THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1949
Your Red Wagon
WE CAN PICTURE the Republican-domi-
nated Congress sitting back with a
broad political grin on its face and pointing
the finger at President Truman, snugly
jeering-"Well, we fixed your legislative
wagon." The inhumanity and greed of the'
Southern Senators however, does not erase
the basic hypocrisy, of the Republicans'
sudden urge to rid the country of its racial
discrimination.
Republican Congressmen howled "poli-
tics!" when the President called for a special
session. And it was undoubtedly a very as-
tute political move, which has now back-
fired to the everlasting glee of the GOPers
who figured they were on the well-known
spot. But no one is even trying to pull the
wool over the nation's eyes. Everyone is
aware of the fact that the Republicans
want nothing to do with prices-control,
low-cost housing, restoration of the excess
profits tax and, it seems, anti-discrimina-
tion laws. That the Republicans are now
taking up arms against discrimination is the
kind of blatant hypocrisy that has typified
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily .
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: KENNETH LOWE
the Republicans whenever they have been
in a bad spot.
The Republicans evidently remember
the success of their tactics of a few weeks
ago when they effectively killed the bill
to end the oleo tax by doing the very
same thing they are doing this week. The
oleo bill, of course, was repugnant to the
Republicans who represent among other
people, the big farm lobbies of the north.
So, fired by the pleas of their constituents,
they took up the sword for civil rights
and attached a fancy rider to the oleo
bill which abolished the poll tax. Thus,
in the time of outrageous butter prices, we
had the sordid spectacle of national lead-
ers ramming legislation down each other's
throats in the hopes that their respective
indigestion would maintain the status
quo.
If the Republicans were really sincere
about their platform's promise to abolish
racial discrimination they could do plenty
about it. The Senators could shut their
'Southern colleagues' mouths by limiting
debate on the civil rights legislation. The
Republican majority could effectively still
the demagogue's cries by passing a vote of
cloture.
But evidently, they seem to prefer a polit-
ical belly-laugh and a safe spot in their
Washington seats next year to the vital
interests of the nation.
-Lida Dailes.
I'D RATHER BE RIGHT:
E'er vday Terror
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
So A STRATFORD, Connecticut, aircraft
factory is moving 1,687 miles to Dallas,
Texas, to be safer in this atomic age! About
1,500 families are to be transplanted, and
some 30,000 tons of machinery. This, to me,
is a far more striking atomic news story,
than any of those tense descriptions of what
happens to a living creature when an atomic
bomb lands in its immediate neighborhood
and transforms it into a shapeless mass of
hydrogen. For with this story, the terror of
the atomic age becomes an everyday terror.
A freight car moves up to a siding, on
an ordinary hot summer morning, the ma-
chinery is loaded, the car moves off again.
There is a special horror in the very ordi-
nariness of these small events, for they mean
that the menace of the atomic age is now
being woven into the fabric of our routine
life; it is no longer an apocalyptic version, it
is now as real as breakfast and the morning
mail.
It means that the mere fear of the rag-
ing atom can blow an aircraft plant of
30,000 tons almost two thousand miles
away from its fixed position, an explo-
sive effect somewhat greater than that
the bomb itself is capable of. It means
that the explosions foretold of the future
are already producing prophetic anterior
explosions in the minds of men.
And again, what grips the attention is
the ordinariness of the event, the kind of
acceptance that is implied in the picture of
overalled workmen deciding whether to move
that piece of machinery first, or this one,
heaving it up into truck or box car, putting
in an eight-hour day at escaping the atom,
then going home to sleep so as to rest
ap for eight hours more.
It is indeed a story of national acceptance,
acceptance of the intolerable and the im-
possible. Something has happened to us since
that day, three years ago, when unbeliev-
ingly we read the first accounts of the first
explosion. We did not know quite how to
take it then, or what to do. Now, we know,
or think we know. Why, we'll move to
Dallas. It must be the answer; the govern-
ment suggests it. Bring up the box cars and
the trucks.
And it seems to me that (for all its
ordinariness) it was a tremendous historic
moment when the first piece of machinery
was unbolted from the floor, and the first
pair of hands nudged it out of position,
toward the waiting car. For that was the
moment at which we accepted the how-
ever remote possibility of atomic conflict,
from which, up to that time, the imagina-
tions of mankind had recoiled,
However -wise and precautionary and sen-
sible the government advice is which led
to that moment, there is implied in it just
this kind of surrender. A man is told to
bring his truck to a certain place at a
certain time, and there is involved, in the
forward roll of his wheels, the failures of
obdurate and angry men on both sides; but
failure become so ordinary and so much a
part of our lives that it is hard to tell this
momentous truck from any other as it rolls
toward where the machinery waits, loosened
from its flooring.
One wonders if the very first bolt was
stiff, and whether, like the horrified minds
of men, it refused, for a moment, to give.
(Copyright, 1948, New York Post Corp.)
DRA\MA
At Lydia Mendelssohn . .
REMEMBER MAMA," a difficult play to
produce effectively, received the finest
sort of treatment at the Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre last night, with Claribel Baird's
superb portrayal of Mama completely cap-
tivating an enthusiastic audience.
The play is difficult because it lacks dra-
matic unity. There is no one chain of action.
It is a series of sketches which are held to-
gether by the characters of Mama and her
family. Most of the scenes in last night's
production were excellent, a few dragged,
and one or two could have been eliminated
entirely.
Of the two acts, the first was much more
effective than the second. The individual
scenes of the act are perfectly balanced. The
character of Mama is supplemented by that
of "Uncle Chris," excellently played by John
Sargent. Mama's quiet goodness and unas-
suming efficiency are contrasted with the
bombastic, qualities of gently fierce old
Uncle Chris.
The second act was not quite up to the
first because it included too many scenes.
At the very least the scene in which Trina
and Mr. Torgelson are in the park admiring
their new baby could have been eliminated,
and possibly one or two others.
Jane Linsenmeyer, and Ruth Livingston,
as Trina and Jenny, were effective as the
timid and the bossy aunts. Ann Davis, as
Sigrid, the whining one, was generally fine,
but not wholly consistent.
Mama's oldest and youngest children, Earl
Mathews, as Nels, and Phyllis Pletcher, as
Dagmar, had a little difficulty making the
age. Matthews, a near six-footer, was mis-
cast as a teen-ager in knickers.
Best of the children was Peg Monteau, as
Christine, the practical one, and at times
a very nasty little brat.
Lillian Boland, as Katrin, was the nar-
rator of the play. At the opening she was
very shaky, and tended to overact. But as
the evening wore on she was much better.
She opens and closes the play with the
same speech and the superiority of the final
reading was marked.
Don Kleckner was well cast as Papa, a role
he fitted as comfortably as an old shoe.
Sets by Oren Parker were as usual well
done. Two of them, the family home, and
the hospital, were quite elaborate, but in
others a single piece of furniture, a bed, a
table and chairs, was made to serve almost
as well.
-Dick Kraus.
CINEMA
At Hill Auditorium ...
DIE FLEDERMAUS, with Marte Harell,
Joseph Egger and Willi Dohm. CARMEN,
with Charlie Chaplin.
"DIE FLEDERMAUS," the first technicolor
film to come out of Germany since the
war, is Berlin's idea of what Hollywood
would do to Johann Strauss. Strauss
wouldn't like it coming from Hollywood, and
he'd probably feel twice as betrayed know-
ing it came from so close to home.
Actually the picture takes little of Strauss'
"Fledermaus" except the title, a few songs
and background music. The original is in
the finest light opera tradition, with just
the right amount of romance, drinking
scenes, uniformed dandies and plot intrica-
cies. The modern version, however, has
gone overboard into the champagne bucket
and come up with the largest collection of
phony blondes, chronic alcoholics and triple
intrigues seen around these parts in a long
time.
HEAR ! HEAR!
' d
5 d
.sV
W0 NCAN
rT9
DNS ZO
WAR A,
A'Iv-
W7
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
Publication in The Daily Official
Bulletin is constructive notice to all
members of the University. Notices
for the Bulletin should be sent In
typewritten form to the office of the
Assistant to the .President, Room
1021 Angell Hall, by 3:00 p.m. on
the day preceding publication (11:00
a.m. Saturdays).
Notices
FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1948
VOL. LVIII, No. 196
O)ffers Services
MATTER OF FACT:
The Special Session
By JOSEPH and STEWART
ALSOP
WASHINGTON-At the Repub-
lican caucus after President
Harry S. Truman's special session
message, Senator Robert A. Taft,
with his accustomed frankness,
describedthe special session strat-
egy favored by his former rival,
Governor Thomas E. Dewey. He
had talked to Dewey on the tele-
phone, Taft said, and Dewey had
stated his opinion that an imme-
diate adjournment would be "un-
wise." Dewey was all for a short
session, but he felt that the Pres-
ident's proposals should be at least
briefly considered in the appro-
priate committees.
As this is written, it is uncertain
whether the Dewey version of the
most appropriate Republican re-
sponse to Truman's challenge will
be adopted. Certain of the House
leaders, including Speaker Joseph
Martin, Majority Leader Charles
Halleck, and such weighty figures
as Leo Allen of the Rules Commit-
tee and Jesse Wolcott of Banking
and Currency, have not wanted
even committee hearings on the
President's proposals. They fa-
vored merely listening to the Pres-
ident's message in glum silence,
issuing rebuttals to the press, and
bowing out of Washington imme-
diately with what grace they could
muster.
A small Republican minority
wanted actually to take some
action on the measures proposed
by Truman, especially housing,
even if that meant a session
lasting several weeks. The Dewey
strategy is a compromise be-
tween these extremes, and at
the moment of writing it seems
likely that it will be adopted
by the Republicans. Whether it
is adopted or not, the expedient
Dewey recommended to the Con-
gressional Republicans is in-
teresting in what it reveals of
Dewey's assessment of the sit-
uation.
On the one hand, Dewey was
astute enough to see that an im-
mediate adjournment, lacking
even the rather empty gesture of
committee hearings, would not sit
well with the country. It would
suggest that the Republican Con-
gress refused even to admit the
existence of the housing and price
problems.
On the other hand, when he
emphasized in his telephone con-
versation with Taft that the ses-
sion would be short, Dewey clearly
had in mind the meaning of his
own campaign of a prolonged and
bitter battle between Truman and
the Republican Congress. The at-
tention of the country would then
have been focused on the com-
parative merits of Truman and
the Congress, rather than the
comparative merits of Truman
and Dewey. No prospect could
please Dewey less.
Therefore a short, perfunc-
tory session, in which the Ad-
ministration would be given an
opportunity to statebits case for
the record, but in which no ac-
tion would he taken, seemed the
best of a bad bargain. Even so,
in one sense it is not a very
good bargain.
Dewey and his cohorts will
argue during the campaign that
the special session was nothing
but a political maneuver, in which
serious legislation could not be
undertaken, and that such legis-
lation must be executed by an
effective, rather than a politically
and morally bankrupt, Adminis-
tration. But Truman will certainly
hammer away at the Republican
refusal to deal with housing and
prices. The Truman strategists
intend particularly to make hay
with Dewey's phrase about the
special session being a "frightful
imposition" on Congress. There
will be much talk about the
"frightful imposition" on the vet-
erans who have to live with their
mothers-in -law, and the "fright-
ful imposition" on the housewives
who have to pay a dollar a pound
for hamburger.
This line of attack is by no
means ineffective. Thus it seems
probable that the special session
will cost the Republicans votes. It
should help Democratic candi-
dates, especially in the big city
areas, whatever strategy the Re-
publicans may eventually adopt.
Yet it still does not seem at all
probable that the special session
maneuver could beat Dewey and
elect Truman. And in a curious
way, the maneuver is likely in the
end to help Dewey in his task of
riveting tight Administration con-
trol of Congress next winter. This
is so simply because the special
session call may well prevent the
election of an unmanageable Re-
publican majority.
Dewey must control Congress.
He must control Congress essen-
tially because he favors, in more
moderate form, much of the leg-
islation which Truman has pro-
posed. All this legislation, even
the mild Taft-sponsored hous-
ing bill, is anathema to the
Martin - Halleck -Allan -Wolcott
junta in the House. These men
and their friends will have to
be induced to shut their eyes
and swallow down a good deal
of moderate social legislation,
which will taste like poison to
them, if Dewey is to develop a
coherent legislative program.
And they can only be induced to
do so if Dewey's control of Con-
gress is well-nigh absolute.
With the prestige of the first
Republican President in sixteen
years, with the immense patronage
at his command, and with his own
well-oiled machine working in
high gear, Dewey should be quite
capable of persuading Martin and
his friends to see things the Dewey
way, at least for a couple of years.
But the job will be a great deal
easier without a whopping big Re-
publican majority.For huge ma-
jorities, as Franklin Roosevelt
learned to his sorrow, have a way
of straying off the party reserva-
tion. Small, tightly knit majorities
are far more conscious of party
loyalty and far more amenable
to party discipline. Thus one cur-
ious result of Harry Truman's des-
perate maneuver may well be to
make Tom Dewey's job a good
deal easier next year.
(Copyright, 1948, New York Herald
Tribune, Inc.)
LONG-RANGE objective of the
Wallace followers is to lay the
foundations for a permanent party
organization. They want to get es-
tablished on the ballots in the
various States, to build State-wide
organizations.
The real drive for national
power will come in 1952 or 1956.
Within four or eightyears, the
leaders of the party think there
will be a deep depression. After
that depression, they believe there
will be a wide swing to the left
by the voters. They want their
party to be ready for the left turn
when it comes. They quit the
Democratic Party because the
Southern conservatives were hold-
ing that party too close to the
center.
Bureau of Appointments & Occu-
pational Information, 201 Mason
Hall.
The Westinghouse Air Brake
Company, Wilmerding, Pa., has1
openings in their training pro-,
gram, starting September 20, 1948.,
They are interested in mechani-
cal, electrical, and aeronautical
eng neers. Application blanks are
on file at the Bureau, and menr
may get complete information
there..
Visitor's Night, Department of
Astr nomy-Friday, July 30, 9 to
10:30 p.m., in Angell Hall, for ob-
servations of Jupiter. Visitor's
Night will be cancelled if the sky]
is cloudy. Children must be ac-
companied by adults.]
Mathemnatics Movie: A movie]
"Triple Integrals" and a slide film]
"Areas by Integration" will be
shown in 3017 Angell Hall, at 11
Fri., July 30. All who are interest-
ed are welcome.
The fourth Fresh Air Camp
Clinic will be held on Fri., July 30,
1948. Discussions begin at 8 p.m.
in the Main Lodge of the Fresh
Air Camp located on Patterson
Lake. Any University students
interested in problems of indi-
vidual and group therapy are in-
vited to attend. The discussant
will be Dr. Norman Westlund,
Director of the Saginaw Valley
Child Guidance Clinic.
Approved Student Sponsored
Social Events. Weekend July 30,
1948 '
July 31
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Phi Rho Sigma
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Zeta Psi
Lectures
The sixth lecture in the special
series of lectures sponsored by the
Department of Engineering Me-
chanics will be given by J. Free-
man, Associate Professor of Chem-
ical & Metallurgical Engineering,
Unriersity of Michigan. Professor
Freeman will speak on "Metal-
lurgical Aspects of Creep and Re-
laxation at High Temperatures"
Fri., July 30, 3 p.m., Room 445
West Engineering Bldg., and Sat.,
July 31, 11 a.m., Room 445 West
Engineering Bldg.
Concerts
Collegium Musicum Program
under the direction of Louise Cuy-
ler, will be presented at 8 p.m.
Fri., July 30, in Rackham Assem-
bly Hall. Dr. Juana de Laban, As-
socate Supervisor in Physical Ed-
ucation, will assist in the program
of music and dances of the 16th,
17th, and 18th centuries.
The public is cordially invited.
Piano Recital. The sixth pro-
gram in the Monday Evening
series of faculty recitals will fea-
ture Webster Aitken, guest lectur-
er in piano in the School of Music.
Scheduled to begin promptly at
8 p.m. Mon., August 2, in the
Rackham Lecture Hall, Mr. Ait-
ken's program will include Baga-
telles, Op. 126 by Beethoven, So-
nata by Elliott Carter, and Beeth-
oven's Sonata in C minor, Op. 111.
All programs in the series are
open to the public without charge.
Events Today
The Roger Williams Guild will
hold open house at 8 p.m. Fri.,
following the 6:30 City League
all-star softball game.
Coming Events
Graduate Outing Club meets at
2:30 Sun., Aug. 1, at the north-
west entrance of Rackham Bldg.
for Swimming and canoeing. All
graduate students welcome. Sign
up before noon Sat. at Rackham
check desk.
LABOR-MANAGEMENT disputes
led to a brief but sharp drop
in the (Michigan) non-farm em-
ployment total during May. The
state's unemployed on May 15
numbered 74,000 less than in
April.
-Labor Market.
To the Editor:
DURING THE last war I mailed
67,384 copies of The Michigan
Daily to former Michigan students
who were in service. It is the only
way I have to express my appre-
ciation to men who are serving
our country. I couldn't even walk
fast if a bomb were headed in my
direction.
I would be very glad to send
copies of The Daily again to those
who may be called into service. I
send the papers of one week at
a time. They arrive late, but the
campus news is always news. All
I need to know is the name and
home address and forwarding ad-
dress. And also that each one will
keep me informed of changes of
address, so that I may keep the
papers going to those who desire
them.
If the boys want to come in
person, I am in the Exhibition
Hall in the University Museums
(on the second floor) every week-
day from 9 to 5, and Sundays from
2 to 5.
-Ruth Bacon Buchanan
WE LEAVE it to the Republicans
to probe the President's mo-
tives in calling a special session of
Congress. These may be as crassly
political as charged, but the fact
remains that the Eightieth Con-
gress recessed in a shocking state
of disorganization, leaving the
country without desperately need-
ed legislation. The circumstances
of the President's announcement
-a partisan convention in the
small hours of the morning -
have not unreasonably offended
the sensibilities of some who, like
Walter Lippmann, see in his ac-
tion only a desire to "give a kick
and a punch to his own personal
campaign for election." Even
granting the validity of the ac-
cusation, we have here an in-
stance of a self-interested motive
coinciding with the common good.
We are not so squeamish as to
think that the second must be
disregarded because of the exist-
ence of the first. A housing bill
is sorely needed, and the rapid
spiral of prices is surely an emer-
gency that should not wait until
next January for attention. The
United Nations loan should
be hurried through if our inter-
national good faith is not to be
compromised.
-The Nation.
Fifty-Eighth Year
SI
A,
Xettep J
TO THE EDITOR
The Daily accords its readers the
privilege of submitting letters for
publication in this column. Subject
to space limitations, the general pol-
icy is to publish in the order in which
they aretreceived all letters bearing
the writer's signature and address.
Letters exceeding 300 words, repeti-
tious letters and letters of a defama-
tory character or such letters which
for any other reason are not in good
taste will not be published. The
editors reserve the privilege of co -
densing letters.
* * *
~'s
iY is
A
ti
V:
4
CURRENT MOVIES
At the State---
CORONER CREEK, with Randolph Scott
and Marguerite Chapman.
IF YOU LIKE WESTERNS, or ever- have
liked Westerns (and who hasn't?) you'll
enjoy this picture. The situations are tense,
the action is brutal and swift, and the story
i put together with remarkably little lost
motion.
The whole thing centers on Scott as the
Grim Avenger, and there has certainly never
been a grimmer or more vengeful one. Mar-
guerite Chapman is dragged in, almost apol-
ogetically, as the Woman, but isn't given
much of a chance to slow down the mayhem.
Various people get convincingly slugged,
kicked, kneed, shot and stabbed while the
plot moves smoothly on to the inevitable
death struggle between villain and hero.
The weaknesses of this picture are those
of every Western. Yet, while it runs in the
usual well-worn grooves it never becomes as
insipid as the Autry sagas nor as flimsy as
the De Mille "epics." It's entertainment.
-Ivan Kelley.
* * *
At the Michigan ...
BERLIN EXPRESS, with Paul Lukas, Rob-
ert Ryan, and Merle Oberon.
I GUESS THE BEST WAY to describe "Ber-
lin Express" would be to say it's a smooth
job. A remarkable example of movie-making,
it could easily have been one of the year's
best had Jacques Tourneau, the director,
been supplied with a better screen play. As
it stands, it's still well worth your time.
"Berlin Express" is probably the finest
example of the semi-documentary technique
an attempt to kill a German government
expert on a train trip from Paris to Berlin.
I never did get straightened out on who
wanted to kill whom and why, but don't let
that bother you. An Englishman, a Russian,
a Frenchman and an American witness the
murder attempt. They get together and
smoke out the culprits. However, when the
train reaches Berlin, they go their separate
way. There's some misty symbolism involved,
and you're supposed to get the feeling that
they're all so nice, certainly they'll get to-
gether and life will be a bowl of cherries-
a quaint thought in view of the international
situation today.
-Jack Sokoloff.
IT SO HAPPENS
0 Maze of Isms
Attention:Mr. Thomas
THE OVER-ABUNDANCE of "isms" in the
English language was dramatically dem-
onstrated to an acquaintance of ours at a
dance the other night. Hoping to spark a
lively conversation with his partner, he
asked her what she thought of Socialism.
"Socialism?" she asked, in somber tones.
"I'm sorry, but I never discuss religion in
public."
pu .* * *
Networks Note
SOME RADIO FANS were discussing their
favorite airwaves in front of the Student
Publications Building. The talk centered
about Michigan radio stations, among them
WCAR and WKAR. It was all very quiet
41
Add a maid
prison warden
summons and
you've got it.
with operatic aspirations, a
in search of thrills, a police
a singer out of a job and
The singing, which there isn't enough
of, would no doubt appease Johann some-
what, and the dance scenes are colorful
and delightful to watch. The sound track
of the movie conveys the voices clearly,
but occasionally there are long stretches
of untranslated dialogue. This is prob-
ably just as well, as the subtitles are far
from sparkling.
Chaplin's burlesque of Bizet's "Carmen"
is another story, and a much funnier one.
Filmed in 1915 the picture has been fitted
with a dubbed in sound track and succinct
titles that are often as humorous as
Chaplin's antics.
"Carmen" originally was meant to take
a crack at the extravaganza "Carmen's"
Hollywood was grinding out even back in
'15. It remains as hilariously entertaining
today as it must have been then.
It is practically impossible to type Chap-
lin's special brand of humor. It ranges
from the smile-with-tears provoked by the
world's indifference to the little mustached
man with the cane and flapping shoes to
the guffaw induced by the slapstick Chaplin.
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Lida Dailes.........Managing Editor
Kenneth Lowe.......Associate Editor
Joseph R. Walsh, Jr. ....Sports Editor
Business Staff
Robert James......Business Manager
Harry Berg .......Advertising Manager
Ernest Mayerfeld .Circulation Manager
Telephone 23-24-1
Member of The Associated Press
The Associated Press is exclusively
entitled to the use for re-publication
of all news dispatches credited to it or
otherwise credited in this newspaper.
All rights of re-publication of all other
matters herein are also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, as second-class inail
matter.
Subscription during the regular
school year by carrier, $5.00, by mail,
$6.00.
Member
Associated Collegiate Press
1947-48
-U.S. News
and World
Report.
BARNABY
Ye. MAr.( Gree,~n. I auI'm reanllhohnored
am thY father's soirit; Doomed for-
Barnaby, make this silly tyke stop VA
I