PAGE 2
■SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1940
The Battalion
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF
. 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
4-5444.
1939 Member 1940
Associated Golle6iate Press
BILL MURRAY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LARRY WEHRLE ADVERTISING MANAGER
James Critz Associate Editor
E. C. (Jeep) Oates Sports Editor
H. G. Howard Circulation Manager
“Hub” .Johnson Intramural Editor
Philip Golman Staff Photographer
John J. Moseley Staff Artist
SATURDAY STAFF
James Critz Acting Managing Editor
Don Burk s.- Asst. Advertising Manager
W. C. Carter Editorial Assistant
Junior Editors
A. J. Robinson Billy Clarkson Cecil De Vilbiss
Junior Advertising Solicitors
J. M. Sedberry G. M. Woodman
Reportorial Staff
Lee Rogers, E. M. Rosenthal, W. A. Moore, Glenn Mattox,
Leslie Newman, M. L. Howard
Telephone Rate Hike
Perhaps the outstanding’ question that is be
ing discussed in Bryan and College Station is that
concerning the proposed increase in the rates to be
charged by Southwest Telephone Company ... A
proposal that is not meeting with a great amount
of favor, but one that is faced by practically every
municipality at one time or another . . .
It should be interesting to note that the in
crease change in the rates cannot be charged en
tirely to the Southwest Telephone Company . . ,
The source of the entire proposal, we believe, can
be found in the American Telegraph and Tele
phone Company, largest organization of its kind in
existence ... A vast business institution that owns
or controlls practically all of the telephone, tele
graph and cable lines in the United States.
As we understand it, the Southwest Telephone
Company is operating under the laws of Texas as
an independent corporation . . . The statement sub
mitted by officials of this company to the mem
bers of the Bryan City Commission reveal that this
company in 1939 made a net earning of 3.2 per cent
on an investment with a depreciated value of $289,-
817.31, an amount less than the interest that would
have been paid by many lending agencies ....
These figures were based on the local income of
the Southwest Telephone Company . . . that is the
local connection rate charges and collections, and
we have been told about 19 per cent of the total
toll charges from long-distance calls.
Perhaps an enlightening statement concerning
the long-distance toll calls is in order . . . Some
eighty cents of every dollar that is spent for calls
of this nature goes to Bell Telephone Company, al
lied with A. T. & T. The remainder of that dollar
stays with the local system to be used to defray
operation expenses which include salaries, taxes
and other expenditures.
We believe that the figures submitted to the
City Commission are accurate in so far as they
go . . . The thing about it is . . . they do not go
quite far enough. Let’s make a comparison. Sup
pose we owned three hundred newspapers and print
ing establishments, each doing a gross business we’ll
say of $20,000 per year ... to make the computa
tions easy ... Of this $20,000 we will retain $4,-
000 for operating expense (which incidentally will
not cover the cost) . . . and the remaining $16,000
we send to headquarters office for distribution. We
could show a net loss, instead of a slight profit,
on each establishment, providing of course we could
do something about that other $16,000 per year.
It’s not as simple as that with the telephone
system, however. There are as many branches and
divisions through which the mentioned eighty per
cent must travel before reaching its destination . . .
Numerous companies such as the Southwest Tele
phone Company are operating throughout the
United States on practically the same basis . . . The
country is divided into divisions with each company
serving its included territory . . . Each doing busi
ness with one another, each retaining a percentage
of the toll calls and each showing a small profit,
or small loss, as the case may be. Most state gov
ernments have laws regulating the amount of profit
that a utilities group may make on a given invest
ment. ... in Texas it’s 8 per cent on depreciated
valuation of properties.
Now enters the important topic of service . . .
Which is one of the major factors in any company’s
success. No doubt the dial telephone system to be
installed by the Southwest Telephone Company in
Bryan and College Station will prove a great aid
and calls will be speeded up. Good service is de
served by the public, whether it’s at the same rate
or at one which has been increased. Should a
grocery dealer increase his selling prices in order
to give better delivery service, we doubt if his cus
tomers would appreciate it ... We know they
wouldn’t.
So it is with the Telephone Company ... We
are due good service without an increase in cost.
Because every business must keep in step with
progress or suffer losses in renumeration. We
realize that the Southwest Telephone Company as a
single communication system cannot show a huge
profit, but the entire system with which it is allied
does.—Bryan News.
• '
As in most cases, there are bound to be
circumstances and situations with which the South
west Telephone Company is faced, that the general
public understands little about. And doubtless when
all the phones in College Station and Bryan are dial
phones, the services will be greatly improved over
that at present. But judging from widespread com
ment, the company’s asking for a raise in rates at
this time is particularly distressing, not only be
cause of the facts given above, but also because of
the extreme slowness and inefficiency of the service
now being rendered.
As The Battalion has pointed out before, in re
sponse to numerous comments and queries, the
service is far poorer than it should be. It seems
that the telephone operators, for one thing, are
too few in number to give the efficient service
the public expects. We urge that if at all pos
sible the company should add to the number of
its operators.
★
It Doesn’t Belong to You
Do you find that books from the library are
frequently littered with markings by students?
Underlining favorite passages or making per
sonal comment is a habit which begins in classes,
where the practice is required. It is a distinct aid
to the student, but should be confined to personal
property.
Aside from the fact that such markings are
wrong in that they damage library property, no two
people would wish to mark the same selections.
Half of the joy of reading comes from discovering
for one’s self certain thoughts which seem to stim
ulate the thinking of the reader.
Not only does the habit detract from the con
tents of the conscientious reader, but it is a decided
nuisance to the library employee, who has enough
to annoy him in catering to the whims of stu
dents.
Writing in library books has been carried be
yond mere single, inexpensive editions which may
be replaced if necessary. Marking in encyclo
pedias and other valuable reference books, how
ever, is another matter.
Let’s think before we deface library property.
—Baylor Lariat.
★
Texas Game Problems
Fortunately, the Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster
Commission does not engage in hit-or-miss conserva
tion. While it already is taking steps, with federal
aid, to enlarge the range and quality of deer, ante
lope, turkey and quail in Texas, one of its main proj
ects is that of research to determine the needs, pos
sibilities, and most effective methods for wild life
restoration in Texas. This research is essential to
the long-range planning required for successful
restoration.
In this connection, Will J. Tucker, executive sec
retary of the commission, in a recent bulletin, states
that studies are being made of the distribution of
many kinds of game to show their population densi
ties on one type of land and another. Deer counts on
some ranches in the Edwards Plateau have shown
that too many deer are being carried, with the re
sult that the range is deteriorating. But other areas
could support a much large number of deer, which
in Texas as a while are sadly inadequate for the
needs of hunters.
Other studies are intended to show the effects
of drouth, hunting pressure, predatory animals,
plant succession and stream pollution. In addition,
experimental areas are being established to demon
strate the possibilities of wild life restoration. The
game department is doing valuable educational work
through clubs and schools and has been active in the
formation of county wildlike planning boards con
sisting of landowners and sportsmen interested in
wildlife restoration.
The present research in this field is expected to
result in better understanding of Texas game prob
lems and in more economical and more effective con
servation. Ultimately, it will bring some game for
sportsmen and thus give better results for their ef
forts and expenditures, as well as for those of the
taxpayers.
As the World Turns...
By “COUNT” V. K. SUGAREFF
The Smith Committee of the House of Repre
sentatives has found some faults with the admin
istration of the Wagner Labor Relations Act. This
act is administered by a board of three men from
Washington, D. C., who have the power “to make,
amend, and rescind such rules and
regulations as may be necessary to
carry out the provisions of the
law.” Regional boards were ap
pointed to hear and decide cases
throughout the country. From th«
beginning (1935) both the Nation
al Labor Relation Board and the
regional boards met opposition
from the employers and the em
ployees. The Board, with neither
background nor precedent, was
confronted with many difficult
tasks and it seems only logical that it would de
velop some errors of commission and omission. The
Board regulates the relations between 300,000 em
ployers and 17,000,000 employees. It is impossible
not to include in such a large organization some
inexperienced theorists, impractical people, igno
ramuses, bigots, and even pathological cases. It
should be known, however, that the act was pass
ed to establish rights for labor which were not
guaranteed before, and that as yet no employer
has found any legal “flaw in the Act.”
* * *
It seems that we have learned a lesson from the
last war (1914-1918). Loans are prohibited to the
present belligerents. Besides, our government has
informed Great Britain that we would accept some
gold but we want more of Britain’s American in
vestments in exchange for war materials. These
investments include the holdings of British sub
jects in the United States, Canada, and Latin
America—amounting to about $8,200,000,000. Last
week England rekuisitioned the personal holdings
of 60 selected gild-edged stocks. England will pay
the holders of these stocks the market price (as of
February 17) and sell them to build up a cash
balance in the United States. The sale, however,
would be gradual so as not to depress security
prices. This is a toally different policy from loan
ing the belligerents billions of dollars, most of which
have never been paid.
* * *
The usual seasonal decline in the January ex
ports was reversed last month. Our exports during
January, 1940, amounted to $368,550,000—70 per
cent over January, 1939. A good deal of these
exports was made up of war materials. Texans,
though, would be interested to know that last
month was a record month both for cotton consump
tion at home—730,143 bales; plus 1,125,000 bales
exported.
THE BATTALION
Collegiate Kaleidoscope
cMovtn /r > e4Kmr'
DU ~ ‘ ‘
by Dob N isbei
WORLD'/ Y0UNGEZT
FRATERNITY BROTHER.
[Pete Urowm.jr., year old son
OF THE BASEBALL COACH AT
OOLDRADO ST. COLLEGE OF EDUCA
TION, TOOK THE PLEDGE IN DELTA
RSI AND SIGNED THE PETITION
Wm HIS HANDPRINT/
The heights daily news staff of
NEW YORK UNIV. DISTRIBUTED 50,000
COPIES OF THEIR PAPER AT THE NYU.-
FORDHAM GAME LAST FALL IN YANKEE
•STADIUM. IT WAS THE LARGEST SINGLE
ISSUE OF ANY COLLEGE PAPER/
BACKWASH
By
George Fuermann
“Backwash: An agitation resulting; from some action or occurrence.”—Webster.
Fuermann
Backwash’s Ugly Boy champion
ship is under way in high gear.
With hillbilly bands, campaign
managers, soap-box orations, and
political dickering of the profes
sional kind, the
contest saw over
700 votes cast in
the first day’s
balloting. The
candidates them
selves are front
page news, but
too little is said
of the energetic,
ambitious cam
paign managers.
There’s Eddie Hall’s Otis Hatka
who is assisted by Mike Rodriguez,
Alex Charles, Farris Ivie, Eber
Peters, Bob Logan, Frank Duke,
and Cecil Johnston. The Band’s
Roy Chappell has J. H. Focke and
Bill Beck. Legett Hall’s candidate,
S. D. “Red” Martin, has Clayton
Bird, Bill Bohning, and Bill Cur-
ECENT
ECORD
ELEASES
Mitchell Ayres and his Fashions
in Music have been packing the Ber
muda Terrace Room of the St.
George Hotel in Brooklyn for the
past several weeks. In fact, the
public’ enthusiasm for this hand
some young maestro and his tal
ented group of entertainers has
been so marked that the manage
ment has signed Ayres for the
Terrace Room until at least April
of 1940. While in this location,
Mitchell Ayres has three coast-to-
coast broadcasts a week, Tuesday,
Friday, and Saturday. Such air
time has already commenced a de
mand for his records. Two novel
ty tunes, favorites with this or
chestra’s audiences, comprise rec
ord B-10541. Vivacious Mary Ann
Mercer is vocalist for both tunes
and reveals personality, vocal
talent, and showmanship of the
highest calibre. Both ROW ROW
ROW and MA (He’s Making Eyes
at Me) are oldies. These revivals
are in the accepted style of the
moment and will undoubtedly be
doubly attractive on coin phono
graphs.
•
Bob Zurke’s band has one of the
most promising ditties for 1940
on the “A” side of his record of
the week. HOLY SMOKE, with
lyrics by Johnny Mercer and mu
sic by Royal Marsh, packs a dou
ble-barreled appeal through both
words and music that cannot fail
to ring the gong. A newcomer to
the Zurke band, Gus Ehrman,
handles the singing assignment in
this medium swing interpretation.
The companion-piece, SOMEBODY
TOLD ME, was written by Mack
Gordon and Henry Nemo. This
is a love ballad equal in appeal
to HOLY SMOKE but entirely
different in its construction.
Zurke’s new girl singer, Evelyn
Poe, reveals an engaging voice of
the wide-eyed variety. In both of
these recordings, the Storytone
piano, a new electrical develop
ment made by RCA Victor and the
Story and Clark Piano Company,
is featured by The Ole Tom-Cat
of the Keys.
ry. And there’s several dozen “un
official” managers for other can
didates. The willingness is there,
but a realization of his ungainly
ugliness, the professional standing
he has attained in that field, and
the ineligibility of Battalion staff
members have prevented your
writer from being a candidate for
the honor.
•
The way of things . . . “Sadie
Hawkins’ Day” at Sam Houston
State Teachers College today has
attracted more than a hundred Ag
gies to Huntsville . . . Gerry
Mann: “I just barely will have a
date for the Field Artillery Ball.”
. . . A. D. Thomas: “Something
should be done about these “bird-
dogs” which abound so freely at
A. & M. dances.” . . . Several Leap
Year banquets were held at Col
lege Station night before last. As
usual at such affairs, the girls
reversed the usual procedure and
escorted cadets to the functions
. . . Voting in the first primary
of the column’s Ugly Boy cham
pionship closes tomorrow night at
mid-night. . . . The second primary,
to be held next Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday, will be a race between
the five high men in the current
election.
•
“Ancient” is a mild word:
Backwash recently took time out
to cross-section the student body
on what it thought were the two
oldest jokes existent. With amaz
ing consistency, here’s the one that
almost everyone voted for:
“Who was that lady I seen
you with last night?”
“That was no lady; that was
my wife.”
And, a close second:
“Why does a chicken cross
the road?”
“To get on the other side.”
•
It shows a decent respect, any
way:
A quote from a daily newspaper
of a not-too-distant city reads:
“. . . and they are so valu
able that their pelts are not
used for fur coats until after
the animals have died.”
This column just received the an
nouncement from Mrs. Schulman
of the Bryan Amusement Com
pany that “GONE WITH THE
WIND” has been changed from
the Palace and will play its Bryan
engagement at the Queen Theater.
The date of playing will remain
the same as previously stated,
March 13 through March 19. Warn
ing in advance—G.W.T.W. is a
top-notch show well worth any
and all praise given in its behalf.
Swinging back to the campus,
we find for Saturday one good
show and one not so good.
“ETERNALLY YOURS” stars
Loretta Young and David Niven,
the perfect combination. Niven is
still just a bit new to screen fans
to be classed as a heavy star, but
his popularity is growing by leaps
and bounds. Loretta Young, who
for many years has been the heart
beat of many a swain, carries the
dramatic end, and with her inimita
ble personality and charming looks
does a good job.
The story is of a sleight-of-hand
artist who robs a just-too-perfect
young man of his fiancee by
marrying her himself when she
comes to have her character an
alyzed. The marriage proves suc
cessful except that the magician
insists on jumping out of airplanes
with his hands handcuffed behind
him, and other such stunts; and
also that he will not settle down
with his wife in a little home in
Vermont. So Loretta divorces
David. How he contrives to win
her back before the too-perfect
young man completely dominates
the scene—well, that would be giv
ing it away. I’m tempted to rate
it to three, but will be satisfied
with two grade-points.
The not-so-good show is “AN
GELS WASH THEIR FACES,” a
sequel more or less to “Angels With
Dirty Faces.” The only differ
ence is that this show hasn’t the
benefit of the acting of James
Cagney and Pat O’Brien. When
“Dirty Faces” was made, Ann
Sheridan was practically unknown.
Now Warner Brothers shoves the
whole sequence onto her shoulders
to carry alone. Frankly the re
sult is not so good. In the first
place, Ann Sheridan is not partic
ularly beautiful, regardless of the
“oomph” campaign. Second, she
cannot act, and there is no room
for argument there. Rating: one
grade-point.
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Saturday, 12:45 — “AN
GELS WASH THEIR
FACES,” with Ann Sheridan.
Saturday, 6:30 and 8:30—
“ETERNALLY YOURS” —
with Loretta Young and
David Niven.
AT THE PALACE
Beginning Sunday—“THE
MAN FROM DAKOTA,”
with Wallace Beery.
AT THE QUEEN
Sunday and Monday—“A
CHILD IS BORN,” with Jef
fry Lynn.
BRING YOUR
CAR TO US
for a
SPRING
CLEANING and
LUBRICATION
BRYAN MOTOR
Company
Westinghouse
REFRIGERATOR
KRAFT’S RADIO
SHOP
Radios and Appliances
CORPS DANCE
SATURDAY NITE, MARCH 2
9 till 12
DE COURTNEY
“CANDID CAMERA MUSIC MAN”
—Featuring—
Three Male Vocalists
Sbisa Hall Scrip $1.00