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