DIAL 4-5444
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CIRCULATION 5,500
STUDENT TRI WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER OF
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
Ihe Battalion
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER
OF THE CITY OF
COLLEGE STATION
VOL. 39 122 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 25, 1940
Z725 NO. 92
RICHEY ELECTED TO HEAD SENIOR CLASS OF ’41
Tour Begins
Friday After
Graduation
Middlewest And
Canadian Cities To
Be Included In Tour
As the World War II has cheat
ed four Texas A. & M. seniors out
of the annual European traveling
cotton study tour, they will make
a comprehensive tour of the cot
ton states and then visit numerous
cities in Canada and the Middlewest
during the first six weeks of the
summer.
Winners announced who will
make the tour in company of Prof.
Tildon Easley, of the college Agron
omy Department, include H. L.
Rucker and H. L. Petty, both of
Santo; H. C. Forbes, Waxahachie;
and C. L. Mason, New Boston.
The winners weathered a series
of nine hard examinations dealing
in all phases of cotton, from the
soil in which it is planted to the
finished cloth, and came out ahead
of all the other contestants. Forb
es and Mason tied for third place
and both were included in the
party. In the past only three stu
dents have made the trip.
The party will leave College Sta
tion immediately after the winners
receive their degrees Friday night
and will make the entire trip by
automobile. Enroute they intend to
make a full study of cotton pro
duction, marketing and finished
products, but also intend to look
into the manufacture of competing
fibers such as rayon, wool and oth
ers.
High School Students
Take Driving Exams
It will be final examination day
for nine Consolidated High School
students Saturday morning when
the Texas Department of Public
Safety Highway Patrolmen give
driving examinations to those stu
dents in the area just to the rear
of the Cushing Library at Texas
A. & M.
During the present school year
the Department of Industrial Edu
cation at the college has conducted
a course in automobile driving for
the students of the Consolidated
High School, with R. V. Baylor
Jr., a senior in Industrial Educa
tion, serving as instructor. A total
of 15 students started the course
under Baylor but only nine were
able to finish to the point where
they go before the highway ex
aminers.
Tests will start at 9 o’clock, E.
L. Williams, head of the Industrial
Education Department, has an
nounced.
These four Texas A. & M. College seniors really know
their cotton for they emerged on top after a series of nine
hard examinations dealing with all phases of cotton, from the
soil in which it is planted to the finished cloth on the
merchant’s shelf.
As a reward for their ability, they will receive a six-
week all-expense traveling cotton study fellowship that will
carry them through the cotton states and as far north as
Canada where they will visit numerous manufacturing plants.
They will be accompanied by Prof. Tilden Easley, of the
college agronomy department, who will be in charge of the
study. In the past the study party has always gone abroad
but World War II makes such travel impossible this year.
Left to right: Prof. Easley; H. L. Petty, Santo; H. C.
Forbes, Waxahachie; C. L. Mason, New Boston; and H. L.
Rucker, Santo.
Over Seventy-Eight Percent of Graduating Seniors
Have Positions or Tentative Offers After Graduation
Marine Band
On ’40 - ’41
Town Hall
Paul Haines, Town Hall man
ager-elect for the coming year, an
nounced at a meeting of the junior
class Thursday night, that the re
nowned United States Marine Band
would be presented in two con
certs to the students of A. & M.
next October 3. It was only recent
ly that the President of the U. S.
granted his permission for a tour
to be made of the United States
by the Marine Band, which is also
known as the “President’s Own”.
The band will give two perform
ances, one a matinee concert to
which high school bands from all
over Texas will be invited. The
concerts given by the band should
be particularly appealing to the
cadets and much enthusiasm is ex
pected.
The United States Marine Band
is under the leadership of Captain
Taylor Branson and is directed by
Captain W. F. Santelmann. In past
years it has played to capacity
crowds all over the country and is
one of the finest concert ensem
bles to be found in the world.
With such a popular organization
to initiate the Town Hall program
for next year and with the support
and backing that the junior class
has shown, the coming year’s suc
cess, insofar as A. & M.’s Town
Hall is concerned, is practically as
sured.
LIBRARY DEADLINE
All library books are due Mon
day, May 27.
- When the Commencement exer
cises are held at Texas A. & M.
Friday night, approximately 550
members of the graduating class of
700 Texas Aggies, or 78.6 percent,
will have been placed in positions
or have tentative offers which they
probably will accept before next
fall.
Graduates most in demand this
year were those in the civil and
mechanical engineering depart
ments, although 12 of the 30 de
partments of the college having
graduates placed 100 percent of
their students.
The civil engineering department
had 25 candidates for the degree of
bachelor of science in civil engi
neering but had requests for more
than twice that .number. In me
chanical engineering the 70 grad
uates had a wide selection of offers
from which to choose but in the
main they are going into aircraft
production.
All of the 39 Doctors of Veter
inary Medicine have accepted posi
tions with health departments, on
the staffs of veterinary hospitals
or are opening their own establish
ments. The 26 graduates in chem
ical engineering all found openings
in the chemical industry with the
work including practically all phas
es.
Building must be on the upgrade
for all of the 12 architects either
have positions or are opening their
own offices, according to the re
port from that department head.
The 14 graduates in rural sociology
all have been placed in social ser
vice agencies of various kinds.
Always in demand are the Texas
A. & M. College graduates in in
dustrial education. This year nine
students are graduating in that
course and have their choice of
(Continued on page 4)
George Hall To
Play for Prom
And Final Ball
In a statement yesterday, Ele
Baggett promised the class of ’41
the best dance that they have
ever attended when they attend
the junior prom Thursday night.
The basis of his statement was
the popular orchestra of George
Hall, featuring Dolly Dawn and
the Dawn Patrol, which will play
for the prom and also for the final
ball Friday night.
The prom, which will be held
from ten until twelve in Sbisa Hall,
will follow the junior banquet that
is scheduled to start at seven. The
price of tickets now on sale for
both junior activities with a favor
included is $2.75. The dance alone
is $2.00. As in the past, $2.50 will
be the fee for final ball tickets.
The committee in charge decided
on leather compacts as favors
this year. On each one is a crest
of the seal of the college and a
scroll with the inscription “Junior
Prom, 1941.”
Hall’s orchestra comes here aft
er the longest engagement on rec
ord for any band on one job.
George and the boys went to the
Taft Hotel in New York in the
early thirties and stayed there for
eight long years, leaving not on
account of diminished popularity
but because of offers from theaters
and out-of-New York hotels that
he couldn’t afford to turn down.
Hall is well-known for not let
ting his personal preferences in
music dictate the sort of thing
(Continued on page 4)
Montgomery, Hamilton,
Shelton Get Other Offices
Graduating Seniors
Must Sign Oaths Of
Office by Friday
Oaths of Office must be signed
by seniors graduating into the
ranks of the Officers Reserve
Corps before Friday noon, May 31,
Colonel Moore has announced. The
oaths must be signed before a grad
uating senior may receive his com
mission in the O. R. C.
Brigadier General Walter B.
Pyron, Texas National Guard, from
Houston, will present the commis
sions at 8:30 Saturday morning,
June 1, in Guion Hall. The Oath of
Office will be administered as part
of the ceremony.
The attention of all seniors is
invited to the fact that, except for
students completing the first four
prescribed years of a regular five
year course, only those students
who graduate and receive a diplo
ma may be appointed in the Of
ficers Reserve Corps at this time.
Students who satisfactorily com
plete the prescribed R. O. T. C.
course but who fail to graduate,
may be appointed one year from
the date on which they should have
graduated.
Oaths of Office of graduates Ap
pointed in the O. R. C. will be
signed in Room 101, Academic
Building, during the hours from
8 a. m. to 12 noon, and 1 p. m. to
5 p. m. Wednesday and Thursday,
May 29 and 30, and from 8 a. m.
to 12 noon Friday, May 31. No
oath can be signed legally before
May 29.
Prospective appointees whose
graduation is assured should re
port before noon Friday, May 31,
and all others should report as
soon as graduation is assured.
Oath of Office cannot be admin
istered nor commission delivered
to the individual until he has sign
ed his Oath of Office.
Ex-Students
Honor Faculty
And Class ’40
Monday is the date on which the
Association of Former Students
honors the teaching staff of the
college and members of the 1940
graduating class with the year’s
biggest picnic, the second annual
: “Harvest Picnic”. The event is giv
en by the Association to celebrate
the completion of another year’s
school work.
Invitations have been mailed to
1,250 guests and Association Sec
retary E. E. McQuillen requests
that all members of the teaching
staff and students graduating in
June or in the summer be on
hand, regardless of whether or not
they receive invitations. He ex
plained that this type of mailing
list is very difficult to compile.
The affair will be strictly in
formal and will be held from 5:30
to 7:00 p. m. in the formal garden
in front of the Administration
Building.
Thomas B. (Tom) Richey, jun
ior of C Cavalry from San Benito,
has been elected president of the
class of ’41, to serve next ses
sion.
Baptist Church To
Honor Behrman
At Services Sunday
The College Station Baptist
Church will honor, Jim Behrman,
Baptist student leader < on the
campus who will enter medical
school this fall, in services at the
church Sunday.
Behrman, who is from Long
view, is preparing himself for a
medical missionary career. He
was captain of K Company Infan
try last year, has served as pres
ident of the Baptist Student Union
Council and has been active in the
church program ever since he en
tered A. & M.
The pastor will speak at the
morning service and Behrman
will speak at the evening hour. The
public is cordially invited to at
tend the services and Sunday School
at 9:45 a. m. and the B. S. U.
meeting at 6:45 p. m.
At Orderly, Quiet
Meeting Thursday
Six-Semester Men And
Classified Seniors Will
Be Allowed To Wear Boots
In the quietest and most order
ly election ever held by the class
of ’41, Tom Richey was elected to
hold the office of senior class pres
ident for next session. Other men
elected to office were the follow
ing: Howard Shelton, vice-presi
dent; Jeff Montgomery, secretary-
treasurer; Aubrey Hamilton, his
torian.
A clear majority of 19 votes over
two other opponents put Tom
Richey into the president’s office.
A lower Rio Grande Valley boy
from San Benito, Richey is in C
Cavalry, and is majoring in Agri
cultural Administration.
The election results follow:
For President
Tom Richey 186
Graham Purcell 100
Howard Shea 67
For Vice-President
(Runoff)
Howard Shelton 217
Joe Slicker 149
Also primary candidates were
Jack Richmond, Ted Duce, Grover
Mushaway.
For Secretary-Treasurer
(Runoff)
Jeff Montgomery 248
Preston Bolton 91
Also primary candidates were W.
B. Sims, George Hardin, Bob Lit
tle, Ernest Wehner, Hub Gillespie,
Ted Duce.
For Class Historian
(Runoff)
Aubrey Hamilton 175
R. T. Caperton 120
Also primary candidates were
Preston Bolton, John Hall, and Joe
Braden.
O
After the elections were finished,
matters of class business were
brought up for discussion. These
included the following topics: the
seniors’ wearing boots next term;
the possibility of substituting light
weight khaki pants during the
warmer months; and the distribu
tion and sale of tickets to the
benefit show for George Stidham.
About men eligible to wear boots
next year, the class decided that
in order to do justice to all men
who started with the original class
of ’41, only six-semester men and
classified seniors can wear the
boots. That rule means that
“frogs” or mid-term entrants in
the class cannot wear boots unless
they have accumulated 108 semes
ter hours and 100 grade-points, but
that “frogs,” transfers, and boys
who have missed a year can wear
boots if they classify. The class
(Continued on page 4)
Aggie Spirit Staunch Behind Drive To Aid Badly Injured Cadet
With typical Texas Aggie-
thoroughness, the drive to raise
funds to help Co. A Signal Corps
sophomore George Stidham is as
sured of being a tremendous suc
cess as students, college officials
and professors, and College Sta
tion businessmen cooperate in help
ing the injured Aggie.
Stidham is the Aggie whose back
was broken—split—in an accident
just a few days ago.
Jimmy Lane Elected
Houston Club Head
The Houston Club held their reg
ular meeting Thursday night for
the purpose of electing officers for
next year.
The following officers were elect
ed: James R. Lane, President; Clar
ence Bland, Vice President (Se
nior); William T. Grisham, Vice
President (Junior); Paul O. Egner,
Secretary; and A. C. SoRelle,
Treasurer.
■ His mother is dead; and he hasn’t-
seen his father for several years
and doesn’t know where to locate
him.
George has been working his
way through college; he is penni
less, hasn’t had money for any of
the luxuries of life. He is faced
with a long period in a hospital
and the possibility of being crip
pled for life. He is in the Hous
ton Memorial Hospital, being treat
ed by Dr. J. B. Foster, one of the
finest specialists in the South.
George’ll be there at least three
months, in a cast at least five
months, and maybe the rest of his
life in a steel brace.
And he hasn’t the money to pay
for any of it, but his life depends
on receiving this treatment.
Third Headquarters Battery
Field Artillery was the first or
ganization to turn a check over
to the Fiscal Office. “We’ve got
$48.75 here,” Bill Henderson and
Euel Wesson declared as they
-handed in the money for Third-
Headquarters Battery, “and our
battery challenges any other or
ganization to equal our record.”
Freshmen and sophomores of the
organization raised the money and
the juniors and seniors will add
their donations later. “We’re a new
organization,” freshman Allen
Ellerbee said, “and we want to see
if some of the older organizations
can equal our record.”
Headed by head yell-leader-
elect Buster Keeton and Battal
ion junior editor George Fuermann,
the committee conducting the
drive includes businessman S. E.
Lipscomb, Professor V. K. “Count”
Sugareff, Battalion editor Bill
Murray, varsity footballer Ernie
Pannell, Graham Purcell, and Allen
Ellerbee. At a committee meeting
last night it was decided that
all money received would be turn
ed in to the College Fiscal Office
and kept on deposit there. Per
sons wishing to make contribu-
■tions, who do not live in dormi-"
tories or project houses, may do
so by giving the money to any
committee member or by turning
it over directly to the Fiscal Of
fice. First sergeant and project
house managers have been asked
to turn their money over to the
Fiscal Office.
This afternoon at one o’clock a
benefit picture show will be held
at the Assembly Hall, all proceeds
of which will go to the George
Stidham Fund. The feature is
“You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man,”
starring W. C. Fields, Charlie Mc
Carthy, and others. A second
showing will begin at 2:45, and
a third will be held if necessary.
The cooperation on the part of the
Y.M.C.A. gave a tremendous push
to the drive. Moving picture oper
ators R. R. Hass and H. C. Her-
rington, together with Fred Gib
son, supervisor of the Assembly
Hall, offered to donate their time
and services Saturday afternoon
•to make it possible for the Stidham-
fund to realize as much as possi
ble from the benefit showings.
Only 1,200 persons can be ac
commodated in the Assembly Hall
at one time; when the place is fill
ed cadets are asked to cooperate
by waiting until the next showing.
Committeemen explained that it
was the hope of the committee
that more than enough money could
be raised to help Stidham. The
surplus will be used to establish
a permanent fund for other such
purposes if such an undertaking
is found feasible. The money that
is raised by the drive will be
placed in a responsible trusteeship
and given to Stidham as the need
arises. The chairmen will make
the presentation of the first check
sometime late next week, at which
time they will go to Houston’s
Memorial Hospital and present the
check to Stidham on behalf of
the corps.
- The enthusiasm and cooperation-
on the part of the cadet corps was
clearly shown at the yell practice
held last night.
Keeton and Fuermann have an
nounced that the drive is to close
next Thursday night. It is also
expected that boxes will be placed
at the various College Station
drug stores, cafes, and business
houses in order to gain further
contributions. These boxes will
remain at the stores throughout
the coming summer and will be
placed in the hands of a responsi
ble college official who -will collect
the funds deposited in them as
often as is necessary.
Although the committee was re
luctant to say what goal they ex
pected to reach, the chairmen
pointed out that $2,000 was an opti
mistic expectation.
John O. Pasco, author of the
recently published book “Fish
Sergeant,” announced that five
cents of the $1 purchase price of
every copy of his book would be
turned over to the fund.
J. T. Anderson Head
Of Agronomy Society
The Agronomy Society has held
its last meeting of the year, and
elected officers for next term. The
officers were inaugurated at a
barbecue picnic at Hensel Park on
May 16.
Officers of the group elected for
next year are: James Anderson, K
Infantry, president; John Robinson,
A Infantry, vice-president; Howard
Warner, F Field Artillery, secre
tary; Jim Pinson, C Cavalry, par
liamentarian; Walter Clark, C In
fantry, sergeant-at-ferms.
The intercollegiate crops team
which made the trip to Kansas City
and Chicago in the fall were L. L.
Jacobs, E. F. Guilland, C. G. Pow
ell, and C. G. Ward. These members
were awarded gold medals.