PAGE TWO

THE MICHIGAN- DAILY

Sri UDA , AUGUST 25, 3944

PAGE TWO FI~.IIM~, AUGUST 25, 1~44


Fifty-Fourth Year

THE PENDULUM:

U. S. Press Discredits Labor's Record

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Edited and managed by students of the University
of Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control
of Student Publications.

Editorial Staff

Jane Farrant
Betty Ann Koffman
Stan Wallace
Bank Mantho
Peg Weiss
Lee Amer

* . Managing Editor
* . Editorial Director
. . . City Editor
. . . Sports Editor
. . Women's Editor

.

Business Staff

Business Manager

Telephone 23-24-1
REPRESENTEID FOR NATIONAL ADVERTIIG BY
National Advertising Service, Inc
College Publisbers Representative
420 MADSON AvE. NEW YORK. N. Y.
CMICAG oosoN - Los AMGEE8 * SA FRANCICO
Member of The Associated Press
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use
for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or
otherwise credited in this newspaper. All rights of re-
publication of all other matters herein also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as
second-class mal matter.
Eubscriptions during the regular school year by car-
rier, $4.50, by mail, $5.25.
Member, Associated Collegiate Press, 1943-44
NIGHT EDITOR: KATHIE SHARFMAN
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
Jewish Refugees
HE State Department has announced that the
United States and Great Britain have ac-
cepted the offer of the Hungarian Government
for the release of Jews and that Anglo-Ameri-
can authorities will arrange to take care of Hun-
garian Jews who reach neutral or United Na-
tions territory.
The State Department said that the govern-
ments of Great Britain and the United States
in accepting this offer do not in any way con-
done the action of the Hungarian government in
forcing the emigration of Jews as an alternative
to persecution and death.
The irony in the situation lies in the fact
that there should be any hesitancy In offering
this temporary haven to the refugees. One of
our aims in fighting this is supposedly to free
the oppressed peoples of Europe. Wsecause we
offer to help them does not mean that we ap-
prove of the policy of their oppressor. In fact
these two ideas are in no way related.
It is necessary for the United Nations to show
oppressed people that they are willing to help
whenever they can and not only when their
own selfish interests are involved. Thus far our
attitude.towards Jewish refugees has been any-
thing but encouraging. This recent step taken
in regard to the Hungarian Jews spells hope
for the future. It shows that the humanitarian
element is entering in and that we are not go-
ing to continue to follow a double standard by
condemning Hitler for his treatment of the
Jews and then turning around and scorning
them ourselves.
-Doris Peterson
Radio Conflict
ALONG with the high principles in the Four
Freedoms that have been promised should go
4 corollary pertaining to freedom of speech on
the air waves. Neglected lately because of Nov-
ember election disputes and the ever-present
capital-labor friction rising out of reconversion
methods, the story of an actual example of mis-
use and abuse is appearing at a Federal Com-
munications Commission hearing in Washington
this week.
A petition of the UAW-CIO is specifically
opposing the license renewal of radio station
WHKC at Columbus, O., for alleged discrimi-
nation against labor. It is charged that the
union's speeches, bought and paid for by
UAW, were censored by the station while .at
the same time it permits other commentators
to broadcast without any thought of blue-pen-
eiling their copy.
When one reads that the latter men mention-
ed are such notables and commentators as Boake
Carter, Fulton Lewis, Jr., Upton Close and Col.
Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune,
it is true the attempt to censor their scripts
would fortunately be beyond the control of the
individual radio stations. But at the same time
it is a too strange quirk of justice to have the

freely-expressed views of the national com-
mentators heard without permitting the union
to present its side.
-Dorothy Potts
Soldiers Are Citizens .. .
QENATOR TAFT of Ohio, criticising the Army

By BERNARD ROSENBERG
ONE last oscillation of The Pendu
lum is called for by the fact that
The Detroit News last week blew its
editorial top over the labor issue.
Said that worthy journal, "Labor has
not accomodated itself to the re-
quirements of desperately pressing
war needs. The war has gone splen-
didly on our military fronts and bad-
ly on our labor fronts." This comes
at the end of a long lead editorial
which also asserts that, "On the lab-
or side a static condition results in
magnification of trivial grievances,
causes strike after strike, etc . ."
Such claptrap was particularly in-
opportune since its issuance almost
coincided with important disclosures
to the contrary made by Major Gen-
eral Lucius D. Clay, director of ma-
teriel, of the U. S. Army. He stated
unequivocally at a special press con-
ference, "There has never been a case
so far as we have heard where our
men lacked ammunitions due to any
strike or other lag in production."
At a second conference with the
press, it is reported by George Seldes,
Lt. Cols. E. M. Clarke and L. O. Grav-
elly, both returned from the Mediter-
ranean theater, repeated the Clay
statement. Clarke noted, "We have
never heard of a case where a
strike caused a lag in supplies to
our men. Generally, we have had
what we needed when we needed it
in the quantities we needed."
These are the official facts. Con-
strue them as you will, but any ef-
fort to impugn the name of labor
on the basis of those facts will re-
veal nothing but your own vicious-
ness or your own ignorance. Accord-
ing to figures released by the Depart-
ment of Labor in June, labor's rec-.
ord is 99.91% clean. Measure that
against any wild charge of insuffi-
cient patriotism made by the press
at the workingman.
EVERY rumor of a strike is blown
into an accomplished fact and
spread in bold type headlinescacross
the front pages of America's corrupt
press. But, the impressive devotion
to their jobs and the steadfastness
of purpose laborers have demonstrat-
ed since Pearl Harbor are falsified or
ignored. Thus, Walter Reuther's
plan for the conversion of automobile
plants into defense factories was
given the cold shoulder until finally
a similar blueprint received business

okay and Uncle Sam proceeded
months later to fulfill it. This same
Reuther has nevertheless been ac-
cused of impeding the war effort.
More bunckum-and it comes in un-
ending streams.
So, C. E. Wilson, president of Gen-
eral Motors Corporation, after having
denounced organized labor as an "ir-
ritant" was forced to admit under
the pressure of undeniable statistics
that war production in his plants is
largely ahead of schedule. This ad-
mission-one of the CIO NEWS calls
"a reluctant bouquet"-came only
after Walter Reuther announced that
the Fourth of July plant shutdown
ordered by General Motors meant a
loss of 6,770,690 productive man
hours. This was more than the num-
ber of man hours lost by strikers in
all the corporations throughout the
country in the month of January.
That sort of thing is publicized
as little as possible. "Softpedal it,"
goes the directive when Anaconda
Wire Co. is found by the federal
government to be producing de-
fective goods. "So what?" was the
attitude when Curtiss-Wright got
indicted and convicted for making
defective airplane motors. Now, it
is bad enough if men go out on
strike and hold up war produc-
tion. But, it is worse-it is wholly
unconscionable - for industrial-
ists to make blood money by cheap-
ening their goods to the point
where they endanger the lives of
American soldiers. They not only
hold up production by not proving
the means to hasten the end of this
war, they commit murder.
Very few businessmen, of course,
are so unscrupulous. The co-operat-
ive effort of industry, labor, and gov-
ernment has been magnificent. But,
let no one of these groups point the
finger of scorn at any other group.
For, to do so is without basis in
reason or fact. Each has been de-
ficient in many ways-workers strike,
industrialists profiteer, bureaucrats
bungle-and yet, the total is greater
sthan the sum of its parts.
thThe net result has been a home
front so satisfactory, with such
general prosperity and full em-
ployment, one wishes it could be
extended indefinitely. Among those
who do not wish it could be extend-
ed indefinitely are some big busi-
s nessmen. More than one has said
publicly that he favors an unem-
' ployment pool, the result of which

would be a depressed wage scale.
Reactionaries of the Sewell Avery
stripe do not see that such a con-
dition could do them more harm
than good. It is pretty well under-
stood now that Roosevelt saved
American capitalism by putting
stop gaps in it, Wall Street, which
has always hated him, will one day
come to regard FDR as its greatest
benefactor. However, if unem-
ployment is fostered and achieved,
if legislation like the Murray-Kil-
gore Bill to aid jobless is killed in
Congress, the system as it exists to-
day may explode tomorrow.
WHERE are the newspapers of this
country on such issues? Natur-
ally, four-square against labor. And
why? I think it an injustice to say,
"Because they are bought." They are
not bought. They are among the
buyers. The newspapers, if they were
ever public services, were and are
also big businesses. Industry does
not need to pay off the newspaper
world. For, the universal trend
toward monopoly which has gone
nearly unchecked for fifty odd years
is evident in the realm of journal-
ism too. If you want to know more
about it, read Oswold Garrison Vill-
ard's "The Disappearing Daily." Few-
er papers, more concentration of pow-
er, and less truth; there you have a
factual picture of newspaperdom in
1944. The Detroit News is a fairly
decent paper. Its anti-labor mud
slinging make me wonder all the more
how Publisher Scripps can square an
avowedly independent policy with an
obviously one-sided treatment of the
news.
What you want to remember in
connection with all this is that the
press stands more strongly than
ever behind the Republican candi-
date for president. Jhe intimate
tie-up between Tom Dewey and big
business is apparent to everyone.
His election would be interpreted
by, them as the signal to sit tight-
ly on the oh! so imperfect status
quo.
There are more than forty million
workers in this country. Do they
want their voice in the government
reduced to a penitent whisper or a
John L. Lewis croak? I think not.
They and their fellow Americans
will continue to read newspapers,
scan the comic and editorial pages
with equal incredulity, and learn from
them how not to think.

The Seine

WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND:
Military Oppose Don Nelson

By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON-The battle over the proposed
banishment of Donald Nelson is a long
story but an important one, with parts of it
almost unbelievable. Woven through the story
is the struggle between American little business
and monopoly, a struggle which has torn this
country for half a century-and which Roose-
velt at one time vowed to settle.
Opinions differ regarding Nelson. However,
it is fair to say that, after considerable heart-
aches, a lot of criticism., and some delays, his
over-all production program has now achieved
miracles, including a total output of air-
planes which nobody ever dreamed possible.
And largely thanks to Nelson, this was achiev-
ed without any dictatorship either from man-
agement or labor, and without destroying the
fundamental American system.
Opposed By the Army
DON'S chief trouble, from beginning to the end,
has been with the military. The Navy was
not so, difficult. But dynamic General B. B.
Somervell and idealistic ex-judge Undersecre-
tary of War Patterson demanded that almost
every civilian activity be closed down.
Patterson waged a particular crusade against
comic books and the soft drink, Seven Up.
These, he repeatedly told Nelson, were hinder-
ing the war. Why the Undersecretary of War
didn't pick on other soft drinks, Nelson never
knew. But at any rate, Nelson came back with
this argument:
"The American people are going to work
just as hard or harder in this war if you don't
take away all their recreation. Comics and
soft drinks are not going to hurt the war."
One of .Nelson's friends and allies at first was
73-year-old Bernard M. Baruch, Wall Street
banker and head of the War Industries Board
in the last war, who patriotically moved to
Washington and offered to do everything he
could do to ail production. Nelson used to
spend week-ends with Baruch on Long Island
and listened to his advice, much of which was
helpful.
However, as war production forged ahead, far
exceeding anything under Baruch in World War
I, and as Nelson became more engrossed with
his work, he called on Baruch less frequently.
Meanwhile, Patterson and Somervell invited
Baruch to sit in on their meetings, and as the
breach widened between Nelson and the mili-

tary, the well-meaning executive of World W
I edged more and more to the Army's side.
Wilson Enters Picture

ar

I

IT WAS about this time that Charles E. Wilson,
crack production wizard of General Electric,
came to Washington to help Nelson as vice
chairman of the War Production Board. Wilson
and Nelson immediately became close allies in
the battle with the Army, which by this time
was determined to take over the entire WPB,
plus civilian economy, Seven Up, comics and all.
The fight was extremely bitter. Ferdinand
Eberstadt, another banker and a friend of
Baruch's, able, tough, patriotic, had been plac-
ed in the War Production Board, and the Army
wanted him to take over the entire show, kick-
ing Nelson out.
So'bitter was the fight that, at the height
of the battle, this columnist went to Charles
E. Wilson to check on a report from one of his
assistants that General Somervell had tele-
phoned Wilson asking him to secure more
brass rolling mill capacity. And thinking the
telephone connection had ended, General
Somervell was reported to have said:
"That will keep the so-and-so busy. There
just isn't any more brass rolling mill capacity!"
And perhaps because the telephone was still
connected or perhaps because the remark was
recorded in one of the Army's many listening
devices, it was reported to have got back to
Wilson. When Wilson was queried about it, he
was noncommittal, following which this column-
ist put the same question to General Somervell.
The General looked startled.
"So you were the one," he said, "who talked
to Wilson about that. He charged me, in a
meeting of the board, with making that remark
about him, and demanding an explanation.
"I did call him up to ask him for more brass
rolling mill capacity," General Somervell con-
tinued. "But although I sometimes call a man
a 'so-and-so' as a joking term of endearment, I
don't think I ever used it on Charley Wilson.
If I did, it was only in that sense."
The incident illustrates how tempers flared
two short years ago-at a time when Wilson and
Nelson were close allies against the Army. Now,
despite one-time enmity, Wilson is on the Ar-
my's side. It is the Army, together with Ba-
ruch, which for months has been trying to push
Don Nelson out of the production picture.
(Copyright, 1944, United Features Syndicate)


DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN

:

FRIDAY, AUG. 25, 1944
VOL. LIV No. 38-S"
When The Daily again resumes"
publication all notices for The
Daily Official Bulletin are to
be sent to 1021 Angell Hall, in
typewritten form by 3:30 p.m. of
the day preceding its publication,
except on Saturday when the no-
tices should be submitted by 11:30
a.m.
Notices
Students, Summer. Term, College
of Literature, Science and the Arts:
Courses elected in the second half of
the Summer Term may not be drop-
ped without penalty after Saturday,
Sept. 16.E E. A. Walter
Student football tickets to the
Iowa Sea-Hawks, Indiana and North-
western football games: Civilian stu-
dents enrolled in the 1944 Summer
Term who are entitled to student
admission to the first three Univer-
sity of Michigan home football
games, should exchange their Physi-
cal Education coupon (ticket No. 7)
for their football tickets at the Ath-
letic Office, Ferry Field, between 8
a.m. and 5 p.m. on the following
days:
Senior and Graduate Students-
Monday, Aug. 28. Junior Students-
Tuesday, Aug. 29. Sophomore Stu-
dents-Wednesday, Aug. 30. Fresh-
man Students-Thursday, Aug. 31.

Class preference will be obtainable
only on the date indicated.'
Students desiring their tickets in
one block should present their Physi-
cal Education coupons together. One
student may present all of the cou-
pons for such a block of student'
tickets. Where students of different
classes desire adjacent seats, the
preference of the lowest class will
prevail. H. 0. Crisler, Director
Tickets, Michigan-Purdue Football
Game, Oct. 28, 1944: Students who
intend to enroll for the 1944 term
may procure their admission tickets
to the Purdue football game to be
played in the Michigan Stadium on
Oct. 28 at the offices in the Admih-
istration Building, Ferry Field, be-
ginning Oct. 16, and also at the ticket
office at Gate Number Nine (north
end of the Stadium) after twelve
o'clock noon the day of the game.
It is highly desirable to procure tick-
ets in advance of the day of the
game in order to avoid congestion,
confusion and delay in getting in the
Stadium in time for the game.
Each student desiring admission
to this game will be required to de-
posit Three Dollars ($3.00) for the
admission ticket, for which a receipt
will be issued. This receipt will be
redeemed for the full amount after
the University tuition fee has been
paid for the fall term provided the
tuition fee includes admission to ath-
letic events.
Refunds will be made at the Ticket
Office in the Administration Build-
ing on Ferry Field from 8:30 a.m. to
5 p.m. daily until Dec. 1. All deposit
receipts become void that date.
Board in Control of Intercollegiate
Athletics, University of Michigan
Attention Students who have com-
peted for Hopwood prizes. You may
obtain your mss. at the Hopwood
Room this Friday. R. W. Cowden
New York State Civil Service Ex-
aminations for, Assistant State Re-
porter, Assistant to Supervisor of
Insurance Contracts, Electric Inspec-
tor, Junior Gas Engineer, Junior Of-
fice Machine Operator (Calculating),
Junior Research Aide (Municipal
Affairs), Municipal Research Assis-
tant, Senior Hearing Stenographer,
Senior Transportation Engineer and
Women's Parole Officer, are being
given on Sept. 23, 1944. Applications
should be filed by Sept. 1. For fur-
ther details stop in at 201 Mason

Students, College of Engineering:
The final day for REMOVAL OF
INCOMPLETES will be Saturday,
Aug. 26. Petitions for extension of
time must be on file in the Secre-
tary's Office on or before Wednes-
day, Aug. 23.
Academic Notices
English 178 will not meet today.
H. V. S. Ogden
Students interested in taking a
Nurses' Aide course the second half
of the summer term may register
from 1 to 5 p.m. in North Hall. You
are reminded that Nurses' Aide is an
80-hour course plus 150 hours volun-
teer work and that 2-hours academic
credit will be given when' all hours
have been fulfilled.
Ethel A. McCormick
Concerts
Carillon Recital: Percival Price,
University Carillonneur, will present
an all Russian program this evening,
Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. Mr. Price will play
old Russian airs, piano pieces by
Borodin, Tchaikowsky and Rach-
maninoff, and will conclude the re-
cital with songs of the Red Army.
Carillon Recital: Percival Price
will play the music of Handel, Verdi
and a group of original compositions
at his recital on Sunday, Aug. 27, at
3 p.m.
Choral Union Concerts: The Uni-
versity Musical Society announces
the following concert attractions for
the University year 1944-1945:
Helen Traubel, Soprano- Satur-
day, Nov. 4, 8:30 p.m.; Cleveland
Orchestra, George Szell, Guest Con-
ductor-Sunday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.
(This concert will be broadcast over
the Mutual System and by short
wave); Fritz Kreisler, Violinist-Fri-
day, Nov. 17, 8:30 p.m.; Joseph
Lhevinne, Pianist-Monday, Nov. 27,
8:30 p.m.; Carroll Glenn, Violinist-
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 8:30 p.m.; Boston
Symphony Orchestra, Serge Kousse-
vitsky, Conductor-Monday, Dec. 11,
8:30 p.m.; Vladimir Horowitz, Pian-
ist-Monday, January 15, 8:30 pm.;
Dorothy Maynor, Soprano-Satur-
day, Feb. 3, 8:30 p.m.; Westminster
Choir, John Finley Williamson, Con-
ductor-Sunday, Feb. 11, 3 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Desire


BARNABY

By Crockett Johnson

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