THE BATTALION
Published Weekly by the Students’ Association of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas
VOL. XXII. COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 24, 1915. NUMBER 20
TRICK PROSPECTS
VERY PROMISING
LUCID MUCH PLEASED WITH THE
MANY CANDIDATES.
T CONVENTION
COMES TO CLOSE
MANY PROMINENT SPEAKERS,
THREE HUNDRED DELEGATES .
SIN FRANCISCO
EXPO WAS OPENED
GREAT WORLD’S FAIR THROWN
OPEN TO PUBLIC.
LOCAL HISTORY OF
A. & M. COLLEGE
THE GATHRIGHT ADMINISTRA
TION.
COMPANY BASKETBALL GAMES
VISITORS MUCH PLEASED
41 NATIONS REPRESENTED
SELECTION OF A LOCATION
A call was sent out last Sunday for
trackmen, and the results were sur
prising. About sixty men responded.
Almost all the old men were out and
a large number of Freshmen who
have had a good deal of experience
on high school track teams. The
squad is the largest and choicest ever
seen on Kyle Field. The chances for
a State and Southwestern champion
ship team are the brightest ever seen
here. The track has been entirely
worked over under the supervision of
Dan Scott and Con Lucid and every
body who has run on it agree that it
is the best track they have ever run
on. All the team needs is the united
support of the whole corps, especially
in a financial way. Dan Scott has to
do all the financing on his own hook
and that is no small undertaking. He
has scheduled three big meets this
year: The Texas intercollegiate meet
at Waxahachie, the Southwestern
Conference meet at Austin, and a tri
angular meet with Rice and Texas
University here at College Station.
This will be the first big meet held
at A. & M. since the present Seniors
were Freshmen. If the corps will sup
port the team there is no reason in
the world why we cannot win all
three meets. On the first day out
Haines put the shot thirty-nine feet
and six inches, and the State record
is only a little over forty feet. The
rest of the squad looks just as good.
Every man is going to have to hurry
to hold his place on the team. Con
Lucid, who is known the world over
as a trainer, has charge of the squad,
so look out, State records. Lucid
says it is the best track squad he
has ever seen in the South. Every
body get the pep and help the team
bring home some more cups and ban
ners.
Company Basketball.
The company basketball season
opened Saturday afternoon with a
rush. Three games were played in
the gym. Every one of them was
well played and in two of the games
the result was in doubt until the
whistle blew. There was a big im
provement over last year’s company
basketball games. Basketball was
more in evidence and there was very
little football playing, a common oc
currence last year.
The games played were:
A-B-Band vs. E-F.
I-K vs. C-D.
L-M vs. G-H.
The score in the first game was
18-4 in favor of the Band and A-B.
Probably the greatest Y. M. C. A.
convention ever held in this State was
assembled at College Station in the
latter par; of last week. In was great,
in many respects, i. e., in the char
acter and personality of the speakers,
in the profound effect produced on
the visiting delegates, and especially
the lesson which it brought to the
student body at A. & M.
The speakers at this convention
were men of the highest educational
qualifications and possessed a broad,
comprehensive and first-hand knowl
edge of the world’s affairs.
They were men at the very top in
their profession and their speeches
command the attention of the excep
tionally well educated and highly
cultured men in all parts of the globe.
This conventioin just terminated
probably did more to obtain the good
will of our sister schools in the State
and make our real worth known to
city and railroad men than any other
one thing could possibly have done.
On every side we heard the re
marks, “I never knew that A. & M.
was like this before,” and “I am glad
that my false impression of this
school has been cleared up.” Every
school in the State was looking at us
through the eyes of 150 delegates in
those four days. And we are thank
ful that we had the opportunity to be
host to them.
But the one thing above all others
about the convention that we are
thankful for is that one hundred and
eleven men from the student body at
A. & M. exprest their determination
to follow Christ and come into their
Father’s house. Whenever that many
men express their determination to
make a change for the better is must
mean something to the student body
here.
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TODAY.
Yesterday is gone forever. To
morrow never comes. Today is
in my own hands.
If I shirk today’s task I shall
he adding to my wasted yester
days.
my best to atone for yesterday’s
failure and to prepare for tomor- -&
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row’s successes.
Therefore, I will endeavor to
use my time and opportunities
that today shall leave me a little
wiser and abler than it found
Exposition Grounds, San Francisco,
Calif., Feb. 20.—The Panama-Pacific
International Exposition was formally
opened at noon today, Pacific Coast
time.
Forty-one foreign nations and 43
States and three Territories of the
American Union are participating.
‘‘This is the world in epitome,” said
Dr. Frederick J. V. Skiff, the director
in chief, in a brief introductory ad
dress. “Within the inclosure of this
exposition grounds there are no for
eigners. All may stand and stop upon
this soil as if it were their native
land.”
All records for opening day attend
ance at world’s fairs were broken by
the exposition. Less than two hours
after the gates had been opened and
while the crowds were still streaming
in, the turn-stiles showed 180,000 ad
missions as against 137,567 for the
Chicago fair in 1893 and 176,453 for
the St. Louis fair in 1904.
President Opened Big Exposition.
President Wilson, in the White
House, by touching a button, com
pleted a telegraph circuit which auto
matically worked a relay key in the
wireless station at Tuckerton, N. J.
Instantly powerful electric waves leap
ed out across the continent. A frac
tion of a second later they were re
ceived on aerial strung wires from the
Tower of Jewels in the exposition
grounds. Another relay instrument
transmitted them to apparatus which
swung open the doors of the Palace
of Machinery, unloosed the waters of
the fountain of energy, and detonated
signal bombs in token of receipt.
President Moore of the exposition
immediately sent back word that the
flash had come thru and that the ex
position was formally opened.
The president used a telegraph key
studded with gold nuggets which was
used by President Taft in opening the
Alaska-Yukon Exposition. — Houston
post.
HEARD ON THE CAMPUS
DURING THE CONVENTION
“You fellows certainly have some
system about doing things.”
“There will never be another reso
lution No. 18.”
“This is the best convention we
have ever attended/’
“I never knew before that the Y.
M. C. A. had so much for men.”
“Religious work at A. & M. has
been given a tremendous impetus.”
“They feed us better here than at
the college where I come from.”
“I am glad that my impression of
A. & M. has been changed for the
better.”
By A. E. Burges, ’15.
A. & M. College formally opened its
doors for the admission of students
October 4th, 1876. . Governor E. J.
Davis, acting on authority given him
by the Legislature, had appointed a
commission of three men who were
invested with full authority to locate
the college where, in their opinion,
the most favorable inducements (lo
cality, bonuses, etc., considered) were
offered. The citizens of Bryan in
vited the commission to visit Brazos
County among other localities. They
did so, and were shown various de
sirable sites for the college, among
them being the present one. In spite
of the fact that Brazos County was
considered one of the poorest in the
State, the commissioners were pleased
with the centrally located and well-
drained position and with the fact that
a railroad (the H. & T. C.) already
ran by the site. Consequently, when
the bid of $22,000 and 2,600 acres of
land, offered by Brazos County, thru
the agency of Col. Harvey Mitchell of
Bryan, was opened, the commission
awarded the location of the college to
Brazos County.
Construction of Buildings.
The Legislature in April and May of
1871 had appropriated $75,000 for the
erection of necessary college build
ings, and the work on these buildings
was begun shortly after the site was
chosen. When the foundation of the
Main Building had been completed to
the grade line and one cistern fin
ished, about $38,000 had been used.
The commission then made application
for the balance of the appropriation.
The Governor appointed a board to in
spect the work done up to that time.
This board condemned everything that
had been done. The $38,00 was thus
wasted. A new commission was ap
pointed, new plans were drawn, fur
ther appropriations were made, and
the work began anew. The first two
buildings constructed were the Main
Building and Gathright Hall, and it
was with this equipment that the col
lege opened.
The Faculty and Equipment.
The presidency of the college was
offered to Jefferson Davis, but he de
clined. Thomas S. Gathright, a na
tive of Monroe County Ga., was then
elected president, upon the nomina
tion of ex-President Davis. Prof.
Gathright was a Confederate soldier
and an educator of note, and resigned
the position of superintendent of edu
cation in Mississippi in order to ac
cept the position offered him in Texas.
Along with the president were elect
ed four professors, a physician and a
steward of the mess hall. These
men were: Alexander Hogg, pure
(Continued on Page 3.)