Page 2-
THE BATTALION
•THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1940
Battalion Something To Read
8TUDKNT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
TEXAS A. * M. COLLEGE
Th» Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and
■aehaniaal College of Texas and the city of College Station, is
published three times weekly from September to June, issued
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings; also it 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, $8 a school year. Advertising rates upon
Mquest.
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc.,
at New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco.
Office, Room 1£2, Administration Building. Telephone
Bob Nisbet Editor-in-Chief
Keith Hubbard Advertising Manager
George Fuermann Associate Editor
Hub Johnson Sports Editor
Tommy Henderson Circulation Manager
Phil Golman Staff Photographer
Pete Tomlinson Staff Artist
JT. B. Pierce Editorial Assistant
T. R. Vannoy Editorial Assistant
THURSDAY STAFF
George Fuermann Acting Managing Editor
George Woodman Assistant Advertising Manager
Junior Editors
Tom Gillis D. C. Thurman
Sports Staff
Bob Myers Assistant Sports Editor
Jack Hollimon Junior Sports Editor
W. F. Oxford Sports Assistant
Reportorial Staff
Z, A. McReynolds, L, B. Tennison, J. M. Speer
Aggie Spirit: A Definition
IN RECENT YEARS the term “Aggie Spirit” has
been used to back every sort of undertaking imag
inable. Too many drives for this and that have been
prefaced with, “Do this because it’s a part of the
old Aggie Spirit.” Exploitation and commercial
izing of the corps is a crime of the highest order!
For the sake of clarity of all issues, a defin
ition of Aggie Spirit is a crying need. In the first
place there exists a stick-together-feeling among
the students of A. & M. that exists no place
else in the wide world even half so strong. “Once an
Aggie, always an Aggie” is a phrase well put. The
feeling of fellowship runs even stronger, if pos
sible, among the ex-students than it does in the
corps itself. This is because they have had the
time to think it through.
An ex-student of the class of ’09 was asked by
a non-Aggie last year at graduation festivities,
“Well, we won’t be seeing much of you, I guess, now
that your youngest son has graduated.”
He replied, “No, you're wrong there. That old
Aggie spirit is stronger than any man. I’ll be
back every year just as I have for the past 31.”
Along another channel, the spirit of democ
racy is a part of the Aggie Spirit. Boys from all
walks of life enter the portals of A. & M., but
once inside the gates, the distinction is lost; they’re
all Aggies. In this respect it is fitting to quote
from the valedictory made last year by Durward
B. Varner.
“During our four years here we have follow
ed the same democratic principle—it has mattered
not that a boy he a millionaire or one working ev
ery penny of his way through school, it mattered
not whether he lived in a rambling shack or in the
best dormitory—he was still an Aggie. Just as
America as a country has created all men free
and equal and has given the opportunity to rise to
the top to those who have the will and the ability,
so has our training here at A. & M. created all boys
free and equal. Whether he were Jew or Gentile,
American or German or Japanese—he was an -Aggie,
loved and respected by his classmates and given the
same equal opportunity to push forward, just as
long as he didn’t interfere with the rights of oth
ers.”
The Aggie world is a fraternity of fellowship,
of fun and joviality, of consideration for the rights
of others, and of service to our fellow man to our
school. and to our nation.
The Aggie Spirit does take into account the
carrying through together of goals the student body
decides to undertake until the mission is accomp
lished.
But nowhere in the definition of Aggie Spirit is
Sound the compulsion or any member of the corps
to contribute money to any cause on the basis that
to do so is being an Aggie who possesses the prop
er spirit. That is a long way outside the defin
ition. The Aggie Spirit is too big a thing—it en
compasses too much to be associated with any
financial proposition.
Commercializing on the Aggie Spirit is a sit
uation comparable to a petition we once saw re
questing legal permission to operate a slot mach
ine provided half the profits went to the church.
Exploiting the Aggie Spirit is just as bad. If every
commercial or private undertaking that comes along
uses the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” disguise of call
ing its undertaking in line with the Aggie Spirit,
soon the phrase will have no meaning at all.
People who tack American flags on goods to
be sold, are in the same position. They are exploit
ing the patriotic feeling of the American people.
Just as patriotism does not hinge on grandiosely
saluting the flag and bellowing the Star Spangled
Banner, neither does the Aggie Spirit hinge on
supporting the private graft of any individual or
group of individuals.
The next person that approaches you on some
proposition with “Be a real Aggie; buy this or
that,” don’t restrain your urge. Hit him once for
us, too.
Neatness Pays
HAS IT EVER BEEN your experience to be turned
down for a job because of an untidy appeax-ance ? If
not, then you have missed one of the major disap
pointments of life. To be tuimed down solely be
cause of an unkempt appearance is a most heai't-
rending experience and can be avoided if care
is taken.
Some of the corps apparently have never had
the pleasure of being turaed down for a job and
have never cultivated the habit of a tidy personal
appeax-ance. One has only to glance at some of these
cadets to see the apparent signs of unkempt ap
pearance. Uncombed hair, three or four days growth
of beard, unshined shoes, pants not pressed neatly,
all these count heavily in detracting from a neat
well-kept personal appearance.
It does not take five minutes more to put every
thing in order. And it is worth a thousand times
more to the individual. Look rather critically at
yourself in the mirror and see whether you can
stand some improvement along the appearance
line.
By DR. T. F. MAYO
SINCE LONG BEFORE the old Greek gentleman
said “Know Thyself,” people have been interest
ed in psychology. Apparently they are today more
interested than ever. Yet no science is so abused and
looked down upon by its fellows. It appears, more
over, that the various parties, so to speak, among the
psychologists themselves distrust each other even
more pi’ofoundly than scientific groups usually do.
Perhaps the science of psychology hasn’t grown up
yet. Perhaps, indeed, thei’e never will be a genuine
science of psychology. We laymen are hardly comp
etent to say.
Even if we admit all this, however, there can
be no doubt that in their efforts to construct
a real science, recent psychological observers
have struck out some ideas that can help a man
to become more sensible: more clearly aware of
his own nature and motives, and thex-efore more
intelligent in planning his life; more understanding
of other people, and therefore more tolerant and wise
in his relations with them.
I don’t see, then, why anyone should let the
rather shady reputation of psychology as a science
deter him from taking a look at the ideas which
psychologists offer. He needn’t accept any of them
as gospel, but a great many of them are undoubtedly
stimulating and suggestive. The Library has a mod
erate supply of “popular” books on this subject,
written plainly enough for ordinary people like
librarians and Aggies to read with ease and con
siderable pleasure. Here are a few:
Let Me Think, by H. A. Overstreet. As good
(and as short) an introduction to this subject as
I know. In about a hundred pages, the author says
some sensible things that stay with you.
Psychology: What is it and What It Has to
Teach Us, by E. D. Martin. A group of short pieces,
each dealing with one aspect of modern psycholog
ical thought.
Dreams and the Unconscious, by C. W. Valen
tine. The clearest available explanation of Freud’s
theory of psychoanalysis.
The Ways of Behavorism, by J. B. Watson. A
“popular” version of the behavioristic theory of psy
chology, which, by the way, contradicts Freud at
almost every point.
The Behavior of Crowds, by E. D. Martin. An in-
teresting and fairly convincing explanation of a phe
nomenon which everybody at A. & M. must have not
iced: the contrast between the way people act as
members of an excited crowd, and their behavior
as individuals.
One little warning: If you find yourself becom
ing interested in psychology, be sure to distinguish
between a healthy desire to understand yourself
and others—which is to be encouraged and grati
fied; and a morbid love of brooding about your fas
cinating self—which is guaranteed, if pampered
and petted, to make you a prize bore within three
months. Perhaps it’s best not to read too much
psychology at once.
As the World Turns...
By “COUNT” V. K. SUGAREFF
JOHN L. LEWIS’S break with the Democratic
pai’ty last Friday was the culmination of long
standing differences between him and democratic
leaders. In 1936 the C.I.O. spent $500,000 to re-elect
Roosevelt and publicly boasted that
“Labor had elected a president.”
For the next two years, it looked
as though labor did elect a pres
ident. “Sit down” strikes in the
motor and steel industries attained
a measure of success. The CIO
was not so successful in the strike
against “Little Steel”. Mr. Gird-
ler and his associate did not mince
words. Mr. Lewis appealed to the
White House for help, but Pres
ident Roosevelt advised the parties
concerned to settle their differences.
Moreovex’, Mr. Lewis is said to have demanded
(1) a labor leader for secretaxy of labor (2) a mod
ification of the public contracts act to fox-ce the
compliance of all manufacturers, receiving govern
ment orders, with the Wagner Act (3) a confer
ence of business, farm, and labor leaders to find
ways and means of unemployment relief. Instead
of accepting these suggestions the democratic
leaders sponsored and passed the Wage and Hour
Act and the N. L. R. Act. Attacks on the C. I. O.
continued in the px-ess and in congress. In January
1940, Mr. Lewis predicted that Mr. Roosevelt
would meet “ignominous defeat” if he ran for a
third term. All of which shows that Mr. Lewis could
not prevail upon the democratic party to support
labor in evex’y detail. Mr. Lewis’s political views
are undoubtedly sincere, but whether he can sway
labor one way or the other only the election will
tell.
National Defense Progresses—Last week a pri
ority on National defense orders was established.
This priority may not be strictly applied to all
contx-acts for national defense, but the author
ity has been set up should the necessity for us
ing it arise. It is expected that the priority princi
ple will soon be applied to the manufacture of air
planes. All planes must be delivered to the United
States and Great Britain. England is cooperating
with the United States in the aviation industry in
an effort to px-oduce 36,000 planes by the end of
1941 instead of by the fall of 1942. It is rumored that
England is now getting about 80% of the combat
planes px-oduced in this country.
The Thompson Automatic Arms Company is
now operating on txvo ten-hour shifts and a half
day on Saturday. This company px-oduces 2,000
sub-machine guns weekly. The bulk of these guns
are now bought by England and are shipped to
British forces. *
Lack of machine tools is one of the chief handi
caps in the national defense program. Public schools
and colleges have quickly turned over their voca
tional training facilities to government authori
ties. At present 462 cities have established train
ing centers with over 7,000 instructors and
an enrollment of 107,000. By the end of the present
school year approximately 1,350,000 mechanical
workers will have received ti’aining for making ma
chine tools. Of course, private intex*ests are sup
plementing the efforts of schools and colleges.
BACKWASH
"Backwash: An sritatisn rantttx frota smbs ocMsa or sccarrsa—■**—WIkrtw.
In Rebuttal - - For the Twelfth Man
As the Twig Is Bent . . . The sports page of a metropolitan Texas
newspaper yesterday morning contained an article which, pure and
simple, declared that “A. & M. is taking unfair advantage of its
football opponents.” The writer supported his theory on the foundation
that “the rolling roar of deafening yelling by thousands of massed
students at the games” causes opposing players to be unable to hear
signals called.
The writer calls this an effox’t to confuse A. & M.’s
opponents; says that the practice is disgusting to many
fans; and concludes by saying that it’s time to call
attention to the condition. He adds that the alleged
fault should particularly be pointed out at this time
because now is the time that the team is winning.
•
His point is well taken . . . Since 1876 the corps
has observed the tradition which he speaks of, but it
wasn’t until the college won the mythical national
uermann football championship that anything was said about
an “unfair advantage.” But that’s not the important thing . . . The
corps is more concerned with the right and the wrong of the contention.
•
The first thing which may be considered is, what teams have ob
jected to the Twelfth Man as a yelling section? Baylor University stands
alone in that class. This year, and last year on Kyle Field, the Baylor
team objected to the yelling on the grounds that they were unable to
hear signals called. Both years it was the same man on the Baylor
squad who protested—Robert Nelson. It is not the purpose of this
column to discuss Nelson as a personality, but the fact remains that he
is unpopular at A. & M. and, in his own turn, apparently returns the
feeling. Certainly, then, it may be logically assumed that these facts
have considerable bearing on the case.
•
But the corps has a better rebuttal than that . . . The statements
of the opposing players themselves indicate that there is no feeling on
their part in this respect. A varsity letterman of Baylor, who asked
that his name be withheld, stated, following last Saturday’s Aggie-Bear
game, “The players don’t notice the yelling. Of course, we would notice
the absence of it but, in reality, we are unaware of the yelling and it
certainly doesn’t keep us from hearing signals nor does it confuse us.”
And again, from a T. C. U. letterman, “There’s no such thing as a
football player being bothered by the Aggie yelling section. Any team
that asks for silence is pulling a psychology gag, and one that’s pretty
effective at that.”
•
Then too, other colleges and universities throughout the nation
follow the same tradition as A. & M. The fact is true that A. & M. has
what is probably the largest coordinated yelling section in the world—
and that’s one reason why the Twelfth Man is an easy target for the
contention that the corps takes an unfair advantage of its football
opponents.
Furthermore, if the alleged unfairness was true it would work
harder against the Aggies than against the opponents. A. & M. calls
defensive signals and, on defense, the team is more spread out than
on the offensive. That means it’s a double-tough job for Tommy Vaughn
to call the signals so that the entire team can hear them and the odds
are six-two-and-even that the coaches and the team would not let this
practice continue if it was as serious a detriment as the contention
indicates.
And then there’s one thing else—the article maintained that the
Aggies were unsportsman-like. Whenever a team has asked the corps
to quiet down—regardless of what the reason—the corps has hushed
in a hurry.
•
Backwash isn’t presenting a defense for the Twelfth Man—none is
needed! This is only a rebuttal, but here’s a hope on behalf of the entire
corps that those persons who wish to deride the Aggie traditions
remember one thing. Most of these traditions have been here since
1876 and that’s long enough for a tradition to receive the test of time.
In that length of time a bad tradition would be ridden out of existence
by the corps.
The fact that the world-famed Aggie Spirit is real enough to give
the team support and backing which is more tangible than most
American colleges and universities have to offer is no reason to give
the corps a “ride” at the expense of a tradition which has proven its
worth for 64 years.
'on&lX£
By Tom Gillis
“STRANGE CARGO” is a
strange tale of strange people that
is well worth seeing. They are all
convicts and low grade humanity
but in one of them there burns the
fire that has made man the ruler
of the earth and in another a
tolerance of faith that makes man
respectable.
The story takes place in the
French penal colony, Devil’s Island,
and the manner in which a group
of willful men and a woman es
cape. The most willful man of the
group is Clark Gable who has two
invisible weapons to aid his es
cape-ingenuity and the will to be
free. With this combination he
takes long chances and carries him
self through the worst hax’dships
imaginable. He will not be dom
inated or put down and his spirit
is forever fighting upward with
undaunted fury. Joan Crawford is
the only woman among this group
and Gable has to protect her from
men who have not seen a female
in years. None of the escaping
convicts has scruples about slitting
a friend’s throat for his crust of
bread except Ian Hunter, who casts
the shadow of morality over all.
As the members of the fleeing
band begin to die in their fight
for freedom, each of them finally
comes to Christlike Hunter for
solace and comfort in death. He
provides it for all. without question
and his philosophy even gets Clark
Gable in the end.
Peter Lorre has the role of the
stool pigeon in this show and even
the officials to whom he squeals
despise him. Joan has been trying
to act under the guise of respect
ability for quite some time, but she
drops it entirely in this feature.
The good character portrayals by
all members of the cast will create
character types in your memory
after the details of the plot have
been forgotten.
“ALL THIS AND HEAVEN
TOO” was first hailed by Warner
Brothers as a second “Gone With
The Wind” but a little too much
of the wind was gone to work it
up to a hurricane. The best stars
are in it and one of the best clas
sical plots has been selected. It is
one of those plots that only Bette
Davis could play and it has a rath
er impressive length, 143 minutes,
and even that is a condensation of
the original. But GWTW set the
high water mark for current mov
ies, and although “All This And
Heaven Too” causes a minor flood,
it can’t compete with Scarlet
O’Hara’s deeds. It is still above
the average for most shows.
The story runs through the 1840
period and concerns the high-mind
ed love of Bette Davis as a gov
erness and Charles Boyer, as a
Duke, her master. The love runs
through tragedy, prison, and os
tracism after the unsolved murder
of the insanely jealous Duchess,
presumably by the Duke. Bette
plays her role with the usual pop
ping of her eyes and acid draw
ing down of her lips but the show
seems to lack one thing of being
really great. That is spontaneous
action and life.
SSwthaS
OCT. 30-3r
NOV. 1-2
WED • THUR • FRI • SAT •
Aggieland Pharmacy
“Keep to the right at the
North Gate”
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Patronize Your Agent in Your Organization
Last week we had an easy prob
lem in division and hence we are
ready for a harder one.
A|HARD
ONE
Each letter represents a different
digit and each digit is represented
by a different letter.
Answer 6 | 2610
435
Here is a simple problem in ad
dition. It may or may not be of
interest to boys who write home.
SEND
MORE
MONEY
Each letter represents a dif
ferent digit and each digit is rep
resented by a different letter.
Answer 9567
10652
Here is a nice little game to while
away some of your spare time.
The performer places 20 coins on
the table and asks someone to have
a magical race with him. The nxles
of the game are that the volunteer
opponent is to pick up either one,
two or three coins, after which the
performer is to pick up one, two
or three coins. This they continue,
in turn, till all the coins have been
picked up. The player picking up
the last coin loses the race. How
can the performer always win?
Answer:
In order to win always, the per
former must contrive to pick up the
19th coin. This he can do by re
membering the other key numbers
—3, 7, 11 and 15. If the volunteer
opponent picks up one coin, the
performer takes one, making seven,
three, then, if on the second turn
the opponent takes up 3 coins, the
pex*fox-mer takes one, making seven.
If on the third tixrn the opponent
takes the eighth coin, the perform
er takes three to get key number
11. Thus he continues until he takes
the 19th coin, leaving the 20th for
the loser.
Here is another version of a
mathematics trick we published
sometime ago.
Take your age, add five, multi
ply by fifty, subtract 365, add the
change you have in your pocket
(less than a dollar), add 115. Then
the units and ten digits give the
change you have in your pocket,
the hundreds and thousands digit
give your age.
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Thursday 3:30 & 7:30—
“MARYLAND,” starring
Walter Brennan, Fay Bainter,
Brenda Joyce, John Payne,
Charles Ruggles, Hattie Mc
Daniel, and Marjorie Weaver.
Friday 3:30 & 7:30—“ALL
THIS AND HEAVEN TOO,”
starring Better Davis, Charl
es Boyer, Barbara O’Neil,
Virginia Weidler, Walter
Hampden, and Helen West-
ley. Benefit show.
AT THE CAMPUS
Thursday — “HAWAIIAN
NIGHTS,” with Johnny
Downs, Constance Moore,
Mary Carlisle, and Eddie
Quillan.. Aggietone News.
Friday, Saturday —
“STRANGE CARGO,” star
ring Clax-k Gable, Joan Craw
ford, Ian Hunter, Peter Lor
re, and Paul Lucas.
.♦:«
WE MADE IT!
. . . and are we proud of that handsome Gordon
Oxford shirt! In fact we have proudly shirted
college men for genera
tions—and today Arrow
is still the favorite to
win on any campus.
Gordon Oxford has the
famous button-down
Dover collar, Sanfor-
ized-Shrunk (fabric
shrinkage less than
1%). Invest $2. today
in this time-honored ce
lebrity. Another buck
will buy an Arrow tie
to top it off. See your
Arrow dealer today.
ARROW SHIRTS