MICHIGAN DAILY
THURSDAY, JULY
'HE MICHIGAN DAILY
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RANG I 1 ( flNh r1V T~WI :.T:', w .o. .gr, ,yy
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NIGHT EDITOR: CARL PETERSEN
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of the Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only.
It'is important 'for society to avoid the
neglect of adults, but positively dangerous
for it to thwart the ambition of youth to
reform the world. Only the schools which
act on this belief are educational institu-
tions in the best meaning of the term.
-Alexander 0. Ruthven.
i
The Congressional
'Seniority Rule.*
NE OF THE conspicuous faults of our
governmental system was brought out
by.a recent speech of E. L. Oliver, executive vice-
president of Labor's Non-Partisan League, ad-
dressing the National Council for Social Work at
Seattle, Washington. Mr. Oliver's subject was the
seniority system in Congressional committees,
and he reviewed some interesting facts concern-
ing the fate of liberal legislation in the last two
Congresses.
"Party impotency becomes especially glaring
when some political upheaval shifts control from
one to another party," Mr. Oliver pointed out.
"The major party, with a large proportion of new
rmembers, assigns controlling positions to the
,members with longest services-men who were
elected without reference to the issue which
caused the upheaval.
"Specifically, the men who were elected with
Roosevelt on the New Deal program are com-
pletely under the control of the old-timers of
the Democratic Party; every attempt to enact
the platform of 1932 or 1936 meets with the de-
termined opposition of committee chairmen and
of members of the strongest committees."
Mr. Oliver then produced figures to show that
the 46 Democratic committee chairmen in the
House of Representatives are three-quarters of
pre-depression vintage, and that most of them
are anti-New Deal. They are mostly men in whose
districts there has been no political struggle over
the issues that have divided the rest of the coun-
try and produced the new liberal movement of the
last six years. In any case, these men are not an
integral part of that movement, and their party
seniority gives them a totally unwarranted con-
trol over the policies of the government.
When the wage and hour bill was recommitted
in December of last year, the Democratic repre-
sentatives voted against recommittal, 179 to 133.
The committee chairmen, however, voted in favor
of recommittal, 24 to 21. The resolution to re-
commit the bill, killing it for that session, was-
passed by a narrow margin; a shift of 10 votes
vould have Kept it on the floor of the House.
Thus the committee chairmen, the accredited
leaders of the Democratic Party, were the de-
cisive factor in preventing passage of a bill to
which the party had pledged itself in its plat-
form.
In the session of Congress just ended, an
amendment to a previous law, the Walsh-Healey
Act fixing wages and hours standards on govern-
ment contract work, was introduced by Senator
Walsh. The amendment would have forbidden
placing of government contracts with any firms
not complying with the Wagner Act. There was
obviously little ground for honest opposition to
it; no Congressman could very well insist that
government contracts be awarded to companies
breaking the law. But the bill, sure of passage,
never reached the floor. It was stopped in the
Rules Committee, notoriously dominated by con-
servative Democrats.
By PROF. KARL LITZENBERG
(of the English department)
Shoemakers' Holiday'
One should forget to be critical when he is
permitted to see a play written by one of Shake-
speare's contemporaries, for this pleasure is not
one to be had every day. Any theatre-goer should
be grateful for the production of one of the
most amusing and good-humored comedies com-
posed during the greatest age in the history of
the English drama. The Michigan Repertory
presentation of Thomas Dekker's Shoemakers'
Holiday should call forth such uncritical grati-
tude from its audience on several grounds; its
ecenery and costumes are exceedingly colorful;
its performers, with one or two exceptions, fill
their parts adequately; its songs and dances add
life and spirit to what is already a lively and
high-spirited comedy. And yet this perverse re-
viewer can scarcely say that the present produc-
tion is completely satisfying-in spite of the
comfortable interpretation which Mr. Kane
(himself the play's director) gave to the role of
Simon Eyre; in spite of the magnificent comic
gifts of Mr. Hiram Sherman, as Firk; in spite
of the remarkable antics of Mr. Truman Smith;
in spite of the excellent stage diction of Mr.
Edward Jurist. The play has been arranged
for this series of performances in two acts-and
most of that which is poor theatre occurs in the
first act; most of that which is good theatre, in
the last.
The first act-even though there are many
uproarious moments with Master Firk-is con-
fusing. Whether thi is owing to the terrifically
racy tempo in which the action is played, or
whether it is attributable to the manner in which
the action is played, or whether it is attributable
to the manner in which the play has been cut-
or both-is difficult to determine. One felt,
throughout the first act, however, that the play-
ers had been so thoroughly imbued with the idea
of speed that they spoke too rapidly, and puhed
too hard. There were many speeches which were
frankly unintelligible; and there were scenes
in which the acting was patently frantic.
The same difficulty-which is, after all, one
of communication--did not present itself in the
second act, except in a speech or two toward the
end. The audience's response to the secohd act
was noticeably more spontaneous and more en-
thusiastic. This response can be traced to sev-
eral causes: much of the misdirected excitement
had calmed down, or exhausted itself; the au-
dience was becoming accustomed to the tempo;
and Mr. Sherman commenced to take over the
play. When Mr. Sherman takes over a play,
he does no half-hearted job of it. Since the
part of Firk is beautifully suited to his talents as
a comic actor, and since Firk has so much to do
and say in this act, there was nothing for the
audience to do except to release its feeble hold
on its departing dignity and roar at Master Firk.
Roaring at Master Firk, incidentally, makes a
very pleasant way to spend an evening.
The Shoemakers' Holiday is not a delicate play.
Its indelicacy is sometimes referred to as 'hearty
Elizabethan humor'; upon other occasions it is
simply called baudy. Mr. Dane stated in the
press last week (apropos of the humor), that "If
Queen Elizabeth could laugh at it, so can the
professors." This reviewer is able to report to
Mr. Kane that there was considerable emulation
of the Queen last evening.
The Editor
Gets Told
Emotion Vs. Reason
To The Editor:
Because the university, as originally con-
ceived, was intended to be a seat of culture, where
among other things, the means of preservation
and progress of society were to be taught, it
seems to the writer that it is most apropos to
consider at this time the much mooted question
of Capital Punishment. The Chebatoris case,
brought to a proper, sudden close today, furnishes
an excellent object lesson.
The "sob-sisters" seem to think their right-
eous attitude substantiated somewhat by the fact
the widow and orphans of the bandit's victim
have expressed themselves as desiring life im-
prisonment for the killer rather than execution.
This alleged argument can be dispensed with
immediately when we note that it arises from an
erroneous conception of the purpose of capital
punishment; society, in removing a -menace to
it, is not seeking vengeance for anyone; it is sim-
ply protecting itself against the probable recur-
rence of injuries to itself.
If you have anything akin to sympathy for the
executed man there should be room for reflection
in these words, spoken by Chebatoris, when cap-
tured: "If my gun hadn't stopped I would have
got more of them", and "Americans are a bunch
of capitalists. They're no good. I robbed banks,
sure. Nobody lost anything. The bankers were in-
sured, sure they were".
What are some of the questions the Cheba-
toris case brings up, and, because it is out of
order to merely criticize without suggesting
remedies, what are some possible solutions?
Why was Chebatoris, a man with a criminal
record in Poland allowed to enter this country?
Suggested remedy: closer scrutiny by immigra-
tion officials of aliens, not to discriminate against
would-be Americans but to discontinue the long
prevalent European practice of making the Unit-
ed States a dumping place for u'ndesirables.
Iifeemr jo)Me
Heywood Broun
In his brief book, "The Coming Victory of De-
mocracy," Thomas Mann takes Hitler for a
bumpy ride in regard to his dogmatic utterances
concerning Kultur. This represents only one
phase of Mann's attack, but
it is the portion of the in-
dictmentmin which the noted
German author lashes out
with most assurance.
I think that few will deny
that in his field Thomas
Mann speaks as an expert
witness and that even Der
Fuehrer's best friends must
admit that Adolf has not yet
won the right to be numbered among the dis-
tinguished artists of the world.
"On .the subject of culture I am somewhat at
home," Mann writes. "That I can legitimately
discuss."
In the estimation of Thomas Mann the dema-
gogue is the antithesis of the artist. To his mind
the "Kultur" talks of Hitler are "nothing but low
and vulgar babble." They are the outpouring of
a leader with "a rabbit horizon."
But in assailing Hitler for his attempt to hitch
all art to the Nazi chariot Mann does not main-
tain that our old friend "the creative artist"
should close his eyes to the world of affairs and
take a penthouse apartment in an ivory tower.
On the contrary, he quotes Bergson's line, "Act as
men of thought; think as men of action."
Life And The Artist
And he adds, "It is characteristic of undemo-
cratic or of .democratically uneducated nations
that their thinking goes on without reference to
reality, in pure abstraction, in complete isola-
tion of the mind from life itself and without the
slightest consideration for the realistic conse-
quences of thought."
Thomas Mann rounds out his criticism with
the declaration that the man who sets himself
up as the censor of painting, literature, music and
sculpture betrays a contempt for the masses and
for their opinion. In other words, a dictated na-
tional art becomes the complete negation of or-
iginality and free fancy.
It seems to me that there is in Germany today
no such thing as national art. There is Hitler
art, and that is at best a matter of whim, pre-
dilection and prejudice. As a matter of fact, it
is hardly necessary to nail down the charge that
Hitler does not know what he is talking about
when he discusses culture. The evil effect of a
one-man show in the arts would still be mon-
strous, even if the exclusive arbiter were q man
of delicate perceptions and a fine sensitivity.
Thomas Mann is too polite to mention the
fact that even in America there have been
efforts to tell free people what they should read
and what they should see, and to standardize
expression. There is, of course, a vast difference
in degree, but Will Hays falls into the Hitler
tradition. He is the czar of the film industry,
which may account for the fact that so many
recent Hollywood products seem to be wearing
long gray whiskers.
* * *
A Difference Of Opinion
Parents, religious, economic and political
groups have everyright in a democracy - to say
in as loud tones as they can command, ""We
don't like this picture." But I think they err if
they attempt to make it impossible for others
even to peek at the things which seem to the
censors repellent.
The same is true of books and other things. At
the moment the question of obscenity is not in
my mind. Save in extreme cases even this may
well fall into the field of opinion. I am thinking
more of some of the books now hugely popular
in America which are called "inspirational." I
think they are dangerous, crass and vulgar, but I
would be the last to suggest that anything should
be done about them, even if that were possible.
A flowing book purges itself. So does a live
and growing democracy. Today's best seller
may well be tomorrow's trash. We live and
learn. Some like 'em hot; some like 'em cold.
But we know what we like, and no master mind,
whether it be that of saint or sinner, shoul6
block the road of the individual to that form and
kind of art which happens to be of his own
choosing.
point of view? I think the history of paroles,
politics, favoritism, graft and corruption among
our state governments proves otherwise. To take
but two instances by way of verification: in New
Jersey Governor Hoffman made a cheap bid for
national publicity in fighting for Hauptmann,
the Lindbergh baby-killer when any sane, in-
formed, honest man had not the slightest doubt
of the kidnaper's being guilty of the conspiracy
and crime; in Ohio recently, Governor White,
in the last few weeks of office made wholesale
pardonings of scores of the worst convicts, racke-
teers, murderers, embezzlers and grafters, con-
victed at a great cost to the state; incidentally,
this man, who avenged himself against and en-
riched himself at the expense of the electorate,
now has the audacity to present himself as a
candidate for the Senate this year. Suggested
remedy: Take penology out of politics; try to
elect honest men; until this is possible, extermin-
ate "rats."
You may still insist that capital punishment
does not afford a solution to the problem. The
writer agrees. However, until we have economic
as well as political freedom, until social justice
prevails completely, until education effects a pro-
found change in human nature, until capable,
honest men and women interest themselves in
penology and politics, the law-abiding citizen
must put his faith in stern, drastic, necessary
BOOKS +:
By ELLIOTT MARANISS
Adamic's America
MY AMERICA, by Louis Adamic,
Harper and Brothers, New York,
$3.75.
My America is Louis Adamic's
America only. In 1932 Adamic pub-
lished a semi-autobiographical vol-
ume called Laughing In The Jungle,
in which he tried to put on paper some
of the elements of his relationship
with America till about 1927. Amer-
ica appeared to him then "a vast
socio-economic jungle," and his life
in it "an adventure in understand-
ing": an adventure punctuated with
bursts of laughter, evoked by various
phenomena in the jungle, and which
were not necessarily funny. The
laughter was a device to "keep myself
-an immigrant from Cnariola a
country profoundly unlike the United
States-from being scared while ex-
ploring the fascinating jungle and
trying to understand it."
My America is a continuation of
that adventure in understanding-
without the laughter. Louis Adamic
has gotten deeper into the jungle. His
sense of drama is keener, mainly be-
cause his consciousness of the inter-
play, interaction of the various factors
which are the essence of the drama
of America is stronger, richer, more
inclusive. His mind is still fluid'
enough to refuse to put America into
a nutshell, to squeeze America into
a tight definition, to hang America on
some "ism", to tie America to some
program; "America is a continent, a
thing-in-process, elemental, ever-
changing, calling for further explor-
ation, for constant rethinking, for
repeated self-orientation on the part
of its citizens."
With a freshness and directness
that are unique, a bouyancy, robust-
ness and exuberance that are like
some exhilarating blasts from Whit-
man, Adamic wades into America,
trying to vwork out into a coherent
organism the unchecked, unorgan-
ized, uncharted vitality of the con-
temporary scene. The list of people,
places, movements, trends, conditions,
events, problems, and other subjects
discussed in My America. reads like
an almanac; it is the encyclopedia,
the omnibus, modern United States:
Herbert Hoover and the Depression;
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal;
John L. Lewis and the sit-down
strikes; aliens and alien-baiting; why
American big business does not want
fascism here; Sinclair Lewis and
Dorothy Thompson; Upton Sinclair,
Mary Austin and Theodore Dreiser;
John Dewey, Burton hascoe, Gran-
ville Hicks, V. L. Calveton, Benja-
min Stolberg, H. L. Mencken, Louis
Fischer, Robert Forsythe, Carleton
Beals, Robinson Jeffers, Harriet Mon-
roe; New York, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburg, The
Ozarks, the California cherry fields,
the Pennsyvania coal mines; what it
means to be an industrial worker, a
farmer, a teacher, a business man,
unemployed, an American.
It is fascinating reading. The power
of the book lies in the fact that it is
the passionate account of an intelli-
gent man of action, a man who has
seen things in great variety, who can
write of tragedy, stupidity, violence
and suffering, with tolerance, balance
and intensely human insight.
Adamic has doubtless touched the
vital forces that comprise the nation's
inner drama. The prose picture he has
drawn of his own America is one that
many other Americans will recog-
nize. As a reporter he found the facts;
as a story-teller he recorded the re-
lationship between those facts and the
personalities who made them. But is
he an artist? Is My America the re-
sult of a profound understanding of
the various relationships and juxta-
postions which underlie the outward
incoherence and chaos of America?
For even if we agree with Adamic
that America is a country with "se-
vere and unpredictable socio-eco-
nomic-political ups and downs," dy-
I namic, violent, chaotic, confused, a
"continent full of misery and promise,
fooling the would-be prophets, an-
alysts, and diagnosticians," we may
still ask if it is not the primary re-
quisite of a writer that he strive al-
ways for the clarification of exper-
ience. that he reveal the inevitable
laws of order below all appearances
of disorder.
Adamic himself is self-consciously
aware that it is necessary for an ar-
tist to maintain a steady feeling to-
wards himself and his environment
no matter how depressing or des-
pairing the circumstances. The near-
est he comes to stating that feeling
is his contention that America is an
organism with a "split personality",
democratic politically, authoritarian
economically, and the result has been
a deepening uneasiness in all Amer-
icans, which has in turn made for a
national neurosis.
What we have, then, is another
journey into the "jungle", an inter-
esting and eminently readable plunge
into the vast depths of the Sargasso
Sea, as Van Wyck Brooks once called
America. The chart-making-classi-
fying and clarifying-still remains to
be done.
THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1938 1
VOL. XLVIII. No. 15t
Students, College' of Engineering:t
Saturday, July 16, will be the final
day for dropping a course in the
Summer Session without record.
Courses may be dropped only with the
permission of the classifier after con-r
ference with the instructor in the
course.
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Open-t
ing tonight at 8:30, "The Shoemak-
ers' Holiday" with Whitford Kane and
Hiram Sherman from the original
Mercury Theatre production. Box of-
fice open all day, phone 6300.
Kermit Eby of the Chicago Fed-;
eration of Teachers will speak on "the
teachers' union as a constructive force{
in education" at 8 p.m. Thursday,
July 14, in the Natural Science Audi-
torium.
"Choral Music in the Renaissance."
Lecture by Professor Healey Willan in
the Lecture -Hall of the Rackham
Building at 4:30 this afternoon.
Linguistic Institute Luncheon Con-
ference, Thursday, 12:10 pm. in room
318 of the Michigan Union (not at the
Rackham School of Graduate Stu-
dies). Kenneth L; Pike of the Univer-
sity of Mexico will discuss "The prob-
lem of tones in Mexican Indian lan-
guages."
Lecture: "A Comparison of British,
Dutch and French Colonial Policy in
Southeastern Asia" by Dr. Amry Van-
denbosch at 3:15 p.m. today in the
Lecture Hall of the Rackham Build-
ing.
Commercial Education Students'
Picnic at Loch Alpine today. Cars
will be leaving U.H.S. parking lot
from 4:30 to 5:30. Committee has
planned games. There will be swim-
ming for those whoahave their bath-
ing suits. Lunch will be served after-
wards. Tickets for 25 cents may be
obtained in Room 2002 U.H.S. or from
members of the committee.
Mr. Charles M. Elliott will lecture
on "Salvaging Educational Waste" in
the University HighSchool 'sAudi-
torium at 4:05 p.m. today.
Graduate Students: Without good
and sufficient reason courses may not
be elected for credit after Tuesday,
July 19; courses dropped after same
date will appear on the students' rec-
ord as dropped. Dean
Summer Session French Club: The
next meeting of the club will take
place Thursday, July 14, at 8 p.m., at
"Le Foyer Francais," 1414 Washte-
naw, on the occasion of the French
National Holiday.
Mr. Charles X. Koella of the French
department will speak. The, subject of
his talk will be "La France dans le
Monde." Special French music,
games,. songs, refreshments.
Membership in the Club -is still
open. Those interested please see
Mr. Koella, Room 200, Romance Lan-
guage Building.
Graduate Students in Education. A
tea for students who have completed
at least one term of study as graduate
students enrolled in Education will
be held Thursday afternoon from 5 to
6 p.m. in the Assembly Room on the
third floor of the Rackham building.
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Publication in the Bulletin is constructive notice to all members
of the University. Copy received at the office of the Summer Session
until 3:30; 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Stalker Hall. There will be a group
leaving from Stalker Hall, Thursday
at 5 o'clock for a swimming party and
picnic. Small charge for swimming
and food. All Methodist students and
their friends are cordially invited.
Call 6881 for reservations before
Thursday noon.
Physical Education Luncheon: Dr.
Jesse Steiner, author of "Americans
at Play," "Research Memorandua on
Recreation in the Depression," ,et al,
will address the luncheon meeting of
the physical education group Thurs-
day, July 14, at 12:10 p.m. in the
Michigan Union. Make reservations
by calling 2-1939 between 8 a.m. and
5:30 p.m. Price 57 cents.
An opportunity will be offered at
the luncheon to purchase tickets for
the dinner honoring Dr. C. H. McCloy,
past president of the American Asso-
ciation for Health, Physical Educa-
tion and Recreation, to be held Mon-
day, July 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the-Michi-
gan Union. Dr. McCoy will discuss
the topic "Progress in Physical Edu-
cation." Tickets may also 'be piu-.
chased for 85 cents of Miss Bell in
Room 4016, University High, at the
(Continued on Page 3)
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