Texas AaM
The B
College
alion
Volume 45
College Station, Texas, Monday Afternoon, March 11, 1946
Number 33
A&MDirectorsStudy$15,000,000Budget
March 13 Is Deadline for Filing
Petitions for April 2 City Election
Taxpayers of College Station
will have the opportunity to elect
three city councilmen, a mayor, and
a city secretary on April 2.
The posts on the city council oc
cupied by E. E. Brown, J. A. Orr,
and M. T. Harrington expire this
year under the rotating system
which provides for the election of
three members of the six-member
council each year. Ernest Lang
ford is up for re-election as mayor.
All present incumbents are ex
pected to stand for re-election this
year with the exception of City
Secretary S. A. Lipscomb, who
told The Battalion this morning
Over 7,000 Expected
At JTAC Reunion
Over 7,000 from all parts of
.the country are expected to attend
the largest ex-student reunion in
the history of John Tarleton Col
lege, Stephenville, May v 4 and 5
of this year. A dance in the munic
ipal auditorium the night of May
4 will start the festivities. The
following day there will be an old
time free barbecue on the campus,
various class activities, and a
memorial service for the 138 Tarle
ton ex-students and three faculty
members who lost their lives in
World War II. A well known gen
eral, as yet unannounced, will be
the principal speaker.
The idea of the reunion started
during the war when hundreds of
ex-students in the armed forces
endorsed the idea in response to
a suggestion in a monthly news let
ter. A number offered to donate
steers and other items for the
barbecue. Twelve steers, 1,500
pounds of potatoes, 200 pounds of
coffee, and other items in propor
tion will be used in feeding the
large crowd.
RITTER RESIGNS TO TAKE
FLORIDA POSITION
The civil engineering depart
ment at Texas A. & M. College to
day was seeking a replacement
for L. J. Ritter, assistant profes
sor who has resigned, effective
March 15, to take a similar posi
tion at the University of Florida.
Terrapin Lives Without Brains,
H. B. Parks Discovers on Survey
I). W. Williams Named Vice President;
Ike and Aggie Generals Voted Degrees
Did you know that a terrapin,
if his shell has had a hole burned
or punched in it, though not deep
enough to kill the critter, can
grow a new piece of shell identical
in pattern and color with the orig
inal ?
Don’t be ashamed if you didn’t
know that. H. B. Parks, curator
of the college museum, says that
to the best of his knowledge that
phenomenon has never before been
recorded by a scientific authority.
The discovery came during a
recent survey made by Mr. Parks
of the damage done to wild life by
grass and forest fires. For inves
tigation Mr. Parks selected a plot
of land, 200 feet wide by four and
a half miles long, on either side of
a railroad right-of-way. This strip
had been intentionally burned in
order to prevent locomotives from
starting uncontrolable fires.
In the area Mr. Parks found, the
cadavers of eighteen recognizable
animals, of which a domestic dog
was the largest. More armadillos
that he definitely would not be a
candidate. In order to be included
on the ballot, candidates must pre
sent petitions not later than Wed
nesday, March 13, according to the
City Office. Petitions must be
signed by not less than five per
cent of the voters in each ward
who cast votes in the last general
election.
Voting boxes will be located in
Ward 1 at the Southside Food
Market, with Fred Brison as elec
tion judge; in Ward 2 at Luke’s
Grocery, with Gene Brock as judge;
and in Ward 3 at Waldrop’s, with
R. B. Sweet as judge.
Sarria Schedules
Three Appearances
And Concert Tour
By Joseph Ginz
Lucrecia Sarria, one of the first
singers of South America, whose
recent concert on the campus prov
ed so popular that a demand is
being made that she be featured
on next season’s Town Hall pro
gram, will make three appearances
in Texas prior to her departure
for the East where she will begin
preparations for a full concert tour
next year.
On March 20 Miss Sarria will
appear with the Houston Symphony
in Freeport and on April 15 will
be the featured soloist with the
same group in a Houston appear
ance. In May she will sing be
fore a Bryan High School aud
ience.
The celebrated coloratura reveal
ed unusual stage presence in her
first appearance here, combining
this with a superb voice rich in
tone quality, flexibility and spon-
taniety of expression. A delighted
audience has been loud in praise
of her excellent performance.
Possessed of the true Latin tem
perament, Lucrecia Sarria has a
brilliant future in this country.
Already one of the finest singers
of South America, she should reach
her full stature in her next sea
son’s tour.
Miss Sarria is the wife of an
Aggie student.
were found seventeen than any
thing else. Practically all were in
a stretch of timber land.
Terrapins provided the most in
teresting information. One terrapin
even continued to live after its
head had been burned off—prov
ing brains aren’t everything!
During the winter terrapins
travel until they reach an incline
which they cannot climb. So they
dig upward at an angle which they
can climb, and after reaching the
top of the rise, settle down for the
winter. Many of them were killed
or injured when the grass fire
burned only such parts as were
exposed outside these holes.
The intense heat even “welded”
two terrapins together. One had
apparently crawled into a hole
under the remains of the other.
The fire brazed the ribs of one
firmly onto the shell of the other.
Some of the specimens found
by Mr. Parks during this survey
are now on exhibition at the col
lege museum, behind the adminis
tration building.
Dramatic Club Offers
Buck for Biteless
Bowl of Reptiles
It pays cash to bring ’em back
alive! F. L. Hood, faculty sponsor
of the Aggie Players, new A. &
M. dramatic club, offers a reward
for “harmless”snakes. The club
will buy the reptiles at $1.00 each.
“We need a whole bowl of them
in our current production, “You
Can’t Take It With You,” Hood
explained. “The play will be pre
sented in the old Assembly Hall
March 26 and 27 at 8:00 p. m.”
It seems that snake-collecting is
one of the many hobbies of Grand
pa, one of the zany characters in
the three-act comedy, and the
script demands that his “collec
tion” be prominently displayed in
the living* room.
To collect the reward, bring the
snakes to Bill Zoller, president of
the Aggie Players, in Dormitory
14 or to Hood at his office in the
English Department, Academic
Building.
Snakes comfortably housed in
bite-proof containers will be more
readily accepted.
Tessies Will Hold
Redbud Ball Sat.
The annual Redbud Coronation
Ball, honoring the Redbud Queen
and her court, will be held Satur
day, March 16, at T.S.C.W. The
program begins at 8:15 p. m. in
the Auditorium and the dance
which will be formal will begin
in the Union building at 9:30 or
immediately following the conclu
sion of the presentation.
A Date Bureau for the benefit
of those wishing to take advantage
of the dance will be operated in
room 220 of the Administration
building on Saturday from 4:00 p.
m., to 8:00 p. m. A special invi
tation has been extended to all
Aggies.
THREE AGGIE PROFS TO
TEACH AT ST. LOUIS
Three members of the engineer
ing drawing department at Texas
A. & M. College will serve on the
faculty of a special summer school
for drawing instructors at Wash
ington University, St. Louis. The
course, sponsored by the national
Society for Promotion of Engi
neering Education, will be held
June 18-28.
W. E. Street, head of the en
gineering drawing department at
Texas A. & M. and editor of the
S.P.E.E. publication “Journal of
Engineering Drawing”, and Pro
fessors J. G. McGuire and C. H.
Ransdell will be on the teaching
staff at St. Louis.
NOTICE
GRADUATING SENIORS
All seniors who will gradu
ate at the end of this semester,
or in summer school, and who
want to attend the Senior Ring
Dance this May, are requested
to leave their names and room
numbers with Bob King in room
418, Dorm 10, or with A1 Pres-
nal in room 218, Dorm 2. This
is to get an estimate on the
number of men to plan for at
the danco.
BOB KING,
President of the
Senior Class.
Summer Cotton
School Is Planned
The 37th annual Summer Cotton
School will be conducted at Texas
A. & M. College, May 27-July 6,
Dr. Luther G. Jones, acting head
of the department of agronomy at
the college, has announced.
Each summer these cotton
schools are conducted with a view
of preparing men and women to
enter the business of cotton; to
train cotton growers to market
their cotton intelligently and pro
fitably; and to assist cotton buy
ers to become more familiar with
low grade and off-colored cotton,
and to judge staple, Dr. Jones said.
The course of instruction to be
offered at the 1946 summer cot
ton school is designed for em
ployees of gins, warehouses and
cotton buyers, for. seed breeders
and one-variety cotton producers,
for county agricultural agents and
teachers of vocatioVial agriculture.
Last year 37 mien registered for
the /course witKy o 4 ^tal of 25 of
them coming f Mexico. This
year it is expecL^l that several
more will enroll from that country
and possibly, some from South
America.
Costs for attending the summer
cotton school for the six-week pe
riod are $17.50 matriculation fee;
$3.00 medical fee; and room and
board can be obtained on the cam
pus for approximately $38.00 per
month.
The faculty this year will in
clude: James M. Ward, associate
professor of agricultural economics,
and Prof. J. B. Bagley, both of
the School of Agriculture at the
college; and Caesar Hohn, of the
Texas A. & M. College Extension
Service. All are outstanding in the
subjects they will teach.
On Friday night, May 17, 1940,
a Texas A. & M. sophomore, George
Stidham, fell from the fourth-floor
window of the dormitory in which
he lived. The fall broke his back
and his life depended on receiving
expensive treatment which was not
available at the College Hospital.
Stidham had been valedictorian
of his high school graduating class
in Uvalde; he was a popular mem
ber of the cadet corps; he was
earning every penny of his college
expenses; his mother was dead;
and he had not seen his father
for several years and did not know
where he could be located. In short,
he was penniless.
At the suggestion of one of the
corps’ junior yell leaders and one
of The Battalion’s junior editors, a
drive was. organized to raise funds
for the injured Aggie. The drive
was a tremendous success and more
than $1100.00 was raised, which re
sulted in giving Stidham proper
care and treatment.
The George Stidham Fund drive
and its resulting success pointed
out both the need and the feasibil
ity of a student emergency fund
at Texas A. & M. College. To this
end a meeting was held on the
afternoon of August 7, 1940, with
the following staff members and
students attending: Col. Ike Ash-
burn, executive assistant to the
President; E. J. Howell, registrar;
In a lengthy session at Arlington
Saturday, the Texas A. & M.
Board of Directors elected D. W.
Williams vice president in charge
of agriculture of the College, re
fused a plea by E. S. McLarty for
special consideration in his appli
cation for entrance to the veter
inary school of the College, and
received tentative budgets calling
for expenditure of $15,000,000 dur
ing the next two years.
The Board also voted honorary
Doctor of Law degrees to General
Dwight D. Eisenhower and to
twenty-eight Texas Aggies who
have risen to the rank of Briga
dier-General and above. The de
grees are to be conferred at the
annual muster scheduled for April
19-21.
Williams joined the A. & M. ani
mal husbandry faculty in 1919 and
served as head of the department
from 1923 to 1944. He served as a
lieutenant colonel on General
Mark Clark’s staff for the mili
tary government of Austria. He
received his B.S. from Ohio State,
his M.A. at Illinois University, and
did graduate work at Chicago and
at Texas A. & M.
McLarty appeared with his
father, Dr. E. S. McLarty of Gal
veston, and two attorneys, Ross
Carlton and Josh Mayo of Dallas.
He was advised by the directors
to return to the University of Tex
as and straighten up his grade
record there before seeking en
trance at A. & M. In a final plea,
McLarty said: “I know now I
shouldn’t have brought the case,”
and stated that the suit was filed
on the advice of Carlton.
The two-year budget provides
for the expenditure of $7,740,393
in 1947-48, and $7,497,554 in 1948-
49, as compared with a 1945-46
budget of $3,575,795. Of the 1947-
48 amount, $4,938,726 is to be ex
pended by the main college, while
the remainder goes to the three
branches.
E. L. Angell, manager of Student
Activities; Dan Russell, head of
Rural Sociology; Herman Focke,
junior yell leader; and George
Fuermann, junior editor of The
Battalion.
Out of this meeting arose the
Texas A. & M. Student Aid Fund,
dedicated to these worthy pur
poses:
1. To pay for emergency op
erations for students who are
penniless and unable to obtain
the necessary money through
other channels;
2. To send a floral wreath to
each family of an Aggie whose
mother or father may die during
the school year; and
3. To take care of any other
cases of merited need which may
come to the attention of the Stu
dent Aid Fund Committee.
The student Aid Fund is not op
erated as a charity, but is set up
according to the best in Aggie
tradition. In the first place, con
tributions of not over lOtf per man
are solicited from the Corps itself;
outsiders are not asked to partici
pate. Secondly, each student who
receives aid from the Fund is re
quested to sign a non-interest-
bearing note, repayable at any des
ignated time after graduation, con
tingent upon his ability to pay;
only one notice of maturity is sent
See STUDENT, Page 2
Student Aid Fund Offers Assistance J
For Needy Aggies on Honor System