The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 13, 1941, Image 1
DIAL 4-5444 STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF TEXAS A. A M. COLLEGE The Battalion DIAL 4-5444 OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF COLLEGE STATION VOL. 40 122 ADMINISTRATION BLDG. COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING, FEB. 13, 1941 Z725 No. 50 Senior ROTC Cadets Receive Active Dutv Call June! Architects Dance Is Friday Night ,1? s Review And Ball Marks Beginning of 1941 Social Season Spanish-Flavored Nations Feted As Theme of 1941 Ball By Tom Yannoy Although dressed as a sleepy Mexican peon or a horse-riding, guitar-picking gaucho from the pampas of the Argentine, anyone attending the annual Architecture Society ball Friday night will find a fun-making, hilarious time, La- Vere Brooks, president of the soc iety, stated yesterday. At this all-costume ball, formali ties will be forgotten and all marks of distinction are dropped, Brooks emphasized, as an important fea ture of the dance. Music will be furnished from 9 to 1 o’clock in the Banquet Room at Sbisa Hall by Ed Gerlach, a former A. & M. architecture stu dent, and his orchestra. Gerlach has played for a num ber of entertainments here in the past two years. The theme of the ball for this year is to be Pan-American. Em phasizing this, the decorations are a new type known as colage, a kind of decoration to be introduced here at A. & M. for the first time. This has been used extensively in the East and has proved effective, Brooks added. It consists of the use of bits of material to repre sent some object. The background for the decoration will be a col age of Carmen Miranda, Latin- American movie star. The ball opens A. & M.’s 1941 social season. As in the past, the humorous costumes of the disting uished guests will be a feature of the dance. Tickets to the ball may be se cured from LaVere Brooks or Sid Lord for $1.50. The society voted to sell only 30 tickets other than those for the honored guests. The Architects’ Ball is the only all-costume ball to be given this year and is the oldest one spon sored by an A. & M. engineering society. Plans Near Completion for Annual “Fish” Ball “With the Aggieland Orchestra already secured, and the decora tions nearing completion, the fresh man ball, to be held Saturday night, Feb. 15 in Sbisa Hall, promises to be one of the biggest events to be held this year by the freshman class,” President T. S. Parker said today. An invitation has been sent to the freshman class of Mary Hardin- Baylor college, a girls school at Belton, Texas, and although no formal reply has yet been received, their acceptance has been assured. This will provide dates for nearly 100 Aggie freshmen. Although permission was asked to use Walton Hall for the purpose of keeping the girls, it was refus ed by college authorities because of the inconvenience of moving the cadets out of the dormitories. Lodg ing may be found in nearby private homes, hotels and tourist camps. Over 300 tickets have been sold thus far. Funeral Services Held For Glenn E. Whitley Funeral services were held at 2:30 p. m. Monday at the First Methodist Church in Bowie for Glenn Elward Whitley, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Whitley and a freshman at A. & M. Whitley died at a hospital in Fort Worth Saturday night after a brief illness. Whitley was a mechanical engi neering student in M Company In fantry. A&M Grad Injured in London Raid Major R. B. Williams Graduated in 1923 Major Robert B. Williams, grad uate of A. & M. College in the class of 1923, of the United States Air Corps, was seriously injured in a recent London bombing raid. He was in England as an official U. S. Army Air Corps observer. So far as is known, he is the first A. & M. man to be injured over seas in the present World War. Williams was injured from a fragment of a one-ton bomb and fears were expressed that he might lose the sight of one eye. More recent reports state that his con dition is not serious, although it is not known just what effect the injury will have on his eyesight. Williams was a charter member of the Cadet Air Corps Unit, which was organized at A. & M. in 1921, and has since been discon tinued. He served as the unit’s commanding officer as cadet ma jor in his senior year and received his degree in civil engineering. Shortly after graduation he went into the U. S. Army Air Corps and since that time he has become one of the best known flyers in the service. His home was at Al bany, Texas, where his mother still lives. Robinson Is Named Longhorn Editor-in-Chief Lovell Kilpatrick Is Named Managing Editor Morton Robinson, Houston, for mer managing editor of The Long horn, was appointed editor-in-chief of the publication by the Student Publication Board at its meeting at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon in Colonel Ike Ashburn’s office. Lovell Kilpatrick of San Angelo was appointed managing editor to fill Robinson’s vacancy. Giesecke Speaks At National Meet In Kansas City That oft-used expression, “free as the air” may go the way of the horse and buggy and the Maginot Line if the present trend toward scientific health continues, Dr. F. E. Giesecke, president of the Amer ican Society of Heating and Ven tilating Engineers and professor emeritus of heating and ventilat ion at Texas A. & M. college, said in his recent address in Kansas City, Mo. “The American people have put great stress on obtaining the best milk and the best meat available. We have taken the air for grant ed,” Dr. Giesecke said. “Now we are coming to understand that we must pay for the air we breathe.” The complex civilization of to day, its smoke, its fumes and in dustrial odors, make air condi- (Continued on Page 6) Morton Robinson This change is necessary because former editor Ele Baggett, who was accidentally shot in the knee dur ing the Christmas holidays, will not be able to return to school this term. “I am sincerely sorry Ele Bag gett’s misfortune has made it im- posible for him to return to school for I believe he would have made a much better editor. All I can say is that I and my staff will work as hard as we possibly can,” Robinson said. Third Film Club Movie Is Tonight Two Showings Scheduled; 8:45, 10:30 A British film, “Night Train,” will be shown at the Campus The ater tonight at 8:30 as the third foreign film brought here by the Campus Film Club, announced Sam Zisman, chairman of the ex ecutive committee of the club. As at the first two presen tations, guests and persons not members of the club may also wit- nes the showing. “Night Train” is a 20th Century- Fox release of the Gaumont-Brit- ish production. It deals with an English scientist in Czecho-Slo- vakia who knows a metnod of mak ing armor plate steel. To get him self, his secret, and his daughter back to England, he must fool the German Gestapo. A good deal of the activities of secret agents for both England and Germany is shown. When the film played in New York, the Times stated in its re view: “like the best of the Brit ish melodramas, the incredible (Continued on Page 6) Concert Band Will Participate in Music Festival February 22 Saturday, Feb. 22, the A. & M. concert band will travel to Victoria, Texas to play two concerts. The Victoria Music Festival is providing for the transportation of the band to and from Victoria. The band is one of the featured organi zations and will give two concerts, one in the afternoon and another that night. Colonel R. J. Dunn director of the band, will be one of the judges of the festival. This will be the first trip made by the concert band in several years, cadet major E. L. Wehner said. Water Works Short Course to Be Held Feb. 17-21 Approximately 250 water works, sewage plant engineers and others in those fields are expected to at tend the twenty-third annual Tex as Water Works and Sewage Short School which will be held at Texas A. & M. college Feb. 17-21, ac cording to an estimate made by Gibb Gilchrist, dean of the School of Engineering at the college. The school will open with a gen eral session Monday morning, Feb. 17, but that afternoon the engi neers will split into sections for water superintendents, sewage plant superintendents and labora tory section for technicians. Faculty for the school has been drawn from the college staff and engineers of renown from all parts of the United States. The school, an annual affair, is held under the joint sponsorship of the Texas Division, Southwest Section, American Water Works Association, Texas State Board of Health, State Board for Vocational Education, and Texas A. & M. col lege. May Be Affected by Order Possibility of Deferment Is Remote; Watson Says Students Must Still Pass Scholastically In connection with members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps units at A. & M. and other colleges through out the nation who anticipate graduation or completion of the ROTC course and commission as Reserve Officers during 1941, it is contemplated by the War Department that they will be ordered for 12-months extended active duty immed iately upon acceptance of their reserve commissions, as an nounced in questionaires received here from the War Depart ment. This means that approximately 450 senior students who now hold advanced ROTC contracts here may be required to serve one year as officers in their respective branch of the Army immediately following graduation. This may interfere with the plans of some of the seniors who had arranged for employment to begin immediately following their grad uation. It will now be necessary to delay the acceptance of any such civilian jobs until after the possible year of active duty, Lieut. Col. James A. Watson, Commandant, said. Although there are 477 holders'" of these advanced contracts, some of them will not receive their com missions this June because of in sufficient age or not having com pleted the summer camp period of training required for a reserve commission. Questionaires as to whether any of the students concerned might desire deferring their period of active duty have been given to all senior ROTC students. They may give the desire for further educa tion or other reasons in their re quest for deferment, but the power to approve such requests rests en tirely in the hands of the War Department, Col. Watson stated. “This decision of the War De partment will in no wise mitigate the necessity of maintaining high standards in academic work for the remainder of the term,” Col. Watson, stated. “On the contrary, it will enhance this necessity. The obtaining of a commission will be contingent upon a . satisfactory completion of academic and mili tary courses and the standards re quired will be very high.” The students who receive their commission and enter active duty as contemplated will receive pay and allowance as second lieuten ants of $183 per month. It is planned to hold orientation classes here for those who are to be commissioned. These classes will be conducted by experienced officers. The subjects covered will give the information necessary for a newly commissioned officer to have on joining his first command. Whether the officers will have any time at all between their graduation and the beginning of their active duty will depend upon the information in their question- aire and the decision of the War Department in their individual case. Plans as to where any of the prospective officers will take their period of active duty have not been made. Mass Rally Moved 2 Days Defense Week Fete Will Have Climax Thursday, Feb. 20 mounted review a highlight of the DeMille Announces Winners Of Longhorn’s Vanity Fair A letter from Cecil B. deMille,ftion of The Longhorn, Robinson Hollywood movie director, announ cing the names of the girls whom he selected to appear in the Van ity Fair section of the 1941 Long horn has been received by Morton Robinson, Longhorn editor. The girls whom DeMille selected are: Faye Branson, Ann Herod, Marian Good, Virginia Higgins, Gerry Fussell, Floylee Hunter, Vir ginia Lee Ledbetter, and Olga Hen drick. These girls were chosen by de- Mille as the fairest of all the girls submitted by the seniors. In all, 29 girls’ pictures were sent to de Mille from which he selected these 8 beauties. The pictures of the other girls will be automatically inserted in the senior favorite sec- said. “I have devoted considerable time and attention to judging the qualifications of each candidate and have had assist me in mak ing the selection the noted artist, Don Sayre Groesbeck,” deMille stated in his letter which listed the winners. “Each candidate is very lovely. . . Will you please extend my congratulations and best wish es to the winners and to all of the other contestants, who are fine ex amples of young American woman hood.” Each girl selected will have two pictures placed on a full page of 1941 Longhorn. An early edition of The Battalion will include pictures and other in formation concerning the winners. The Druggist's Brother Had Been Murdered the Night Before; In the Space of Four Hours - Attractive Stenographer, Young Married Couple, Druggist, Trucker and Businessman; That’s Hitch-Hiking By George Fuermann Battalion Associate Editor You’ve probably heard it said that America lives on the highways. Whether or not you believe that, it’s a cinch that the nation’s high ways are good places to get ac quainted with the typical Amer ican way of things. In the space of four hours my roommate and I became the con fidants of an attractive stenogra pher, a young married couple, an elderly druggist whose brother had been murdered the night before, a truck driver and his sweetheart and an employee of a great cor poration. It all happened when the two of us hitch-hiked to Austin the other day. Not that there’s anything un usual about that. The fact is, the unusual thing for a Texas Aggie to do would be to travel by any means other than via the thumb. + The two of us were in front oPfpretty good “bull session.” It’s a+before our second ride came along/fthe brakes and the car skidded to the college about 2 o’clock last Sunday afternoon and things started humming in a hurry when an attractive girl came breezing along in a ’40 Ford. Boy, we really thought we’d hit the jack-pot when she stopped. Girls generally don’t stop. They usually smile and wave at a hitch hiking Aggie—but they don’t stop. Well, as I say, this one did, and we got in and followed the old Aggie tradition of introducing our selves. She told us her name, too, and our trip to Austin was off to a good start. We knew there would be a catch to a ride like that—and there was. She was only going to Bryan, and if you know anything about the country around A. & M., you know that Bryan is only five miles from the college. Even so, the three of us had a funny thing about hitch-hiking; people seem to confide in you when they give you a lift like that. It seldom fails. A hitch-hiker can gen erally learn moi’e about the man or woman he’s riding with in five minutes than the next door neigh bor can learn in as many years. But back to the girl again, she was one of several hundred em ployed by the Agricultural Ad justment Administration which has its state headquarters at College Station. A stenographer, she liked her job and particularly liked working at A. & M. “There are so many boys and so few girls here,” she said. She was right—all-the-way right! She let us out on the Caldwell highway and the two of us began thumbing cars again. Business was bad here and we waited 45 minutes It was a young married couple that picked us up this time—hadn’t even been married six months we later learned. Did you ever see an old daguerreotype? If you have, you’ll know what I mean when I say that this young couple seemed to fit perfectly into a thing like that. They were driving to Caldwell to see the husband’s parents and were taking them some flowers and a box of cookies. “We do this almost every Sun day,” the girl pointed out. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen two happier people. Roommate and I both remarked later that a sit uation like that was our dream of a perfect home life. The next ride came along in a hurry. A ’38 Ford zipped over the hill at about 70 miles an hour, the tires screeched as the driver hit a stop in front of us. What a ride that was! The driver was a druggist from a small town near Caldwell and he was headed for Waco as fast as he could go. He seemed like a fine old gentle man; not at all the kind of a fel low you would normally expect to see driving at 70 or 80 miles an hour. But he wasn’t exactly in a nor mal condition. “This is a mighty sad ride for me,” he told us. “I received a tel egram this morning telling me that my brother was murdered last night. ... I can’t understand it. . . . Can’t understand it . . . .” “It just isn’t right;” it seemed as though he was almost crying “I know that everyone has to die sometime, but going this way seems like taking such an unnecessary (Continued on Page 6) The full-dress which will be Defense Week Activities at A. & M. has been postponed until Thurs day afternoon, Feb. 20, Col. Ike Ashburn, executive assistant to President T. O. Walton announced today. The three-day period, Feb. 18, 19, and 20, is being held as part of America’s National Defense Week Observance Feb. 12 to 22. Following the review, a mass rally of the corps and civilians will be held in Kyle stadium to hear brief addresses by President T. O. Walton and Lieut. Col. James A. Watson, commandant and pro fessor of military science and tactics. Lieut. C. M. Simmang, instructor in the Mechanical Engineering de partment, has been named chair man of the committee of the) Brazos County branch of the Nat ional Defense Week in the area. A smoker will be held Wednesday night, Feb. 19, in Sbisa Hall at 7 p.m. for the near-500 members of the senior class who are junior members of the asso ciation and who will receive com missions as second lieutenants fol lowing graduation next June. Thursday, Feb. 19, a barbecue dinner and smoker will be held at Colonel Ashburn’s ranch house by the R.O.A. for all members in the area. Word has not been received from the Coast Artillery Corps of Fort Crockett at Galveston, Colonel Ashburn said today, but the mili tary department feels certain that a detachment will participate in the activities at College Station. Each afternoon of the three-day observance, the 216-piece A. & M. band will play on the Sbisa Hall area from 5:30 to 6. The program will feature v/ilitary music and patriotic songs. National Defense Week has been held for a number of years, but the three day observance will be the first time the college has partici pated. The defense week activities was instigated through members of the cadet corps. In selecting dates for National Defense Week, the days 12-22 was selected because they were the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, the first lead ing exponents of national defense in their days. T Club Invites Seniors to Dance Inaugurating an unprecedented plan, the annual T club dance this year will be open to all members of the senior class, President How ard Shelton announced yesterday afternoon. Shelton added, “It is our hope that all seniors who attend the dance will bring dates. If this isn’t possible, however, we want the se niors to attend the dance anyway.” Seniors will be assessed the reg ular $1 charge for the dance which will be held March 14. No announcement has yet been made as to the orchestra, but Shel ton pointed out that this would come within 15 days. A. & M. Instructor Completes New Text Chris Groneman, instructor in the department of industrial ed ucation at Texas A. & M. college, is the most recent member of the college teaching staff to publish a textbook. His work, “General Bookbi ing,” just off the press, is prof ly illustrated to show the v? steps in bookbinding. ’**.