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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1947)
Page 2 THE BATTALION FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1947 'Aggieland’ It Is A&M First Southern School to Encouraged by the response to the editorial “Aggieland Forever,” we are taking our own advice. From now on the date line on the front page of The Battalion will read “Col lege Station (Aggieland), Texas.” The words “College Station” cannot legally be omitted unless the designation of the post-office is changed, but we are suggesting that an unofficial committee call on Postmaster T. 0. Walton to see what can be done. The Batt suggests that as various classes and veterans’ organizations meet, the subject be presented to them. When any groups vote for the name “Aggieland,” their recommen dations should be put on file with the Battalion office. The Batt poll in this issue will quiz both students and residents of the city about their opinions. Results will be submitted to the city council. As nearly as we can tell right now, few are against “Aggieland, Texas!” Get Rid of OIVs .. . The announcement of the possibility of a change in uni form for A. & M. cadets caused a stir among the corps, and sides are already beginning to form. Under the new setup, the freshmen and sophomores would gain to the extent of green serge blouse and pants, to substitute for the OD pants and the blouse with the blue lapels. Juniors and seniors have little to gain under the new setup, and are opposing the shift for many reasons. Fore most argument offered by the dissenters is that class dis tinction would be destroyed by putting fish and sophs in serge. Another cited is that the tradition has been for the lowly first and second year cadets to wear the unattractive, uncomfortable, and unbecoming OD wools, in order that they will value the green serge of juniors and seniors more high ly when their day arrives. A few are protesting on the grounds that corps discipline would be a thing of the past if the uniform distinction between the classes is set aside. And as usual, some are opposing the move because it was pro posed by somebody else—which seems to be a common mal ady among the students at A. & M. Those opposing this change should look at the situation as objectively as possible, and attempt to inject some intelli gent reasoning into their decision. If there is going to be any forward movement at A. & M., there will have to be change. This fact is irrefutible. That fish and sophs wear OD has not always been tra dition at A. & M. OD’s practical value has been small in deed—the pants usually don’t fit, the blouses look like high school ROTC, and the shirts are just about as uncomfortable as the hair shirts worn by medieval religious fanatics. Perhaps the qnly good argument in favor of retaining the OD is the fact that a sharp delineation between the two halves of the undergraduate years exists. But even under the new plan, wouldn’t ample distinction remain? The fish would still wear white stripes; they could wear them even on their blouses. The service bars would furnish distinction, as would rank insignia. Perhaps cuffs for juniors and senior trousers could return. The other arguments against green serge are just so much rationalization—frantic searching for logical reasons to support dog-in-the-manger opposition to change. Discipline should not be a casualty, for it should be a matter of training and obedience, not respect for a more gaudy uniform. As for appreciating the serge uniform, it’s certain that fish and sophs would care more for a snappy- looking uniform than for the dubious privilege of looking forward to donning it some day in the future. Many privi leges inherent with class standing are not of the uniform type, and cause just as much envy and desire among under classmen. The privilege of wearing serge exalts the ego, and shouts class distinction to the world. However, isn’t the re actionary attitude taken by those opposing the change a lit tle incongruous with the belief that the corps is striving to improve its overall appearance? Let’s make some advances occasionally with our eyes on the future, instead of attempting to live in the glorious dead days of John Kimbrough and the national championship football team. This is 1947, not 1939. Way of the World . . . One of the giants of the newspaper world was removed last week, when Odgen Reid of the New York Herald-Trib une died. Texans reading the obituary were reminded of how much Reid and G. B. Dealey of the Dallas Morning News had in common. Both were conservatives, men from an older age, and were usually labelled “reactionaries” by their enemies. But even those who fought bitterly against the policies of Reid and Dealey, paid tribute to them as publishers of outstand- in daily newspapers. When Dealey died last spring, it seem ed that an era might have ended for the Dallas News. But, such is the strength of an institutional newspaper, the News has carried on without losing step. And it is to be suppos ed that the Herald-Tribune will do likewise. From TCU comes a tale of something that could only happen in an English class of GI students. Miss^ Rippy, the instructor, wrote on the board, “Jack is a captain,” and went on to explain that in this case the word “captain” was a predicate nominative. “Now if I said, ‘Jack struck the captain,” continued Miss Rippy, “what would that be?” Without hesitation the class in unison answered, “Court Martial!” TO EACH HIS OWN B. MIKE, radio columnist for the Portland Oregonian asks: “Why hasn’t the Postal Dept, adopted ‘To Each His Zone’ for its own slogan?” HOW ABOUT APPLES? ONE of the debutants “wore a strand of pears” at a formal as sembly in the Crystal Ballroom of the Hotel Texas, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Tlie Battalion The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and the City of College Station, is published semi-weekly and circulated on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Member Plssoaoted CpHe&iote Press Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Station, (Aggieland), Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870. Subscription rate $4.00 per school year. Advertising rates on request. Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City. Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Allen Self - Corps Editor Vick Lindley Veteran Editor David M. Sehgman - Tuesday Associate Editor Charles E. Murray Friday Associate Editor Paul Martin Sports Editor Larry Goodwyn — Assistant Sports Editor Ike Ashbum, Jr. Annex Editor Wendell McClure, Peyton McKnight Advertising Managers Gerald Monson Circulation Manager Ferd English, Arthur Matula, Wm. Colville, Dudley Burris, J. M. Nelson Reporters A1 Hudeck, Jack Herrington Photographers Begin Floriculture Research Establishment of the first major college research pro gram in the South in the field of floriculture has just been announced at A. & M. by Professor F. W. Hensel, head of the Landscape Art Department.-^ Prof. A. F. DeWerth, who conducts the College’s course in floriculture, is director of the new Texas or ganization, the Texas Floriculture Research Association. With annual gross business of over $25,000,000 a year, the Texas floriculture industry is now turn ing to scientific research for its answer. Studies will be conducted in problems of flower-raising in the South, with soil analysis, disease prevention, pest control, and similar services for its spon sors. Monthly bulletins will dis tribute findings of the research program, as well as other in formation vital to those interes ted in the growing of flowers in this area. Recently organized, the Texas Floriculture Research Association is an adjunct of the Texas Flor ists’ Association. It is headed by J. W. Weatherford, Houston, pres ident; George W. Wolfe of Waco, vice-president; Prof. Hensel, trea surer; and Prof. DeWerth, secre tary and research director. Offi cers are maintained at College Station. In addition to the research pro jects, the group will sponsor short courses at the College and will cooperate with the Landscape Art Department, which has recently es tablished the first course for train ing young men in floriculture in the South. Letters Aggieland Dear Editor: There’s no use having a good idea unless you do something about it. The “Aggieland” address idea, published in the Batt several weeks ago, is good. Why not suggest that all students use that on return addresses on their letters? Stu dents could, in turn, request that their correspondents use that (Ag gieland) as an address. Walt Stone. (Ed Note: The Batt is ask ing for a committee of repre sentative students to see the postmaster about using Aggie land as a return address. For the present, we suggest the style “College Station (Aggieland), Texas,” as now used in the Bat talion’s front page date line.) Local AVC Group Surveys Room and House Vacancies The Bryan - College Station Chapter of the American Veterans Committee proposed to operate a booth in the lobby of the Palace theater in Bryan during the week of January 13-18 for the purpose of/ surveying this area for vacant rooms and houses for veterans and their families. The proposal was made at their Monday meeting. The survey will attempt to get in formation as to the size, location, and rent of all vacant facilities op en for occupancy by veterans dur ing, the coming semester. The housing situation in the College area has caused a great deal of concern in the past, and it is hoped that the survey will do something to relieve the situation. The results of the survey will be relayed to the meh who need hous es by means of a booth in the YMCA at the beginning of next semester, or by the distribution of copies of the list to interested par ties. Geography Dept, to Offer Meteorology Course Next Term The Geography Department has announced that it plans to offer a course in Weather and Climate (Geography 306) next semester. The class is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Fri day at 11 a. m. and will require no prerequisites. This course aims to present con cisely and systematically the sci ence of meteorology in its present stage of development. The pri mary purpose is to set forth the facts and principles concerning the behavior of the atmosphere. Students interested in taking this course should discuss the course with Dr. G. W. Schlessel- man in the Geography office of the Chemistry building. Newman Club Meets Friday at 7:15 p. m. A report on the National Stu dent Conference, held in Chicago during the holidays, will be given at a meeting of the A. & M. New man Club. The meeting will be held Friday, January 10, at 7:15 p. m., in the basement of St. Mary’s Chapel. Joe Cullinan and Bob Weiler, who were present at the confer ence, reported many discussions of particular interest to students, as the plans discussed and adopted concerned them. Following the reports of the committee members, plans for the redecoration of the chapel base ment will be discussed. All mem bers are urged to be present, as their suggestions and assistance are needed. 'Best Years' 1 Named Top Film for 1946 “The Best Years of Our Lives” has been voted the finest film of 1946 by the New York Film Critics. Close runner-up was the Eng lish production, “Henry V”, from which Laurence Olivier received world acclaim for being the pic tures’ producer, director, and star. Third most popular film was “Brief Encounter”, an English film, followed by “Road to Uto pia”, which starred Hope and Crosby in their antics. “Anna and the King of Siam”, the story of an English girl in a foreign king’s harem, followed by “A Walk in the Sun”, said to be one of the best pictures to come out of this war. France added her bit by making, “The Wei 1-Diggers’ Daughter, which placed sixth; “The Green Years” and “Notorious” were the last American contributions and England finished the list of the best ten with a semi-documentary film about the Royal Merchant Marine, entitled “The Raider”. Journalism Courses Scheduled for Next Term Under Miller Former Instructor at Baylor and Wisconsin Universities to Teach Otis Miller, of Anson, West Tex as journalist, lawyer, and farmer, will join the A. & M. staff as as sistant professor for journalism courses effective February 1, Charles N. Shepardson, Dean of Agriculture, has announced. He will replace Norris G. Da vis, who will join the staff of the Department of Journalism at the University of Texas. Miller will teach courses in tech nical journalism, including news paper and magazine reporting of agricultural and other fields. He will be on the staff of the Depart ment of Agricultural Economics and Sociology. Instructor at Baylor Miller taught journalism at Bay lor University and at the Univer sity of Wisconsin before returning to Texas to enter law. During the time that he was in the field of law, he served as county attor ney, county judge, and district at torney. While a county judge, he was elected president of the State Association of County Judges and Commissioners. Also while coun ty judge, he led a state-wide cam paign that resulted in a special session of the legislature and the passage of the Road Bond Assump tion Law. Returning to journalism, Miller organized and built up a weekly newspaper, the Jones County Ob server at Anson. He also has per sonally operated his own farms in Jones County. A member of Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalist fraternity, Miller includes in his professional experience several years of work as reporter and feature writer on the Austin Statesman and the El Paso Herald, and free-lance writ ing for numerous newspapers and magazines. He is a 32nd degree Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Shrine. Technical Journalism Students in technical journalism at A. & M. are finding an ever growing demand for the articles they write in the classes which Miller will teach. Recently major articles written by the students have been published in Farm and Ranch, Progressive Farmer, the Southwest Food Journal, South western Sheep and Goat Raiser, the magazine section of the Hous ton Chronicle, and many other Texas newspapers. Newspapers and radio stations in particular are offering jobs, such as regional editor, to students of A. & M. who have technical training, together with a minor in journalism. What’s Cooking FRIDAY, Jan. 10 7:15 p. m. Newman Club, St. Mary’s Chapel. SATURDAY, Jan. 11 7:30 p. m. Mixed Bridge Group, Veterans’ Lounge, Sbisa Hall. 8:00 p. m. Newman Club Dance, K of C Hall, Bryan. SUNDAY, Jan. 12 8:30 a. m. & 10:30 a. m. Catho lic Mass, St. Mary’s Chapel. MONDAY, Jan. 13 ' 7:00 p. m. Sophomore Class meeting, Assembly hall. Sopho more Ball plans. Veteran & Corps urged to attend. 7:00 p. m. Camera Club, Guiort Hall. Special business meeting. 7:30 p. m. Choir practice, St. Mary’s Chapel. Bridge Party Tuesday Planned by Vet Wives Bridge fans will have their in ning at a mixed bridge party sponsored by the Veterans’ Wives Club, January 11 at 7:30 p. m. in Sbisa Lounge. Couples will play bridge all eve ning. Pries will be given for high and low score. All persons plan nings to attend notify Nell Creel, phone 4-4504. A charge of 50 cents per couple will be made. PENNY’S SERENADE W. L. Penberthy In the field of sports the “breaks of the game” come in for a lot of discussion. The fact that a team capitalized on the breaks is often given as the reason for their vic tory by those who recorded the game for the press or radio. In most games there are usually a few so-called “breaks” and for this reason many coaches spend a lot of time in em phasizing play ing for the “breaks”. The most common break in football is the? fumble, and it is interes ting to note that the team is hust ling and playing hard, head s-u p and alert ball re covers more than their share of fumbles. Some teams suffer bad ly when a break goes against them and go to pieces, while others seem to be able to make the best of it and steady down to win. Some teams score quickly when they benefit from a break, while others get a little too jubilant and fumble their chances. In life we are going to get a certain number of breaks. Some are not really breaks but situa tions, be they good or bad, that have become self-provoked. Some of us feel that we have had too many good or bad breaks, and we may not be able to understand why certain people have many un deserved tough breaks, while oth ers have just as many undeserved good ones-^-but I guess that is life. However, just as in sports, if we are working diligently at our job, if we are heads up and alert, the chances are very much in our favor of being able to recognize and capitalize on the breaks of the game so that we will have many more good breaks than bad ones. We ai’e sure to get some bad breaks, but these can be overcome by the same recipe used by a good team—get down to fundamentals and steady down. The way we handle the breaks of the game can have a lot of in fluence on our success in life. Wilcox Attends Teacher’s Retirement Board Meeting George B. Wilcox, head of the Education and Psychology Depart ment, attended a meeting of the Teacher’s Retirement Board held in Austin on January 8. Routine business matters were discussed, as well as the proposed amendment to the retirement act. Liberal changes are contemplated, Wilcox stated. We Have These Late Recordings for Your Dancing and Listen ing Pleasure .... • Stardust— Tex Beneke • A Gal in Calico— Benny Goodman • At Sundown— Tommy Dorsey • Foggy, Foggy Dew— Burl Ives • You Broke the Only Heart That Ever Loved You— Sammy Kaye • I Can’t Get Started— Maurice Rocco • There, I’ve Said it Again Vaughan Monroe • I Used to Work in Chicago— Sammy Kaye • Pretending— Kate Smith • Easy Pickin’s— Frankie Carle • Oh! But I Do— Harry James HASWELL’S In BRYAN Penny BETWEEN THE BOOKENDS . . . A Book for Pre-Med Students Is Doug Gutlierie's 'History 9 By Winora Barton Readers’ Adviser A HISTORY OF MEDICINE, by Douglas Guthrie Lippincott Company, Philadel phia, 1946 The publishers say of this book: “A new . . . different ... a re freshing approach to the traditions of an ancient and honored profes sion!”, and with that statement I wholeheartedly agree. This is an appreciation of the marvelous ad vancement of medicine as a science and as an art. Only by looking back can we acquire the knowledge and ability to look forward. In any field of study history supplies a convenient avenue of approach. The many recent and spectac ular developments of medical science have overshadowed the earlier achievements of the pio neers in the field, and there is a tendency to forget the essential benefits of their courageous work. “Early medical theories and practices now regarded as quaint, sometimes amusing, and of little value to the modern world, in reality constituted the foundation of all future Pro gress”. Dr. Guthrie gives a lively ac count of the chronologic and geo graphic march of medicine. Count less pertinent anecdotes describing practices in other times make de lightful reading, a truly fascinat ing consecutive narrative of the development of the healing art. This is a book for men of science and for those who wish to know what medicine has done for hu manity. * * * , THIS WAS CICERO, by J. H. Tloclrpll Knopf, New York, 1946 If you’ve always steered clear of biographies, and if you think history is dull, then you have a jarring surprise coming to you when you read H. J. Haskell’s new book This Was Cicero. This is a DALACE ■ PHONE 2-8879 BRYAN, TEXAS brilliant biography of a great Ro man politician from the viewpoint of the modern observer of politics. Marcus Tussius Cicero was one of the greatest men produced in the last decades of the Roman Republic. Of all great Romans, he has remained through twenty centuries one of the most widely studied and least understood. There have been more than a dozen biographies of Cicero, but the most amazing things were taken for granted by his biog- r a p h e r. Why accept as facts statements which Cicero made in his political campaigns? We certainly allow for plenty of stretching of the truth and “dress ing up” of the facts in the speeches of our present day politicians. Long known as the foremost ora tor of his time, as essayist and letter-writer, few of us* realize that a great deal of his patriotic oratory was the result of partisan politics. Cicero did not think of himself as a great literary figure, but as a great statesman. Mr. Haskell was editor of the Kansas City Star for many years, and he had ample opportunity to observe all brands of political con niving. Even the tricks of a poli tician in a remote era of “a Re public two thousand years dead”' do not escape his keen observation. The book is most readable and cur iously timely, a worthy successor to his earlier work, The New Deal in Old Rome. Opens 1:00 p.m. Ph. 4-1181 FRI. and SAT. Gary Cooper Jean Arthur — In — “The Plainsman” Preview Saturday Night Sun., Mon., and Tues. Edward G. Robinson — In — “The Stranger” Saturday Preview Sunday - Monday “The Gay Desperado” with Ida Lupino GUION HALL THEATER Friday and Saturday — Double Feature Paulette Goddard and Burg-ess Meredith “Diary of A Chambermaid” Claudette Colbert Warren William “Imitation of Life” SUNDAY and MONDAY BING sings 5 songs ALL SENSATIONAL! i INGRID sings! It’s a brand new thrill!