PAGE 2
THE BATTALION
■TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1940
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Aarricultural 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 8, 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.
A-S444.
Telephone
1939 Member 1940
Associated Golle&iate Press
BILL MURRAY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LARRY WEHRLE ADVERTISING MANAGER
James Crxtz Associate Editor
E. C. (Jeep) Oates Sports Editor
H. G. Howard Circulation Manager
Tommy Henderson Asst. Circulation Manager
■Hub’ Johnson Asst. Sports Editor
Philip Golman Staff Photographer
James Carpenter Assistant Photographer
John J. Moseley Staff Artist
Junior Editors
Billy Clarkson George Fuermann Bob Nisbet
A. J. Robinson — Earle A. Shields
TUESDAY STAFF
Charlie Wilkinson .... .... Managing Editor
Sam Davenport Asst. Advertising Manager
C. A. Montgomery Editorial Assistant
R. V. (Red) Myers — Jr. Sports Assistant
Senior Sports Assistant
Jimmie 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
We Want More
Tennis Courts!
When is the College going to build more
tennis courts?—That is the most common of
complaints heard on the campus every year
about this time. This year a greater number
have been heard to utter these words than
ever before, and it’s no wonder.
Our student body has increased two
fold in the past four years, and to date, there
are still just eight tennis courts for the use
of the students. At the present time only four
are available, due to the varsity tennis team’s
practicing on the clay courts every after
noon.
It is acknowledged that tennis courts
cannot be built for any small sum of money,
but if more were built they would soon pay
for themselves in giving more enjoyment to
the faculty as well as the student tennis
players. It is extremely disconcerting and
.annoying to run down to the courts to play
tennis on one’s only afternoon off and find
the courts already filled and many more
waiting to play.
A greater number of tennis courts has
long been a need of A. & M. Some steps
Lave been taken this year by the school
authorities to afford more courts, but final
steps and some real action are needed that
more courts may be available to play on next
year, thereby remedying a long-awaited
necessity of the the college.
Billy Clarkson
or j: n f o r u m
DYING TRADITIONS
Anyone that has ever talked with an ex-Aggie
will have heard tales of what is commonly known
as the “good old days” here at A. & M. The days
when A. & M. was considered a “man’s” school,
a school whose motto was “send us your son, we
send back a man”. A. & M. has been built on tra
ditions; it is these famed traditions that has made
the school what it is today.
But now we find that we are drifting away
from these same traditions that our school was once
noted for. When we try to determine why these tra
ditions are dying a slow but sure death we meet
with many answers. Some of them are that the
boys are now entering A. & M. at a much younger
age than they used to; that the old Aggie spirit
is a thing of the past. This latter must be wrong
from the way that the corps supported its team
this past season. A more probable answer is that
the school is outgrowing its own traditions.
W T hen we say that the school is outgrowing its
traditions we mean that the school is becoming
too large in attendance to maintain the traditions.
The rapidly growing attendance of the school
has made it necessary to have two sets of campuses,
the old area and the new area. This factor causes
the school to be more divided than it was in the
past. The contact between the boys has been cut
down to some extent because those living in the
new area only go to the old campus for classes,
and those of the old area seldom find it necessary
to come over to the new dormitory area. Not only
are the dormitory areas divided but each year
more project houses are being built. The fact that
the school is growing larger is something that
we can do nothing about, but we can work together
instead of against each other.
The Commandant’s Office is finding it neces
sary to cut out some of the old-time traditions be
cause the larger the attendance of the school the
more public opinion is brought to bear upon this
office. It is public opinion that makes and changes
the laws of any group and we cannot sit by and
hope that A. & M. will be any exception to this
age-old law.
In the past when Silver Taps was played,
everyone in the school met in front of the Academic
Building to observe it. Now Silver Taps is blown
and observed in at least three different regions—
the old campus, the new campus, and the project
house area. This is only one tradition that is
changing. It is not one that may be considered dead
as yet but it is one that has lost much of its old-
time meaning. Our traditions have been modified
time and time again, until they are now mostly a
thing of the past. No longer is there any activity
on Hallowe’en night or April the first; no more do
we find Sully getting his annual bath; and “fish
day” has been limited until it is now nothing more
than a lemonade party. It is these same traditions
that once made boys want to come to A. & M.
If anyone has a reasonable solution to this
problem let them holler it loud before it is too late
to do any good at all. Out of six thousand boys
surely some one can think of a solution. Certainly
a big majority of the Aggies would like to see the
school go on as it always has in the past and not
turn out to become some school similar to Texas,
Rice, or S. M. U. If a change can’t be brought about
sometime in the very near future we are going
to wake up to find out that we have a big grave
yard containing some of the best traditions that
a school ever had.
As one senior put it: “I certainly am glad
that I am getting out this year, and I surely do
pity you guys that are going to stay in. At least I
can leave with a few—but very few—memories of
the good old days.”
Bob Parker.
★
What College Students
Think About Things
REPORTS
Of the Student Opinion Survey of America
December, 1938—January, 1940
College Life and Education Questions—
Do you believe professional football will some day
become more popular than college football?
December, 1938, No. 2 No 75%
Should compulsory class attendance in colleges
be abolished? February, 1939, No. 7 .. Yes 63.5%
Should sex education in college be made com
pulsory? February, 1939, No. 9 Yes 61.9%
Do you work to pay all or part of your college
expenses? May, 1939, No. 21 Yes 47.2%
Should college newspapers limit their editorial
stands to campus problems, or should they
discuss national and international questions
also? November, 1939, No. 23 .... Campus 36.0%
National 64.0%
Do you believe R.O.T.C. military training—either
compulsory or voluntary—should be taught in
colleges and universities—or do you believe it
should not be taught at all? January, 1940,
No. 32 Men Women Both
Should be taught 87% 83% 86%
Social and Economic Questions—
Do you believe a blood test before marriage to de
tect venereal disease should be required by
law? March, 1939, No. 12 Yes 93.1%
If you had to make a choice, which would you
prefer, fascism or communism? March, 1939,
No. 15 Communism 56.4%
Do you favor laws prohibiting hitch-hiking? Nov
ember, 1939, No. 27 No 80.0%
How much do you believe you will be able to earn
from your first job after you leave college?
January, 1940, No. 30 $ 75 or less 11%
75 to 100 20%
100 to 125 38%
125 to 150 16%
150 or more 15%
National and International Questions—
Do you approve of President Roosevelt’s plan to
train an air reserve corps of 20,000 men now
in college? January, 1939, No. 5 .... Yes 71.8%
Generally, do you approve of Roosevelt today as
President? December, 1938, No. 6 .... Yes 62.8% \
January, 1939, No. 6 Yes 65.5%
February, 1939, No. 11 Yes 63.2%
December, 1939, No. 29 Yes 61.9%
Would you like to see Roosevelt run for third term?
December, 1938, No. 6 Yes 27.2%
January, 1939, No. 6 Yes 28.2%
November, 1939, No. 25 Yes 31.8%
February, 1940, No. 34 Yes 39.5%
If Roosevelt is not a candidate in 1940, whom
would you like to see elected president?
May, 1939, No. 20—
Paul V. McNutt 17.7%
Thomas E. Dewey 15.6%
November, 1939, No. 25—
Thomas E. Dewey 33.8%
Paul V. McNutt 11.0%
As the World Turns...
By DR. R. W. STEEN
The contest for control of the Texas delegation
to the Democratic National Convention will reach
a climax on Saturday of this week. Saturday is the
date for the meeting of precinct conventions. Dele
gates are chosen by the precinct conventions to
county conventions, and by county conventions to
the state convention. The state convention will
choose delegates to the national con
vention. Texas has forty-six votes in
the national convention, and the
control of the Texas delegation is
a matter of some importance.
Both Roosevelt and Garner
forces are busy in the state, as each
hopes to control the Texas delega
tion. Precinct conventions are in
theory open to all residents of the
precinct who are party members.
In fact, however, they are seldom
well advertised, and are usually at
tended by only a handful of those
eligible to attend. This fact makes them especially
susceptible to machine control.
The Ferguson campaign for the governorship
was opened in Waco Saturday. The Fergusons have,
as usual, an interesting platform, and there is
every reason to believe that they will play an im
portant part in the race. One amusing plank is that
declaring that industry should cease to discriminate
against persons over forty-five years of age. It
is a plank which will attract no small number of
votes, but one which will be very difficult to make
effective. Mr. Ferguson is doing what he can to
tie his wife’s campaign for a third term to the
third-term movement for Mr. Roosevelt.
Many Texans will witness war games at close
hand during this week, as the Army carries on its
mimic warfare. It will be a great measure of relief
to know that the activity is all in fun—and that in
the end the captured towns will continue to be towns
and the captured rivers will continue to flow with
water. The test war will doubtless be of great value
to the W'ar Department in demonstrating the strong
points and weak points of various items of equip
ment. In a world at war preparedness is an item
which no country can afford to overlook.
R. W. Steen
Collegiate Kaleidoscope
^ Musical Meanderings ^
SWEET ’N’ SWING
Morton Downey made his first
records for Columbia this week,
singing the Irish favorites which
have made him so popular with
his fans . . . New bands for Colum
bia Recording are those of Bill
Calsen and Fabian Andre. Andre,
playing at the Pump Room of the
Hotel Ambassador East, Chicago,
used to arrange for Andre Koste-
lanetz and Xavier Cugat before
getting his own orchestra togeth
er. His first records, novel and ar
resting, are “The Man Who Came
to Rhumba” and “Waltz Night at
the Savoy” . . . Carlsen is a Mid-
West find who has achieved wide
success with his smartly-styled
band . . . Benny Goodman has disk
ed that unforgettable Lehar mel
ody “Yours Is My Heart Alone.”
Columbia backed it up with “Down
By the Old Mill Stream” for a
thrilling couplet . . . Jack Teagard
en feels that “Somewhere A Voice
Is Calling” is the best record he’s
ever made—which is why Colum
bia releases it this week as a “Jazz
Masterwork.” “Red Wing” is on
the reverse side, revealing some of
the finest “T” tromboning in years.
. . . Count Basie recorded “Easy
Does It” and “Louisiana” for Col
umbia before heading out on the
road . . . Billie Holiday admirers
will be glad to know that she’s
finally waxed “Body and Soul.” . . .
Eddie “Rochester” Anderson’s Col
umbia disc of “My! My!” and “Let’s
Scuffle” is practically a “must”
item in New York’s Harlem district.
Elaborate plans are being perfect
ed to greet the dusky comedian
when he arrives in Gotham for the
premiere of “Buck Benny Rides
Again” . . . Ben Bernie is cracking
house records at the Hotel Taft in
New York and has been renewed
through July 7. The Old Maestro
has just recorded “Little Curly
Hair” and “Tiny Old Town” for
Columbia.
Perhaps trying to cash in on a
little of the Civil War interest
aroused by “Gone With The Wind,”
next Wednesday’s show is nonethe
less a first class feature in its
own right. And the part of “THE
MAN FROM DAKOTA” is played
as only Wallace Beery could play
it in his swaggering, swearing way.
The role also gives him ample
opportunity to be fatherly, boast
ful, thievish, egotistical, rowdy and
everything else in his genuine style,
all mixed with lots of good com
mon horse sense and action. Beery
is an old, experienced Union ser
geant, conscious only of his own
interests and stomach, who is in
a Confederate prison camp with a
greenhorn officer, John Howard.
Together they escape from the
camp and try to make their way
back to their own forces, but they
come across Dolores Del Rio after
she has just shot a Confederate
officer. A map of high strategical
and military value is found on the
officer, but printed in Russian, so
Dolores must go with them to
translate the Russian map to the
Union. Wally is the only exper
ienced scout and forager in the
party, and it is up to him to guide
and protect the tenderfeet until
they again reach Union troops.
Plenty of trouble comes up, but
Wally finally forgets his own in
flated interests and risks his life
to get the map back to his own
men. John is wounded, and the
pretty little Russiain girl, Dolores,
of course stays with him.
Wallace Beery’s swashbuckling
manner, which has made him a star
for thirteen years, has not deserted
11 -- - ■ - ■ ■-
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Tuesday 3:30 & 6:45—“RE
MEMBER THE NIGHT,”
starring Fred MacMurray
and Barbara Stanwyck.
Wednesday 3:30 & 6:45—
“THE MAN FROM DAKO
TA,” with Wallace Beery,
Dolores Del Rio, and John
Howard.
him in this film, and his sarcastic
answers to the questions of his
tenderfoot superior are the same
quick exaggerations which make
any quip excellent. He tells John
that Wild Bill Hickok got his
reputation by claiming to know
him.
In “REMEMBER THE NIGHT”
Fred MacMurray is a straggling
young assistant to the district at
torney who must prosecute Bar
bara Stanwyck for a jewel theft.
As a very unorthodox D. A., how
ever, he arranges for her bond so
that she may go home for the
Christmas holidays. They find that
they both live in Indiana, so they
decide to go together. To make the
romance still more interesting,
Barbara has to stay at Fred’s
house during the holidays, and to
make the legal situation still more
complicated, they fall in love. To
forestall Fred’s throwing the case
for the state, Barbara confesses,
promising to return to him after
her short sentence. Law and love
have some clever maneuvers in this
film, and although its moral isn’t
exactly that crime doesn’t pay,
both law and love win.
Father Flanagan’s ‘Boys Town’
in Nebraska is making extensive
plans for increasing its 4-H pro
gram during the year. In 1939 the
boys had a successful baby beef
calf club, and now plans include
the extension of crafts, garden,
forestry, and swine clubs.
The 1939 census showed that one
out of every 20 farm youths was
unable to read and write. Consid
erable decrease in that proportion
is expected to be revealed in the
census of 1940, according to agri
cultural economists.
The Pan-American Student Chain
is sponsoring an automobile-car
avan tour of Mexico this summer.
“If the total quantities of food
produced in this country were dis
tributed according to need, every
individual would have a fairly sat
isfactory diet,” say two food econ
omists of the U. S. Bureau of Home
Economics.
|R| ECENT
|J ECORD
1 1 ELEASES
Bob Zurke, the Ole Tom-Cat of
the Keys, leader of the Delto
Rhythm Band, gives us a brilliant
display of his scintillating piano
style in the solid oldie, TEA FOR
TWO. Medium swing is the tempo
and Zurke’s piano claims the fea
tured spot for the majority of the
record. Ensemble backing from the
band and a tenor sax chorus on a
par with Zurke’s piano work lend
the proper balance to this swell
recording of an often requested
tune. The companion piece, I LOVE
YOU MUCH TOO MUCH, is a
rhythm ballad played at slower
tempo with Evelyn Poe as vocalist
and Zurke as instrumental soloist.
The truly magnificent orchestra
Bob has developed is displayed at
its very best in this Victor record.
Mitchell Ayres fashions a nov
elty tune and a well-remembered
hit from “The French Doll” on
his latest Bluebird record. THE
MAN ON THE FERRY is played
in medium waltz time. It is highly
reminiscent of “The Man on the
Flying Trapeze”, both in thought
and musical construction. Tommy
Taylor and the boys in the band
handle the extensive vocal business
deftly and with aplomb. DO IT
AGAIN, written several years ago
by DeSylva and Gershwin, is all
Mary Ann Mercer’s. An intrigu
ing tune done in a tantalizing man
ner by this popular vocalist, this
record is bound to be a success on
any coin phonograph.
Ziggy Elman and his boys carve
a pair of standards for their new
est contribution to the Bluebird
catalog. Both tunes are taken at
hustle tempo with Zibby’s trum
pet strikingly exhibited. Piano so
los as well as short bits on tenor
and alto sax add to the interest of
the recordings. I’M THROUGH
WITH LOVE was written by Matt
Malneck and Fud Livingston, while
Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz
composed SOMETHING TO RE
MEMBER YOU BY for the score
of “Three’s a Crowd”.
Gray Gordon and his Tic-Toc
Rhythm perform a charming new
ballad and a cute novelty song on
a new Victor recording. Johnny
Victor sings YOU GORGEOUS
DANCING DOLL, written by Mor
gan, Cunningham, and Schuster,
while Gordon’s girl vocalist is
heard in THE KITTEN WITH THE
BIG GREEN EYES, credited to
Vann, Sharbutt, and Stanton.
Glenn Miller and Hoagy Carmi
chael’s immortal STAR DUST com
prise a popular musical team of
tremendous potentiality. Thrown
in for good measure, however, is
a superb recording of MY MEL
ANCHOLY BABY. STAR DUST
is played at a medium slow tempo
with the famous five-man sax sec
tion opening the recording. MY
MELANCHOLY BABY is in a
swingier vein with hot tenor sax
work and a vocal chorus by Tex
Beneke, together with some beau
tiful trombone quartet work from
this outstanding section of the
band.
Dick Todd, baritone, whose radio
popularity seems to increase daily,
is fast becoming a record attract
ion of primary importance. His
newest disc couples a pair of ex
tremely popular ballads. MOM
ENTS IN THE MOONLIGHT is a
composition of Richard Himber,
Irving Gordon, and A1 Kaufman,
while Frank Loesser and Jimmy
McHugh composed MY! MY! for
the Paramount film “Buck Benny
Even in relatively prosperous
times the less productive half of
the farms in the United States
produces only about a tenth of the
marketed crops”. . . M. L. Wilson,
director of the Federal Extension
Service, before the American Farm
Ecocnomic Association.
The University of Vermont next
year will celebrate the 150th anni
versary of its founding.
New York University has opened
a special course on the economic
and political issues of the coming
presidential campaign.
Norwich University was the first
military collegiate institution in
the United States.
Rides Again”. The first song is
performed in a medium slow tem
po and the second a little bit fast
er. In both cases, Dick sings a
verse and two choruses interspers
ed with some instrumental work
from the all-star band accompany
ing him on this recording date.
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AC16
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21 Years of Distinctive Service