Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1942)
Page 2 THE BATTALION -TUESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 3, 1942 The Battalion ' n 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, 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, 1870. 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, ■ 1941 Member 1942 Associated Go!le6iate Press E. M. Rosenthal Acting Editor Ralph Criswell Advertising Manager Sports Staff Mike Haikin Sports Editor W. F. Oxford Assistant Sports Editor Mike Mann Senior Sports Assistant Chick Hurst Junior Sports Assistant Circulation Staff E. D. Wilmeth Circulation Manager Photography Staff Jack Jones Staff Phohographer Bob Crane, Ralph Stenzel Assistant Photographer Tuesday’s Staff Lee Rogers r Managing Editor W. A. Goforth Assistant Advertising Manager Tom Vannoy Junior Editor Ken Bresnen Junior Editor Charles Babcock - Junior Editor . Reportorial Staff Calvin Brumley, Kenneth C. Bresnen, Arthur L. Cox, W. J. Hamilton, Jr., N. W. Karbach, Jack Keith, Tom B. Journeay, Tom Leland, Charles P. McKnight, C. G. Scrugss, John May, Douglass Lancaster. We've Accepted Military Duty; Now, Let's Receive Armg Privilege By Monday night, ‘ December 8, what had been a murmur the afternoon before had turned into an impassioned cry. A. & M. should make all of its facilities available for the government’s use and offer all possible service for the nation’s defense. And so it. was. The school officials wired the message to President Roosevelt; the cadet corps fol lowed suit. Soon after the initial step, a new move for the good of national defense was sug gested and acted upon. Military training was to be intensified and in some instances al most doubled. And so it was. By far the majority of A. & M. students are taking training that leads to commis sions in the army. Many others are ear marked as future officers by the air corps, navy, and marines. Still others are taking national defense courses or courses which are essential to the vital war industries of the nation. Those few Aggies who don’t fall into one of these classifications are in the majority of cases planning to enter the mili tary service in a short time. But what do we get for all of this mili tary preparation other than a smile and a pat on the back from the public? No, not that we are looking for any great demonstra tions of appreciation because we are not. We as Aggies and true Americans are willing to do this because we feel it our duty and want to. Yet there are some privileges which we should be entitled to. Uncle Sam and the U. S. 0. are spending millions of dollars for entertainment in the army camps. Talent from Broadway to Holly wood is assembled in shows which just make tours over the entire nation for the benefit of the men in uniform, men who are prepar ing just as the Aggies are preparing. The itinerary of these entertainment groups include the many military posts in the state of Texas both north and south, east and west of College Station but not the home of the Texas Aggie. Why? Aren’t we helping prepare the nation as much as the selectees ? Why shouldn’t we get some of the sweets of military life, when these sweets can be given for almost nothing extra. The routes of these traveling units cross at Ag- gieland. In the future they should stop here. The World Turns On Open Forum PRIVATE BUCK .-. By Clyde Lewis By Dr. J. H. Quisenberry The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas is now fully embarked upon a stream lined program intended to turn out in a min imum of time a maximum number of stu dents trained, not only in the science of war and military strategy, but in professions that will enable them to produce needed war materials and to find a worthwhile place in establishing and maintaining peace when the present conflict ends. The success of this new endeavor depends upon the cooperation of both students and faculty. To crowd 18 weeks of academic work into 16 weeks without lowering of standards is no mean task. No sincere Aggie wants his degree from this institution to represent less effort and achievement than those in years past. The number of stars in the distin guished service flag in the rotunda of our Academic Building is a forecast of the grave responsibilities that are to be the lot of Ex- Aggies in the next few years. No A. & M. Cadet can afford to meet those responsibili ties inadequately prepared. The faculty can not afford to give him a false feeling of se curity by lowering standards. We have heard much about the loss of traditions in the past few weeks. Important as the traditions of A. & M. are, they are not as important as the lives of the students it graduates and the men whom they shall di rect in combat. As an Ex-Aggie and a member of the teaching staff I am wondering if the major loss that the recent change in local tradi tional behavior has brought about is not the Theg Capitalized on the War You won, but you’ll be sorry. Every Aggie has lost faith in you as leaders. We know now that we have no alterna tive but to accept your “kampf.” Do you believe that your tactics were democratic and exemplified leadership? You, the powers that be, have co^nmer- cialized on the war. You cannot justify your action by implying that our school will be more militaristic. You have called upon us to make sacrifices that will in no way aid in defeating the axis, you saw an opportun ity to destroy that factor or element that caused you unrest, namely, that of listen ing to some boy’s excuse for busting out of school, some boy’s excuse to his parents. You aren’t Aggies because you shirked your duty. Your part in the Aggie spirit was to humor the parents of these boys—boys that you knew were lying or hunting an excuse. You think now that you can rest in peace, but endure the thought that some 6,000 Ag gies know that you are poor leaders and will strike at anything to accomplish your gain. Surely you are familiar with the bene fits derived from so-called “personal ser vices.” As one of your members told us, it’s a good thing, but has been abused. Why “cut off an arm to cure an aching finger?” You say that we have formulated our opin ion because it has been instijled in us by our attendance. You have taken away other traditions, actions by you that we accepted with less resentment because we knew that we could maintain our Aggie—the old Ag gie—spirit. Tell us where we are to build the fellowship that existed between the fish and the upperclassmen. What are we going to substitute as a leveling process? What element can we substitute that will make country boy or city boy, rich boy or poor boy one—everyone attending yell practice, fish meeting each other? We refer to your actions as undemocrat ic. Was it gentlemanly to act when you did and how you did? Did you have to use the war as an excuse? We refer to you as fail ures as leaders. Did you present your plan and show us how fruitless our efforts would be not to accept them? No sir, we had to find out for ourselves. Remember ROTC schools came into be ing after the last war and served as a means for the war department to maintain politi cal influence. Is the future so bright when the government must again school the grad uates? Ask General Hershey. What sort of excuse or lies will boys dropping out of A. & M. from here on out use? At Texas and other coed schools they have no excuses, their parents know that they were lazy' lacked initiative, or were plain sorry. Do we lose so many more each year than they do because of “personal services ?” You’ll be sorry. Sure we’ll keep on going to your school and abiding by your rules— we’ll go to your “Utopia,” but we’ll not carry any torch for you when we leave this place. You needn’t turn to us for free publicity or seek our goodwill. We’ll never recommend school to anyone, neither will we send our children. Remember you’ll not always have the demand for military as a drawing card. You’ll get boys to enroll here, but how are you going to keep them here? Winning foot ball teams, I suppose. We will grant you that under our new semester set-up that personal services would have to be adjusted. Would one hour a day devoted- to personal services be too demand ing of a freshman that has been loaded down with rising 10 minutes earlier every morn ing, devoting 10 minutes to calisthenics and two more hours of drill. In conclusion may we say that we have lost faith in you as leaders and your demo cratic or your American way of pursuing action. ’Tis no wonder that we have Pearl Har bor tragedies. James C. Holekamp, ’42 same that Hitler will lose if he loses the war, the right to dictate. Most A. & M. upper classmen do not now use this means of ac quiring respect. They are the true leaders and no change in traditions will affect them. It is only the small percentage who must use dictatorial force to command respect from upperclassmen who shall lose by the recent changes in student government. The one tradition which is vital to the life of any college and one we cannot afford to lose at A. & M. is the training and educa tion that will “fit a man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war.” Quotable Quotes “I will not leave Japan even if worse comes to worse in Japanese-American relations. In time I have hopes of seeing America under stand Japan’s intentions. Even if my Jap anese friends should abandon me I will not return to America, but will commit hara-Kiri and die on Japanese sol. Paul Rusch of Louis ville, Ky., instructor at Tokyo’s Rikkyo (Episcopalian) university for the last 15 years and the man who introduced American football to Japan, takes his stand in advance of possible Japanese-American hostilities. COVERING cops distraciioNs WITH (H| TOM VANNOY ||) “For your information, Private Buck, a SLEEVE target is that long canvas thing BEHIND the plane!” BACKWASH BY — Charlie Babcock “Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster Portrait of a Broken Spirit . . . This is the ninth inning. We’re going to bat for the last time. It’s hard for any man to say that he is whipped, even if it is just momentarily. But we’ve been convinced that the loyal cadet corps has been batting.its brains out against a stone wall. You can’t buck the board of direct ors, the executive committee, ma jority of the for mer students, ma jority of the peo- Babcock pie of the State of Texas—especially in war time. So, lets make this last turn at the plate a survey of the princi ples of the situation, not a rec ommendation for defiance. It’s too late for any of that. Sincerely speaking, if we live to be 100 years old, we will never believe that what ‘the authorities of this college did in January, 1942, was justifiable. We will al ways be opposed to their totalitari an acts. But the fact remains that it has been done, and those au thorities are ready to back up their acts with action. There is nothing that a handful of college students can do to protect a few cherished traditions when others are sacrificing in blood for this war. Let’s put aside all surface argu ments for the present and talk a- bout the real basis for the Aggies’ plan of having freshmen render personal service to upperclassmen. We’ve analyzed the situation care fully, and it is not a question of an upperclassman hating to do his own detail work. No, it’s a far deeper element than that. In our way of thinking, there are five major reasons why fresh man service is so essential and necessary to the verjj existence of A. & M. as follows: (1). Promotes a greater fellow ship and a greater esprit de corps —Based on the old axiom that when a person does a favor for another, he naturally takes a great er interest in that individual, and In return, the upperclassman re alizes a stronger comradeship for this new, young fella who has done some trivial little detail for the older student. (2) . Only boys who expect to withstand' a bit of hardship and res ponsibility would enter under the old system. In turn, a better class of men would be graduated, men that would make real officers. (3) . Teaches a youth how to take orders before he can give them. In structs the new student in the abil ity of shouldering responsibility and hardship, the primary desires of the leaders of our army. (4) . Promotes a democratic sys tem—rich boy and poor boy, coun try boy and city boy, all come to A. & M. with equal opportunities. Each new student has the equal right for development. There is no favoritism. The freshman must stick, make a go of his difficulties before he earns the right to be call ed an Aggie. (5) . Provides for the necessary class distinction so indispensable to a massive all-male, military school. So that’s our story. That’s what we’ve been fighting for. And we believe that there are others who shared some of our views. There was one, Durward B. Varner, ca det colonel of the college in 1939- 40. Varner, during his four years at A. & M. was a distinguished student, held numerous campus honors, captained the basketball team, and as a reward for his ef forts, both scholastically and so cially, was chosen to deliver the valedictory address of his class. Following is an excerpt from Ca det Colonel Varner’s speech: “As freshmen we came here, and regardless of whether we came in an expensive, fash ionable suit of clothes or in a pair of overalls, we all donned the government issued uni forms and the white fish stripes—we were all created at A. & M. free and equal. Every man’s future here was dependent upon his own init iative, industry, and intelli gence—just as provided for Americans in the American Constitution. As freshmen we had certain tasks to do, but Do you like a really fascinat ing mystery picture ? Then here is one that will help to satisfy that desire for a while. It is “THE MALTESE FALCON” which will be showing at Guion hall today and tomorrow. Humphrey Bogart, who has won so much acclaim for his similar roles, plays the part of a private detective who has been engaged by Mary Astor to trail a certain man. Things begin to take on a peculiar aspect when both his part ner and the man he was trailing are killed. Then Bogart is offer ed a large sum of money to find a porcelain statuette in the form of a falcon. It develops that the men who are after the falcon will go to no end to recover it. As the story progresses, the crossing and dou ble-crossing gets more and more involved. For some top-notch entertain ment in the scary line, this is a chance that ought not to be miss ed. The story is taken from the novel, “The Thin Man,” by Dashiel Hammett. The entire cast really did a fine job of acting in making this picture. It is a mas terpiece of well-sustained, well- thought-out entertainment. “Keep ’em Flying” is the theme of “FLYING CADETS” at the Campus today and tomorrow. This is the story of the civilian pilot training schools that are doing so much to help the country sur vive during this critical period. Edmund Lowe, William Gargan, and Peggy Moran are the lead- after all, regardless of where we are or what we do, we must comply with certain rules of the game. Certainly no man’s initiative was destroyed because some went to the top, others didn’t do so well, while still others gave up the fight all together. “During our four years here we have followed the same democratic principle—it has mattered not that a hoy be a millionaire or one working every penny of his way through school, it mattered not whether he lived in a rambling shack or the best dormitory —he was still an Aggie. Just as America as a country has created all men free and equal and has given the opportunity to rise to the top to those who have the will and ability, so has our training here at A. &M. created all boys free and equal. Whether he were Jew or Gen tile, American or German or Japanese—he was an Aggie, loved and respected by his classmates* and given the same equal opportunity to push for ward just as long as he didn’t interfere with the rights of others. “Isn’t that the American way?” Yes, Woody, we believe that it was. And Aggies and Aggieland will always be recorded in the past tense until we return to that “Am erican way r> or devise some flaw less substitute for it. ing players. The film has been done in such a way that it comes out new and delightful. It has nothing extraordinary about it, but it won’t prove too trying either. WHAT’S SHOWING AT THE CAMPUS Tuesday, Wednesday — “FLYING CADETS,” with Edmund Lowe and Peggy Moran. Also “THE PER FECT SNOB,” featuring Lynn Bari and Charles Rug- gles. AT GUION HALL Tuesday, Wednesday — “THE MALTESE FALCON,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor. Trade At LOUPOT’S DALACE ■ PHON E 2 - 8879 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday BOB HOPE VERA ZORINA in “Louisiana Purchase ,, Preview 11 P. M. Saturday Night BETTY GRABLE in “I Wake Up Screaming” ★ Shown Sunday-Monday Qiimp, as 4-1181 TODAY AND TOMORROW Double Feature CHARLIE RUGGLES CHARLOTTE GREENWOOD. LYNN BARI • CORNEL WILDE Shows at 1:00, 3:22, 5:44, 8:06, 10:28 “FLYING CADETS’ with PEGGY EDMUND MORAN LOWE Shows at 2:18, 4:40, 7:02, 9:21 Also DISNEY CARTOON ” Vi Sophomores Don’t wait any longer to place your order for one of our Perfect Fitting TAILOR MADE UNIFORMS Uniform Tailor Shop MENDL & HORNAK North Gate Movie GUION HALL Tuesday and Wednesday 3:30 and 6:45 * MARY ASTOR AND HUMPHREY BOGART in “Maltese Falcon” SELECTED SHORTS COMING Thursday and Friday “Lady Be Good”