Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1941)
Page 2r THE BATTALION -SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1941 The Battalion 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 4-8444. 1940 Member 1941 (Associated Collegiate Press Bob Nisbet Editor-in-Chief George Fuermann Associate Editor Keith Hubbard Advertising Manager Tom Vi.i.noy Editorial Assistant Pete Tumlinson Staff Artist J. B. Pierce, Phil Levine Proof Readers Sports Department Hub Johnson Sports Editor Bob Myers Assistant Sports Editor Mike Haikin, Jack Hollimon W. F. Oxford Junior Sports Editors Circulation Department Tommy Henderson Circulation Manager W. G. Hauger, E. D. Wilmeth .... Assistant Circulation Managers F. D. Asbury, E. S. Henard Circulation Assistants Photography Department Phil Golman Photographic Editor G. W. Brown, John Carpenter, Joe Golman, Jack Jones Assistant Photographers SATURDAY’S EDITORIAL STAFF Earle A. Shields Managing Editor T. R. Harrison Assistant Advertising Manager Junior Editors Will O. Brimberry W. C. Carter Don Gabriel Reportorial Staff Charles Babcock, Herbert Haile, Paul Haines, Carl Van Hook, J. J. Keith, Z. A. McReynolds, Beverly Miller, Ehrhard Mittendorf, Jack Nelson, L. B. Tennisom On ihe Hatch Act WHILE THE LEASE-LEND bill and defense ap propriations have been claiming all the black head lines these several weeks, some other governmen tal issues have been receiving attention in a quieter sort of way. One of these is the so-called Hatch Clean Politics act. Purpose of this legislation is to curtail the political activity of federal employees and of state and local workers employed in connection with any activity which is financed in whole or in part by loans or grants made by the United States. Specifi cally exempt are federal officials who hold elective offices, state executives who are directly concerned with formation of public policy or are elected, and city mayors. Apparently, observes the Oregon Emerald, “these provisions would indicate that federal em ployees are prohibited from attending, actively par ticipating in, or speaking before political meetings. This would seem to be a curtailment of the right of free speech and the right to peaceable assembly.” The Emerald goes on to point out that Section 15 of the measure “authorizes and directs the civil service commission to promulgate rules or regula tions defining the term ‘active part in political man agement or in political campaigns.’ “May we point out,” asks the Oregon publication, “that this would appear to be delegating legislative powers to the commission? On this point the constitution seems quite clear: ‘All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of rep resentatives.’ ” The Minnesota Daily feels the act is “based on dangerous concepts,” and the Wisconsin Daily Cardinal echoes this view by pointing out what it considers “questionable concepts.” “The Hatch act,” says the Daily, “aims to secure clean politics by sacrificing two important concepts fundamental to American society—academic freedom and free elec tions. We favor legislation which will encourage clean politics and minimize corruption. But we deny •emphatically that these things can be secured by the provisions of the Hatch act, which deprives fed eral, state or local employees, paid in whole or part by federal funds, of almost all political rights ex cept the right to vote. “The whole philosophy of these clauses of the Hatch act seems to be that any political activity is a corrupt and corrupting ac tivity. There can be no more dangerous concept than this, at a time when daily problems of all the people turn upon political decisions and activities of every kind. Casting a ballot is only the culmi- native act of many which constitute the institution of free election. The right to propose candidates, dis cuss their relative merits and advance the cause of one—these elements are also essential to the elec- torial process.” The Ohio State Lanter feels that “University of Wisconsin professors who are agitating for the repeal of the act have put their finger on the repressive weakness of the bill as it applies to edu cators. It makes no distinction between academic political discussion and unsolicited expression of opinion. Professors have no right to foi’ce their opinions on students under the guise of professional comment, but students have a right to expect in terpretative comment by those whom the state pays to educate its youth.” —Associated Collegiate Press OPEN FORUM THERE HAS BEEN for a long time a need for an answer to the various charges made against the hospital by the student body. I am glad the writer of the letter in last Thursday’s Forum admits that possibly the hos pital may not be entirely at fault. In the first place, what proof can be offered that an increase of even a dollar in the medical fee could alleviate the conditions charged to exist? “What does the medical fee cover?” I daresay it covers more here than in any other group hos pitalization plan in operation. It is charged that, there are not sufficient doctors to handle all the cases coming to the hospital. So why not hix*e more doctors? In order to handle all cases the hospital would have to maintain a staff of specialists which is obviously impossible. It is to be expected in any hospital that in times of emergency or epidemic conditions such as existed here in December that the regular staff will be overloaded and that at times they will not be able to care for all cases adequately. Is there any reason to make such a charge against the hospital just because we have failed to see the doctor on an afternoon when he is particularly busy? As to crutches, there was a time when no de posit was required. And crutches, braces, etc., were always getting lost or broken. So why kick about a deposit when it is our own fault that we have to make them? Suppose we bought an ambulance? Ten to one if some band fish got the jumpin’ jives and jumped out of the fourth floor and breaks a couple of legs his friends will roll him over a couple of times to see if he is, hurt before the ambulance arrives. True, deaths have been caused by improper hand ling but it is also true that in many cases there were ambulances that could have been called. “Is it always necessary to lose weight when in bed in the hospital?” I don’t believe that all lose weight in the hospital when in the hospital. Ad mitting that most do, we must remember that the majority of cases here are colds and flu and what person can have the flu and take medically approved treatment and not lose weight. It is nautral for us to lose weight when we are sick. But we must ex pect that normal, sound, young men will begin to feel hunger when they begin to recover from ill ness. And if they have been accustomed all their lives to getting just about what they want, then naturally they are going to bleed about the hos pital and its “damned soup.” No hospital would feed a sick Aggie his normal diet. It is often said that if a persoh comes near the hospital with a stomach ache, or a sore finger, or a bad case of athlete’s foot or what have you that he will lose his appendix before he gets away. Yes, there are lots of appendectomies performed in the hospital. But I have yet to see or hear of an ap pendix removed which was not in an inflamed and dangerous condition. Of course some of them might have been all right, that is, they might have lived without an operation, but when all indications point to a steadily inci’easing inflamation of the appendix what is the doctor to do? Assuming for the sake of argument that one in ten operations may be un necessary—who wants to take even that chance? No, thank you! We must realize that mistakes will be made. No organization that involves human minds and ac tions can avoid an occasional mistake. And I do not mean to assert that the hospital service could not be improved. Again, in any organization con trolled by human beings there is always room for improvement. It is fatal to the growth of any in dividual or group, for that individual or group to think that he or they have become perfect. The hospital does not take such an attitude. I do not know if anyone may have gained any thing in the reading of Thursday’s and today’s Fo rums, but I wish to reiterate my faith in our hos pital. Every Aggie who stops for a moment to consider the case will realize that Mom and Miss Vaugh and the doctors and nurses are doing all they can to keep the Aggies well. They will make mis takes and there will be times when they cannot do all that needs to be done, but on the whole I think we owe them all a vot6 of thanks. The Open Forum is still open for any who wish to speak further and my room is usually plagued with a “bull session” anyway, so if you want to argue, come on over. DOC WATLEY, ’42—1 hope The Collegiate Review Men outnumber women almost three to one at North Dakota Agricultural College. South Dakota State University recently dedi cated a $76,500 addition to its Carnegie library. Professor C. B. Farrington is in his fortieth year of teaching at Sam Houston State Col lege. —Associated Collegiate Press As the World Turns... BY DR. AL B. NELSON WHY WAS THIS STRIKE CALLED? The C.I.O. union at the Lackawana plant of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Buffalo, N. Y. has called a strike and is attempting to prevent even those workers who do not desire to strike from work ing. The wages and working conditions are the same as last month and the month before, what has suddenly brought jpPBSIPm about the necessity for a strike? H !| National defense orders amounting sjisgfe t° one quarter of a billion dollars llIHl M? are * n danger of being held up by this strike. Work on warships, planes, rifles, cannon, and ammuni tion, are utterly dependent on a rapid and continuous supply of steel, and are endangered by ir responsible labor leadership. Tac- NeUon tics of this type caused the great republic of France to collapse in spite of the valor and patriotism of her soldiers. Japan has threatened to intervene if the French in Indo-Chino do not immediately cede a large por tion of their territory to Siam (Thailand). So far the French are talking fight rather than cede ter ritory. The British East African Armies have captured Italian Somaliland, wiping out an entire colony of Italy’s African Empire. This constitutes another serious blow to Italian prestige. The President called certain senators down last week for revealing military secrets to the news papers after having received the information in confidential meetings. Men who sabotage national defense in this manner should receive something more than verbal punishment. The British minister to Bulgaria has publicly ad vised that nation to count the cost before permit ting themselves to become tools of the German government. The English have also announced the capture of the Italian island of Castelrosso with its seaplane base. This is one of the Dodecanese Islands in the eastern Mediteranean. “He wants to be an electrician when he grows up." The first of the really big spring coi’ps dances is coming off tonight with the music furnished by Russ Morgan. As has been said, Russ came out second in a campus poll taken last year for the best band playing here during the season and it is not idle talk. Everyone, in fact, is entirely familiar with Rdss’ quality from hearing his broad casts and that ought to be en couragement enough for anyone to attend. With his trombone and “Does Your Heart Beat For Me” he is a good evenings entertain ment for $1.10. With Morgan as vocalist this year is Maxine Conrad, a new girl. She will have to be doing pretty well to outshine Carolyn Clarke, the songstress with the band when it was here for the Senior Ring Dance last year. An other thing which will add to a pleasant atmosphere at the dance are the new decorations for the band stand. The wings are draped in alternate sections in heavy white and maroon material, and the large central portion is cover ed with white with a maroon draw- curtain effect. cess which an actress makes so she can regain her son. Miriam Hop kins, a down-and-outer actress, loses son and husband in a divorce scandal and has no money to fight the suit. By persuasion and per spiration she finally makes the grade, but there’s nothing really exciting about that. Helen Westley, the old boarding house keeper, has a rough corned- beef-and-cabbage exterior that puts a little life into the show. The old gal is positively homey to look at but she has a wit and philosophy which add up. Claude Rains as the producer is also pretty good but the show lacks something in the way of dramatic climax. Life Habits of Fox Studied Here Old Bre’r Fox, his life habits and economic relations have come in for a bit of recent investigation by the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Re search Unit at Texas A. & M. college. A bright spot along “THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE” is comedian Bob Hope. He furnishes all the gag lines, which he is well capable of doing, but he still has Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour to contend with. Bing croons a little with that pasty-faced look on his mug. “The Road to Singapore” has Hope and Crosby as a couple of broken down playboy-sailors who hide in Singapore from Biilg’s rich father and aggressive fiance. Na tive girl Dorothy Lamour, sort of adopts the two boys and decides to be their housekeeper. They go through many and varied adventur es but Bing’s only laugh scene is when he gets mixed up in a native dance with one of the girls. Bing and Hope have a pretty good one- two-three act that gets them out of trouble. It was discovered that he makes his home in 146 of the 225 counties of Texas from which replies to a questionnaire were received but a total of 79 of those reporting coun ties said that no foxes had been seen or caught in that county. Of the 146 counties reporting foxes, 36 of them reported that the animal is scarce. Riding to the hounds is a favorite sport in 62 of the fox counties but landowners could not agree with the sportsmen that the animal is not detrimental. They say that the foxes have become a menace to wild turkeys, poultry, lambs, pigs and kids and the county agri cultural agents in several counties came back with the information that where coyotes were abundant, foxes were scarce. No conclusion has been drawn from that fact as yet. Bob Hope is the mainstay of the show even if he doesn’t get the girl in the end, and his laughs keep it rolling. The Lamour woman is in it too but she neither adds nor detracts much either way. Bing doesn’t either. “THE LADY WITH THE RED HAIR” is a misleading title if you take it for its implications. The show tells of the struggle for suc- WHATS SHOWING AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL Saturday 12:45—“LTL AB NER,” with Martha O’Dris coll, Granville Owen, Mona Ray and Johnnie Morris. Saturday 6:45 & 8:30— “LADY WITH THE RED HAIR,” featuring Miriam Hopkins, Claude Rains, Rich ard Ainley, Helen Westley and Laura Hope Crews. Monday, Tuesday 3:30 & 6:45 — “DR. KILDARE’S CRISIS,” featuring Lew Ay res, Lionel Barrymore, Lo- raine Day and Robert Young. AT THE CAMPUS Saturday—“A CHILD IS BORN,” with Geraldine Fitz gerald, Jeffrey Lynn and Gladys George. Saturday midnight, Sun day and Monday — “THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE,” starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Do I Worry Tommy Dorsey You Stepped Out of a Dream Sammy Kaye Whatcha Know Joe King Sisters with Alvino Rey’s Orchestra Dancing In The Dark Artie Shaw There’ll Be Some Changes Made Vaughn Monroe Oh! Look At Me Now! Bob Chester Dolores Tommy Dorsey When the Quail Come Back To San Quentin Artie Shaw and His Grammercy Five R.C.A. Victor RECORD PLAYER $4.95 HASWELUS Bryan MUSICAL MEANDERINGS By Murray Evans One of the most popular orches tra leaders in the game once sair, “Boys, you don’t have to play loud to play good!” To that gem of truth I would like to add a few ‘Amens’ and ‘So- be-its.’ Certain it is that few peo ple enjoy going to a dance and finding- themselves in dire need of ear muffs to avoid the blasts of some over-enthusiastic band. Of course there are those of the jitterbug ilk who would have noth ing except louder, swingier music. These are the ones who gather round the band stand and make fully three-fourths of the requests, all of them invariably of fast tem pos. Thus the leader and the or chestra members conclude that the crowd in general wants swing for the evening. But not so. For, back away from the band stand and closer to the walls is found the majority of dancers. And, make no mistake, these do not want swing nor fast music. These are the ones who seldom make requests, but are content to rely on the band leader’s judgment. These are the ones who, in most part, pay for the band’s services, and who make or break a band with their stamp of approval or otherwise. And it is this set of dance-goers that love and appreciate the slower, sweeter, ballad type tune. Most young musicians are in clined to “feel” a number so much that they work themselves into near frenzy and overblow their in struments many times over. A trombone or even a trumpet can be played as softly and effectively as a violin with the right tech nique. But it isn’t easy. As a matter of fact, it is much more difficult to play a slow sweet number right than it is to play a loud fast number for the loudness itself camouflages plenty of blue notes. Nobody remembers swing tunes for long. And, by the same token, Joe Public that pays and pays for gets the swing band in a short while. The wise maestro who wants to stay in the business will build a reputation with a “tenor” or sweet band and vary his music program with accelerated tempos just enough to avoid becoming draggy and monotonous. An overdose of sweet or swing is altogether pos sible, but certainly the former is the lesser of the two evils, in this writer’s opinion. Bring- her, and you both can enjoy our fine meals. Mexican food our special ty. Lunches and quick orders. New York Cafe Bryan Burroughs Company Has Exhibit Here The Burroughs Adding Machine Company, makers of busines ma chines and equipment, will have an educational display in the base ment of Sbisa Hall from noon Mon day until 5 p.m. Friday, March 7, T. W. Leland, head of the Depart ment of Accounting and Statis tics, announced yesterday. The exhibit, which has been de signed especially for college stu dents and has been displayed at a number of the larger universities in the United States, will consist of 28 different pieces of equip ment that are valued at $35,000. “All A. & M. students and others interested are urged to attend,” Mr. Leland said yesterday. 15c to 5 p.m. — 20c after LAST DAY Geraldine Fitzgerald Jeffrey Lynn Gladys George —in— “A Child Is Born” —also— Late News - - Cartoon Prevue Saturday Nite Sunday - Monday sob ass**! to SINGAPORE —also— Fox Movietone News Assembly Hall Today 12:45 Only The Boy Wonder of the Comic Pages on the Screen “LI’L ABNER” —with— OWEN - DRISKILL - KENNEDY Selected Shorts SHE STARTfO AT THE TOP AND WORKED HER WAY IIP! starring . MIRIAM HOPKINS . . . with CLAUDE RAINS gichard /Xinluy l.aura Hope Crews Directed by. K) HT BEUNfiAKDT A WARNi-R Hkd$.- I’irst hhiti’onnl Picture Screen Pl«j bj Cherlei Kenyon ft Milton Krlme • From the Story by N. Bremttr Mono ft Nocbert Feulkner . Bated upon the Memoir! ol Mra. Leille Cutec 6:45 - 8:30 Orchestra - • - Cartoon