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July 11, 1940 - Image 2

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Michigan Daily, 1940-07-11

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THE MICHIGAN DAILY

THURSDAY,

AN DAILY

I

A '

U. S. Must Learn
Of France, Brit
NEW YORK, June 26--The United States must
learn from the mistakes of the Allies that there
can be no half measures in mobilizing a na-
tion's industry for war, Fortune magazine de-
clares today in presenting the results of six
months' exhaustive research into the failure of
business in Britain and France to provide ade-
quate arms for their troops.

From Mistakes
tarn, Fortune States

Grin And Bear It ..

By Lichty

Edited and managed by students.of the University of
Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Published every morning except Monday during the
University year and Summer Session..
Member of the Associated Press
TIhe Asociated Press is exelusively entiledt to the
use for republication of all news dispatches credited to
it or not otherwise. credited in this newspaper. All
rights of republication of all other matters herein also',,
reserveid.
-Nntered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, gu
second" class mail matter.
Subscriptions during regular school year by carrier,
$4.00; 1py mail, $4.50.
REPRESENTED FOR NATIONA. ADVKnSING mY .B
National Advertising Service, Inc.
CollegePublishers Rejresentative '
420 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK, N. Y'
CHICAGO * BOSTONf' LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO
Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1939.40
Editorial Staff
Managing Editor ...... .... ....Carl Petersen
City Editor ..... ..:....Norman A. Schorr
Associate Editors .......Harry M. Kelsey, Karl
. Kessler, David I. Zeitlin, Suzanne Potter,
Albert P. Blaustein, Chester Bradley
Business Staff
pusiness Manager ............Jane E. Mowers
Assistant Manager .......... Irving Guttman

In a sensational article disclosing for the first
time the economic weakness which contributed
to the disasters in France, the magazine de-
clares that even before the war England and
France were living on a capital dissipation basis
and that when their own industries failed to
meet the test of .war, they found it impossible
to buy large quantities of munitions abroad with-
out auctioning off their foreign investments and
dissipating their gold reserves.
Unwilling to make this sacrifice to arm quick-
ly, Fortune explains, the early war governments
of both Britain and France attempted to fight
a 'cheap' war by trying to balance armament
expenditures with increased exports of other
goods-even at the expense of war production.
This left their armies improperly equipped to
meet the Nazi attack when it came.
"The great objective-the defeat of a power-
ful-enemy was lost, in the confusion of count-
less little transactions, each having to be com-
promised," Fortune points out. "Everywhere the
ingrained commercial competitiveness, the pulls
of self-interest intervened.
"The little French wheatgrower of Normandy
feared being drowned under cheap Canadian
wheat. The little vegetable grower in Kent
wanted no influx of fresh vegetables from
France. The textile manufacturers on both sides
of the Strait of Dover fought any lowering in
the protective tariffs. And the British labor
feared the competition of cheap French labor
no less than French labor feared that it would'
be called upon to bear the major sha e of the
war burden.
"Almost to the day the battle was joined the
economic strategy was to ensure the postwar
safety of the empires, and this was functioning
brilliantly. But there wasn't enough planes, or
anti-tank guns, or tanks. In fixing their sights
on the economic future, they overlooked the
immediate battlefield.
"As late as April only two of the 19 'economic
areas' of France were operating at capacity,"
Fortune explains. "As late as May, Ricllard
Thomas & Co.'s new continuous strip mill in
Wales, the only one in Britain, was said to be

operating only two-thirds capacity-while an um-
brella was held over the slow, high-cost pro-
ducers.
"The Allies' backstop on steel is the U.S.,
with half the world's capacity-75,000,000 tons.
The British, however, since the start of the war,
have ordered but 1,000,000 tons of steel (equal
to 10 days' run for U.S. Steel Corp.).
"In England only one munitions plant was in
operation over the long Whitsuntide holiday;
and industry generally was held back by a
shortage of transportation, raw materials'-even
coal. The French did not seriously attempt to
put their aircraft and munitions works on a
60 to 70-hour week until the front had been
broken at Sedan.
"The Allies, between them, were set up to
spend some $14,100,000,000 by the official rate
of exchange for a full year of war. Against this,
the Germans, besides having piled up tremend-
ous war stocks, are spending probably $12,000,-
000,000-perhaps more.
"It became a commonplace to say that Britain
was trying to fight a 'poor man's war,' and any
consideration of the indictment leads to the
question: how much can the British spend?
"Even in peacetime the two empires did not
make ends meet from the products of their
earth and their industries and the income from
their services," Fortune points out. "In 1937 their
net income from services ($1,294,300,000) did
not make up quite half of their trade deficit
of $2,666,500,000. And even when gold exports are
thrown upon the scale, the empires fell short
by nearly $769,000,000 of balancing their in-
ternational transactions.
"In other words, the British and French em-
pires, like a run-down family selling-off its
heirlooms, were on a capital dissipation basis
even before the war.
"Who would buy them? Except for the U.S.-
Sweden and Argentine, where capital is afraid-
the nations outside the conflict are either dead
broke or on a peanut-stand basis, or waiting
hopefully to loot the dead.
"By any realistic standards, the only Allied
foreign assets having any immediate value as
generators of 'hard money' good in any market
are those of the U.S.," Fortune declares. "Those
add up to -6,270,000,000 for all the Allies, ac-
cording to estimates based upon data from the
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
"Add to this whatever remains of their cen-
ral gold reserves, which at the outbreak of the
war totaled $5,598,000,000, and let us say the
Allies have a total of $11,535,000,000.

DAILY OFFICIALI
BULLETIN
All notices for the Daily Official
Bulletin are to be sent to the Office
of the Summer Session before 3:30
P.M. of the day preceding its pub-
lication except on Saturday when
the notices should be submitted be-
fore 11:30 A.M.
All people going on the Niagara
Falls excursion should be sure to reg-
ister in the Summer Session Office,
1213 Angell Hall, before this after-
noon when Mr. Kerr of the D. and C.
Navigation Company will be here to
sell tickets for all transportation.
"The Linguistic Dictatorship of
Samuel Johnson," a lecture by Mr.
Harold B. Allen, will be the topic
of the Luncheon Conference of the
Linguistic Institute at the Michigan
Union today, July 11, 12:10 p.m.
The introductory lecture by Dr. 0.
D. Foster is to be given at the Mich-
igan Union today at 12:15 p.m. upon
"Religion in Old Mexico." His sec-
ond lecture will be given on Thurs-
day, same place and hour, upon "Re
ligion Today in Mexico."

f31940 hic'g 1Times 7" . }t
%, IP FF~e'g U. S.Pat; Off..A t ry, e.1
One thing to remember, gentlemen, is that during the Summer
many insurance sales are lost by patting customers on their sun-
burned backs.
WR 4O
TRADE MARK REUITWED *

NIGHT EDITOR: A. P. BLAUSTEIN
France's Autopsy
Or Ours?...

r

e

N ONE OF HIS BROADCASTS - -
plaining the defeat of the French
Army, Marshall Petain laid stress upon "too few
children." In the language of theFrench Army,
"children" often means soldiers-but the aged
commander did not have to trace missing bat-
talions to empty cradles. Sometime around
Veirsailles, Clemenceau said there were 20,000,-
000 Germans too many in Europe, and that there
might not be any Frenchmen in another 80
years.
Edgar Ansel Mowrer's analysis of the causes
back of the French collapse calls attention! to
symptoms that are probably quite as significant
as falling birth rates. All the autopies now in
progress over the corpse of the Third Republic
recall more or less the utterances of those Jere-
miahs of western civilization who were so numer-
ous from 1880 to the World War, such as Brooks
Adams, Friederich Nietzsche, Ignatius Donnelley,
Flinders Petrie, Oswald Spengler and Benja-
min Kidd. Historians of the order of Ferrero,
Rostovtzeff and the whole Marxist layout have
echoes in Mr. Mowrer's analysis. But not one of
these seers gives any justification for the be-
lief that totalitarianism is other than -a next
step in decadence.
France is not in the least unique in having
bad a declining birth rate for several decades.
It is endemic in the entire western world. Nor
is there any reason to believe that depopula-
tion is of itself a symptom of a slipping civil-
ization. Almost always there is associated with
it a declining rate of economic growth and the
paralyzing effect of the "dead hand" of vested
interest upon the economic life of a people.
Too often the problem of population is con-
sidered quantitatively, a matter of "cannon fod-
der" for battle, or "hands" for mills; That is the
least acute phase of the enigma. The real dis-
aster of an aging people was graphically set
forth recently in an address by Secretary of
Agriculture Henry A. Wall.ce, which throws
light on some of the recent phenomena, not
merely in France but right here at home.
He remarked: "When the population stops in-
creasing and the old folks gain rapidly in num-
ber at the expense of the young people, there
is a brief period of illusory well-being.
"There is a temporary cashing-in process
somewhat like that enjoyed by a man in mid-
die life. In the rapidly aging community there
is usually more money, more wisdom, more
caution and, for a time, a greater opportun-
ity to cultivate the arts.
"$In the Young and rapidly growing commun-
ity there are many debts, little wisdom and
not much culture. But the high percentage of
young people is a tremendous fact that gives
buoyant faith in the future. Without reason-
ing it out, they know they are going some-
where.
"The fundamental trend of all great civil-
izations was born, I believe, among populations
where the children under 14 outnumbered the
old people three to one. These young and grow-
ing communities have something akin to what
we call nascent energy in chemistry.. The young
population, with its roots in the soil, is dynamic
and planiess. The old population is thoughtful,
but somewhat lacking in energy.
"Sweden,'prior to the present war, made the
greatest success of any of th old populations..
In n part of the United States do population
conditions so resemble those of Sweden as in
northeastern New England. France, Sweden and
northeastern United States furnish outstanding
examples of a wise, money-saving population
with a high proportion of old people."
It is hardly necessary to point out that Mr.
Wallace has for seven years been identified with
"u . "at +"mhi1tv' an s eurity" that would

The Str-ight Dope
By Himself

CO INUING our little discussion of the for-
eign news we come to what we consider the
most tragic note of all. We learn that in the
new French constitution the glorious "Liberte,
Egalite, Frateruite" (Liberty, Equality, Brother-
r - -e

DRAMA

By JAMES E. GREEN
I have nothing against the Graduate Study
Program in American Culture and Institutions.
I thoroughly approve of culture, European,
Tibetan and American. But if the second of the
three plays selected by the Repertory Play)rs
as their contribution to the study of American
culture, Eugene O'Neill's, "Beyond the Horizon,"
is to be taken as representative of that culture,
then I'm heigh ho! and off for a loaf of bread
and thou beside me singing in the wilderness.
it is particularly unfortunate that this play
should have been chosen as representative of
the work of the man who, until a genius comes
along, must rank as the greatest playwright
that the American drama has produced. In his
genre play of frustration in the New England
countryside, O'Neill succeeds only in proving
that raw emotion and the melodrama of sensi-
tive individuals does not necessarily make a
play. By giving sentimentality a dreary setting,
by couching it in terms of a stereotyped mys-
ticism, O'Neill attempts, but miserably fails,
at achieving a tragic effect. He is, at times,
skillful in his handling of situation, but his
characterization is not even consistent in mood;
which is at least a minimum demand. At is
difficult to make any ultimate judgment as to
why O'Neill fails; lesser playwrights have made
good plays from the conflict of the man who is
not at home in his world or with that world.
Tentatively, one can say that O'Neill seems
not to have any clear concept of the world in
which he has placed his characters, except in
terms of a hackneyed romanticism. Not much
emerges, because none of the ingredients is
sound.
It would be pleasant to record that, despite
the handicap of a bad play, good acting had
made the evening something short of a total
loss. But I am denied even that small pleasure.
Of the three actors playing leading roles, only
John Schwarzwalder as Andrew Mayo seemed
able to 'communicate any considerable under-
standing of the part in terms of voice and ac-
tion. Schwarzwalder gave by far the best per-
formance of his career. He restrained admir-
ably his tendency to be over-robust in vdice
- and movement. Arthur Klein as the other

hood) is to be replaced by "Travaille, Famille,
Patrie" (Work, Family, Fatherland.)
Work is, beyond doubt excellent advice to
give to any defeated nation, But Travaille comes
too close to the English travail to suggest to
our mind anything but the grinding forced la-
bor required of the helots in other conquered
lands. As an equivalent value for liberty it hurts
all of us who for years have loved the French
because at any given moment the whole nation
seemed to be boiling over because of a con-
troversy onhsubjects ranging from Staviskey to
the thirty-hour week.
That may, of course, be the reason. Per-
haps the amount of liberty given a corrupt
set of rulers really allowed the collapse to
happen. Perhaps the freedom of all to plun-
der the state deprived it of vital armaments.
But at least there was a protest, and for a
moment when the Blum government took
charge thee was hope for a future. It did-
n't last but the hope was there. Now let the
people work and (inferentially) keep their
mouths shut.
The section that substitutes family for equal-
ity is also revealing not to say sickening. The
French peasant has always supplied as high a
birth quota as his status, both economic and
social allowed. wAnd after the mockery of this
betrayed war to urge him and his wife to grow
up more song to die in other wars is outrage.
If the slogan has reference to the preservation
of the values of the home then it should not be
directed at the people but at their rulers. It
is the rulers, the clique of despoilers, who have
made sexual license a synonym of Parisiali life.
How many sons has Petain? Laval? Weygand?
Equality in the old French constitution
meant approximate equality of opportunity,
as it does, apparently, in ours. That this is
over and done with is inevitable when liberty
itself is gone.
And for "Fraternite", the best part of the old
motto, is now to be substituted the French
translation of Vaterland. Knowing the debase-
ment which has attended the Nazi appropri-
ation of the German word, we can have no
doubt that M. Laval and his sniveling cohorts
will use it as a bludgeon over the heads of those
who believe in liberty and equality and fratern-
ity.
La France is dead indeed. Not by the
hands of Hitler and von Keitel, but by those
of the betrayers, by those of Laval and the
cautious Deladier, by those of Staviskey and
the treacherous courts that hushed that
and innumerable other corruptions up; by
the hands of those who betrayed France as
well as Spain in the Civil War, by the mouths
of those who preached appeasement, and
finally by the hands of generals who could
not win a battle but who, after the earliei-
example of the infamous MacMahon, used

WASHINGTON-Jim Farley scru- No-War Plank
pulously stuck to his reolve not to
talk to the press after his talk with For the Democratic platform mak-
the President at Hyde Park. But the ers, like the Republicans, the biggest
morning after this conference, Chip headache is the foreign affairs plank.
Robert, Secretary of the Democratic The same bellicose forces, isola-
National Committee, held a signfi- tionist and anti, which made life.
cant luncheon with a group of Demo- miserable for the Philadelphia plat-
cratic Senators arranging the Chi- form writers are giving the deep
cago convention, blues to the Democrats. In fact, the
This group includes Senators Wag- rival camps among the Democrats
ner of New York, Jimmy Byrnes of are even more troublesome.
South Carolink, Pat Harrison of Mis- The Republicans, while they
sissippi, Happy Chandler of Ken- squabbled hotly among themselves
tucky and several others. To them, behind closed doors, were too con-
Mr. Robert, who is second in com- scious of party-interest to kick up
mand to Farley on the Democratic an open ruckus. On the final show-
National Committee, passed the word down, the boys worked out a am-
along that Roosevelt would run for biguous, but it left the door open for
a third term. the Republican candidate to move
He also passed on the message that whichever way he wanted.
Farley was definitely out, and that But the prima donha Democratic
the chief difference between him and factions are insisting on the whole
the President had not been the third hog or nothing. Senator Burt Wheel-
term, but the question of who should er, backed by the glowering John
be the vice-presidential candidate. L. Lewis, is demanding an unequi-
The New Dealers, Robert report- vocal, isolationist, no-war declara-
ed, were strong for Justice William tion; and threatens to head a third-
O. Douglas, but Farley was just as party ticket if he doesn't get his way.
emphatically opposed to him. Jim did Anti-isolationists, foremost among
not believe that the ticket could win them Roosevelt himself, are flatly
with an out-and-out New Dealer run- against such a plank. At the same
ning as second man to Roosevelt. time, they are acutely aware of the
Farley wanted Hurl for Vice-Presi- powerful "peace" sentiment in the
dent, and Roosevelt heartily con- country and they know they've got
curred in the choie. However, Sec- to watch their step.
retary Hull previously had said he How to meet this problem, without
was not available as a vice-presi- too-obvious pussyfooting, is the big
dential candidate, though Jim was riddle. A numebr of formulas are un-
convinced that all Roosevelt had to der consideration. The one so far
do was to urge Hull and he would most favored reads:
consent. "We are opposed to any American
Chip Robert also passed on the youth being sent to fight in foreign
word that Jim Farley had told Roose- wars. We dedicate ourselves to un-
velt he was resigning come what may, stinting effort to build up the de-
in order to accept some business op- fenses of our own country to pro-
portunities he could not afford to tect it and the Western Hemisphere
miss. has gone into debt, and is from any foreign encroachments."
counting on another job, in addition
to bossing the New York Yankees, Combs Der Revolution
to recoup his financesG. boss J. Edgar Hoover and dy-
Roosevelt urged him to stay, but -
Farley was adament. The conver- namic Walter Winchell were discus-
sation lasted for two solid hours, and sing the Fifth Column menace and
never were the two men in more the government's measures to combat
friendly mood. They were extremely it.
frank, but parted on the best of "Believe me, Walter," remarked
terms, probably feeling more kindly Hoover, "I've got a personal interest
toward each other than at any time in suppressing subversive elements.
in two years. If they ever got control, I'd be the
Chip Robert departed that same first one they'd shoot."
afternoon to complete arrangements "John," shot back Winchell with
at Chicago. a broad grin, "you've got delusions
of grandeur. I'm No. 1 on their list."
Vice-Presidential Race P .i l Ch
It becomes increasingly evident ica aff
that the main fight at Chicago is go- GOP master minds\ are losing no
ing to over the vice-presidential nom- time organizing their campaign.
inee on the Roosevelt ticket. Quietly, they already have begun
Despite Secretary Hull's reluctance buying up billboard space all over the
to serve, many think that in th end, country. In anticipation of being
he may be the man. Justice Douglas barred from the ballot this year,
they consider admirably qualified, California Communists are quietly
but not acceptable politically to the making plans to capture the Progres-
conservative wing of the party. sive Party in the forthcoming prim-
However, a compromise vice-presi- ary. One Democratic leader to keep
dential candidate between Hull and an eye on at Chicago is tall, fast-
Douglas has been looming in the thinking Senator Lister Hill from Al-
background. He is Lloyd Stark, hard- abama. As chairman of the Alabama
hitting Governor of Missouri. Stark delegation, he will be the first to ans-
has been rolling up more and more wer the roll-call when the nominat-
support in the Far West recently, ing speeches begin.
where several governors are reported
backing him.
Stark's strength is chiefly in ag- Hour Of Decision
cultural areas, he being a nursery- For five weeks the gallant armies
man. Also his long career in the Army of the French Republic have fought
during the World War and in the with stubborn courage against over-
Navy after his graduation from An- whelming odds. What hope now lies
napolis fits into the national de- ahead for them cannot be said as
fense picture. this is written. But this much may
Qmn,- mha hmnriPS s 151 h , M"?+, a ~ i~rIrar ~

The Niagara Falls Excursion has
been arrangedeto accommodate Uni-
versity students who are American
Citizens for the weekend of July 12,
13, 14 and 15. The excursion will
include two trips into Canada, and
all features of the former excur-
sions except the visit to the power
plant. Mr. Kerr of the D and C Navi-
gation Company will be in the Sum-
mer Session Office today from,
1 to 4 o'clock to sell tickets for all
transportation. All expenses will be
under $21.00.
Professor W. Sweet of the Divinity
School, University of Chicago, will
present: today at 3:00 "The Source
of our Religious \'Liberty"; on Fri-
day at 3:00 "Revivalism as a Factor
in Religion."
Professor L D. Scott will give a
lecture on the "Geology of the Ni-
agara Falls," today, July 11, at
4:15 p.m. in the Natural Science Aud-
itorium. This lecture is being given
in connection with the Summer Ses-
sion Excursion to Niagara Falls,
Patience: Chorus try-outs today at
5:00 in the Lydia Mendelssohn The-
atre.
"The Jews in American Culture" is
the subject of a lecture by Dr. Louis
Binstock, given in connection with
the Sixth Annual Conference on Re-
ligion at 5:15 in the W. K. Kellogg
Auditorium, today.
Ernest H. Wilkins, President of
Oberlin College, will lecture at 5:15
p.m. in the Rackham Lecture Hall
on "The Social Responsibility of
Education," today.
Under the general heading of "In-
troduction to Linguistic Science,"
Professor E. H. Sturtevant will lec-
ture today, July 11, from 7 to 9
p.m., 231, Angell Hall, on "Differ-
ences Between Languages", "Their
Contrast with Animal Cries."
Bridge Lessons: The bridge lessons
tonight will begin at 7:30 instead of
8:00.
Deutscher Verein: Professor Wal-
ter A. Reichart of the German de-
partment will give an illustrated lec-
ture on one of Germany's greatest
modern poets "Im Hause Gerhart
Hauptmanns" at 8:00 pn.. to-
day, July 11 at the Deutsches Haus,
1315 Hill Street. All interested in
German are cordially invited.
There will be 'a round table dis-
cussion on Religion and Education
in American Life at 8:15 p.m. in the
Amphitheatre of the Rackham Build-
ing. Taking part will be Lewis G.
Vander Velde, Chairman, University
of Michigan; President Ernest H.
Wilkins and Professors William W.
Sweet, Edgar B. Wesley, Dumas Ma-
lone, and Charles B. Vibbert.
Beyond the Horizon"~ by Eugene
O'Neill, distinguished American play-
wright, will be presented Thurs-
day, Friday and Saturday nights,
July 10-13, in the Lydia Men-
delsmohn Theatre. This is the third
production this summer of the Mich-
igan Repertory Players of the De-
partment of Speech. Prices, 75c, 50,c
and 35c. Box office open from 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m. daily.
Watermelon Cut: 'Students and
faculty from the following states are
included in the invitation to the
watermelon cut to be held at 7:30
Friday night in the League Garden:
Alabama, Ariona, Arkansas, Cal-
fornia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mary-
land, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mex-
ico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
and West Virginia.

So far as we know, these are the
Southern States, with the exception
of California, represented by stu-
dents on the campus. Students and
faculty from any state which we
have unknowingly omitted are also
invited. There is- no admission

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