THE MICHIGAN DIiALY T
MICHIGAN DAILY
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ited and managed by students of the University of
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&lember, Associated Collegiate Press, 193738
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Board of Editors
MANAGING EDITOR.. IRVING SILVERMAN
City Editor ..........Robert I. Fitzhenry
Aijtant Editors. . . . . Mel Fineberg,
Joseph Gies, Elliot Maraniss, Ben M. Marino,
Carl Petersen, Suanne Potter, Harry L.
Sonneborn.
i Busines Department
iUS NESS MANAGER. .. ERNEST A. JONES
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Aistants . . Philip Buchen, Walter Stebens
NIGHT EDITOR: HARRY L. SONNEBORN
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of the Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
It is important for society to avoid the
neglect of adults, but positively dangerous
for it to thwart the ambition of youth to
rform the world. Only the schools which
act on thi belief are educational institu-
tions in the best meaning of the term.
-Alexander G. Ruthven.
The Catholic Church
And The Spanish War ...
VOLLOWING Father OFlanagan's
r'talk on the war in Spain last week,
several questions were asked by the audience.
That of most interest concerned the official
(pro-rebel) position of the Catholic Church on
the war. Although Father O'Flanagan did not go
into great detail in his reply to the query, he
mentioned the two reasons generally given by
the Church, Communist influence in the Valen-
cia government, and the burning of churches by
the Loyalists.
Now the fact that these two charges still ap-
pear to be the basis for the alignment of the
Church with a fascist rebellion against a demo-
cratically elected government appears to call
for some examination, not only of the charges
themselves, but of the background of the
Church which makes them.
To take the accusations in reverse order,
there is no doubt that churches have ineed
been destroyed in Spain, most of them by the
Loyalists, although several have also been re-
ported struck during fascist air raids. But while
destruction of church property is deplorable,
is it not possible that the conduct of certain
members -of the clergy, rather than the bar-
barous'nature of the Loyalist ideologies caused
these events? Churches have been burned many
times in Spain, long before the Republic was
ever established. Moreover, there is testimony
from many sources that the churches were used
as secret arsenals in preparation for the revolt.
As for Communist influence in Spain, there
a is a great deal. But it has sprung up almost
entirely since the beginning of the civil war-
there were no more than 30,000 Communists
in Spain in the spring of 1936; only 14 Com-
munists sat in the Cortes, which numbered
more than 450. The growth of the Communist
Party in Spain has been due to the absolute
desertion of the workers and peasants by the
ruling class, and even, one might add, by the
Church. Under the pressure of the rebellion,
the'people understandably turned to the radical
parties, although even now the government is by
no means "Communist" for only one Communist
holds a portfolio.
But even if one draws no distinction among
the various left-wing groups participating in
the Valencia government, and lumps them all
together as anti-Christian (in spite of the guar-
antee of religious freedom in the Republican
Constitution) is the Church justified yet in en-
tering the lists, not only of politics but of actual
civil war, in the role of abettor of a rebellion
against the legally-constituted government?
Pope Leo XIII said: " . . . the Church . . . has
always reproved doctrines, and condemned men,
in rebellion against ihe legtimate authority.
And even in times when the holders of power
abused their power against the Church." And
in September, 1531, a collective declaration by
the Spanish bishops themselves said, "The
Church never fails to teach submission and obe-
dience as due to the constituted power, even
when those who hold and represent that power,
use it in abuse of the Church."
The bishops' letter justified the rebellion as
an "armed plebiscite.' Is this also the position
of the Catholic Church in America? Does the
BOOKS
By STANLEY LEBERGOTT
THE COMING VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY,
by Thomas Mann, Knopf 1938 67pp. $1.00
In this the sixth decade of his life, Thomas
Mann has set down in The Coming Victory For
Democracy his profession of faith as artist, as
thinker, and as living man. A more stinging in-
dictment of the fascist scheme of things will not
come in our time.
Mann's purpose in now presenting his credo
at full length has been, he declares, to reaffirm
his faith in the durable values of truth, justice
and freedom, and to contrast these values of
democracy with thebsystematic ignorance con-
sistent sadism and bitter limitation of the in-
tellect practiced by Fascism. His democracy is,
however, more than political formula enjoining
majority rule and the Austrialian ballot. It is
that social principle which flames with a living
faith in the worth of the human personality and
its free search for the ideal
Dr. Mann does not attempt the Liberty League
task of presenting America with an improbable
choice between chaos on the one hand and de-
mocracy plus liberty plus material prosperity
plus a laissez-faire heaven of privileges on the
other. His epistle to the Americans-perhaps
unfortunately for its popular appeal-contains
a far more philosophic and gallantly heroic
creed than this. He holds out only the sombre
and realistic but in every sense inspiring, pros-
pect of democracy and its goals standing stark-
ly alone in the midst of a desperate and never-
ending struggle. In presenting this dark vision,
the greatest of living German writers fulfills
what he has declared to be the special task of
the intellectual today: to stimulate reflection on
and re-examination of the democratic process:
"a spiritual and moral possession of which it
would be dangerous to feel too secure- and too
confident." With deep earnestness Mann
pursues this task of counteracting the novelty,
the revolutionary demeanor and opportunism,
that constitute the advantage of fascism.
To the fascist goal of force, he counters
democrac'y's eternal purpose-the idea of
justice. And he insists on this idea. For, he says,
it is 'a specific and essential attribute of man,
that which makes him human." On this declar-
ation of faith, stemming from the high and lone-
ly tradition of Plato and'Erasmus, he founds his
hope for the ultimate victory of democracy.
Whatever the fate of the political instrument
which is middle class democracy, that democracy
which is an honouring of the "idea of justice"
can never die. And when fascism, ignoring that
which enables man to transcend his error and
fault, proceeds to give man heroics in place of
conscience, it degrades what is noble and im-
mortal in him. Its jejune ideology only succeeds
in sanctifying the rule of the mob mind-expres-
sed though it be, by self-appointed aristocrats.
(For like Gasset, Mann has penetrated to the
truth that the most assertively aristocratic of
leaders-the demagogue-is outlined, stamped,
and shaped off from the stock of the mass mind).
* * * .
Valuable To Radicals
Up to this point' the rounded humanistic doc-
trine of The Coming Victory for Democracy is
of especial value to the radical movement. For
if his vigorous and developed humanism is ac-
cepted by radical groups it will fill out the trun-
cated politico-economic credos which so many
of them now profess. And if fully utilized it will
strengthen the radical appeal by pulling it into
full focus on reality.
Mann's defense of democracy concludes with
a tract for the times addressed to his fellow con-
servatives. The phrase "fellow conservatives" has
not been used carelessly for as Mann reiterates,
his appeal is essentially a conservative one; "it
aims to preserve our Occidental cultural tradi-
tions to defend them against barbarism and po-
litical running amuck of every sort." It aims to
conserve the eternal substance the abiding values
of democracy. And, as Cocteau has said, is not
he who strikes out boldly, utilizing whatever of
the past still applies, and solving new problems
by new methods, the true conservativ?e Is he not
in line with the great men of the past, who in
their day also broke with the past on the less
significant matters, who discarded whatever ad-
ventitious and limiting trappings may have be-
come attached to their ideals as time passed,
but who continued their battle for the perman-
ent ideals? It is, however, not sufficient for the
intellectual to agree that the precious heritage
of democracy is worth conserving; he must act
to conserve it. To Mann, it is impossible to con-
ceive that intellect should reside above and
apart from the battle. If it is to mean anything
at all, it must relate to life and activity. If, for
a believer in democracy, its moral definition is
"an appreciation of the dignity of man . . . then
its psychological definition arises out of its de-
termination to reconcile and combine knowledge
and art, mind and life, thought and deed."
* * *
Intellectual's Problem
The first problem confronting the intellectual
is that of reasserting the freshness and vitality
of the democratic tradition. This Mann terms
,spiritual reform. But there is another half to
duty; to recognize and meet Fascism's demand
for social justice; to develop the laissez-faire
freedom which prevailed in "the epoch of bour-
geois liberalism" to a further stage in order to
kick the props from under the fascist facade. "If
democracy wishes to make its undoubted moral
superiority over fascism effective . . . it must
adopt in the economic as well as the spiritual
domain as much of the socialistic morality as
the times make imperative and indespensable."
In conclusion Mann turns from his intellectual
analysis to express in a manner which strangely
moves a reader far from the troubled scene of
his feelings toward the social system which for-
ced him and so many others from their home-
land. "I am a man" he says. "who regards it as
Heywood Broun
The first.time I saw Ruth McKenney she was
speaking at a protest meeting, and one of her
friends said, "You know, we call her 'The Red
Gracie Allen.'" That de-
ceived me. It was not until
a second meeting that I real-
ized the uncommon good
sense of the young woman.
In her book "My Sister
Eileen," which has just been
published, Miss MKenney
explains that as a school girl
orator she stuttered "'Take
the Marines out of Nicara-
gua!' I used to thunder to a fairly spellbound
audience, Redeem America's g-g-good n-n-
name.' " r
All that is gone now. Only a kind of breath-
lessness remains. Miss McKenney was on the
Vassar daisy chain, and I assume that she
played anchor. And so when this fair and large
young lady first stood up to state her sentiments
with an air of wide-eyed wonder and a "Where
am I?" look upon her face I hope I may be for-
given for the fact that I felt she might not know
what it was all about. Later I learned that under
a breezy exterior lay a gale of sincere and effec-
tive conviction.
The Radicals Sense Of Humor
Old delusions die hard, and the statement that
radicals have no sense of humor has been made
so many times that we come to accept it in spite
of manifold testimony to the contrary. But even
those who know better still cling to the notion
that the wit of those with a cause mustinvariably
fall in the channel of biting bitterness.
The precise reverse is true. "My sister Eileen"
seems to me one of the most amusing books I
have read in years, but though it grieves Miss
McKenney, I must admit that to my mind
"wholesome" is the word for Ruth.
It is interesting to compare Ruth McKenney
with some of her fellow-contxibutors to the New
Yorker. Take James Thurber, for instance. He
is the finer craftsman by far. Indeed, in my
estimation, Thurber is the most extraordinary
humorist in America. But there is something
terrifying in his humorous conceptions.
He walks a tightrope over a Niagara of tragedy,
and thus follows the tradition of Swift, Aldous
Huxley in his earlier work and the best of Ring
Larder. It is obvious enough that all three of
these writers belong among those who have re-
belled at life. But, speaking of the last two
alone, I never heard either one suggest any-
thing which could be done about it.
The radical, on the contrary, has a very lively
faith that the world can be changed. He is up
to his ears in the youth movement and slum
clearance and peace and security. And there
can be such a thing as a passionate serenity. I've
seen it.
* * *
Buoyancy And Bounce
Decidedly I find this buoyancvy and bounce in
the writing of Ruth McKenney. But if you have
the idea that "My Sister Eileen" is a piece of
crusading proletarian literature, I've done this
all wrong.
It is a series of light essays and episodes.
There are some sly digs at stuffed shirts, but I
doubt that even Mrs. Dilling would find it sub-
versive at surface. There is, for instance, the
story of the manner in which Ruth McKenney,
as a college correspondent, went to the hotel to
interview young Randolph Churchill.
"Up to that very moment I had never tasted
anything in alcoholic beverages except a variety
of bootleg liquor distilled in some abandoned
mines near New Stratisville, Ohio."
And if "The Sock Hunt" isn't one of the most
hilarious pieces written in several seasons you
have only to turn to "Beware the Brazilian
Navy," which is in the same volume. "It das
four minutes before the Navy lads fell for the
'Oh, look!' gag, where you point in one direction
and run like hell in the other. . . Eileen finally
went to bed with her shoes on and the egg-
beater beside her pillow."
To all lovers of good clean fun I most heartily
recommend "My Sister Eileen," the first book by
"The Red Gracie Allen."
Western culture have been rejected and trodden
under foot. I have made many sacrifices iq order
to save one thing which was denied me in Ger-
many: freedom of thought and expression." The
reader, who must inevitably recall with mingled
sadness and fury the vanished Germany of Kant~
and Heine, of Goethe and Lessing, will wonder
indeed what system is that which must limit,
repress, and finally exile men like Mann. And as
the portents of Spain and China darkly point the
future, one thinks of the attitude of those intel-
lectuals who are easily letting their values and
purposes slide into innocuous desuetude while
fascism strides forward; who refuse to affirm and
implement their ideals by spiritual and economic
reform. Mann's vision and message challenges
them to help in the good fight. "I believe it to
be the duty of every thinking man to take an
active part in this task-which is tantaiount to
the preservation of culture-and to give freely
of himself." Will they understand and make use
of the lesson which Mann has learned? Will they
be in the vanguard of the fight? Or will they re-
main on the sidelines, eulogizing in measured
phrase the beauty of the chrysalis from which
a more sufficient freedom has emerged? One
thing, however, is certain: It is hail and not fare-
well; the permanent future lies with democracy.
ABOARD U.S.S. HOUSTON, IN GALAPAGOS
THEATRE
By PROF. KARL LITZENBERG
(Of the department of English)
Kind Lady
The purpose of this review is to
suggest rather strongly that the
gentle reader hie himself over to the
Mendelssohn Theatre as quickly as
possible for the purpose of purchasing1
admission to the current offering,
Kind Lady. Continuing to manifesti
that perversity in which we pride
ourselves, we refuse to divulge any-
thing. While Kind Lady will interestI
all persons except the squeamish, the'
weak-hearted, and the lonely rich, it
will appeal especially to mystery and
crime play fanciers. The play is
written from what the fancy will
doubtless call an eccentric (that is, an
original) point of view. Many mystery
and crime play fanciers are inclined
to be highly critical of radical tech-
niques, and are disposed to consider
that the writer's business is to set up
a series of complications which pre-
vent the consumer from discovering
who done it, from the time when the
awful deed was did until the time
when the mystery is undid. The sus-
pense in such a story depends entirely
upon the desire of the reader or au-
dience to find out who is the proper
person to hang; and the business of
the author is to clutter up the prem-
ises with false clues, with amateur
detectives, maiden aunts, wire-haired
terriers, local dogberrys, and three
phials of a subtle oriental poison.
This type of plot-this type of sus-
pense-is the stock-in-trade of Mr.
S. S. Van Dine, who, aided by learned
literary allusions anid extravagantly
profuse erudition-in-general, sends a
whodunnit to the bookstores, to the
stage, or to Hollywood oftener than
he ought. Mr. Dashiell Hammett
practices violent variations on the
same theme, suffusing his plots with
elaborately obscene degeneracy; and
treating the whole ugly business with
a studied disregard for the value of
human life and humanrdecency which
can only be described as epic. The
whodunnit question of a work like
The Glass Key becomes, after a while,
a merely incidental matter.
It was not so long ago that A. A.
Milne's Perfect Alibi was performed
with considerable success in London,
and with such overwhelming approval
in America that it is destined to roll
down the ages with such other stan-
dard Senior Class vehicles as Stop
Thief and Green Stockings. The
Perfect Alibi was by no means a who-
dunnit; in fact, the murder was com-
mitted immediately after the curtain
rose, in full view of the audience.
With left-handed dramatic irony, the
author forced his characters to solve
the mystery while the members of the
audience chewed their finger-nails,
hoping that the man whom they knew
to be the murderer would be caught
and punished. Mr. Milne trifled
with the whodunnit tradition, but he
did not let poetic justice down. La-
burnam Grove could also be cited as
exemplifying the new suspense tech-
nique in the crime play-but perhaps
we'd better get along with the morn-
ing's business.
This business, as we have indicated,
is to pack you into the Mendelssohn
without telling you a thing. We can
promise, however, that you won't be
bothered by foolish questions such as
Who Killed Cock Robin? or Where
Are Them Papers? But you won't
really know what's what until you
discover who is going to answer the
doorbell which rings three seconds
before the final curtain comes down.
If you don't like the fearsome and
the grotesque, you hadn't better go.
But if you do go-and you probably
will-you will see the best directed
performance of the season, for which
Frederic 0. Crandall is responsible;
you will see also two remarkable per-
formances by the duper and dupee,
S. J. Bernhard and Claribel Baird.
You. will -be allowed to look at a few
museum pieces, some hanging on the
walls, and some walking on the stage
in the persons of Richard Orr, Kath-
erine Johnson, Nancy Schaeffer and
Lillian Holmes. Miss Holmes, playing
the part of Mrs. Edwards, creates a
character role second only to Mr.
Sherman's Firk in The Shoemakers
Holiday.
Listen for that doorbell!
Gets Told.
An Answer On The Movies
To the Editor:
I was very much interested in the
reply to the first of my articles on
the cinema, made by the Ann Arbor
manager of the Butterfield Corp. in
defense of the industry. I am gratified
to discover so objective a person
as Mr. Hoag who is willing to recog-
nize the faults of the industry of
which he is a part.
Nevertheless, I feel obliged to raise
counter-objections to Mr. Hoag's own.
If it were true that the Payne Fund
Study was based entirely on silent
films, I do not think that its findings
would be all together invalidated by
the coming of sound pictures. Cer-
tainly the fact that millions of peo-
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1938 3
VOL. XLVHII. No. 27
In view of the fact that July 30 is a
half day in many businesses, the Uni-
versity payrolls will be ready on the
morning of July 29.1
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre To-
night at 8:30-Michigan Repertory
Players present "Kind Lady" by Ed-
ward Chodorov. Tickets still available
at Box office. Phone 6300..
C. LeBron Simmons, Negro attor-
ney and official of the National Negro
Congress will speak tonight at 7:30
in Natural Science Auditorium on
"The Negro and the New Deal". Aus-
pices of the Progressive Club Michi-
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Publication in the Bulletin is constructive notice to all members
of the University. Copy received at the office of ahe Summer Session :
until 3:30; 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
gan chapter of the American Student
Union. Public meeting.
Graduation Recital. Freda Op't
Holt, organist, Kalamazoo, Mich., will
give a recital in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the Bachelor of
Music degree, Thursday evening, July
28, at 8:15 o'clock, in Hill Auditorium.
The general public is invited to at-
tend without admission charge.
Luncheon of the Graduate Confer-
ence on Renaissance Studies, Thurs-
day. July 28, 12:15 p.m. at the Michi-
gan Union. Professor L. C. Karpinski
will speak on "The Place of Mathe-
matics in the Reiaissance." Make
reservations at the English office,
3221 Angell Hall.
"The Changing Grammar of Mod-
ern Englif"." Lecture by Prof. C. C.
Fries at 4:35 this afternoon in the
Lecture Hall of the Rackham Build-
ing.
made was spoken dialogue ("The Jazz
Singer") was filmed in 1926. By
1929 sound was an integral part of
cinema production. Thus, for ex-
ample, many of the conclusions
reached by Professor Dale in The
Content of Motion Pictures were
based upon a study of sound films.
It is true that some of the subjects
listed in Professor Dale's balance
sheet are more often treated in cur-
rent movies than they were in 1932.
It is true that we now have an oc-
casional sincere effort like "Dead
End" or, a masterpiece like "The In-
former." But it was movies in the
main, not these rare gems against
which I raised my complaint. I still
maintain that most movies distort life
as it is and its finer values, and, that,
for every "Dead End" there are 50
"quickies," pure and simple trash
rushed through to fill up a prescribed
quota. Cinema standards have been
set by men like John Ford, Joris Ev-
ens, Rotha, Strand, Lorentz, Eisen-
stein. I doubt if Mr. Hoag can name
10 out of the total number of pictures
that have passed through any of his
Ann Arbor theatres in the last six
months, a rough 300 which can ap-
proach, idealogically or artistically,
the standards set by these men.
However much we may disagree
on these matters I am sure that Mr.
Hoag, on behalf of the industry, will
raise no valid objections to a course1
in cinema appreciation. l
-Edward C. Jurist. 11
Mr. Thomas Quigley will
the Univefsity High Schrum
ium at 4:05 this afternoon.
ject is "The True and False
tional Education."
speak in
Auditor-
'lis sub-
in Voca-
Education F213-Conference in
Physical Education. The program for
Thursday, July 28 is as follows:
10:00 a.m. "Physical Education's
Contribution to the Use of Leisure
Time." Dr. Elmer D. Mitchell.
11:00 a.m. "A Community-Wide
Program of Recreation," Dean A. W.
Thompson, School of Physical Edu-
cation, West Virginia University.
7:30 p.m. "The Sports Curriculum."
Dr. S. C. Staley, Director, School of
Physical Education, University of
Illinois.
Morning meetings will be held in
University High School Auditorium
and evening meetings at the Women's
Athletic 'Building.
The regular weekly luncheon of all
students and faculty interested in
health, physical education, and re-
creation will be held in Room 316 of
the Michigan Union, Thursday, July
28 at 12:10 p.m. Professor Seward C.
Staley, director of the Department
of Physical Education at the Uni-
(Continued on Page 4)
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