PAGE FOUR
THE MICHTCAN DATILY
...
r. .
(Editor's Note is written by Co-Managing Edi-
tor Craig Wilson.)
Students may now make themselves heard
in the unique grass-roots campaign to get
Congressional action on reorganization of
the executive branch of the Federal Gov-
ernment.
All you have to do, is fill out the blanks on
Page One of today's Daily and mail them
to the Managing Editors of The Daily. Or
just drop them off at the Student Publica-
tions Building. They will be forwarded to
the appropriate offices in Washington.
er Commission Report is necessary is like
saying air is necessary for a strangling man.
Although there have been heated debates
on many of the commission's decisions, a
cutting or at least loosening and simplifying
of Governmental red tape is thoroughly in
order.
They say there is little chance for Con-
gressional action. There isn't time-they
say.
However, if enough voters--you and 1-
bluntly tell our representatives that we
want that $4 billion for education, roads,
and health, Congress will find time to do
something about it.
In the words of former-President Herbert
Hoover, "ljeither the President nor the Con-
gress can exercise effective supervision and
direction over such a chaos of establish-
ments, nor can overlapping, duplication, and
contradictory policies be avoided . ..
"(It) has been common knowledge for
twenty years that the President cannot ade-
quately handle his responsibilities; that he
is overworked; that it is humanly impossi-
ble, under the system which we have, for
him fully to carry out his constitutional
duty as Chief Executive because he is over-
whelmed with minor details and needless
contacts arising directly from the bad or-
ganization and equipment of the Govern-
ment."
To say that legislation based on the Hoov-
Fill the blanks with a soft pencil; the
paper doesn't take ink very well.
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members- of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: CRAIG WILSON
Letter to McMahon
"Where Does It All Get To?"
Letters to the Editor
THE DAILY publishes today a letter from
physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to Sen-
ator Brien H. McMahon (Democrat from
Connecticut).
* * *
DEAR SENATOR McMAHON:
From the press, and directly from the
Atomic Energy Commission, I have learned
of the recent discussions about the Commis-
sion's fellowship program, which raises the
question of whether candidates for fellow-
ships supported by funds from the Com-
mission should or should not be subject to
investigation and clearance procedures . .
The question at issue clearly does not pre-
sent some of the grave and often tragic as-
pects that the maintenance of security on
secret, technical work has brought so prom-
inently to the forefront. For this reason,
I have come to believe that we can and
should deal with it unequivocally.
* * *
THE PRESENT situation, as I understand
it, is this: The Atomic Energy Commis-
sion has advanced funds to the National Re-
search Council to use these fdr the granting
of fellowships. In making this request, the
Commission has asked the Council to pursue
its traditional methods of selecting fellows.
In this selection, considerations of scientific
and intellectual competence play a decisive
part. Considerations of character are not
excluded; but, in the past, no effort has
been made by the National Research Council
to determine the political views, sympathies,
or associations of candidates. My under-
standing is that the Commission has accept-
ed this procedure and has endorsed it. With
the basic wisdom of this decision, I fully
agree.
IN CONSIDERING the issue, we need first
to ask ourselves what effects we can an-
ticipate if from time to time young men
and women who are Communists, or who
have Communistic sympathies or associa-
tions, are in fact granted fellowships. The
fellowships are of course in fields where no
access to restricted data will be needed or
granted; and there can be no question of any
jeopardy to security. What is more, there
is no direct commitment, and no implica-
tion, that recipients of fellowships will later
be engaged in secret work. The Commission
does not require this, nor do the research
fellows. As a matter of fact, only a small
fraction of the scientists of the country can
or should be engaged in such secret work.
The Scientific Panel of the Secretary of
War's Interim Committee at one time esti-
in
.'
4
CRENT=1'
MC)V I fs
mated that even in the fields of the greatest
relevance, not more than 15 per cent of our
scientists would be associated with the
atomic energy programs; and of these, of
course, many will be concerned with their
non-classified aspects. The actual practices
of the Commission bear out these predic-
tions. Thus one must ask the question of
whether it is a proper charge upon the Fed-
eral Government, and upon the Atomic En-
ergy Commission in particular, to support
the training and research of men who wil
not be directly involved in the work of the
Commission.
It is the Commission's opinion, and this
is an opinion fully shared by the General
Advisory Committee, that the answer to
this question is in the affirmative. For
basic work in science, in aspects which are
not and may not be under the direct con-
trol of any one Federal agency, is never-
theless a major source of our scientific
progress, of invention, discovery, and tech-
nical leadership.
There are many examples of discoveries
basic to the present work of the Atomic
Energy Commission which were in fact made
by Communists or Communist sympathizers.
Of these many examples, we may cite a
famous one: The major-one might almost
say the only-present peaceful application
of atomic energy rests on the preparation
and use of artificial radioactive materials,
which were discovered by Joliot, who is a
Communist, and by his wife, who is a Com-
munist sympathizer.
It would be folly to suppose that the
United States would be the stronger, or our
science and industry the more vigorous, if
this discovery had not been made. It would
be contrary to all experience to suppose that
only those who throughout their lives have
held conformist political views would make
the great discoveries in the future. The peo-
ple and the government of the United States
have a stake in scientific discovery and
invention; and it is of this stake, rather
than as an act of benevolence toward ,the
recipients of the grants-in-aid, that one
must look for justification for having a fel-
lowship program at all.
* * *
THE ARGUMENT given above would seem
to me a cogent ground for maintaining
the Commission's policy, even if the deter-
mination of loyalty and reliability could be
made by the most straightforward and satis-
factory methods. As you well know, the ac-
tual procedures which have been employed,.
and which perhaps must be employed, in
order to establish the loyalty of an appli-
cant, are far from simple and far from
satisfactory.
They involve secret investigative pro-
grams which make difficult the evaluation
and criticism of evidence; they take into
consideration questions of opinion, sym-
pathy and association in a way which is
profoundly repugnant to the American
tradition of freedom; they determine at
best whether at a given time an individual
does have sympathy with the Communist
program and association with Commu-
nists, ,and throw little light on the more
relevant question of whether the man will
in later life be a loyal American.
It would be foolish to suppose that a man.
against whom no derogatory information
can be found at the age of 20 was by virtue
of this guaranteed loyal at the age of 30.
It would be foolish to suppose that a young
man sympathetic to and associated with
Communists in his student days would by
that fact alone become disloyal, and a p-
tential traitor. It is basic to science and
to democracy alike that men can learn by
error.
* 'I *
MY COLLEAGUES and I attach a special
importance to restricting to the utmost
the domain in which special secret investi-
gations must be conducted. For they inevi-
tably bring with them a morbid preoccupa-
tion with conformity, and a widespread fear
of ruin, that is a more pervasive threat pre-
cisely because it arises from secret sources.
Thus, even if it were determined, and I do
not believe that it should be, that on the
whole the granting of fellowships, or, miore
generally, Federal support, to Communist
sympathizers, were unwise, one would have
to balance against this argument the .high
cost in freedom that is entailed by the in-
vestigative mechanisms necessary to discover
and to characterize such Communist sym-
pathizers. This is what we all have in mind
in asking that these intrinsically repugnant
security measures be confined to situations
where real issues of security do in fact exist
and where, because of this, the measures,
though repugnant, may at least be intellig-
ible.
You and I have had occasion to discuss
in the past how central a place the control
of atomic energy occupies in the preserva-
tion of the basic freedoms of inquiry, free-
doms essential at once for scientific progress
and for the preservation of our democratic
institutions. It is because I believe that the
issue which has been raised here bears di-
rectly on the maintenance of freedom of
inquiry that I hold it so important that it
be wisely resolved.
With every warm good wish,
-Robert Oppenheimer.
.
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...
At the Michigan.. .
'THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY, Fred
Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant.
T HE DANCING FEET of the Fred Astaire
and Ginger Rogers team skip happily
through this much - better - than-average
technicolor musical.
They also skip over the usual excuse for a
plot, which normally includes a pan-orama
of several centuries and generations of show
biz. The Barkleys have no kids, lonely par-
ents-just an occasional spat, with Oscar
Levant as umpire.
The result is high-calibre good entertain-
ment and nothing more.
Levant pays his way with a few "Levant-
isms" along with lots of Khatchaturian and
Tchaikowsky on the piano.
Novel attraction is Astraie's Shoe Shop
Act.
Slippers and clod-hoppers come alive
and dance without benefit of human help.
Astraie mows them down with a broom
(machine gun) as the sequence drifts
further into fantasy.
The gag is about the best trick photog-
raphy in years and another chunk of dirt
on the grave of vaudeville.
Sets for all the imaginary Broadway
smash hits Astraire-Rogers dance through
are well-worked-out props that could ac-
tually be put on a stage.
*.* *
In all, this is a good picture because i7
Is simple, funny, entertaining, and not
hammed up.
You also get a cat-mouse cartoon to end
all cat-mouse cartoons-we hope.
-Craig Wilson.
* * *
At the State ...
"RED CANYON" with Howard (radio's
Sam Spade) Duff and Ann Blyth, who
tries.
-DURING THE current heat wave, the only
way to classify a picture is by dividing
the customary four stars between the cine-
matic offering and the cooling system of
the theatre. In this case, the air conditioning
rates the four stars, leaving the horse opera
with just what it deserves.
I suppose there's a plot to justify the
antics of Howard Duff, George Brent and
f
Edgar Buchanan, nebulous as it may seem.
If I am revealing the plot, it could be
called, from this description, a cross be-
tween that of a typical iestern and a
horse-racing presentation.
Duff sets out to capture the extraordinary
wild stallion, Black Velvet, while George
Brent and daughter Ann Blyth train their.
own thoroughbred for the big race of the,
year. Buchanan attempts to aid Duff, proves
that he can't bring down a mountain lion
at ten paces with his trusty six-shooter and
then takes credit for all that Duff accom-
plishes.
At any rate, Duff, with the aid of Ann,
breaks the stallion. (It seems that Black
Velvet has fallen for the dungaree-clad
lassie because of an Androcles and the
lion relationship.)
Meanwhile, Duff, who has been using a
pseudonym because he comes from a family
of horse-thieves hated by Brent, is revealed
by his father and brothers. The latter take
advantage of the confusion and gun-play to
rustle all the prize horse flesh at the race.
Duff proves that he is really a nice guy, in
spite of his name, when he kills his brothers
while preventing the pony theft, and all
ends happily.
--Sheldon Browne.
From Areopagitica
FOR IF WE BE SURE we are in the
right, and do not hold the truth guiltily
(which becomes not), if we ourselves con-
demn not our own weak and frivolous
teaching, and the people for an untaught
and irreligious gadding rout, what can be
more fair, than when a man judicious,
learned, and of a conscience, for aught we
know, as good as theirs that taught us what
we know, shall not privily from house to
house-which is more dangerous-but openly
by writing publish to the world what his
opinion is, what his reasons, and wherefore
that which is now taught can not be sound,
* * * *
CANNOT PRAISE a fugitive and clois-
tered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed,
that never sallies out and sees her adver-
sary, but slinks out the race where that
immortal garland is to be run for, not with-
out dust and heat.
-John Milton.
MATTER OF FACT:
The Oppenheimer Case
By JOSEPH ALSOP
WASHINGTON-It is getting to be very unprogressive to believe
that the Bill of Rights means what it says. All the same, there are
still some old-fashioned Americans who obstinately cling to this unen-
lightened belief. And these few reactionaries may be interested-they
may even be aroused - by the case of Dr. Oppenheimer.
Frank E. Oppenheimer and his wife, Jaquenette, are the in-
cidental casualties of the most recent of the House Un-American
Activities Committee's clamorous headline hunts. Last week the
committee disclosed that the Oppenheimers had briefly belonged
to the Communist Party, when they were both young and foolish,
in the time before the war.
It did not matter that both Oppenheimers had learned better, and
had left the party eight years ago. It did not matter that Oppenheimer
was emphatically not a party member when he was one of the
physicists working in the Manhattan District project. It did not matter
that Oppenheimer's temporary aberration had no slightest connection
with his brother, the great physicist, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer. What
mattered was justone thing. Frank Oppenheimer's position caused
the committee's revelation to make the most wonderfully satisfying
headlines.
NO HEADLINES WERE MADE, of course, by what followed. Yet
it deserves to be recorded also that Oppenheimer has now lost
his post as a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota; that
his chances of continuing a fruitful teaching career have been sharply
reduced; and that all his once-bright prospects are now darkly over-
cast. In short, this individual, this citizen, has been sacrificed to the
Congressional headline hunger as cheerfully as though he were a
rabbit.
To be sure, the new casualty is just the sort of fellow that Con-
gressmen like least. This dark, youngish man, withhis nervous;in-
tense manner, obviously suffers from idealism almost in the way
that so many of the Congressmen's favorite lobbyists suffer from gas
C-a the stomach. He is an intellectual, a brilliant scientist, a bit of a
Bohemian, as his excessively ostentatious sideburns ar plainly in-
tended to suggest. And just to complete this lamentable picture of
high-brow nonconformism, his generous impulses are left utterly un-
controlled by his total political naivete.
* * * *
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN comic, if it had not been tragic, to hear the
two Oppenheimers talking about their past and present politics,
after their experience before the House committee. It was not until
the mid-thirties, when Oppenheimer was already a promising physicist
with good work at Johns Hopkins and the great Cavendish Labora-
tory behind him, that he began to notice the woes of the world.
In the intervals of working for his doctorate at Caltech (his thesis
was called "Beta Rays of Nitrogen Thirteen,") he did the usual
Marxist's reading course of the period.
The beauties of the simple Marxist system charmed him.
Being all-outers by nature, he and his wife, whom he had just
married, applied for Communist Party memberships. While
members, they did all the conventional things, from organizing
rallies for the Spanish Loyalists to participating solemnly in party
discussion groups. Finally, they drifted out of the party because
they did not like its anti-democratic atmosphere.
From the first, they were fringe members, not subjected to serious
party discipline. Even today they cannot quite understand why the
Communists so disappointed them. They are of those who believe that
the good will triumph, that parties will be democratic, and that men
will grow virtuous, because one wants them to. The same self-in-
dulgent belief in salvation by faith has now sent them into the
Wallace movement.
* * * *
ONE MORE DETAIL finishes the portrait of two people who are
only guilty of misdirected, perhaps rather self-righteous good
intentions. A couple of years ago, when Oppenheimer was confronted,
point-blank and by surprise, with his former Party membership, he
was foolish enough to deny it. The denial of course intensified the
effects of the subsequent revelation. And now he has been punished
as though for a great crime against the state, which he has not
committed. One realized how severely he had been punished, from
his weary parting explanation: ,
"I guess I'll go back to Minnesota and make my grades out.
I have to give a doctors' examination tomorrow. After that, I
don't know, except that I like teaching, and it will be pretty
hard to find a post."
Such is the case of Dr. Oppenheimer, who is certainly as silly
about politics as he is clever about physics. His life has been need-
lessly, pointlessly broken in the course of a headline battle, much as
peasants used to be accidentally winged during the great eastern
European landowners' vast mass slaughters of wild game.
But even for a Prince Esterhazy, peasant-shooting was not con-
sidered a desirable sideline of pheasant-shooting. It is time to apply
a considerably stricter standard to Congressmen.
(Copyright. 1949, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.)
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 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 suchrletters which
for any other reason are not in good
taste Will not be published. The
editors reservetthe privilege of con-
densing letters.
K**03 * **
Kutcher Case..
To the Editor:
ON MAY 21, The Daily published
a letter I wrote to Pres. Tru-
man regarding the presidential or-
der to fire all members of sub-
versive organizations, in particular
in regard to the case of' James
Kutcher, a member of the Social-
ist Workers Party. This is the reply
I received:
Dear Mr. Schatzki:
Your letter of May 13, 1949. ad-
dressed to the President of the
United States, has been referred
to the United States Civil Service
Commission for consideration and
acknowledgment.
The President. by Executive Or-
der 9835, directed the Department
of Justice to furnish the Loyalty
Review Board of the Civil Service
Commission "the name of each
foreign or domestic organization,
association, movement, group or
combination of persons, designated
by the Attorney General as to-
talitarian, fascist, communist, or
subversive, or as having adopted a
policy of advocating or approving
the commission of acts of force
or violence to deny other persons
their rights under the Constitution
of the United States, or as seek-
ing to alter the form of govern-
ment o the United States by un-
constitutional means."
The Attorney General has char-
acterized certain organizations as
falling within the purview of this
directive, one of which is the So-
cialist Workers Party. This organ-
ization has further been charac-
terized as one falling within the
purview .of Section 9A of the
Hatch, Act, that is, one which "ad-
vocates° the overthrow of our con-
stitutional form of government in
the United , States."
Since.. Kutcher at the time
of adjudication admitted present
membership in the Socialist Work-
ers Party, under Executive Order
9835 and Section 9A of the Hatch
Act he is not eligible for employ-
ment by the Government of the
United States.
With -respect to the right of the
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 3)
with Arthur Hackett, will present
a program at 8:00 p.m., Wednes-
day, June 22, in the Rackham As-
sembly Hall, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Master
of Music degree. Her program will
include compositions by Santoli-'
quido, Mahler, R. Strauss, Finney,
and Chausson, and will be open to
the general public.
Graduate Outing Club Square
Dancing Class, Wednesday, June
22, 8:00 p.m. at the Women's Ath-
letic Building. Everyone is wel-
come. Admission 40c.
*University Hostel Club: Our
first meeting for the summer will
be held tonight at 7:15 in Lane
Hall. There will be movies and
discussion of summer plans.
Everyone interested in bicycling,
hiking, canoeing, or square danc-
ing is welcome.
AS A RECENT alumnus of Mich-
igan who has been in France
for only a month I will not essay
to expertly criticize France's inter-
nal affairs, but as an American
citizen I would like to raise a ques-
tion which is of prime importance
to three peoples: Americans,
French, and Indo-Chinese..
According to the New York Her-
ald-Tribune, Paris Edition, of
Monday, May 16, the United
States' State Department has is-
sued an official statement that the
defenses of Western Europe are so
weak as to "invite military aggres-
sion." The statement was quoted
as having concluded that the
United States must assist in re-
building these defenses with an
arms aid program of $1,130,000,-
000 in the first year. This is over
and above all Marshall Plan ex-
penditures.
In the same paper for May 21
it is reported that the French bud-
get is again out of balance and Mr.
Petsche, the Finance Minister, has
presented a new request to the
National Assembly. Military costs,
involving a greater 4effort in the
Indo-Chinese war, are a major
item. The ceiling for military
spending has been fixed at 350,-
000,000,000 francs ($1,060,000,000).
Additional military expenditures
centering about a renewed Indo-
Chinese offensive make another
authorization of 52,300,000,000
francs necessary.
The present French govern-
ment's solution of a financial defi-
cit is like that of Mr. Truman's.
Mr. Petsche asks for a six-and-
one-half per cent reduction in so-
cial service legislation plus a rise
in rail fares on the French state
railroads.
It is very .apparent here to
everyone that between the Mar-
shall Plan and outright military
aid the United States has under-
written the "dirty war" against
the people of Indo-China. Prob-
ably the most attractive feature
of the Atlantic Pact to the Euro-
pean colonial powers is that the
United States will indirectly and
directly foot the bill for their co-
lonial wars.
The question I wish to raise is
the following: When will the peo-
ple of the United States refuse to
support the rotten colonialism of
countries like. Great Britain, Bel-
gium, France and The Nether-
lands? The war in Indo-China
should cease and the United
States hasethe influence and
money necessary to stop it. Aid
to France should cease until hos-
tilities are ended. Instead of sup-
porting this war our government
should work to have Indo-China
placed under Colonial Trusteeship
of the United Nations.
--MaxDean,
Paris, France.
Air14AMwukt
A~r4*t 43I
To the Editor:
President to direct the Attorney
General to make such investiga-
tion and characterization, there
are now pending before the Fed-
eral Courts some six or seven suits
testing the constitutionality of the
President's right to so direct the
Attorney General and covering
other phases of Executive Order
9835. Since these matters are now
before the Courts, it is deemed ad-
visable to leave the question of
constitutionality to the Courts for
determination.
Sincerely yours,
Harry B. Mitchell
--Thomas F. Schatzki.
* * *
Rotten Colonialism'..
Deutsches
7:30-10 p.m.
1101 Church
Haus Open House--
Wednesday, June 22,
St. Everyone invited.
Coming Events
Summer Theatre as presented
by the Department of Speech will
include five plays during the
summer session. Season tickets are
now on sale at the box office,
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Mich-
igan League Bldg. Beginning June.
29 the complete schedule is as
follows:' "On Borrowed Time" by
Paul Osborn, June 29-July 2; "Life
With Father" by Lindsay and
Crause, July 6-9; "The Glass Men-
agerie" by Tennessee Williams,
July 13-16; "The White Steed" by
Paul Vincent Carroll, July 20-23;
"LaBohem'e" by Giacomo Puccini,
August 3-6 and 8. A special offer-
ing not included in the season
ticket, will be the Greek tragedy,
"The Trojan Women" by Euripides
to be performed on the steps of
the Clements Library July 28 and
29.
Fifty-Ninth Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
B. S. Brown ...... Co-Managing Editor
Craig wilson......Co-Managing Editor
Merle Levin.......... .Sports Editor
Marilyn Jones.......Women's Editor
Business Staff
Robert C. James ....Business Manager
Dee Nelson.....Advertising Manager
Ethel Ann Morrison ...Circulation Mgr.
Telephone 23-24-1
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 to this newspaper.
All rights of republication of all other
matters herein are also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann
Arbor,Michigan, as second-class mail
matter.
BARNABY
"- "-
v
Back on October 8, 1871- in Chicago
it was-we'd had a wearying day of it
,,.
f ' !
1 1
We could have an eggnog.
ft
i
! TRIED to tell your
fairy godfather but-
r
SacC.orH,,
Stop that tickling! W t t
Watch that lantern,,
a'Malley-yot'0-
How would you like
Someone to tickle
YOU? Eh?
I'