THE BATTALION
•TUESDAY, NOV. 21, 1939
PAGE 2
The Battalion
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OP
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and
Mechanical College of Texas and the city of College Station, is
published three times weekly from September to June, issued
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings; and is published
weekly from June through August.
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at College
Station, Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rate, $3 a school year. Advertising rates upon
request.
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc.,
at New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco.
Office, Room 122, Administration Building. Telephone
<-5444.
1939 Member 1940
Dissociated Golle&iate Press
STAFF
BILL MURRAY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LARRY WEHRLE ADVERTISING MANAGER
James Critz Associate Editor
E. C. (Jeep) Oates Sports Editor
Ft g. Howard Circulation Manager
“Hub” Johnson Intramural Editor
Philip Golman Staff Photographer
John J. Moseley Staff Artist
TUESDAY STAFF
Charlie Wilkinson Managing Editor
Sam Davenport Asst. Advertising Manager
C. A. Montgomery Editorial Assistant
Junior Editors
George Fuermann ......Earle Shields
Senior Sports Assistants
Jimmie Cokinos - —- Jimmy James
Reportorial Staff
D. K. Andrews, Alfred Fischer, H. S. Hutchins, W. D. C. Jones,
J. C. Rominger, Sidney Smith, E. A. Sterling, W. P Walker,
R. J. Warren, L. B. Williams, G. W. Williams, Bill Fitch
Jerry Rolnick, J. L. Morgan, Joe Leach
Thanksgiving Mix-Up
Although not a matter of great importance,
the decision of President Roosevelt to proclaim
November 23 as Thanksgiving Day, instead of the
traditional last Thursday in the month, has created
considerable confusion, especially with respect to
football schedules and calendar printers.
The reason given for the change is to allow
a longer interval to elapse between Thanksgiving
and Christmas, in the President’s action without
giving sufficient notice that has caused the con
fusion.
Such confusion could be avoided in future by
designating the date of Thanksgiving by statute,
instead of leaving it to the discretion of the
President. President Washington proclaimed the
first Thanksgiving since the adoption of the Con
stitution, and designated November 26, 1789, which
was the fourth and also the last Thursday in No
vember of that year. Lincoln designated Novem
ber 24, 1864, which was also the fourth and last
Thursday. His successor, President Johnson, desig
nated November 30, 1865, which was the fifth and
last Thursday, and the last Thursday has been desig
nated as the national Thanksgiving day ever since,
until this year.
President Roosevelt himself designated the fifth
Thursday, November 30, in 1933, his first year
in office. Governors of the several states are not
bound by the proclamation of the President, but
in recent years have conformed to it. In some states
the last Thursday is designated by statute.
A recent check-up is said to show that this
year 23 governors will stick to the last Thursday,
November 30; 22 will follow the President in desig
nating November 23; while in three states—Colo
rado, Texas and Mississippi—both dates will be ob
served.
This Telephone Situation
Why the seemingly interminable delay in the
installation of telephones on the campus. Why such
poor service as College Station gets?
We can’t understand it. Nor can some 4,000
other Aggies living in the dormitories on the cam
pus, who at the beginning of the present session
applied for telephones in their halls.
We have accepted for some time the phone
company’s excuses that is was impossible to in
stall the phones any sooner because of the time
it took to get new parts—and that the remaining
applications would be filled “in the near future”.
So far only a very few dormitory applications have
been filled; and many more remain unanswered.
We don’t see why any self-respecting phone
company should give such slow service. Nor do
we understand why the quality of service rendered
by operators should be so poor. As remarked at
the Student Welfare Committee meeting the other
night, where the telephone situation was one of the
chief topics of discussion, the slowness of the ser
vice here is deplorable and is due either to inef
ficiency of the operators or to the fact that the
telephone company expects them to do more than
a limited number of employees are able to handle.
It is one of the most frequent and open com
plaints—not only among the thousands of Aggies,
but also among several thousand citizens and tele-
phone-users of the city of College Station—that
the telephone company serving us, with district
headquarters in Bryan, gives us such lamentably
poor service. The Battalion has refrained for two
months from criticizing the slowness of installing
phones in the halls during the time it seemed an ex-
•cuse should hold good—but we think more than
•enough time has elapsed now, and in this criticism
we are only expressing what every Aggie and every
resident of College Station feels about the local
^teQephone situation.
We ask in the strongest terms possible that
the dormitory telephones be speedily put in; and at
the same time, we think a more satisfactory ar
rangement should be had than last year for handling
long-distance calls made by students.
Since the idea of having phones in the halls
was first brought up last year in The Battalion,
this publication has been highly interested in the
question, and in fact was a leader in the move to
secure them. The Battalion thereby did the phone
company a service; and they have done their part
to cooperate by ordering their phones as early as
possible.
And now, why no cooperation from the phone
company? Must we wait half the term to get the
phones we applied for long ago ?
Failures, Exemptions
Forty-six percent of the students of A. & M.
were failing one subject or more, and twenty-
two two or more, according to the November 1
reports.
Though this percentage of failure is signifi
cantly lower than last year’s, as Registrar Howell
has stated, still it is much higher than it should
be.
Time to start studying! '
Remember that if your grades are sufficiently
high, you stand a good chance of earning exemp
tions in your final examinations. The final exemp
tion plan was adopted last spring, and according to
most reports has functioned very satisfactory. By it,
the twenty-five percent of the students making
the highest grades in each class (a class in this
case meaning all of a teacher’s sections in a parti
cular course), provided their grade is A or B, do
not have to Cake the final in the course unless they
so elect.
This plan allows a good number of students
to earn exemption—through working for them, of
course. And while there are not nearly enough
exemptions to go around to all those who’d like
to have them, still you can earn one or more if you
work for them.
Observance of Silver Taps
Improving
Sunday night “Silver Taps” was played again—
the third time this semester for an Aggie who
has died.
The first two times, circumstances made it im
possible to hold this ceremony with the full beauty
and impressiveness it has always held for all who
have heard it. For such a tradition to have fallen
into disregard would indeed have been unfortunate.
But the third time that Silver Taps was play
ed, it was amplified over all the campus and Col
lege Station, so that all might hear it. And for the
first time this year, it was heard by all the stu
dents on the campus.
And too, the corps observed it better. Ap
parently more students left their rooms to stand
outside the halls as Silver Taps was played. Fewer
lights were left on, fewer radios kept playing, than
before.
Aggies, that’s the way we want the observ
ance of Silver Taps to be—silent, lightless, impres
sive. But we have one suggestion to make, that
we believe will restore the last remnant of its old dig
nity—that is, that all organization commanders on
the campus have • every member of their respective
organizations fall out in formation outside the
halls and stand at perfect attention as Silver Taps
is played.
Can’t this be done hereafter ?
As the World Turns...
The building in which all of President Roose
velt’s papers will be placed was dedicated Sunday.
The building, erected with funds raised by popular
subscription, and located on land given by the
President, is of no particular interest in itself. The
occasion is of interest chiefly in that it gave rise
to new speculations on the third-
term issue. The papers are to be
made available to the public on
July 1, 1942. Since all other presi
dents have waited some time after
retiring from office before making
their papers available it is easy to
assume that Mr. Roosevelt is not
interested in a third term. On
the other hand, men close to him
continue to imply that he does wish
a third term, and the President
has never taken the trouble to
deny the statements.
In view of the interest in third terms it might
be of value to state that the theory that no presi
dent should serve more than two terms is based
solely on tradition, as nothing in the Constitution or
any law places any limit on the number of
terms. President Washington declined a third term
for reasons of his own, and his immediate succes
sors followed his example.
General Grant was the'first president to make
a definite effort to break the tradition, and fortu
nately for the country he did not succeed. There
was little to praise and much to condemn in the
Grant administration, and his desire for a third
term doubtless strengthened the idea that two terms
should be the limit. Theodore Roosevelt, a far more
popular man than Grant, next sought to break the
tradition. He, too, was unsuccessful. In the minds
of many people the famous “I do not choose to run”
statement of Calvin Coolidge plan, it went astray
as the 1928 convention nominated that “great engi
neer”—Herbert Hoover.
Mr. Roosevelt’s plans are yet to be revealed
if he seeks a third term he will be inviting defeat
if history can be taken as a guide to the future.
Many Texas political leaders seem convinced
that Governor O’Daniel is less popular than he was
in the summer of 1938. This is evidenced by the
fact that a number of well-known men are planning
to seek the governship next year. As a general rule
a man has little opposition when he seeks a second
term in the governor’s office. Since 1876 only two
governors have been denied an immediate second
term. One of these was Mrs. Ferguson, who received
a belated second term in 1932, and the other was
Ross Sterling who was defeated by Mrs. Ferguson
in 1932, and who has since sought no public office.
A new interpretation of the neutrality law and
earlier acts relating to it states that war planes
sold to foreign countries cannot be flown from the
United States. It seems that the purchasing nation
must take title to the plane before it leaves the
United States, while no plane belonging to a foreign
power may be flown over American territory with
out special permission from the State Department.
As a result, assembled planes will be flown to an
airport on the Canadian boundry, delivered to
Canadians, and then pushed across the line. This
ruling means that the Allies can receive assembled
planes by way of Canada, while Germany will
find it impossible to obtain planes by any such
strategem.
Before we begin on the shows for
the day, there’s a crack I heard
that is worth mentioning. Friday
night after the show “Union Pa
cific” was over someone near me
remarked that the railroads were
a great thing indeed. “Why if it
weren’t for the railroads, where
would Texas University have found
a school song?”
Tonight the Bryan Amusement
Company opens the new Queen
Theater with one of the best pic
tures that has been here in months.
It is Ginger Rogers’ new show,
“FIFTH AVENUE GIRL,” and
again she shows the public that
she can act as well as she can
display her pretty legs in a danc
ing picture.
As the story goes, Ginger, out
of work and hungry, finds Walter
Connolly on a bench in the park,
hiding from his social-climbing
family who have let a few million
dollars go to their head. Ginger’s
happy outlook on life impresses the
millionaire so that he takes her
home with him as an example
for his family. Of course he has
a good-looking son, and the rest
follows the formula.
At the Assembly Hall for Tues
day and Wednesday is “THESE
GLAMOUR GIRLS.” Lana Lurn-
er, who made such a hit in “Danc
ing Coed” returns in one still bet
ter. One Aggie threatened vio
lence if this show didn’t rate three
grade-points in this column.
With Lana in the show are a
few well-known names such as the
following cast:
Philip Lew Ayres
Jane Lana Turner
Homer Tom Brown
Joe Richard Carlson
Carol Jane Bryan
Daphne Giaves Anita Louise
The stpry is built around Park
Avenue’s sub-deb glamour girls in
a dither at “house party” time at
Kingsford University.
Regardless of threats and all, this
still just gets two grade-points.
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Tuesday and Wednesday—
“THESE GLAMOUR
GIRLS,” with Lew Ayres and
Lana Turner.
AT THE PALACE”
Tuesday —“ETERNALLY
YOURS,” with Loretta
Young and David Niven.
AT THE QUEEN
Tuesday night at opening—
“FIFTH AVENUE GIRL,”
with Ginger Rogers and Wal
ter Connolly.
Roads in the Laboratory
Catching up with the highways
was only a matter of time for
researchers. In a new laboratory
on the outskirts of Washington
they are testing the durability of
every known material that can go
into the making of a road.
Specially designed apparatus,
from tiny chemical vials to pon
derous crushing machines, are re
vealing how to produce the most
durable bitumen mixes. Subsoils
from every state in which high
ways are being built or replaced
are analyzed to determine their
suitability for highway founda
tions.
One of the most ingenious de
vices in the laboratory identifies
the angle of - incline at which a
soil may slip and cause landslides.
Soil science already has been de
veloped to the point where it is
possible to determine the exact rate
at which soil will settle over a
period of years. The current ques
tion is: What is the “life expect
ancy” of rocks used for road
repair ?
Devices have been developed to
record traffic, differentiating be
tween vehicles and pedestrians.
Some not only classify traffic, as
passenger cars, busses or trucks,
but subdivide the trucks into
light, medium, heavy, truck, and
full trailer, or truck and semi
trailer.
This adds up to good news for
motorist taxpayers, who pay for
roads chiefly through billion-dollar-
a-year gasoline taxes, and whose
money will go farther as roads are
built better and cheaper.
Old Stuff to Malays
Centuries ago, a tribesman on
one of the Malay Islands discov
ered the principle of the Diesel
engine, ethnologists report. As
proof they’re exhibiting a Malayan
fire-lighter, brought back from the
Islands. It consists of a wooden
cylinder with a closely-fitting
plunger. At the bottom of the
cylinder the Malay inventor put a
bit of tinder and operated the
lighter by striking the plunger
with his hands. The heat result
ing as the air was compressed was
enough to ignite the tinder, which
was then dropped out and fanned
into flame. It is believed to be the
most ingenious fire-lighter ever
devised by primitive man.
Hard Metal
A new metallic compound, al
most as hard as the diamond, will
be used to machine industrial
products able to withstand pres
sures of 200,000 to 300,000 pounds
per square inch. They will be
particularly useful in the manu-
fatcure of valves for deep-well
oil pumps, it is believed.
The new compound, formed of
tungsten, titanium and carbon, can
retain a cutting edge at high tem
peratures, thus increasing the
speed with which stanless steels
can be machined and making pos
sible the production of extremely
hard metals.
The compound is produced by
heating tungsten, the material of
which electric-light filaments are
made, with titanium, a metal
found in common clay, and carbon
in crucibles made from pure
graphite.
New Clues to Oil
Increasing interest in the value
of surface clues in locating under
ground oil pools is revealed in a
patent granted recently for the
use of infra-red or heat rays to
locate petroleum.
Gases extracted from the soil
“MADE BY MENDL & HORNAK”
. . . insures you of expert workmanship
and dependable quality
DROP BY AND SEE OUR COMPLETE LINE OF
UNIFORMS
UNIFORM TAILOR SHOP
MENDL & HORNAK
North Gate
BACKWASH
By
George Fuermann
“Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster.
Fuermann
Ruminations. . . . One of the
math profs, in reply to a student’s
query in respect # to why he re
ceived D plus instead of C, came
back with “Your
only interpreta
tion of a plus is
that you were
gypped out of the
next higher,
grade.” ... A sign
which should go
a long way to
ward eliminating
cocktail shakers is
one noticed in
a Houston “dine-beer-and-dance”
shop this past week-end. In bold
red letters the first line read
“Dancing” and rather demurely
placed below was “Cocktail Bar.”
. . . On his first play in Saturday’s
Rice-Aggie fracas, Harold Cow
ley made a nice catch of Price’s
pass and went over the goal line
to score our second touchdown. . . .
And speaking of Price, two of them
played opposite each other last
Saturday. Rice’s Joe Price is a
cousin of the Aggies’ arial artist,
Walemon Price.
•
One of the few interesting peo
ple which your columnist has
heard about lately comes from
Pepper-Swallower Opens
Collegiate Gulping Season
We knew it would happen—but
we’d hoped it wouldn’t. The gulp
ing season has been officially and
dramatically opened for another
college year—and watch out for
your laurels, you “winners” of
last year!
First entry in the 1939-46 derby
is Franklin and Marshall College’s
Jimmy Addy, a frosh from Pitts
burgh. For a mere 50-cent piece
(they were getting ten-dollar bills
for stunts last year), he calmly
swallowed a shaker-full of pepper
—and then not quite so calmly
sneezed a mighty sneeze.
are decarbonated and burned. In
fra-red rays are passed through
the combustion products which re
main—carbon dioxide and water.
The amount of energy absorbed
by the carbon dioxide from the
rays is measured electrically and
from this measurement, scientists
can determine whether ethane,
propane, or other hydrocarbon
gases are present in the soil and
in what amount. These gases, it
is believed, are evidence of oil
sands at lower depths.
Plastic From Lignin
Significant development in the
use of lignin, the non-fibrous part
of trees, as a basic chemical raw
material is seen in the recent
manufacture of lignin sulphonic
acid from pulp mill liquors at a
cost of only a few dollars a ton.
The acid is cooked with wood
chips and treated to make a plastic
pulp which is run over a paper
machine to produce a molding
sheet. The sheets may be pressed
to produce an extremely strong
light board.
Experiments are being made with
the new plastic as a material for
refrigerator doors, parts of motor
car bodies, and other products
where weight is important.
Texas University, believe it or not.
The student in question, it seems,
has developed quite a system for
confusing motorists. When he’s
starting to cross a street and a
slow-moving car rolls by, he
thwacks the rear fender loudly and
then, being a man of some agility,
turns a back flip in the street. The
noise and human pinwheel lead to
a very satisfying and startling ef
fect on the driver of the car who
firmly believes he has knocked a
pedestrian for a literal loop.
•
A young woman in whom a Field
Artillerjt senior is more or less
interested recently took a cab from
the center part of San Antonio to
some place or other. As she got
in, the driver looked at her sus
piciously. “Lady,” he said, “are
you feeling all right? Ten min
utes ago a baby was born in that
seat while I was taking the mother
to the hospital! Darn these wom
en!”
•
Going vari-colored diets one bet
ter:
Johnny Beville and “Pete”
Schott recently tried to outdo each
other in the matter of sandwiches.
They finally ended up with a piece
of steak, half an onion, ketchup,
and apple sauce between two slices
of bread. Then they ate the thing.
They weren’t paying off a bet ei
ther; they do that sort of thing
every night on the janitor table
and eat the sandwiches with ap
parent relish.
ASSKaVVKLY
HALL
MEET THE GIRLS WHO
HAVE EVERYTHING!
Secrets of plat
inum-plated soci
ety playgirls! The
stars of “Calling
Dr. Kildare" in a
daring story of
youth on a spree!
GLAMJl
GIRLfl
AYRES* TURNER
TOM BROWN ‘ RICHARD CARLSON
JANE BRIAN - ANITA LOUISE
MARSHA HUNT • ANN RUTHERFORD
MARYBETH HUGHES - OWEN DAVIS Jn
Directed by S. Sylvan Simon
7 • Produced by Sam Zimbalist
November 21-22
LOUIS' MARKET
Dressed
On Order
Louis Mouro
324 N. Main Bryan 107