Sixty-Eighth Year
EDITED AND \1A"AGED BY STUDENTS OF THIE UNIVERSITY OF MICH3IGAN,
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MicH. * Phone NO 2-3241
"Great System"
lben Opinions Are Free
Trutb Will Prevail"
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This mus t be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1958 NIGHT EDITOR: EDWARD GERULDSEN
Religion in Contemporary Society
Becomes Increasingly Unacceptable
RELIGION. undoubtedly plays a smaller role
in contemporary society than it did in
earlier times; this alon should be reason for
re-examining it.
It seems particularly appropriate that a close
look at religion be taken by an institution of
higher education, for the universities and col-
leges, an outgrowth of 12th-century cathedral
schools, have perhaps played the largest single
role in shaking belief in traditional Christian-
ty.
"We are faced today with a re-evaluation of
the dimension of life that gives it meaning
and value," University President Harlan
Hatcher remarked during the opening lecture
of the summer theme, "Religion in Contem-
porary Society."
INCREASINGLY, however, there are those
who question whether religion does give
meaning and value to life. Henry Ford, a man
who introduced mass production techniques
on a large scale and probably contributed as
much as any other single person to molding
our contemporary society, once declared when
questioned on his knowledge of the past, "his-
tory is bunk."
A, growing number of others, with more in-
telligence but who also live in this "practical"
age would say the same of religion. For in an
age when the "scientific" and "objective" ap-
proach is valued above all others as the only
"realistic" way of examining or explaining life,
the words of the past become bits of historical
literature, interesting perhaps, but easily de-
bunked by scientific analysis. Man in the
Judaic-Christian sphere of influence once be-
lieved God had created the world in six days.
Some even said women possessed one more
rib than man because the Bible told how God
created Eve out of Adam's rib. However, mod-
ern science, in the form of geology and X-rays
present a different explanation.,
East Germany:
AFTER MORE than two weeks, five Amer-
ican airmen in an East German prison cell
still find themselves seated on a political
gambling table, the targets in a coldly practi,.
cal game of Russian roulette. If the ball falls
in the wrong chamber, they and not the
gamblers will be tie real losers.
In the contrast between the United States
and the Soviet Union, the sky is the limit,
and the State Department just as much as the
Kremlin is staking the lives of five men on
the race for the blue chips.
For, one of the very few times in the last
six years, realism has invaded the Eisenhower
administration.
The United States government has assessed
the issues involved. It has counted the cost
of five men's lives. And it has reached the
only possible conclusion:
THE COST of acceding to Soviet demands
and granting recognition to the East Ger-
man government is one which this country
cannot afford to pay.
There is, for instance, the sum of West
Germany, now one of the world's great in-
dustrial powers. It is a - country the United
States canmot afford to alienate by tacit ac-
ceptance of its partition, and all concerned
realize that, once recognized, East Germany
would be here to stay.
There is the high cost of backing down in
any argument with Russia or her satellites.
Each time the Kremlin's demands have been
met, or the United States has gone more
than half-way, that expense increases and
American bargaining power goes down.
Indeed, the very fact that the Soviets are
attempting to obtain recognition thfough
blackmail is proof enough they feel this coun-
try will eventually give in. Should it do so,
there will be another "situation," and anoth-
er, each with the same doleful result.
T HE QUESTION then arises, "If we can't
believe Genesis, how can we believe the
rest of the Scriptures. Religion's answer was
indicated by President Hatcher who noted re-
ligion is changing as much as anything else.
Now, organized religion adapts to the "scienti-
fic" explanations by saying the Bible should
be used for its symbolic rather than its literal
content. Yet this change itself destroys the
"eternal" qualities religion professes to have.
This is only one example of religion's adap-
tation to contemporary society; however the
changes have not been fast enough to counter-
act increasing secularization. Religion today
plays a smaller part in men's lives; even the
American ideal of separating Church and
State was something unthinkable a thousand
years ago when man and his religion were in-
separable.
BUT.MAN'S increasing questioning and ex-
amination, a process led and stimulated at
centers of learning, have separated him from
the blind acceptance of the past's dogmas.
There is no such thing as a little questioning;
a result is the multitude of Protestant inter-
pretations and denominations that have de-
veloped since Luther.
And when the "eternal truth" is described
in so many ways, how can a person who tries
to be "objective" and "openminded" put faith
in any one of them as a "dimension of life that
gives it meaning and value?"
Behind the questioning is a search for some-
thing eternal, for in embracing something he
considers everlasting, man gains a feeling of
permanence in a constantly changing and
transitory world. But organized religion no
longer can answer the questions. As it exists
today, religion becomes increasingly difficult
to accept as a valid part of contemporary so-
ciety.
-MICHAEL KRAFT
Daily Co-Editor
Political Bluff
There is, also, the cost in world opinion and
national prestige which, like a sales tax, seems
insignificant in small charges but becomes an
appallingly large figure on the final bill. It
doe not seem important to lose a bit of pres-
tige when it will save five lives; it becomes
vitally important when it is tacked on to other
such bits and tears a dangerous hole in the
nation's defensive power.
This it would do; this it has done in the
past. And this is a trend which the United
States must halt now if its position vis-a-vis
the Soviet Union is to be maintained.
It is a dangerous game being played, but it
is, at least, being played equally by both sides.
East Germany, too, must weigh the cost of
defeat, and tally it against the value of what
could be a Phyrric victory.
SHOULD United States policy remain con-
stant, the German government would be
faced with the choice of either "losing face"
by returning the men, or, by killing them, ac-
cepting the anger of world opinion. United
States policy, at present, is - as it must be-
a case of taking the risk, and calling their
bluff.
The German Communists have built their
attitude toward this country on the same
basis as their Nazi counterparts, and they have
reached the same erroneous conclusions. The
American government, they feel, is "soft;" it
can be forced to accept outrageous demands
if an American life is involved.
They were proved wrong in 1945; they have
so far been proved wrong in 1958. The United
States must of course be willing to compromise,
but only in the strict meaning of the term.
There must be a withdrawal of demands by
both sides, for this country has done all the
compromising all the time for far too long.
-SUSAN HOLTZER
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I _
FORTY-NINTH STATE
'Seward's Ice Box'
$Contains Two Texases
By A. RT111R EDSON
l_~oc1,.ted Press Staff Wruer
SASHINGTON - The Aleuts had a word for it. They called it
Alakhskhak. or "The Great Land." Alakhshak never became a pop-
ular word, fortunately. and the great land now is known as Alaska.
No one here seems to know the Aleut term for "49th state," which
is too bad. For the Senate is again debating whether to admit Alaska
to statehood, and the word, or words, might come in handy. The House
has voted to make Alaska a sae
siblyte.mosts gthing about Aitsast size.
It's so big it could even, but undoubtedly won't, humble a Texan.
Wypaer -oucol car
twvo Texases out of Alask a, and
have enough trimmings left over
for a couple of dozen Delawares.
Plop Alaska over the United
States proper, and you'll fill most
of the Mississippi Valley. The
right-hand tail of Alaska, the part
that stretches along Canaa's
western border w.ul reach to
the Atlantic. The left-Handl tail of
islands would reach to the Pacific.
Alaska has had a hard time liv-
ing down the legend that it's ex-
clusively a land of ice and snow.
It gets cold up there, all right, but
it can get hot, too. In Fairbanks
it has been as hot as 99 and as
cold as 66 below.
Loyal Alaskans maintain that
anyone who can live through a
rugged New England winter will
have no trouble in Alaska. The
main problem, they say, is get-
ting used to these long summer
days and those seemingly longer
winter nights.
*9 **
MODERN history began in
Alaska at 4 a.m., March 30, 1867.
Even then, it seems, the Russians
were great ones for doing business
in the dead of the night. Baron de
Stoeckl of Russia and William
Seward of the United Sta tes
signed the papers that completed
a fantastic real estate deal. The
whole place, 375,296,000 acres, had
been bought for $7,200,000.
At that time Alaska had a pop-
ulation of 30,000, Eskimos, Aleuts
-who are closely akin to the Es-
kimos - and assorted Indians,
The Tlingit Indians had a cir-
ious custom. They didn't want to
get rich. So when one of them got
in the chips-or, more specifica--
ly, in the blankets-he held a pot-
latch'and gave them all away.
Clever people, these Tlingits,
For those who received the pot-
latcher'sigifts had to come to his
aid when he was in need. This
may have been one of the earliest
social security systems.
Oddity: After all these years,
the native population still is reck-
oned at 30,000, out of an estimat-
ed total of 200,000.
Living in Alaska is no bargain.
Ninety per cent of all perishable
produce is imported, and trans-
portation costs on all goods are
high. Potatoes grow well there,
but the season is too short for
corn or tomatoes.
STATE:
'ort Dobbs'
A Notch Up
CLINT WALKER, veteran TV
Western hero, galloped across
a local movie screen Tuesday for
the first time, accompanied by an
attractive woman and a pint-sized
sharpshooter, and hotly pursued
J as every Western hero at one
time or another must be) by a,
screamning band of bloodthirsty
Iniuns.
"Fort Dobbs". Walker's first
full-length feature, is a pretty
much run-of-the-tnll western in
that its plot is mostly of the
standard formula variety, but it
does manage to rise a notch or
two above the traditional horse
opera. This thanks to a few com-
paratively novel plot innovations,
generally good acting, and just a
touch of sex,
The story picks up Walker's
trail as he sets out across hostile
Comanche territory, followed by
a murder charge and a posse. In
quick succession, he eludes the
posse, tries to steal a horse from
Virginia Mayo. is shot by her
young son (Richard Eyer), fights
of f an Indian attack on the ranch,
and leads his new charges
through the Comanche lines and
off on the long trek to Fort Dobbs
and expected safety.
* * *
FORT DOBBS, however, turns
out to be defended only by a de-
tachment of corpses. Things soon
perk up a bit with the arrival, in
a cloud of dust and Indians, of a
w agon train, headed by - you
guessed it - the sheriff. Half the
Comanche nation then lays siege
to the fort, and . . . Well, it all
works out in the end.
Most outstanding performance
of the show is turned in by Brian
Keith, who provides the plot with
a bit of villainy and a dash of
humor to offset Walker's sobriety.
Virginia Mayo turns in her
usually competent performance,
though her transformation into
a hard-working frontier woman
sadly covers much of her beauty
and all her glamour.
-Edward Geruldsen
f
10.
ROCKEFELLER REPORT ON EDUCATION:
America Needs Quality and Quantity
By LANE VANDERSLICE
Daiy Staff Writer
ANOTHER vessel was launched
this week into the sea of
American apathy about education,
/t was manned by fifteen out-
standing men, and it bore a good
name, but indications were that it
would flounder without having
reached its destination - that of
providing impetus and direction
to American education.
It is christened the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund Report on United
States Educational Needs and
prepared by 15 men including
John W. Gardner, president of
the Carnegie Corporation of New
York, Prof. David Riesman of the
Sociology Department of the
University of Chicago, and James
R. Killian, Jr., President of the
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology.
Equal Opportunity ., ,
The essence of the committee's
report: take extensive measures
to provide equal - but not simi-
lar - opportunities for the full-
est development of everyone.
Rejecting the idea of separated
schools for the "gifted student,"
the report says the advantage of
the conception of equality of op-
portunity is that it recognizes dif-
ferences in abilities and motiva-
tion yet "preserves the freedom
to excel which counts for so much
in terms of individual aspirations,
and has produced so much of
mankind's greatness.
The committee recognized the
apathy present in the American
public but insisted that the na-
tion's leaders join in a campaign
to bolster the nation's schools.
"At stake is nothing less than our
national greatness and our as-
pirations for the dignity of the
individual," the report stated.
Financial support of this pro-
gram the committee indicated
could be provided in one of two
ways; increased federal aid, or
a "thorough, painful, politically
courageous overhaul of state and
local tax systems.
The nature of the challenge, as
the committee sees it, is to pre-
pare the educational system for
a population rise of 2,800,000 a
year. The report predicts there
would be almost 225,000,000 in
America by 1975 with especially
large increases in the age groups
from 15 to 24 and the age group
of 65 and over.
"Our schools are overcrowded,
understaffed, and ill-equipped,"
the report said. In the fall of
1956, the committee said, there
were 1,943,000 pupils in excess of
"normal" classroom capacity.
'No Choice '
In addition to the bnefits to
the individual, the reasoning be-
hind educating all of the people
all of the time, the committee
said, is to prepare the United
States for "the growing range and
complexity of the tasks on which
our social organization depends."
"One of our great strengths as
a people "has been our flexibility
and adaptability under the suc-
cessive waves of change that have
marked our history," the com-
dividual's creativity with an in-
tensive education.
The committee delivered a
hard-hitting section on the iden-
tification of talent. "Testing pro-
cedures unwisely used can do
harm," the report said. The "basic
considerations" that must be un-
derstood according to the com-
mittee are 1) tests are effective
on a limited front, 2 no single
test should become a basis for im-
portant decisions, 3) test data
should be used along with other
kinds of data.
Academic aptitude is the one
thing measurable by tests, said
the committee, and that is not
the one factor that produces
great men or deeds. Thus, there
must be a "merciful" application
of test judgements and then only
as on criterion of a student's pos-
sibilities.
Identification of talent should
be no more than the first step, the
report states. It called the fact
that a substantial fraction of the
top quarter of high school stu-
dents fail to go on to college a
startling indictment" of our edu-
cational system.
One third to one half of all the
college graduates of every kind
will be needed for teaching until
1975. The committee said that
there seemed to be "little or no
likelihood" that we can bring into
teaching anything approaching
the number of qualified and gift-
ed teachers we need."
Teaching Requirements
It recommended that the re-
quirements for teacher certifica-
tion be made less technical and
trivial and that many of the petty
tasks a teacher is confronted with
be eliminated and that television
be employed to teach more stu-
dents,
The committee insisted how-
ever that the root problem of the
teaching profession remains fi-
nancial. It recommended that an
immediate and substantial boost
be given teachers salaries.
Stiff courses in high school for
the academically talented student
were prescribed - with four years
of English and mathematics, three
to four years of social studies and
science, and at least three years
of foreign language.
The committee recommended
revamping and modernizing many
out-dated courses.
"All of the problems of the
schools lead us back sooner or
later to one basic problem - fi-
nancing," the committee said. "An
educational system grudgingly
and tardily patched to meet the
needs of the moment will be per-
petually out of date."
The committee held that many
educational problems affecting
the national interest may only be
soluble through federal action.
Federal Action . .
Four principles were outlined
for application to federal suport
of education.
1) The federal government
should be concerned with high-
priority educational needs.
2) Other sources should con-
tinue to be the main factors in
providing funds for education.
see themselves as participants in
one of the most exciting eras in
history and to have a sense of
purpose in relation to it."
The committee rejected the
contention that people want
merely security or comfort or
luxury. They want. meaning to
their lives, the committee said,
and it is the responsibility of
their culture and their leaders to
give it to them.
If "great meanings, great ob-
jectives, great convictions" are
not offered, th people "will then
settle for shallow and trivial
meanings. Those who live "aim-
lessly" have not been stirred by
any alternative values, and this
is a failure of society, the com-
mittee says.
The report concludes that "ev-
ery young American will wish to
serve the values which have nur-
tured him and made possible his
education and his freedom as an
individual."
I
BEHIND THE NEWS:
Lebanese Dangers Slow U.S. Actions
A
A..
INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Russian Co7ld Front Expected
r-
LEBANESE PATROL-An armored car aids attempts to enforce security measures in Beruit. Firing
again broke out Wednesday, shattering an uneasy truce.
By J. M. ROBERTS
Associated Press News Analyst
TIHE ATOM-POSSESSING powers of the
West will stage a conference of experts at
at Geneva next week ostensibly to see if they
can find reliable means of policing a ban on
nuclear bomb tests.
Experts from the Soviet Union, Czechoslo-
vakia, Poland and perhaps from Romania had
also been expected to attend, but now that is
doubtful.
After the arrangements for the conference
were believed all set, and some of the Ameri-
can delegation already on the way, the Soviet
Union said the Reds would not go unless the
Editorial Staff
MICHAEL KRAFT DAVID TARN
West would agree in advance to base a testing
ban on the conference findings.
The United States had said all the time, and
Khrushchev had agreed three times, that dis-
cussion of a ban might later be based on the
findings of the exaerts. Technical arrange-
ments are not all that are needed.
Few people believed the Soviet Union was
going to submit to any workable system of in-
spection or check anyway. Having broken every
agreement she ever made, if it later proved
detrimental to her objectives, she still wants
the world to take her word. She has a phobia
against admitting that anyone might 'want of
need to check up on her.
Nobody is surprised any more when primi-
tive Soviet politics fails to produce parlor man-
ners. When she talks for years about interna-
tional accommodation and meeting the desires
of peoples for an end of tension, then shows up
anew with bloody hands and muddy feet, the
world can only check its powder.
The reasons behind the Soviet reassumption
By The Associated Press
THE VERY SERIOUSNESS of the Lebanese situation itself seem to
be promoting second thoughts on every side.
Despite continuing reminders of the violence of the dispute, the
presence of United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold has
provided time for all to see where they are heading.
If President Chamoun asks for intervention by Britain and the
United States, he will be cutting his relations with the Arab states,
which are closely tied to the Lebanese economy, and throwing himself
on Western charity.
The Arab-Christian split in Lebanon would become complete,
whereas now its overtones are primarily those of a pre-election dispute
there indicate this could be done -
only by a force of some thousands,
not by a handful of neutrals such
as went to Egypt and Gaza. This
brings the matter back to the
United Stated and Britain.
Everybody stands to lose unless
the Anglo-American posture it-
self can hold down the rebels and
produce an atmosphere for free
elections before a fatal outbreak
or fateful physical intervention.
If the Arab nationalists capture
Lebanon, their next objective
will be the oil of Iraq and Arabia.
This knowledge has contributed
heavily to mounting tension in
Anglo-American diplomatic circles
as fighting was resumed in Beirut.
One of the great questions was
whether the United Nations could
and would act quickly enough to
give the organization's name to
, e
coupled with Arab nationalist
agitation aggravated by Syria and
Egypt.
If Britain and the United
States answered the call, sending
in troops now poised not far offf-
shore, they would face a complete
break with Arab nationalists.
Western interests would become
i~innf f" . , n rr l l1 -. i
down. Nasser has been trying to
limit his association with the
Communist bloc and return to a
more neutral relationship with
the West, and the West has be-
gun to meet him half-way,.
The West has not entirely swal-
lowed the Lebanese government's
r