THE BATTALION
•TUESDAY, JAN. 16, 1940
PAGE 2
The Battalion
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OP
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
The tsattalion, 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
Puesday, 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 8, 1879.
Subscription rate, $3 a school year. Advertising rates upon
request.
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc.,
st New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco.
Office. Room 122, Administration Building. Telephone
1-6444.
1939 Member 1940
Dissociated Golle&iate Press
BILL MURRAY
LARRY WEHRLE
lames Critz
E. C. (Jeep) Oates
H. G. Howard
‘Hub" Johnson
Philip Golman
John J. Moseley ——
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Associate Editor
Sports Editor
Circulation Manager
Intramural Editor
Staff Photographer
Staff Artist
TUESDAY STAFF
Charlie Wilkinson Managing Editor
Ram Davenport Asst. Advertising Manager
C. A. Montgomery Editorial Assistant
Junior Editors
Earle Shields Don Andrews
Senior Sports Assistants
Jhnmie Cokinos Jimmy James
Junior Advertising Solicitors
K. W. Hubbard J- D- Smith
Reportorial Staff
Bill Fitch, H. S. Hutchins, W. D. C. Jones, Joe Leach,
J. L. Morgan, Jerry Rolnick, J. C. Rominger, E. A. Sterling,
W. P. Walker. R. J. Warren
Vanishing Sportsman?
We have all read stories about the “Van
ishing American". Here at A. & M. is some
thing that is vanishing too rapidly, and that
is sportsmanship.
The action of the corps at the basket
ball game Saturday night was one of the
poorest exhibitions of “sportsmanship" that
we have ever witnessed.
It is true that some fouls go unnoticed,
and that A. & M. is sometimes penalized un
fairly ; ■ but the referee, like anyone else, is
not perfect and occasionally makes mistakes.
Mistake or not, his decision should not be a
signal for the corps to break into a chorus of
loud “boos" every time it does not favor our
team.
Perhaps the worst feature of all was the
attempt to disturb and upset a boy on the
other side who had a free toss. Aggies, ask
yourselves—do you consider that true fair
ness?
During an exciting game, it’s easy at
times to forget ourselves. But after the game,
on due reflection—would you decide to re
peat such actions?
The yell-leaders who were at the game
did their best to restrain the booing, but it
even grew so bad at times that Woody Var
ner, cadet colonel and captain of our basket
ball team, tried to wave it down from the
floor.
We have heard many outsiders complain
about lack of sportsmanship at A. & M.,
but sometimes we’ve thought they were
just “sore" because their team lost. Now it
becomes painfully evident that at least a part
of what they claim is true.
The team representing A. & M. always
does its best and always plays clean games.
But the good the team does will be lost if
the boys in the stands fail to do their share
in showing the best sportsmanship possible.
We have always had some boys that
“boo" the decisions of the referees, but on
the whole, this used to be kept to a bare
minimum. It has just been during the past
two years that “boos” have begun to take
the place of “Farmers, fight!” and “Yea,
Army!”
It is time that some students should
realize that they are in college and not in
high school, and should try to act like col
lege students.
We, as individuals, may not be affected
3by the action of the corps, but the team and
the school suffer. It’s up to us,. Army, to
^eliminate the unsportsmanlike attitude that
Jias invaded the campus. This will take the
fun cooperation of all students.
Instead of the “Vanishing Sportsman”
let’s make it the “Return of the Sportsman”
and the return of the true Aggie spirit!
—Don Corley
Senior-Want a Job?
The Ex-Students Association has begun
this year with a program that promises to
be the biggest aid for graduating seniors in
the history of the school. The Association
hopes that by keeping a complete personnel
record of all seniors and graduates, a greater
number of prospective employers may be
contacted than is possible by the student’s
own personal efforts or even through depart
mental channels. Already a mailing list of
hundreds of employers has been made up
and new concerns are being contacted every
day.
The Association is offering “free, gratis"
to every senior and to every ex-student the
opportunity to find employment, first jobs
for the graduating seniors and then new and
better jobs for the exes. The entire service,
except the printed folders which are entirely
optional, does not cost the student a single
penny. The only cost is that of the energy
expended in filling out the personnel record
blank and in the effort of taking it to the
Former Students’ Office in the Administra
tion Building.
With this set-up, it is surprising that
there are still over 200 seniors, almost 25%
of the senior class of ’40, who have not avail
ed themselves of this opportunity. Even
you who are already assured of employment
upon graduation cannot go wrong in at least
turning in the personnel record. There may
come the day when a new job, even the
chance for a change of scenery, will be wel
come. It is in this case that your having kept
in touch with the Personnel Office will make
itself felt.
Therefore, we urge those of you who
have as yet not done so to turn in the com
plete personnel record, both out of spirit
of pure cooperation and in the hopes that it
may be worth $’s and fs.
—Max McCullar
Newspaper Facts
Some interesting facts concerning newspapers
and advertising are contained in a book by Fred J.
Haskin, veteran syndicator of information from
which the following are condensed:
Egyptians used advertising 4,000 years ago.
Most early advertising was pictorial in character.
The first newspaper advertising is said to have ap
peared in Germany in 1591.
It is estimated that about a billion and a half
dollars is spent annually for all kinds of advertis
ing in the United States. More than 360 Ameri
can daily newspapers are equipped to print ad
vertisements in color.
The fastest modern newspaper presses can turn
out about 34,000 24-page papers an hour, and a
somewhat larger number of 12-page or 16-page
papers.
The first newspaper agency in the modern sense
is believed to have been that organized by Charles
Havas of Paris in 1835. In 1840 he established a
news service between Paris, London and Brussels,
using carrier pigeons.
James Gordon Bennett began the publication of
the first review of financial news in the New York
Herald in 1935.
Newspaper editorials were originated by John
Dillingham, an English journalist, and one of them
got him into jail in 1645. Some times justly and
sometimes unjustly, other editors have met a
similar fate many times since.
Maybe the taxpayer ought to be taxed more
to subsidize his taxes.
When it comes to footing the bills, so many of
us are out of step.
A writer wonders how women can enjoy a con
versation when all are talking at the same time.
That’s easy to understand—each is listening to her
self.
Optimists who pretend to believe the worst
never happens will have some trouble classifying
Stalin.
What is this mad new Europe, in which the on
ly peaceful spots are Ireland and the West Front?
The President of the Carnegie Corporation
says that the creation of academic degrees has in
creased to a preposterous point. Well, the surplus
of sheepskins has to be used up somewhere!
It looks as if the government had found the
ideal solution of the problem of what to do on
reaching one’s debt limit. Simply refuse the limit.
It’s a surprising thing some food manufacturer
hasn’t come out with an alphabet soup to take care
of all vitamin requirements.
You can tell when you are approaching the
center of culture. The traffic, gas fumes and bill
boards get thicker.
As the World Turns...
Steen
By DR. R. W. STEEN
The Russo-Finnish war—or from the Soviet
point of view, Russia’s desperate effort to protect
her territory from Finnish aggression—continues to
produce more actual fighting than the war in West
ern... Europe. All reports indicate
that the advantage to date lies defi
nitely with the Finns. Many observ
ers are beginning to wonder whether
or not Russia is a first-class power,
or the same thing that Russia has
been for centuries—that is, an area
with enormous resources and count
less men so handicapped by poor lead
ership and antiquated systems of in
dustry and transportation as to be of
little actual worth in battle.
In view of the fact that Russia
has met with little success in “defending herself”
it is difficult to understand the dropping of bombs
on Swedish territory Sunday. It may have been
intended to warn Sweden that it would be best
if she extended no more aid to Finland. Or it
may be that the Russian fliers who have never
been described as first-class navigators, thought they
were over Finnish territory. After all, they were
only sixty miles from Finland, and what is fifty
miles to a man who understands the operation
of a bomb trigger better than he does the use
of navigation instruments?
Spring will probably bring increased activity
to the western front. Both Belgium and Holland
called additional men to the colors Sunday. It is
reported that German troops have been massed
along the frontiers of the low countries, and their
governments are taking no chances on being unpre
pared to meet an invasion. A rumor, probably un
founded, continues to float around. It is that Hol
land has recently agreed that a German thrust will
not be resisted, and that Germany can gain bases
on the sea without opposition from the Dutch. Such
a rumor seems a bit fantastic, and is no doubt noth
ing more than wishful thinking on the part of the
Germans, or perhaps artful propaganda on the
part of the Allies.
Uncle Sam’s census takers will assemble this
year a great mass of material about the number,
habits and possessions of the American people. A
great deal of most valuable inormation will be ob
tained, and from it will come a political argument
of some magnitude, that of reapportionment. All
of the states entitled to more representatives will
want the representatives—or the seats in Con
gress—immediately reapportioned, while those states
losing members will do all in their power to delay
reapportionment as long as possible.
Off the Record
Dob N?sbe!
Beginning Wednesday at the
Palace is a show that is definite
ly top notch as far as classifica
tion goes. It is “SWANEE RIV
ER,” produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
of Twentieth Century-Fox and
filmed in technicolor.
The cast includes such names as
follows:
Stephen Foster Don Ameche
Jane Andrea Deads
p. P. Christy A1 Jolson
And the Hall Johnson Choir.
Don Ameche, who made a great
success of the life of Alexander
Graham Bell, has not tried his
hand at the life of Stephen Foster.
In truth, Stephen Foster’s life is
probably more suited to the mak
ing of a picture show than was
Bell’s. By the process of elimina
tion “Swanee River” should be bet
ter than was “The Life of Alex
ander Graham Bell,” and the lat
ter was picked by many as one of
the ten best in 1939. Foster’s life
was filled with both joys and hard
ships, and furnishes enough crises
for a strong plot. His songs are
untold value to the entertainment.
Then with the Hall Johnson Choir
to sing them, it should be a box-
office hit. There are some, how
ever, who do not like Don Ameche
nor his acting; I admit there are
times when his acting is overdone,
but I don’t see how anybody
could dislike this show.
The story deals with Foster as
a down-and-out song writer trying
to sell his music, knowing that un
til he does he cannot marry the
gently-reared Jane, with whom he
is desperately in love. E. P.
Christy comes along and the two
make a small fortune in no time
with his songs of the South. How
ever, the Civil War puts a stop
to his songs, and soon he is broke
again. He turns to drink and loses
Jane. Just before his death he
writes perhaps the most famous
of all his songs, Swanee River,
but never lives to see its tremen
dous success.
Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne
star in “WHEN TOMORROW
COMES,” playing at the Assembly
Hall Tuesday and Wednesday
nights. It is a story with some
what of a tragic ending. Boyer,
married to a woman who at times
is greatly demented, meets Irene
Dunne, a concert pianist. The two
have two short days together when
they are caught in a storm, but
Boyer leaves for Europe with his
wife at the end of the show with
a promise to return “some day.”
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Tuesday and Wednesday—
“WHEN TOMORROW
COMES”, with Charles Boyer
and Irene Dunne.
AT THE PALACE
Beginning Wednesday—
“SWANEE RIVER”, with
Don Ameche, Andrea Leads,
and A1 Jolson.
AT THE QUEEN
Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday — “NIGHT OF
NIGHTS”, with Pat O’Brien,
Olympe Bradna, and Roland
Young.
M ECENT
mM ECORD
1 | ELEASES
Tommy cut a swingaroo and a
medium fast rhythmic ballad for
Victor record 26429. EASY DOES
IT was written by Sy Oliver and
Trummie Young when they were
members of the Jimmy Lunceford
Orchestra. Sy Oliver, as you know,
is now arranging for the Dorsey
crew and has already turned out
some startling manuscripts. AM 1
PROUD? was written by Teddy
Powell and Leonard Whitcup. It
features Anita Boyer as vocalist
and Johnny Mince on clarinet. As
usual, Dorsey gives us a bang-
up record of diversified appeal.
)Sammy Kaye has recorded two
songs of the bubbling melody
school. CHATTERBOX is an Al-
Ihn Roberts-Jerome Brainin com
position dreamed up for RKO’s
“That’s Right—You’re Wrong.”
“The Three Kadets” and the or
chestra’s glee club present the
lyrics to this entertaining musical
tid-bit. Johnny Mercer and Walter
Donaldson tailored SMARTY
PANTS with the usual Mercer
verve and Donaldson melodic skill.
Stanley Adams and Carmen Lom
bardo, both song writers with a
long list of hits to their credit,
collaborated on a new “kid” ballad,
LITTLE SHEPHERD OF MY
DREAMS. Harriet Hilliard sings
this lovely medium slow tempo
song. FLOWER OF DAWN, and
Eddie DeLange, Russ Morgan and
Carl LaMagna composition, ap
pears on the opposite side of the
record B-10516 recorded at a slight
ly faster tempo. Ozzie is vocalist
for this love-song in an arrange-
Good Posture Is Aid
To Energy According
To College Doctor
MADISON, Wis.—Maintain good
posture and you’ll feel better.
That’s the prescription of the
University of Wisconsin’s Dr.
Frances A. Hellebrandt, a member
of the medical school staff.
“To stand correctly is extraordi
narily cheap from the viewpoint
of its energy needs,” she said.
“If the posture is relaxed,
standing is practically indefatiga
ble. It costs little more energy
units to stand properly than to
beat an egg, although nearly three-
fourths of the muscles in the body
are being used,” Dr. Hellebrandt
continued.
No person can stand without
swaying, she found. “A person's
center of weight falls remarkably
close to the center of the base of
support between the two feet,” she
said. “Although nature is a good
engineer, the center of weight
dances to and fro as we stand,
producing gravitational stresses
which must be met by the muscles
of the legs to keep us from totter
ing.”
Experiments with high heels
showed that the higher the heels
the more pronounced was the
oscillation of the body. Although
not apparent to the naked eye, the
swaying was detected by instru
ments constructed for the experi
ment by Prof. L. E. A. Kelso of
the engineering department.
“Good posture can’t be achieved
by the application of a blanket
rule," Dr. Hellebrandt warned. “It
is something the individual must
strive for.”
ment that also features the bril
liant alto and baritone sax soloists,
who are becoming instrumental
specialists in the Nelson Orchestra.
BACKWASH
By
George fuermann
“Backwazh: An agitation resulting from soma action or eccnrrcnca."—Webstar.
Down Military Walk . . . WTAW
manager John Rosser, recently de
clared that “We broadcast every
thing from the North Bryan Jubi
lee to a Chopin Etude.” . . . Senior
Court cases hit a
new high last
week when 34 of
fenders faced the
committee. As a
matter of fact,
there were so
many cases that
it was necessary
to hold two ses
sions of the
thoroughly re
spected student-administered dis
ciplinary body. A. W. O. L. was
the most popular offense, being
caused by cadets leaving before the
Christmas holidays officially be
gan . . . Two claims to out-of-
the-groove recognition has Aggie
Calvin Cock. He’s one of the few
Aggies who have attended the
United States Coast Guard Acad
emy in New London, Connecti
cut, and, what’s more, Calvin repre
sents the third generation of Ag
gies in his own family. . . . Num
ber one request of the week is the
one handed to the writer by Don
Gabriel and “Jay” Saunders who
would like to have Johnny Mes-
sner’s recording of “She Really
Meant To Keep It” played at meal
times in the mess halls. If you’ve
ever heard the number you’ll un
derstand why . . . One of the Los
Angeles newspapers, than whom
there is none whomer when it
comes to making a big story out
of a little one, recently carried a
not-too-factual item wherein it
was disclosed that, “When mighty
Texas A. & M. plays U. C. L. A.
next October 12, the national cham
pions will be followed by their 220
piece military band and the 6,000
members of their all-male student
body on annual corps trip leave.”
. . . Hou|fc>n Chamber of Com
merce president Wright Morrow
pointed out in a recent address at
the annual banquet of nearby Bry
an’s C. of C. that, “A & M. is to
be congratulated. Not only is that
great institution thoroughly re
spected in military and civil cir
cles alike throughout the nation,
but its graduates carry, a certain
prestige because they ARE grad
uates of Texas A. & M. College.”
•
Concerning WTAW’s Friday aft
ernoon Clambake:
The 45-minute program, which
precedes The Battalion newscasts,
is a comparatively new inaugura
tion at the college which seems to
be gaining—and warranting—the
interest of the student body.
The program is turned over en
tirely to Aggies, and some of the
talent unearthed each Friday after
noon borders on the professional.
Among the campus orchestras
which have sprung up as a result
of the Clambake are the “Coon
Chasers” and “Wittenbach’s Merry
Mellow Melloncholly Mellodious
Mellodeers.” The former group is
composed of Jim Perry, Bill Beas
ley, Ben Ivey, and Otheil Erlund—
the latter three being freshmen. A.
J. Wittenbach heads the latter
group which includes Harold Hick
man, Jake Fritsch, and Ken Garvin
—again the latter three being
freshmen.
Letters from Mr. and Mrs. Aggie
public indicate three very popular
Clambake favorites: Jack Rudy at
the organ, Harry Springfield, gui
tarist, and one of the best ama
teur accordionists the writer has
heard, E. B. Patterson .
It’s different—but it might
work:
Lee Beeson and Gunter Koettar
have announced the organization
of a closed corporation—a cabaret
of a sort. Not particularly un
usual in itself, the incorporators
all of A Engineers, have institut
ed an idea which definitely make
for the very unusual. Four so-
called bouncers will be employed
to throw out—of all things—bois
terous women: Gordon Sibeck
taking care of large women,
George Steurer being responsible
for middle-sized women, Don
Peterson handling the behavior of
small women, and C. E. “Buddy”
Williams being assigned children
under three years of age. On be
ing interviewed by a Battalion re
porter, Buddy’s only comment was,
“I’ve been framed!”
•
Wherein your columnist is pro
posed to for the first—and probably
the last—time in his life:
An item in the writer’s T. S. C.
W. column of the past week point
ed out that Aggies in general are
open to any suggestions our sis
ter school coeds may have in re
spect to Leap Year. The morning
mail brought the following gem,
which with a few omissions, is
quoted exactly, but you would have
to read the original to really appre
ciate the thing:
aint got no calendar
jist a sittin’
dear george,
i shore war tikled when i
heerd yo war entrested in this
hyra bein leap yar. I yam aw
ful bashfulf and I war sure
hatin tar ax a boy to be a git-
tin hitched wit me this yar,
and bein as how Ise gittin purty
old, i figgered as how I’d best
git me a man this yar cause
it’ll be four more yars fore I
get the chance again.
i aint particklar what yore age
are or whether your one of them
thar big hansum brutes—all i
want is a home and some hogs
ter slop and chikkens ter feed,
i heerd that thar skool of larnin
relly did put out some good
farmers, and I garantee ya i’ll
do all the house work like cuttin
the wood, haulin the water and
milkin the kows. We shore
should make a good happy pare.
I aint a gittin much larnin
in this hyar kollege sose if u
wants ter git hitched right away,
i’m ready. Be shore to let me
know when and i’ll rite pa to
send the wagon. Aint love jist
the most wunderful thing!
All further offers of this nature
will be thoughtfully and carefully
considered.
•
Howard Wilson was first:
The first entries on Backwash’s
“What I Like (Or Don’t Like)
About T. S. C. W.-ites” contest
are coming in. The contest closes
on February 15 and all you have
to do to enter is write one hundred
words or less on the above sub
ject. Then send your entry to the
writer, Box 2279, College Station.
The winning entry will be publish
ed in The Battalion and the T. S.
C. W. newspaper, The Lass-O.
Runners-up will be published in a
future issue of The Battalion Mag
azine. The judging committee,
composed of ten cadets and one
graduate assistant, was announced
in last Saturday’s paper.
Texas refines 80 per cent of all
crude oil produced in the state.
Get That Attractive White
Dance Uniform
NOW
R. V. UNIFORMS
LOOK FOR THE SYMBOL OF DISTINCTION
ilUl
“Made by Mendl & Hornak”
UNIFORM TAILOR SHOP
North Gate
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