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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1941)
Page 2 - THE BATTALION -WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1941 Aggies Prepared DURING THE EARLY PART of the sum mer a large portion of next year’s senior class had an opportunity to view America’s defense efforts at close range. Over four hundred members of the class of ’42 at tended summer ROTC camps as a regular part of their military training program. At the completion of their college career next June, each man will receive a commission as a second lieutenant in the reserve corps. But while these Aggies were in camp, a great many events of national and inter national importance were taking place which may vitally effect their lives. Only a few weeks ago, the President of the United States announced that American troops had been sent to Iceland. The send ing of armed forces to Iceland seems to predict that this country is prepared to take a more active part in the present European conflict. Gone is the idea that the Western Hemisphere may be defined exactly by meri dians of longitude; any land or water area adjacent to the Western Hemisphere may be vital to the defense of this hemisphere. Iceland falls in this catagory. From a geo graphical standpoint, it may not be part of the Western Hemisphere, but it guards an extremely important gateway to the west ern world. The action of the United States Government is assuming joint control of the island’s defense in cooperation with Great Britian involves the United States much more deeply in this war. At the same time it enables the American navy to safeguard the passage of vital war materials to Eng land. This move will permit the United States to convoy ships along the North At lantic sea lane as far as Iceland. From there England can concentrate her naval strength in seeing that all materials are safely con voyed to the British Isles. While Aggie seniors were learning the fundamentals of modern warfare, the tempo of World War II was increased when the German war machine marched against its former ally, Russia. Once again the world was a witness to the fundamental rotten ness of the Hitler regime as the Nazis tore up a non-aggression pact with Russia. Even among dictators there is no honor. Trouble has also been brewing in the Far East. Re cent shakeups in the cabinet of the Japanese government may mean that the land of the Rising Sun is preparing to enlarge the scope of its military activities. Any move of the Japanese government may force this country into immediate diplomatic or possibly mili tary action in the Far East. On the home front and of immediate interest to all A. & M. men is the warning of the Army Chief of Staff, General George Marshall, that our present army must be kept intact, that selectees and national guardsmen must continue to serve in the army. This means that the demand for trained army officers will continue undimin ished. All of these events of the past few weeks may prove to be of the greatest im portance to members of this year’s senior class. Regardless of what course our nation may see fit to follow, A. & M. men will serve their country well in times of war as in times of peace. Within another year the class of ’42 will be able to join other Aggies now serving with the army. Something to Read BY DR. T. F. MAYO PERSONAL FAVORITES (I) (Fielding’s “Tom Jones,” England, 1749) (This is the first of a series of obser vations, to appear from time to time, on the writer’s favorite books, of all kinds, ages, and countries. He does not claim greatness for any of them. He simply asks the liberty of writing occasionally about what he likes because he likes it.) This is a well-told and cunningly constructed tale, by the best and mellowest and most richly humorous type of “man of the world,” who has been everything and knows everybody, and whose 'experience has taught him that “to understand all is to forgive all.” The events of Tom’s lusty 18th century story take place down in the country, on the breezy highroad to London, and in London itself. Tom The Battalion STUDENT SUMMER-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF 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, is sued Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings; and is pub lished 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 3, 1879. Subscription rate, $.50 the summer session. Advertising rates cpon 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 Associated Golle6iate Press Tom Gill is Editor Don Gabriel Associate Editor Orville Allen Advertising Manager V. A. Yentzen Managing Editor W. F. Oxford - Sports Editor Jack Jones, Bob Crane, R. W. Stenzel Photographers C. L. Babcock, L. B. Tennison, J. L. Decker Junior Editors Reportorial Staff Laetitia Frances Gofer, Clyde C. Franklin, Ralph W. Stenzel, Alfred Zabludosky, Herbert S.. Jacobson, Loraine Devin, Lucille Thornton, Jerrell Cate, Elizabeth McNew. Ben Taylor, T. R. Vannoy, Jean Ellwood, Florence Hollingshead. Jones himself is what would be familiarly known on the campus as a “good old boy.” He has a fine body, a good understanding, strong passions and appetites, a generous heart. Being what he is, he gets himself into the most awful scrapes, especially with women. But also, being what he is, he takes his machine like a man, profits by his slips and falls, and keeps our liking and respect to the end. The hero and his charming Sophia are sur rounded by ten or twelve people who become more real to the reader than most of the people he has met in the flesh. They range in social status from Black George, the ruffianly game-keeper who real ly likes Tom but cannot Tesist stealing all his money, through Partridge, the funniest and most exasperating fool in fiction, and Squire Western, who can neither speak a sentence without an oath nor contentedly go to bed sober, to the formidable and sinister Lady Bellaston, who knows what she wants and takes (or rather him) without scruple and without remorse. Again, surrounding these principals, are a crowd of sharply drawn charac ters, country inn-keepers and their wives, fashion able men about town, cringing parsons, garrulous ladies’ maids, all of whom we welcome with a cheer or- a hiss whenever they reappear briefly in the working out of the bustling plot. To read “Tom Jones” is to live, for a good many hours, a more varied, exciting, wholesomely entertaining life than is available to most of us in 20th century America—or indeed to most human being who are not humorous geniuses like Henry Fielding. A good novel like this ought certainly to help us to understand living, but it does more than that: it makes us live more. Such reading as this constitutes not only an interpretation of life but a part of civilized living itself. As the World Turns.. By. Dr. R. W. Steen TWO YEARS AGO HITLER startled the world and paved the way for the rape of Poland by an nouncing a treaty with Russia. The Russians and the Germans have been enemies for so long that such a treaty seemed impossible. The things Hitler and Stalin had said of each other made such a treaty seem fantastic. Yet, there it was, and as the war progressed many people came to believe that it was mere wishful thinking to talk of the possibility of a war between Russia and Germany. What they over looked is the fact that not even dictators can erase in a decade or two racial hatreds that have de veloped through centuries. They overlooked also the fact that Hitler is never satisfied. To meet one of his demands is simply to pave the way for another, and in time Stalin found that out. Russia did not supply as much oil and wheat as Hitler wished, so the treaty was cast aside and Russia was attacked. To the surprise of much of the world, Mr. Hit ler apparently included, the Russian armies did not collapse in the face of the advancing Nazi legions. Instead they fought, and are still fighting. More than that, they are fighting extremely well. Hitler is now experiencing some of the things that Napoleon experienced more than a century ago. He is learning that it is difficult to keep a blitzkrieg blitzing when your supply lines extend hundreds of miles to the rear over roads that are unpaved and few in number. The task becomes ever more difficult when thousands of guerrilas rise up to attack you on all sides. Hitler may reach Moscow, he may defeat Russia, he may be able to stand off General Winter when he attacks in a few months, but even then he may be following in the footsteps of Napoleon. He may find that he has won a vic tory that is worth far less than it cost. At least for the time being, Germany has al ready lost. Germany’s losses in men and materials have been so great that an early invasion of Britain is now out of the question. That means that Britain will have at least one more year to prepare and that American defense industry will have one more year to get into full stride before the issue is joined on the western front. It means also that Germany will have to undergo another winter of blockade. To make matters worse the Russian campaign drew the German airforce to the east and opened the way for a major British air offen sive against Germany’s industrial areas. All of these things made a high price to pay for a vic tory over Russia—but they represent a price that has already been paid for a victory that has not yet been won. The longer the war continues the greater the price will be. In case Russia is never defeated, then the price of the invasion is quite obvious. Germany has paid more than the items listed above would indicate. Had she remained at peace she would have received some wheat and oil from Russia. Now she will receive none. The invasion began at a time when the wheat crops in the Ukraine were too green to burn. That was five weeks ago, and the Russians still hold the Ukraine. The wheat is no longer too green to bum. It can soon be harvested and removed by the Russians, or burned by them in case they are forced to re treat. Last week marked the ninety-second anniver sary of the birth of Emma Lazarus. The name means little to most of us. Perhaps it should mean more for she wrote the verse that is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the horheless, tempestlost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. The golden door has been largely closed by immigration laws, but the lamp held aloft by the goddess can represent hope as well as liberty. As a symbol of hope it must have burned as bright ly in the minds of Europeans last week, as it did in the minds of their fathers several generations ago. Kollegiate Kaleidoscope “I couldn’t pay the taxidermist, so he ate the fish.” BACKWASH Bu Charlie Babcock “Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster Babcock Back in the Saddle. . . After six weeks of vacation, the Back wash file has collected more than dust and cobwebs. As each item comes to view, Backwash is in clined to believe that there was more to the first summer school term than just books and class es. . . Questions are being asked and not answered concerning the conversion of Guion hall into a Y M C A moving picture house. Yes, $5,800 is being spent in remodeling the interior and improving the acoustics of the building. And Town Hall pro grams will still be presented from the Guion stage with the Assem bly hall being used for class meet ings. . . . From ramp 1 of Puryear comes an indirect appeal to the college authorities for air-condi tioning. The sweltering spokes man states that grades would im prove 20 per cent . . . With activ ities of the Summer Press Club being resumed with the advent of the second term, it has been dis covered that the newspaper group is the only active student organi zation on the campus during the summer months. . . . Advance in formation has it that the 1941-42 YMCA handbook will be one of the finest ever distributed to a prospective Aggie freshman class. With A1 Payne as the adviser and Bill Stanford as the editor, the publication was compiled by a complete student staff. Perhaps the outstanding feature of the book is the theme—the four pil lars of the Y porch as a founda tion for intellectual, physical, spir itual, and social development. . . . Census Department: If it hadn’t been for seventeen foreign coun tries sending some of their favor ite sons to the United States to become Aggies during the last long session, A. & M.’s enrollment for the term would have been 6754 ’• instead of 6842. Leading all Tex as counties with a grand total of 578 students, Harris county is an annual supply house for Aggies . . . Seniors-to-be of the Cavalry Regiment bring information from camp that former Aggies are to be found everywhere in army camps west of El Paso. Living in a comfortable and spacious apart ment in El Paso, Lieutenants Mick Williams ’40, Tom Power, ’41, Tom Richey, ’41, Bill Becker, ’41, and George Taylor ’41 travel each day to and from their post at Dona Ana, New Mexico, 40 miles from El Paso. However, they will have to give up their apartment soon, for Power is to attend an army school in Michigan and the others are to go on maneuvers in Louis iana. • • • The Winners Wherein Backwash attended his first Juke Box Prom and where in he joins the other 1,105 sum mer students in acclaiming it. . . . A spot will be reserved in this corner each week to serve as an official report of the final tabu lation of requests for dance num bers. Concerning the hit parade at Saturday night’s prom, the first three tunes were so closely bunch ed as favorites that they all should be given first ranking. “Yes Indeed” finished at 12:01 a. m. Sunday with a total of 13 requests . . . and following were “Green Eyes” with 12 and “Boulder Bluff” with 11. In a group below the “big three” were “Apple Blossom Time,” “Till Rev eille,” “In the Hall of the Moun tain King,” and “Sunrise Sere nade.” • • ® March of Time With an all-out remodeling cam paign against Sbisa hall in order to prepare the largest college mess hall in the country for its forth coming thirtieth year of feeding the largest male student body in the world three meals a day, many oldtimers recall an unforgettable incident that happened to the late Bernard Sbisa, for whom the build ing is named. One day many years ago, the genial Sbisa had occasion to go to one of the Bryan barber shops for the customary shave, haircut, and bath, the latter being the vogue of tonsorial clinics of the period. During the course of removing his clothes and putting them back on, the gentleman in question mis placed his very fine watch. The loss of the valued timepiece was the cause of a tireless search which lasted for two weeks. . . . until Sbisa found the watch. . . . in the tip of the toe of one of his shoes. Men’s shoes being long and stiff toed as they were at that time, the troublesome bit of jewelry had evidently been placed there by its owner as a spot of safe keeping while he was taking his bath. • • • A Name Please A pert young College Station miss is in dire need of a name . . . a proud name, for although the little lady has been around for only 34 days, she has come to realize that her family tree is a worthy one. Yes, reference is made to the filly colt being raised at the A. & M. breeding farm who is the granddaughter of that champion among champions in the saddle and five-gaited divisions, Liberty Loan. The baby horse is living in the same barn with her illus trious grandpappy who was born at the time of the U. S. entry in the first World War and for ob vious reasons was given his patri otic name. Backwash suggested Defense Bond as a moniker, but was promptly informed that his sug gestion was too masculine. So, the writer is passing along the responsibility to his readers. How about a little help? • • • Ice Cream Kittens Josephine, the pride and joy of the Aggieland Pharmacy, gave birth to triplets recently. Jose phine is probably better known as the finest “mouser” at the North Gate. When she gave birth to the lit tle kittens, Jonah, the soda water representative of the pharmacy, decided that their names would be Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanil la. If you want a little kitten, come by the north gate drug store and make a selection. They are said to have inherited their mother’s hatred of rodents. A new seedless orange and a cold-resisting apricot tree are among plants recently patented. By Jack Decker The Juke Box Prom series is building up a reputation that gets better every time a prom is held; many of those who have attended both semesters of summer school say that the prom held last Sat urday was about the best dance held this summer, with more than the average quota of girls present. That makes things look rather bright for the prom this week end, because the better they get, the more the word gets around, and consequently the better they get—something like a snowball. With no summer series program scheduled for this week, it looks as though the cinema will be the main if not the only campus dis traction that will serve as an ex cuse not to study, and the shows, viewed as a whole, are below aver age since only two are worth men tioning. “The Letter,” starring Bette Davis, is a good show, definitely on the heavy side with Bette giv ing out with her usual brand of good acting. Supported by Her bert Marshall and James Stephen son, she is pitetured as a muder- ess attempting to escape punish ment for the murder of her lover. By the purchase of a letter she managed to get an acquittal, but she is finally caught by the mur dered man’s wife. Coming also this week is a show with a slightly different twist—it starts off showing a wedding dress floating down the Mississippi Riv er, and the rest of the show sets out to explain it. Marlene Diet- rfich, cast in a comedy role that suits her much better than most of the heavy pictures she has appeared in, is pictured as a lady with an empty purse and the gift of filling that purse by methods a little on the shady side. The plot of the story is not in the least outstanding, but the comedy parts are well handled, especial ly by Marlene, who gets her share of being knocked around. The whole thing adds up to a show that it wouldn’t be a crime to miss, but should provide an evening of good light entertainment. Selectees Will Be Inducted On August 4 and 28 State Selective Service Head quarters today announced the Army’s twenty-first call on Texas for 446 negro selectees for induc tion August 4th and 28th. Texas’ readjusted gross quota, fixed on May 15 and projected into the future as a sort of “bank account” upon which the armed forces may draw from time to time, is 136,488 men, according to General J. Watt Page, State Se lective Service Director. As of May 15th Texas had 27,- 050 men actually in training un der Selective Service, and National Headquarters had given Texas a credit of 80,140 men, representing members of the armed forces from this State, exclusive of those in ducted through Selective Service. The total of these two figures, when deducted from the gross quota, left Texas’ net quota for future calls 29,298. By June 30, General Page add ed, Texas had received credit against its net quota for 1,887 men inducted under Selective Service since May 15. CALLING ALL STUDENTS FOR EATS DRINKS SMOKES It’S CASEY’S In The “Y” WHAVS SHOWING AT THE CAMPUS Wednesday, Thursday — “THE LETTER,” starring Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall. Also “BOWERY BOY,” with Dennis O’Keefe and Louise Campbell. Friday, Saturday—“LE GION OF THE LAWLESS,” featuring George O’Brien. Al so “MEN MADE MON STER,” with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Lionel Atwell. Saturday night prevue, Sunday, Monday — “THE FLAME OF NEW OR LEANS,” starring Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall and James Stephens. Registration Of Texas Aliens To Be Verified Now WPA workers have started the job verifying the recent registra tion statements of aliens at all Texas ports of entry, it was an nounced today by Mrs. M. K. Tay lor, state director of community service projects. ' Sponsored by the Office of Emer- genry Management and co-spon sored by the Immigration and Nat uralization Service of the Depart ment of Justice, the undertaking is the newest in a series of WPA clerical projects which have index ed, restored and assembled rec ords relating to the arrival or nat uralization of nearly 25,000,000 immigrants in the United States. The verification project will util ize these indexes to check the in formation regarding immigration provided last year by the aliens who filled out forms covering the salient points of their personal histories as required by the Alien Registration Act of 1940. Already operating in Eagle Pass, Brownsville, and El Paso, the task of verifying records will be extend ed to Laredo, Del Rio and Galves ton and possibly to other ports of entry in the state, Mrs. Taylor said. Approximately 75 workers are to be employed in the work. More co-ops have been establish ed in Texas since 1930 than in any other state, with the number more than doubling in the past seven years. Medical schools in the United States have decreased by 50 per cent since 1905. Oberlin college co-eds have form ed an organization to provide en tertainment for men in military service. “Majoring” In Style! Towncraft* Shirts 1.49 Everything You Want In A Fine Shirt! Here are shirts that will command attention on any campus! Sanforized broadcloth with smart woven in stripes! Slub weaves, too. Sized for an all over com fortable fit. Famous Nu-Craft* non-wilt collars! <i/y. •. ptHHtr «9. AGGIE ECONOMY CENTER Bryan, Texas