PAGE 2
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JANUARY 16, 1945
0 4
The Battalion
STUDENT BI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Texas A. & M. College
■ The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas and the City of College Station is published twice weekly, and circulated on
Tuesday and Friday afternoon.
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at College Station, Texas, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870. >
Subscription rate $3.00 per school year. Advertising rates upon request.
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City,
Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Member
Plssocioted Gr>lle6icite Press
Office, Room 5, Administration Building. Telephone 4-5444.
Calvin Brumley Editor
Dick Goad Managing Editor
Alfred Jefferson Managing Editor
S. L. Inzer Sports Editor
Renyard W. Canis Backwash Editor
R. L. Bynes Intramural Reporter
Teddy Bernstein Amusement Editor
Reporters: Eli Barker, B. J. Blankenship, S. K. Adler, R. L. Bynes, L. H. Calla
han, James Dillworth, Ernest Berry, Teddy Bernstein.
Student Reporters: Henry Ash, Louie Clarke, W. M. Cornelius, Edwin Mayer, John
Mizell, Harold Phillips, Damon Tassos, J. C. Long.
Missing a Chance . .. Training Plus
It was not long ago that people all over the United
States were planning victory-in-Europe celebrations. The
rapid advance of Allied armies through France set off rep-
recussions that resulted in waves of optimism that swept
the United States from city to city, from town to town,
and from farm to farm. Victory, sweet victory and wild
celebrations seemed to be the promise for the morrow.
Then the Germans opened their counter offensive. With
German precision they rolled the allied armies back, cut
their supply lines, crushed their tanks, captured their ar
tillery, and bled and killed American soldiers. The waves of
optimism were retarded but still they washed on the shores
of American thinking with hope for an early victory.
Victory may come early and unexpectedly. The Ger
mans may be weaker than their recent display of power
indicated or their daring thrust into allied positions may
cost them their last strength but there is no way that Amer
icans can be positive whether the Germans are still power
ful. Certainly they give very little indication of gasping for
breath. They do not fight like a nation on its knees. It
looks like they are standing up and slugging it out with the
allies and winning their share of battles.
Infantrymen, artillerymen, airmen, engineers, and ev
ery other fighting branch of the war effort is calling for
more explosives with which to blast the enemy. American
industry is stepping up production once again to meet this
new demand for munitions.
Selective Service has raised its quotas and there is
strong feeling in favor of re-examining all those previously
turned down for military service. The United States needs
more troops. They need more men.
Calling more men into the service is one method of
increasing the size of the armed forces. There is another
method to increase the striking power of American fight
ing men quickly. Speeded up training puts the soldier in the
place where he is needed. Speed ups in training have some
what the same effect as an increase in total manpower. The
army has done this but how have they accomplished it
successfully ?
The army and navy both have improved and perfected
training methods but it still takes a certain amount of time
to train the men for the job. Both the army and navy are
using another method that has the effect of speeding up
training. Young boys of pre-induction age enlist in special
reserves and enter college and all the while are under mil
itary supervision, discipline and training.
A. & M. was founded under laws that required it to
instruct students in military science and tactics. As A. &
M. grew its reputation grew as a center of civilian military
training. In World War I soldiers from Aggieland carved
an everlasting niche for A. & M. in military tradition. In
World War II they have made this niche deeper and carved
several more in which the Spirit of Aggieland burns bright
ly.
Other schools have military training. Other schools
equal and surpass A. & M.’s academic standards. Other
schools have more difficult entrance requirement than A.
& M. Yet A. & M. men continue to compile a war record
without equal.
Milton said, “I call therefore a complete and general
education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillful
ly and magnanimously all the offices, both private and pub
lic, of peace and war.” That has been A. & M.’s goal. A. &
M. has fulfilled that definition, but why? What is it that
makes an A. & M. man outstanding?
Many have defined it as an intangible something. They
called it something that could not be seen by the casual ob
server. They are right. It is something that the visitor
seldom sees. It is something that has been driven under
ground by an antiquated statute which says, “No student
of any normal school of Texas, or of any other state
educational institution of this state, shall engage in what
is commonly known and recognized as hazing, or encourage,
aid or assist any other person thus offending.”
Bodily injury is definitely something that A. & M.
could not be proud of. But hazing is further defined. “Any
wilful act by one student alone or acting with others, di
rected against any other student of such educational insti
tution, done for the purpose of submitting such student,
made the subject of the attack committed, to indignity or
humiliation, or without his consent.” Careful analysis of the
two quoted statements will convince the impartial reader
that nearly any action by one student toward another can
be construed as hazing.
Every semester A. & M. has an epidemic of discipline
cases resulting from what is commonly referred to as en
forcement of underclassmen duties. It is submitted that
these duties which underclassmen at A. & M. are requested
to do are that intangible something that has made A. &
M. men stand out in every war and in every year of peace
since the A. & M. College of Texas graduated its first class.
Perhaps it is time that the Texas State statute on haz
ing be re-examined and a definite definition constructed so
that it can be decided whether or not it will be possible for
future A. & M. graduates to have that intangible some
thing that has made the Aggies just a bit better than other
graduates.
A . & M. trains military men. Every bit of training
that a man has before he goes into the army helps the army
train him much faster and speed him to the spot where he
is needed. Aggies have always had that preliminary train
ing plus. The plus resulted from that intangible something.
A. & M. has dedicated itself to the war effort. If A. & M.
and the people of Texas whom it represents do away with
that intangible something they may be missing a chance
to bring victory a few days closer.
Backwash: An agitatiorf resulting (rom some action or occurence.”—Webster.
By Renyard
W. Canis
S 0 MANY beautiful girls
here over last weekend calls to
mind the various tests of beauty.
M6re than a thousand years ago
a Persian king set up 27 points
as standard requirements for his
court beauties. The points are:
“Three white: the skin, the
teeth, the hands; three black: the
eyes,the eye lashes, the eyebrows;
three red: the lips, the checks, the
Renyard
nails; three long: the ..body, ..the
hair, the hands; three short: the
ears, the teeth, the legs; three
broad: the bosom, the forehead,
the space between the eyebrows;
three full: the lips, the arms, the
calves; three small: the waist, the
hands, the feet; three thin: the
fingers, the hair, the thighs.”
Have the standards changed
much? If pin-up pictures can be
taken as an indication of the
trend it takes a long legged girl
to be beautiful .Then too, it was
surprising that the old Perisan
king required red fingernails. It
is reported that Cleopatra painted
hers green. Women wouldn’t be
women without paint.
That old Persian king neglected
to record just how he wanted these
various requirements put together.
Ask any Aggie and he’ll say that
is the most important thing.
Ring Sidelights
C ONGRATULATIONS on the
fine Ring Dance are in order for
the committees of the Class of ’46.
It was one of the best ever.
Especially good was the impres
sive program just after the ring
ceremony. The Singing Cadets
really did a swell job of bringing
the old Aggie sentiment up into
a fellow’s eyes. Their rendition of
the ‘Twelfth Man” was unusual
and gratifying.
Bob Kidd, better known as Pop
provided an interesting sidelight
in the ring. For some reason, may
be his date was late getting to A.
& M., Pop was late to the dance.
So he would have to wait another
year to go through the ring the
seniors stopped the dance and
gathered around to watch. What
they hadn’t counted on was Pop
taking as muc htime to go through
as the rest of the class.
Most amazing are the contort-
tions that these freshmen and other
jitterbugs go through on the dance
floor. Saturday night at the coi’ps
dance there was a little fish danc
ing with a little girl in a fuschia
(red to men) sweater and gray
skirt. All these guys wearing sup
ports under their eyes today are
wearing the slings on the eyeballs
because they all “bugged” out
watching the fish and fuschia
dance.
One fellow described his sensa
tions going through the senior
ring. ‘While waiting in line I got
an enormous charge watching the
other couples but when it came
time for me to go through the
ring I was nervous as heck. Then
when we started I felt like turn
ing around and going the other
way. But when we got in the ring
—ah yes—I forgot everything ex
cept the girl and what she was sup
posed to do to me. Wow!
“After the ceremony she told
me that she got a crick in her
neck while in the ring. I sez, sure
enough. Yes, she says, I thought
that I was supposed to kiss you
instead of you kissing me’. At that
I crawled back under the sofa.
That is where I ran into Stanley
Knight playing “Don’t Fence Me
In.”
Cassanova Aggie
S OME AGGIE, he won’t let his
name be printed, reports that he
was almost pickled this past week
end. He had a date down for the
dance. Thursday he got a letter
from a girl in Austin asking him
to come down to be with her. Fri
day a letter came from the one in
Dallas asking him to come up. His
Bryan girl isn’t speaking to him
any more because he didn’t ask
her to the dance. Yesterday a buddy
told him that he saw another girl
in Dajlas hoping to see him.
Now this guy is bleeding be
cause he didn’t hear from Houston
or Ft. Worth. If they all ever find
out about every body.
:: As The World Turns ::
By Dr. A1 B. Nelson
The present smokescreen being
put out by government propaganda
agencies has a double purpose,
first, to take the mind of the
American people off of the recent
campaign promises and slogans and
off of the ques
tion of responsi
bility for the re
cent reverses on
the European
front and, second,
to try to throw
the responsibility
for said reverses
upon the so-call
ed complacency
of the American
people.
The man-power
shortage propaganda loosed upon
the general public since the No
vember election is a definite part
of the above campaign and is pro
ducing a vigorous reaction from
many well informed persons who
ask some very pointed questions.
Why, if the man-power shortage is
as serious as the propagandists
assert, does the government con
tinue to coddle the union labor
Nelson
racketeers by preserving the forty
hour week when the laboring men
of England have been working
much longer hours for years. The
mere lengthening of the work week
to forty-eight hours would be
equal to the addition of twenty
per cent more men on the war
time production lines. This blind
ness to reality is typical of the
bungling labor policies which were
largely responsible for the fall of
France in the year 1940.
The army continues to occupy
seven of the Montgomery Ward
retail stores in the north and east
where army men sell goods over
the counter, take in money owed
the firm, and write checks on the
Montgomery Ward bank account.
If the man-power shortage is as
acute as officials seem to think
the army of occupation in the
Montgomery Ward plants could be
used to advantage in reinforcing
some desperately fighting unit in
Belgium or on Luzon.
Some interesting headlines :
Twelve hundred American war
prisoners to be exchanged for an
equal number of Germans, the ex
change to take place in Switzer
land . . . Senator Burton K. Wkeel-
er of Montana objects strenuously
to the proposed appointment of a
southerner to the Interstate Com
merce Commission in the place of
Commissioner Mahaffie who has
consistently opposed lowering the
southern freight rates to an equal
ity with those in the north. . .
Sweden has at last agreed to cut
out all trade with Germany. . . .
Turkey has agreed to permit ship
ping to carry war supplies to the
Russians through the Dardanelles.
California Science
Academy Discovers New
Way to Make Fake Ear
Frank Tose, late chief of the ex
hibits departments at the Califor
nia Academy of Sciences in Golden
Gate Park, San Francisco, just
before his recent death, had per
fected a new process for making
an exact replica, in reverse, of a
human ear. Working to fill the
needs of the armed forces for nat
ural-looking artificial parts of the
body to replace those of maimed
veterans, Mr. Tose and his staff
utilized skill gained through years
of reseach with plastic materials.
With rubber, latex, plastics (form
erly used in exhibits to simulate
real objects) new experiments were
made in the surgical art of pros
thesis. One of the problems pre
sented by prosthesis, (the making
of artificial parts of the body and
fitting them to duplicate the nat
ural features of disfigured men—
an essential part of the program
of war rehabilitation) is to secure
an exact duplicate of a living
member of the body when its mate
is maimed. To make a duplicate
(in reverse) of a living ear Mr.
Tose solved the problem by in
venting a ruled plywood board fitt
ed with hollow tubes set in a
certain way. By attaching an ordi--
Newest ^whigs Loupot Sponsors A. & M. Historical
15TH AAF IN ITALY—The
Contest Open to Aggies and Companies
Wing commander from Weather
ford, Texas, landed his light cabin
plane after a routine flight, strode
across the windy Italian pasture
and entered his office.
The telephone rang.
“ Hello, General,” said a familiar
voice at the other end of the line.
It was Maj. Gen. Nathan F.
Twining, Commanding General of
the 15th AAF, informing Col. Wil
liam L. Lee that on December 7,
the third anniversary of Pearl Har
bor, Congress had approved Lee’s
promotion to Brigadier General.
“What the ....”, stammered
the surprised 41-year-old flying
General of the youngest wing in the
15th AAF. “What do you mean,
Sir?”
General Twining assured him
that he could replace the eagles
which he had worn for two years
and a half with the star of a
Brigadier General, and added that
written notification was on its
way.
The elevation to the rank of Gen
eral came as Lee’s B-24 Liberator
Wing was approaching its 150th
mission against enemy targets in
Europe. Known as the baby wing,
it has, nevertheless, pounded all of
the major objectives in the German
network of factories, oil fields, and
communications systems in its 8
months of operation. The names of
these targets are now legend in the
history of heavy bombardment:
The oil refineries of Ploesti, and the
aircraft industry at Wiener-Neu-
stadt, the synthetic petroleum
plants at Blechhammer and Vienna,
and airfields in Austria and the
Balkans.
Under his leadership the groups
in General Lee’s wing have been
cited six times by the President of
the United States and the War De
partment, “for outstanding per
formance of duty in armed con
flict with the enemy.”
A command pilot with 17 years
of service in the Air Corps and
more than 5,000 flying hours log
ged, General Lee has participated
in many of the Wing’s missions
against the enemy. He led the
Wing when it bombed with 99 per
cent accuracy its target objective
on August 15, D-Day for the inva
sion of Southern France; and
planned the Wing’s historic over
night conversion from heavy bomb
er operation to the role of cargo
carrying Liberators. For three
weeks Lee delivered much-needed
fuel, ammunition and bombs for
September-October days in South
ern France. The Army was ad
vancing so rapidly that normal
facilities were inadequate to cope
with the headlong drive up the
Rhone Valley. General Lee’s wing
delivered the goods and saved the
day.
For his superior leadership on a
concentrated bombing mission,
against a strongly defended target
in Roumania on July 15, Lee won
the Distinguished Flying Cross.
“By his extraordinary heroism,
gallantry and devotion to duty,
Colonel Lee has upheld the high
est traditions of the military serv
ice,” the citation read.
General Lee’s rise from Second
Lieutenant in 1929 to General rank
in 1944 is the story of a young
Texas A. & M. graduate who for
sook a career in Animal Husbandry
for the more exciting life in the,
growing U.S. Air Force. He earn
ed his wings on May 2, 1929, and
until 1935 held various posts on
the flying fields of his native
Texas.
Then, under Generals MasArthur
and Eisenhower in the Philippine
Islands, he served as assistant liai
son officer and chief of the Philip
pine Army Air Corps. In recogni
tion of his outstanding work in
building the Philippine Air Force,
he was awarded the Distinguished
Service Star of the Philippine Com
monwealth, an unusual honor held
by few other American military
men.
He returned to the United States
in 1939, and began a rapid rise
through the ranks that culminated
in his elevation to full Colonel on
July 7, 1942, when he became super
visor of training at MacDill Field,
Tampa, Fla. Under his direction
seven B-26 Marauder Groups com
pleted their overseas training.
In November, 1943, General Lee
organized his present command,
and brought it overseas last Jan
uary.
He was born in Weatherford,
Texas, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J.
L. Lee. While a student at Weather
ford High School he served in the
ranks of the Texas National
Guard, and later completed four
years of R. O. T. C. training at
Texas A. & M., graduating with a
nary drawing compass, measure
ments are obtained from a cast of
the normal ear laid on a board,
accurate enough to assure an ex
act replica.
J. E. Loupot has opened a contest starting today concerning his
torical questions about A. & M. Loupot will give a prize of $2.50 to
the first Aggie or company that answers the list of questions cor
rectly. Each week the Battalion will carry a list of questions and the
following week will run the answers to the questions of the previous
week.
Contest rules are simple.
1. The contest is open to any Aggie or any A. & M. company,
battery, or troop.
2. Battalion and Longhorn staffmen are not eligible nor or em
ployees of Loupot.
3. Answers must be taken to J. E. Loupot not later than the next
Friday after the questions appear in the Battalion.
4. The first entrant turning in the correct answers will receive
the prize.
The first set of questions are:
1. What year did the College first open? How many students re
ported on the first day ? What was the first permanent building ?
2. ‘ What year did Texas A. & M. first play Texas Univ. in foot
ball? Where? What year did the Aggies win their first foot
ball game from Texas?
3. Who was offered the first presidency of the College but de
clined ?
4. Who was Bernard Sbisa?
5. What do the stones at the base of the live-oaks bordering
the drill field represent?
6. Who was Jesse Easterwood and why was the airfield named
for him?
7. Whose Band dedicated the GROVE?
8. Where is Uncle Ed’s?
9. Who were the authors of The Spirit of Aggieland? The Aggie
War Hymn? The Twelfth Man?
10. What was the name of the first College Annual? What year
was it published first?
New Robot Pilot Is
Superior to Humans
Superiority of a robot pilot over
a human pilot in holding a plane
on its course and in correcting for
deviations from straight and level
flight has been demonstrated by
aviation engineers of General Elec
tric.
Using a hook-up of an automatic
pilot with a Link trainer, they
showed that in a long, straight-
line flight it will not deviate from
its set course more than one-half
of one degree and that it will
correct the plan’s attitude, when
it is off-line, more quickly and
accurately than a human pilot.
The G-E automatic pilot em
ployed in the test is being used
widely on Navy torpedo bombers.
Its function is to provide relief for
the human pilot by taking over the
controls and maintaining a course
he sets. In doing so, it relieves
him of the physical duty of control-
ing the flight and will hold the
airplane on a steadier course than
he can by hand.
The trainer was used in the de
monstration to stimulate the
stormy, unstabilized conditions a
pilot might meet in a plane. Similar
types are used in training fliers.
They throw him into spins, dives
and other dangerous attitudes,
challenging him to bring the ship
back to an even keel.
In the demonstration, G-E en
gineers showed that an automatic
pilot will start correcting action
as soon as the plane begins to move
off its course. Reactions of a human
pilot are much slower, they found,
because at least one-tenth of a
second is required for the message
that he is off-course to reach his
brain, then he must have time to
adjust his controls by hand.
“Secret of the speedy, accurate
performance of the robot pilot is
an electrical gyroscope, which acts
as the ‘brains’ of the system,” ac
cording to engineers. “Any pitch,
roll or yaw—that is, lengthwise or
crosswise tilt or turn—produces
an electric signel in the gyroscope.
This, in turn, is amplified and
converted into mechanical power
which moves elevators, ailerons and
rudder to bring the airplane back
to its correct attitude and course.”
Electrically driven gyroscopes
have been used at sea for many
years. General Electric was one of
the first to employ them in auto
matic pilots. In replacing air-
driven gyroscopes used in previous
systems, they have been found
particularly desirable to meet the
conditions of modern flying. Com
pact and relatively small in size,
they can be easily sealed in a case
to protect moving parts from the
grit which drifts for miles above
sandy deserts. And at altitudes
where the air is too thin for air
gyroscopes to be accurate, elec
trical gyros also operate effective
ly and accurately.
Osage orange is the only native
wood that furnishes a dye in com
mercial quantities. In color it
ranges from yellow to golden
brown and is used in dyeing leather
as well as textiles.
Phone 4-1166
S s r.9c Sl 20c
Tax Included
Box Office Opens at 1 P.M.
Closes at 8:30
LAST DAY
“SALUTE TO THE
MARINES”
with
Wallace Beery
Marilyn Maxwell
second lieutenant’s commission in
the Field Artillery Reserve.
His wife, the former Bertha Ida
Haag of San Antonio, Texas, lives
with their son, William L. Lee, Jr.,
14, in Jackson, Miss.
Opens 1 P.M. — 4-1181
TUESDAY—WEDNESDAY
“JANIE”
WEDNESDAY - THURSDAY
"Once Upon A Time" Is A
Once-ln-A-Lifetime Picture!
in ALEXANDER HALL'S
Starring
Joyce Reynolds
Edward Arnold
Plus
Cartoon — Community Sing
THURSDAY—FRIDAY
#RC PICTURES U*
'careergirl j
— BDWAOD mu
NORRIS ADRIAN
CBAIG WOODS • LINDA BR£N7
OODS • LINDA BfL
'.aio ABiet ne
Also
Screen Play by lewis Melfzer and
Oscar Saul • Directed by ALEXANDER HAIL
Fox News
Cartoon
also Donald Duck & News
s 1 * ♦
V
♦ *
* -r
V 4
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