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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1944)
~ PAGE 2 THE BATTALION FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1944 [ r oi tij ai b( ec n< th w di hi w THE BATTALION STUDENT TRI-WEEKLT NEWSPAPER TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Teas and the City of College Station is published three times weekly, and issued Tuesday,, Thursday and Saturday mornings except during the summer semester when it ie published two times weekly and issued on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and is the official publication of the students of the A. & M. College of Texas and serves unofficially in the interest of the enlisted personnel of the United States Army and Navy stationed on the campus. Entered as second class matter at the Post Dffice at College Station, Texas, juder the Act of Congress of March 8, 1870. Subscription rate $3 per school year. Advertising rates upon request. Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City, Jhicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Office, Room fi. Administration Building. Telephone 4-1444. Member Associated Collegiate Press Calvin Brumley Editor Dick Goad Managing Editor Alfred Jefferson Managing Editor Renyard W. Canis Feature Writer J. W. Bell Sports Writer Dick Osterholm Reporter Bob Gold Reporter Eli Barker Reporter Upon This Solid Foundation . . . a -/ This semester about nine hundred boys enrolled in A. & M. for the first time. Many of them had never been on the campus before and more were unfamiliar with the or ganization of campus life. ^ In deciding to send their sons to A. & M. most parents considered the academic standing of the college but perhaps an even more important factor was the reputation A. & M. has for developing those qualities which enable a boy to think for himself in a mature manly fashion. As implied before many of these parents were and still are unfamiliar with the system at A. & M. ' ^ r. A. & M. is a state supported school and as such the citi zens of Texas and the parents that send their sons to A. & M. certainly have the right to voice their opinion regarding the operation of the college. As is so often the case important considerations are inundated by personal bias. Boys come to A. & M. largely because of the reputation the alumni has established for the school. They came here hoping to get some of the same things that their predecessors received so that they too might have more of an opportunity for success. It is respectfully submitted that even though they have every right to criticize the manner in which a student’s life is conducted at A. & M. that the parents should stop and consider for a moment the reasons why they sent their boys to A. & M. before writing to the college authorities complaining of the manner in which discipline is adminis tered. Students live at A. & M. according to the customs and practices which have contributed much toward making Texas A. & M. the greatest of the land grant colleges. If the people of Texas will think and consider the probability that the things for which A. <% M. stands are largely a re sult of the very things that some people are trying to de stroy then perhaps much of the confusion and misunder standing that has existed will be cleared up. Not A Disney Creation . . . College Station located as it is in a damp humid region has always had a problem in,mosquito control. This fact was recognized when the college was erected and as a result of this realization the part of the campus where the students live was placed on a gently sloping hill with drainage in all directions. This added to the beauty of the A. & M. campus but more important it placed the dormitories as far as pos sible from stagnant bodies of water which provide incuba tors for the pesky and deadly mosquito. Despite all these precautions the city and college au thorities found it necessary to employ a group of men dur ing the mosquito breeding months to spread oil over the small bodies of stagnant water which inevitably collect regardless of the most careful planning in providing proper drainage. This work is to be commended because it certainly has pro tected the students and residents of College Station from the annoyance and danger of the mosquito. During the last few weeks, despite all the prevention practices, students have been complaining because of the prevalence of mosquitoes. 4 Study hours have been interrupted and restful sleep has been made difficult recently by the mosquitoes that have hatched in spite of preventative measures. Besides the an noyance that has been caused t here have been reported a few cases of mild malaria. The situation is not especially serious at the moment but indications are that it can become so. There is still time enough to destroy the breeding grounds of the mosquito and eliminate this health hazard. Living together as the cadets do, one little apparently in significant mosquito could spread enough malaria in one night to bring the situation to the point of seriousness. A Meaning for the War I, for one, believe that the effort of our writers to interpret, and of our public to grasp, the inner meaning of the war is wholesome and encouraging thing. After all, this war is costing us all a great deal: to the fighters it means, at the very least, a violent dislocation of all their plans for living. Even to us at home it means a long strain, full of small inconveniences, anoyances, and hardships. But if we can be made to feel, (all of us, fight/rs and people at home) that this war means something and especially that it can be made to count constructively toward a better state of affairs than used to exist, then we can put up with a lot. Of course, Pearl Harbor answered for most of us any ques tion as to the necessity of the war. We were jumped on and had to fight back. But if we can be led even beyond this simple impulse of self-defense; if we can be shown not only that we are fight ing, in justifiable self-defense, to preserve what decency there al ready is in the world, but that we are struggling to build, through this war, a better world and a bet ter chance for everybody than has ever existed so far—then the whole miserable and dangerous business of the war is put on a plane on which any decent person can car ry his war burdens, heavy or light, with a good grace and a willing heart. It is just this interpretation of the war as a crusade and not a browl which a score of recent books has achieved. A Time for Greatness, by Herbert Agar; Stuart Chase’s little books, The Road We Are Traveling, Goals for America, and Where Is the Money Coming From?; The Coming Showdown, by Carl Dreher; The Future of In dustrial Man, by Peter Drucker; Michael Straight’s Make This the Last War; The Conditions of Peace, by Edward Hallett Carr; The Unfinished Task, by Herbert Corey; Let the People Know, by Norman Angell; Alvin Hansen’s essay, Toward Full use of Our Re sources; and Wendell Willkie’s One World. These are twelve of the best things that have come out of the war between book-covers. Every one of these books is real istic, warning us of difficulties and deadly dangers. eYt the chief theme of every one of them, also is not the hope of salvaging the old pre-war world, but the possibility of creating a better world than has ever existed—if we manage things properly. BACIhWAjn By Reynard W. Canis Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster. —OPERA — (Continued from oage 1) at this time that the director urged him to take up music for an oc cupation, and he was soon on his way to France to study. Because of his exceptionally fine voice, Mr. Gurney has been hail ed from coast to coast, but this is only one of his many qualities as he has a fine sense of humor. Hav ing once been a college man him self he knows what the college student wants in the way of music. The show, which is free, should prove very interesting to the Ag gies, servicemen, faculty, and local residents. Say look—and who hasn’t. Dis tractions, distractions. They are driving the corps batty. The heat is sorta distracting too. The Aggie campus has never been famous for its beauty, but then who ever said anything about sixteen hundred hunks of brawn contributing any thing to the scenery. All kidding aside though . . . there are scads, literally scads, of single unattach ed ladies working in departments and offices around the campus. (Wanted: One air conditioned of fice fully equipped with ice water and stuff and staffed with effic ient secretaries. Blondes preferred.) Landscaping isn’t the only thing that improves the scenery. Tis a Shame Somewhere down in the Duncan Mess Hall area, sometimes referr ed to as Navasota, two lithsome lassies in a V-8 (Strangers on the campus) no doubt apparently lost their way and in vain tried to seek directions from passing Aggies. Sho nuff is strange the way these guys that call them- ^ selves Aggies are so reservedly timid when spoken to. Proper training no doubt. . . Check your oil Mister? Letter Home Dear Dad, When you sent me here to A. & M. you said that it would be costing you less money on account of there were no places to go nor nothin’ to do around here. Well, \J, you were right about no love, no nothing until your pride and joy comes home. Meaning me of course. ^ Say, Pop, I told my captain that I had to go home to see the doctor so he gave me a pass. Get the car filled up with gas and put a few strips of tape around those holes in the tires. Really don’t need to see a doctor. What I need is the ( gentle caress of a few moonbeams . (See BACKWASH, Page 4) Man, Your Maimers By 1. Sherwood “If your brother is an enlisted man and you are entertaining an officer, can you have them both for dinner in your home at the same time?” In a private home, enlisted men and officers mix informally without thought to rank or prece dence. If the party were official, that would be a different matter. “Who precedes whom, the man or the girl, when entering or leaving the following: (a) Restaurant? (b) Theater? (c) Taxi?” (a) The girl. She follows the headwaiter if there is one and she goes first when they leave. (b) If there is an usher the girl follows him and the man follows her but if there is no usher the man goes first to locate seats. At a movie the girl may find the seats if she chooses, when there is no usher. On leaving', the theater or movie the man naturally steps out of the row first but waits in the aisle for the girl to step ahead. (c) The man gets out of a taxi first so he may help the girl out. The girl enters first. “How do your introduce an air cadet after he graduates?” He ranks as a second lieutenant and you may introduce him as Lieutenant So-and-So. Socially any officer is introduced according to his title, except in the Navy, all under Commander are introduced as “Mr. So-and-So”. The lower ranking officer is presented to the higher ranking officer. PENNY’S SERENADE .By W. L. Penberthy The candidates for our Football team are now working out in preparation for the season to come. At present there are enough men on the squad for us to have several teams but this group I w i 11 dwindle in size for various reasons. The men who survive and | make up the squad that will represent the school next fall will b e those who have shown that they have the ability and the desire. A coach likes to have a group of men who have ability, who have had good training and a lot of experience and who have a love for the game or what I call de sire. Many of the players on our Penberthy team will not have all of these qualifications but the coach who has a group of men without de sire is in for a tough season. I have seen a lot of men in sports who had ability, training and ex perience but lacked the desire. These men fell far short of the greatness which they were capable of achieving. On the other hand I have seen men in sports and in life who had mediocre ability, but who were diligent in their endeav or to learn and had desire, go far beyond the expected goal. A lot of us are prone to blame our failures on our lack of abil ity but it is my feeling that any of us who have average ability can accomplish just about any thing we see out to do if we are sufficiently interested and are will ing to work hard enough. Interest and industry will go far in offset ting lack of ability.