Page 2
THE B4TTALI0N
THURSDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 7, 1945
The Battalion
r
BACKWASH
STUDENT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Office, Room 5, Administration Building. Telephone 4-5444
Texas A. & M. College
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas and the City of College Station is published weekly, and circulated on Thursday
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
Associated CpUe6ide Press
Welcome Fish!
The Corps of Cadets extends a welcome to the new
men of A. & M. The process of becoming an Aggie essential
ly is founded on a friendly, democratic spirit. The bonds of
fraternity and friendship thus formed become more price
less with the years as attested by the loyal host of true
Aggies extending now around the world.
To the hundreds of new Freshmen, who this week took
the first step leading to membership in this mighty Aggie
fraternity, the hearty welcome of the entire Corps and the
staff of Texas A. & M. is extended. Whatever you may have
been before you are now in the Corps—a potential Aggie,
a future fighting member of the “TWELFTH MAN.” Wel
come, Fish, good luck!
Ho Hum! Summertime?
“Summertime an’ the livin’ is easy,” may well be true
in song—but certainly not of going to college. The factors
contributing generally to discomfort during summer ses
sions are numerous; heat and sweat, insects and vexatious
living conditions; the natural languor that comes with the
summer months plus the absence of some of the normal
features of college life. All of these may lead a fellow to
an unhappy frame of mind unless he can “grin and bear
it.”
A little weather never has and never will stop the
Aggies. The Corps should move forward quickly into regu
lar organization, militarily, by classes, by clubs and in line
with a full scale program of activity and student life.
Participation in intramurals, in student activities, in
all Aggie activities is urged is expected of every Ag
gie. The fall season, with all the gay color of football, will
be here before we know it—if we stay busy.
So don’t let a little Brazos sunshine get you down, ole
Army. Remember the sun shines on all alike. When you
think of how you sweat—remember that prof of yours still
has to go home after class and mow the yard.
Backwash: “An agitation resulting from SO me action or occurence.”—Webster.
By Junior Canis
HO HUM . . . Summertime and
living, Brazos County style, ain’t
easy. Junior Canis wags the dis
approving tail at those lucky stiffs
back home for the summer—noth
ing much to do but sleep late, eat
home-cooking, go on beach par
ties and drive the ole man’s car.
Pretty soft stuff, uh? As ole Pap
Canis once said, if you’ve got the
sugar you can cast your bread
upon the water and it comes back
Tootsie Rolls.
* * *
Orchards to J. B. Kearby and
Johnny Spragins for a neat little
hitchhike to San Diego and return
with plenty of time for home cook
ing and a taste of California de
light under the stars (?). Ditto
to Verne Scott, who has Cowtown
buzzing cousins over his recent vis
it.
* * *
Missing at registration—the an
nual yarn about selling some Fish
bottling rights to P. L. Downs Nat-
atorium. Hear about the guy who
brought the old man along to see
that he didn’t get cheated by up
perclassmen? The old man ended
up paying Sonny’s radiator rent
for the full four years—and get
ting a receipt in full signed by
J. Surber ? ?
* *
A solid rumor is making the
rounds that there’s gonna be a
mid-summer all-corps week-end,
including a big name orchestra for
a Friday nite dance—plus Aggie-
land Orchestra playing a stage
show and dance on Saturday—plus
Tessyites—plus gals galore—Tell
us more—tell us more.
Speaking of Aggieland Orches
tra, “Hot Licks” Bill Turner al
ready has the gang rehearsing. The
line-up: regular members from last
year—F. D. Prater, trumpet; Pete
Mayes, trumpet; C. L. James, sax;
Ray Herrera, tenor sax; and R. S.
Parker, bass; new members trying
out, Jay Grubb, piano; J. V. Pike,
drums; Francisco Montemayor, al
to sax; H. T. Baxter, trumpet; G.
P. Webb, trumpet; G. C. MacKen-
zie, trombone; J. B. Doakes, alto
sax; Jim Wheeler, alto sax; Clyde
Bone, trombone; P. B. Wells, tenor
sax; Don Simpson, trumpet, and
C. B. Langham, alto sax.
* * *
POEM DEPT., by the Poet Lariat
Letter Home
Oh father dear,
On getting here,
I find it costs to be a scholar,
Room rent, tuition, books, you
know—
Please send me fifty dollars.
Reply
My precious son,
My little one,
Your story doesn’t tally,
The mon you say you spent for
books,
I know—you really spent on
Sally.
*. * *
SOLID - - SOLID - - SOLD.
Don’t miss Bill Turner’s jamboree,
jointly sponsored by Student Ac
tivities and Guion Hall. Time—
Wednesday night after chow; Place
—Guion Hall; Whatisit—jive by
Aggieland Orchestra, Songs by the
Singing Cadets; gals, gals, gals,
gals,—gals.
:: Your City ::
Let’s Get Together . . .
State institutions of higher learning, facing the prospect
of their first peace-time enrollments since 1941, should feel
much assurance in the appropriation bill for educational in
stitutions passed at the recent session of the Texas Legis
lature.
Broad general provisions plus the adequate salary al
lowances should enable institutions to meet the increases in
enrollments expected in the near future as victory over Japan
becomes more and more a reality.
One disappointment to all institutions however, was the
failure to provide assistance for urgently needed buildings.
In the case of A. & M., Senate Joint Resolution 18 was de
feated by a narrow margin; hence, the proposed bond issue
from revenues from the Permanent University Fund will not
be possible.
The defeat of this amendment was due largely to a lack
of cooperation among the colleges themselves, evidenced in
the insistence of some state institutions that they be permit
ted to share in the Permanent University Fund, presently al
located one-third to A. & M. and two-thirds to Texas Univer
sity.
The needs of schools other than Texas and A. & M. are
no less important to them than the pressing needs on the
campus of Aggieland and at Forty Acres. A. & M. believes
these needs should be met, immediately and fully.
The answer to the problem of all schools, however, is
a cooperative attitude, a joint appeal to the wisdom and in
tegrity of the Legislature, and a firm insistence on the re
spective rights of the schools themselves.
It is to be doubted that any school would benefit from
a division of the Permanent Fund. What likely would result
from spreading the fund would be a general weakening of
the entire system of higher education in Texas. Schools other
than the University and A. & M., now in a position to demand
that their building needs be met by an appropriation from
the general revenue fund, might find they had made a poor
bargain.
PENNY’S SERENADE
By W. L. Penberthy
In any well-rounded sports pro-
gi'am there are at least two kinds
of sports; namely, team and indi
vidual. In the
team sports the
participants must
team up with
their fellow-play
ers in an effort to
attain a common
(goal — victory
i over the oppon-
^ We feel that
fLy*! participation' in
team sports de
velops such char-
Penberthy acteristics as co
operation, teamwork and unselfish
ness in the players who take part
I feel that individual sports like
swimming, track, boxing, wrest
ling, etc. also have fine character
building values in that they teach
self-reliance. The individual who
takes part in these sports is “on
his own” and his sucess or failure
depends upon his own efforts —
he has no teammate to help or
hinder him.
Many of us are “on our own”
for the first time in our lives and
as is the case in individual sports,
our success or failure will depend
on our own performance. However,
even though we be “on our own”
there ai’e certain choices we can
make—two of which I think are
very important. First, we can
choose our associates and along
with this choice may go happiness
and success, or unhappiness and
failure. I know in sports we tend
to seek the level of the perfor
mance of those with whom we play,
and I feel that the same is true in
the case of people with whom we
associate. We can choose associates
who will be a blessing to us and
whom we will love and cherish the
rest of our lives, or we can choose
those who will be a millstone
around our neck and whose ac
quaintance we will regret having
made. Second, we can choose how
we spend our spare time. We can
spend it taking part in whole
some worthwhile activities that will
make us better citizens or we can
spend it doing things that tear
down rather than build up. Both of
the things I have mentioned are of
our own choosing.
It has been my observation that
a pretty good way to find out just
what kind of a person a man or
woman really is, is to find out the
kind of people with whom he as
sociates and how he spends his
spare time.
Here begins a series of articles
about the city of College Station,
its municipal government, mone
tary receipts and expenditures, its
facilities for school and utility pur
poses, and a discussion of what
the future should hold for the re
sidents of this community.
This first installment may be
labeled “background”, as it is in
tended as a curtain raiser for the
material that is to follow each
week in the Battalion.
Without a Texas A&M College
there would be no city of College
Station as the city has grown up
solely to serve the needs and in
terests of the College and its fac
ulty, staff and students. Therefore,
one should know something of the
development of the College to un
derstand and appreciate the forma
tion of the local municipal gov
ernment and the city of College
Station which it serves.
Founded m 1871
In 1882 the Morrill Act became
law, setting aside portions of the
public domain to be used by the
states for instruction in agricul
ture and the mechanic arts, to
which later was added military
science. Texas accepted the act
in 1866 and state law created the
Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege of Texas in 1871. The college
locating commission chose a site
of 2416 acres donated by the citi
zens of Bryan and Brazos County.
Succeeding state legislatures
passed appropriations for the con
struction of class rooms and dorm
itories for the students, and ad
ministrative quarters for the facul
ty and staff. Dwellings were erect
ed on the campus to house in
structors and administrators. That
was the beginning of College Sta
tion as a designation on the map
of Texas, in the files of the U. S.
postal authorities and as a stop
on the railroads and other trans
portation systems serving the com
munity.
Until comparatively recent years
there were facilities in plenty to
supply residential demands. Tip
ping of the scales on this situa
tion through a combination of cir
cumstances brought the city of
College Station into being.
Campus Center Shifts
When the enlarged building
program was inaugurated by the
College in the early 1930’s it was
found that expansion in some
logical portions of the campus was
blocked by residences, many of
which had housed the same faculty
and staff members for several de
cades. In the years 1934 to 1938
College enrollment had leaped from
about 3000 to over 6000. Early in
1939 construction was begun on a
new dormitory and mess hall area
some distance from the hereto
fore center of college life.
Faculty Leaves Campus
For several years members of
the school’s board of directors had
discussed passage of an order re
moving faculty and staff members
from the campus, tearing down the
houses : they occupied and adopting
a master landscaping plan, as well
as setting up a planning commis
sion to pass on the site and kind
of future construction. On Sept.
2, 1939 the board adopted such an
order, giving the families that had
to move until Sept. 1, 1941 to
acquire living quarters elsewhere.
Only those individuals who' held
positions requiring constant pres
ence close to the business of the
college or to the student body were
allowed to remain on the campus.
(To be continued)
Good Neighbors
BRAZIL .... BIG NEIGHBOR AND GOOD FRIEND
In Brazil, geography is impor
tant. Her advantages and disad
vantages, her accomplishments and
problems, her relationship with the
rest of the world never get very
far away from her physical con
formation. Her area comprises
about 4,000,000 square miles. The
land is vast—greater in area than
that of the United States—com
prising half of South America land.
From Jungle to Civilization
Topographically, the land divides
into four regions. The largest is
the basin worn by the Amazon
river with its two hundred odd trib
utaries. This flood plain of the
Amazon is made up of jungle—
savage and virgin. Human life
there is almost impossible. Above
the flood plain, on firm land, na
ture is more hospitable. The hard
wood forests, typical of higher
tropical jungle, admit the sun.
Here the climate divides itself be
tween heavy tropical rains and a
dry season. In a whole this Amazon
basin can be cleared and worked.
It is 2,225,000 square miles of Bra
zil.
In the rich and hospitable hilly
country of the southern part of
Brazil and the narrow, fertile
coastal strip from Porto Alegre
northward to Recife are concen
trated the most important cities,
the railroads and highways, the
productive capacity and the wealth
of this country. Here, on less than
30 percent of the land live nine-
tenths of the nation’s 41,400,000
people. The climate is excellent
and stimulating.
Portuguese Plus Makes Brazilian
The people are a well stirred
mixture of many races. The base
is Portuguese. To this base have
been added several strains of Ger-
Edna B. Woods
Libraries are operated in order
that many people may have the
advantages of using and enjoying
books, newspapers, pamphlets, and
recorded music. To ignore this
opportunity is to deny yourself a
privilege of great financial wealth
and at the same time to shun the
wealth of knowledge and pleasure
that can be yours through the use
of the library. The College library
not only offers the key to individual
development; it cooperates with
the various departments of the
College by putting books on the
Reserve Book and Required Read
ing shelves to aid in the prepara
tion of your assignments.
The idea of shelves, stacks, and
floors filled with books may be
terrifying, but a visit to the A. &
M. College library will soon dispel
that terror. Attractive reading
rooms, carefully selected collec
tions, and staff members on hand
to answer your questions give the
Library an atmosphere of com
fortable vitality.
For instance, on the first floor is
the Newspaper room, furnished
with comfortable chairs and con
venient tables. The Library sub
scribes to more than thirty news
papers, most of them Texas papers,
which ai’e placed on wooden racks
daily and which may be read at
any time a student has a few min
utes to stop in the Library. The
Library is open from 8 AM until
10 PM—Monday through Friday;
on Saturday it i^ open from 8 AM
until 4 PM, and on Sunday, the
man, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, Polish,
Spanish, Russian, French and Af
rican blood. All this variety of na
tionalities has been assimilated by
the Brazilian people.
The biggest problem confronting
Brazil is its system of communi
cations. There is a great system
of inland waterways 40,000 navi
gable miles. Ocean steamers can
travel as far as 2,000 miles up the
Amazon river. The overland com
munication is quite a problem for
the government. Only Sao Paulo,
Rio and Minas Gerais, the power
trio, have a road system adequate
to their local needs. The largest
per cent of Brazil’s 21,240 miles
of railroads is concentrated here.
Land transportation between these
three cities and the rest of the
eighteen states does not exist. The
cause for this problem of overland
communication is primarily the
great distances to be traveled be
tween one state and another and
the difficulty of the terrain in the
interior. The scant population to
be served makes justification of
the high cost per mile difficult.
The airway system is a modern
and fast one for both passengers
and freight.
Brazil’s Economy
The story of Brazil’s economy is
one of the struggle of a nation to
free itself from the inherited bonds
of a semi-feudal system and to
build a modern framework of pro
duction and distribution which will
permit the development of an enor
mous amount of natural resources.
The' soil is rich. From north to
south it can produce nearly every
crop known to man.
In the north are the forests of
the Amazon basin and the adjoin
ing uplands. In these forests are
millions of trees making up the
original source of that now price
less commodity, rubber. There is
also a great variety of trees that
produce materials for the produc
tion of such products as wax, ma
nioc, and nut-oils.
Moving toward the south out of
the tropical zone, from the semi
tropics to the beginning of the
temperate zone, the soil grows to
bacco, sugar cane, vanilla, cacao,
oranges, coffee, and cotton.
Under the ground are the met
als, diverse in kind and immense
in quantity, a formidable arsenal
of the materials of war—bauxite,
tin, chromium, tungsten, lead, zinc,
silver, diamonds, platinum, gold,
mica, crystal, and one of the
world’s largest deposits of man
ganese. These resources already
are being used by the United States
of America in great quantities for
the pi-osecution of this war.
The country produces three-
fifths of the world’s coffee, is the
second largest producer of cacao,
exports large quantities of or
anges, sugar, cotton, hides, dia
monds, oil. It also is the largest
buyer of United States goods in
South America.
Progress Since 1930
Under Getuli Vargas, who has
been in office since 1930, the agri
culture has been diversified, means
of communication have been im
proved, and the country has been
Library is open from 2 PM until
10 PM.
Also on the first floor is the
Periodical Room in which are kept
the current issues of more than one
thousand magazines. Located as it
is, close to the door on the ground
floor, this is an ideal place to
spend a few minutes or hours each
week. Here are your old favorites
—Time, Life, Readers Digest, and
Esquire, and here also are some
excellent magazines with discus
sions of more serious problems—
New Republic, Nation, and the At
lantic; they suggest excellent sub
jects for speeches and for term pa
pers. Other than the general read
ing magazines, however, there are
technical magazines on practically
every course taught—Engineering
News Record, Aviation, Veterinary
Journal, and Agricultural Engineer
ing.
Most of the 110,000 volumes in
the Library’s collection are avail
able at the Main Loan desk on the
second floor. Display cases near
by contain books of special interest;
one of them, kept up to the times,
contains books about the War and
International problems. On the sec
ond floor also is the Reference
Room where one may go to find
information or facts about anything
in which he is interested.
The BrowsingRoom on the third
floor furnishes comfort in the
form of easy chairs, and smoking
stands, and furnishes pleasurable
reading in the form of three thou
sand books located on the open
shelves which line its walls. Recent
popular books on scientific sub-
greatly industrialized. The stock
raising industry has become one
of the largest in the world and
much attention has been paid to
the breeding of high-grade ani
mals. Vargas has combined his in
terest in the welfare of the poor
people with a campaign aimed at
ending the ‘latifundio” system. The
poor are helped to buy small tracts
of land, and with this encourage
ment the number of small land
units have increased a great deal.
The government concerns itself
seriously with public health. Here
are problems greatly complicated
by temperature and expanses of
territory lacking adequate natural
drainage. These problems have
been met with the combined help
of the Brazilian government and
that of the United States. In gen
eral Brazil’s cities are as healthy
as the cities in this country.
Education is greatly improving.
The government is keenly interest
ed in making Brazil one of the
outstanding educated countries of
the world. During the past ten
years the percentage of illiterate
persons has, decreased about ten
per cent. The government super
vises most of the education in pub
lic schools—^primary, secondary,
and colleges and universities. There
is a great number of privately
owned colleges and universities.
Brazil’s contribution to arts and
literature are numerous and nota
ble. Brazilian music is gaining rap
id popularity among the people
of the United States as well as
the rest of the world.
Brazil at War
Brazil’s contribution to the war
effort of the Americas has played
an important role in the prosecu
tion of this war. The United States
has been getting from Brazil valu
able material which is badly need
ed in keeping the war factories
going full blast. Such materials as
tin, manganese, rubber, zinc, dia
monds and many other valuable
materials have been coming into
the United States. Not only in the
furnishing of the above critical
war materials has Brazil helped
win this war but they sent a whole
Brazilian army to the Italian the
ater of war and dealt severe blows
to the German war machine. They
were highly commended by Rus
sians, English and Americans for
their exploits on Italian soil.
jects, books on radio, travel, and
medicine, besides all the fiction
books which the library owns are
here. You may browse as long as
you wish, without interruption.
You may- read here, or you may
take your choice to read at home
by charging it out at the Reserve
Book desk in the room adjacent.
In 1937, the Carnegie Corpora
tion gave the A. & M. Library a
remote control phonograph, a small
collection of records, and several
hundred books (some of them
scores) about music and musicians.
After being played continuously
for almost eight years, the phono
graph needed a complete overhaul-
ing.In the next few weeks it will
be back in the Music Room ready
for use. The Music library of ele
ven hundred classical records is
kept at the Reserve Book desk.
Almost one hundred composers are
recorded in the collection. It is
interesting to know that Beethoven
and Tchaikowsky have been with
out exception more popular than
any other composers in the past
three years.
The A. & M. College library is
your Library; its staff is here to
serve you and to help you get the
most from your college years.
Library rules and regulations are
necessary to protect you as well
as to protect your brother Aggie,
next year.
Use the Library, respect its
property, and suggest books you
would like to read by dropping the
titles and author’s names, your
name and address in the box
provided for student requests on
the first floor.
FINE UNIFORMS
LAUTERSTEIN’S
PHONE 4-4444
Box Office Opens at 1 P.M.
Closes at 8:30
fs D S M TI S L S L 0N . 9c & 20c
Tax Included
Phone 4-1166
SATURDAY and SUNDAY
“THE SEVENTH
CROSS”
Spencer Tracy in his greatest
role.
also News of the Day presents
FILM EPIC OF OKINAWA!
Drama of American advance
as desperate battle rages for
vital Japanese island.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
“LOST IN a HAREM”
— with —
Bud Abbott - Lou Costello
also latest news and
EXTRA ATTRACTION
“ALL-STAR BOND RALLY”
* New Summer Schedule *
* Guion Hall Theater will *
* be open on the following *
* days during the summer *
* semester: *
* Saturday and Sundays *
* Tuesdays & Wednesdays *
WELCOME TO A. & M.
For fresh, attractive FLOWERS at moderate prices,
telephone or call at our Greenhouse on College
Avenue.
We deliver anywhere, either by truck or wire. No
order too small or too large for us.
J. COULTER SMITH
Bonded Member F.T.D. Dial 2-6725