THE BITTILION
Published every Friday night by the
Students of the Agricultural and
Mechanical College of Texas.
FRESHMAN STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
E. O. Youngblood
Assistant Editors
J. R. Barnes
W. N. Elam
Business Manager
H. H. Johnson
Assistant Business Managers
J. G. Nash
O. F. Spencer
Athletic Editor
M. D. Gilflllan
Cartoonist
H. T. Fry
Entered as second-class matter at
College Station, Texas, February 17,
1905.
Price Per Annum $1.25
College Station, Tex., April 3, 1914.
GREETINGS.
We have no apologies to make con
cerning this issue. We have done the
best we could under present circum
stances. Having endeavored to pub
lish a class paper that would be of in
terest to and about the Freshman
class, and at the same time to have a
paper that will be of interest to all its
readers.
We don’t expect to please every
reader, for even all critics don’t agree.
•‘To err Is liuman^” and we d~r’t claim
to be other than human, and hope our
readers are not.
The staff wishes to thank those who
gave their assistance, both literary
and financial, in making this edition
what it is.
Thus, we put before you the Fresh
man edition of the 1917 Battalion.
GIVE THE AGGIES BLACKSMITH-
ING.
It doesn’t lie in the sphere of a
Freshman to step forward and criti
cise the college curriculum. But
viewing it as one who has lived some
twenty-four years on the farm and had
about twenty-five years of farm expe
rience, I must admit that there is one
course that is of very little practical
benefit to a farmer. This course is
the wood-shop work.
After a farmer gets his buildings
constructed he seldom has any occa
sion to use a plane or a saw. But
how often does he have to sharpen a
plow point, weld a broken brace on
his harvester. A day seldom passes
on the farm but what he needs to
know of the principles of forging.
He may be right in the middle of
the grain field when a piece breaks.
He must stop, go to the shop and lose
a half day just get this piece welded.
A Texas thunderstorm comes up and
he loses several hundred dollars, and
all from the fact that he didn’t know
the principles of blacksmithing. Why
not give the Aggies blacksmithing in
stead of the wood-shop? Let them
have something practical; at least,
let the forge-work be optional with the
wood-work.
AGGIE.
ADVERTISE A. & M.
Fellows, we want a full thousand
for the San Francisco trip, don’t we?
Well, if we get that number, every
body has got to do some tall rustling
for “fish” this summer.
And as there are more of the Fresh
men than any other class, it is more
up to us. Let’s go home and get busy
from the first. Start in to persuade,
and if that don’t work bully, then
knock it into them, or anything to get
“fish.”
Don’t half scare them to death by
lies of eating worms, etc. The writer
got some of that stuff from an old boy
and it didn’t have a good effect. Tell
them we get good “cush,” go on a hike,
and what ever else you can think of,
that they might think would be fine.
Whatever you do, don’t knock the
school. Of course, you cuss it here,
but confess up, to yourself, that you
do have a tender spot way down in
your heart for the old place.
Help “Old” Ike Asburn out. He is
doing all in his power, but personal
contact with prospective students has
the best effect of all. So let’s all go
home with the firm resolve to get at
least one “fish” apiece and carry out
the resolution.
Patronize the advertisers of the
Battalion, fellows. They have proven
to be your friends and have shown
their willingness to help us where
they can and as much as they can.
Now “to keep a friend is to be one,”
and we all need friends; so let’s give
them our friendship in our patronage.
ADVANTAGES OF THE TWO-YEAR
COURSE IN AGRICULTURE.
To begin with, it might be well to
say that many people have a mistaken
idea of the two-year course in agri
culture, in believing it to be a sort
of “dumping-ground” for those stu
dents who, because of Iheir^nteliec-
tual inability, cannot take the regular
four-year course in agriculture. That
was not what the course was intended
for at all. When the two-year course
was arranged and outlined for publi
cation in the catalogue of this institu
tion, it was intended that it should
meet the practical needs of young
men who had had practical experience
in farming and who wished to spend
not more than two years in learning
the principles of successful agricul
ture, with the intention of returning
to the farm and making practical use
of what they learned. To this end the
course was arranged so as to be high
ly practical, excluding the more tech
nical work, which is required in the
four-year course and which is neces
sary for those students who wish to
prepare themselves for the more
scientific and technical work in agri
culture.
There are two great advantages
that the two-year course in agricul
ture offers to young farmers who can
not spare the time required for the
preparations necessary to take the
four-year course and then spend four
years in college.
One of the advantages offered is the
opportunity to get away from home
and become one of a great student
body. A fellow derives great benefit
from his association with college stu
dents, even in two years’ time, which
will be of great value to him in his
future life. College life affords valua
ble experience and supplies something
in a man’s life which can come from
no other source, something he cannot
afford to miss, and the two-year course
in agriculture makes these advantages
possible for many fellows who can
spend only two years in college, and
gives them an opportunity to prepare
themselves for future usefulness.
The other advantage which I wish
to mention is the advantage of study
ing and learning, under men who
know, the underlying principles of
agriculture. This is the chief reason
for taking the course, the desire to
learn how to be a successful farmer,
and this desire is met in the two-year
course in agriculture. By close appli
cation to his work a fellow can get
these principles of agriculture in this
course in one-half the time required
for the four-year course, and with the
experience he had before taking the
course he is prepared to make a suc
cess of farming. Of course, what a
fellow gets out of this course depends
upon the energy and enthusiasm he
puts into it, but the same will hold
true in regard to any course. The fel
low who has had the advantages of
the two-year course in agriculture,
combined with farm experience, has
a firm foundation for success in his
chosen occupation.
ROBERT L. MAY.
We noticed in the last issue of The
Battalion three Freshmen challenged
any three Sophomores to a debate.
This shows the Freshmen are far
enough along that they do not fear
any of the Soph, class.
“Oh, sir, catch that man! He want
ed to kiss me.”
“You should worry, there’ll be an
other one along in a minute.”—Ex
change.
USEFUL ARTICLES AT THE
CAMPUS STORE
Monogram Stationery, Mirrors, Table Covers, Pipes, Tobacco, Eat
ables of every nature and everything needed by cadets
A SPECIAL INVITATION IS EXTENDED TO THE CADETS TO CALL
W. C. BOYETT, : : : The Campus Merchant
THE WHITE KITCHEN
Bryan, Texas
An American Restaurant, run by Americans
who employ American help. Cleanest Res
taurant in Texas.
“Eat What You Want the Way You Want It”
WHEN IN BRYAN VISIT THE
New York Restraurant
EVERYTHING SANITARY
THE CLEANEST, QUICKEST,
CHEAPEST SERVICE IN BRYAN
Short Orders a Specialty
GIVE US A TRIAL
Opposite the Carnegie Library
quality.
AMERICAN STEAM LAUNDRY-
-SERVICE
DRY CLEANERS, DYERS AND HATTERS
W. P. MARTIN, College Agent BRYAN, TEXAS
34 Milner
Phone 585
BRYAN POOI. HALL
A Pleasure Resort for Gentlemen. Good Music and
Perfect Order. Accommodation Check Room
II. G. LTMLAIND : : Proprietor
M. EL JAMES, THE LEADING DRUGGIST
Pipes, Stationary and Toilet Articles
BRYAN TEXAS