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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1942)
The Battalion OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF COLLEGE STATION DIAL 4-5444 ROOM 5 ADMINISTRATION BLDG. VOLUME 42 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING, NOV. 12, 1942 2275 NUMBER 67 Five Blasts of Whistle Begin Blackout Tonight Intricate System of Communications Will Test Effectiveness, Aid Execution For 15 minutes tonight College Station will undergo its first blackout. Between 8:30 and 9:00 the power house whistle will sound five blasts signifying the start of the blackout. At that signal all lights will be extinguished as quickly as possible and every form of illumination that is visible from the air will be covered up or turned off. All cadets are asked ot review the regulations on proper procedure to be followed at the time of the blackout. Several orders have been issued by the Commandant’s office per- '"taining to duties of cadets. Aggie Athletes Get Write-up In Esquire Magazine McElroy Writes Story; Points Out That Aggies Return to Fame as Heros A. & M. College and its great athletes of the past get national recognition this month in the Dec ember issue of Esquire magazine in an article written by H. B. (Mac) McElroy, of the college publicity staff, who also represents the three big news services and several Texas newspapers at College Sta tion. “Mac” points out that the names of those men have disappeared from the sports pages only to show up on the news pages generally under a heading saying “MacArt- hur Decorates Heroes”. He also says that but one man of the Nat ional Championship football, water polo and pistol teams of 1939 is not on active duty but that man holds a key position in a vital war in dustry. All but two of that group hold commissions in the army, navy j photographer; Bob Shuffler, and and marines and that some of i A. C. Ebensberger, in charge of them went down with Corregidor ; maintaining communications be- Throughout the blackout period two-way communication will be maintained between the roof of the academic building, Harry Boyer’s office in Ross hall and one other vantage point yet to be named. Two-way radio communication will be utilized providing an opportu nity for actual use of communica tions in the way it would be used in case of an actual air raid. \ All air raid wardens will report any lights left on to the ones re sponsible and all possible haste should be exercised to reach the complete state of blackout as soon as possible. Heading the aggregation on the roof of the academic building actu ally running the blackout, will be Harry Boyer, chairman of the air raid warden’s committee. Also there as officials observing the effectiveness of the blanketing will be Colonel M. D. Welty, Presi dent T. 0. Walton, Captain Joe E. Davis, Dean F. C. Bolton, Mayor Ernest Langford, and coordinator of Civilian Defense C. C. Hedges. Performing the technical duties necessary to the successful execu tion of the blackout will be several cadets. Among them, Phil Crown, which was commanded by Major General George F. Moore, another former great Aggie football player. Not only those men have gone to war but the majority of the 750 living wearers of the A. & M. Coll ege varsity “T” also are among the more than 6500 Aggies on active duty and that approximately 98 per cent are commissioned off icers. Others mentioned in the story are Major Henry (Pelly) Dittman, of Goose Creek, first Aggie to win a medal in this war; Lt. Col. Jack Milger, Houston, second in com mand to Doolittle at Toyko; and Ensign George Gay, also of Hous ton, lone survivor of Torpedo Squadron .8 at the Battle of Mid way. Amarillo Club Makes Picture Today for 1st Longhorn Appearance The Amarillo A&M club will have its picture made Thursday, Novem ber 12, at 6:00 p. m. on the steps of the Chemistry building. All club members are urged to be on time, although the picture will be de layed long enough for all boys that drill on Thursday to be present for the picture, according to Bob Moore, club president. Uniform for the picture will be boots and serge shirts for seniors, serge shirts and wool slacks for juniors, and wool slacks with khaki shirts for freshmen and sopho mores. Every boy from Amarillo is especially urged to be present as this is the first time the club has ever had its picture made. All members must bring 75 cents as this will eliminate a meeting for the sole purpose of collecting money. Distinguished Scholar, O M Ball Passes Away Dr. Oscar Melville Ball, 74, pro fessor emeritus of biology, curator of the Texas A. & M. College Mus eum and member of the college fac ulty since September, 1903, died at 2:00 a.m., Nov 11, after a linger ing illness. Born at Miami, Mo., August 25 1868, a son of William Henry and Anne Eliza Braden Ball, Dr. Ball became internationally known for his teachings in biology and re search work, mostly in the field of paleontology. He was the author of several books and scientific papers on that latter subject. tween vantage points; Kenneth C. Bresnen, official observer and Bat talion representative; Tom Jour- neay, of the WTAW program staff, and Conrad Bering, WTAW news editor, who will be observing the blackout from a plane high over the campus. An urgent request was issued to all residents and cadets to cooper ate to the fullest in an effort to make this the quickest and most effective blackout in this area. That cannot be done without com plete cooperation, emphasized Boy- Opportunities For Becoming Officers In Navy Are Good The opportunity for graduates and undergraduates of colleges in Texas to become Naval Reserve Midshipmen and later, officers in the Naval Reserve, are better than ever before, according to Lieut. Preston Moore, officer-in-charge of the Naval Officer Procurement Office here. Two classifications are open to applicants and requirements have been relaxed to some extent, Moore .said. Regularly enrolled, full time, junior or senior students in ac credited colleges or universities are eligible for enrollment under the program. These students must pur sue a course leading to a degree in engineering, bachelor 0 f science, arts, education, philosophy, busi ness administration, commercial science, journalism or Laws. Other requirements listed for the V-7 program are: the applicant must be a male citizen of tlm United States, not less than is and must not have reached his 28th birthday. College undergrad uates must be unmarried. However married graduates who have com pleted all educational requirements for Reserve Midshipmen training are eligible for enlistment. Acceptable applicants will be given a 30-day indoctrination p e . riod at a Reserve Midshipmen’s school and while undergoing train ing will receive uniforms, clothing and equipment. Upon successful completion of their training, they will be appointed Reserve Midship men and will receive approximate ly three months further training for commissions as ensigns in the Naval Reserve. Authorities Ask For Special Trains At Christmas Time Hope to Solve Travel Problem Soon; No Action Yet on Holiday Extension Formal requests for special trains to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio have been made to the Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads for transporting Aggies home Christmas by the Office of the President of this college, E. L. Angell, executive assistant to the president, said yesterday. Southern Pacific has been asked for special trains to Dallas and Houston, and Missouri Pacific has been asked for one to San Antonio. No reply has been received from either railroad as yet although they were expected last Saturday. A definite statement will be made to the corps as soon as the replies are received, said Angell. The question of extending the Christmas holidays from one week to two has been discussed in acad emic and executive circles, and many problems must be solved be fore any definite action can be taken. Federal law prohibits the run ning of special trains, and this has been the factor which is holding up transportation facilities for Aggies to and from college during Christmas. Movie Company Arrives Friday Seniors Must ^Foresters . . „ Speak at Science Apply at Once Academy Meeting For Orders Reports Will Go To Service Command For Making- Assignments Second year advanced military students, seniors now enrolled in their last semester of military sci ence, must report to Room 18 Ross hall, Office of Student Records, at the first opportunity, states Staff Sergeant Malcolm Thomas, ser geant major. A complete report must be made of each cadet who will finish his advanced course in January to be sent to Eight Service Command as soon as possible. From these re ports official war department or ders will be issued designating the camps that graduates will be sent to upon completing their military training here. The fact that the issuance of or ders is contingent on obtaining the necessary information from each second year advanced military stu dent, behooves prompt compliance with this request, added Thomas. Walton Predicts New Front Is Only the Begining of Long War In a statment to the press yes terday afternoon, President T. O. Walton predicted that the war can not possibly end for at least two and probably not for six or eight years. “The second front is merely a beginning of a tremendous offens ive and it should not be regarded as a move to end the war in the very near future,” states the presi dent. “The invasion of the American forces was like sending in a full team in the last period,” he said, “and serves as means of clearing the Mediterranean area to get sup plies to our allies so that the United States, England, and maybe even France can all operate in one big offensive against Germany itself.” Pays Tribute To Aggie Dead Earlier in the day before the entire cadet corps assembled for an armistice day observance on the parade ground, President Walton paid tribute to the ex-Aggies that have paid the supreme sacrifice in service to their country. He said in part: “Ladies and gentlemen, this morning we pause for a brief mom ent to do honor to A. & M. College men who gave their lives to theii’ country and for democracy a quar ter century ago, and to repledge the leadership. . .of this great in stitution in this time of our country’s need. Again after a quarter century A. & M. men are being called to the colors, and we this morning rededicate our lives and our all in order that we may make the contribution that mfcn steeped in its traditions have al- "ways made to their country’s cause. Answer Written in Blood “Let me remind you that a quar- er century ago many of us thought that the kind of thing that is hap pening today could not ’happen again m a civilized world, but . . . Magazine Covers Hold P Delivery to Corps thf'B.T? the Nov ™ b “ Issue of readv 1 ir m “ Kazine h »s been diet -u f he past wee k, delay in hold? 011 haS b6en —ed by a up m delivery of the covers Editor dobnHo^rS inside ^ ati ° nal ^arette ads on the er of tl™” 1 and outside back cov- New Y he , ma ^ azme are printed in shinn Tr ’ 3nd althou S h th ey were W l- l r ° m ^ P ° int Octo- and If hey haVG n0t yet arrived, and efforts to trace them through he shipping agencies have failed Distribution will be made to the corps within a day or two after the covers arrive. the world is again plunged into an international conflict, but A. & M. men are writing the answer to the dictators of the world with their own blood on every battlefield of the globe. “And so you and I this morning cannot do more than to rededicate our lives and send a word of en couragement to those of our fellows that are serving more than 6000 strong with the armed for ces whenever men fight. “We dedicate our lives again as a faculty to this service of the young men that come here for their training and for whom we have some responsibility to give to them the type of education and train- Football practice could hardly remove thoughts of those Aggies before them who are now playing a dif ferent game, and Coach Nor ton had the same thoughts as he and the team watched yesterday’s review. He commented aside, on the Herb Smiths, the Dittmans, Kimbroughs, Routts, Rob- netts, Hunts, Rollins, De Wares, and others symboliz ing “greats” of the Aggie history who now are in ser vice, before he sent the squad in last night. “We had a good workout today,” he said, “but some how football seems unimport ant in a school like A. & M. today, particularly with en couraging news coming from the fighting fronts. I know I’m supposed to say some- mg about the game with Rice on Saturday, but today I choke up wen I wonder "here the boys are I have coached since I came here in tSf are r ' ght n ° W - 1 kn »"’ that many are on the fight- say is 0 twT 1 311 that 1 can y is that I hope the 1942 earn will carry on for them m Houston Saturd 2 lay. to make the ^X:“ 0 ^t them gi-eat common cause W bably have seen that th° U Pr °' men are said, “A. & M glorious history "7 ^ Writin e on every battle f Vont blood today. °t the earth “And so men and to that have joined^7 the facult y this great’cooped! W ': h in I bid you God sSriet u: ,:pri8e ' reverently in memory of Z have E0ne before and let us do honor by our deeds to those with whom we serve. The A. & M. men (See Walton, page 4) to you young gentle- those of the with us in Stress Importance Of Conserving Resources; Sessions Open to Public Dr. Walter P. Taylor, head of the department of Fish and Game, and the appointed chairman of the Bio logical Symposium, has announced that two leading foresters in the United States have accepted invi tations extended by the Texas Academy of Science to speak at the proposed Symposium on “Conser vation and Use of Natural Biologi cal Resources in Time of War,” which will be held Saturday morn ing, November 14, in connection with the annual meeting of the Academy to be held at College Sta tion. W. E. White, director of the Texas Forest Service, College Sta tion, will discuss “The Forests”; and Raymond Price, director of the Troupe of 85 Will Begin Six Weeks Shooting Monday Actors to Be Housed in Dormitories With Cadets; Whole Corps to Be Used in Picture Universal City, Calif., Nov. 11.—The first contingent of Producer Walter Wanger’s “We’ve Never Been Licked” company will arrive at College Station, Friday night (Nov. 13) to prepare for the filming of Texas A. & M.’s contribu tion to the war effort through its seven thousand officer graduates now in the armed forces. Due to the U. S. Army priorities over all rail and plane transportation, Wanger is sending to Texas from Universal his complete cast and first and second production units in in three sections. The first group, to arrive on the" campus Friday night, will total more than twenty in number, in cluding Director John -Rawlins, Richard Quine and Noah Beery, Jr., who play the two male leads, Publicity Director Byron Winstead of Texas A. & M., Cameraman Milton Krasner and Assistant Di rectors Fred Frank and William Holland. Saturday night, forty-five more Southwestern Forest and Range j members of the crew and cast will Experiment Station, Tucson, Ari zona, will consider “The Grazing Ranges.” Residents of Texas, whether scientists or not, are particularly interested in the proper conserva tion and use of the great forests in this state. These are now giv ing materials for the construction of numerous Army camps in Texas and other states. The vital neces sity of their proper conservation is obvious to everybody, states Tay lor. Similarly the grazing ranges on which depend Texas’ livestock industry, including cattle, sheep, and goats, are of outstanding sig nificance and importance in the economic structure of the state of Texas and in its proper support of the war program. Both grazing ranges and forests are of signifi cance in connection with the con servation of wildlife also. It is an ticipated that all these phases will be treated by the eminent foresters who will be present at the meeting. The public is invited to attend all sessions of the Texas Academy of Science which will be held No vember 12, 13 and 14 at College Station. Headquarteers will be in the lobby of the YMCA building, and information regarding times and places of the numerous meet ings which will be held on the days in question will be available there. Flight Engineer Is Bomber’s Boss The flight engineer on a heavy bomber is an enlisted man, usually a technical sergeant, who at cer tain times can tell the officers on the airplane what to do, Dr. Ever ett W. Thatcher of Schenectady, N. Y., declared in a General Elec tric Science Forum address in col laboration with the U. S. Army Air Foi’ces. “The flight engineer is the chap who knows all about his ship and is responsible for it,” Dr. Thatch er said. “He is rightly regarded as one of the key positions in the Air Force.” arrive at College Station, and, Sunday night, the remaining forty members of the troupe, including Anne Gwynne, Martha O’Driscoll and twenty-two supporting and bit players, will check in on the cam pus. 90 Percent of Filming on Campus Actual shooting of the picture, according to Wanger’s production plans, will start Monday, Novem ber 16, and will continue for six weeks. Because of dim-out and set construction restrictions on the coast during the war’s duration, Wanger expects to film no less than eighty or ninety percent of “We’ve Never Been Licked” on Texas A. & M.’s campus. For in teriors, in possible inclement weather, the agricultural pavilidn will be converted into a bugle sound stage, large enough to con tain three major interior sets. As the film company is the lar gest to move away from the coast into the hinterland since the Unit ed States was drawn into the glob al war, Wanger has been confront ed with complex problems of trans portation and housing, all of which have been since overcome through the cooperation of Texas state and civic officials and A. & M. execu tives. Housing Difficult Those portraying A. & M. offb cer cadets, including Quine, Beery, Jr., and the remaining twenty-two players from Hollywood, will be billeted in the college dormitories with the enrolled students. Others: will be housed in College Station, Bryan "hotels and nearby motor courts. Before the picture’s completion at A. & M., Wanger will have em ployed the entire student body of 7,000 enrollees of the college and no less than 200 students of TSCW. Also, Wanger will pay tribute to all graduate officers now serv ing their country, including the many who have died since Decern ber 7th, and the 17 generals from the college who are now wearing silver stars. Manuscripts May Still BeEntered inAcademy “There are nearly two dozen men Of SciGHCG Contest in a ground crew assigned to take care of a heavy bomber like the .. ManU f ripts written in con i u ™ Flying Fortress or the Liberator,” ^ on wth the c °ntest presented by Dr. Thatcher said. “There are four tb .® T ® XSS Academ y of Science may engine mechanics, one to each en- S - ', be en ^ ered and accepted for gine, plus about 16 apprentices. All 7 gm f Saturday if allowe of them are under the flight engi- th ™£ h ^ of th e academy, to b neer> ruled eligible entries. Entries are 1 . to be judged this week from th Of course the same thing ap- collegiate division of the science plies in a small way to the medium c i u b. The manuscripts are to be bombers, but the heavy bombers presented by their respective au- natura ly g ive the greatest scope thors before a critical audience who to a fhght engineers duties.” will be the official judges. f Hea Y. b °, mbers are 80 com P lex Prizes donated by General Mo- that a fhght engineer aloft is an tors consist of two gold medals f n ® cessit y>” h e continued, and cash amounting to S50.00 He is in charge ot the safe opera- These prizes will be presented to ion o the ship in the air. If any- contestants in accordance to rank ing goes wrong, it is the flight given the manuscripts by the engineer who has to find out the judges. cause, and fix it if he can during It will be necessary for the man- fllgbt - ; uscripts to be completed or in To be a flight engineer a man I stage of completion that will en- has to be unusually intelligent. Dr. : able their finish by Saturday Thatcher asserted. He is given an ; morning. Entries were originally aptitude test to determine the ex- ' to have been turned in a week be tent of his mechanical ability when j fore they were to be presented t he joins the army as a recruit. 1 the academy. Shipment of Seeds To Russia Now May Avoid Famine Later Enemy Occupation, Scorched Earth Policy Cause Soviets Worry Over Food Problem Declaring that the German occu pation of most of the territory which has produced vegetable seed, and the scorched earth tactics of the Russians themselves, have de prived the Soviets of vegetable seeds vitally needed for next year’s crops, Francis C. Stokes, promi nent American seedsman, today ap pealed to every member of the seed industry “immediately to set aside part of their vegetable seed stocks for shipment to Russia by the first week in December.” . Stokes issued this call to the in dustry, shortly after accepting the chairmanship of the Vegetable Seed Campaign of Russian War Relief, Inc., at the request of Ed ward C. Carter, president of the relief agency. Serving on the committee are five men who represent dome of the most important seed, interests in this country, and whose business integrity has made them nationally known. Stokes, long an important to mato seed grower, in calling upon the seed industry to support the campaign for vegetable seeds for Russia said: “Only by enabling the Russians to produce thousands of tons of their own food next spring, can we be assured of their continued re sistance to Fascist aggression. “In my opinion, this is the great est opportunity ever presented to the seedsmen of America to come quickly to the aid of a heroic ally. The desperate urgency of the situ ation cannot be overstated. Fur thermore, it will be a demonstra tion to the Russian people of our complete oneness with them in this struggle. “All this will mean much for fu ture friendship and normal rela tions with Russia in the years to come.” As an assurance to seedsmen that their contributions would not en danger domestic seed needs, nor disturb the Lend-Lease seed pro gram, Stokes referred to a recent statement by A. J. Biggio, presi dent of the American Seed Trade Association, to the effect that all seed contributions made to relief agencies were reported to the prop er government authorities. He em phasized that the special value of private contributions lay in the fact that each individual bag of seed will be clearly marked with the name and address of the donor and will be a symbol of friendship be tween the seedsmen of America and the planters of Russia. Chem SocVy Holds Aimual Meeting 1 The twenty-fifth meeting of the A. &M. Section of the American Chemical Society will be held Jn the Chemistry Lecture Room at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1942. The usual informal dinner will be held at the Aggieland Inn at 7:00 p.m. W. L. Badger of the Dow Chem ical Co., Ann Arbor, Michigan, will speak on the subject “High Tem perature Heat Transfer”. All in terested are invited to attend. , Prof. John H. Yoe of the Uni versity of Virginia will speak at the December meeting on “Inor ganic analysis with organic re agents”.