THE BATTALION, College Station (Aggieland), Texas Thursday, March 20, 1947:
Page Two
Tears in Our Coffee ...
Reading the gripe letters received by the Batt, or listen
ing to the heated discussion over coffee-cups in George’s or
Casey’s, one gets the impression that everybody at A. & M.
is mad at everybody else.
Hardly a week passes that the Batt isn’t asked to jump
with all four feet on somebody or some institution. Usually
there is no specific grievance stated. Just something vague
like a political campaign speech. Hints, insinuations, innuen
do. Seldom any facts. When a rumor is investigated and
found to be untrue, there is a sigh of disappointment heard
oveh the entire campus.
Is this a healthy situation for A. & M.? There is a kind
of griping with which we are familiar (and which we all
do) that lets out the hot air and makes us feel better for it.
Suck griping is a standard condition in all colleges and all
military units.
But the griping around here lately doesn’t seem to let
off any steam, or make anyone feel better. Week by week,
faces are growing longer, eyes growing sadder, while more
and more tears are shed in our coffee.
As part of this defeatist, negativistic attitude, someone
asks the Batt every week to “open fire” on various indivi
duals or institutions, on general principles. Here is a par
tial list of those we have been asked to “roast” editorially:
All officers of the college, the Board of Directors, the
Athletic Council, and everybody in the Administration
Building.
The military department in toto.
The Athletic Department, the Housing Department,
the Veterans Administration and the Veterans Advisor.
B. & CU.
The faculty, the laundry, the Y.M.C.A.
All officers of the Cadet Corps, of the Veteran Stu
dents Association, the Senior and Junior class, in fact all
officers of any kind whatever.
The Battalion, the Longhorn, the Engineer and the
Agriculturist.
The Band, the Aggielanders, the Singing Cadets.
The Student Life Committee, the Student Council,
and the Student Activities Office. George’s and Casey’s.
The Post Office. The railroads and the bus lines.
The Exchange Store, the college cafeterias, Guion
Hall, the Campus and Palace theatres, Town Hall. The
town of Bryan generally. The town of College Station in
all ways. The weather.
(Did we leave anybody out? We wouldn’t want any
one’s feelings hurt.)
What are the charges against these various organiza
tions? It doesn’t matter. Fill them in yourself.
“Nothing is easier than fault finding. No brains, no
talent, no self-denial, no character of any sort are re
quired to set up in the grumbling business”—Elbert
Hubbard’s Scrap Book.
Conductor or Coach?...
Being the conductor of a symphony orchestra is about
like being a football coach, to judge by the blow-ups this
year. Not long ago Arthur Rodzinksi walked out on the New
York Philharmonic in a huff, accepting the lower-paid post
of conductor of the Chicago Symphony. Reason ? Too much
bickering among the backers.
Now Ernst Hoffman of the Houston Symphony has an
nounced that he will leave at the end of the season. Hoff
man has built up the Houston orchestra from a collection of
amateur violinists to a ranking professional symphony, but
his backers are said to be unhappy, and to want a “big name”
conductor so that the Houston group will be rated more close
ly to the Dallas orchestra. Personally, we wonder why any
one ever becomes an orchestra conductor ... or a football
coach.
BETWEEN THE BOOKENDS .. .
FDR Biography, ‘Hiroshima 9
Excellent Reading for All
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
WAR TALK
By Wilnora Barton
AS HE SAW IT;
By Elliott Roosevelt
This highly controversial book is
one of the five or six published
concerning the late President
Roosevelt. Almost everyone agrees
that no biography of FDR can
even approach objectiveness or
comprehensiveness until after the
passage of decades which we hope
will allow future biographers an
unbiased (if such a thing is pos
sible) view. Be that as it may—
contemporary accounts by those
who knew him will be of great
value to the future biographers of
Mr. Roosevelt.
One thing is certain—regard
less of your personal views, any
book about Franklin D. Roosevelt
will receive plenty of interest
from the people, here and a-
broad. Elliott Roosevelt was in
a unique position as his father’s
constant companion and, he says,
confidant. The book covers the
period from the Atlantic Char
ter meeting to Yalta and after. «
Here’s the story as told freely
by the late President to his son
in private chats after the long
days of conferences with world
leaders were over.
Elliott Roosevelt’s purpose in
writing the book was to show how
far, in his opinion, the world has
moved from the paths and plans
that Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped
and worked, prayed that it might
follow. As such, it deserves care
ful reading.
□ □ □
HIROSHIMA; By John Hersey
You have heard of this story.
Perhaps you have read parts of it,
for the New Yorker of August 31,
1946 gave all of its space to it,
and newspapers here and abroad
reprinted it. Now it is out in book
form, a story of six human beings
who lived through the greatest
man-made disaster in history. With
simplicity that approaches genius
John Hersey relates what these
six—a clerk, a widowed s e a m-
stress, a physician, a Methodist
Minister, a young surgeon, and a
German Catholic priest—were do
ing at the time the atom bomb was
dropped destroying the city.
This book has been called by
Lewis Gannett “the best reporting
to come out of the war”, and it
has already become classic. Its
power derives from the fact that
it is the honest story of little
people in an average city caught
up in the fury of the mightiest
destructive force yet discovered by
man.
Dear Editor:
In reply to A1 Hudeck’s letter
suggesting use of the $1,400 paid
to Student Activities by A. & M.
Photo Shop to defray the bonfire
expenses, you say that the $1,400
has to go to help defray a $22,000
LONGHORN printing bill. You’ll
have to be a lot plainer than that.
We pay $16 for Student Acti
vities. Some goes for a coupon
book, some goes to the Batt, (I
wonder why), and a lot goes for
the purchase of a copy of the
LONGHORN. Most photographic
costs for the LONGHORN are paid
by students or clubs. In addition,
each club is soaked $25 printing
costs for their page. Then, we
have paid ads in the LONGHORN.
Figuring 6,000 copies printed and
sold for $6 a copy, you have $36,-
000 in sales, plus the club’s $25
donations, paid advertisements,
and that dear $1,400 paid by the
photographer. Just who in (- )
is supposed to retire after this is
sue of the LONGHORN comes out?
Sincerely yours,
DONALD M. CORLEY, 46
$ $ $
(Longhorn Editor’s Note: If
I could keep books and add fig
ures the way Corley does in his
letter, I would say immediately
that I would be the one to re
tire. If such were the case, I
would be $14,000 over in LONG
HORN sales alone, as 5,500
books at $4' per copy does not
quite add up to his figure. I
won’t attempt to enumerate the
exact cost of the 1947 LONG
HORN or where the total amount
of revenue comes from to pay
for it; but I am in the position
to know that after adding up
all totals of incoming revenue,
we will lack several dollars of
making the book pay for itself.
The remainder is made up by the
Student Activities Office.
If Corley, or anyone else with
the “intellectual curiosity”, would
like to know more about the
functions of the LONGHORN
staff, or maybe more about the
financial dealings involved, the
LONGHORN office in Room 5,
Administration Building, is open
every afternoon from 3 to 5.
New workers are always welcome
to join the group of students
who are interested enough in
the book to come down and lend
a helping hand. There are mul
titudes of tasks necessary to put
out a book of this size. (And
oddly enough, they receive no
monetary benefits.)
HARRY W. SAUNDERS, '44
Co-Editor, 1947 LONGHORN
ALICIA, NOT NORA
Dear Editor:
That was a good review of the
Ballet Theatre, but your critic
stumbled in one spot. It was Al
icia Alonzo, not Nora Kaye, who
danced the Pas de Deux with
Youskevitch.
WICK VAN KOUENHOVEN
(Ed Note: Quite right. The
critic, mired down in Brazos
mud, arrived too late to hear
announcement of the .change, and
took the printed program liter
ally.)
What’s Cooking
THURSDAY, March 20
7:00 p.m. — College Employees
Dinner Club. Sbisa Hall.
7:30 p.m.—Land of the Lakes
Club meets in room 324, Academic
Building.
7:00 p.m. — Brownwood Club
meets in room 123, Academic Build
ing.
7:00 p.m.—Corpus Christi Club,
Room 227* Academic Building.
* 7:30 p.m.—Denton County Club
Room 325 in Academic Building. A
duchess for the cotton ball will be
selected.
FRIDAY, March 21
7:30 p.m.—Chess Club Meeting,
Vets Lounge, Sbisa Hall. Brief
discussion of the “end game”.
9:00 p.m.—Infantry Ball, Sbisa
Hall.
SATURDAY, March 22
9:00 p.m. — All-College Dance,
Sbisa Hall.
MONDAY, March 24
7:00 p.m.—Range & Forestry
Club, Agricultural Engineering
Building. Election of officers will
be held.
7:15 p.m.—A&M Collegiate FFA
Chapter, lecture room of Agricul
tural Engineering Building. Mr.
R. A. Manire & Mr. Lano Barron
will be the speakers.
7:30 p.m.—Marketing & Finance
Club.
Annual Picnic to Be Held
By El Paso Club Friday
The El Paso Club will hold a
picnic Friday, March 21, and its
members will meet at 6 p. m. in
front of the YMCA to go to the
picnic grounds. Students of the
Bryan Field Annex are cordially
invited to join in. The menu will
consist of beer and barbeque.
Dr. H. G. Johnston To
Address Entomology Club
A meeting of the Entomology
Club will be held Thursday, March
20, at 7:30 p. m. in room 6 of
the Science Hall.
Dr. H .G. Johnston, head of the
newly formed Department of En
tomology, embracing the School,
the Experiment Station, and the
Extension Service, will address the
Club members. All persons inter
ested are urged to attend the meet
ing.
Dear Editor:
I’ve never expressed myself in
this manner before, but after read
ing, as I have in the past, the
letters in your column, I have
this to say:
Damn this talk about who won
the war. War is a subject which,
by all of us, should best be put
from our minds. It is by the sub
ject and the amount of thinking
we perform on the subject that
our philosophies of life are deve
loped. Certainly it is for our best
interest and the best interest of
our nation that warlike philoso
phies be steered clear of. Unless
we elevate our topic of contro
versy and discussion to a higher
moral and more sensible plane,
we people, from whom national and
international policy is to come in
the future, will be lucky if we have
as much as a family policy to
formulate.
God forbid that I should ever
discredit fellow countryman, for
however little or great the duty
and sacrifice he made for our
country, as long as he was in
there pitching and was sincere in
his efforts.
Whenever I hear a man say,
“Look what I did,” or, “look what
a showing my outfit made in this
war,” the well known mathemati
cal process of elimination asserts
itself with me and the final con
clusion is that some in this school,
at one time or another, had it
just as tough as he or his outfit
did. If not in this school, then
perhaps over this vast nation there
is someone whft endured greater
hardship or made greater sacri
fices than he.
But of this one thing I am cer
tain, there are thousands who
are not personally able to go on
record as saying “I did more than
anyone else toward winnign the
war.” Can anyone of us dare say,
“I did more”?
With your permission, may I
say it for those who are not here
to say it, “We gave everything”.
Forgive us our silly prattle, and
thanks fellows for all you’ve done.
PRESTON R. CONNALLY
AIR CORPS
Dear Editor:
We have delayed writing this
letter in order to collect a more
representative group of facts con
cerning Air Corps policy than
those brought forward in A. D.
Bruce’s article.
Qualified Air Corps personnel
are authorized flight pay for sev
eral very good reasons. To begin
with, the insurance premiums of
flying personnel are higher than
those of our friends on the ground.
The life expectancy of flying per
sonnel is fifty-five years compared
to sixty-two for members of the
Ground Forces. This gives the
ground forces men seven years
more in which to earn their world
ly fortune than the Air Corps
men. On cross country flights,
crew members are not always on
per diem, but often have to pay for
their meals and quarters out of
their flying pay.
The statement that four hours
a month of flying time is all that
is necessary to stay on flying stat
us is erroneous, because a cer
tain proficiency must be main
tained in order to continue receiv
ing the extra pay. If all of our
flying personnel only flew four
hours per month there would soon
be few aircraft left to fly and
fewer crews to fly them. The four
hours is merely a minimum.
In answer to the uniform issue,
the pink and forrest green uniform
seen so often on the backs and legs
of all army officer personnel was
introduced by Air Corps officers as
an Air Corps uniform a few years
before the war. The ground for
ces “borrowed” the uniform and
during the war years it was com
monly worn by all officers. The
Air Corps must design a uniform
that can not be borrowed by their
fellow members of the armed for
ces and that will set it off from
the army, just as the navy is set
off from the army.
The technical information con
tained in the above paragraphs was
obtained from a ground forces man
who transferred to the Air Corps
and who has never drawn a day’s
flight pay. His only regret is that
all ground forces personnel can
not get into the Air Corps.
Wilton N. Hammond ’48;
Jack E. Turner ’47;
Jack E. Jackson ’47;
Hugh M. Riggins, Jr. ’42;
Ivan F. Bradshaw ’49;
Howard W. Horne ’47;
Robert P. Ingram ’47.
Lavaca Club Elects
Duchess; Donates
$25 to FFA Clubs
Miss Mary Alice Peters, Yoa
kum high school senior, has been
chosen to represent the Lavaca
County Club at the Cotton Ball
and Pageant on April 18, Jimmie
Baros, club reporter, announced.
She will be escorted by Ben Sustr
of Moulton, a junior cadet.
The Lavaca Club voted to do
nate $25 to each of the FFA
chapters in the county: Moulton,
Shiner, Yoakum, and Hallettsville.
Each chapter may use the money
as they so desire, for prizes or
showmanship, at their next FFA
show.
Prof. Grandi Named to AIEE
L. L. Grandi, associate profes
sor of electrical engineering, has
been made a full member in the
American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, it was announced to
day. There are two other full mem
bers among the electrical engineer
ing faculty, while another two
have attained the top rank of fel
low.
The Battalion
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas and the City of College Station, is published tri-weekly and circulated i
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons.
Member
Pbsocided CoQe6»ate 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
Vick Bindley
Charles E. Murray .
J. K. B. Nelson
David M. Seligman
Paul Martin
flartm ..
Matula
Andy
Wendell McClure
Martin E. Crossly
Ferd B. English, FrankUn Cleland, William Miller, Doyle Duncan,
Ben Schrader, Jack Goodloe, Wm. K. Colville, Walter
Lowe, Jr., Lester B. Gray, Jr., Carl C. Krueger, Jr., Mack T.
Nolen
Corps Editor
Veteran Editor
—Tuesday Associate Editor
-Thursday Associate Editor
-Saturday Associate Editor
Sports Editor
..Sports Writer
-Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
-Reportera
It Pays to Advertise . . .
Telling Others
About U. S.
Through Facts
by A. D. Bruce, Jr.
A project of the Public Affairs
Division of the State Department
has been dramatized recently by
the beginning of daily broadcasts
to Russia, with short-wave radio
penetrating the Soviet Govern
ment’s “iron curtain.” The broad
casts, much criticized both here
and abroad, are, however, but a
small part of the activities of this
office.
These include broadcasts in many
more languages, the distribution
of American moving pictures,
books, magazines, newspaper ar
ticles and news, and exchanges of
students. It all is costing $19,000,-
000 this year. The Budget Bureau,
going against the trend toward
reduced expenditures, has approv
ed an increase of $6,000,000 for
next year. Meanwhile, criticisms
are many. They range from left-
wing mutterings about an effort
to control international avenues
of information, to right-wing ap
prehensions about “propaganda
wars” and questions as to what is
being accomplished. The following
might throw some light as to the
last question.
The Russian program is still in
an experimental phase. Russian
listeners welcomed the news that
the early broadcasts brought, but
they found little entertainment in
American folk music of the “Tur
key in the Straw” variety, and
little information in lengthy and
technical discussions of the Ameri
can Government and scientific sub
jects. The effort is to present news
not published in the Russian press
or to give information that may
have been distorted by Soviet news
papers and radio. Russian views
on the international control of the
atomic bomb have been the subject
of several news announcements.
The broadcasts are supplemen
ted by a Russian-language maga
zine called “America”, a slick-
paper job, rich in color printing
and illustration. The Soviet Gov
ernment permits 50,000 copies to
be sent in monthly—they are read
to tatters.
★
OTHER BROADCASTS. In ad
dition to Russian, broadcasts go
out in 24 languages daily. Most
of the world is covered, and all
programs are regularly scheduled.
About 17 per cent of their content
is news, 34 per cent are comments
on the news, and 49 per cent are
features on America.
MOVING PICTURES. Documen
tary film dealing with aspects of
American life, are distributed by
the foreign staffs to interested or
ganizations and institutions, The
audience is estimated at 15,000,-
000 monthly. The films are ac
quired from governmental agen
cies, industrial concerns and or
ganizations. New sound tracks in
many languages are added.
THE PRESS. A daily, 7,000-
word report on developments in
the United States is sent to all
points. This is for the information
of embassy and consulate officials,
and also for the use of newspapers
in other countries. Articles oft the
U. S., accompanied by photographs
or printing matrices are sent by
mail and made available to news
papers and magazines for publi
cation or background use. Libra
ries, too, are maintained in 41
countries. They are stocked with
American books, periodicals, re
cordings and art exhibits, and are
prepared to answer questions about
the United States. Some 220,000
readers use the libraries monthly,
and about 35,000,000 questions on
America are asked annually.
STUDENT EXCHANGE. The
Department places great stress on
the exchange of students as an in
strument for peace. Under its aus
pices, 11,000 foreign students were
enrolled in American educational
institutions, despite overcrowding,
last year. They expect to increase
that number to 50,000.
The effort, as laid down by
President Truman, is to present
a “full and fair picture” of the
United States and let that clear
up the distortions and misconcep
tions.
"N
Be one of the
fotaT? one}
The two-buttoner coat
with long, low roll
lapels gives you the
style points that are
truly new.
(jjaldroptfg
“Two Convenient Store*”
College Station - Bryan
PALACE
BRYAN, TEXAS
THURSDAY, FRIDAY
and SATURDAY
James Stewart in
It’s A
Wonderful Life”
COMING—Preview Saturday
Night, Sunday, Monday
and Tuesday
Sonny Tufts in
“EASY COME
EASY GO”
Opens 1:00 p.m. Ph. 4-1181
THURS.LAST DAY
S IPs the grandest romantif
fun ever set to music/
mm.
CLAP HANDS —
What a happy hit! What romance 1
"Cliimu
s'ftps our
Aczciod.lrjm "Pot O Gold"
HORACf CHARLES
HITS
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
“Tall in The
Saddle”
— With —
John Wayne
Ella Raines
OPENS 1 p. m. DAILY
TODAY ONLY!
lig^
nonMilWAvMt
-JOAN LESLIE JANIS PAIGE ■SjjAKAR-PATljtRAgr
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
DOUBLE FEATURE
William Eythe
Lloyd Nolan
Signe Basso
directed by Produced by
HENRY LOUIS
HAIHAWM • de MEM
A 20th Century-Fox Picture
UNITED APTlSTS p'eserus
“-““Bennett ““"Fields
Paris-UiKlerpii"' 1