SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1945
PAGE TWO
THE TAR HEEL
"SUBVERSIVE"
CONNOTATION
m
3TRACTEB
The Tar Heel retracts as untrue the connotation given by Mr.
William Couch, of the University of North Carolina Press, to
the usage of the word "subversive" in the second deck of our main
head in the last issued The Tar Heel retracts any inference that
the "subversive" referred to any .opinion held by the Tar Heel.
It was the belief of the head writer that the petitioners in their
communications to the OWI made remarks which may be labeled
as "subversive," but we have been now informed that "subver
sive" holds a connotation which in the minds of some does not
-express the idea maintained by the petitioners.
We have taken no official editorial stand on the qualifications
of Dr. Friederich. We merely presented the facts which were
' supplied to us by certain petitioners (their names appear on
the front page of this issue). We have printed the facts as ob
tained from Mr. Couch and his associates in this issue. x The Tar
Heel conceives its obligation to be the presentation of news to
the students and people of Chapel Hill. It ha been our policy to
present the facts on the first and third pages and interpret them
on the second page.
As far as the Tar Heel being guilty of sensational news re
porting, this is not true even if sensational news reporting were
acceptable. The Chapel Hill Weekly not only devoted its main
headline to Dr. Friederich's case but ran a separate two-column
front page statement as well. This news was sensational ! It is
perhaps the most discussed current issue on the campus. Both
the Tar Heel and the Chapel Hill Weekly were quite justified
in playing up the case, for it is extremely important. The na
tion is now at a period when such matters must be carefully
considered in the public light.
VICTORY, EUROPEAN
And now, after six chaotic years, the ominous shroud of pow
der smoke lifts slowly from tlie battered continent Its usual
overhanging cloud of bombers, bent on wreaking havoc down
below, becomes but a faint mist of routine transportation flight.
We here in America, unaccustomed to that ever-constant drone
which spelt explosion, terror, devastation, can only sympathize
wun inose wno now rest easy m tne cairn 01 peace at last, it is
beyond our scope to offer more than sympathetic hearts; we
cannot hone to understand. For. from that. strnerHp wrnVh s
JT - "
lately sounded taps for gunmen
endured its hardships, felt its
cries of pain, and smelt its repugnant odor of death only-those,
in their memory of experienced hell, can fully understand the
meaning of this hoped-for peace. Printed indelibly on their
minds and recorded forever in the deep, hideous scars of moan
ing Europe, is the evidence evidence which, in future genera
tions, shall suffice to relate the story. It is a story which will
not soon be forgotten. Nor will its grim, cruel moral convey its
message to the European heart alone. For here in this Ameri
can state, the proof stands out vividly in those whose loved
ones have been deprived of life, and limb, and lot.
At last the slashing sword is put aside. From Stalingrad to
London, from Murmansk to el Alamein wherever men have
met to kill each other the rumblings of the cannon cease. A ,
curious horde of civilians, unacquainted with the din of battle,
hasten through now-severed lines. Their mission is not unpur
poseful: they seek to see in the flesh the toll of the crucified, the
condition of those remaining few who, having miraculously sur
vived the fascist branding iron, still breathe in decaying body
forms, with tortured, insane minds. No, this mission has a
purpose. A regrettable one, no doubt, but one, nevertheless,
which must be seen to completion. The world must be made to
know that these millions dead and millions suffering have paid
a gruesome price to rid themselves of Nazi despotism. Theirs
is and has been the burden of all freedom-loving humanity.
Theirs is and has been the toil to keep that love of freedom un
quenched by Nazi lust. From these tired and tried of man's
ever-smaller world there xjame defiance of the tyrant's boot,
victorious retaliation against the hangman's madness lately de
scended.
A-nrl TriTT tlin vn'l.n J
tribute to the soldier's gallant stand, but faith and resolution
in his cause so righteously defended, so selflessly upheld.
With our determined march now to the East, we dare not
pause too long to view that half of Western World which, though
released from all but heart-grieved chains, bespeaks the charred
remains of Europe's ghastly war. Japan's dark islands looming
forth still beckon to the might of our crusade. It must not fal
ter during the brief interlude of semi-peace. Wherever rising
suns be found to wave their bloody symbols of oppression ;
wherever ape-like men, more ape than men, peer through con-
cealing palms ; wherever leers a single yellow face whose smile
belies a maddened mind, the gun must speak again. Relief that
Europe's helmet rests at ease must be transformed into the
courage still required. The slightest retrospection should pro
vide incentive quite sufficient to impel our .will anew.
We turn in expectancy toward the Golden Gate. The west
coast of these states now becomes an assembly of all the hopes
of all the world. America may point with pride to another de
liberative body which, one hundred fifty-eight years ago this
spring, sat in Independence Hall, shaping the federal union
which led the Western World in democratization. It is indeed be-
-7 00 . . .
in the field, only those who have
horrors, heard its quite audible
1 1 '. J J.
JlctteM,
, May 8, 194o.
The Editor,
The Tar Heel,
Chapel Hill, N. C.
Dear Sir: ,
I have not seen anything in a
long time so disgraceful, so thor
oughly unworthy of Chapel Hill, as
the headline anonymous front-page
attack on Mr. Friederich in this
morning's Tar Heel.
The headline and the article be
neath are filled with misleading
. statements. , . . " .
This article is part of a care
fully manipulated campaign to
smear a member of the faculty of
the University.
Mr. E. E. Ericson approached
me several weeks ago on joining a
group against IMr. Friederich. I
thought to myself as he was talk
ing then that of all the people in
Chapel Hill, in North Carolina or
anywhere .else for that matter, no
i one could be found with less excuse
for joining a witch hunt than Mr.
Ericson. Look at his record. Before
August 1939 he was anti-Nazi, anti
British, and pro-Communist. In
August 1939, on the day of the an
nouncement of the German-Russian
pact, he flopped and' began making
excuses for the Nazis, saying that
the war was an imperialistic af
fair, that it was none of our busi
ness. He opposed every movement
to aid Britain and get this country
ready. He used his influence with
students to fill the Tar Heel with
pacifistic propaganda and to smear
the British. Everyone who lived in
Chapel Hill then and was concerned
about the threat of Nazism knows
his record.
I have charged Mr. Ericson with
witch hunting, and he said the af
fair was none of my business. I.
now repeat this charge. I consider
it very much my business just as
it is the business of every member
of the University.
As to the charge against Mr.
Friederich: Yes, in 1938 he was
pro-Hitler. But in the same
pamphlet in which he praised some
of Hitler's policies he condemned
the brutality of the Nazis." ;
It happens also that in this same,
pamphlet Mr. Friederich attacked
Communism. Read the bulletin and
you will find out for yourself why
Mr. Ericson joined in the smear
ing campaign.
I have taken the trouble to check
up on what Mr. Friederich was
writing and saying during the
same period. It is clear that after
the Germans seized Prague in
1939, he became anti-Nazi. Later
he wrote and published articles in
newspapers in North Carolina ad
vocating the preparedness that Mr.
Ericson opposed. At that time, be
tween August 1939 and June 1941,
Mr. Ericson was following a line
not laid down in America.
This morning when I charged
Mr. Ericson with witch hunting
and told him that of all people to
bring up a matter of this kind he
was the one that had the least
right to do so, he said to me, "Why
bring up my past?"
I have no desire to start another
witch hunt. But when a small group
of people gather1 in secret in
Chapel Hill and try a fellow citizen
in absentia, when they act as if
they have the power and authority
of a court, and when their action
is accepted by a governmental
agency, I say things have gone too
far. Perhaps the time has come to
try the- triers to bring up pasts
like Mr. Ericson's.
Or perhaps we must try every
one who spoke a good word for the
Nazis before the invasion of Po
land or before Pearl Harbor.
Aren't there a number of people
good Americans who once ad
mired the things they thought Hit
ler was doing for Germany?
Where, are these Americans now?
Haven't they been permitted to
change their minds? Aren't they
still respected members of their
communities? Aren't some of them
even in the service of our govern
ment indeed, even in high places?
fitting that from these same American shores shall emanate the
principles upon which the whole of mankind may be united.
Such a union, sought through necessity and heralded by our
recognition that each nation is but a single entity'in a common
family, is the substance of a purchase still being made in the
South Pacific atolls. That purchase, however immeasurable its
price, must be completed. For then, and only then, can San Fran
cisco give to the world the assurance it so earnestly desires:
that never again shall it be necessary for men and women to
celebrate at V-E day, except in jubilant remembrance of this
week's glad tidings.
Why discriminate against Mr. Fried
erich? Must everyone who made a mis
take about the Nazis be con
demned? I am one of those who a
few years ago criticized the Lind
berghs for their pro-Nazism. I had
part in publishing a reply to Anne
Lindbergh's "Wave of the Future,"
the most powerful pro-Nazi argu
ment published in this country.
Would I vote to send Anne Morrow
Lindbergh to help re-educate the
Germans? I would give her a
chance. Before passing judgment on
her I would want to know what she
has said and done since Pearl
Harbor.
Even as late as 1940 several
young men personal friends of
mine with whom I had long argu
ments about Nazism were saying
the same sort of thing that Mr.
Friederich wrote in 1938. They went
into the armed services, and some
of them are dead now killed fight
ing the Nazis in Europe. If they
were alive, don't you suppose they
would be considered good enough
to take part in the re-education of
the German people? I think people
who have had the experience of
finding themselves terribly wrong
and of admitting it, slowly and in
agony of mind, " would be better
qualified for this job than anyone
else.
The Chapel Hill triers did not
consider what Mr. Friederich has
said since 1938. The Tar Heel story
refers only to Mr. Friederich's bul
letin and very carefully puts the
date of the bulletin in small type
down in the body of the article. Of
course, the self-constituted prosecution-judge-jury
will now have to
come into the open, now they'll have
to rustle for evidence since 1938.
What will they manufacture? Here
is what one of them was trying to
use on me a week or so ago: "Now,
Bill, you know Friederich just isn't
worth $7,700." I heard the same
figure from three other members of
the group. The salary actually was
to be $4,600. Such is the way of
gossip, of character assassination.
I wish to1 say that in my days
here as an undergraduate in the
University and twenty years with
The University of North Carolina
Press, nothing else has happened
so thoroughly contemptible as this
affair. ,
Sincerely yours,
' W. T. Couch. '
Dear Editor,
Herr Friederich states in his let
ter to Mr. Green that the pamphlet
"Political Problems in Present Day
Europe" was written before Mun
ich and that after Munich, he
(Friederich) saw the Nazi party in
an entirely different light. Yet, in
that same pamphlet, many parts of
which could have come directly from
Herr Goebels' propaganda ministry,
there is a postscript dated October
1, 1938 (after Munich) in which
Herr Frederich says, "Czechoslo
vakia's dismemberment is a direct
consequence of her inevasiveness in
refusing to grant better rights to
her minorities. Two years ago she
could have made a much better deal
with Hitler." In .'other words,
Czechoslovakia should have jumped
at the chance to dismember itself
for the benefit of the Nazi state, and
the poor Sudetenlanders who were
a racial minority and given no rights
by the cruel Czechs !
Also in that same postscript ap
pears the following, "To France the
neutralization of Czechoslovakia
means the loss of the last anti
German bulwark in central Europe.
The system of protective and encir
cling alliances has been completely
broken down." So, he tells us, the
j aggressive French had Germany sur
rounded so that the Germans had to
carry out acts of, aggression against
her neighbors to break the ring
around her to insure her safety.
"And I," says Herr Frederich,
completely changed my views after
Munich." ,
Sincerely,
John A. Fleming.
Mr. Robert Morrison, . Editor,
The Tar Heel,
Graham Memorial.
Dear Bob: -
No one could be more surprised
than I when-1 read in your editor
ial regarding the plagiarism case
............. o.".iiiOiii.
The Ram Sees . . .
BY AN OLD GOAT
liflil!:!
Saturday night isn't the loneliest
night in the week, according to
Anne Phillips. As of last Saturday
evening, Anne has been sporting a
coveted sparkler . . . third finger,
left hand . . long-distantly placed
on her finger by Jack Moshell, now
in Midshipman's School at Notre
Dame. Smiles! Beams! Joy!
Carolina social life has been on
the up-and-up basis for the last
coupla' weeks. The Pi Phi's enter
tained Thursday afternoon with an
open house honoring the Stray
Greeks. The Chi O's, Alpha Gam's,
ADPi's, and Tri Delts also dropped
in to pay their respects. The wear
ers of the shield and sword of Phi
Delta Theta come to the front of
the picture this week-end with
their pledge dance tonight and
Hogan's Lake party last night. The
Valkyrie sing tomorrow night at
Forest Theatre promises to be
MOST . ear-filling, and undoubtedly
most eye-filling, if you know what
this wooly creature means . , . and
he thinks you do. Crowding out
all other parties for the largest
share of the limelight is the an
nual Neophyte Party this afternoon
that I had made a statement. I
made no such statement.
I had not seen the poem until it
was nrinted in the Tar Heel. I
thought the poem was very good and
jokingly remarked to Mills that I
gave Salter the devil for not sub
mitting it to me for publication in
the Catapult. The gist of my con
versation with Salter was, quote:
"Fine thing, here I beat my brains
out for eopy, and one of my own
boys turns Poet Laureate for the
Tar Heel." Naturally, since the
poem had not been submitted to the
Catapult, I could have no desire to
delete it from the copy.
I did tell Mills that I was run
ning a profile on Salter, but if you
will check my last issue you will
find that it was on sailor Richard
Salter and not on poet Richard
Salter. I can understand how Mills
might have misunderstood my com-
ment, but I feel that before you
print statements in editorials they
should be confirmed by their origi
nators. Very sincerely,
John Graham, Editor.
It is quite possible that I did
misunderstand Editor Graham in
our informal conversation last
week. I did not go to see Graham
to get any information on the
Salter case, and we mentioned the
poem only in a joking mood. When
Graham said that he was carrying
something on Salter in his next is
sue of the Catapult, I naturally
thought that it was the poem since
I knew nothing about the profile.
My apologies go to Graham, Salter
and Morrison for this little mis
understanding. Barron Mills.
To the Faculty and the
Student Body:
In the Tar Heel of May 8, 1945
there appeared an anonymous ar
ticle derogatory to the patriotism of
Dr. Werner P. Friedericch, Asso
ciate Professor of German and Com
parative Literature at the Univer
sity, now on leave of absence for
government service. While the
statements in that article presum
... Car feei
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE PUBLICATIONS UNION
SERVING CIVILIAN AND MILITARY STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
ROBERT MORRISON Editor
BARRON MILLS ...Managing Editor
BILL HIGHT - , Associate Editor
BANKS MEBANE, CHARLES WICKENBERG Editorial Advisers
DAVE KOONCE .... Desk Editor
REPORTERS:
W. H. Hipps. Jr., Pat Kelly. Marianne Browne, Dave Koonce, Dave LilientW VrA Tn,,i,
Marjorie Jordon, Mildred Kresnik, Gertrude Walton. J. C. Lackey. Roy Thorn nln vuiJl
Pearlstine, Angela Hardy. Betty Edwards. Ruth Whiteon, Marrierelie E CUrL
Olive Ann Burns, Catherine Sloan, Peggy Case, Sara Spratt. Jim DilW iWr? P.rr
Ann Thornton. Mary Hill Gaston, Bill Crisp "rker,
CARROLL POPLIN ..JSport, Editor
SPORTS REPORTERS:
Irwin SmaDwood Johnny May
LINDA NOBLES , Society Edit
SOCIETY ASSISTANTS:
Bobbie Wyatt Harry Bates rjlI, . .
BETTIE GAITHER BuMr
OFFICE STAFF:
BiHy Sdiar . n
SALES STAFF: Arthur Budlanjr
Lois Clarke Mary Pieree Johnson Alma Tonne T
Martha Fabon Jane Fairley Ginny FreZfn " T.Al
HARRISON TENNEY Circulation Manager
CIRCULATION STAFF:
Bill Jernigan T w ,
- - Julia Moody
Published Tuesday and Saturday except during vacations. nu,in.Hnn. . ....
Deadline. Thursday an Sunday. Entered as .eeond d SXr"tl?S offlL JFcSZi
Hffl. N. C. under the act f March S. 179. Memher or ASCd NatTAdvf sLSL?l
and tonight at Hogan's Lake. Par
ticipants in the yearly, brawl are
Beta, Zete, DKE, and SAE. The
Pi Phi's and the ADPi's are honor
ing the newly-organized Alpha
Gams next Friday afternoon with
a tea dance.
Congratulations are in order for
the two newest wearers of the
oval pledge pin of Chi Omega . . .
Nancy Pinkston and Kay Allen.
Dr. Wilson Compton, president
of Washington State-College, visit
ed the ATO's this week and had
supper with them Wednesday
night. Dr. Compton, an ATO him
self, is in Chapel Hill attending the
Conference on Research and Re
gional Welfare at which he wa3 a
main speaker.
T. J. Daily let the cat out of the
bag this week by informing this old
goat of the wedding bells that rang
out for her last November 4.
Continuing the monopolizing of
the Annapolising fad this week
end is glamour girl Sexy Legs
Duffo, deserting her Carolina ad
mirers in order to be able to enjoy
a refreshing sail upon the river.
See RAM SEES, page 4.
ably do not represent the Tar Heel's
opinion, since they accuse Dr. Fried
erich of Nazi sympathies, and there
fore demand an answer from those
who are in position to know
Dr. Friederich better than did any
other members of the faculty or
community. Of the undersigned the
first is the Head of the Depart
ment of Germanic Languages, the
second is Professor of Germanic
and Comparative Linguistics and
office-mate of Dr. Friederich for
the past seven years.
In the first place, Dr. Friederich
is by birth and tradition a Swiss,
fundamentally and unalterably a
believer in democracy and the dig
nity of the individual man. He has
never expressed or implied the
least sympathy with Nazi ideology
or methods. Those who wish to
prove this have made reference to
a pamphlet, written by him in 1938,
entitled "Political Problems of
Present-Day Europe." The phrases
which they have excerpted at ran
dom and out of context are an at
tempt to smear the real import of
the writing, and even so they fall
ridiculously flat However, from
that same pamphlet, certain other
statements show exactly the au
thor's feelings about the Nazis,
e.g., on page 19, with reference to
the Nazi demands concerning the
treatment of German minorities in
other lands, we read: ". . . it seems
incredible that Germany should
make such an ado about alleged '
maltreatments of these minorities,
if she herself is unwilling to grant
the barest humane and decent treat
ment to the racial, religious and
political minorities in her own
country." And on page 20, after
condemning Mussolini and the fas
cists, he says:
"On the other hand, Fascism is
doubtless more palatable than Na
tional Socialism. Fascists at least
aim only at political centralization,
while National Socialists, with a
.thoroughness that is typically Ger
man, go much further than that,
forcing not only the political but
also the spiritual man under the
yoke of their conception of philos
See LETTERS, page 4