PAGE FOUR

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1951.

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DORIS FLEESON:
Adm. Sherman
WASHINGTON-Adm. Forrest Sherman,
Chief of Naval Operations, died in the
successful performance of a patriotic errand,
the Spanish alliance, in which he firmly
believed and to which he made an important
and informed contribution.
In this imperfect world, his is therefore a
relatively kind fate, a fact which should
help to beguile his family and friends from
their grief. They may take pride also in
the speed with which, taking over at a criti-
cal point in the Navy's affairs, he soared to
the top in public and Congressional esteem..
In long-range defense planning, no voice
was more respected.
Both for the country and the Navy, Ad-
miral Sherman represents a serious loss
that cannot readily be overcome.
The Navy is currently in the midst of a
shape-up of its civilian command. For-
tunately the new secretary, Dan A. Kimball,
Is well acquainted with the Washington
Jungle. He saw it from the business side in
wartime as vice-president of the General
Tire and Rubber Co.; he has been Assistant
Navy Secretary for Air and, for the past two
years, Navy Undersecretary. Thus he knows
not only his own personnel but all the
ratholes and back alleys of his own shop
and the bureaucracy generally.
* * * *
HIS UNDERSECRETARY, Francis White-
hair, is new, however, and probably
changes in the lower echelons are on their
way. It is highly unfortunate that altera-
tions in the top career commands must now
intrude.
What is even more challenging is that,
with a Korean truce imminent, the old
battle to make the Air Force the overriding
arm of the services has been renewed. Andj
there are ominous signs that the "I can get
it for you cheaper" psychology of a stra-
tegic air defense which does not require a
draft, Universal Military Service, a standing
Army and a costly fleet, is again taking hold
In Congress.
Sen. Lodge, Massachusetts Republican,
is a sincere advocate of thorough pre-
paredness. But when he argued for a 150-
group Air Force last week before the
Senate Appropriations Committee, Minor-
ity Leader Wherry instantly interjected:
"I agree but the money must come out of
the Army and Navy." Sen. Taft, an even
more important pivot of the ruling coali-
tion in Congress, has always displayed a
yen for reliance upW air power.
The instant anguished reactions of the
other services were sharpened over the week
end when their old antagonist, Chairman
W. Stuart Symington of the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation, chose to devote a ma-
jor speech not to RFC affairs but to Russia's
air might. The former Air Force secretary
is from Missouri, a member of President
Truman's personal circle; close to the form-
er Truman counsel, Clark Gifford, who re-
cently gave a select birthday party for him
which was attended by Mr. Truman, and to
Sen. Lyndon Johnson, Democratic Whip and
chairman of the Preparedness Subcommit-
tee.
Both Army and Navy concede that the
present Air Force secretary, Tom Finlet-
ter, has behaved consistently like a mem-
ber of the team but they fear flank at-
tacks. They also call attention to the re-
cent resignation of Ma. Gen. Elwood R.
Quesada. General Quesada is the great ex-
pert on tactical air power, which is sup-
port of ground troops. The grapevine as-
serts he feels it is neglected in current Air
Force planning.
It thus appears that Navy and Army must
prepare new defenses against revival of the
understandable national craving for a cheap
war. Here Admiral Sherman with his brains
and prestige will be sorely missed.
Navy circles put three admirals in the race
for the prized C.N.O. job: Radford, Fech-
teler and Carney. Admiral Radford, how-
ever, may be in the President's black book

for his leading part in the October, 1949,
r e v o l u t i o n against unification which
brought Admiral Sherman into office as a
conciliator.
(Copyright, 1951, by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
Editorials published in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writers only.
NIGHT EDITOR: RON WATTS

ON THE
Washington Merry-Go-Round
WITH DREW PEARSON

WASHINGTON - Most Captial observers
agree that not in years has there been
such a tired, listless, indifferent, do-nothing
Congress as the 82nd. The famed 80th Con-
gress, against which President Truman cam-
paigned to victory in 1948, was a stem-winder
by comparison.
Not only has the 82nd Congress failed to
pass a single appropriation by te end of the
fiscal year, on June 30, but a good many
members don't seem to care. They don't even
seem to care that they are being called the
"horse-meat" Congress.
Never in my recollection have both mor-
ale and morals been so low, leadership so
lacking.
Never in my recollection has there been
less idealism, less patriotism, such poor Par-
ty discipline; never such shameless absentee-
ism. Some Congressmen are present in Wash-
ington only one day a week.
There are three main, overriding reasons
for this political paralysis:
1. This is the tail-end of a tired, uninspired
Administration-probably the end of a long
period of Democratic rule. Nobody, except
a few incurable optimists, really expects this
Administration to be re-elected, and when
that frame of mind exists in Congress there
can be no party discipline, no leadrsnip.
And without leadership every Congressman
adopts the law of the jungle-every man for
himself. Instead of voting what's good for
the country, he votes what's good for him-
self or the lobbyists who helped fill his cam-
paign chest. He knows that, in many legis-
lative problems, the nation's interest has to
be put above his district's interest.
A flood-control reservoir may dislocate
a hundred or so people in his district, but
their dislocation may save the lives, and
property of millions below the reservoir
area. However, an "I'll get mine, you get
yours" spirit has become rampant in this
Congress. The law of the lobbyist and the
local interest reigns supreme.
2. There has been no firm hand on the
reins. This is true both of the White House
and of the Democratic leaders on Capitcl
Hill.
The President has alternately begged and
scolded. He has seldom inspired.
Congress is like a team of horses. It knows
from the feel of the reins whether the driver
is competent, and, like a team of horses, you
can't alternately lash Congressmen into a
lather, then coax them up a hill.
When the President calls the Alger Hiss
prosecution a "Red Herring" one day, then
rewards the Hiss prosecutor with a judge-
ship; when he calls the Fulbright RFC re-
forms "asinine," then adopts the Fulbright
RFC reforms himself; when he vetoes the
Kerr Natural Gas Bill, then appoints a pow-
er commission chairman who adopts the Kerr
Bill-Congress knows that an unsteady hand
is holding the reins.
Harry Truman will go down in history
as a courageous President and on his ma-
jor policies a correct President. But he will
also be known as an unstable, unpopular
President, and in leading Congress, popu-
larity and stability is what counts.
The President's leaders on Capitol Bill are
no better-partly because they don't parti-
cularly believe in the President's policies, al-
so they get discouraged working for him.
Speaker Sam Rayburn, who once held a
steady hand over the House of Representa-
tives, now doesn't care much whether school
keeps or not. Sam is older, more tired, more
discouraged than in the days when he con-
trolled the unruly House of Representatives
for FDR. Those were the days when he pi-
oneered the securities and exchange laws
through Congress; then the holding corpor-
ation act-both great landmarks to his egis-
lative career. But it's doubtful today if Sam
would have the courage and stamina to re-
peat that legislative performance.
In the Senate, the President's leader is a
genial, hard-working scared Senator from
Arizona, Ernest McFarland, who is so wor-
ried that he will not be re-elected that
he spends more time looking over his
shoulder at his home state than at the na-
tional problems pitched at him in the Sen-
ate.
McFarland's assistant, Lyndon Johnson,

squeaked into the Senate from Texas by the
narrow margin of 87 votes and, having done

so, has adopted a policy of antagonizing no
one-a policy which does not help to pass
Mr. Truman's measures and which has won
for Lyndon the nickname "Lying Down"
Johnson.
Therefore, the Senate today is treated to
the spectacle of watching the President's two
leaders unhappily voting and working against
many of the policies they are supposed to
push.
3. The lurking fear of Civil Rights really
dominates the Senate. This is something
never talked publicly but which is the most
basic factor behind the Republican-Dixiecrat
coalition.
Two years ago, when southern leaders
found that Mr. Truman was really serious
about pushing his Civil-Rights program, they
formed a coalition with Northern Republi-
cans-the followers of Abraham Lincoln-to
sabotage civil rights in return for southern
help in blocking part of Truman's economic
program.
That is why just enough Northern Re-
publicans always vote with the South to
block cloture and to continue any filibus-
ter against Civil Rights. That is also why
you will usually find just enough South-
ern Democrats voting with the Republi-
cans and against the Democratic platform
to kill some of the Truman economic and
labor measures which the Republicans op-
pose.
The bipartisan Foreign Policy has been
pretty much on the rocks ever since the death
of Michigan's Senator Vandenberg. But to-
day a much firmer, though never discussed,
bipartisan domestic policy has taken its
place.
Engineered primarily by Russell of Georg ia
and Taft of Ohio, it operates so smoothly it
is almost automatic. And it has become a ba-
sic factor in the stultification of a Congress
which will probably go down as one of the.
most do-nothing in history.
* * *
-PROPAGANDA HURTS-
REPORTS FROM behind the Iron Curtain
indicate that one reason for the seizure
of AP Correspondent William Oatis by
Czechoslovakia was that American propa-
ganda through the Voice of America and
Radio Free Europe is hurting.
When the Commies want to get something
out of the U.S.A., their crudest but most
successful technique is to seize an American
citizen, and hold him as a hostage until we
come across with the ransom money.
The reported ransom money in Czecho-
slovakia is to curtail the Voice of America
and Radio Free Europe, both really hurting
the Communist government. In fact, the
Voice of America has had the Czech gov-
ernment in a state of jitters.
Before Foreign Minister Clementis was
purged, the Voice made a categoric predic-
tion that he and eight other top Czechs
would be arrested. For weeks, the Voice
pounded home this prediction, giving the ex-
act names of the prospective victims. The
Czechs listened but were skeptical. f
Then suddenly Clementis was arrested.
With him were arrested four of the eight
others the Voice of America had named.
All Czechoslovakia seethed at the news.
The accuracy of the Voice of America was
commented on everywhere, and its listen-
ing audience has doubled. More than ever,
Czechs are tuning in on the Voice to see
who will be purged next.
NOTE-Despite the State Department's
remarkable propaganda job, the budget of
the Voice of America and other propaganda,
projects has been slashed to ribbons. Con-
gressmen who have been doing the slashing
have been invited to come to the State De-
partment briefing room and get the story-
much of it confidential-of what the De-
partment is doing. However, only two or three
have bothered to get acquainted with the ac-
tivities of the agency whose work they pass
upon.
(Copyright, 1951, by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
MUS IC

LAST NIGHT the Stanley String Quartet
performed the second concert in their
series of summer programs before a large
and appreciative audience. In keeping with
the program planning for these concerts,
representative works from three musical
periods were performed.
The Haydn Quartet in C major, Op. 74,
No. 1, provided a buoyant and spirited open-
ing for the program, and was performed
with exceedingly fine sensitivity and tonal
nuances. What the quartet lacked in oc-
casional intonation agreement was more
than compensated for in clarity and over-
all interpretation.
Second on the program was the Bela
Bartok sixth quartet. Besides being the
composer's last quartet it is probably the
most taxing, from the standpoint of quar-
tet technique, of any of his literature in
this medium. In this work a technical
proficiency of the most unusual and dif-
ficult kind is required of every instrument.
The performance not only filled the
score's technical demands, but also con-
tained a tremendous vitality and drive.

We Mustn't Offend Them-They're
Very Influential"
C&/
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INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Red Horse TradeSeen on
Korean Troop Withdrawal
By J. M. ROBERTS, JR.
Associated Press News Analyst
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES in several different fields have created
speculation that they may be working toward a horse trade over
the issue of withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea.
If you work on the thesis that the Communists want a cease fire
in Korea or else they wouldn't have asked for it, and that as part of
the price they demanded something they knew the Allies would not
agree to, then the question becomes, what do they want in return for
dropping that demand?
One answer could be another Big Power conference, at which
they would try to trick the Western powers and, failing in that,
set up a counter-irritant to distract public attention the world
around from the failure of their Korean adventure.
For some months now Moscow's most intensive propaganda drive
has centered around the public signing of its appeal for a "peace
settlement" among the big powers. The whole effort is to bypass the
United Nations in punishment for its action regarding Korea, its adop-
tion of the Acheson security program and the Chinese embargo, and to
disarm the West by making it appear that Russia is trying to attain
the big power settlement for which the UN charter provided, but of
which the organization has proved incapable.
T SEEMS quite possible that Russia would just love to have another
of these propaganda forum conferences, and even hold it in Paris
during next fall's General Assembly meeting in an effort to steal the
show. There is much evilence that Russia expected the UN to be merely
a facade for a peace between spheres of influence established after
the war by power politics, and that remains her only idea for "peace
in our time." The West is convinced that would be merely an armed
and highly precarious truce.
Injection of the conference idea into the Kaesong talks would,
of course, breach the original idea of a strictly military cease-fire.
Russia might feel, however, that the Allies would accept such an
offer, if no commitments were demanded.
Russia, of course would want agreement on what nations would be
represented at the conference. She might ask a five power meeteing
represented at the conference. She might ask a five power meeting
to include India and some other neutral, with a general Far Eastern
settlement on the agenda. The Allies undoubtedly would reply to this
with a demand for Japanese representation, and there would be a
whale of an argument. But some sort of agreement on these points
would not seem impossible.

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/t teP4 TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from Its readers on matters of
general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the writer
and in good taste. Letters exceeding 300 words in length, defamatory or
libelous letters, and letters which for any reason are not in good taste will
be condensed, edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the
editors.

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Catholic Issue ..
To the Editor:
ALTHOUGH Janet Watts criti-
cizes Dave Thomas' line of rea-
soning in her letter of July 21, I
believe that she herself is the
greater offender.
In the first place she states that
in a "partical, working sense" the
opposing concepts of democracy
and that of the Catholic Church do
not contradict each other. This
would be true if the Church con-
fined itself to non-temporal, pure-
ly religious affairs. However it
seems to be doing quite the op-
posite, as its mentioned attack on
socialized medicine shows. Such
arbitrary decrees as these are of-
ten contrary to what seems right
and reasonable tomany American
Catholics. A greater danger is that
by their very nature of "coming
from above" they tend to stifle
in general the independent think-
ing so necessary to the success of
a democracy.
Miss Watts defends the Spanish
hierarchy's ban on bathing suits
on the grounds that it "fits" into
that particular society. The reason
that no such edict has been issued
from St. Mary's chapel on campus
is not, as she seems to imply, be-
cause the influence of free Ameri-
can soil has wrought a basic
change in the hierarchy's think-
ing. An examination of Catholic
action all over the world will show
that it is the policy of the Church
to push its interference in human
being's lives as far as the environ-
ment will allow. The Catholic
Church in America haspressed its
social and economic program only
as far as its present limits because
further interference would arouse,
the wrath of the non-Catholic ma-
jority, and, in fact, would probably
be rejected by the relatively liberal
American Catholic population.
My only criticism of the Thomas
editorial is that it failed to point
out clearly why the suppression of
civil liberties by the Catholic
Church, in the name of morality,
helps rather than stops the spread
of communism.
-Paul Levin, '53
Catholic Issue . .
To the Editor:
MAY I POINT in passing to the
professional manner with
which your Dave Thomas wielded
the bludgeons of bigotry in his
July 20 editorial on the Catholic
Church and bathing-suits in
Spain? I'm sure that his readers
were edified to know that the
Church "pressured" the civil au-
thorities into passage of the anti-

scant-skin-covering law - just as
I'm sure that many readers would
like to be informed exactly how
the Church exerted such pressure,
and from what source Mr. T. re-
ceived this undoubtedly inside in-
formation.
I am also grateful to Mr. T. for
enclosing the word "morally" in
quotation marks. For one who ap-
parently has forgotten that such
a virtue as modesty exists, and
who seems to think that a Bishop
has no business concerning him-
self with the modesty in dress of
those committed to his spiritual
care, such an enclosure was right
and proper. Had Mr. T. omitted
quotation marks around the word,
one might have been inclined to
believe that he considered moral-
ity in the same light as the Span-
ish Bishop did.
His subtle slander that the
Church has been in a manner re-
sponsible for the spread of Com-
munism has been so utterly refut-
ed by history, past and present,
that one can only wonder how such
an individual was ever entrusted
with the writing of editorials.
--Michael Thornton
* * *
Catholic Issue . , .
To the Editor:,
ANYONE WHO IS seriously con-
vinced that the luman rights
of his fellows are in danger -al-
ready "inroaded," indeed-is bound
in conscience to make his views
known. It is reasonable to expeci
that he will take the trouble to
understand human rights, and thai
he will explain in what manner
they are being destroyed. He will
also take care to use such terms
as "human rights" and "civil lib-
erties" with some precision.
The current managing editor of
The Daily, Dave Thomas, in the
issue of July 20, makes the state-
ment that there are "Catholic in-
roads on civil liberties in this coun-
try as well as abroad." One's first
impression is that the piece is to
be taken seriously. It is difficult to
maintain a serious hearing how-
ever, because the writer's argu-
ments, as logical constructions,
seem pointed to arouse a spirit of
mirth.
Of two recent Catholic actions,
one is offered by the writer ti
show the superficiality of the
other. The Church in Spain has,
we are told, "pressured the civil
governments of the various prov-
inces to tighten the restrictions or
bathing suits and beach conduct."
Therefore, the Pope's approval of
a system of socialized medicme in
superficial. This is like saying that
the sign over the door of the Uni-

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versity club-house which forbids
women to wear shorts and men
to go shirtless while playing the
course, proves there is something
fundamentally dishonest in the
Phoenix Project. Illogical progres-
sion of this sort can be very amus-
ing-like charades-but we can't
be sure that the writer means to
be funny.
The bathing edict and the ap-
proval of socialized medicine are
called upon again. This time a
comparison of the two "makes it
clear that where violations of hu-
man rights are concerned, the defi-
nition of 'violation' depends on who
is doing the violating as far as the
Catholic Church is concerned."
How does it make what clear?
What is revealed, it is to be sup-
posed, is that there are "Catholic
inroads on civil liberties" here and
abroad, but the comparison can
only make this clear "to all who
are familiar with Catholic inroads
on civil liberties." One gets a little
dizzy making the round.
We conclude that the writer
doesn't offer us his warning very
earnestly. Bad arguments, at best,
reveal a whimsical sort of atti-
tude; at worst, they reveal intel-
lectual defect or the need of inte-
grity.
Quite in isolation from any at-
tempted argument is the implica-
tion that the Church has failed
to learn something that she should
have learned from her post-war
experiences in Communist-held
countries, as well as the assertion
that "if the Church hopes to ser-
iously challenge Marxism, it had
better mend its ways." It is diffi-
cult to make anything of this. The
behavior of Catholic individuals,
and the Church as a whole, under
Communist persecution needs no
defense. Normal human feeling, re-
gardless of creed, will be humbled
and admired. And the Church does
not hope to challenge Marxism.
She has vigorously denounced it
from the beginning. To mend her
ways, as it is supposed the writer
suggests, would be, among other
things, to renounce her belief in
human rights and duties.
But, as was said, the editorial as
an editorial is to be taken no more
seriously than the writer's whim-
sical logic. It is, of course, a repe-
tition clumsily managed, of the
vagaries of Mr. Paul Blanshard.
-William Barkley, Grad.

Man's Fate
MAN WOULD fain be great and
sees that he is little; would
fain be happy and sees that he is
miserable; would fain be perfect
and sees that he is full of imper-
fections; would fain be the object
of the love and the esteem of men,
and sees that his faults merit only
their aversion and contempt.
The embarrassment wherein he
finds himself produces in him the
most unjust and criminal passions
imaginable, for he conceives a
mortal hatred against the truth
which blames him and convinces
him of his faults.
-Pascal, "Pensees"

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Sixty-First Year
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C U R R ENT f MA AU/!S


r

At The Michigan ...
ACE IN THE HOLE with Kirk Douglas
and Jan Sterling.
ONE of Paramount's trump cards is all-
around Billy Wilder who in the past has
specialized in making garish, cynical and al-
most completely phony motion pictures
(most notable example of the technique is
the recent Sunset Boulevard).
One is immediately struck upon viewing
this latest effort with the complete lack of
sincerity which supposedly enters into im-
portant movie making. Mr. Wilder (who
produced, directed and collaborated on the
script) is reported to have said in a recent

a man half-buried in a cave-in of some
ancient Indian dwellings, vaguely reminis-
cent of the Floyd Collins incident in 1925.
Although the victim can be rescued in a
matter of hours, Douglas conspires with
the local sheriff to prolong the rescue,
thus hoping to regain his national reputa-
tion with front-line dispatches.
An incredible horde of morbid curiosity
seekers, including a carnival, settle down
around the area to watch the rescue opera-
tions. The plan backfires, the victim dies
and Douglas pays for his sins in one of the
most outrageously melodramatic endings in
years.
One can only speculate about the sensi-
bility underlying this type of film making.

BARNABY
As soon as Gus gets back, your Mrs. Tyler
Fairy Godfather will open this Mes.ntlet
little old gingerbread school in
the wildwood for business, m'boy. them come
Tell all the kids at the nature down here,
study camp to come and enroll- f Barnaby-
0 No. She p e
probably
LZ PL ,E wouldn't Ct
even like
Sit ;f she
knew we
are here.
We're learning how vegetables grow.
Miss Ross is around by the spicket.

Cushlamochree! Restraint of
frade-I mean, it's a violation
of academic freedom! You all
have the right to determine
your own pursuit of learning-
We have?0 .e.
©o t e
0 0
Is there no course in your nature
study curriculum on rain-making?

However, far be it from me to
~ proselyte. Just fake a -pile of'
ts gingerbread and pass it
-around -among the students at
Mrs. Tyler's drab institution-
U 11H *C'A-"'t lob's-, Rt. UR. Pat.Of
Miss Ross, you better come out to the
garden. Barnaby's Fairy Godfather isl(

A.
S.

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