North Carolina Newspapers

f 1 "I ' 5 1 PACE TWO THE DAILY TAR: HEEL TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1955 77)e Deadening Hand Of Government Atomic Secrecy Carolina Front. Does secrecy spell security? "No" is the answer given on this page by two careful observers of the American scene. The Washington Post's Herblock and The Christian Science Monitor's Roland Sawyer. They are not alone. E. B. White, writing last week in The New Yorker, said this: We don't think the problem of contamination-by-experimentation, of extinction-through-curiosity, has yet been presented to the world in anything like the vivid, detailed, and com pelling way that it merits. . . . We suggest that the United States present this nuclear problem fully and dramatically in the near future, with the help of its best scientists and dreamers and prophets, from the forum of the United Nations. ... And the American Association for the Advancement of Science has viewed with in formed alarm the dangers of peacetime atom ic explosions as well as the disadvantage ex cessive government atomic secrecy works on scientists those laboring, on inventions for defense against atomic war. The chorus of objections against the gov ernment's secrecy obsession fall into two cate co! ics: Those who point out, as Mr. Whiter 1: -s, that the world is becoming an unhealthy j)!.uc because of atomic tests and that peo j'le. if they were informed, .might rebel and find some way to keep from destroying them selves; and those who strain against too much secrecy as a hamperer of the spirit of creat iveness. No secret formulas need be released. No one is asking that. All these people request is formal, official, public appraisal of atomic potentiality and less stringent secrecy where it is uncalled for and blocks the work of scientists. The truth about atomic power has appar ently not been told the people of the world. Enough, however, has sifted down via the more informed reporters and scientists to lead one to suspect that the truth is massive and frightenings In such circumstances, se crecy does not mean security, but insecurity of the sort that can undermine a nation's very life. The truth is needed here; it should be told. The Movers & Shakers Of The World We were particularly interested in those whom E. B. White would enlist to cope with the problem of peacetime atomic explosions "our best scientists and dreamers and pro phets." We agree that there is a place in the scheme for dreamers as well as for scientists and prophets. We 'fear, though, that in this case, as in so many others, the dreamer would be relegated to an obscure place upstage. Not so with scientists and prophets, of course. Despite the current loyalty attacks on scientists, the profession is admired, as Anthony Standen has shown in Science Is A Sacred Cow, alrhost to the point of apothe osis. As for prophets, the old saying is that they are without honor in their own coun tries." But the subdued half of that adage would suggest that prophets are at least hon ored in all the rest of the World. Dreamers, 'however, have historically been assigned to the lunatic fringe. In prob lems of nuclear physics, as of politics and na tional policy, we look upon the dreamer as one who is more hypnotized by the pale moon he contemplates than he is interested in finding out something about it. Dream ers, after all, are World losers and world foresakers On whom the pale moon gleams. But dreamer? have their niche in the overwhelming conflict between conscience and technology laid on us by the arms race. There are shades of human problems where the rationality of the scientists collapses and the prophet's clairvoyance is dimmed, his bursting forth stilled. Here moves in the dreamer, lor, to complete the quatrain, dreamers - ' . . . . Are the movers and shakers Of the world forever, it seems. GTfie ail? ar. tt The official student publication of the Publi cations Board of the University of North Carolina, where it is published - daily except Monday. examination ana vaca- 'Now Run Along And Play' M 1 1 Sc sT iht VntvrnAy i i whnh first opened rt - J tion periods and sum mer terras. Entered as second class matter at the post office in Chapel Hill, N. C, un der the Act of March 8, 1879. Subscription rates: mailed, $4 per rear, $2.50 a semester; delivered, $8 a year, $3.50 a semester. Sditor CHARLES KURALT Managing Editor FRED POWLEDGE -P: &'J&&rjjz NS I FASTS OF LIFE l J --e k o c A Message With An Edge Ed Yoder . Little time has passed since the whole country drew a -sharp-breath about an abuse of mili tary authority in which a vindictive ser geant at Camp Gordon, G a., hanged a draf- .V. Associate Editors LOUIS KRAAR, ED YODER Business Manager TOM SHORES Night Editor for this Issue .Bob Dillard 4 tee bis heels. - I The Caine Mutiny.. (Jourt s Martial deal 4 ins with the same broad issue of military au thority, its uses and abuses came to Chapel Hill, Saturday night. The Court Martial turns on Ar ticles 184, 185, and 186 of Naval Regulations which provide that in "the last extremity" a subor dinate officer may relieve his superior. Herman Wouk, curious about these regulations, started to write the story in novel form while he was in the navy. He created a situation in which pan ic during a World War II Ty phoon made it necessary, . for a naval lieutenant to relieve his captain of a destroyer-minesweeper command. Captain Queeg, the man he re lieved, (played by Paul Douglas) is treated in the play as a sometimes-cowardly and often vindic tive paranoid. He distrusts his subordinate officers,4 exalts . his own judgments, feels his officers are plotting against him, and abuses his crew with cruel pun ishments for minor offenses. In the equatorial region, Cap tain Queeg finds a crewman hav ing a drink during water ration hour. So he turns off the water for a whole day. He shakes down the xrew and rifles the ship to find a key that never existed s simply because someone has eat en strawberries from the icebox without permission. Captain Queeg maintains his composure in the court martial until Act n. Then, Banry Grenwald, the rebellious cap tain's Jewish defender, . needles him into a breakdown that re veals the neurotic side of his personality. The court martial can only acquit the insubordinate Lieutenant Maryck (Steve Bro die) who, after a long chain of weird events, took command of the foundering Caine during the Typhoon. Lieutenant Maryck, then, has challenged military authority. A court martial is satisfied that the challenger was in the right and that Captain- Queeg' s per sonality was unstable. .. Military authority, rightly used, is valua ble. But, like any other authori j, Jt jnust be subjected to con stant reexamination. It is not sacred. So end the first two acts. The most penetrating analysis of the issues is saved for a scene after the acquital of Maryck that brings all the principals involved in the Caine mutiny together at a party in San Francisco. This scene surfaces ideas that have been but undercurrents in the first two acts. Lt. Greenwald, Maryck's law yer, is spokesman. The audience has known from the beginning of the play that his emotions are mixed. Greenwald knows it is his duty to defend the lieutenant who has taken command of the Caine and who is not at fault. He hesitates, however, because he has a view of the old regulars like Captain Queeg that no one else in the cast seems to have: "Get on to old Yellowstain (Captain Qqeeg)" the officers shout at him as he begins his speech at the party. "Now I'm coming to Old Yel lowstain. Coming to him," Green wald says, drunkenly and pen sively. "See, Mr. Keefer (an of ficer on the Caine, novelist, and the real protaginist for mutiny) while I was studying law, and you were writing your short stor ies for national magadines, and little Willie (also a Caine, offi cer) was on the playing fields of Pirinrieton, whyi, all tihat timel these birds we call regulars were . . . standing guard on this fat, dumb, and happy country of ours. "Course they were doing it for dough, same as everybody does what they do. . . ." . And Greenwald is right about Queeg. As a- member of a minor ity' group that faced brutal dan ger at the hands of . the Nazis, he sees clearly what the officers of the Caine do not. . , Captain Queeg, like so many of the old regulars of the armed services is full of the bad quali ties, the hates and traumas and petty complexes that can lead a man to make his career mili tary service. But at the same time he represents the . last for tifications of the Republic. Queeg is one of those who, .... in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth's foun dations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead. Their shoulders' held the sky suspended; They stood on earth's founda tions stay; ; - WThat God abandoned, these de fended, And saved the sum of things for pay. Lt. Barry Greenwald under stands exactly what A. E. Hous man meant when he wrote this poem. Housman wrote it in mem ory of the old regulars the Cap tain Queegs- who were the first to go and "save the sum of things for pay" when 1915 brought world war to France. "Queeg deserved better at my hands," says Lt. Grenwald with real compassion. "I owed him a favor, don't you see? He stopped Herman from washing his fat behind with my mother. . ." Even mercenaries, realizes Barry Gremvald, are not mer cenaries when you talk in ul timate terms. When war breaks out, the blue chips are down, and everyone else has yet to turn from a novel or a college play-field, someone has to step into the breach. The breach fil ler must be ready to die. , When heaven falls can we con demn even the warped mercen aryeven the fat, stupid Queeg? That's what Mr. Wouk is asking. That is the real message of the Caine Mutiny Court Martial. A message with edge. PEACE OF MIND The concept that peace of mind in the great desideratum is clear ly allied to the principle of non activity which, as Schweitzer has recently emphasized, flows di rectly out of a negation of the world.- What do YOU think about peace of mind, Galileo and Darwin? Are you in favor of it, Luther and Cromwell? Is this what .we learned from you, Thoreau and Whitman? Is this what you had in mind for our own nation, Governor Bradford, Roger Williams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson? Most specifically of all, peace of mind is not what I ask from religion. To pray for peace of mind appeals to me as a rather unpleasant insult to the God of 'the restless cell, of the blazing novae, of the swirling nebulae. The God, in short, of progress, not of stagnption. God pity me on the day when I have lost my restlessness! God forgive me when I am satisfied! God forgive me if ever I am so dull, insensitive, lazy, complac ent, phlegmatic, and apathetic as to have peace of mind! Warren Weaver in The Saturday Review. Of course, when after a lot of plowing and harrowing officers did begin to thaw out and talk guardedly, one of the things they frequently said was that they assumed the Soviet military experts knew pretty well what the United States was doing except in the refinements of atomic weapons de velopment. In air defense the assumption generally was that there were virtually no secrets to which the Russians hadn't deduced the right conclusions. The secrets were kept only from ourselves. Everything is on a "need-to-know" basis. If a man doesn't "need" to know something, he never learns. The assumption also seems to be that the public, represented in such a case by the press, doesn't "need to know" either. Yet, nearly every officer I met, and there were dozens, and specifically every general, com plained that they can't get the support they want for appropriations in Congress, "because the peo ple aren't informed." This was particularly true in air defense, which has felt the heavy hand of economy in its three struggling years to get started. Air defense people, beginning with Lt. Gen. Ben Chidlaw, want sub stantially large appropriations for air defense, in the vicinity of three to four billion dollars over the next few years. They say they must have this to do the job. At the same time one of them said to me, "But we can't tell you a thing. You'll have to take our word for it that we are doing a job to the best of our ability." Certainly on the offensive side of air-atomic power, security and secrecy in new weapons and in tactics and strategy is wise. But in the realm of defense where, especially, public support is needed, and where it might be smart to boast to the Soviets and to the world what we could arid would do to any attacker, secrecy and security does not even seem to be working in favor of the American people. The fear which we. Americans have of each other today is appalling. If you challenge this, take the same trip this correspondent has been on. So I returned to Washington and went straight to an individual in this city who, knows a great deal about all such matters. "I can sympathize with you," he said, and then proceeded to give the answers. I am certain that in the articles I wrote, the Soviets will learn nothing new. I did one other thing upon my return. I picked up the text of a congressional hearing last summer at which many of the scientists who work in air defense testified. There were enough disclosures to cause a security officer's hair to turn white, all neatly printed and easy to read. Congressional reports are without doubt the greatest source of information to the world that exists. Finally, I talked with two scientists who made no breaches of security, but who asserted to me and they are men who can be trusted the be cause of security, many millions are wasted be cause mistakes are made from insufficient public discussion. . ( Worse, according to these men, the country doesn't get the weapons for defense it could have, because the public isn't informed. It it were, these men claim, public opinion would insist upon things being done that have not been done. And air de fense would be two to three years further along. Roland Sawyer In The Christian Science Monitor This correspondent has recently been on a trip west to centers of air-atomic power: SAC, or Stra tegic Air Command, at Omaha, ADC, or Air De fense Command, at Colorado Springs; Los Alamos, N. M., where nuclear explosions are created; Al buquerque, where atomic weapons are assembled, and White Sands Proving Ground, where guided missiles are tested. But I had to return to Washing ton to get the word on most essential questions. I talked to generals and colonels, as well as airmen and press officers, and for the most part all I got from them was gobbledygook. A reporter from a responsible newspaper goes out to get the facts on air defense, but so tight are the security restrictions imposed everywhere that almost no one will talk even relatively freely. It is a drastic state of affairs that Americans cannot accept each other at face value any more, whether an officer, or a correspondent, regardless of his duty station or the reputation of his news paper. A man must have a little ticket and a number on his breast before he can get into the outer gates of a single installation which I visited, even Los Alamos town where all the people do is eat and sleep. (There are separate and higher fences around its technical area.)) Every military officer I talked to on this trip with the exception of some people at SAC where they live in a world all their own was under the deadening hand of security. The Professor Who Taught About Life Louis Kraar , ttg ,' V i "PSYCHOLOGY IS about peo ple, not mice running through mazes," he said that first day n class. And e all sat up .traight in our ;eats to learn i b o u t oursel ves. s The teacher as Dr. Eng lish B a g by , who taught Carolina students ab but themselves until he died last Friday morning. Dr. Bagby, who was as active in community affairs as he was in academic matters, knew stu dents as well as knew psycho- . l0sy- He learned his field at Prince ton and Johns Hopkins, and he learned students at Yale, Colum bia, Johns Hopkins, and most of all Carolina. He belonged to the string of organizations that (narked him as emminent in his . field, scholarly groups that spoke an academic language. Dr. Bagby took the principles psychologists learned by watch ing the mice run through mazes and translated them from the language of scholars to that of college students. "There is so much insecurity around, us today that I often mar vel how you students survive," he remarked one day in his psy chology of personality class. "When I finished school, all a young person had to worry ab out was getting a start making a living. But today it seems that you can't count on anything. "W'ith you Boys, it's the draft. And this means you girls have to wait and make your plans accordingly." THE HONOR System wasn't just a system with Dr. Bagby. "A student's word is all I need. Don't bring me any written ex cuses," he would say. Last spring, when Dr. Bagby's health made the teaching he loved difficult, he came to class with a book of James Thurbcr's essays. "You students have been very kind to me this term. Sometimes it's been difficult to teach, and you've been patient. "That's why I brought this book. It's something I like very much. And since you've been kind to me, I'd like to share it with you." he said. Then Dr. Bagby gave some of the most delightful readings of Thurbers keen humor that we'd ever heard. The life that this professor worked so hard to learn, then teach, filled the room in a way I'll never forget. SOMEHOW ONE paragraph of the stories about Dr. Bagby's death seemed to epitomize the way he looked at the students who sat under him. "He also rated students here highly. Although a very small percentage of them is trained in prep schools, he compared them favorably with the upper 20 per cent of any college where he had taught," the story said. Actually, the students this pro fessor thought so much of were just as high in their estimation of him. There was an unspoken agreement in his class that both you, the student, and he, the teacher, were interested in the same thing life. Dr. Bagby thought enough of life to learn why people acted as they did. He thought enough of it during the Depression to personally pay for medicine for . self-help students attending Car- ; olina. ' f Life filled the classroom of this kindly professor who admir ed and understood, instead of envying, youth. Jam. That's why these students are going to miss the man who tau ght them so much about themsel vses Dr. English Bagby. s YOU Said It: Memorial Va Insult To Rise Editor: Granted that Rise Stevens was sad; she had every rightlo be. The view of that unpolished, de crepit stage was enough-to de press even the audience. I wince to think of the im pression we have made on the singers, speakers, and musician.; who have performed on that' stage, in that oppressive atmos phere, and to the rhythms of those steam pipes. Memorial Hall is (and I think you will' agree) the sore spot of our campus. How can a University consider itself a cultural center when it has not even a hall fit for visi tors who to such a large extent exemplify portions of tljat cul ture? Ah, friend, we are in a sad state and don't know it. I hope Miss Stevens hurried away from Chapel Hill. Because., to the insult of Memorial was added the injury of being sat irized in our campus newspaper the next day. And not a sentence was printed in that paper of the merits of her performance. While we continue to invite? guests to sing, speak, and play for us, Memorial Hall remauJ in its uncomfortable condition. Perhaps Miss Stevens was not merely depressed; perhaps she was worried that under a -sudden burst of Bizet, the stage might give way beneath her. Carl Bridges One For Egghead Ed Editor: We have composed a pome in honor of the Tarnation: Alas for the Tarnation Her jokes have grown poorer She never was given to litera- toor. Ain't the Tarnation a silly? They done gone in there high ly literatte way (of which this sentence is an example) and censored Our Boy PZd, "The Egg head Rebellionist" Yoder. "We . 're to be more Pitied than Cen sored." For this unique begin ning we kiddies were surprised because here on the fifth page, in the right-hand column, the Tarnation admits what we've thought all along. But this time they've overdone it. . ,, Bad enough to have was,te pa per on our hands; but the con demnation of "Our Boy Ed" is too much. This letter is not meant in any to be malicious, but only to serve as a warning to those who connive to publish aTrnation. Don't they realize that, come the Revolution (the Egghead Revolution we mean) these swinish anti-Eggheads will be the first to go. Ain't that a silly? Speaking seriously for a mo ment (to the staff of the Tar nation)) have you all ever thought about humor"- And why not? Lay off Our Boy Ed. Nujnes Withheld By Ilcqust View-Halloo & All That The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Grand is the history of the Fifth Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. In case you are not up on these things, a dragoon is a ealvaryman; and in the last throe centuries the Fifth Innif-,killins. in scarlet, green and silver have charged across many a battle field as though it were no more than a parade ground. The regiment however has not had a horse for almost 20 years. These days its 700 men are sta tioned on the Forkshire moors with 45 Centurion tanks. But time should not be allowed to change things that way believes its commander Col. Richard DeC. Vigors. So he is urging his men to devote their spare time to fox hunting. Horse troops, you know, must not forget horses. But here's a bit of difficulty. No matter how well it thinks of them, the War Office does not issue horses with tanks. A ne glected polo fund, however, lias ben used to buy eight handsome steeds and a few more have been borrowed. The 700 will have to take their turn, but that's just a bit of austerity which an English man takes in his stride. Alsy most of the men have, never worn a scarlet packet, let-alone a pink coat. But for the time being they will make do with a . tank man's overalls, even if a bit grease-stained. The big.thin is that regimental tradition is being honored again. The Fifth Inniskillings are mounted once more. Ah, there will aluavs be ;m' England.