Pa#e 2-
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
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; 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, $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.
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 Tumlinson Staff Artist
J. B. Pierce Editorial Assistant
T. R. Vannoy Editorial Assistant
SATURDAY’S STAFF
Earle A. Shields, Jr Managing Editor
T. R. Harrison Assistant Advertising Manager
Junior Editors
W. O. Brimberry R. B. Pearce W. C. Carter
Sports Staff
Bob Myers Assistant Sports Editor
Jack Hollimon Junior Sports Editor
W. F. Oxford Sports Assistant
Reportorial Staff
Bill Amis, Charles Babcock, Don Corley, W. F. Keith,
Z. A. McReynolds, Jack Nelson, L. B. Tennison.
Unlimited Cuts
GOOD IDEAS, while not altogether extinct, are
something of a rarity. However, a good idea was
presented to the Student Welfare committee at their
recent meeting.
There has been much discussion, pro and con,
about allowing unlimited cuts of classes to various
groups on the' campus. Some few go so far as to
include the whole school in on the deal. There are
two schools of thought on the proposition of un
limited cuts. Some feel that class attendance is of
secondary importance and that if students be able
to get the work from the book alone, then class at
tendance is not necessary—that the subject matter
is the important thing. Others believe that more
than book learning is obtained from class work, and
that learning to be punctual and doing daily work
is far more beneficial.
The question was also raised of the problem of
daily quizzes in case unlimited cuts be allowed, and
the question of making them up.
But the idea that drew favorable comments on
both sides was the suggestion that distinguished
students be the ones to enjoy the privilege of cut
ting class as they see fit. There are many good
points to this idea.
In the first place it would put a premium on
good grades and might possibly encourage more
students with “A” ability to do their best work
whereas otherwise they might feel satisfied to take
lower grades. It would give distinguished students
prestige that they do not have now.
In the second place the privilege would not be
limited to groups. Any boy who is willing to work
to distinguish could enjoy the novelty of being ab
sent when the need occurs without the excess damag
ing his grade. If he takes too many and lowers his
grade, he loses the privilege, but probably few
would take a chance on that possibility.
Third, those who claim the need for the lesson
of punctuality would have this point emphasized,
in that the student must distinguish under the cut-
limit system before being allowed to try the other
^method.
Fourth, the unlimited cut idea will teach those
Yvho earn the right to use it the principle of deciding
for themselves what on their schedule is important,
and leaving with the student more personal re
sponsibility for his school work.
Dean Bolton pointed out that if the whole school
were to be given over to unlimited cuts as are
many schools in the nation it would mean that
a student’s grade, pass or fail, would need be de
termined from one final exam. Certainly that is far
from the popular train of thought in this section of
the nation.
But if just distinguished students were allowed
the privilege there would be no necessity of re
verting to this extreme. These few students could
make up quizzes missed without much extra trouble
on the part of the instructors, since almost regu
larly they give make-up quizzes anyway.
The suggestion would serve as a compromise
between those who want unlimited cuts for the
whole student body and those who do not want them
at all.
The Battalion recommends that a committee of
faculty members and students be selected by Dean
Bolton to investigate the proposition as it is quite
possible that there is much merit to the idea.
U, S. S. R.
“RUSSIA,” comments the Daily Kansas at the Uni
versity of Kansas, “appears to be simulating a half-
asleep bear, able to stick out a heavy paw when
the time arrives.”
When Soviet Premier-Foreign Commissar Molo
tov made the first trip of his life outside Russia to
confer with Adolf Hitler at Berlin, new attention
was focused on the peculiar status of the Soviet
Union in the European cauldron. Recent Axis activ
ity in the Balkans has brought forth lengthy specu
lation in the nation’s collegiate press.
“There could be no question,” says the Univer
sity of Minnesota Daily, “but that the newest Axis
moves were a direct threat to its militaTy position,
yet Russia gave no indication that it would proceed
any further than its mild rebuke to Germany for
failure to give adequate notice of the occupation
(of Rumania). It is exti’emely unlikely that the
Soviet Union will risk a war with Germany at the
present time; it is not politic to do so. The stalemate
with Britain still leaves Germany the opportunity
to create an eastern front, and the Red army is
not yet sufficiently developed and reorganized to
easily defeat the reichswehr.”
The Cornell Daily Sun feels that “in the Balkan
powderkeg the two most powerful forces on the
continent have now reached positions where their
interests are irreparably in constant conflict. A situ
ation is developing wherein one of the conquerors
will either have to retreat or fight. To those of us
who have so long been in the dark concerning the
nature of the alliance between Hitler and Stalin,
this last conflict merely serves to increase the gener
al confusion. But who among us would not be will
ing to stay in the dark in this respect as long as the
conflict which is brewing promises, however slightly,
to give light to the world which is sinking ever
deeper into darkness?”
Russia, sandwiched between the two most active
Axis members, “is in a crucial position both as an
ally or as an enemy,” declares the University of
Michigan Daily. “Already the Soviet has made
several agreements with Germany and has shared
in the partition of Poland. But the tensity created
between the two nations by the occupation of Ru
mania has not been lessened by a reiteration of
Russo-German co-operation. The Soviet has always
shared a mutual hostility with Italy and has re
peatedly opposed Italian expansion in the Balkans.
Russia’s relations with Japan have been historically
belligerent. That the Soviet cannot be ignored in the
reconstruction of Europe and Asia is undeniable.
Either Russia must co-operate or her vast quantities
of food, raw materials and land must be divided
among the potential rulers of the continent.
“Thus,” concludes the Daily, “another paradox
is formed in Europe’s chaotic political free-for-all.
The biggest bully of all is neither admitted officially
into the gang nor openly marked for liquidation.
Unless a secret agreement is made between the four
spoilsmen of the Eastern! Hemisphere, one of the
two alternatives will break into action soon.”
—Associated Collegiate Press
FRANK LOVING PRESENTS:
/ Heard the Preacher Say
BY M. L. CASHION
General Secretary, Y.M.C.A.
THE ABILITY TO be fair and honest in the ap
praisal of character and conduct is a true sign of
education. There is always some sort of prejudice
lurking in the mind which comes out with a mili
tant burst when actions and conduct conflict.
It is possible to go through college and through
life with ignorance and prejudice burdening the
spirit of man. How narrow and selfish is most con
duct! How unfair and indifferent it is to the great
problems of industry, society and race! It takes a
large amount of experience and a generous spirit to
step around on the opposite side of one’s viewpoint
and see how the problem looks to the other fellow.
As strange as it may seem the most difficult
prejudices to get rid of are those centered about
religion. A certain sort of false loyalty is developed
from it. It is easier to become loyal to a sect or a
creed than it is to a personality. The directing forces
in such cases may be unfair, dishonest or cruel.
Activities of interest are narrowed to one’s own
group while broadminded purposes are entirely ex
cluded.
One phase of education, then, should be a de
termined effort to cultivate interests in society
where a responsibility for the whole welfare be
comes the motivating power.
Grace Horton, an outstanding model for college
clothes in newspaper ads, never went to college.
As the World Turns...
BY DR. AL B. NELSON
VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT HENRY A. WALLACE
has been named by the President as the official
representative of the United States as the inaugu
ration of President-elect Manel Avila Camacho at
Mexico. The inauguration will take place in De
cember.
The death of Senator Key Pittman, veteran
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Commit
tee and senior Senator from Nevada
removed from Washington life a man
who has been a powerful and con
sistent advocate of a strong foreign
policy. His place as chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee is very
likely to be filled by Senator George
of Georgia, whose state once refused
to “purge” him at the request of
President Roosevelt. While Senator
George and the President do not see
eye to eye on internal policies they
have always been in general agree
ment on international problems.
A strike in the Vultee plane plant has not yet
been settled. This strike of C.I.O. employees is ser
iously hampering the armament program. It was
this same attitude of union labor in France that
brought about the downfall of the French Republic.
Now, the French laborers who refused to labor for
their own country are doing slave labor for their
German conquerers. They deserve no better, but it
is a pity that millions of other Frenchmen are con
demned to slavery and their democracy destroyed,
all because of the selfish, short-sighted opportun
ism of French union labor and its selfish leaders. So
far neither government nor labor in the United
States has taken warning from the fate of France.
John L. Lewis, President of the C.I.O., has re
signed as a result of the pledge he made previous
to the election. It is to be hoped that the new presi
dent of the organization will follow more construc
tive policies than the former leader.
The Communist party in the United States has
voted to abandon its open ties with Russia in order
to escape the rigors of the Voorhis Act for the strict
control of groups with alien connections. However,
the members of the-party convention did not even
pretend that this move meant a change of policy.
British, Dutch, and. American oil companies
operating in the Dutch East Indies, at the urging
of their governments, are attempting to appease the
Japanese by allowing them to increase their pur-
chases^pf oil from a total of 494,000 tons per year
to 1,800,000 tons a year. This tremendous increase
will more than make up for the amount which Japan
is unable to purchase in the United States under
recent rulings. No wonder the Japanese have noth
ing but contempt for the United States and her
friends.
THE BATTALION
-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1940
AT QONZA3A U/ ~
^ ■ r ODDNAM£SRNER,
Hale Wellaaet is a
STUDENT AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
Saturday will be the last chance flight of a skyrocket, starting in
for Aggies to help the nation’s pro- the gutter and ending there. “THE
Latin American policy by seeing
“DOWN ARGENTINE WAY,” but
patriotism isn’t the only reason it
is worth seeing. Betty Grable and
Don Ameche in technicolor are the
two main reasons with fine horses
and Carmen Miranda thrown in.
Carmen is the singer whose pleas
ant little ditties have attracted so
much attention on Broadway this
past season; this show marks her
movie debut.
National policy is a different
thing from forming a nation, the
subject dealt with in “THE HOW
ARDS OF VIRGINIA.” The show
isn’t as heavy as the historical
background might suggest because
everyone knows that you can’t sup
press Cary Grant too much. As the
pre-revolutionary commoner hus
band of an aristocratic wife he is
slowed down a little but only be
cause the tone of the times was
toward mock-solemnity.
As the backwoodsman, Grant
marries Martha Scott, a daughter
of the old school, and takes her
to his backwoods frontier. There
they raise three children while the
colonists raise a squawk to King
George which eventually ends in
a revolution. From their difference
in upbringing, the parents have
different views on the changing
social order which are reconciled
only after the males of the family
have gone off to fight and return
victorious.
This px’oduction dishes out his
tory without the textbook tech
nique. It takes some typical char
acters of the period, runs them
through normal situations against
a background of great dates, deeds,
and men and ends up with a fine
historical novel. It is based on a
recent best seller, “The Tree of
Liberty.”
McGinty was a great fellow
whose life was like the soaring
GREAT McGINTY” tells how
Brian Donlevy begins a political
career when he is picked up off
the streets to cast 37 votes at
$2.00 apiece. This fine work at
tracts the attention of the big boss
who puts his brawn and fists to
work shaking down protection
money.
He shakes taller and taller trees
until even the governorship of the
state falls McGinty’s way when hit
by the political machine. The force
of the skyrocket career has fizzled
out by this time and McGinty and
the boss both have to flee to South
America to keep it from falling on
them.
WHATS SHOWING
AT THE CAMPUS
Saturday — “DOWN AR
GENTINE WAY,” starring
Betty Grable, Don Ame
che, Carmen Miranda, and
Charlotte Greenwood.
Saturday midnight, Sun
day, Monday—“THE HOW
ARDS OF VIRGINIA,” fea
turing Cary Grant, Martha
Scott, Sir Cedric Hardwicke,
Alan Marshal, and Richard
Carlson.
AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL
Saturday 12:45—“FORTY
LITTLE MOTHERS,” with
Eddie Cantor, Judith Ander
son, Ralph Morgan, Rita
Johnson, and Bonita Gran
ville.
Saturday 6:45 & 8:30—
“THE GREAT McGINTY,”
with Brian Donlevy, Muriel
Angelus, and Akim Tamiroff.
Monday 3:30 & 7:30 —
“MYSTERY SEA RAIDER,”
featuring Carole Landis and
Henry Wilcoxon.
MUS/C/U MEANDERINGS
By Murray Evans
The lowly trombone is no longer
lowly. In the last decade it has
come to the fore, and its solo po
tentialities are at last being recog
nized. Remember back when the
word “trombone’ was mentioned
you automatically thought of a
blatant circus brass band with a
smear trombone? Even today the
trombonist with a tone under par
is told he has a circus tone. Ten
years ago the instrument was used
merely for a bass accompaniment,
but now there are those who be
lieve it will outshine the trumpet
itself. As a matter of fact, it has
a beautiful, smooth tenor quality
tone, especially in the upper reg
ister. Yet another desirable fea
ture is that it is nearly always in
tune; when it is not, the player is
usually at fault. The slide positions
are really difficult to master, but
continued practice will enable the
player to become as proficient as
the trumpet player is on his finger
technique. When the trombone is
arranged righ in ensemble work it
has the knack of making a sweet
band sweeter. Headed by Pee Wee
Hunt, Glen Gray’s trombone trio
can make any saxophone section
look to its laurels for sheer sweet
tone on ballad numbers. The last
six fade out bars of Russ Morgan’s
“Blueberry Hill” features a trom
bone due in a soft and impres
sive ending that actually “makes”
the whole recording. Then there is
Bobby Byrne who features his five
trombyrnes. To say that this band
will place first in popularity in a
year’s time will not be downright
speculation. And do you know why ?
Because of his trombones. His
theme, “Danny Boy”, (with which
we are all acquainted by dent of a
radio serial) is about the finest bit
of prettiness yet in the sweet tune
line.
JUST THE THING FOR
WEEK-END TRIPS!
16-in. Leatherette
Handbag $ .98
16-in. Ruberized
Handbags $1.15
18-in. Leatherette
Handbags $1.25
18-in. all leather
Handbag $3.75
See These at The
CAMPUS
Variety Store
North Gate
Chemists Will Be Aided By Discovery
Of Important New Research Technique
By Dr. W. M. Potts
Professor of Biochemistry
The rather recent discovery of
artificial radioactivity makes it
possible to label a number of com
mon elements so that they may be
followed through various trans
formations- Changes involving liv
ing matter have been investigated
by such labeled elements. Natural
radioactive elements have been
traced in some of their biological
applications, but such elements are
not suitable for very extensive
study as they are heavy elements
and are not normal components of
living matter. Labelled sodium,
potassium, iron, sulfur, and phos
phorous are well adapted to such
experimentation while carbon,
chlorine, bromine, and iodine have
also been used; but their useful
ness is limited by rather short half-
life periods.
Phosphorus has received more at
tention in biological investigation
than any of the other elements
that have been rendered radioactive
by artificial means. Phosphorus
plays important roles in both in
organic and organic processes. It
is found in abundance in the teeth
and the skeleton, and it is a com
mon component of other tissues. It
also forms important intermediates
in such processes as the absorption
of fats by the intestinal mucosa,
muscle metabolism, and alcoholic
fermentation.
Radioactive phosphorous (atomic
weight 32) has been prepared by
the action of high speed neutrous
emitted by mixtures of radium and
beryllium and by means of fast
moving deuterium (heavy hydro
gen) ions produced by a cyclotron
of the Radioactive Laboratory in
Berkeley, California.
One experimenter grew plants in
a normal cultural solution until a
number of leaves were formed. The
plants were then changed to a cul
tural solution containing radio
active phosphorus. Upon analysis,
it was found that the newer leaves
contained tagged phosphorus and
appreciable quantities were also
found in the older leaves. This in
vestigation suggests a method of
checking up on the utilization of
elements in the soil. It seems adapt
able to investigations of fertilizers,
the mineral requirements and in
organic metabolism of both plants
and animals.
Some organic compounds of phos
phorus that are found in living
HOLE AGAIN?
WHOLE AGAIN!
Invisible half sole is the
new sensation in shoe re
pairing. This invisible
half sole is as good as a
whole sole . . the same
price.
HOLICK SHOE
REPAIR SHOP
North Gate
organisms were shaken with radio
active phosphorus compounds, and
it was found that there was no
exchange of phosphorus between
these two classes of compounds.
This indicates that phosphorus is
taken up by syntheses and not in
exchange reactions.
The following interesting results
were obtained by this technique
working with human and animal
subjects. Phosphorus leaves the
blood rapidly. Liver and kidney
phosphorus is renewed at a rapid
rate while only minute quantities
of bone and brain phosphorus are
renewed within a four hour in
terval. Within ninety-eight days,
large quantities of phosphorus are
stored in the skeleton while only
minute quantities are stored in the
brain within this period. Vitamin
D causes a flow of muscle phos
phorus to the banes, and there is
a more rapid turnover of phos
phorus to the bones, and there is
mal rats-
The digestability of different
foodstuffs has been investigated by
tagged phosphorus. It was found
that humans excreted one-eighth of
the ingested phosphorus while rats
excreted only one-eleventh. The
phosphorus excreted was found to
come in part from ingested food
and in part from the wear and tear
of tissues.
W. J. Douglas, Jr.
INSURANCE AGENCY
General Insurance
Commerce Bldg
Phone Bryan 160
Sack*
Even those sturdy hand-
knit stockings of the
old Puritan days never
wore like Interwoven
Socks.
350 - 500 to $1.00
CL.ocfcuats
College and Bryan
VACATION ECONOMY:
Send your Luggage home
and back by handy ....
RAILWAY EXPRESS!
Right from college direct to your own front door aud vice
versa, without extra charge, in all cities and principal towns.
And all you do is phone Railway Express. We’ll call for
your trunks, bags and bundles. Away they’ll go at passenger
train speed, and be delivered straight to thestreet address.
The rates are low, and you can send "collect,” you know, y
Railway Express, same as college laundry goes. Yes, it is a
vet}’ popular service. So when you re packed, strappe an
locked, just phone us and take your train with peace ol mind.
AGENCY 'VW INC.
NATION-WIDE RAIL-AIR SERVICE
V
‘
A
>
i be
1 ;
&
t r
AS
» 6