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University Daily Kansan
By Larry Hazelrigg
. . . Books in Review . . .
JOHN RIFFE OF THE STEELWORKERS—AMERICAN LABO.
STATESMAN, by William Grogan. Coward-McCann. $4.50.
From all outward appearances, this book is a biography of an important man. But it soon becomes apparent to the reader that the biographical sketch is only a poor attempt to cover the real theme of the book—Moral Re-Armament.
This device may do the book of Moral Re-Armament more harm than good, because there are many people in the United States and the rest of the world who never heard of John Riffe.
William Grogan begins with Mr. Riffe's early life and shows how he became an important cog in the Steel Workers Organizing Committee. It was his job to organize workers into unions "to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing." He survived many labor-management battles in doing his work.
But the account of his work is used to show how his family life became a battle because of his absence from home for long periods. John Riffe also learned that he hated all employers and that he was using underhanded methods to get his way with them.
When Mr. Riffe was introduced to Moral Re-Armament, he became aware of the problems Communism placed on the world. He saw his struggles of organizing steelworkers become only a small part of this greater struggle.
This is the stage for the appearance of Moral Re-Armament, "a movement to heal hatred and division between men, races and nations through revolutionary changes in the motives of men."
John Riffe and his second wife, Rose, attended a conference of Moral Re-Armament workers in California and met the founder of the ideology, Dr. Frank Buchman. Mr. Riffe said later that after the first meal with Dr. Buchman, he "was never the same." He put the ideology to work and apologized to people he had fought with, and they in turn sat down to discuss difficulties with him.
The final chapters are concerned with his fight against communism in labor through Moral Re-Armament until his health began to decline.
In the rest of the book, author Grogan shows Moral Re-Arma-
ment's influence on everything John Riffe did. He and his wife slowly closed the gap between them, although there was some backsliding.
Mr. Riffe went on to become a force behind the merger of the AFL and the CIO in 1955, although it meant the end of his position as executive vice president of the CIO.
Mr. Grogan makes Mr. Riffe's life seem unimportant as the reader reflects and realizes that it was only a device to show the more important task facing the world—the fight for peace. This has a tendency to weaken the book, both as a biography and as an exponent of Moral Re-Armament.
The many examples of repetition and jumps from idea to idea also curtail the effect the book might have. The average reader does not want one idea pounded into the ground.
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By Frances Grinstead Associate Professor of Journalism
ADVENTURES OF A BIOGRAPHER, by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Little, Brown & Co., $4.
Many writers have told us of their successes; even of fugitive motions in the beginning which proved wrong and were later replaced by better efforts, to ultimate triumph. I know of no one but Mrs. Bowen who has described in detail the long, discouraging trail of circumstance leading to rejection of several prospected ideas for books. This experience happens all the time to authors, but most of them keep mum about trial balloons which burst.
Most recent biography among five such volumes by Mrs. Bowen is "The Lion and the Throne." life story of Sir Edward Coke, great English lawyer of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, whose decisions, opinions, and leadership in the law potently affect all juris-prudence today. It was only after months of labor on Carlyle, Milton, Cromwell, Bacon, Newton, and successive rejection of each that she settled upon Coke as a subject and began to devote to him the years of work which led to her book's completion.
Anyone planning or hoping sometime to put together a book—fiction, non-fiction, poetry or a textbook—would do well to read with attention Mrs. Bowen's chapters on "The Search for a Subject," "Trial and Error" and "A Subject Is Found." He will find himself less complacent about putting typewriter to paper on a longought draft.
The months, even years, given to the rejected subjects were not wasted. She found that she understood Coke's period and the England that bore him all the better for having used much time and eyesight on the lives of those men she did not write about.
The writer of the dust jacket blurb, with customary unconcern, calls this a volume of essays. The Atlantic did publish two of the chapters as separate articles, and portions of another which originally appeared in Harper's are included here. Actually, Mrs. Bowen's life as biographer is intimately and informally detailed in a continuous running narrative of her experience as a researcher and writer since she produced "Beloved Friend," the Techikowsky volume. That one and "Free Artist," on Anton and Nicholas Rubenstein, were but an antelope to her award-winning ones on two Americans: "Yankee From Olympus" (Justice Holmes) and "John Adams and the American Revolution."
Mrs. Bowen was a University of Kansas visitor and speaker at the time she was working on the biography of the second president of the United States. Those who heard her then, about ten years ago, remarked with interest the effect in that book of the research and organization she described to us while she was working them out. Some of the same information about her methods appeared in a short book, "The Writing of Biography." The present volume is more complete and entertaining.
Sixteen midshipman officers have been appointed to lead the KU Navy ROTC unit spring semester.
Jerry K. Brown, Kansas City, Mo., senior, has been named midshipman captain and battalion commander of the KU Navy ROTC unit for spring semester.
16 Midshipmen Officers Named
Sixteen midshipman officers also have been appointed.
All of the officers are seniors and were appointed to the positions based on academic standing in Naval Science courses and in aptitude as determined by instructors of Naval Science and drill instructors.
Larry Schooley, Kiowa, is the battalion executive officer with the rank of midshipman commander. Harry J. Reitz, Kansas City, Mo., is operations officer with the rank of midshipman lieutenant commander.
--it means that they are married and the midshipman will be disenrolled Monday morning for breaking the non-marriage clause of his contract.
Other officer appointees are:
Other officer appointed:
Midshipman lieutenant-Fred Benson, Independence, supply officer;
William Reams, Melvern, adjutant; Keith Ott, Kingfisher, Okla., 'A Company commander; Earl (Norb) Garrett, Olathe, 'B' Company commander.
--it means that they are married and the midshipman will be disenrolled Monday morning for breaking the non-marriage clause of his contract.
Navy ROTC Plans Ring Dance To Follow U.S. Navy Tradition
A ceremony following the traditions set by the United States Naval Academy will highlight the annual Navy Ring Dance March 12, in the Kansas Union ballroom.
The dance, sponsored by the Midshipmen Hawkwatch society, will feature The Jays', a Kansas City band.
The dance is held in honor of junior and senior midshipmen receiving their class rings. A 10-foot replica of the ring is one of the props used in the observance of the standard traditions.
The midshipman ties his ring around the neck of his date with a ribbon. He then removes the ring from his date's neck before the arch of the ring and she dips it in the "water-of-the-Seven-Seas."
The two move under the ring and she places the ring on the midshipman's finger and appropriately congratulates him.
Tradition governs the order in which the midshipman and his date leave the arch of the giant ring. If the two leave the ring at the rear,
If the midshipman leaves the ring first, it signifies that the two are engaged. If his date leaves first, it means that they are pinned, and if they leave side-by-side, it means that it is just another date.
The huge ring was constructed by midshipmen in 1951 and is a replica of the class ring the juniors will be receiving. The ring will be in the center of the ballroom surrounded by flowers.
The cry of misquote comes most often from those who see their silliness and stupidity in print.—James Wrightson.