Page 2
r tjie 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, and issued Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday mornings.
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at College
Station, Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
Subscription rates $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
1-5444.
1941 Member 1942
Pbsocided GoUe6icite Press
Brooks Gofer.. — 4- Editor-in-Chief
Ken Bresnen Associate Editor
Phil Crown Staff Photographer
Sports Staff .
Mike Haikin Sports Editor
Mike Mann Assistant Sports Editor
Chick Hurst ...Senior Sports Assistant
Advertising Staff
Reggie Smith .....'. Advertising Manager
Jack E. Carter...-,; Tuesday Asst. Advertising Manager
Louis A. Bridges Thursday Asst. Advertising Manager
Jay Pumphrey Saturday Asst. Advertising Manager
Circulation Staff
F. D. Asbury, Jr Circulation Manager
Bill Huber - Senior Assistant
H. R. Tampke... - Senior Assistant
Carlton Power Senior Assistant
Joe Stalcup Junior Assistant
Tuesday’s Staff
Tom Vannoy - Managing Editor
Benton Taylor Junior Editor
Tom Leland Junior Editor
Jack Keith Junior Editor
Douglass Lancaster;;. Junior Editor
Reporters
Ramon McKinney, John Baldridge, Tom Journeay, Charles
Kaplan, Bob Garrett, Gerald Fahrenthold, and Bert Kurtz.
The Daily Press
I have long thought it ironic that news
papers, which are referred to universally as
unrivaled mediums for advertisers and ad
vertising, should be the dumbest self-adver
tisers in the world. If they did a tenth as
efficient a job for themselves as they do for
their clients, the American public would
realize how fortunate it is in its daily press .
. . . which it certainly doesn’t now, and prob
ably never will. The American daily press
is conscientious to the last degree in inform
ing and educating the public about every
thing under the sun—except the service
which the American daily press itself per
forms for it.
Let us take Dec. 7 last, for an example.
What I saw with my own eyes was little
less than a miracle. Around 1:30 in the af
ternoon word came through that the Japa
nese were bombing Pearl Harbor: war had
broken out. It was a Sunday, which meant
that practically all the newspaper workers
were at home. Yet by 4:50 that same after
noon there had been turned out of this
plant a complete history book of the war up
to date. To be sure, it wasn’t called a history
book. It was called an extra edition of a
newspaper. Yet actually it was a history book
—just that. It contained about as many
words as the average small history text
book. It gave a tremendously exhaustive
coverage of the first several hours of per
haps the greatest war in the history of
mankind.
Now I’ve had some experience with
book publishing, having had two or three
books published myself. You turn your man
uscript in early in January, let us say, and
you see the completed product in the book'
stores perhaps the following September.
That gives an idea of the pace of normal
book publication. But what are you to say
of an institution which can pick up a war
early on Sunday afternoon and whirr out a
complete historical text-book on it before the
afternoon is over?
The further miracle of this history book
was that it wasn’t written by one historian,
but by dozens and scores of them situated
in every part of the globe. One historian was
writing his part of the book in Honolulu
another in Manila, another in Washington,
another in San Francisco, and so forth and
so on. Though thousands of miles apart, all
these historians jumped to their typewriters
simultaneously, each turning out his individ
ual chapter with the utmost rapidity, and
within three or four hours—hours, mind
you, not weeks or months—the material was
all incorporated in a history book being cir
culated for sale on the streets. Not only that
but trained analysts found time to contribute
their bits, too, so that the final product was
sifted, weighed, and intelligently interpreted
by mature minds. This last was a safeguard
against panic and a boon for the morale of
the people. It steadied and sobered them al
most without their knowing it. It gave them
perspective even in the midst of shock.
Speaking as one who has lived a part of
his life ds a book writer, I must say that this
was the most thrilling feat of publishing
that I ever witnessed. The sheer flexibility
of the daily newspaper is something I can
never get over. You couldn’t but think of
this when around Dec. 10 you saw several
of the weeklies coming limping in . . . sorry-
looking issues prepared long in advance and
ponderously discussing the possible outbreak
of a war which had already been in existence
for the better part of a week. It’s the fashion
among many persons of parts to speak lightly
of daily newspapers, but that’s a kind of flip
pancy to which I can never respond. How
ever little the newspaper may awe other
people, they certainly awe me.—By William
J. McNally in the Minneapolis (Minn.) Tri
bune.
If Prof. Karl Sax of Harvard’s botany
department has his way, all “fat, flabby, pot
bellied” university professors will take com
pulsory physical training.
Greek government-in-exile reports the
University of Athens has been closed for an
indefinite period because of serious student
disturbances.
The World Turns On
== By DR. C. C. DOAK ’ = "
Connection—Last week it was pointed out
that on the field of battle, little things often
become matters of life and death. It was
mentioned that if the dead could but speak
to us and if we would but listen, the experi
ences of dead men could advise and counsel
us.
From Pearl Harbor a roar of many voices
comes hourly from beneath the waters. They
cry, “Fat-headed smugness and ignorance of
history murdered us. The history of the
Russo-Japanese War told us how our only
potential enemy in this area would behave.
Port Arthur and Pearl Harbor and the ne
gotiations leading up to each make parallel
cases. Our advice to you, young man, is to
learn and use the lesson of history. It is the
story of how men have behaved and is, there
fore, your best guide as to how men will
behave. As you grow older keep your knowl
edge of history up to date and your guard
up.
From Guam the voices say, “Politics
and ignorance killed us. Sentimental par
ents with the vote but without knowledge
of the value of outposts voted for those Con
gressmen who were loudest in the promises
of never to send a dollar or a drop of blood
to be spent on foreign soil. American par
ents thus set the stage, American Congress
men raised the curtain, and we American
Sons acted out our bit in the farce of battle.
Ignorance and politics has robbed us of the
implements of our defense. Our advice to
you, American Students, is to study—study
materiel, study outposts, study tactics, study
fortifications, and then put the defense of
your outposts in the hands of men who are
masters of these things rather than intrust
them to politicians.
From Bataan the voices are confused.
Some say, “Too late, and too little.” Others
say, “Lack of foresight, underestimation of
the enemy, fifth column.” Out of the confu
sion a voice says clearly, “Narrowness of the
curriculum had a part in it. We were trained
in technical fields. The curricula were so
crowded with other things that there was no
place for such studies as Health. We did
well with the technique of arms, but when
the question of survival came to hinge upon
such things as nutrition, diseases, fatigue,
medication, nervousness and other biological
reactions to isolation and strain, we finally
went down. It was malaria, dysentery, ex
haustion. Even our leaders had not learned
too much about these things as is shown by
the fact that the bulk of the world’s reserve
of quinine was left in the East Indies.”
From Singapore the voice says, “Race
prejudice killed us. The white overlords of
this area were anxious to keep the colored
man in his place. They didn’t even arm the
valiant Chinese minority. At the first bomb,
the frightened and defenseless natives took
to the hills. They left crewless boats at the
docks to be taken by the Japs. They left the
fire engines unattended while the cities
burned. They left bomb craters in the run
ways until the pilots, who should have been
in the air, had to fill their own holes. They
left the lord’s kitchen vacant and his Scotch-
and-soda un-iced. The total result was defeat
and death for us and the loss of a hundred
million potential fighting men to our cause.
Our advice to you and to white peoples
everywhere is to give up the luxury of race
prejudice. Practice real democracy. Behave
toward all peoples as America did toward the
Filipino. Treated justly, the colored peoples
will fight for you. It is Hitler who preaches
the Aryan Myth. Do not again play into his
hands.”
From Capital to Campus
ACP’s Jay Richter Reports from Washington
There’s a job opportunity in Washington for
college girls that is underrated—that of
housewife. The state of affairs here is bet
ter than it may seem. There are nine men
for every ten women, a figure authenticated
by the Census Bureau. A more heart-warm
ing prospect than the one-to-four ratio some
times claimed. Most recent figures show the
District of Columbia area has a low marriage
rate, but no lower than a number of others,
including the states of Delaware, Massa
chusetts, Pennsylvania — and California,
strangely enough.
At any rate, Washington men are fair
game. And not rationed—yet.
* * * *
The President’s recent executive order
to federal agencies has important implica
tions for college students. Briefly, the pur
pose is to convert government to war work—
and that speedily—by .loosening hiring re
quirements, and by facilitating transfers
from agency to agency.
This means greater efforts than ever
will be made immediately to put college peo
ple into jobs for which they are trained. And
if they find their jobs do not suit their tal
ents, the order makes it unnecessary for
them to get their superior’s permission to
transfer to another agency—so long as the
agency to which they are going is consid
ered more important to the war effort than
the one they are leaving.
Previously an agency could hold the em
ployee who wanted to transfer. Some bureau
crats clung to the prerogative despite the
urgency of war work in other agencies.
The order also does away with almost
all Civil Service Commission examinations.
Hiring will be done on the basis of training
and experience.
One thing about the order, in case you
are interested in long-term employment: new
employes have no assurance their jobs will
last once the war is at an end.
THE BATTALION
Kollegiate Kaleidoscope
DR. DAM
FREEMAN
TRUSTEE OF OBER-
LIN COLLEGE FOR
MORE THAN 40
YEARS, MISSED
ONLY 5 OUT OF
68 MEETINGS
OVER A PERIOD
OF 30 YEARS/
BACKWASH
“Baekw&sh: Am agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Wetocter
Ag-gie Booster
Older students remember when
the “George Stidham Fund” was
established a few years ago to
help an Aggie victim of an un
avoidable accident. That fund,
since changed to
The Student Aid
Fund, has done
ill • •111 more than help
many b °y s finish
fund is help-
Hood in £ A g& ie s foot
bills which would otherwise result
in their leaving school . . . like
bills for operations not covered by
the medical fee, or fitting glasses
on eyes that can hardly see a
book . . . The applicant signs a
note, due when he thinks he will
be able to pay it/TAll names and
transactions are confidential.)
But the fund has served another
purpose ... it has proved some
thing that was always certain in
many minds: The Aggies ARE
trustworthy! Professor Dan Rus
sel, a member of the committee,
reports that payment of the notes
are not only up-to-date; they are
ahead! . . . Aggies who have been
helped say “thanks” by paying
their notes before the due date . . .
And the committee can boast even
more: R, C. Duren, a married stu
dent who worked his way through,
and received aid^frem the fund,
paid his $106 note before it was
due WITH an extra dividend to go
into the fund.
• • •
It Must Be Good . . .
. . . when an Aggie-Ex has had
some 54 years to think it over,
and still thinks it’s great.
Student Publications recently
got <=t letter from' Rufus C. Porter,
San Pedro, California, which
reads:
“Will you please send me a
catalogue of your great insti
tution? It is more than prob
able that I am one of the few
students now left of the class
of 1877-78.”
• • •
Of Course ....
the girls had nothing to do
with it, but when a long, shiny
car had a flat in front of the “Y”
Sunday afternoon, Aggies swarm
ed to the rescue . . . the car was
occupied by an elderly woman—
and two pretty girls. Nine Aggies
tried to fix the flat all at once . . .
the girls sparked them on with
smooth talk . . . whatta mess.
• • •
Sweepings
Quoth an English prof while
reading his class some of their
own papers: “The spelling in this
paper is refreshingly original” . . .
The plastering job in some of the
The American Classical league,
world’s largest classical organiza-*
tion, has transferred its head
quarters from New York to the
Joint University Library building
in Nashville, Tenn.
Eighty strong, the first reserve
officers training corps ski patrol
in the United States formed ranks
at the University of Wisconsin.
new dorms didn’t hit par. One
resident tells the story of dream
ing of eating mess hall spinach,
and waking up with a mouthful
of ceiling plaster . . . Everybody
got sweaty wet waiting for Kadet
Kapers to begin in the Assembly
Hall and the boys were “hot” with
wisecracks also. One of the best
was somebody’s foghorn rendition
of “B. O.!”
• • •
The Will Rogers . . .
... of the Piano is Henry
Scott’s billing . . . music critics
claim he uses the piano in the
same vein Will uses a rope.
One of Scott’s down-to-earth
selections, “Little Boy Genius
Grows Up,” pictures the progress
of a spoiled darling of the key
board from the time of his first
recital at the age bf five on thru
his progress to the age of 85 (and
still spoiled).
This
Collegiate
World
==ACP
Music is the leading extra-cur
ricular activity on the campus of
Texas Christian university.
Though, because of numerous
conference championships and
bowl games, many persons might
have guessed football as the main
student interest, a survey disclos
es more than twice as many stu
dents participate in musical ac
tivities as in all intercollegiate
athletic endeavors.
A total of 143 students this year
are members of the Horned Frog
band, the mixed chorus, the sym
phony orchestra and several small
er musical organizations.
Intercollegiate athletics attract
ed 61 boys, in football, basketball,
baseball and track teams.
* =K *
Shakespeare knew his stuff when
it came to swordplay, for the duel
ing scenes and terms in his plays
indicate a knowledge both of old
broadsword and buckler and the
newer rapier and dagger.
So says Horace S. Craig, asso
ciate in French on the Los Ange
les campus of the University of
California who recently wrote a
pamphlet titled, Dueling Scenes
and Terms in Shakespeare’s Plays.
Craig was captain of the U.C.L.A.
fencing team in 1932-33 and later
served as coach.
“To the multifarious knowledge
attributed to Shakespeare we must
add his understanding of dueling,”
declared Craig. “To his interesting
vocabulary of technical terms we
must append those which have to
do with the sword. The terms em
ployed are used accurately, unless
he chooses by misuse to effect
comedy.”
Lou’s Still Got
What It Takes
To Fill All Your
School Supply Needs
TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1942
COVERING
campus distracflofis
By
JACK
KEITH
It’s TOWN HALL tonight in
Guion Hall. Henry Scott, famed
pianist and humorist will appear
in a program designed to interest
Aggies and faculty members alike.
Among the interpretations he will
play tonight are: “Boogie Woogie
a la mode ‘Lux’ Lewis,” “Sewing
on a Button,” “Chopin in the Citrus
Belt” and “Mitten on the Keys.”
Scott does his own arranging in
most instances.
The success of the Corps Dance
this Saturday night will determine
whether or not we have such en
tertainment the rest of the sum
mer. Let’s make it a success by
bringing that girl-back-home down
for the week-end.
Abbot and Costello return to Col
lege Station this afternoon and
tomorrow in the film “RIO RITA,”
showing at Guion Hall. As usual,
they’ll have you
in stitches from
the start to the
finish.
The plot of the
movie leads Ab
bot and Costello
in to a nest of
Nazi spies, who,
in the end, are
neatly disposed
of by the pair.
The scene is the Texas-Mexican
border with a gigantic dude ranch
as the setting. Romantic and musi
cal interludes are furnished by
Kathryn Grayson and John Car-
roll. Others in the supporting cast
are Patricia Dane, Tom Conway,
and Peter Whitey.
The Lowdown:—Abbot and Cos
tello are in it—’nuff said.
“MOON OVER MIAMI” with
Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Don
Ameche and Robert Cummings
will show as one of the features
at the Campus Theater Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Although a typical musical com-
WHAT’S SHOWING
AT THE CAMPUS
Tuesday, Wednesday— <
“Moon Over Miami,” with
Betty Grable, Carole Landis,
Don Ameche and Robert
Cummings. Also, “Frisco
Lil”, starring Irene Hervey.
AT GUION HALL
Tuesday, Wednesday—
“Rio Rita,” with Abbot and
Costello, John Carroll and
Kathryn Grayson.
edy, “Moon Over Miami” is some
what better than most of them.
Betty Grable and Carole Landis
play the parts of Texas carhops
who inherit enough money to get
them to Miami in search of a rich
husband for Betty.
In Miami they meet Ameche and
Cummings, and which girl gets
which man is something for you
to find out for yourself. The movie
was filmed in technicolor which
brings out all the beauty of the
scenery (and Grable). Jack Haley
ably fills the role of comedian.
The Lowdown:—Gentlemen pre
fer blondes—this picture has ’em.
“FRISCO LIL,” the Campus’s
other attraction, stars Irene Her
vey in the role of a gambling
young law student. Others in the
cast are Kent Taylor, Minor Wat
son and Jerome Cowan.
Irene goes to work in a gamb
ling joint to help her Dad out of
a tough place. In doing so, she
gains the ill-will of her boy-friends
parents, a couple of reform organ
ization leaders. By hook and by
crook she manages to clear her
father and get her man.
The Lowdown:—Nothing to
write home about.
4-1181
Box Office Opens 1 P. M.
TODAY - TOMORROW
DOUBLE FEATURE
with
DON AMECHE
BETTY GRABLE
, ROBERT CyMMINGS
1:18 - 4:12 - 7:06 - 10:00
“FRISCO LIL”
with
KENT TAYLOR
IRENE HERVEY
JEROME COWAN
2:49 - 5:43 - 8:37
Also
Cartooft - - Wabbit Twacks
(All This and Rabbit Stew)
i
j We Want Your Second Semester i
j Engineering Books j
| COLLEGE BOOK STORE !
Next to Waldrop’s
j "il
MOVIE
Guion Hall
Tuesday and Wednesday
3:30 and 7 p. m.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
in
“RIO RITA”
\«
Cartoon News _ Comedy
COMING
Thursday and Friday
“Joe Smith, American”
with
ROBERT YOUNG — MARSHA HUNT