Saturday, AprU 3, 1965
Racial Calm Deceptive
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DTH Editorial Page .
Opinions of the Daily Tar Heel ate expressed in its editorials. Letters and
columns, covering a wide range of Views, reflect the personal opinions of
their authors.
I
The, Law And The Vote
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has an
nounced an intensive Negro voter, regis
, tration push for 120 Black Belt counties,
all of which will be visited by volunteer
workers for 10 - Week periods during
this summer. As expected, some North
Carolina counties are on the list.
Although Dr. King failed to announce
which Tar Heel counties will be includ
ed in the massive drive, speculation is
that any of trie 34 North Carolina coun
ties which come under the provisions
of the proposed voting rights bill might
be targets.
Many of these counties have high
Negro populations (40 per cent or
more), and all had voter participation
rates lower than 50 per cent for the. 1964
elections. They are vulnerable points in
the state's record of race relations, and
Negro voting rights, are, or have been,
question marks iri some of them.
But now a bigger question mark
looms on the horizon of summer: what
. will happen if the proposed, drive . does
take place?
The answer, hopefully, is that Negro
voter registration indeed, all regis
tration will proceed in an orderly
fashion.
North Carolina, like most of her
Southern neighbors, has a history dotted
with "grandfather clauses, " white-only
primaries, and similar discriminatory
voting practices. Even so progressive a
politician as Gov. Charles Aycock found
disenfrancisement of the Negro expedi
ent in launching the state over the
threshold of the twentieth century.
But in recent years, scholars such as
V, O. Key and UNC's own James Pro
thro have pointed out North Carolina's
honest and straightforward extension of
voting rights to Negro citizens and
the extension has come without agita
tion or the explosion of a Selma.
Thus, we neither expect nor encour
age a Selma if the volunteers come this
summer. North Carolina's citizens have
a traditional respect for the law. The
law says, as it has said for almost 100
years, that. Negroes should be allowed
to vote. . .;. ...... .
North Carolina is obeying, and will
continue to obey, that law.
Awards Of The Week That Was . . .
MEN OF THE WEEK: The organizers
of the Fine Arts Festival, whose long
hours of hard work have produced one
of the finest programs in Carolina his
tory. .. . . ; -: ' f.,
LIZARD OF THE WEEK: Anybody
too cheap to contribute to the Campus
Chest.
DICK STUART AWARD: To the Col
gate shortstop who managed to commit
two errors on the same play during an
18 - 3 loss to the Tar Heels Tuesday.
ZENO PONDER CITATION: To the
person who surreptitiously cast 10 extra
Votes for a legislative candidate after
tions Board and the Constitutional
Council into chaos.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES CITATION:
To Indian handicraft stores in Santa Fe,
N. M., which have most of their wares
made in Japan.
GIFT OF THE WEEK: Gov. George
Wallace of Alabama met with civil
fights leaders this week j presumably
said nothing of consequence, and then
presented each with an autographed
photo of himself on the way out.
FACT OF THE WEEK: The longest
stretch of straight railroad track in the
United States is on the Atlantic Coast
Line between Warsaw and Wilmington,
N. C. It is 39 miles in length. .
CRIME DOES NOT PAY REMIND
ER, or THAT'S NO BULL AWARD: To
Charlene Abernathy, 43, a lady bull
fighter, who was arrested Monday in
Los Angeles and charged with stealing
(you guessed it) a pair of toreador
pants.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AWARD
or the "IT AIN'T ABSTRACT" CITA
TION: To WUNC-TV, which will air a
course in basic concrete technology, pre
sumably to help suburbanites build back
yard patios. , " .. .
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: (by Jose
Torres, newly - crowned light heavy
weight champion) Jose Torres is a
great fighter.' : : "
SPRING IS HERE CITATION, or the
"BUSTIN' OUT ALL OVER" AWARD:
To the courageous Carolina coed who
stopped traffic in Chapel Hill by ap
pearing on Franklin Street in a pair of
Bermuda shorts so tight they must have
been left from last year.
Computerized Grading Rates An 4F'
In a day when students are rioting in
California, picketing iri Brooklyn and
demonstrating .; in Kansas against the
computer university and depersonaliza
tion of the teaching process, a professor
at the University of Connecticut is figur
ing out a way to grade essays by com
puters.. t
! One wonders if our distinguished
scholars are reading the papers.
Professor Ellis B. Page, the wizard
in question, feels that computer grading
would free "teachers 'who would rather
do research and smoke their pipes than
correct endless exam papers."
While-we would dare to admit that
72 Years of Editorial Freedom
Fred Seely, Hugh Stevens, co-editors; Mike
Yopp, Ernie McCrary, managing editors;
Pete Wales, associate editor; Larry Tarle- j
ton, Sports editor; Fred Thomas, night j
editor; Mary Ellison Strother, wire edi-
tor; John Greenbacker, Kerry Sipe, Alan
Banov, staff writers; Pete Gammons, asst. j
sports editor, Perry McCarty, Pete Cross, j
Bill Lee, Tom Haney, sports writers; Jock i
Luuterer, photographer. Chip Barnard,
cartoonist; Jack Harrington, bus. mgr.;
Betsy Gray, asst. bus. mgr.; Woody Sobel,
ad. mgr.; Jim Peddicord, asst. ad. mgr.;
Tom Clark, subscription mgr.; John Evans, j
circulation mgr.; Dick Baddour, Stuart
Ficklen, Jim Potter, salesmen.
Second Class postage paid at tfie post office in
Chapel Hill, N. C Subscription rates: $4.50 per
semester: $S per year. Printed by the Chapel
ffifl Publishing Co., Inc. The Associated Press !
Is entitled exclusively to the use for republic
tion of all local news printed in this newspaper j
as wen as all AP news mspaicnes.
P
1
n
such teachers may exist, we would ques
tion the desirability of encouraging the
breed. - '
Page's method is to evaluate style
from punctuation patterns, word length
and frequency, sentence complexity and
number of uncommon words. .
Repetition of common words and
cliches would be negative points while
words like "moreover" and "however"
are, according to Page, evidence of the
"more mature writer." To us they sound
like verbosity, but then we aren't PhD's
Page is presently trying to figure put
a way to grade content. He feels that it
I will be relatively simple to get a com
l puter to imitate a grader's standards
I after studying a number of his papers.
Again we would reluctantly admit
the possibility of imitating certain grad-
ers standards, and again we would
I question the desirability of doing so.
The obvious extension of the logic
! proposed by Newsweek is to have stu
! dents start smoking pipes and program
computers to take their exams.
Page does have a point. Exams are,
i in many cases, more trouble than they're
I worth, and grading of essay questions is
I often inconsistent and inaccurate.
! The solution lies not with comput-
ers, but with a decrease in pipe-smoking
and a corresponding increase in time
and attention paid by professors to
exam-giving and grading.
Exams are a serious business for the
! student in an increasingly grade-conscious
world. There's no reason why
they shouldn't be taken a little more
seriously by professors as well.
Pete Wales
IE
difors Mil On Viet K
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Editors, The Tar Heel:
The editorial comments in
Thursday's DTH, beginning with
Fred Seely's Notebook, and con
tinuing through the remarks on
the Ku Klux Klan and the Viet
Nam situation, were without ex
ception misinformed, misguided
and irresponsible. That their
authors may lack the informa
tion to form more responsible
views is no excuse, since they
are in a position to inform
themselves and learn the prop
er use of logic," and indeed are
under an , obligation to do so
if they take seriously their po
sitions as editors.
Putting aside the Notebook
for a moment, let's consider the
editorials on page two (Pete
Wales, by the way, is exempted
from this criticism, since he
seems to have a well - trained
and consistent - sense of respon
sibility and objectivity).
The qutseoin of whether
HUAC "can prove its Value to
Congress," especially by inves
tigating the KKK, is at best
Very doubtful. Did the author of
that remark see Tuesday's New
York Times editorial comment
on this topic? ' -
"We are : equally ; dubious
about the projected investiga
tion of the Ku Klux Klan by
the House Un - American Ac
tivities Committee. Everyone
already knows all that it is nec
essary to know about the Klan,
which is that its racist notions
are nonsense and its members
are bigoted riffraff. Even if an
inquiry were needed, the Com
mittee, with its staff bloated by
over - paid time - servers, has
never demonstrated any inves
tigative competence. It could
only serve as a conduit for ma
terial developed by the F.B.I.
"If legislation is needed to
control the Klan, the Justice
Department can prepare it with
out the bumbling intervention
of this discredited committee,
which should have been abol
ished long ago." (Times, march
30,1965.)
It is significant, I think, that
these comments (note the
"equally") were the final para
graphs of a statement opposing
Dr. Martin Luther King's pro
posed boycott of Alabama. The
Times considered their attitude
so self - evidently true that they
gave -it as an afterthought, I
presume. .
This,' actually, is a minor is
sue. HUAC is not likely to do
much harm in this case, even
if it does not do much good.
But the statements at the
bottom Of the editorial column
in Thursday's DTH demonstrate
a truly deplorable lack of un
derstanding ,or responsibility.
They said: 4 - ."'
"The bombing of our embas-sy-in
Saigon cannot go unan
swered . . . If w7e get out of
Hello, Deah Long?"
Southeast Asia, we will lose
face not only in the eyes of the
world, but in the eyes of our
own nation ... If we must
bomb Hanoi as a reply, let us
make it a good bombing . . .
The war in Viet Nam is truly a
'dirty war but America is on
trial. We cannot let a small,
backward nation stare us
down."
Let us see again what the
Times had to say on the topic.
"The problem that Viet Nam
represents is not going to be
solved by military means. The
solution lies in the political,
economic and social fields .'. . .
Sooner or later, negotiation will
again be feasible, if the ground
is prepared with some other
seed than bombs, and it should
be prepared now.
. . to repay the Saigon
atrocity with force . . . requires
no - thought, no skill, no diplo
macy, no understanding jnst
power. It would not bring about
Hanoi's unconditional surrend
er. A serious peace offensive
might bring the desired results.
Its preparation is urgent and
essential and should take prece
dence over the planning, now
evidently under way, for exten
sion of the war." (Times, March
31.)
What seems to lie behind the
Tar Heel's attitude that we
"cannot let a small, backward
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nation stare us down," is the
assumption that it doesn't mat
ter Why we are in Viet Nam,
or Whether our presence there
and our behavior in this war
has been morally justifiable or
humane; and that we must nev
er admit our guilt, must never
admit we've been, wrong, must
never back down.
Until this attitude is aban
doned, by the editors of the
DTH, by our government lead
ers, and by world leaders in
general, until we dedicate our
selves to the active pursuit of
peace and the adherence to un
contestable moral truths, we
will never be the great Christian
nation we oretend to be. We will
never be the rational world we
pretend to be, and we will never
be free of the spectre of atomic
war and utter annihilation.
I have saved my remarks on
Seelv's Notebook for last, be
cause it seems . to me that,
whereas the pieces on the KKK
and Viet , Nam were perhaps
merely ill - informed and poor
ly reasoned, his remarks dem
onstrate what I can regard only
as bigotry, a profound irrespon
sibility and lack of a sense of
shame.
The technique of innuendo,
misstatement, and indirect in
sult is not new in the pages of
this year's DTH, but I must
marvel at the gall of a man
who will sign his name to such
an attack as this one for the
article is an attack, of the most
unorincioled kind
Seely begins by calling Quin-.
ton Baker and his part v "latter
day carpetbaggers." The label
is absurd, hut serves the pur
pose of establishing the intend
ed preconception of sinister mo
tives for the project. He pro
ceeds tamely enough for several
paragraphs, but finally, having
set uo his target, closes in for
the kill. Thus:
"However, we" do have our
doubts. For one thing, we sus
pect the 40 who show up will
be top - heavy with people who
believe the South is somewhere
near the end of the world, and
that whippines and lynchings oc
cur as regularly as barbecues
The bold type is mine, and
it is solely his "suspicions"
that Seely is concerned with
communicating. It does credit
at least to his common sense
that he presents a few genuine
facts about the project, since
he apparently knows only what
was reported in the Daily Cardi
nal. The conclusion I draw1 from
the summary of the Cardinal
article is that. the project (its
name speaks well for it) will
do a very good job of inform
ing the students on conditions
in this state. Even if it can't
change the participants' per
sonal convictions, it will at
least provide them with a few
facts, for, example, what North
Carolina's Negro students think
of the situation.
That seems to irk Seely. n,;t
the stated goal of the project is
to "see what effect this ex peri
ence has on prevailing alti
tudes" attitudes, I presume,
towards the Negro, and toward?
his situation in North Carolir.i
and the South.
Seely tells us that North Caro
lina is "a state which is proi, !
of its progress in human under
standing, a state which has
moved with true 'deliberate
speed' and which today can
boast of excellent human under
standing between the races."
- Fine. If this is true, What
better place for those Northern
students to discover this than
among Negro students, who are,
after all, most vitally con
cerned? If the Negro students can tes
tify to North Carolina's prog
ress and human understanding,
then no further testimony uin
be necessary; and if they -an
not, then no government offi
cial will have one word worth
listening to.
As for the implication that
the group plans to "tromp" on
farmers' lands, it is so absurd
I can only hope Seely had to
laugh at it himself.
The problem of "hurr.an un
derstanding between the races'
has not been solved in North
Carolina. We are in a period of
deceptive calm, and can easily
delude ourselves that we've re
solved our differences.
But "understanding" is not
enough, even if we had it, and
this state will have to pa?s
through severe trials before it
can afford to boast of "progress
in human understanding," and
before the Negro has assumed
his rightful place as a full citi
zen with equal rights and full
respect from all his fellow
Americans. The civil rights movement
here was effectively broken, to
the disgrace of this town ard
University, and it will be
months or years before it re
gains its vigor and power.
But the day will come, hope
fully, when articles like Seely's
will be only laughable, and true
understanding and brotherhood
has been achieved.
William M. Senkus
510 E. Franklin St.
Note: I am a student of this
University, a resident of ihte
state, have never met Baker,
and quote from the New York
Times because it states what
I believe and, at least anion;
certain members of our intelli
gentsia, enjoys a reputation for
being the most intelligent, welS
informed, and responsible new'
paper in this country.
I am also a citizen of the
United States, and proud of it.
" It is primarily this pride, and
the desire to see my country
live up to its ideals, which
prompts me to write so severe
a letter. I apologize if I have
offended anyone.
Gad Is Humane
Bui .-Nauseating
::;Fiin Hit
4QiestV Should
Be Publicized
Editors, The Tar Heel:
"Give Generously" proclaims
the banner in Y-Court. But give
to what? Should I give my dol
lar to run a "carnival"? Should
I make my dollar one of . 2,400
needed to pay for someone
else's (probably) Buick?
Should I help pay for a num
The functions of the . Campus
Chest are varied but unknown.
(1) The Campus Chest should
inform the campus of the work
and the need of the institutions
to which the money will go. I
doubt that one per cent of the
students know even the number
or name of those institutions.
(2) The Campus Chest pub
licity should generate feelings
of empathy and responsibility
toward areas of true need The
only feelings I have noticed
have been the rather dubious
anticipation of winning a big
blue Buick and the diligent
anxiety of whether this year's
campaign will "make a good
showing.". s
(3) The money should be col
lected through an honest and
smcere program of emotive ed
ucation, not by the devious apol
ogies now being ineffectively
employed. ,
Until the "Give Generously"
banner ceases to be absurd and
- obscured by the hypocrisy of
this campaign, don't exnect mv
"contribution" and do?'f 2y to
tell me how "idealistic" Amer
icans are.
Chip Sbarpe
220 Ehringhaus
Editors Note: The author ap
noTiHv mktpil our editorial
Wednesday explaining the work
of the World University Service
(WUS), one of the organizations
Campus Chest raises funds for.
Cycles Target
Of Discrimination
Editors, The Tar Heel:
Herein do I propose a demon
stration by all UNC motorcycl
ists against alleged discrimina
tion against motorcycles by the
school and town. I will not elab
orate on the charges, but on
the demonstration.
First a Honda 50 will be sent
to Luci Baines with a note for
her to ask her daddy to furnish
five million troops with heavy
artillery to block off the road
from, Raleigh to Chapel Hill. ,
The cyclists will then assem
ble in Raleigh, presenting a pe
tition demanding parking ramps
on top of every building on cam
pus. . ' . : 1 I
The entire procession will
then ride to Chapel Hill, where
a "ride-in" win be held in
South Building. The procession
will be led by a man from De
troit who will leave his family
to support our5a"sedIS
be accompanied by the USS
Roosevelt and a fighter squad
ron from the 7th fleet. '
After the cycles are in South
Building the air will be let out
of the tires, and the cycles will
go limp. Naturally, to gain na
tional support, a good impres
sion of our cause must be pre
sented by Time magazine.
This can be done by running
a police car up the flagpole, re
enacting the Boer War, and
Entertainment will be furnished
with Flamingo dancers on top
of Wilson library. Hecklers will
be furnished , with grenades and
land mines.
Jack Westall
226 Craige
Satire On Reeb
Lacked Humor
Editors, The Tar Heel:
Every "satirical" point which
David Rothman makes in his
article about Rev. Reeb has
been seriously set forth by
serious men. Doubtlessly the
men who killed Reeb were a
part of this group.
His steam - roller approach
to such a delicate and danger
ous problem is at best distaste
ful. He may have meant well,
but his article was so poorly
written that it was extremely
negatively received in the Negro
community.
His lack of experience in the
civil rights movement has left
him with little understanding of
the problems facing the Negro.
He may laugh at the men who
killed Rev. Reeb, but I pray
he laughs alone.
Charles Miller
407 W. Franklin St.
By ART BUCHWALD
The New York Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON I dropped
ver to the Pentagon last week
and all seemed to be normal
except everyone was wearing
a gas mask. I proceeded to the
office of a colonel I knew and'
found him on the phone saying,
"But we're not calling it gas,
George. We're calling it benevo
lent incapacitators. How the hell
do I know how to spell it?"
He hung up. "I guess you
want to know about the gas,
too." -
I nodded my head.
"Well, it's quite harmless.
Evjery country has it, and it's
been used in riots in some of
the most civilized places on the
globe."
"The publicity's been very
bad on it," I said.
"I tell you it's harmless. Look,
I'll take some myself." He
picked up an aerosol can and
sprayed some in the room.
There, you see!" But in a
minute tears were rolling down
his cheeks. "Nobody under
stands us," he sobbed. "All
we're trying to do is prevent
casualties and be as humane
as possible and everyone crit
icizes." "Would you like my handker
chief?" I asked.
'Thank you," he said, trying
to get control of himself. But
the tears wouldn't stop. 4This
is a tough war," he cried, dab
bing his eyes, "and we have to
use whatever we can to win it.
Isn't it better than strafing vil
lages and dropping napalm on
the natives?" .
, "Control yourself, Colonel,"
I said, as a few tears started
rolling down my cheeks. "I'm
not criticizing anybody. You
guys know more than we do
about the situation, but there's
only one thing I've got to ask
you."
"What's that?" be sniffled,
"Can I have my handkerchief
back?"
I started blubbering in earn
est.
The colonel's secretary, hear
ing the noise, came into the
office and immediately burst
into tears. "Oh, Colonel, I'm
so unhappy."
"It's all right, Elaine," the
colonel said, his shoulders
shaking. "Everything's going to
be all right."
I placed the handkerchief in
my mouth and then I sahV'W'.s
Washington aware that you were
going to use the gas out in
South Viet Nam on the Viet
Cong?"
The colonel was about to an
swer when his face went gr en
and he reached for the waste
paper basket.
"The colonel's sick," the sec
retary cried hysterically. "Oh,
somebody give the colonel some
water."
I was about to get some wa
ter when the nausea hit me.
"I think I'm getting sick,
too," I cried and grabbed the
colonel's hat.
When the colonel saw what I
was doing, he started crying
again. "My new hat, my ne v
hat, my new hat."
The secretary rushed out rf
the office to get water for both
of us. By this time the colonel
had his head hanging out the
window and I was rolling on
the floor holding my stomach.
The commotion caused a gen
eral to walk in. "Dammit, Col
onel," he shouted. "Can't you
brief these reporters without" all
this noise?"
But in 30 seconds the general
was also crying and his aide
came in and helped him out cT
the room as he said softly, "It's
all right, General, it's going to
be all right."
In about a half-hour every
thing was back to normal. The
colonel was seated at his
desk and I was sitting in 3
chair. "As I was saying," he
said briskly, "this is a non
lethal type of gas and we have
?reason to apologize for using
4