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 °