2—
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
blished three times weekly from September to June, issued
esday, 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
4-5444.
1940 Member 1941
Pbsocioted Go!le6iate Press
Bab Nisbet Editor-in-Chief
daorge Fuermann Associate Editor
Keith Hubbard Advertising Manager
Tom Yannoy Editorial Assistant
Pete Tomlinson 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 Editor
Circulation Department
Totnmy Henderson Circulation Manager
W- G. Hauger, E. D. Wilmeth Assistant Circulation Manager
F. D. Aabury, E. S. Henard Circulation Assistants
Photography Department
PhB Golman Photographic Editor
James Carpenter, Bob Crane, Jack Jones,
Jack Siegal .— Assistant Photographers
SATURDAY’S EDITORIAL STAFF
Earle A. Shields Managing Editor
T. R. Harrison Assistant Advertising Manager
Junior Editors
WiM 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. Term is on.
On a More Beautiful Campus
THE A. & M. CAMPUS is becoming more beautiful
with every step taken by the Landscape Art depart
ment under F. W. Hensel. Their latest effort in
that direction is to landscape the bare space in front
of the old mess hall by placing grass and shrubs
in the area.
This place has formerly been one of the eye-sore
spots of the campus, as far as its beauty was con
cerned, but one that nearly every campus visitor saw.
All who ate in the old mess hall or saw the pres
ident’s home nearby could note the bare appearance
of the graveled mess hall entrance. Aerial photo
graphs of the campus clearly show its former bleak
appearance but the situation has now been remedied.
Neat shrubs outline grassy plots of ground
between the concrete walks leading to the entrance.
Since the placing of the fountain in Saunder’s Park
by the Class of '38 and the proximity to the pres
ident’s lawn, the area which was once bare can now
be shown as one of the campus beauty spots.
Places like this and the east gate entrance give
visitors a much better opinion of our campus and
make it a more pleasant place for those that are
here every day.
On Being a Leader
“HERE’S YOUR GOLD BAR. Now you are a
leader of men.” That is what is about to happen
to 500 or more seniors this summer. Leaders of
men—that’s quite an assignment to pick up on
short notice, because leading men is an art. Some
men are born with the gift; others spend a life
time and never learn the knack.
In connection with this subject, one of the
best discussions on record was made as an ad
dress by Lieut. Col. C. A. Bach at a training camp
at Ft. Sheridan, Illinois, in 1917 just before our
country’s entrance in World War I. Though made
24 years ago this speech is still applicable. Basic
principles of leadership applied in the time of
Caeser and Alexander the Great—they apply now—
and they will apply as long as men prowl the face
of the earth. Human nature is always the same.
Exerpts from Col. Bach’s speech appear as follows:
“In a short time each of you men will con
trol the lives of a certain number of other men.
You will have in your charge loyal but untrained
citizens, who look to you for instruction and guid
ance. . .
“They are perfectly ready and eager to follow
you so long as you can convince them that you
have the qualities of a leader. When the time
comes that they are satisfied you do not possess
them, you might as well kiss yourself goodby.
Your usefulness in that organization is at an end,
“Your commission will not make you a lead
er; it merely makes you an officer. It will place
you in a position where you can become a leader
if you possess the proper attributes. But you
must make good—not so much with the men over
you as with the men under you.
“Men must and will follow officers who are not
leaders, but the driving power behind these men
is not enthusiasm but discipline. They go with
doubt and trembling and with an awful fear tug
ging at their heartstrings that prompts the un
spoken question, “What will he do next?”
“Such men obey the letters of their orders but
no more. Of devotion to their commander, of ex
alted enthusiasm which scorns personal risk, of
their self-sacrifice to insure his personal safety,
they know nothing. Their legs carry them forward
because their brain and their training tell them
they must go. Their spirit does not go with them.
“Great results are not achieved by cold, passive
unresponsive soldiers. They don’t go very far and
they stop as soon as they can. Leadership not only
demands but receives the willing, unhesitating,
unfaltering obedience and loyalty of other men;
and a devotion that will cause them when the time
comes, to follow their uncrowned king to hell and
back again if necessary.
“Leadership is the composite of a number of
qualities. Among the most important I would list
self-confidence, moral ascendency, self-sacrifice,
paternalism, fairness, initiative, decision, dignity,
and courage.”
In a blanket decision, 575 co-eds at Pennsylvania
State college lost their one o’clock date privileges
for skipping a compulsory mass meeting.
Behind the Trophy Case
A TROPHY IS MERELY A TANGIBLE bit of evi
dence of an accomplishment, a goal reached, or an
award won. The trophy itself is perhaps a valuable
piece of -silver or gold, but the thing that the trophy
stands for is the honor to be remembered. Our Aggie
trophy case in the Academic building is full to over
flowing with awards for every conceivable accom
plishment, but the events that they commemorate
are what makes this school great, not the mere
possession of the trophies.
There are approximately 85 memorials of one
kind or another on display there—some with beau
tiful modern streamlined design, some tarnished
plaques, tall columns, and felt pennants. Some of our
trophies were won by the past actions of Aggies for
outstanding achievements in football, competitive
drills, rifle team, track, judging teams. And these
trophies are by no means all that the history of
this school contains. Each department and military
office has a few more stuck around their walls
somewhere.
Not the cups themselves but what they stand
for are the things to consider when passing that
glass case. The names of past Aggies engraved as
teams on some of the memorials are entirely un
familiar to us now, yet the things that those boys
achieved have made this school and all its glory.
Take time to stop by that case sometime between
classes and consider what stands behind those
laurels, the efforts some Aggie made to win them.
The achievements are rather impressive.
A Noble Objective
A WORLD STUDENT SERVICE FUND is being
raised in the colleges and universities of this coun
try to be used as the name implies, to aid students
in other parts of the world. As students themselves,
we should be interested in its objectives and progress,
and also as students, we are being asked to aid the
fund in its work.
We understand the positions of students in the
war countries of today. The universities of China
are practically non-existant, or are unable to pro
vide books and equipment for even such students as
have been spared by the army service. In the Euro
pean war countries, intellectual freedom has been
suppressed and the universities closed or bombed.
This situation, deplorable as it is, has not reached
its full effect on world conditions, nor will the full
effect be reached until the reconstruction period
following these wars. The problem is that there will
be no educated leaders to rebuild torn countries or
again direct a peaceful society. The raw materials
of this leadership is present in the young students
but they are deprived of the facilities for develop
ing knowledge or leadership.
For the noble purpose of raising funds from
among American students for providing materials
and teachers for the youth of Asia and Europe, this
World Student Service Fund has been organized.
The fund is touching this campus in its drive for
funds through a benefit show under the sponsorship
of the Y. M. C. A. No one will deny that the objective
is worth any assistance which we might be able to
give, for we too will live in the era of reconstruct
ion. Our future dealings with these countries in
international politics will be influenced by the good
will created by such assistance, and by the educated
leaders in these countries which remain after the
war.
As the World Turns..
BY DR. AL B. NELSON
BEFORE THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT a few
days ago, David Lloyd George, world war prime
minister of the British Empire, mildly voiced the
view of many Americans as well as Englishmen
when he stated that the “American war organiza
tion is full of disappointments.” The bottlenecks
of the American effort are not
so much in the technical phases
as in the political control of in
dustry, and in the failure of the
politicians to control the labor sit
uation.
The C.I.O. has called for a
strike in all the General Motors
plants and in three Hudson plants.
These strikers, even those of mili
tary age, are exempt from the
draft call to active service on the
ground that they are in essential
industries. While they strike for higher pay, a
famous baseball player has been drafted into the
army (at a cost to him of nearly $50,000) the
director of the New York Stock Exchange had to
give up his well paid job to work for the Govern
ment (army draftee) at twenty-one dollars per
month. The strikers, however, delay the defense
preparations, endanger the safety of the nation,
and get higher pay than before.
The new battleship WASHINGTON has been
commissioned. This ship, together with her sister-
ship, the North Carolina, are the first vessels of
the new two ocean super navy to be launched. Both
were begun well before the present emergency sit
uation was recognized by the politicians in power.
France is seemingly on the verge of joining
Germany in outright war on England. German
planes are already using French air bases in Syria
for their attack on the English in Iraq and the
Nazi’s are expected to use French North Africa
as a base for attack on Gibraltar and for a sub
marine campaign in the South Atlantic.
Immediately following the intimation of the
new French policy of cooperation with the Ger
mans, President Roosevelt ordered guards aboard
the French passenger and merchant ships tied up
in ports of the United States.
Legislation has passed both houses of congress
authorizing the President to take over all of the
foreign merchant ships which are lying idle in
our ports. This makes possible (as soon as the
President signs the bill) the transfer of these ships
to the British as replacements for a portion of those
sunk by submarines.
Student council at Fairmont (W. Va.) State col
lege is sponsoring a swing band.
THE BATTALION
-SATURDAY, MAY 17, 1941
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B ACKWASN torgeFuermann
“Backwash: An agitation resulting: from some action or occurrence.”—Webster
The Last Backwash—As nursed by
G.F.’s by-line . . . Putting one little
word after another for a few
tnousand Texas Aggies these past
two years has been an assignment
easy to take . . . Fact is, it’s been
as much of a pleasure as dates on
successive nights
with Rita Hay
worth, Sally Rand
and Lady Godiva.
. . . And now, with
the last Backwash
roundup at hand
and with almost
a thousand class
mates about to be
slapped with an
initial brand in
dicating their
Fuermann , . . .
status as Aggie-
exes, the writer has come—at last
—face-to-face with the facts of
life. What with the story being
unfolded about the bees and the
flowers, a mile-long draft question
naire staring the writer in the
face, an announcement from the
state legislature to the effect that
Texas U. is just before installing
an R.O.T.C. branch and the God
like flight to Siotland of Mister
Hess, yours truly has all of a sud
den realized that he hasn’t even
filed as a . candidate to fill the
post of the late Senator Morris
Shepherd. . . . With a laxative
salesman, a goat-gland specialist,
a collector of old tin cans and half
a dozen other all-American candi
dates, there ought to be room for
at least one alleged journalist. . . .
So move over boys. Backwash is
cornin’ in. . . . Make no mistake,
though. The writer wouldn’t care
to do this thing unethically.
• • •
Postcards, Please
By no means!
Which is to say that yours truly
is open to a postcard-push. Back
wash, be it known, is willing to
run on no mere drop of the hat.
Upwards of 20,000 postcards, tel
egrams, telephone calls and letters
will be incentive-enough—if they
come within 24 hours.
Now, as to a platform, that’s
something else again.
Roommate has suggested a basic
plank of free beer at all town
squares, but that sort of thing
would be a little contrary to Mr.
Shepherd’s work and too little in
the best interest of national de
fense.
The platform sounds something
like this:
As far as the current world con
flict is concerned—jost any old
thing which will gig hell out of
brother Hitler and associates.
Where home problems are con
cerned — vigorous action to end
labor strikes; a hasty farewell to
Hitler’s agents and particularly to
his constipating propaganda organ,
“Facts in Review;” a continued
push of peak production of defense
industries and, as said before, just
any old thing which will gig hell
out of brother Hitler and asso
ciates.
• • •
No Snuff
Using this last column for prop
aganda purposes is downright sin
ful, but politics is politics and
Backwash’s overseas cap is going
into the ring a trifle late—just
one broadcast ahead of the gover
nor.
The truth will out in the mud of
the campaign, so the writer ad
mits in advance that he doesn’t use
snuff, is broad-minded about baby
kissing (preferably U. T. coeds),
is an ex-watermelon thief and has
as yet to be a distinguished stu
dent for the first time.
But what the people of this
state want is a good country Sen
ator. They talk about putting a
business men into office—what we
really need is a good, honest, un-
corruptable newspaperman, and
Honest John Backwash is your
man.
Of course the fact that the writ
er is not age-eligible to serve in
the Senate is a minor point. We’ll
get the Constitution changed!
They’ve been changing it for every
thing else and Backwash’s motto
is whole-hog-or-none on a thing
like this.
Besides that, Senator Backwash
sounds pretty good. Now, all the
writer needs to announce is a few
thousand post cards.
But, as Josh Billings once said,
“Don’t hold your breath!”
• • •
By Tom Vannoy
The Campus is showing “BUCK
PRIVATES” for the last time to
day. As has been said, it will
cause a riot of laughs at Abbot
and Costello and invoke admira
tion for the vocals that the An
drews sisters do in the picture.
“BACK STREET” is booked for
the midnight show tonight, to
morrow, and Monday at the Cam
pus. Taken from Fannie Hurst’s
famed novel, it is listed as one of
the best pictures of the year.
Charles Boyer and Margaret Sul
livan turn in some excellent act
ing about the love of a woman for
a married man, who lives only for
the few stolen moments of bliss
with the one man in her life.
“Back Street” is an emotional
treat, and will tear at your heart
strings with its reality and pa
thos.
The story was filmed in 1932
with Irene Dunne and John Boles
in the leading roles, but this re
filming makes it almost new again.
The rather fantastic tale of an
average American working man
is “THE GREAT MR. NOBODY”
at the Assembly Hall today at
12:45, 6:45, and 8:30. Concerning
a newspaper advertising salesman
who wants to get married and al
so to sail around the world on a
pleasure cruise, Eddie Albert plays
the leading part. Joan Leslie fur
nishes the necessary feminine
counterpart. Of course, Eddie has
some unbelievable good luck and
everything comes out all right
when he is promoted and given a
raise.
For the benefit of the World
Student Service Fund, “COME
LIVE WITH ME” will be shown at
the Assembly Hall at 10:30 to
night. Hedy Lamarr and James
necessary to plug holes in awk
ward silences when 'programs go
haywire.
Tommy Dorsey, who made such
a hit for himself in “Las Vegas
Nights,” is wanted for another
film. Incidentally, “Las Vegas
Nights” is the picture in which
Dorsey featured his best seller
“I’ll Never Smile Again,” as done
by Frank Sinatra and the Pied
Pipers.
Although slated for the summer
atop Broadway’s Astor Hotel,
Tommy may yet decide to go Hol
lywood again, and if he does he
will probably commute between
Catalina Island and pictures.
Stewart do the principal roles.
Hedy is a refugee from Austria
who must get married in order
to remain in this country. She
wants to marry Ian Hunter, a pub
lisher, but instead pays James
Stewart to be her spouse. The last
scene is purported to be the best
in the show when Hedy imitates
a firefly by flicking a flashlight on
and off to show that everything
is all right. “Come Live with Me”
is light and pleasingly delightful.
And with Hedy, anything would
be good.
A story of an English steel-mill
owner who found that his wife was
in love with the chief engineer
of his plant, “RAGE IN HEAV
EN” will be shown at the Assem
bly Hall Monday and Tuesday.
Robert Montgomery is the Eng
lish mill owner; Ingrid Bergman,
new Swedish star, is cast as his
wife. George Sanders is the en
gineer who falls for Ingrid and
causes so much strife. Robert be
comes a trifle eccentric and tries
to kill George. A murder mystery,
typical of Hollywood’s “whodun
its”, “Rage in Heaven” is just
so-so.
(Jampus
15^ to 5 p.m. — 20£ After
LAST DAY
7:24 - 9:25
SATURDAY PREVUE
SUNDAY - MONDAY
BACKSTREET
A UNIVERSAL PICTURE
Also
CARTOON - SPORTS
LATE NEWS
For The Price of One
Come at 9:00 and See Two Shows
Thirty
And so, with a bid for a U. S.
Senatorship, Backwash bows-out
under its current by-line.
Backwash’s purpose has been—
and will be—to act as a mirror
of Aggie thought and opinion . . .
A column written for and about
the famed Twelfth Man. That’s
what it will always be.
Make no mistake. Without the
coopei’ation of the great A. & M.
cadet corps the column wouldn’t
have been possible. That’s a tru
ism without denial.
The class of ’41 is almost his
tory, and it’s a class which will
make more history than any other
since the turbulent days of 1917.
It has been a great class and a
part of a great institution. Watch
for the Texas Aggies to be red-
letter men in the hell-torn days
to come.
That’s all for Backwash. . .
Assembly Hall
starring
EDDIE ALBERT * JOAN LESLIE
um» HMI ■ WILLIAM LCNDIGAN . JOHN UTZL
Dinewd br BEN STOLOFF • A WARNER BROS.-Fint N.fi Piew
Coma pUr bf B«a M«dc«oa ud KcuMk QwbM • Fron * Story br H*ra)dTUM
12:45 - 6:45 and 8:30
-SHORTS-
Mickey Mouse “Fire Chief’
“Take The Air”
MUSICAL MEANDERINGS
By Murray Evans Aggieland has ever had. Pearce,
Lowell Riggs, clarinetist with newly elected leader for next sea-
the Aggieland orchestra three se- son, is practicaly turning cart-
mesters back, will return to A. wheels on account of rounding out
& M. in September. Riggs will be his reed section with this valuable
remembered for his fine clarinet addition, come September,
and also sax take-offs, and for John Rosser, WTAW chief, is
his ability to play any tune in any no duffer when it comes to throw-
key whether it be of recent or ing together scripts. He has a line
ancient vintage. of wit and originality especially
For the past year and a half, he adapted to radio work, and it’s no
has been with Bud Nelson’s or- trick at all for him to turn out a
chestra, a hotel band, in Albuquer- whale of a good thing in the way
que, New Mexico, and has been of a complete script—and in an
attending the University of New amazingly short time.
Mexico between notes. Too, like all of the announcer
The oldest man in years, he is specie, he has the flowing gift
also rated as the best musician of gab and ad lib qualifications
COMING
Monday - Tuesday, May 19-20
Robert Montgomery - Ingrid Bergman
—in—
“Rage In Heaven”
Comedy — News
3:30 and 6:45 Each Day
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