PAGE 2
THE BATTALION
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 8, 1944
STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
TEXAS A. & M COLLEGE
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College
jf Texas 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 is published two times weekly and issued on Tuesday and Friday 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 Jffice at College Station, Texas,
ander the Act of Congress of March 8, 1870.
Subscription rate $3 per school year Advertising rates upon request.
Represented nationally by National Auvertising Service, Inc., at New York City,
'hieago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Member
Associated Cpllefticde Press
Office, Room 5, Administration Building. Telephone 4-S444.
Calvin Bruinley
Dick Goad
Alfred Jefferson....
S. L. Inzer
J. W. Bell
Renyard W. Canis
Editor
Managing Editor
.Managing Editor
Sports Editor
Sports Writer
.Backwash Editor
Robert Gold
Eli Barker
D. V. Hudson
B. J. Blankenship....
Dick Osterbolm
Jimmie Oemopulos.
.. Reporter
....Reporter
....Reporter
....Reporter
...Reporter
Cartoonist
Where Is the Aiming' Point...
Every person that eats, breathes, sleeps, hates, and
loves has at one time or another been under the impression
that he was thinking. Whether thinking or not every person
has thought processes which have possibilities. There is an
undecided question as to whether thinking is inherited or
the result of environment but the most satisfactory conclu
sion is that it is drawn from both. The mental equipment for
thinking is largely inherited but the things upon which that
equipment is used are environmental conditions. Every per
son has the ability to think to an extent but few are they
that use that inborn capacity to think originally and fewer
still are those that are stimulated by ideas to think maturely,
intelligently, and originally.
Not all persons possess these three attributes of think
ing. Some possess only one. Fortunate is the man that can
boast of all three. In any discussion of two or more things
there always arises the question of evaluation. In evaluat
ing these three things it must be taken into consideration
that the first two are prerequisites of the last. To think
original constructive thoughts a person must think maturely
and intelligently. These two can be taught to most people.
The third is dependent largely upon that inherited capacity.
A. & M. men can add another bead to their string of
noteworthy accomplishments. Graduates of A. & M. are the
living evidence that they think that way because they were
taught properly. That graduates of A.&M. think intelligently
is amply proved by their success in business, the professions,
the military, or any other line of endeavor which they have
undertaken. Not the least in the scale of values is that these
men live successfully; exacting the last drop of enjoyment
and good from life.
These men are products of A. & M. They are the ones
that have made A. & M. outstanding. Seeing them in action
has been the dominant factor in convincing parents and their
sous that A. & M. is the leading college not only in Texas but
in the entire Southwest.
Credit for the products of A. & M. belongs somewhere.
Does the credit belong exclusively to the faculty, to the pro
fessors and instructors? Does the credit belong to the mili
tary? Does the credit belong to the student?
The A. & M. product is the best in the world. The faculty
at A. & M. is definitely good but there is considerable room
for improvement. The military is efficient but they some
times make mistakes. The student body is the best, the most
spirited in the world but it is far from perfect. The faculty
and the military deserve a large measure of the credit for the
mature intelligent thinking of the products of A. & M. but
original thinking is something that was there from birth,
but would have remained latent had not the old system of
cadet life tutored it until it blossomed forth in the full
array of a new thought.
Any attempt to impose an untried system of life upon
the students at A. & M. is a shot into the unkown. It is a
gamble. Those that are planning the future of A. & M. must
think maturely, intelligently, and originally. They must re
tain the features of the old system that are good and think
carefully before adding too many new ideas.
Some women seem to be afraid that a square meal will
spoil their curves.
People who live in glass houses could have clear con
sciences.
Home Town
Club News
San Angelo Aggies
Plan Holiday Party
Wednesday, September 6, the
San Angelo A. & M. Club met in
the Academic building to make
plans for between-semesters activ
ities. Gene Alley acted as chairman
of the meeting.
Plans were completed for a big
party to be held September 27, in
San Angelo. Details of the party
were worked out among the mem
bers present. A good time is as
sured to all who plan to attend.
—Attend San Antonio Aggie Dance—
Rio Grande Valley
Club Meets Wednesday
The Rio Grande Valley A. & M.
Club will meet Wednesday at 7:15
in Room 120 of the Academic
Building foj completion of plans
for the club’s between-semesters
party.
All Aggies from the Valley are
expected to help with the plans.
Dues for the semester will also be
collected at this time.
—Attend San Antonio Aggie Dance—
SOMETHING TO READ
Edna B. Woods
Ass’t Circulation Librarian
Almost every state has its writ
er champions—historians, students
of social life and customs, and
novelists—who record tales hand
ed down for generations or who
create stories of fiction to parallel
the facts of history. J. Frank Dob-
ie, Laura Krey, and George Ses
sions Perry have written many
stories of Texas, so that not only
this generation but many to fol
low will experience the life on the
Texas frontier and during the
settlement and development of
Texas.
Lyle Saxon, George Cable, Har
nett Kane, and Gwen Bristow have
contributed generously to the liter
ature of Louisiana. Their books of
facts and fancy revive the colorful
and romantic history of “Old Louis
iana.” Although Gwen Bristow
was born in South Carolina, she is
recognized as a Louisiana author
because of her three historical
novels about that state, Deep Sum
mer, Handsome Road, and This
Side of Glory. They may be read
as separate stories, each complete
in itself, or they may ke read in
a series as a single story, with a
length approximately that of Gone
With the Wind or Anthony Ad
verse. By choosing to tell her
story in this form, Miss Bristow
was able to write about the periods
in Louisiana’s history which in
terested her most.
Deep Summer is the story of
Louisiana in the early days of its
colonization—when it changed
from French rule to Spanish rule
and back again to French rule,
almost overnight. Philip Larne,
the dashing scion of an aristocrat
ic South Carolina family, first saw
Judith Sheramy, fifteen year old
daughter of Mark Sheramy of Con
necticut, as he made his way cau
tiously down the Mississippi with
a boat full of slaves. Impulsive and
(See BOOKS, Page 6)
By Renyard
W. Canis
Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occurrence.”—Webster.
Over ON THE “forty acres”
they have begun to get ready for
football season. They will hold
their first “pep rally” September
29 to select their “cheer leaders”
for the fall. Each candidate will
lead their student body in one or
more yells and the ones receiv
ing the most applause will be the
four assistant “cheer leaders.” Glad
to see. Texas university whipping
out.
In our back yard
Yell practice Tuesday night was
much better than the previous two
but there is boundless room for
improvement. The first yell prac
tice was hampered by the mis
takes made by the fish. That was
corrected at the second but then
the sophomores began giving trou
ble. They were put on the line
but Tuesday night the juniors
began giving a little trouble. Seem
ed like several juniors had the idea ’
that they were assistant yell lead
ers and had to make a “Crack”
ever so often.
Juniors, when those yell leaders
are talking and asking for quiet
they mean for you to be quiet. Jun
iors, the yell leaders will do the
talking. You do the listening and
the yelling when the proper time
comes.
Snap Beauties
In Life’s recent causal picture
eassay on the compartive ratio ol
beautiful girls in particular towns
Dallas led the list. (Ed Note—This
partially explains why so manj
Aggies go north on weekends.) T.
u. came out Wednesday with the
complaint that Life was slight
ing the university b y not
choosing the “forty acres”. T. u,
(See BACKWASH, Page 3)
Man, Your Manners
By I. Sherwood
Q. I am never sure about tipping.
What is the rule?
A. Circumstances frequently al
ter cases. The general rule is 10
percent of the bill as a minium. If
you demand extra service, then
you would leave more than that. If
you go into a restaurant for a
light lunch, and your check is only
fifty cents, you would not leave
less than ten cents. A five cent tip
hardly seems enough. If ten cents
seems too much, then you should
have such meals at counters where
tipping is not necessarily required.
Some railroads require a ten-cent
service charge for each bag handl
ed by a porter at the station. Too
often people have let a porter stag
ger with several bags, let him
stand waiting for the gates to open
and then, when he has taken the
trouble to get them seated, have
offered him a dime. A large bag
and much attention (deserve a
quarter, although the minimum is
ten cents. An overnight trip on a
pullman demands at least thirty-
five cents for the pullman porter;
and should you be on the train for
a part of the next day, fifty cents
isn’t too much.
In a hotel a bellhop who brings
up more than an overnight bag for
you should receive twenty five
cents. When flowers, packages or
mail are brought to your room, ten
or fifteen cents is sufficient.
PENNY’S SERENADE
—^By W. L. Penberthy ■ ■ ■■■■■T—
In sports competition of various
kinds a great deal of emphasis is
placed on starting. This is parti
cularly true in the racing sports
like Track and Swimming where
the start is often the difference in
the outcome of
the race. The im-
importance of a
good start can
not be over em
phasized but this
alone does not
guarantee a suc
cessfully run race
—the race must
be run and finish
ed.
We have seen
many contests
Penberthy won in the early
stages by one of the contestants
getting the jump on the other but
the thing that really makes a con
test thrilling is when an individual
or team comes from behind to win
in the closing stages of the con
test. This is particularly true when
the winner happens to be the one
we are pulling for. It seems that
people in general are prone to
overlook and forgive a poor start
but they are very uncharitable in
the case of the poor finish. Regard
less of the start we like to see a
strong finish and are influenced
in the favor of those who make a
fine finish.
There are many of us who got
off to a fine start in our work this
semester but maybe there are
some who have coasted a little
and now it is a little hard to
catch up. Then there may be some
whose start was mediocre or poor
but who have made steady im
provement and now all that is
needed to insure a job well done
is a good finish. As in sports the
record is not complete until the
time is up and the contest finished.
Time is running out but there is
still enough remaining to enable
us to come through but this will
not be the case if we delay.
There is a sign in the Lecture
Room at the Gym that sums up the
situation in good shape. It says,
“IT’S THE WAY YOU SHOW
UP AT THE SHOWDOWN THAT
COUNTS.”