I
PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1948
4
Modern Inquisition
THE SPIRIT OF the Spanish Inquisition
has never died out-at least not here
in America. In some respects the actual tor-
ture practices of the medieval secular au-
thorities are still employed in the United
States by the Ku Klux Klan.
Three thoutsand hooded Klan members
recently gathered around a huge fiery cross
on Stone Mountain, Georgia, forming a
spectacle which certainly reminds one more
of the flaming torture cells of Toledo, than
the undemocratic institutions of modern
America.
Following an "inspiring" address by
Grand Dragon Samuel Green who prom-
ised that "blood would flow in the streets"
if civil rights for Negroes were enforced
in the South, 700 new initiates were wel-
comed into the spectral ranks.
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: LIDA DAILES
For years democratically minded Amer-
ican citizens have been stunned by the
mere existence of an organization which has
pledged itself to, "white supremacy in the
South and a militant Protestantism, exclud-
ing Negroes, Jews, Roman Catholics and all
foreign born." It seems unbelievable that
such a group has been allowed to carry on its
program of murder and terror under a con-
stitution which states that "All men are
created equal."
And yet the Klan has not only been
allowed to exist, it has been allowed to
control Southern law enforcement and
coerce the rights of millions of Negroes,
Jews and "foreigners." During the war it
carried on a very noble fight to withhold
the benefits of the USO from these mi-
nority groups.
When Grand Hokus-Pokus Green prom-
ises that blood will flow in the streets, he
is promising more than the fact that hun-
dreds of helpless Negroes will be murdered
-he is promising that the principles of
American democracy are decaying.
We can always return to the Inquisition.
--Jim Brown.
MATTER OF FACT:
Sense About Security
By JOSEPH and STEWART ALSOP
W ASHINGTON-The thing to remember
about Representative J. Parnell Thomas
is that his name is not, or at least was
not, Thomas. He has magically evolved
from Feeney, the Irish Catholic son of a
Democratic city politician, to Thomas, the
Methodist Republican New Jersey squire,
with a houseful of ostentatiously early
American objects.
He belongs, in short, to the curious, twist-
ed group of men who hold that a name like
Thomas is more respectably "100 per cent
American" than Feeney or Karpowicz or,
one supposes, Stuyvesant or Van Rensselaer.
He is engaged in a great impersonation
of a male member of the Daughters of the
American Revolution. And the hue and cry
which he has so long been raising is no
more than an episode in this sordid little
tragi-comedy.
In the present atmosphere it is ap-
propriate to begin any discussion of
American security with these facts, if only
to place the current doings on Capitol -
Hill in their correct perspective. The plain
truth is that there can be no honest de-
fense of the investigation of vital security
questions by such groups as the House
Committee on Un-American Activities,
which are' dominated by the intellectual
standards disclosed by Thomas' great im-
personation, and primarily interested ii
a sordid headline hunt.
This much having been said, it must
immediately be added that a very grave
and important security problem undoubtedly
exists in this country. Probably the most
shocking and harmful breaches of security
in the past twenty years were "The Chi-
cago Tribune's" revelations, both of Amer-
ica's war plan just before Pearl Harbor,
and of the Navy's success in breaking the
Japanese codes. No items of information
such as these are likely to' have passed
through the espionage nets described by
Miss Elizabeth Bentley and Mr. J. Whittaker
Chambers..
On the other hand, sensible investigating
officials believe that the Bentley and Cham-
bers stories are, in the main, true. The
charges against certain individuals, like Al-
ger Hiss, have thus far been discredited by
all responsible officials, after the most ex-
tensive inquiries. So far as is known, the
only solid evidence against Hiss, to take his
example, is that he once joined a rather
solemn group organized to study Marxist
doctrine, which is evidence of intellectual
inquisitiveness but not of treason. The fact
remains, however, that the espionage nets
described by Chambers and Miss Bentley
are thought to have existed, in broad outline,
as they have been represented.
There are other crucial facts to consider
also. The Bentley story was laboriously
sifted by a grand jury, the story of Cham-
bers was thoroughly checked by the FBI
as soon as he brought it to Adolphe A.
Berle Jr. Yet the FBI brought no charges
against the persons implicated by Cham-
bers, and the grand jury brought in no
indictment against the persons named by
Miss Bentley. Equally, "The Chicago
Tribune" went scot-free in the cases above
mentioned. The "Amerasia" case was dis-
missed despite the proven presence of un-
authorized top secret documents in the
magazine's editorial offices. And every in-
formed Washingtonian knows of other
instances of really serious leaks being
stopped by the simple dismissal of the
person who was selling or giving away
highly secret information.
The reasons for this state of affairs are
what Representative Thomas ought to be in-
vestigating, if he really cared much about
national security. Some reasons are obvious.
The existing espionage act, for example, is'
so loosely drawn that most prosecuting
authorities consider convictions almost im-
possible to obtain.
Other reasons can only be suggested. The
suspicion arises, for instance, that a good
many investigating officials must be singu-
larly ignorant and stupid, when the tem-
porary government appointment of a man
like Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. is held up for
weeks on security grounds. The young his-
torian of "The Age of Jackson" happens to
be one of the leading anti-Communists
among American liberals. Any one capable
of charging him with actual membership in
the Communist party, as he was recently
charged, must believe that all us citizens
except the friends of Representative Thomas
carry concealed party cards. And this must
make fruitful investigation a trifle diffi-
cult.
No subject is more delicate than this
subject of security, which involves the fun-
damental liberties of Americans. Under the
circumstances there is merit in an idea
long played with by Secretary of Defense
James V. Forrestal. Forrestal has in fact
proposed a Presidential Commission, com-
posed of such men as Justice Owen Roberts
and Judge Learned Hand, and charged with
examining the problem in all its many as-
pects, and recommending both the reform
of day by day security methods and the
needed revision of permanent legislation. By
such a device, we might even get results,
not headlines.
(Copyright, 1948, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.)
MATTER OF FACT:
Political lMerit
By SAMUEL GRAFTON
O FAR I HAVE NOT picked a candidate,
and this position, while thoroughly rep-
rehensible, does have certain advantages. For
one, it makes you realize that the parties
now engaged in the election contest are
perhaps better at criticizing each other
than at solving the American or world prob-
lem. Suddenly you feel that a complete dem-
onstration on the part of the Republicans
that Truman is inept by no means consti-
tutes a proof that the Republicans are ept,
so to say. If everyone who could find fault.
with Truman were, by that fact, rendered
fit to run the country, we would be em-
barrassed by a wealth of statesmanship.
Now there is nothing the hot partisan
believes more completely than that to score
a point off the other side is to score a point
for one's own side, that the other fellow's
faults are reflections, nay proofs, of one's
own virtues. It is a belief which holds that
if merit has disappeared from among the
Democrats, why, then, it must have turned
up among the Republicans, or among the
Progressives, or at least, for goodness' sakes,
somewhere. This belief might even be given
a name; it could be called The Theory of
the Indestructibility of Merit, from its re-
semblance to somewhat old-fashioned
theories about the indestructibility of matter,
and of energy.
A little later on, when and if I pick
a candidate, I shall probably believe in
this theory, too, ard I promise then to be
as unreasonable as anybody could expect.
But in the curiously pleasant meantime,
I do not accept this idea at all; I do not
believe that political merit is like a bas-
ketball, which, if it has slipped out of
the possession of one side, must then be
in the control of the other. I find it
-impossible to believe that Truman is lead-
ing us to peace and prosperity, but no
more can I believe that the Republicans
would steer us any better, or that, on
the other hand, a future of bliss and seren-
ity would await us if Wallace won the
election. Isn't that disgraceful?
Conversely, it even seems to me, in this
age of polarization of politics, that each
party has got hold of a shred of the truth,
but only a shred; that the Republicans are
quite justified in fearing that the whole
character of the world may suddenly change,
that Truman is quite right in his morose
feeling that Russia may do very unex-
pected things, and that the Wallace party
certainly has ,something when it says that
this type of sentiment might lead to war.
I know it is extremely cynical of me to
suggest that there is some validity in all
the parties. Your citizenof really high faith
and lofty mind would never believe any such
thing. But I can only say, in my depraved
way, that in this age of extreme positions,
the idea that one must necessarily be a hot
partisan during an election campaign is a
mere piece of nostalgic sentimentalism, like
any other. There is plenty of room for the
independent who may try, without total
commitment to any party, to pick out a
short course that could be of the most use
to the most people.
And now I know why it has seemed to
me that, in a curious way, each of the
parties fails to acquire political merit for
itself merely by proving that another is
without it. It is because each operates
along only a limited are of the circle of
truth, and the passionate negative descrip-
tions it makes of the others do not affirm-
atively extend its own dimensions. The
Republicans d not prove that you can
stop all change when they show that
Truman is not a genius. Truman does not
prove that we can have a practical mix-
ture of social progress plus preparation for
war when he ticks off the Republicans.
The Wallace party does not justify its un-
critical approach to Russia by its often
very sound criticism of the major par-
ties.
Political merit is no longer a fixed quan-
tity, which slips from the hands of one
party into those of another. It has become
scattered and diffuse. It is, like energy
itself in our day, not indestructible; it can
disappear and not turn up somewhere else.
Truman can lose it without anybody else
acquiring it,
(Copyright, 1948, New York Post Corporation)
WHAT S HAPPENED
'R 1>
WE CAN dET USED TO MOST ANYTHING
Al
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TOUR DREAMGIRL
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DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Letters to the Editor...
The Daily accords its readers the
privilege of submitting letters for
publication in this column. Subject
to space limitations, the general pl-
icy is to publish in the order in which
they are received 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 con-
densing letters.
,, *
CP and Progressives
To the Editor:
The Communists have joined
the Progressive Party. However,
they agree with the Progressive
Party Platform only in so far as
it reects the present administra-
tion policies. It is not surprising
that the Communists make some
valid criticisms of our adminis-
tration. The average American
would certainly give a. good ac-
count of himself when criticizing
Russian Communism.
On August 3rd at the Commu-
nist Convention, Eugene Dennis,
general secretary of the Commu-
nist Party in America, said: "We
(Communists) are the party of
socialism and repudiate all na-
tions of a 'progressive capital-
ism'." The Communists thus
joined the Progressives because
they felt it the least objectionable
of the major capitolistic parties.
I now turn to my attitude, as a
Progressive, toward the Commu-
nist support of the Progressive
Party. I've talked to perhaps half
a dozen Communists here and at
the Philadelphia Convention.
tion. Their attitude is as destruc-
tive to world friendship and peace
as is the average Americans-no
more. no less. The average Ameri-
can believes that Russia is in-
capable of justifiable action in
this will not constitute a commit-
ment at the present time.
All women are eligible to live in
a language house provided they
have the initial ability to speak
the language and provided they
wish to improve their fluency.
Summer Hopwood Contests-All
manuscripts to be entered in the
summer Hopwood contests must
be in the Hopwood Room, 3227
Angell Hall, by 4:30 p.m. Fri., Au-
gust 6.
Approved student sponsored So-
cial events
Alpha Sigma Phi, Congrega-
tional ,Disciples Guild, Robert
Owen Coop, Sigma Alpha Epsian.
Lectures
The seventh lecture in the spe-
cial lecture series sponsored by
the Department of Engineering
Mechanics will be presented by J.
E. Dorn, Professor of Physical
Metallurgy, University of Cali-
fornia. Professor Dorn will speak
on "Failures of the Isotropic
Theories of Plasticity," Fri., Au-
gust 6, 3 p.m., Room 445 W. Eng.
Bldg Sat., Aug. 7, 11 a.m., Room
445 W. Eng. Bldg. Professor Dorn
will discuss, "The Effect of Ther-
momechanical History on the
Plastic Properties of Metals."
Academic Notices
Doctoral Examination for Alva
Leroy Davis, English; Thesis: "A
World Atlas of the Great Lakes Re-
gion," Fri., Aug. 6, West Confer-
ence Room, Rackham Building, at
2 p.m. Chairman, Hans Karuth.
Doctoral Examination for Jane
Smiley Cronin, Mathematics;
Thesis: "Branch of Solutions of
Equations in Banach Stace," Fri.,
Aug. 6, East Conference Room,
Concerts
Student Recital: Keith Lusted,
organist, will present a program
in partial fulfillment of the re-
quirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Music at 8 p.m. Sun.,
August 8, in Hill Auditorium. His
recital will include compositions
by Louis, Francois, and Armand
Louis Couperin, Bach, Edward
Barnes, Haydn, Dupre, Vierne, and
Sonata I, written by Mr. Lusted.
He is a pupil of Charles Vogan,
and his program will be open to
the public.
Events Today
The fifth Fresh Air Camp Clinic
will be held on Fri., August 6, 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 individual and group
therapy are invited to attend. The
discussant will be Mrs. Selma
Fraiberg, Psychiatric Social Work-
er.
(Continued on Page 3)
foreign affairs and that America
is incapable of action that is not
justifiable. The Communists be-
lieve just the opposite. In other
words both Communist and aver-
age American substitute patriot-
ism for logic. This is a very dan-
gerous substitution. It is also
evident in high office, radio, and
the press in both countries, and is
responsible for the "cold war."
The Communists and the Pro-
gressives do not agree on the vir-
tues of Russia's actions but what's
more important, since our politi-
cal action can only affect our own
administration, they do agree
about many of thefaults of the
present administration of this
country and that the two old par-
ties, which are equally responsi-
ble for the present bipartisan ad-
ministration, must go.
--Larry Banghart
Spy Hearings
To the Editor:
With supreme contempt for the
security, the liberties and the in-
telligence of Americans, the U.S.
press during the past week has
force-fed its readers a sensational
drama of "spies," "conspirators"
and "traitors" without a hint of
interpreation or context. The
drama has proceded not from in-
vestigation a n d constitutional
trial, but as an original campaign
of character assassination. Stu-
dents want to know what meaning
this fantastic affair has.
Its meaning is crystal clear. Bi-
partisanism, having set the stage
for imperialist expansion and war,
through the Truman-Vandenberg
Doctrine of hate and domestic
militarization, has now taken the
next imperative step in this pro-
gram-a broadside attack on the
people's liberties, with the initial
blows falling on Communist lead-
ers and individuals labelled as
Communists. The methodisethe
"legal" frame-up. So precisely,.
step by step, does this follow the
classic pattern of Hitler, Mussolini
and Franco that its fascist content
cannot possibly be mistaken.
Frame-up? The purpose of the
Communist indictments and the
hackneyed Bentley-Budenz "ex-
poses" is to hang a charge of
treasonous conspiracy on Com-
munists. Yet the program and in-
ner workings of the Communist
Part; have been an open book
both to the public and to FBI
sleuths for 28 years. Moreover, the
nation's highest court has already
rejected -this accusation.
Soon Americans will begin be-
ing readied for the next step in
the Nazi pattern, and the Uni-
versity's students would do well to
take a long, hard look at the cycle
of events which -followed the
Reichstag fire trials. When they
do, they will find that the next
victims of reaction are labor un-
ions and students.
-Ernest Ellis
Student Director
Michigan Communist Party
.,
f
r-
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 ( 1:09
a.m. Saturdays).
* * *
Notices
FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1948
VOL. LVIII, No. 201
Attention August Graduates:
College of Literature, Science, and
the Arts, School of Education,
School of Music, School of Public
Health:
Students are advised not to re-
quest grades of I or X in August.
When such grades are absolutely
imperative, the work must be
made up in time to allow your
instrnctor to report the make-up
grade not later than 11 a.m., Au-
gust 23. Grades received after that
time may defer the student's grad-
uation until a later date.
Recommendations for Depart-
mental Honors: Teaching depart-
ments wishing to recommend ten-
tative August graduates from the
College of Literature, Science, and
the Arts, and the School of Edu-
cation for departmental honors
should recommend such students
in a letter, sent to the Registrar's
Office, Room 4, University Hall by
11 a.m., August 23.
Master's Degree Candidates in
the Graduate School who expect
their degrees at the conclusion of
the Summer Session must have
completed the GraduateRecord
Examination or the Graduate Ap-
titude examination or the degree
will not be awarded. Students who
have not taken either of these ex-
aminations should report immedi-
ately to the Recorder, 1014 Rack-
ham Building, for instructions.
Faculty, College of Engineering:
There will be a meeting of the
Faculty of this College on Tues-
day, August 10, at 4:15 p.m. in
Room 348, West Engineering
Building.
All Public Law 16 veterans who
have not notified their Training
Officers of their educational in-
tentions following the eight weeks
summer session must do so piror
to August 14, 1948. Veterans who
fail to comply with this announce-
ment risk the possibility of hav-
ing their training discontinued by
the Veterans Administration.
All students receiving their
Master's Degree at the close of
the Summer Session are invited
to a breakfast, Sun., August 8, 9
a.m., Michigan League Ballroom.
Secure your tickets at 1213 Angell
Hall before 4:30 Fri., August 6. If
you wish to bring a guest you may
secure a guest ticket for one dol-
lar and. ten cents each.
Conference on School Vocal
Music, Ballroom, Michigan League,
8:45 to 9:30 a.m. Address, Con-
cerning Ethics and Ideals for
Music Eduators, Erik Leidzen,
New York City; 9:45 to 11 a.m., A
Demonstration of Choral Re-
hearsal Techniques by Peter Wil-
housky, New York City, famous
choral director for the Toscanini
Broadcasts; 11:15 a.m. to 12, Pro-
gram of Choral Music by the Sum-
mer Session Choir, Helen Hos-
mer, Conductor; 1 to 2 p.m. Dem-
onstration in Teaching Music
Reading, by Howard Hinga, As-
sistant Supervisor of Music,
Rochester, New York; 2 to 2:45,
Necessary Skills in School Oper-
etta Production, by Henry Austin,
N.B.;C. and Mutual Broadcasts,
New York; 2:45 to 3:30, A Second
Choral Demonstration by Peter
Wilhousky, New York; 3:30 to
4:30, Quiz Session led by Maynard
Klein, Roxy Cowin and E. J.
Schultz.
Women students on campus this
summer who are interested in liv-
ing in a French or Spanish House
during the summer session of 1949
may leave their names at the Of-
fice of the Dean of Women now.
Plans for the organization of
foreign language houses will de-
pend in part upon the number of
requests for this type of residence.
Women who wish to list their
names at the present time will be
assured of receiving further in-
formation before next summer but
;. .
Fi f y-Eighth Year
*I
+
MUsIC
+
o
A t Lydia Mendelssohn...
LA SERVA PADRONA, with Masako Ono
and Robert Sill.
DOWN IN THE VALLEY, with Howard
Kellogg and Norma Heyde.
YESTERDAY EVENING two fine produc-
tions of a double bill of opera opened
a four day run at Lydia Mendelssohn The-
atre. A capacity house was present, got its
money's worth, and said so by way of thun-
derous applause at each work's conclusion.
In the twe operas on the evening's pro-
gram, one notes a very curious parallel. Both
works were, and are, in a sense, reactions
against contemporary or near contemporary
practices. Pergolesi's buffa and the inter-
mezzi from which it arose, were reactions
against the stilted antiquarian plots of the
18th century "zopf" opera. Musical values
were again injected into what had become
- --l - - A -.------...-- - :nn A-
and humor were enjoyable and fresh. Those
who felt that "Dido and Aeneas" was a
museum piece, certainly could not voice a
similar objection to this work. Its sparkling
overture set the note for what was a great
performance. Masako Ono, as Serbina the
maid, did a fine job in her singing, and was
extraordinarily successful in her characteri-
zation of the petite scheming maid. Espe-
cially effective was her rendition of the
lyric aria "May the Blessings of Heaven
Be Granted to You." Robert Sill as Doctor
Pandolfo, displayed a large well-trained
voice. His Pandolfo made a splendid foil for
Serbina. James Drummon was effective in
the comic mute role that completed the cast,
After the intermission, the program con-
cluded with an ingenious production of Kurt
Weill's "Down in the Valley." Despite its
ingenuity and native interest, this work
seemed somewhat less successful than Per-
golesi's work of 1733. In this production,
Norma Heyde, Howard Kellogg, and Dale
Current Movies
I
At the State . .
TO THE VICTORS, ,with Viveca Lindfors
and Dennis Morgan.
W HAT DENNIS MORGAN is doing in this
otherwise well cast picture is a matter
for conjecture. The story doesn't call for
an Irish tenor. It calls for an actor who
can portray an ex-GI operating in the post-
war Parisian black market, an actor who
can stand beside a rusty landing craft on
Omaha Beach and describe the hell that
was D-Day-- -an actor, in short, who is no
only proficient brat flexible. Morgan is
neither.
Viveca Lindfors, on the other hand. is
most, effective as the Nazi collaborator who
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Stafi
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
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