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THE BATTALION
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, Ine.,
at New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco.
Office, Room 122, Administration Building. Telephone
4-S444.
1940 Member 1941
Associated GblleeSiate Press
Bob Nisbet Editor-ln-Chisf
George Fuermann Associate Editor
Keith Hubbard Advertising Manager
Tom Vannoy 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
James Carpenter, Bob Crane, Jack Jones,
Jack Siegal Assistant Photographers
TUESDAY’S EDITORIAL STAFF
Bill Clarkson Managing Editor
Jack Hendricks .- Assistant Advertising Manager
Junior Editors
Lee Rogers ; E. M. Rosenthal
Reportorial Staff
Jack Aycock, Jack Decker, Walter Hall, Ralph Inglefield,
Tom Leland, Beverly Miller, W. A. Moore, Mike Speer, Dow
Wynn.
TWPA Laureate
Writes One for A&M
WHEN THE MEMBERS of the Texas Women’s
Press Association visited A. & M. Monday and ate
the noon meal in the Duncan Dining Hall, Cora
Pritchard Dines presented the editors of The Bat
talion with a poem which she dedicated to “boys of
A. & M,” She claims it is her “thank you” for hos
pitality shown. It is as follows:
Hero Worship
There is more to playing football than just a col
lege game—
It requires more than a touchdown to rate the hall
of fame:
It’s the way you take the wallop that glorifies your
name!
There is more to intercepting a thrill-packed bullet
pass
Than to outrun guards or tackles or make them bite
the grass:
It’s the team and not your ego keeps you in the
hero-class!
Though the scores may be lop-sided and fresh up
sets every day,
You come to know the fiber of the fellows that you
play
And the many unsung heroes that you meet along
the way.
Victories are brief sensations and you soon forget
the thrills—
But you’ll ne’er forget the pal who apologized for
spills,
For his loyalty was sturdy as the mute, eternal
hills.
Today he’s on the sidelines with a badly crippled
limb
Because he knew a sacrifice meant more to you
than him—
You were the public idol and with you his squad
could win!
Co-operation, discipline and often “sterner stuff
Than dreams are made of”, set tihe course that turns
the gridiron rough:
0 keep God with you lad—what e’er the score—
’twill be enough!
Cora Pritchard Dines
Poet Laureate
Texas Women’s Press Association
OPEN FORUM
HAVE THERE BEEN any occasions on which other
democracies have found themselves under similar
conditions as this democracy at this time?—If there
have been such, what solutions have they given to
the problems which confronted them?
Dr. Sugareff has ably described how a small
democracy “in the middle of the frying pan”,
Switzerland, had introduced some constitutional
changes in its Federal Law designed to make the
democracy conform with the changes which had
taken place in the country’s living space. This was
necessary since at the time the Constitution was
laid down it was impossible to foresee the changes
that would take place in this man-made world.
This, of course, was a sign of character in a
people; an effort to avoid self-destruction through
lack of preparedness because the enemy was al
ready at the gates‘preaching a ‘remarkable’ way of
life. The Swiss realized that unless checked the
latter would have sooner or later caused the disin-
tigration of the people’s spirit and later the disin-
tigration of the nation. The weapons were the
enemy’s weapons since it is useless to'fight with a
dagger a man who is armed with a rifle.
Preceding Switzerland, however, there was
France. Whether it was an absolute democracy or
not has direct bearing on the problem. France faced
the same problem which haunts every nation today,
and, whatmore, it gave the answer.
The French Republic, the offspring of the
middle-class Revolution, had institutions similar to
those in other democracies. But, “in order to obtain
high returns from a stretch of land the climatic
and soil conditions must bear a direct relation to the
kind of crop grown.”
France had to face an enemy because the way
of life of a democracy contradicts, in every way,
the way of life of a totalitarian power. France had
its heterogenous social structure since a democ
racy admits only an equality of opportunity and
not equal human beings. France had its industry
to which were applied the principles of private
initiative and free competion so as to assure the
safeguarding of the incentive to progress, profit.—
So what is it that caused its downfall?
Internal strife; the failure to use all that a
democracy offers. The nation’s energy was being
drained internally and how much would be left to
offer external resistance was still to be seen.
Labor had a viewpoint and the masters of
industry had theirs. In the light of national emer
gency the select of the people should have been
able to decide whose viewpoint assured the non
slackening in national preparedness; or were there
private individuals in France in whose interest it
was to discourage the national effort? Individuals
who either suspected the soundness of their own
viewpoint or others who were straightforward fifth
columnists.
The select of France was too weak to decide;
so it brought about France’s downfall.
England chose a different course. The Govern
ment of Appeasement was replaced by an' honest
government and labor was brought right into the
Cabinet to represent labor where a decision could
be taken. The masters of industry had to admit
defeat, likewise the Conservative Party. They called
it a ‘mistake’ and with a great deal of British
humor plunged into a way of life which did credit
to Democracy.
Britain recognized that a rise in the cost of
living requires a rise in wages; so a Royal Com
mission was consulted and a law made which pro
vided for a point to point rise in wages to confoi’m
with the corresponding rise in the cost of living. An
undisputable formula.
Whatever emerged beyond the assurance which
the British government had thus given to every
citizen that he would be provided with the bare
necessities of life was not, of course, a matter for
monopolistic-democracy but for pure socialistic-
democracy. If it was the contention of labor that
its labor was an investment similar to that of the
masters of industry and that therefore if the lat-
ters’ profit in wartime was fivefold in comparison
with peacetime profit that then'“labor should also
benefit by the general prosperity of the country”
and its wages increased in a corresponding pro
portion to one to five, labor touched here a prob
lem which was inconsistent with national emer
gency. British labor realized this and decided to
leave such matters of major reconstruction for the
post-war era, thus “making a strategical retreat
in favor of a later attack which would not involve
total-risk”; the choice of the lesser evil.
The British government, with the consent of the
labor members of the Cabinet, made it a matter of
policy to regard any future strike as first rate
fifth-column work. However, the danger of high
treason in Britain was much smaller than in other
countries, both from the point of social make-up
and that of physical vulnerability; Britain was, at
the same time, a country at war.
E. Schalit
As the World Turns.
BY DR. R. W. STEEN
THE WAR ON TWO FRONTS is now a reality.
German diplomacy sought to conquer Yugoslavia
and to scare Greece into submission. The diplomats
failed and now the army has been assigned the task
of conquering the two tiny kingdoms. The develop
ment of a Balkan front means that
Germany now has to look two ways
at once. Her resources must be
divided, and any plan that she may
have had for the invasion of Britain
must now be wholly revised.
Germany will fight in the Bal
kans under great handicaps. Her
lines of supply are quite long, and
H the Balkan roads and railroads are
few in number. Moreover Bulgaria
anc j Rumania will doubtless prove
staen be half-hearted allies, with the
result that much damage will doubtless be done to
war supplies being transported through these coun
tries. The German government has already warned
its people not to expect a quick victory. Yugoslavia
has about 1,000,000 men under arms. They will not
be able to defend Croatia, but should be able to
put up a good fight in the mountainous sections of
the country. The mountains will do much to im
mobilize German’s motorized units, and a man to
man conflict in the mountains will be a long drawn,
out affair.
The German forces doubtless hope to reach
Salonika. The distance is not so great in miles, and
the capture of this port would do much to weaken
the Greeks. On the other hand the Greeks have
something in their favor. The terrain is difficult,
and then there is the little matter of a British ex-
’peditionary force of undetermined size. German
sources indicate that the British have about 300,000
men, perhaps more, in Greece. The British have
said nothing about the size of the force, but admit
that there is one. The British troops are veterans
of the African campaign, and from all reports are
quite well equipped. It is being strengthened with
some regularity.
The Balkan war may give England some relief
from bombing attacks. There is every reason to be
lieve that Germany is handicapped by lack of oil,
and if this is the case she may find it impossible to
feed one war machine in the Balkans and another
in Western Europe. In that case she will have to
feed the one where active fighting is in progress.
At the same time British bombing attacks on Ger
many will doubtless be increased.
The United States has denounced the German
attacks on Yugoslavia and Greece. It has also been
announced that supplies will be furnished them
under the terms of the lease-lend act, and that the
Red Sea will be removed from the zones prohibited
American merchant vessels. This means that Amer
ican ships will carry American goods to the very
edge of the war zone, and leave Britain and her
Allies only the duty of transporting them across
the Mediterranean. Germany’s failure to invade
England was the first major set-back for the Axis.
The failure of the Italians in Albania was a’second.
The collapse of the Italians in Africa was a third.
The defeats suffered by the Italian fleet constitutes
a fourth, and now the fact that there is fighting
in the Balkans is a fifth. The end is by no means
in sight, but the legend of Axis invincibility is be
ginning to crumble.
BACKWASH
By
George Fuermann
"Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster
In Passing. ... A little out of the
groove of normalcy was the sit
uation in which George Taylor and
Bob Alexander found themselves
late Sunday. Their dates of the
past weekend—Dorothy Woodley
and Dorothy
flUKill Drainer—were all
set to board the
6:12 streamliner
headed Dallas
way. Suitcases and
both girls were al
ready aboard when
George and Bob
performed a coup-
de-grace and per
suaded them to re-
Fuermann main here another
night. The double-breasted scramble
that followed was something to
write home about. The girls hopped
off as the train was moving, but
George was still aboard trying to
rescue the luggage. Finally, as
the train speeded-up, George boun
ced off with the two suitcases. . . .
An unprecedented move by Pres
ident T. O. Walton has just been
inaugurated which will reward
students who earn a ‘distinguished’
rating scholastically. Merit cita
tions signed by Dr. Walton, they’ll
have considerable value as recom
mendations to prospective employ
ers. ... A letter recently received
by Lieut. Col. James A. Watson
from an officer recently on duty
at A. & M. says, in part: “Anoth
er thing I miss is not having our
young A. & M. officers here. I
know they are good but seeing
these others here brings it out
stronger. I could take the chief
regimental officers (cadets) at
A. & M. and walk off with this
game from the first day. Our
young officers here are from the
midwest and the east. The few
A. & M. men here are all in res
ponsible positions and handling
them well.” That’s a quote that
should be of No. 1 interest and
pride to the corps Student La
bor Chairman W. R. Horsley re
vealed Monday afternoon that 45.4
per cent of last semester’s dis
tinguished students were student
labor employees—a truly signifi
cant fact by any measuring stick
. . . George (Spud) Grimes and
Charles Thompson set some sort
of a record at the Cavalry Ball.
Their escortees, Eleanor Riggins
and Brooxie Williams, trekked from
Memphis, Tennessee to attend the
function Unique is the word
for the closing one Houston belle
placed on a letter received by an
Infantry senior last week. It read,
“A pinch of devotion, a tablespoon
of luck, a cup of sincerity and love
to taste.”
• • •
even if Eddie didn’t have a fem
inine vocalist; the men in the
orchestra were ‘regular fellows’
from the toes up and enjoyed play
ing here as much as the Aggies
enjoyed hearing them, and drum
mer George Stowe and vocalist
Bill Wallace climaxed the Fitz
patrick show as the best three-ring
circus to hit the campus in many
a dance.
Bill’s favorite stunt—when ask
ed for a cigarette—is to pull out an
expensive case, flash it in front
of the asker, open it and there—
believe it or not—are three or
four ‘snipes.’
Goofiest of the Fitzpatrick crew
was George who, by his own admis
sion, is “good for a laugh-a-min-
ute except on Sundays and holi
days!” He wowed onlookers when
he quipped—as his pic was taken,
“Oh Gawd, I feel like a movie
celeb.”
While here Eddie escorted a
Brenham belle, Mary Jo Becker, to
Aggieland’s assorted night spots.
First on the Aggie Hit Parade
this past weekend was “It All
Comes Back to Me Now,” which was
the No. 3 song two weeks ago and
which failed to show last week.
In second place was “The Last
Time I Saw Paris,” the No. 2
song last week, and third place in
the Aggie requests went to “Star
Dust,” a song which has been
a consistent number on this year’s
mythical hit parade despite the
fact that it’s an oldie.
• • •
Hochuli Writes
Not having attended a learned
shindig since the days when “Ped
dlin’ Madeline Home” was No. 1
on the Hit Parade, and you had
to be careful not to get sediment
instead of sentiment in your brew,
yours truly hitched up the horses
and rode off in all directions to the
Texas Aggie Cavalry Ball in Col
lege Station Saturday night. And
am I glad I didn’t have an 8 o’
clock class this a.m.
I’ll admit I was a bit of a wall
flower—dancing not being one of
my better accomplishments since a
two-way stretch has become stan
dard equipment on the chassis—but
I had a swell time. Hospitality
of that type prevents from having
anything else but a swell time.
* *
The Cavalry Ball is typical of
the unit social functions scattered
through the A. & M. year. The
lassies closest to the hearts of the
horsemen were invited down for
the week-end of dancing, dining
TUESDAY APRIL 8, 1941
A,
’
TUI
and, I presume, to listen to «tor-
ed up sweet nothings. Friday night
the dancing was a closed corpora-
y
M
tion, but the Saturday stepping
was open to the corps with the
cash. Eddie Fitzpatrick, et al, fur-
Nc
nished the music both nights.
I,
Shav
* * *
currc
There must have been few pretty
thing
girls left in other sections of Texas
i'
and
because the concentration of pul-
what
chritude was terrific. There must
mind
be something to that uniform mag-
score
net.
Th
Official dancing stopped at mid-
first
night, but the festivities didn’t.
good,
They just adjourned to a couple of
of th
late spots labeled “Ed’s” and
A I
bat i
“Franklin’s” where all good Aggies
Of
forge
taper off. And one Rice man went
and -
right along, until creaking bones
finesl
screamed a warning.
this <
Fix
Twelve co-eds at Barnard college
tet ol
are learning how to repair auto
mobiles in
mechanics.
a course in practical
E. Fitz & Co.
The Fitzpatrick band, which
played the Cavalry Ball, was okeh
all the way. Cavalryman—and
those who attended the Saturday
night corps dance—liked the music,
• • •
Quoting Paul
Get Ready for The
R. V. Holidays
Go Home With
A Neat Appearance
Come to
AGGIELAND BARBER SHOP
Across From P. O. North Gate
Go Home for EASTER
Bo SP
MORE TIME “THERE”—REST AS YOU TRAVEL
TWO TRAINS DAILY - from College Station
Streamlined
To— Owl Hustler
HOUSTON — 4:27 A.M. — 12:06 P.M.
DALLAS — 1:46 A.M. — 9:53 A.M.
Connection at Houston and Dallas for points beyond.
LOW FARES DAILY — ASK “SP” AGENT
Southern Pacific
T. H. Black, Agent
Phone 4-1175
A California band, Eddie per
sonally favors waltzes. “They’re
the rage on the west coast now,”
he pointed out, “but Texans still
like swing best.” And that’s what
he played most while at A. & M.
After a week’s layoff, Eddie op
ens at Dallas’ Plantation for a
two-week run and then he does a
month—with a two-month option
—at San Antonio’s St. Anthony
Hotel.
Martin Griffin, local clothier,
was formerly Eddie’s business
manager and, as such, spent the
weekend with the orchestra and
particularly Eddie, Bill, George,
trombonist, Frank Hess, pianist,
Skipper Travathian and Hank Por-
cella.
Saturday night. The Houston
Press columnist, Paul Hochuli, and
his wife attended the corps dance
and, with Publicity Director By
ron Winstead and wife, toured the
college’s so-called night clubs.
A genial companion and, as one
cadet put it, “a swell guy,” he
devoted the whole of his Monday
column to the event.
MAN TO MAN-
LET^ TALK
UNIFORMS
• When buying these new
Junior and Senior Uniforms,
you must find these qualities:
1. Best Material
2. Expert Tailoring
3. Perfect Fit
Years of experience in purchasing materials of
the best plus the expert tailoring we offer will guar
antee you of the fit in your new uniform that you
really deserve and at the same time, assure you of
years of enjoyable wear. . .
ALL THIS FOR REASONABLE PRICES
Come in, look around, and you’ll always be satisfied.
at the
Aggie Military Shop
North Gate
College eds and co-eds still have
more fun than anybody. Especially
when the co-eds are imported for
a very special college function.
Assembly Hall
Last Day - 3:30 and 6:45
"KEEPING COMPANY"
—with—
Frank Morgan and Ann Rutherford
SPECIAL SHORTS — LATE NEWS
“Milky Way” “Quickem’ a Wink”
These shorts were the best two out of three for
the Academy Award Winner of this year.
The GREAT DRAMA OF A QUEEN’S LOVE
—told against
the mighty back
grounds of Britain ZWi
building its
empire!
IN
GORGEOUS
TECHNI
COLOR
ANNANEACLE
QUEEN OF
DESTINY
* ANTON WALBROOK Prince Emt
C. AUBREY SMITH Produced and
Walter Bills t directed by
RKO radio picture HERBERT WILCOX
Screen Ploy by Chorlei de Grondcolirt, Milei Molleson and Robert Vantiltart.
Wednesday and Thursday
3:30 and 6:45 Each Day
Selected Shorts
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