v-
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
The WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROUND
By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
GRIN AND BEAR IT
By Lichty
REREENT6 FOR NATON,L AVERTIING BY
National Advertising Service, n.
College Publishers Represetative
440 MADisON AVE. NEW YORK, N.Y.
CuICAGO * BOSTOR Ls ARGELs * SAN RFRANCCO
Member, Associate Collegiate Press, 1941-42
Editorial Staff
Homer Swader . . . . Managing Editor
Wilt Sapp . . . . . . City Editor
AIftke Dann . . . . . . . Sports Editor
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Hale Champion, John Erlewine, Leon Gordenker,
Irving Jaffe, Robert Preiskel
Business Staff
Edward Perlberg Business Manager
'Fred M. Ginsberg . Associate Business Manager
Morton Hunter Publications Manager
NIGHT EDITOR: HALE CHAMPION
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of The Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only.
i ,omber City' Opponiaents
Scorei As Obstructionists
W ELL, WELL. Those men are here
again.
About two months ago Washtenaw County of-
ficials and their trusty ally, Mr. Henry Ford,
raised an unholy ruckus about the erection of
a 'bomber city' at Cherry Hills.
They claimed that it would be unsanitary,
that sewage would be dumped inio the Huron
River, that it would become a 'ghost town,' and
finally that existing housing capacity in this
area could be more cheaply expanded.
EACH of the new arguments was developed
.after COMPETENT experts had ridiculed the
previous one. Federal officials revealed the
sanitary arrangements had been made, and the
local protestees changed their line of attack.
Housing experts demonstrated why the city of
6,000 homes would no become a 'ghost town,'
,and again the grounds of criticism were shifted.
Now both Ford and the county officials are
concentrating on the expansion argument, and
Prosecutor George M. Meader is in Washington
along with Ford attorney I. A. Capizzi trying to
convince the Truman committee that they both
represent honest, patriotic elements in this
county whose sole interest is in saving money for
the government.,
If such is the case why do they constantly
seek new excuses for their opposition? Such
cnstantly shifting reasons indicate that it is
the opposition and not the reasons that are
fmportant in this case.
A study of the likely motives below pretty well
demonstrates just why much-traveled Prosecutor
Meader and Capizzi are in Washington:
1) The Ford Motor Company is fighting the
project because as The Daily revealed two
months ago, Henry Ford is the owner of huge\
tracts of land in the area, land whose value
would be vastly reduced by 'bomber city.' He
also fears a 'CIO' city.
2) Washtenaw County elective and appoint-
ive officials are fighting 'bomber city' because
they know that thousands ,of CIO workers
would put this county in the Democratice col-
umn
3) Real estate dealers are fighting 'bomber
city' because of their wish to maintain and
increase Ann Arbor's already inflated rent and
priperty values.
With such motivtion the actions of Ford and
the county make sense-at least from the view-
point of Ford and the county.
IN THIS LATEST OUTBURST, Harry Ben-
nett-Ford's representative and a lovely rep-
resentative he is too-has told the Federal Pub-
lic Housing Authority that his employer-and a
lovely employer he is too-will fight 'bomber
city' by every legal means.
This followed the action of Ford in ordering
Federal surveyors from his land and pulling up
100 laboriously-laid surveyors' stakes.
-As the situation now stands Federal Housing
authorities are going ahead as well as can be
done with constant hampering by a man who
regards himself as a combination of God pnd
the Supreme Court.
That is as it should be.
Meanwhile Ford and Meader struggle on, and
that's where the criticism comes in.
LET'S have an end of the Ford Motor Co. talk-
ing down its nose to a government that's a
damn sight bigger than it is, a damn sight more
important, and a damn sight more intelligent.
WASHINGTON-American automobile own-
ers don't know it, but indirectly they had the
British to thank for the final decision to build
a new pipeline from the South to the Middle
West.
Secretary Ickes had been urging construction
of this pipeline for more than a year-always
being rebuffed by the War Production -Board.
Part of Ickes' argument was that it was foolish
to waste American tankers by having them carry
oil all the way to England from the Gulf of
Mexico. If; on the other hand, tankers could
load oil and gasoline at a Middle Atlantic port,
they could save 1,000 miles of travel and reduce
the exposure to submarine attack. Tankers are
getting scarce these days, and the shorter the
distance they have to steam, the more trips they
can make.
Ickes put forth this argument emphatically
at the last hearing before the War Production
Board, but was rebutted by Lieut.-Gen. Brehon
Somervell, head of the Army's Service of Sup-
plies. Somervell pooh-poohed the idea that Eng-
land was hard up for oil or gasoline, said he had
just returned from there, and that Ickes' argu-
ment was pure poppycock.
Ickes made no immediate reply, but cabled
the British Government. The British were boil-
ing mad, and the reply he received clinched the
matter. The War Production Board decided
Somervell didn't know much about British oil
supplies. The pipeline was ordered built.
Willkie Spikes Nye
Wendell Willkie's luncheon with Republican
senators wasn't as cordial as reporters were told
it ways.
There was a hostile flareup between Willkip
and torried isolationist Senator Gerald P. Nye
of North Dakota, which had the other guests on
the edge of their chairs for a few tense moments.
The incident occurred unexpectedly.
Nye arrived late and apparently in the friend-
liest of moods. He rushed over and shook hands
warmly with Willkie. Willkie cordially returned
the greeting. Neither he nor the other guests
were prepared for Nye's next move.
The North Dakotan suddenly remarked, "Mr.
Willkie, I was very much delighted with that
statement you made the other day."
"What statement do you mean?" asked Will-
kie.
"You know the statement I mean," snapped
Nye. "The one in which you declared that you
wouldn't be a candidate for public office any
more."
You could have heard a pin drop as the two
men eyed one another. For a moment, Willkie
made no reply to the provocative thrust. Then,
with a derisive chuckle, helquietly replied:
"A very pretty witticism, Senator-very pretty,
indeed. But I guess your wish was father to the
thought. You happen to have your facts balled
up. I said nothing of the kind. What I said was
that I would not be a candidate for office this
year."
"I'm going up there tomorrow morning," Nel-
son said, "and put them in their places. They
can't push me around. I won't stand for these
attacks. They are not helping the war effort."
Nelson went "up there" all right, but before
he got through he was singing a different tune.
The committee quietly listened to him as he
criticized the report and urged the elimination
of its caustic strictures against his $1-a-year
master minds,
Then when Nelson finished, Senator Truman
opened up. Ordinarily the bespectacled Mis-
sourian is one of the mildest mannered men on
Capitol Hill. But when he does get angry, he
gets very angry.
Nlson Bac ks Down
"Mr. Nelson," Truman snapped, "for your in-
formation this committee is under mandate from
the United States Senate to investigate the ad-
ministration of the war program. The members
of this committee are just as much interested in
winning the war as you and your assistants. In
our work we give anyone who has any connec-
tion with a case a fair and full hearing. We have
no axes to grind and there are no politics in this
committee.
"On several occasions you have taken it upon
yourself to infer questionable motives to this
committee and have kicked me in the teeth.
You have not only kicked me but you have
kicked the United States Senate in the teeth.
Now, it may be that I am not as big as you are,
but the United States Senate is bigger than you
are. And you don't want to forge't that this
committee is a body of the United States Senate
and neither you nor anyone else is kicking it or
pushing it around."
Truman's sizzling retort was hotly echoed by
Senators Ralph Brewster of Maine, Joe Ball of
Minnesota (Republicans), and Jim Mead of New
York (Democrat). They vigorously backed up
Truman and made it plain that Nelson had no
business trying to pressure the committee into
whitewashing his $1-a-year assistants.
Whereupon Nelson pulled in his horns :and
began placating the cohmittee. He said he had
no thought of questioning its integrity and as-,
sured members he held them in the highest es-
teem. Concluding, Nelson asked that he be al-
lowed to withdraw his letter.
"You can withdraw it if you want to," said
Truman, "but I am going to keep my copy."
Later, when a colleague asked Truman if he
thought Nelson would oust Philip Reed, No. 3
WPB chief, whom the committee singled out for
especially severe condemnation, Truman replied,
"I don't know, but it seems to me a very simple
question-which Nelson thinks bigger, Reed or
the United States Senate."
Note: Despite Nelson's staunch defense of
Reed, WPB insiders are offering odds that he
soon will return to his $100,000 job as chairman
of General Electric.
Libyan Disaster
To get the full significance of Tobruk's fall,
it has to be considered not as a separate inci-
dent, but in connection with strategy discussions
which preceded it and with other corjtemplated
moves on the Allied war front.
As early as last January, William C. Bullitt,
ex-Ambassadlr to France and one of Roosevelt's
close friends, returned from the Mediterranean
with a very pessimistic report about British pros-
pects in North Africa, expressing grave fears
that the British would lose the Suez Canal.
While Bullitt was in Cairo, Winston Churchill
was in Washington on his December-January
series of conferences with Roosevelt. During
those conferences, Churchill argued vigorously
for the strengthening of the North African front
where, he contended, the British could take the
offensive and drive the Axis completely out of
North Africa.
It was then a question, as it is now, of deciding
where the limited number of American .planes
and tanks could be used most effectively. And
Churchill's Libyan thesis was opposed both by
the Australians and Admiral King, Commander'
of the U.S. Fleet. They fully concurred in the
importance of holding the Suez Canal, but did
not believe in taking the offensive in Libya.
Precious U.S. materials, they urged, could be
used more advantageously at Singapore and the
South Pacific.
Churchill, however, won his point, and sub-
sequently the British did begin their drive to
oust Rommel from North Africa.
The failure of this drive caused very keen
disappointment in Washington and tended to
substantiate some of the discouraging factors
which Ambassador Bullitt had reported several
months before.
fullitt's View
Bullitt had come back from the Near East
with a very low opinion of the British Army's
efficiency. How far he went in his official report
is not known. But in personal conversations
among Washington officials he pointed out that
the British Army was made up of so many dif-
ferent nationalities and religious groups that 26
different commissaries were necessary to feed
them.
In other words, the different sects of Mo-
hammedans, Indians, Arabs in the British Army,
plus the Free French, Poles, Czechs, Greeks,
Yugoslavs, South Africans did not form a co-
hesive, mobile army. It was cumbersome, un-
wieldy and lacked morale.
Bullitt and those who accompanied him also
Alm-V--,C
C S - ATlrZ I(A H O
hit-
C.'xg ims Ic
-t- , j5i5U. Pttn..t A tt
I-
"Pay attention, Pedro.-these air raid instructions say if one is
outdoors during raid it is best to lie down without hesitation!"
6.6
) a
S ad4an'Opr5d1
j SAID BEFORE that I was going to pores and it makes his hands
tell you about Ed who runs the and sticky. He forgets to push1
punch-press next to thine in the fac- the cuticle on his pails and the
around them is stretched
tory and then I didn't. Something smooth.
else came up and Ed isn't the kind He lent me some of the lotion+
of a guy you have to hurry about so but it made my hands slippery
I just let him wait. But today noth-I lost hold of the lever and dec
-that it was dangerous.
ing of any exciting nature has hap- There's one thing more about
pened, in fact, nothing has happened he always wanted to be a missio
at all and I'm seated here at my to Africa. That's why he cam
typewriter with several sentences 1 school in the first place, toi
finished, which is encouraging, so I about the geology of Africa, bu
guess I'll really tell you about Ed couldn't ever sell himself to clh
today. boards and lost out. Sometime
He has a doctorate and two mas- says he feels like a missionary in
ters degrees-one in Math and the factory. He says that that wou
other in physics-but I told you that a fertile field for one.
before. What I didn't say before was I'm telling you about Ed be
that Ed is the inevitable product of he frightens me. Being educatec
being second rate and driving him- then never quite being able t
self to be first rate. Really, I sup- anything. It makes me want to
pose, he's right where he belongs a trade course i or learn engine
on the punch-press but that's not or anything practical, just so I c
where his education or his accent make a living or be with other p
would put him. That's the way it's like me. Of course, I don't k
always been with him though, that's about you, maybe you've got an
the way he started out and that's with your dad's law firm or an
why he's punching a punch-press vertising agency is sending yo
now,. school.
pink
back
skin
and
once
and
sided
it Ed,
onary
ne to
learn
ut he
hurch
es he
n the
ild be
Cause
I and
o do
take
ering
could
eople
know
"in'
ad-
u to
project. A loss recently occurred on
which the University had no insur-
ance because of the fact that no
notice had been given to the Iven-
tory Clerk that such property had
been taken to the location where it
was in use, and the property was
therefore not covered by the insur-
ance policy.
Shirley W. Smith
Army Air Force Aviation Cadet
Program Deferred Plan. Students
interested in this program are ap-
prised of the following change in rg-
ulations:
"The applicant's status as a stu-
dent must be certified by the proper
official of bis college, and he moust
at all times maintain a satisfactory
scholastic standing. In his second
year he will be required to take the
qualifying examination given to all
members of the Army Enlisted Re-
serve, of which the Air Corps Enlisted
Reserve Corps is a part. Failure in
this examination will end the de-
ferred status and make the student
subject to immediate call to duty.
Students on temporary leave of ab-
sence may be certified."
B. D. Thuma
"The Atlantic Charter" will be dis-
cussed by Professor Ehrmann tonight
in the Grand Rapids Room of the
League, at 7:15. Everyone is in-
vited.
Smoking in University Buildings:
Attention is called to the general rule
that smoking is prohibited in Univer-
sity buildings except in private offices
and assigned smoking rooms where
precautions can be taken and con-
trol exercised. This is neither a mere
arbitrary regulation nor an attempt
to meddle with anyone's personal
habits. It is established and enforced
solely with the purposeof preventing
fires. In the last seven-year period,
44 of the total of 102 fires reported,
or 43 per cert, were caused by cigar-
ettes or lighted matches. To be
effective, the rule must necessarily
apply to bringing lighted tobacco into
or through University buildings and
to the lighting of cigars, cigarettes,
and pipes within buildings-includ-
ing such lighting just previous to gp-
ing outdoors. A serious fire was
started at the exit of the Pharma-
cology building by the throwing of
a still lighted match into refuse wait-
ing removal at the doorway. If the
rule is to be enforced at all its en-
forcement must begin at the build-
'ng entrance. Further, it is impossible
that the rule should be enforced with
one class of persons if another class
of persons disregards it. It is a dis-
agreeable and thankless task to "en-
force" almost any rule. This rule
against the use of tobacco within
buildings is perhaps the most thank-
less and difficult of all, unless it shall
have the support of everyone con-
cerned. An appeal is made to all
persons using the University build-
ings-staff -members, students and
others-to contribute individual co-
operation to this effort to protect
University buildings against fires.
This stgtem nt is inserted at the
request of the Conference of Deans
Shirley W. Smith.
Chairmen and Managers of Pblic
Activities: Before permitting any
students to participate in a public
activity, the chairman or manager of
such activity shall (a) require each
applicant to present a certificate of
eligibility, (b) sign his initials on the
back of such certificate and (c) file
with the Chairman of the Committee
on Student Affairs the names of all
those who have presented certifi-
cates of eligibility and a signed
statement to exclude all others from
participation. Blanks for the chaly-
men's listshmay be obtained in te
Office of the Dean of Students.
Certificate of Eligibility: At the
beginning of each semester and sum-
mer session every student shall be
conclusively presumed to be ineligi-
ble for any public activity until his
eligibility is affirmatively established
by obtaining from the Chairman of
the Committee on Student Affairs,
in The Office of the Dean of Stu-
dents, a Gertificate of Eligibility.
t'articipation before the opening of
the first semester must be approved
as at any other time. 4
Non-Credit Course in Civilian Pro-
tection: Course to qualify any experi-
enced teacher as an air raid warden.
instructor in his community. Begins
June 30. Tuesday and' Thursday
evenings 7:30 to 10:00 for six weeks.
Room 246 Architecture Building. In-
struction given by Prof. G. M. Mc-
Conkey and others.
Candidates for the Master's De-
gree in English: The qualifying ex-
aminataon and examination in for-
'eign language will be given on Mon-
day evening, June 29, for those en-
tering in the Summer Term as well
as those entering in the Summer
Session. See Summer Session An-
nouncement for time and place.
N. E. Nelson.
Electrical Engineering 23N. Ele-
mentary Radio will be offered during
the Summer Session if there is suffi-
cient enrollment. This course has no
prerequisite and gives 4 hours -of
credit. Students interested in elect-
ing the course should call Miss Loffi
at once. Telephone 443. The dates
for this course are between June 29
and August 21.
r
:I
',,
'1.
Nelson's Letter
4
That unpublished letter Donald Nelson sent
members of the Truman Committee, in an effort
to stop the report that blasted some of his top
$1-a-year men, actually was the handiwork of
two of Nelson's key aides.
One was,:,John Lord O'Brian, WPB general
counsel and former corporation lawyer, who
several months ago whitewashed some $1-men
assailed by the Truman Committee. The other
was Sidney Wineberg, Wall Street banker and
executive assistant to Nelson.
Before sending the letter to the committee,
Nelson summoned top WPB executives and in-
formed them of his intention to confer person-
ally with the committee and tell it what was
what.
Put Aut omobile Ban
On Drivers Undevr 28
" "
C ONFUSED about the seriousness of
the -rubber shortage- as the public
understandably is, one fact should make itself
unmistakably clear. That is that the situation is
sufficiently precarious to make unnecessary
pleasure driving and just plain wolfing via auto
abomirable, unpatriotic, and in the long run
completely foolish practices for both the indi-
viduals concerned and, more important, for the
nation as a'-whole.
One need only drive near one of Detroit's
numerous high schools, or almost any others for
that matter, to run into traffic heavy enough to
make you think that you are trapped in a park-
ing lot. If it could reasonably be believed for
one minute that all of these cars were being
used out of necessity relating in some way to
aiding the war effort, this piece would never
have been written.
SINCE it is so clearly evident, however, that
this is not the case, we can only come to the
conclusion that something must be done.
figh school students are mentioned here only
because they stand out As an obvious example
and not because wasteful driving on their part
is any more disgusting than that of middle-
aged matrons wearing out sorely needed rubber
in the course of making the 'bridge circuit."
WHAT IS TO BE DONE? If appeals to the
patriotism of our driving public continue
to be ignored by the great majority one or both
ED wasn't a Phi Bete or anything
when he went to school but he
did well enough, well enough to get
recommended for a job.
They made him a teacher, of high
school algebra in a class "D" high
school just after he'd taken his mas-
ters in mathematics. Ed wasn't a
very good teacher, though, discipline
was difficult for him-once he had
a fist fight with a farm boy in hiA
class, twice his size-and he was
asked to resign before the middle of
the year. After that he was certi-
fied for relief three' separate times,
and became instructor in a CCC
camp.
For a while Ed worked as a grave-
digger in a cemetery and then as a
farm hand, and after that he looked
up prospective oil land for a fly-by-
night drilling company. He lived
with his family in Connecticut for
about three years in the middle. He
says, now, that he's forty three.
Now he just sits on the high stool
and pulls the lever and he's not even
a wry good operator. Foremen who
don't know grammar or. Shakespeare
swear at him and Ed just sits still.
Last night a floor inspector told him
that he was just another squaw and
Ed said "yes sir."
HE WEARS seersuckerpnts and
a blue sweatshirt with a laced
opening and a big white apron that
drags on the floor, over it all. He
brings jam sandwiches on raisin
bread in a bread wrapper instead of
buying them at the cafeteria.
"I can make them at home for
three cents apiece," he told me once.
But the molt amazing thing about
Ed are his hands. He carries some
sort of lotion in a bottle that he rubs
on them to keep the dirt oug of his
to Singapore-a transfer which the
Australians had great cause to regret.
Probably some of this criticism was
exaggerated and unjustified. It
should be added, also, that American
observers had the greatest admira-
tion for the courage of British troops.
U.S. Reaction
However, it remains an indisput-
able fact that high officials in the
U.S. War Department have been
worried for some time about lack of
initiative of the British Command7
in North Africa.t
Their theory is that the British
This .last isn't about Ed, it's an
apology and I'm printing it at the.
end because I'm just conceited
enough or perhaps embarrassed
enough to want to hide my faux pas.
This is to say then that I accused'
the board of regents unjustly in my
last column. They have not with-.
drawn money from the SRA budget
but have instead, merely refused to
appoint a director.
And so it 'is done, I'm apologizing
and if anyone objects to this being
buried as it were I'll start offbthe
next column with the revealing
statement that I'm a darn fool or
something stronger.
DAILY OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1942
VOL. LIJ. No. 8-S
All Notices for the Daily Official Bul-
letin are to be sent to the Office of the
Summer Session before 3:30 p.m. of the
day preceding its publication except on
Saturday, when the notices should be,
submitted before 11:30 a.m.
Landscape Architecture 151S is to
be given at 8:00 o'clock instead of at
9:00 as announced.
Interviewing for League Hostesses,
Thursday, June 25, 1-5 in the Under-
graduate Office of the League.
Kay 1Buozek
Recreational Swimming - Women
Students. There will be recreational
swimming for women at the Union
Pool every Tuesday and Thursday
evening from 8:30 to 9:30.
Dept. of Physical Education
for Women
International Center: All foreign
students and their American friends
are invited to attend the regular,
Thursday afternoon teas sponsored
by the International Club Board'and
given at the International Center
from 4 to 6 o'clock.' The tea on
June 25 will be in charge of the
Chinese Club.
Inter-Guild will hold its second
weekly luncheon of the semester to-
morrow at 12:15 in the Fireplace
Room of Lane Hall. All students in-
terested in the campus guilds are in-
vited to attend._
f;
Lek. J
°