Page Two
THE BATTALION, College Station (Aggieland), Texas
Saturday, March 29, 1947;
The Gilchrist Issue ...
The Battalion has been bitterly criticized for not jump
ing on “the band wagon” and treating the charges sensa
tionally. We do not believe in making judgments after hear
ing only one side. We can hardly be accused of suppressing
the students’ side in this issue. But before we come to con
clusions, we want to know if these charges stand up under
investigation. If they do, they should most certainly be
acted upon. Then we will hop aboard with all four feet. . . .
Through the dust of charges and counter-charges, de
nials and rebuttals, one fact stands out: something is radi
cally wrong at A. & M. Of the many charges hurled during
the Veterans meeting Thursday night, some were grave and
some were silly. To sift out the facts will be a huge, yet
delicate job.
Therefore we hope the state legislature investigating
committee will not try to hurry their findings. Two or three
days will not be adequate. The people of Texas, along with
the students of A. & M., will not be satisfied with a white
wash ; will not be satisfied with a smear. We require a full,
impartial investigation, free from political or personal bias.
If these seem cool and casual words at this time of great
tension, so be it. Let us not forget that the entire nation
is watching us. “Can this be Texas A. & M.?” they are
asking. We must show by our actions that we are the same
Aggies the nation was paying tribute to a scant few years
ago.
Discipline, not rowdyism, has been the keynote of all
“rebellious” meetings this year, either of the corps or of the
veterans. This fact will be remembered by the citizens of
Texas.
It is unfortunate that A. & M. must now undergo a year
or two of unflattering notoriety. But a nasty job cannot
be shirked because it is nasty. That would hardly be the
Aggie way.
San Jacinto day musters will be held soon. It is hoped
that every A. & M. club will dedicate itself on that day to
restoring the welfare and good name of Texas A. & M. Col-
lege.
Was This ‘Liberty?...
We could hardly believe that the events described be
low took place in Houston, Texas, United States of America.
But the document is signed by four public school executives
of this state. We let the report speak for itself, without
redundant comment.
Because of inquiries from some of the members of the Texas State
Teachers Association as to certain aspects of the convention program,
a special committee of the T.S.T.A. has made a careful investigation
of all the details in connection with the cancellation of the invitation
to Upton Close to appear on the program of the convention held in
Houston on November 29, 1946, and makes to our membership this re
port of facts.
When it became known that Mr. Close had been invited, members
of the Association and others began registering protests. Finally a
certain group .from Houston represented to our president that it was
determined to prevent the appearance of the speaker, even to a point
that could have led to physical disorder.
*
The Association's convention program is the responsibility of the
presiaent and of the President alone. In this instance, our president,
anxious that no unseemingly incident should mar her convention, and
ACTING UPON HER CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT, decided to change
the program. On November 19, 1946, Miss Koch notified by long
distance telephone and by Western Union Telegraph, M. C. Turner,
President of the Dixie Bureau in Dallas who handles all engagements
for Mr. Close in Texas, that she was cancelling Mr. Close’s contract.
-“The Association paid in full Mr. Close’s fee thus discharging all con
tractual obligations
On Friday night, after presiding at the session and completing
the printed program, the president adjourned the meeting. There
upon, Mr. Blanton, Executive Vice President of the Houston Chamber
of Commerce rushed to the stage, took possession of the loud speak
er, and introduced Mr. Close. The Convention hall was well policed by
Houston policemen evidently acting under the guidance of the Gen
eral Manager of the Chamber of Commerce. The speech lasted about
fifteen minutes, with more time devoted to a condemnation of Miss
Koch, our president, than to the subject anounced by the speaker.
★
It is the judgment of the Committee that:—
The president of our Association always makes the Convention
Program, and that only those invited by the president have any part
or any right to appear on the program.
The Association stands squarely behind our president who we
believe used her best judgment in making arrangements for the con
vention program.
The convention hall and rooms adjoining were rented by the Asso
ciation for a cash consideration paid in advance, and the Association
alone had any rights in those rooms and hall at the Friday night
session of the convention.
Mr. Blanton, Executive Vice President of the Chamber of Com
merce of Houston and the municipal police took possession of the hall
and microphone (paid for by the T. S. T. A.) immediately after the
adjournment of the program and gave by force another program
which the Association had not scheduled as shown by the printed pro
gram.
The only question involved in the whole matter is, NOT a question
of freedom of speech, NOT a question at all of the proper or im
proper attitude of any one rather and solely the question of whether
a great convention has the American right to give its own program
in its own way as set up and printed by its own officers, without
hindrance and without dictation of the Chamber of Commerce and the
City Police of the host city.
The heckling of Governor Arnail and the booing of Mr. Close was
not done by teachers but by two INTRUDING groups that are in con
flict with each other.
The teachers of Houston and the various arrangement committees
gave the utmost consideration to the needs of the convention and ex
tended innumerable courtesies to our membership.
It is with deep regret that the committee has to call attention to
the indignities referred to above.
H. W. Stilwell, Texarkana (Superintendent of Public Schools); H. D.
Fillers, Wichita Falls (Superintendent of Public Schools); Joe Humph
rey, Abilene (Principal of the Senior High School); Oscar Miller, San
Antonio (Principal of the Horace Mann Junior School).
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 on
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons.
Member
Pbsocided Gr>Ue6iate 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.
—Tuesday Associate Editor
-Thursday Associate Editor
Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York
Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Allen Self Corps Editor
Vick Lindley Veteran Editor
Charles E. Murray
J. K. B. Nelson
David M. Seligman Saturday Associate Editor
Paul Martin Sports Editor
Larry Goodwyn, Andy Matula, Jack Goodloe, Dick Baker, Earl Grant Sports Writers
Wendell McClure — . . Advertising Manager
Martin E. Crossly Circulation Manager
Ferd B. English. Franklin Cleland, William Miller, Doyle Duncan,
Ben Schrader, Wm. K. Colville, Walter Lowe, Jr., Lester
B. Gray, Jr., Carl C. Krueger, Jr., Mack T. Nolen
..Reporters
Peacetime Draft . . .
6-Month Plan
Receives 72%
Vote in Favor
By A. D. Bruce, Jr.
Universal military training, on
a modified basis, is coming back to
life. A new plan, as it is shaping
up now, calls basically for six
months rather than a year of full
time service. In essence, the plan
provides this outlook for young
men still under 20, if it is accepted:
At 17 all men are to be regist
ered for universal training, much
as they were under Selective Ser
vice. At 18, most of those regist
ered under the proposed plan are
to be inducted for six months of
full-time and another six months
of part-time training. Those still
in high school are to be deferred
until graduation.
★
EXEMPTIONS will be few; phy
sical and mental standards will be
much lower than in the Army.
FULL-TIME TRAINING for
six months is proposed for each
trainee, to be given in an Army
like camp near his home. Special
camps are to be provided, with
more elaborate barracks, refresh
ments limited to soft drinks, pro
fanity banned, a strict moral code
enforced, and courts-martial run
by trainees themselves.
PAY is to be considerably under
Army rates, probably at $7 to $15
a month. This is to provide spend
ing money during the training per
iod and is in addition to free food,
quarters, medical attention and
uniforms.
TYPE OF TRAINING, as plan
ned now, is to be largely military.
But the new plan emphasizes aca
demic instruction for those need
ing it, vocational training, and
much physical conditioning. The
idea is to give only basic training
in the military field, to be followed
up with more specialized training
in subsequent part-time courses.
STATUS of the trainee remains
that of a civilian. He will not
be available for service overseas,
for combat, or for other use by the
Army or Navy except in an emer
gency declared by Congress.
PART-TIME TRAINING is to
follow this six-month course for an
additional six months or longer.
These choices are offered the train
ee for this phase of the program:
NATIONAL GUARD or reserve
membership for six months is one
choice. This involves military train
ing one or two night a week, with
per diem pay at Army rates of
$2.50 a day for privates for each
day of actual training.
SPECIALIST TRAINING in an
approved technical trade or voca
tional school is another choice,
with tuition paid by Government.
COLLEGE ROTC courses are
a third choice, under an agree
ment to complete the four-year
course and accept a reserve of
ficer’s commission, if offered, up
on graduation.
ENLISTMENT in the Regular
Army, Navy or Marine Corps, or
appointment to any of the ser
vice academies, finally, is accepted
as a means of completing the indi
vidual’s training.
★
Some 72 percent of Americans
favor such a program, according
to a recent Gallup Poll. The plan
is backed by the White House, the
State Department, the Army and
the Navy. A pilot camp already is
in operation at Fort Knox, Ken
tucky, to perfect this type of
training.
These arguments are being pre
sented to a Congress already im
pressed bjfcthe need for more mili
tary power to back up the U. S.
stand in an unsettled world.
Letters
BATTLESHIP ‘TEXAS’
Dear Editor:
In my opinion the “Bat” is really
getting hard up for something to
print when it has to print an ar
ticle such as “Battleship ‘Texas’ ”
which appeared in the March 25th
issue.
The person who wrote it must
have been off his nut at the time.
After all, this old world (especially
Texas) is getting hard up when
it can’t spend a little money to up
hold traditions and to establish
memorials to remember famous
people and occurrences of history.
The Battleship “Texas” has had
a wonderful record and I think it
would be a good thing to made a
memorial out of the Battleship
“Texas”. She did her part and
did it darn well, and this old stuff
about all she did was “stand off
Normandy and lob shells (prob
ably at American troops) and wan
der aimlessly around Okinawa,”
just rubs my fur the wrong way;
I imagine there are a lot of other
people it affected the same way.
The fellow (nut) who wrote the
article made it sound as if the
“Texas” was on a pleasure cruise,
but when you have eight-inch shells
flying over you and into you, and
have Jap planes crashing around
you ,it sorta takes the pleasure
out of it.
He (whoever wrote that bunch
of bull) says his dad did as much
toward winning the was as the
“Texas” did. Maybe he didn’t
know the Navy didn’t play near as
big a role in the last war as they
did in World War II. In the first
few months after the invasion of
Okinawa there were more navy per
sonnel killed in action than the
Army and Marines there put to
gether.
Would you like to be wandering
aimlessly, as he put it, around Oki
nawa with that sort of thing go-
Symphony
Changed From
April 2 to 9
By David Seligman
Next on the Town Hall calen
dar of events is the appearance of
the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
Under the direction of Ernst Hoff
man, the organization will be com
posed of sixty members when it
performs on the campus April 9.
Originally slated for April 2, the
date was changed to avoid con
flict with the Easter holidays.
An imposing group of musicians,
the orchestra was picked among
the foremost twenty symphonic or
ganizations in the country. Hoff
mann and his musicians have been
well-received here in the past ap
pearances.
Contrasting with the programs
presented by the orchestra in the
previous performances, the enter
tainment will be supplied from
more formal presentations. Select
ed for their appearance here are
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony,
“Voices of Spring” by Strauss, and
the William Tell Overture.
This will be Hoffmann’s last
season with the Houston Sym
phony since he has tendered his
resignation this month. He was
director of the group for some
eleven years and has no doubt
been a factor in the growth in
size and quality of the organiza
tion in those seasons.
Those wishing to attend the per
formance who do not possess Town
Hall season tickets may purchase
general admittance for $1. Student
tickets are on sale at 60 cents each.
—TEXT—
(Continued From Page 1)
the school should be so great that,
no matter what the provocation,
he would permit no harmful pub
licity concerning the school.
Under Mr. Gilchrist’s adminis
tration, the scholastic standard of
Texas A&M has fallen. We have
lost the Blue Star, the symbol of
outstanding R.O.T.C. achievement.
Many of our sons are going to
other colleges and universities be
cause they cannot obtain the nec
essary course of study leading to a
degree, courses that A&M once
offered. We have many inexperi
enced men and women as instruc
tors. We need laboratory and hos
pital equipment. Yet our greatest
need is a strong, able leader for
our sons—tomorrow’s citizens.
We believe that your feeling of
responsibility for your high post
of office will cause you to investi
gate and deal fairly and impartial
ly with all facts; and that your
first interest will be the welfare of
the student body and the welfare
of Texas A&M College—the school
of the people.
Very sincerely yours,
THE FORT WORTH A&M
MOTHERS CLUB
TO: The Board of Directors: The
A.&M. Ex-Students Associa
tion and the Senior Class A.
& M. College
College Station, Texas:
In a special meeting of A&M
Ex-Students now residing in the
Winter Garden District, principally
Dimmit and Zavalla Counties, we
have reviewed and discussed all
available information pertaining
to the deplorable state of affairs
associated with the present admin
istration at Texas A&M.
Our information for this study
of affairs has been derived from
our contacts with members of the
present student body; from friends
ing on ? Hell no, you wouldn’t!
Maybe the fellow who wrote the
article should have tried it.
I say make a memorial out of
her, and she will stand for as
much, if not more than any other
memorial ever established.
David M. Schell.
Dear Editor:
In regard to your editorial about
the Battleship “Texas”, I think
you have an excellent point there
when you mentioned a better use
of that large sum of money which
the ship will require if it is bought
by the state.
But 1 do not agree with you and
your idle chatter about the ship
doing nothing to aid in World War
II. The “Texas” did an excellent
job at Normandy, and the official
records give the account. It also
served as a training ship. Didn’t
that training ship compare to the
training camp where your father
served in the last War?
And something else—were you
ever on a beach with a shovel?
Those wagons looked mighty
darned good out there. I’ll bet
you were a “junior birdman” dur
ing the war and are still sore about
not being able to draw flight pay
here at A. & M. for all the “work”
you do.
Sincerely,
ARCH D. BARNES, ’44
(Editor’s Note: You lost a
bet! The author served in the
Field Artillery in the Pacific
Theater, with “wagons” to the
left of him, to the right of him,
in front of him, and behind him).
What’s Cooking
SUNDAY, March 30
6:00 p.m.—Westminster Students
League, Presbyterian Church, YM-
CA. Showing of “Trees and the
Bible.”
TUESDAY, April 1
7:00 p.m.—Saddle and Sirloin
Club, A. & I. Lecture Room.
7:30 p. m.—Eastland and Stev
ens County A. & M. Club, Room
206, Academic Building.
Report on Sinistration . . .
Psychiatry Professor Says
‘South Paws’Made, NotBorn
“You are right- or left-handed4
because you learned to be, not ’
because you were born that way
and inherited it. Children in our
right-handed civilization should be
taught to be right-handed.”
This revolutionary new theory,
that “southpaws” are made, not
born, is put forward by Dr. Ab
ram Blau, assistant clinical pro
fessor of psychiatry at the New
York University College of Medi
cine and chief psychiatrists at
the NYU Clinic.
Dr. Blau states bluntly that
“there is no evidence to support”
the generally accepted idea that
handedness and other forms of lat
erality, or sidelines, are hereditary
traits which the individual inher
its.
The newborn babe, according to
the theory, is bilateral with no
developed handedness and latera
lity. This no-handed theory is typi
cal of animals and primitive peo
ples. Theoretically, the human baby
has a 50-50 chance of becoming
either right- or left-handed.
But in humans, Dr. Blau ex
plains, “preference for the right
side is a cultural and social con
vention. In the ‘Master Hand’, a
study of* sidedness published by
and acquaintances living in and
near College Station, and from Ex
students throughout the State who
are interested in the continued
growth and welfare of the institu
tion. The unquestioned integrity
of the individuals from whom we
have secured our information has
caused us to believe that there are
some serious problems of a recur
ring cumulative nature at Texas
A&M, and that the ultimate solu
tion of these problems evolves up
on essential changes in the upper
levels of authority if permanent
injury to the status of the institu
tion is affected as desired at once.
As Ex-Students ourselves, and
with every consideration to the
present and future welfare of the
College, we have concluded, upon
the basis of evidence at hand, that
the Administrative policies now in
effect, including the publicly ad
mitted policy of President Gib Gil
christ to eliminate a majority of
the traditions and customs which
have combined to develop in the
past a type of graduate capable
of assuming varied and responsi
ble positions of a leadership in
civilian and military pursuits, is
seriously threatened and almost
certain to be eliminated unless this
trend of management of College
affairs is altered immediately.
★
We feel that President Gibb Gil
christ has sanctioned, if not actu
ally sponsored, a method of admin
istration of affairs of Texas A.&M.
College whereby censorship of
news and information is being
practiced to prevent the public
from knowing the full impact and
seriousness of existing conditions.
Our knowledge of conditions now
existing is complete enough to
justify the outright assertion that
the Faculty and Student Body have
lost confidence in the President of
the institution and in the dictator
ial attitude that he has taken in
controversial matters during the
past few months.
The traditional liberty of expres
sion of individual views and ideas
of a constructive nature is being
denied to both students and fac
ulty members of A.&M. now under
the present system of management
of College affairs whereby Presi
dent Gilchrist has surrounded him
self with a group of highly paid
and non-essential Deans and Vice-
Presidents to the detriment of rea
sonable salaries for instructors and
Professors who are actually doing
the beneficial services under a
system which is causing us to lose
many of our better teachers be
cause they are accepting employ
ment as rapidly as possible in in
stitutions where service ,is re
warded with freedom of expression
and reasonable monetary payment.
In view of the above enumerated
deficiencies of administration of
affairs at A&M College, and with
a desire to regain the previous high
standing of the institution in both
military and educational status, we
recommend the outright removal
of President Gibb Gilchrist for the
mutual benefit of the present Stu
dent Body and the Taxpayers of
Texas as a whole.
Signed:
E. B. McLeroy ’35
George W. Barnes, ’32
Harold N. Mogford ’43
H. R. MeNiel ’25
Leroy Ussery ’41
W. B. Brennan, Jr ’38
B. H. Bennett ’41
W. E. Selman ’39
Emil Stuter ’34
Though the supply Is
limited—we receive fresh
shipments regularly.
MADELEY
PHARMACY
College Station
South Gate
the American Orthopsychiatric
Association, Dr. Blau lists three
reasons why there are left-handed
people in our right-handed society.
Physical or mental deficien
cy, faulty education, and “em
otional negativism” are the
three causes Dr. Blau lists.
The child who feels unloved and
is neglected by his mother may
become left-handed, just as he
may have frequent tantrums and
other signs of an infantile psy
choneurosis.
Left-sidedness, Dr. Blau believes,
“is probably the best means avail
able to the young child to express
resentment, hostility, and agres
sion in a conflict situation.”
★
“This is a right-handed world
and there is no doubt that the
left-hander is at a disadvantage
in it. Where,” asks Dr. Blau, “is
the fairness to our children, then,
in encouraging them toward this
abnormality (left-sidedness) ?”
He cites the cases of persons
who learn to use the other hand
than the one that they have pre
ferred after accidents have forced
a change, and reports, “Thousands
of children have in the past been
retrained without any remarkable
effects.”
Training for right-handedness,
Dr. Blau believes, should start in
kindergarten. But there will be
some left-handed people.
Pre-Meds to Visit
Baylor Med School
A visit to the Baylor Medical
School is planned by the Pre-Medi
cal—Pre-Dental Society on Satur
day, April 12. The excursion is an
annual trip taken by the society
members to inspect the Houston
installation.
All men who belong to the club
except freshmen and those on pro
bation will be given excused ab
sences from Saturday classes to
make the tour. Those desiring to
make the trip are asked to sign
the roster on the bulletin board
first floor Science Hall before
March 31.
a
and a clear
shave!
V 3 hA* '
1
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