just as anyone else. However,E
on the evening of which mention was made, there
was a watermelon cut given for southerners atl
which everyone was given his or her fill of water-r
melon-or Dr. Purdom and the social committee.
were not to blame. The officials felt that it would
be appropriate to invite particularly these people
to the dance at a charge of 25c per person, justt
as has been done for the last eight or ten years,
and that that small charge was far from unrea.-'
sonable. Very few places, after all, offer four
hours of dancing for 25c.
The lady wno wrote the letter which appearedt
in Tuesday morning's Daily could have gone down
to the ballroom had she explained to the guard
that she wished to go down just to sit or to dance
with another person of her own sex. However, no1
introductions will be made in the ballroom. Thist
rule was instigated for the protection of the girls.
It must also be pointed out that if the door-keeper
let everyone by who wished to go by the ballroom1
and corridor in front of the ballroom would soon
be so congested and crowded that no one could get
through, and there would be little space left in
the ballroom for dancers. The social committee
knows, because it has been tried both ways. The
present system is very much more efficient and
pleasant. As far as a real southern dance with
three men for every girl is concerned, that simply
does not work, here at the University of Mich-;
igan. It was tried once-sponsored by a groupl
of southern men-and it did not work.
Now, a word of advice. Any young lady coming
to a dance piobably wants to dance. At least that's
the common opinion of most experts. Everyone
7>v_ . 1_ _ ni if n - - + f r a a'_ c'l lil 1
Birds In Hands
To the Editor:
Dear Southern Gal,
Evidently your mother did not tell
you all you should know before you'
came to the North. First, and this is
just as important as not speaking to
strong men, learn to keep quiet when3
you see something that doesn't jibe!
with your notions of what's what. The
injunction about what to do in Rome'
still applies, in Ann Arbor as every-
where else. How do ybu suppose a
northern man would like the cut-in
system as we practice it? Is it not
possible that one of the northern girls
you so freely invite to southern dances
would think that she had gotten into
a bargain sale by mistake-she being
the bargain? What about the stags
who imitate the Chinese wall around
the orchestra, and who boast that
they do not dance with a girl unless
she is cut in on at least seven times
a dance? Then, in regard to the tall,
dark, and handsomes, of whom you
speak, it seems to me rather wistfully,
when going to the League in the
North or to a Gym Dance in the.
South, remember, Honey, that a bird
in the hand is worth any number on
the dance floor.
-Southern Girl.
Result: Four Weeks Gone
To the Editor:
Michigan at last! I had scarcely
recovered my breath from luggingj
my grips into the Union when I se-1
cured a Summer Session program of
social events. From Sunday until1
Friday I eagerly looked forwardto
meeting some of the Michigan girls.1
At last on Friday night I shook some
forty hands at the League, and final-
ly ended up at the dance hall. Just
as I was trying to make my way to-
ward a prospective dance partner, one
of the hostesses (in those first days
they really found you a partner be-!
fore themselves going off to dance)1
tackled me and introduced me to a
forlorn-looking school teacher. In-
trovertive and how! Two dancesf
were all I could endure. After a few
more dances some one ditched his
date on me, a Michigan girl, who
preferred to sit on the sidelines most
of the numbers and rave on politics
and social problems! The rest of
the evening-well, you guess it!
Saturday night I decided to take
another chance. This time the host-
esses were too engaged to tag me for
some rose-cheeked, studious soul who
had long forgotten the true art of
conversation, let alone dancing. Bet-
ter luck followed. I danced with
an Eastern girl-and a 'Southern
Gal,' too, a sweet one like most of
them from the South.<
Wednesday I visited the Ford Motor1
Plant. On this occasion my eyes!
caught the geniuine smile of a high!
school graduate who had not as yet!
been affected with the frigid gaze
that dominates the Michigan coed.
Niagara Falls trip? I was not mar-c
ried, so didn't go. The rest of the1
social evenings? No thanks! The1
tea, so I went. Here I saw the second
tea, so went. Here I saw the second
girl in three weeks to smile back at1
me, so I asked her for a dance. Bet-,
*ter luck here, too. She' was from
Iowa.
Result: Four weeks gone, and what
to show for it? I can scarcely im-
agine attending a coed school for this,
length of time and becoming ac-
quainted with six girls none of whom,
are from Michigan. The Southern,
Gal who invited us day before yes-
terday to go to a party in the good old.
South should have suggested to so-
cial directors of the University a
course in sociability for Michigan co-
eds.
Isn't it a pity that a girl should
give you a cold look, if any at all,
instead, of a smile when a smile is
And another example : let us say
that on our hospitality tour of the
South we became acquainted with the
illiteracy rate in such a state as Mis-
sissippi. Would we immediately say,
"Huh, you ought to see our illiteracy
rates back home." Of course not. We
would attempt to understand how a
people can be so stupid and politically
corrupt as to allow its children to
remain comparatively uneducated. Or
perhaps, in our tour, we would have
occasion to consider the people, and
the governor of Georgia, and the
penal system which they have creat-
ed, or we might drop into a court
long enough to see the fair treatment
which is accorded negroes. Not once,
I assure you, would we invite compar-
ison with anything back home.
It may be trite, "Southern Gal"
(what a swell name for a filly!) to
remind you of the old saying "When
in Rome do as the Romans do," but
I imagine you get the point, and you
may even come to realize that one of
the chief phrases of courtesy is do-
ing "as the Romans do," and at
least pretending to like it.
Yankee.
GENERAL
Democracy
To the Editor:
Professor George S. Counts of
Teachers College, Columbia Univer-
sity, is not only a great educator, he
is an equally great reformer. In his
pamphlet "Dare the School build a
New Social Order?" Professor Counts
touches upon a number of important
timely problems. One of the best
pages in the pamphlet deals with
democracy-not as a political regime
but as what may be termed a social
contract. This is Professor Counts'
conception of genuine democracy:
"Democracy should not be identified
with political forms and functions-
with the federal Constitution, the
popular election of officials, or the
practice of universal suffrage. To
think in such terms is to confuse the
entire issue, as it has been confused
in the minds of the nTasses for gen-
erations. The most genuine expres-
sion of democracy in the United
States has little to do with our po-
litical institutions: it is a sentiment
with respect to the moral equality of
men: it is an aspiration towards a
society in which this sentiment will
find complete fulfillment. A society
fashioned in harmony with the Amer-
ican democratic tradition would com-
The Page
bat all forces tending to produce so-
cial distinctions and classes; repress
every form of privilege and economic
parasitism; manifest a tender regard
for the weak, the ignorant, and the
unfortunate; place the heavier and
more onerous social burdens on the
backs of the strong; glory in every
triumph of man in his timeless urge
to express himself and to make the
world more habitable; exalt human
labor of hand and brain as the cre-
ator of all wealth and culture; pro-
vide adequate material and spiritual
rewards for every kind of socially
useful work; strive for genuine equal-
ity of opportunity among all races,
sects, and occupation; regard as par-
amount the abiding interests of the
great masses of the people; direct
the powers of government to the ele-
vation and the refinement of the life
of the common man; transform or
destroy all conventions, institutions,
and special groups inimical to the
underlying principles of .democracy."
What sort of a man Professor
Counts is may be learned from a re-
cent letter published in the New York
Post. "One can only feel an affec-
tion for the man who honestly and
frankly opens his lectures with "Re-
member, too, that every individual
you hear in life is also prejudiced."
-M. Levi.
Random Thoughts
To the Editor:
Wife-There's one thing I ' don't
know. Why was the Liberty League
founded?
Husband-That's another mystery.
It is as if a band of men joined to-
gether to assassinate their best friend.
It comes under the head of abnormal
psychology. My friend Jones has
written an excellent monograph on
the subject. It is called "An Investi-
gation into the Behavior of Million-
aires when Affected by a Severe Case
of the Jitters."
-Hamilton Basso in the New
Republic.
Governor Landon wants a consti-
tutional government. The Constitu-
tion is a noble document, but as it
stands and as it is being interpreted
by the United States Supreme Court,
it is highly satisfactory to the ex-
ploiters of the Amerincan people and
to those who have most benefited by
the New Deal.
Father Coughlin thinks that if
Governor Landon is elected or Pres-
ident Roosevelt is re-elected, there
will be Fascism in the United States.
Father Coughlin forgets that most
of his political principles are derived
from Fascism-that is, from Hitler-
ism and Mussolinism.
The greatest of all religions is a
religion of liberty, truth, justice and
humanity.
If knowledge is a thing superlative-
ly good, ignorance-the opposie of
knowledge-is a thing superlatively
bad. There is no middle standing
ground.
-Alexander Bain, Practical Essays.
No education equals self-education.
* *
Those who talk much about race
haven't any.
-Oswald Spengler, Years of
Decision
* * *
Frederick the Great, the much-in-
voked hero of the non-Teutons, was
the ruler of an essentially Slavic
Kingdom and he was neither a racist
nor a "Nordic."
-Foreign Affairs, April 1935.
* * *
The spectacle of Christian nations
slaughtering and butchering each
other in this enlightened century
shocked "pagan" Asia.
-Observer.
Review Ot 'The Old Maid'
0 N A BEAUTIFULLY executed
scenic background, Sarah Pierce
and Ruth LeRoux last night sparred
brilliantly for the dubious honor of
top acting laurels in an interminable
play, something called "The Old
Maid," for which ZoeeAkins was
given a Pulitzer prize. We are afraid
we can't seriously disagree with those
critics who have doubted that the
late Mr. Pulitzer had any hand in
the judging.
Not that "The Old Maid" wasn't
fairly entertaining. The original
novel was by Edith Wharton, and
you can't make a silk purse int a1
sow's ear. But it was awfully d,11,
and we'll go into that in a minute.
Miss Pierce, as old maid Char-
lotte Lovell, added another fin char-,
acterization to a list that already,
quences, but this is debatable; her
vocal nuances and her business were
slightly overdone in the earlier se-
qunces, but this is debatable; her
forte is the dominant role of the
high tragedienne, within which field
she is capable of much variation; the
representation of a young girl in the
grip of social maladjustment is like-
ly to lead her into a suspicion of af-
fectation. In the last two scenes, how-
ever .she found herself in the depict-
ing of an embittered, curt, rapidly
aging spinster.
Liquid and mellow was the work of
Miss LeRoux, as Delia Lovell, who
married quite practically, manipulat-
ed events with 'easy efficiency, and
amazingly emerged as a wholly sym-
pathetic character. Miss LeRoux is
subtle and restrained, and her charm-
ing domination of every episode knit
the play together in a more mari-
torious fashion than it deserved.
Frances Davis, as humorously ma-
triarchal Mrs. Mingott, deported her-
self with high credit. The other fem-
inine roles were just adequate. The
costuming was excellent. The men
varied from weak to useless.
At the end of the fourth episode,
a young lady in the audience was
heard to remark, "I wonder what hap-
pened to Joe." Joe being a leading
character, the remark was pertinent.
"The Old Maid" is episodic and in-
coherent; the situations are common-
place; the picture of the old maid's
metamorphosis from an affectionate
dear into a cruel, selfish, sadistic
moralist is basically understandable,
but inexplicable in its entirety. "The
Old Maid" (always in the opinion of
this writer) not only is unnecessary
as thematic material, but is also very
weak theatre. -John W. Pritchard.
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