Aggie Spirit Will
Never Yield Until
Demand Is Granted
An Editorial Expression
•
THE WORM HAS TURNED! . . .
AND TIMES HAVE CHANGED.
The long-suffering, 6,000-strong A. & M. cadet corps, tired
of submitting to years of high-pressure theater discrimination,
has decided it’s going to have a little to say about the sort of
fare the high moguls of the monopolistic motion picture industry
dish out.
At last the Aggies, through with submission, disgusted with
pleas and argumentation for a fair deal, are mobilized in an under
taking of complete accord.
And hundreds of faculty and staff members of A. & M.
College and other citizens of College Station as well as Bryan
have announced their complete agreement with the purposes of
the concerted “stay-at-home”, “save-your-money”, “support-your-
local-theater” movement.
It has aroused far more than local publicity, interest, and
attention. Sent out Monday morning to the Associated Press
and the United Press, the story has appeared in many news
papers and has been broadcast over several radio stations.
As one newscaster declared, “The Aggies usually get what
they go after,”—provided they keep after it long enough.
•
Yes, the fighting Texas Aggies really want what they want
when they want it.
And in this movement they are determined not to yield
until they persuade the management of the Bryan theatrical
interest and/or the Dallas distribution agents of pictures for
this area that College Station is equally as good a field for
pictures as Bryan, and that contracts existing between the
Dallas agencies and the Bryan interests should be altered to
further the interests of all concerned.
Yes, the Aggies are determined to stick with the fight—and,
once started, they must, if they are ever to achieve the desired
objective.
For, Army, you must realize that if we should emerge as
losers in this struggle—a thing we, of course, do not anticipate
doing—we may and probably will be losers and pawns of the
movie moguls for many years to come.
•
Therefore, fellow Aggies, we appeal to each and every one
of you for your complete, willing, and 100% support in this
venture.
It’s not a compulsory movement forced upon any of the
students. It’s an undertaking begun with the eager desire of
the vast majority to attain something that the college and the
community must have before they will ever be satisfied—and
that is one thing only: first-run, first-rate shows and date-to-date
showings of them with the Bryan theaters.
Members of the faculty and staff of the college—citizens of
College Station—people of Bryan—we call upon you and appeal
to you for your support in this move. It’s to your best interests
all around that our request be granted.
And it can and shall be. Of that we are certain.
•
We feel that it’s unfair that we should pay 20 cents in taxi
fares, and spend a lot of time and trouble, simply to get to see
a first-class movie.
And we’re through talking about the situation. We’re through
being puppets to the agents of the motion picture industry.
We’re acting, and we mean to keep on acting until we get
what we’re after.
•
“Bryan theaters may think this affair will “blow over” in
a couple of days, but that’s where they’re dead wrong. We mean
to keep it up two weeks, two months, or two years, if necessary.
And if things don’t break in our favor, this staying away from
the Bryan shows will become a good old Aggie tradition,” de
clared Cadet Colonel Durward B. “Woody” Varner last night.
And the entire corps echoes his sentiments.
“Statisticians” for the cadet corps during the first two
days of the campaign have calculated that in those two days,
when there might have been an Aggie audience of 12,000, the
percentage of Aggies in uniform attending the Bryan theaters
the first day was exactly .03, 99.97 percent staying away; and
that for the second day the score was:
Fighting Texas Aggies 6,000
Bryan theaters 00000
Difference 6,000
Thus the average percentage of those attending the Bryan
theaters was 99.985.
That’s nearly as pure as the Aggie water . . . and that’s
99.999714 percent pure!
•
The figures given above include only Aggies in uniform.
Those few students reported attending not in uniform are not
representative either of the Aggie uniform or the Aggie spirit.
•
But Saturday night is to be the “acid test”. It is understood
that the management of the Bryan theaters expects the cam
paign to come to a halt because of the good midnight show which
it is hoped will attract the Aggies as before.
Yeah?
•
Aggies, of course it’s going to take patience and persever
ance to achieve our desires.
No one knows how long it will prove necessary to stay
away from the Bryan shows before the other side yields.
But one thing we’re sure of: If we take away from 40 to
60 percent of the attendance at the Bryan shows, they cannot
profitably continue their business forever.
It may take weeks, it may take months, it may take years—
as the cadet colonel has declared.
We’re in favor of keeping it up ten years if necessary.
Eventually we’re bound to win our objective. Movie distri
butors, with an eye for money, will not forever ignore a field
as fertile as is College Station.
•
BUT—to get what we want, we must have the full coopera
tion of every student of A. & M., just as long as our campaign
proves necessary.
Just because a good show comes to Bryan—and plenty of
them will—don’t become impatient. You can see it—and it’ll
still be as new to you—when it comes to the College Assembly
Hall.
Just because you have a date at the college, don’t decide
that it will be necessary to take her to the show in Bryan. Ex
plain the situation to her—we think she’ll be in sympathy with
the Aggies. And after all, you can take her to the Assembly
Hall—to the Campus Theater when it opens—to shows in
Heame or elsewhere—to the baseball games—to the pool halls—
to the College Museum—to the College Library and music room
—to the restaurants, confectioneries, and various dances and
dancing places—and to many a place other than Bryan shows.
See if she really wants to go when she understands that the
money you spend on her at a Bryan show may help to defeat
our great aim.
The Battalion
VOL. 39 122 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 11, 1940 NO. 73
JUNIOR ELECTION SET FOR APRIL 22
Russ Morgan’s Orchestra Will Play
For Senior Banquet And Ring Dance
Sophomores
Will Elect On
Same Date
Russ Morgan and his nationally
famous 18-piece orchestra have
been engaged to play for the forth
coming Senior Banquet and Ring
Dance this year, F. M. “Max”
McCullar, senior class president,
and Charlie Hamner, senior social
secretary, have just announced.
The engagement of such a top-
notch band should, they stated,
make the senior affair better and
longer remembered than ever by
the departing Aggies, and this last
•dance held in honor of the seniors,-
should be as completely success
ful as only a big-name band like
Russ Morgan can make it.
Russ is now playing in New
Orleans. The demand for his mu
sic has led him to engagements
in the better hotels all over the
country. Many of the Aggies
are familiar with his music as
played over the radio and listen
regularly to his broadcasts.
Besides having Russ Morgan,
the plans for this year’s Senior
■Banquet and Ring Dance are the-
most elaborate in history, and it
is hoped that with better planning
and with cooperation from the
senior class that the ring cere
mony may be made very beauti
ful and impressive.
As favors for the dance, a pin
which is the face of the senior
ring will be given to the girls.
This pin is being struck in 1/20
gold-filled metal from the identi
cal die that was used in making
this year’s senior rings. The
favors will be finished in old rose
and guarded by a length of 10
karat gold chain attached to a
’40 of the same finish. The pins
are being made by Josten, who
has the new ring contract, through
their agents in Houston, the South
ern Engraving Company. It is
planned to have an engraver set
up at the dance who will engrave
the initials of both the boy and
the girl on the back of the pin
for a nominal charge.
Grand March Will Open Annual Cavalry Ball
Friday Night; Last Regimental Ball For Season
By Tom Gillis H
Beginning with a grand march,
a different but colorful event in
regimental balls at A. & M., the
Fourth Annual Cavalry Ball will
get under way in Sbisa Hall Fri
day night. Tom Harris, Cadet
Lieutenant Colonel of the Cavalry,
and his date will lead the grand
march in the side door, followed
by the members of the regiment
and their dates. Cavalry tactical
officers and chaperons will take
part in the ceremony which will
end when the long lines break in
to scores of dancing couples.
Contrary to previous reports,
Anson Weeks and his orchestra are
being brought to the Aggie cam
pus for the second time to play
for this ball. Anson Weeks and
his orchestra played for the Sen
ior Prom in 1934. His tuneful
rhythms have recently been heard
on the Lucky Strike program and
in many of the important hotels
in the east, middlewest and south
west. His orchestra has given
a start to such other famous band
leaders as Bob Crosby, Xavier
Cugat, and Griff Williams, but
Anson has now turned his atten
tion to another future star who is
now furnishing the vocals with
his orchestra. Eunice Clarke is
the sensational discovery whom he
now hopes to coach to stardom,
and she will be on the bandstand
Charming Eunice Clarke, featured vocalist with Anson Weeks.
•with him here when he presides
for the ball.
Favors in the shape of a small
diamond, surrounded by 16 small
pearls, and connected by a deli
cate gold chain to the crossed
sabers insignia of the Cavalry
will be given dates. Within the
diamond are the letters T. A. M. C.,
supported in red enamel.
Decorations for the dance plan
to make use of Cavalry lances to
completely surround the perma
nent backboard. The troop guidons
will be used in the regular place,
but the color added by the lances
will present a distinct Cavalry
touch as well as add to the beauty
of the bandstand.
Accommodations for the dates
are being arranged, and ramps G,
H, I, and J of Hart Hall will be
vacated. From 9 till 1 on Friday
night, Anson Weeks will play for
the Cavalry Ball, and Saturday
night the regular corps dance will
be open to ail members of the corps.
This dance is being given by
the juniors of the regiment. Jun
iors working on the dance are
Paul Haines, Bob Alexander, Bob
Langford, Eli Whitney, Tom Pow
ers, George Taylor, Keith Hub
bard, Graham Purcell, Bob Tonkin,
Sid McDonald, Jack Roach, and
Will Dickerson.
Delta Pine and Land Company Head To
Crown King of Annual Cotton Pageant
Rice, S.M.U., T.C.U., Baylor and University of Texas
Name Duchesses; Others To Be Announced at Later Date
King Cotton at the A. &
M.-fbe approximately 80 girls and their
escorts. These duchesses were se-
June Graduates
Required To Wear
Appropriate Dress
All non-ROTC students who are
to receive degrees at the June
Commencement are required to at
tend the ceremonies in appropriate
academic costume, according to an
announcement made by F. C. Bol
ton, Dean and Vice-President of
the college.
All advanced course ROTC stu
dents who are awarded degrees in
June will be required to attend the
ceremonies in Uniform No. 1, Dean
Bolton said, and non-ROTC stu
dents will wear caps and gowns.
Students who do not provide them
selves with appropriate dress for
the occasion will not be eligible to
participate in the exercises.
Until noon Saturday, April 27,
the Exchange Store can arrange
for caps and gowns for the occas
ion. After this time there is no as
surance that orders made will ar
rive in time for Commencement.
Rental for caps and gowns is
$1.75 for Batchelor Degree costume
and $1.90 for Master Degree cos
tume, and will be made with the
E. R. Moore Co. in Dallas.
AGGIE CAB CO. MOVES
TO COLLEGE STATION
Cecil James, graduate student
at A. & M. who is now owner
and manager of the Aggie Cab
Company, has announced the mov
ing of the location of his head
quarters from Bryan to College
Station.
Cotton Pageant and Ball of 1940
will be crowned by Hon. Oscar
Johnson, as announced by the com
mittee in charge. Mr. Johnson is
the president of the Delta and
Pine Land Company of Scott,
Mississippi, a plantation of over
36,000 acres, which is the largest
cotton producing plantation in the
world.
At present he is serving as presi
dent of the National Cotton Coun
cil of America, an organization
which has interests in all the cot
ton producing states in the nation.
Because he is one of the biggest
men in the cotton industry today,
Mr. Johnson has been selected to
place the crown on King Wesley
Seay’s head and make a few re
marks in the form of a coronation
address. Other notables who have
crowned King Cotton in the past
include W. L. Clayton of Houston,
Dean Kyle of A. & M., and Gov
ernor W. Lee O’Daniel, who per-
formed at last year’s Cotton
Pageant.
Harry Forbes, social secretary,
announces that arrangements for
Queen Mamie Tramonte’s court of
duchesses has reached almost a
virtual state of completion as far
as contracts are concerned. The
number included in the court will
lected from all senior colleges in
Texas, ex-student associations, A.
& M. Mothers clubs, and other
prominent organizations in the
state. From schools in the South
west Conference come the follow
ing duchesses and their escorts:
Evelyn Espy from T. C. U. es
corted by Keith Hubbard; Billie
Daniel from Baylor escorted by
Joe Doran; Virginia Ford from
the University of Texas escorted
by Tommy Richards;. Elizabeth
Potter from Rice escorted by Jack
Roach; Juanita Rushing from S.
M. U. whose selection for escort
has not yet been received.
The Cotton Pageant of 1940, to
be held April 19 at the DeWare
Field House, will carry a military
atmosphere as a theme. To form
an appropriate setting, Hal Mose
ley, who designed it, accomplished
his purpose with a Baroque set
ting.
According to Mrs. L. L. Four-
aker, director of the Pageant, the
queen will wear a royal robe of
white cotton pique designed by
Brooks of New York through the
specifications of The Fashion in
Houston who will present the Style
Show.
ARCHITECTS HEAR
TSCW FINE ARTS
DIRECTOR TODAY
Miss Mary Marshall, Director of
the Department of Fine Arts at
T. S. C. W., will visit the A. &
M. campus today. The Architec
tural Department is sponsoring a
lecture by Miss Marshall at 7:30
p. m. in the Architectural Library,
4th floor of the Academic Build
ing. Her talk will be called “Illu
strating Prints” and will center on
a group of prints now on display
in the Architectural Library.
Miss Marshall was graduated
from the Pratt Institution, receiv
ed her B. S. and M. A. Degrees,
and a Fine Arts Diploma from Co
lumbia University. She later
studied painting in Provincetown,
Massachusetts, under the direction
of Charles Martin of .Columbia
University.
In 1916, after teaching in the
School of Music and Fine Arts
in Wichita Falls, Texas, and in
the Dallas High Schools, she came
to T. S. C. W. as a member of the
Art Faculty.
Over $160 Netted By
P. T. A. Production
Production of “The Old School
at Hick’ry Holler” netted thd Par
ent-Teacher Association of the A.
& M. Consolidated School upwards
of $160 at the Assembly Hall Mon
day evening, it was announced to
day by Mrs. T. E. Rattan, chair
man of ticket sales.
Candidates Must
File by April 15
At a meeting of the Student
Election Committee Tuesday after
noon in Registrar E. J. Howell’s
Office, the date for the junior
class primary election of the Long
horn editor-in-chief, the A. & M.
Town Hall manager, and the sen
ior social secretary, and for the
sophomore class primary election
of candidates for the two junior
yell-leaderships for 1940-41, was
set as Monday, April 22. The
date of the runoff election for
these offices was set as Thursday,
April 25.
Candidates for these positions
must file by a week prior to the
primary election date—that is, by
5 p. m., Monday, April 15—with
E. L. Angell, student publications
and activities manager, at the Stu
dent Publications Office, 126 Ad
ministration Building.
A filing fee of 50 cents will be
assessed, each candidate, the fees
to be used in covering the cost of
printing the ballots.
Qualifications for candidates for
Town Hall manager and social sec
retary were set up by the Election
Committee for the first time Tues
day, and qualifications for candi
dates for Longhorn editor were
set up, also for the first time,
Wednesday afternoon, by a com
mittee of the Student Publications
Board. They are as follows:
Eligibility For Candidates For
Social Secretary
1. In order that a man be eligi
ble as a candidate for the office
(Continued on page 6)
F!RST WILDLIFE
SHORT COURSE TO
OPEN FRIDAY
Dr. W. P. Taylor, head of the
A. & M. Fish and Game Depart
ment, has announced that the first
Wildlife Short Course to be held
at Texas A. & M. is to take place
here on April 12 and 13. Regis
tration for the course begins at
8 a. m. Friday; sessions com
mence at 9 o’clock. This course
is sponsored by the Texas Wild
life Federation, the Texas Game
Fish and Oyster Commission,
Texas Nature Federation, U. S.
Biological Survey, and Texas A.
& M.
Speakers for the course will be
President T. O. Walton, Dean E.
J. Kyle, Director E. O. Siecke, Di
rector A. B. Conner, and Director
H. H. Williamson from the college,
and many other leaders of the
(Continued on page 6)
Over 350 Highway
Engineers Attend
16th Short Course
The sixteenth annual highway
engineers short course closes with
the morning program today. At
tendance this year has numbered
over 350 highway engineers and
visitors including out-of-state vis
itors Walter L. Crowell, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York; M.
D. Catton, Chicago, Illinois; Spen
cer Buchanan and Robert M. Ger
mans, Vicksburg, Mississippi; and
Vic Brown, Elmhurst, Hlinois.
The remainder of those present
at the short course includes all
district engineers of the Texas
State Highway Department; State
Highway Engineer, Julian Mont
gomery and Assistant State High
way Engineer, W. D. Dockery;
Chairman of Texas Highway Com
mission, Brady Gentry; represent
atives from the Humble Oil Co.,
Texas Co., and Gulf Oil Co., and
representatives from various ma
terial and equipment companies of
Texas.
(Continued on page 6)