Pag* 2-
THE BATTALION
-THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1941
The Battalion Something To Read
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Asrrienltnral and By DR. T. F. MAYO
Mechanical College of Texas and the city of College Station, is ,, ,
published three times weekly from September to June, issued The Modern Note in the Modem Novel
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings; also it is published IF ONE HAD TO SPECIFY One quality as most
weekly from June through August. ^ . . , „ . , .,
, characteristic of the American novel of today, it
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at College wou ld have to be, I think, Social consciousness. It
Btation, Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 8, 1879. ’ ’
—— — would be hard to find a good new novel nowadays
reaufst^ 1011 ^ $3 a 8Ch001 year ‘ Advertiainsr ^ npon that does not show: (1) a realization that people’s
—— 1 — — characters are largely moulded by the sort of eco-
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., , /n v ,
At New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San nomiC system under which they live, (2) a deep
rrancisco. concern for the hardships and injustices and frus-
Office, Room 122, Administration Building. Telephone trations that our own economic system is repre-
4 ' 8<44- sented as imposing upon people.
194ft M fw 1Q41 ex P ec * this emphasis upon social forces in
r *„i “Proletarian” novelists. Albert Halper (in The
RSSOaated GoIle^'CllG Press Foundry and The Chute) and John Steinbeck (in In
— Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes
George Fuermann Associate Editor of Wrath), are, for example, quite frank with their
Keith Hubbard Advertising Manager m orals and their preachments. They are both radi-
Pete Tumlinson , Staff Artist cals or left-wing liberals; that is, they believe that
J. B. Pierce, Phil Levme^»~...^™.~.~-.™ — Proof Readers a g rea ^ mass 0 f preventable evils are imposed upon
Hub Johnson ........... Sports Editor modern Americans by the fact that the means of
Mike^aTkinT"Jack"HcdUmon* Assistant Sports Editor production ( mac hinery, mines, and land) are private-
W. F. Oxford Junior Sports Editors \y owned and run for profit. By implication, they
Circulation Department , , ,, ,
Tommy Henderson Circulation Manager also believe that some sort of COyectlVlstlC economic
^““Ker, E D. Wilmeth „ AssiStant Circulation Managers system Would remove these evils.
W, D. Asbury, E. S. Henard Circulation Assistants J
Photography Department But this element of social consciousness is not
j“ef^rp n enUUYob'cV"anU'ja'cr^es“: Photo?raphlc confined nowadays to the “Proletarians”. Thomas
Jack siegai Assistant Photographers Wolfe in his last three novels (Look Homeward,
THURSDAY’S EDITORIAL STAFF . , r . e al . , ,, „ r , , ,,
George Fuermann Acting Managing Editor An ^ el ’ 0f Tlme and the RlVer ’ and The Web and the
George Woodman Assistant Advertising Manager Rock) Seemed interested in people wholly as people
Tom Gill is D. ^C.” Thurman' 8 . V. A. Yentzen and not as SOcial Products. But in You Can’t Go
Reportorial staff Home Again, published after his death, he turns def-
gan.^H ?e a nn“;n J °M"kf Ipeer, Jam^F^WrtghL D ‘ initely in the co ^ ludin g section toward an emphasis
.. . "" = on social forces. Ernest Hemingway certainly used to
« J be individualistic enough (in The Sun Also Rises,
All {JpCTl LiQtt&T A Farewell to Arms, and most of his short stories).
Yet, since his Spanish adventure he too has be-
Youth Committee Against War come more and more concerned about social jus-
22 17th Street tice. The Fifth Column, his one dramatic venture,
New York, New York and Of Whom the Bell Tolls, his latest and biggest
Dear Sirs- book, both glorify the defense of Democracy, espe-
„ r . , ,, , ■ • i. * * cially economic and social Democracy, against Fasc-
We have been the unhappy recipient of some of . gm
your communist propaganda—too much.
~ , , ,. ,, A new Texas novelist, George Sessions Perry
Can t you misguided intellectuals realize what lf „ , , , . , . , .... , . TT , _ .
.... •U B L , „ . . (from Rockdale) has just published, in Hold Autumn
Wl1 ha f' n ^ ,,ur co “ ntry “ <!V “ t of “ Ax,s i.. Your Hand, a fine story about tenant farmers. It
v,ctory? Can t you realise what benefits would come is a sort o£ Cral)es of Wralh wjth th( , WJ . ath miss
from a British victory ? Can t you realise that the ing Yct h<| a , s0 shows that he has tho and fe]t
President is doing all in h.s power to bring about deep , y ab()ut the paradox of the land , s be . n work
such a victory without involving this country? Can t ed lov:ngly by one man a „ d owned by another In
you realise that all your dissension is a wrench in fact| Hp , d Autumn Y our Hand constitutes in one
the works of the country’s progress? sense a subtler criticism of the social system than
Certainly no one wants to go to war—no Gallup the more violent books. This author is fair enough
poll was needed to decide that fact. But in the case to represent his individual land owner and merchant
this is necessary, he would be a poor citizen indeed as good fellows. His “meanest” character, moreover,
who would deny the country his services in its time is a tenant farmer like his hero. Thus all the blame
of need. Is your group merely ignorant or is it a in his book falls upon the social system itself in
group of non-patriots working toward the country’s stead of upon individual villiany.
destruction ? —
Do you not realize that you are the most val- 1 ,1 1JI/ 71 HP
liable men in the country—for Hitler? /\S lt\£ W OTLCl lllTTlS..'
Henceforth all propaganda from your source,
unless a personal answer to this letter, will be
promptly filed—in the trash basket. COUNT V. K. SUGAREFF
The Battalion THE BATTLE OF GREECE is nearing a crisis.
The press reports convey the impression that
the Greek defense line is fast shrinking behind
NCithin 0 I Ct CtY “more favorable defense terrain.” It appears now
that the Germans and the Italians have united their
INDUSTRIAL CHANGES as well as economic and forces at the northwestern corner of the Greek de
political changes are brought about by wars—par- fense line. The Germans have penetrated into Greece
ticularly in modern warfare. Such a tendency is through the Phlorina sector and they have also ad-
naturally hastened when a manufacturing nation vanced far into Greek territory south of Salonika.
is suddenly plunged into so vast a program of war There has been no fighting on
production as we are in now. ^ the southwestern front of Alban-
We are immediately driven to find new mater- an ^ cen tr a l Macedonian
ials for purposes of both war and peace to take J|||. • ^ front. If the Germans and the
the place of those most needed for military uses— ||||p^| Italians keep advancing from their
such as aluminum, rubber, tin and copper. So we gfe M** .Jf vantage points into Greek terri-
are getting into an Age of Plastics which may sup- / t 01 'y> the Albanian and the Mace-
plant to a large extent the Age of Metals. For donian fronts would be nullified as
many purposes even iron and steel will give way to HL //&. jBb a md ’tary objective for the allies,
substances produced from milk, soy beans, cellulose, jiijS ^he Greek battle line as it now
resin and several other substances. These materials Jj|9 stands now is in the shape of a
can be made as tough and strong as iron, in spite wishbone. The narrower it be-
of their lightness, and applied to an apparently Sueareff comes at the top, the more effec-
unlimited range of products and purposes. In many tively it can be defended. With the improved de-
’ways this change of Age will not be a hardship but fenses, and the aid from the seasoned English Af-
a blessing as far as progress is concerned. rican troops, the Germans might not be able to ad-
Thus we may have, before the war is over, VSW1Ce aS rapidly aS they have planned - The Ger -
automobiles with plastic bodies and fenders, lighter ^ an commaad fs admit that the Greek soldiers are
and perhaps safer than present cars. Not the least 6 est t ey have faced 80 far -
of these benefits will be a considerable lessening u Propaganda informed the world that
of crumpled bodies and fenders. Also less vibration, by Easter Sunday ’ Yu g 08lavia would not exist as a
less rust, more visibility, more safety in accidents " atl0n : S ° fa ^° nly Cr ° atia has been severed from
and better radio reception. Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavs have not surrendered
,, ,, - , . , , to the Germans. Even if the Yugoslav army is forced
Many other good things will be an outgrowth t(> capituIatei a s p asmodic figh ti n g might c<)ntinuc
of this war of destruction! • v „ , .
in Yugoslavia throughout the summer.
The Russo-Japanese neutrality treaty, which
-i 1 A r\ was sig ned last Sunday, has stirred up a good deal
JO/tDly Ls • of speculation. The treaty, barring any secret
IT TQ niTTTir mriTwr „ clauses to it, merely confirms a status which both
IT IS QUITE QUIET now, this early in the morn- powers have matatained in the t conflict ,
mg. A few brazen little birds are piping thinly. china is stiu ab]e to get sppplies from Eussia
Those old brinks? Yes, they were Probably a Japan promiM8 to remain „ eutral u Russia is in .
building once. University buildings? Most probably. volved in a war wilh a third r and Russia
There s no one now who quite remembers . . . would maintain a similar attitude toward Japan ^
The quiet grey moss includes its way through such an event. Treaties of any sort, now-a-days,
the mortar and plans gradually to engulf the area, have hardly any binding force. The significance of
Nearby stands the shattered stump of an old fir this treaty is to be revealed in the light of fu-
tree. The atmosphere is eating away its fibers. ture events. National interests often dictate the
Were there lots of buildings then? Were there interpretation of a treaty.
lawns and walks and roses in the sunshine? See, Moderation in regard to labor strikes is better
here is a bit of an old cement pathway. It crumbles than coercion. Some hundred strikes have occured
if you step on it. f rom j anuary i to April 4j 1 9 41> a ff ect j ng ser .
iously our defense program. The press and the radio
There is a certain softness about the day yet. bav e played important parts in arousing public
The mists are lifting, the air is cooling to the opinion against strikes. This demand, sincere and
cheek. But everywhere it is so quiet. patriotic, is based mainly on emotional impulses
Were there many people here then? Didn’t they rather than on reason. Emotions are not a reliable
laugh and talk to one another? Didn’t they care yardstick by which arguments can be settled. Con-
about the lovely old buildings? gress can pass an anti-strike measure. Can such a
The water in the mill stream chortles as you ! aw be enforced? Th e danger of giving the Pres-
slap it with a little stone. It is muddy green and i,dent such P° wers is realized by the members of
flows passively on its way. It is used to being ^ • R - ouse Military Affairs Committee and OPM. It
left alone. There are not boats floating on its back * s ^ rue ^ ba ^ our b °y s f be army get only $21 per
Why aren’t there any boats? What happened An ” r f. taary lab ° rer thi,lks that by ««
to all the people and buildings ? Why did they simply , i^”, 1, h ', S haS b ° Ught tood
leave? Didn’t they have any air raid shelters at all? and '!° thmg f ° r h,a family ' he does not haye * 21 ’ 00
. . _» , spending money. A bit of sober thinking on the
The sun is coming out now. Listen, the little part of the public will go a long way in solving our
birds are singing louder. , abor trouble3 . Cooperation is better than coercion
P* in the Oiegon Daily Emerald—AGP at a time of national emergency in a democracy.
BACKWASH
Bu
George fuermann
“Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster
The Way of Things . . . Watch for it up in a many-inning game which
an announcement in an early edi- Phil Levant’s men won 10 to 6.
tion of The Battalion concerning Phil’s men even carry their own
a unique musical comedy to be baseball equipment with them as
sponsored—believe it or not—by they travel around the land,
the Student Engineering Council. Colonel Watson’s speech at the
Prexy Ben Elliott, one of the lead- banquet wowed the audience. Quoth
ers in the unpre- the commandant, “This is the first
stage time in many a year that I have
cedented
show, is still non
committal, but in
dications are that
regretted my age—these girls are
beautiful.”
Said Queen Esther Mae Colombo,
“He’s the best dancer (meaning
the production will Colonel Watson) in the place.”
be tops in an en- Esther Mae, who was all-the-
tertainment way way okeh as Jimmy Gallagher’s
and will be staged escortee and queen of the three-day
in Guion Hall dur- event, is 18 years old, studied danc
ing the annual En- ing in New York City two years,
Fuermann gineering Day Ac- hves in Galveston and, as she left
tivities in May . . . An Aggie se- the campus Saturday noon, said,
nior was standing outside of the “I’m ready to die now because
Aggieland Inn Tuesday morning nothing this grand will ever hap-
when a tall, distinguished looking pen to me again.”
civilian walked out of the Inn, • • •
turned to the cadet and said, “This T. HenderSOIl Reports
is a wonderful college here ... A
wonderful place . . . One of the Not being an R. V., Backwash
finest institutions it has ever been was at a loss to know how to cover
my pleasure to visit.” The amazed fhe dances where the Backwash or-
Aggie was too surprised to reply chestra poll is concerned,
to the stranger’s deeply sincere Tommy Henderson, genial Field
comment; was even more surpris- Artilleryman and The Battalion’s
ed when he later learned that the circulation manager, took over
gentleman was a language profes- where the writer left off and here’s
sor at Notre Dame. Edward H. his report.
Gavin by name, his home is in The win, place and show spots
Chicago and while on the campus on the Aggie Hit Parade went to
he visited G. A. Carlsen, Cavalry- “Cecilia,” “There’ll Be Some
man from Lima, Peru . . . Ele Bag- Changes Made” and “It All Comes
gett, former Longhorn editor who Back to Me Now,” Tommy said,
was seriously injured in a hunting Significant is the fact that “Star
accident during the Christmas hoi- Dust” did not show for the first
idays, has returned to the campus time this social season. “Cecilia”
and expects to be here throughout is a newcomer and “It All Comes
the remainder of the current se- Ba ck to Me Now” was No. 1 last
mester . . . One of the comic side- week,
lights of the recent junior class de- • • •
bate concerning the wearing of T iPyDTlt", & Co.
military boots next year went al
most unnoticed. Meaning the cadet An 11-piece orchestra plus a
who got up out of the audience, feminine vocalist, Phil’s band prob-
walked up to the . stage and final- ably will share the same fate as
ly made his way to the micro- la st year’s R. V. band—A1 Kavelin,
phone—without his pants. Thusly ft’ 8 almost impossible for the R.
attired in a shirt and shorts, he v - band to place high on the poll
commented, “Well, Army, they’ve ratings because not enough of the
taken everything else away from corps had an opportunity to hear
the band. At last Saturday night’s
Corps dance, for example, 16 coupl
es and five stags were in attend
ance.
Every member of Phil’s band
ing the ranks of the Canadian Roy- a Chicagoan with the exception of
al Air Force. Back of this is the the vocalist, Lorraine Dailey from
fact that admission to the R.C.A.F. San Antonio, the outfit made a
is easier than to the U. S. Air tremendous hit with the R.V.’s just
Corps—mainly because of lenient as did last year’s Kavelin organi-
physical requirements, the spirit zation.
of adventure and the reasonably Pbil and Boyd Raeburn—now
me; now they’ve got my pants!”
R. C. A. F. Ag*ain
A. & M. cadets are rapidly swell-
An old show but a good one is
going to be at the Campus Friday
and Saturday. “GUNGA DIN” has
played here twice before and in all
of our home towns, but it has been
shown around so much only be
cause it is pretty good. The old
Indian native who plays the part
of Gunga Din himself goes un
honored as far as having his name
on the cast, etc., goes but his
diaper-clothed figure is one that
won’t slip your mind too easily.
And the way his face literally
beams when he is given some mil
itary importance shows good act
ing. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen,
and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. make
up a daredevil trio until Joan Fon
taine almost hooks Doug.
“ARISE MY LOVE” at the As
sembly Hall today is just a pleas
ant little comedy which plays
against a background of the pres
ent situation in Europe. The back
ground reads like last year’s
newspapers through a Spanish
prison camp, the declaration of
war, sinking the Athenia, the
French armistice and some small
incidents in between. Through it
all Ray Milland and Claudette Col
bert keep up a running romance
and newspaper story with some
gag lines thrown in.
Everyone remembers the kind
of light comedy that won Claudette
the Academy Award in “It Hap
pened One Night,” and this is
more of the same. Milland isn’t so
bad himself. They keep up a whirl
wind romance through all the dis
turbance and end returning to the
United States to make another fa
miliar plea for preparedness.
Not on the campus but a pleas
ant and different type of diver
sion may be found at the carnival
in Bryan the rest of this week. It
is off to the left of the old high
way as you approach Bryan and
its sideshows and other attractions
are something different from v the
ordinary entertainment around
here.
Another show that is good but
has actually played here before
within the last 30 days is “SANTA
FE TRAIL” at the Campus. For
it Errol Flynn, Olivia deHavilland
and Raymond Massey go through
the events leading up to the Civil
War. It is moving and Massey’s
portrayal of the old slavery-fight
ing John Brown is the best of all.
But the show was here so recently
and its goodness is so polluted by
being part of a double feature with
“Ride Kelly Ride” that it may not
be worth your time.
An unusual accompanyment for
a benefit show will be at the As
sembly Hall Friday in the Uni
versity of Texas Glee Club. They
will present a program before the
show, which is for the benefit of
the Saddle and Sirloin Club. The
show itself is “Convoy,” almost a
documentary film of the work of
the British Navy during this war.
It has lots of action shots of the
navy in the stormy North Atlantic
on convoy duty being attacked by
submarine and airplanes and such.
For this reason parts of it appear
similar to a newsreel but there is
enough plot to keep it going. Since
it looks like some of our American
Navy may soon be on convoy duty,
this picture will contain a good
deal of interesting information
along this line.
Dial 4-1182
for
QUICK DELIVERY
BLACK’S
PHARMACY
East Gate
College Courts
Coffee Shop
—
substantial pay offered by the Ca
nadians.
Of Bob Groulx Backwash has
already written considerable. Three
others who started out at the same
time are Bentley Clements, Jack
Garner and Bill Tyler.
Although the four stuck pretty
close during the first three months
of their Canadian sojourn, they
have lately become widely separat
ed. Bentley writes:
“Jack has already become a fly
ing instructor if things went as
they should have. Bill was sent out
as a pilot but ran out of gas over
a restricted area and, because of
the resulting crash-landing, has
been ‘washed-out.’ However, he was
later sent out as an air gunner and
he should have his sergeant’s strip
es and wings. By the time you re
ceive this letter Jack will probably
be in either England or Africa
raising hell with Benie and
Adolph.”
• • •
B. Clements
Bentley is a sort of jack-of-all-
trades where the R.C.A.F. is con
cerned. As he put it, “a general
flunkey who helps pilot bombers.”
Officially, he’s an observer, nav
igator, pilot, bombadier and gun
ner—which is nice work if you
can’t avoid it!
Bentley expects to receive his
wings and stripes by June 1 and
hopes to join Bill overseas soon
thereafter. Bob and Jack will re
main on this side of the Atlantic
as instructors.
“Nearly 100 per cent of the men
here from the States,” Ben writes,
are anxious to be sent to England
or Africa. You can’t possibly ima
gine how anxious these men are to
get into action without witnessing
the thing yourself. None of them
think that they will die, either, and
their principal goal is to bring
down their first German or Italian
plane.”
• • •
The R. V. Dances
Blessed with a lovely queen, an
excellent orchestra and perfect
weather, the Ross Volunteers and
their escortees probably hit a new
high this year where their annual
spring dances are concerned.
Saturday afternoon the orches
tra members and nine R.V.’s mixed
tied with Bernie Cummins for the
(Continued on Page 6)
#*»
Towncraft* Leads the
Shoe Parade with
Men’s Two-Tone Brown
SPORTS
OXFORDS
3.98
Men with a desire for style
but a determination to be
comfortable—ATTENTION!
These moccasin type sports
oxfords are built for com
plete foot freedom—^flexible
leather soles, soft leather up
pers, and roomy, comfort
giving toes!
Yet they’re designed for the
smartest sportswear — two
lustrous tones of antiqued
tan, graceful lines and in
teresting perforations see to
that!
*Reg. U. S. Pat. Off.
rtsma#
9. 8
Aggie Economy Center
Bryan, Texas
Every operator
in this
telephone exchange
must speak
four languages!
Ill
m
i
m
:
.. • $11
; -|?]
Each operator in San Francisco’s Chinatown telephone ex
change must speak English plus at least three of the five
Chinese dialects — Som Yup, Soy Yup, Heong Sow, Gow
Gong and Aw Duck—in order to handle calls. For the average
Chinese understands no dialect but his own!
Since there is no Chinese alphabet, the 36 page directory,
listing 2200 subscribers, can’t be printed in the usual way.
It is handwritten—then reproduced by engraving and print
ing processes. Subscribers are listed by streets, instead of
alphabetically. And operators must almost know the book
by heart, for the Chinese seldom call by number—but by
name and address.
Here is a Bell System exchange that in many
ways is unique. But it is just like thousands of
others in giving good service to telephone users.