Page Two Z — THE BATTALION, College Station (Aggieland), Texas, Tuesday, May 13, 1947
Seven Days a Week...
Kiest Lounge is at last open to Aggies the whole week
round. The Battalion has occasionally taken the responsible
authorities to task for failing to make this move sooner. The
waste of space which could easily be put to use could never
be condoned on a campus as crowded as ours.
Now, under pressure of the YMCA Council, the Lounge
has been opened for the daily use of students in the new area.
A record player, chess and checker sets, and magazines are
there, waiting to be used. Comfortable, attractive furniture
and adequate reading lamps adorn the three main rooms.
It’s to no avail for us to cry, “Why wasn’t this done
years ago?” What we can say with impunity is that the
opening of Kiest Lounge daily instead of for occasional week
ends presents a challenge. If the Lounge is used constantly,
and the privilege is not abused by defacement or destruction
of the furnishings, promoters of more such recreation spots
about the campus will have firm ground to argue upon.
Let’s use the Lounge, and treat it right.
Narrowing The Gap...
Though we haven’t got more than a beachhead on the
shores of perfect faculty-student relationship, a sharp sal
ient was driven into the enemy lines Saturday night at the
Slipstick-Pitchfork Follies at Guion Hall.
The performance of the student troupers on the variety
show was no more than to be expected from makeshift mater
ial and inexperienced showmen, and the jokes we had heard
before. What really stole the show was the faculty band,
with faculty members tootling horns and saxes, with our
revered dean of engineering beating out the shaky rythm on
the skins.
Hurrah for this! say we. The profs got just as much
enjoyment out of their performance as the audience did.
It’s hard to think of your prof as an inhuman lecture ma
chine, intent on flunking you, when you’ve seen him giving
his all to “Beer Barrel Polka.”
Bumpety-Bump!...
Of all the gripes and groans heard at A.&M. today
about faulty conditions on the campus, there exists one very
legitimate complaint which cannot be parried, but seems
rather to be ignored.
The deplorable state of repair of many streets and roads
over the campus is indeed a black mark against us. Even
the smallest of Texas communities seems to have a better sys
tem of street repair and maintenance than does one of the
nation’s foremost engineering institutions.
There is little doubt that A.&M. has a road construction
program worthy of praise. The modern two lane exten
sion of Farm Highway 21 and the similar Bryan-College
cut-off are fine examples of highway engineering.
But consider the streets surrounding the New Area, the
cross-campus series of chug-holes serving as a thoroughfare
between Farm Highway 21 and the College Park residential
section, and the streets in the laundry area.
The contrast between these two conditions makes it
quite apparent that our maintenance program is not measur
ing up to par.
Indeed, while we are reaching for the clouds and en
visioning modern highways of years to come, we are brutally
stubbing our toes in the chug-holes of our present day
streets.
Merchants of Light...
“Harvard College pays me for doing what I would gladly
pay Harvard for permitting me to do.” The words are
George Herbert Palmer’s—the great translater of Homer,
and professor of literature and ethics at Cambridge a gen
eration ago. The voice is that of any college instructor in
his first year of teaching.
What happens afterward is a long story. It has been
told many times by good men from Plato and Marcus Aurel
ius to Roger Ascham and, most recently, Jacques Barzun,
perhaps the most engaging teacher in America today. All
of them have been wise and eloquent. In none of their ac
counts, however, is the sum of the teacher’s life broken down
into bread-and-butter language.
But in a world where nothing is had for nothing, teach
ers, like any other human beings, must eat, however high
their thinking and low their living. They must occasionally
buy shoes, see a doctor, educate their children, and even own
a book. Unlike others, however, they must not make a noise
about it. Teaching is a calling, not a trade. In the priest
hood coin of the realm is never mentioned.
So teachers have not yet got around the central inhi
bition of their common soul—to admit openly that teaching
is merely another means of livelihood in which, probably
more than in any other profession, they learn to labor and
to wait. If while they wait, “they learn in suffering what
they teach in song,” i^’s good for their souls.,
I say this in no mood of bitterness, with no intention of
condemning college administrators alone. Whether they are
privately endowed or publicly supported, colleges in the end
belong to the people. What goes on in colleges will go on as
long as people are more alarmed about the shortage in domes
tic help than they are about the hundred thousand teachers
the nation needs. What goes on in colleges will continue to
go on as long as people feel that it is more important to pay
$20 a day to those who tend their plumbing than those who
mold the character of their children.
But the trouble lies deeper than the blindness of the peo
ple to the dangers of such a state of affairs. The problem is
complex.. At its root lies an alarming failure of educators
in administrative posts to recognize their twofold responsi
bility to the people at large and to their own staffs. They
have failed to show how indispensable higher education is to
the imediate welfare of the nation.
L. Ruth Middlebrook
iyi The American Scholar
(To be Continued)
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 afternoens.
Member
Ptssocioted CpUe6iate Press
Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Station, (Aggieland),
Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
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Chicago, Los Angeles and San Trancisco.
Allen Self
Vick Bindley
Charles E. Murray .
J. K. B. Nelson
David M. Seligman
Paul Martin
Corps Editor
Veteran Editor
—Tuesday Associate Editor
Thursday Associate Editor
.Saturday Associate Editor
Sports Editor
Larry Goodwyn, Andy Matula, Jack Goodloe, Bill Halcomb, Earl Grant....Sports Writers
Wendell McClure Advertising Manager
..Advertising Assistants
-Circulation Manager
Bill Brown, Maurice Howell
D. W. Springer
Elden W. Golden Assistant Circulation Manager
William Miller, Ben Schrader, Wm. K. Colville, Walter Lowe, Jr.,
Lester B. Gray, Jr., Carl C. Krueger, Jr., Mack T. Nolen,
Robert P. Ingram, Claude Buntyn, Bruce Hartel, Richard
Alterman Reporters
Medicine . ..
‘ThiouraciV To
Get Fat Faster
By Science Service
NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J., May
12—A sure-fire country joke, back
when Grandpa was a boy, told of
the old farmer who accidentally
spilled his wife’s bottle of Anti-
Fat into the slop he was getting
ready for the hogs—and then
couldn’t understand wliy they did’nt
put on weight.
Now it looks as if that old gag
is going to be reversed, by giving
hogs medicine that will make them
get fat quicker on less corn. The
medicine is thiouracil, a drug that
checks the action of the thyroid
gland. A really active thyroid is
the gland that gives people (and
sometimes pigs) that Cassius-like
lean and hungry look.
Scientists at the New Jersey
Agricultural Experiment Station
here added a little thiouracil to the
rations of ten 200-pound hogs, and
kept ten others on the same ra
tions but without the drug, as con
trols. After 38 days the group of
hogs that got the thiouracil gain
ed a total of 610 pounds, as com
pared with a 470-pound gain by
the control group.
The greater weight gain was
made economically, too. The thiou
racil group ate 524 pounds of feed
for each 100 pounds of gain, while
the controls used 723 pounds of
feed for each 100 pounds of added
weight.
Thiouracil is not on the market
yet, but farmers who want to try
it, once it is available, are warned
not to use it on young pigs; it will
stunt their growth. The best time
to use it is during the last 45
days of the fattening period.
Helicopters
Lay Pipelines
By Science Service
FT. BELVOIR, Va., May 10—
Helicopters demonstrated their
ability to lay pipe lines in “im
possible” places at an Army En
gineer Corps field day here today.
Since modern armies move more
on their gasoline tanks than on
their traditional bellies, a place
for the “windmill planes” in keep
ing tanks, planes, trucks and jeeps
supplied seems assured.
Two types of pipe were accur
ately dropped by two helicopters.
The first was a three-inch hose of
solvent-proof synthetic rubber.
Five hundred feet of this was
stowed in a special container un
der the helicopter body, the outer
end attached by a line to a small
anchor. When the anchor was
dropped the line pulled out the
hose, which was laid out straight
as a string in a matter of seconds.
This type of temporary pipe line
can be used for getting urgently
needed fuel across rivers, narrow
canyons and other difficult ob
stacles.
The second is a more permanent
type, made of 20-foot sections of
aluminum tubing six inches in dia
meter. The helicopter carried 12
of these in two bundles, which it
dropped to the ground while hover
ing at a height of about ten feet.
A ground crew assembled the
sections, uniting them with a newly
designed clamp that requires only
two bolts. The sections are amaz
ingly light for their size, weighing
only 60 pounds apiece., One man
can easily lift and carry one of
them.
Gasoline pipe lines played an
important part in the recent war,
especially in the campaigns
through France and the Low Coun
tries and into Germany. However,
the weight of the steel sections,
which had to be moved by truck,
was a severe handicap. About 80%
of the effort expended by the En
gineers in getting pipe lines laid
went into building roads for haul
ing materials. With the new fea
therweight pipe, capable of easy air
transportation, this difficulty
should not^recur.
Spectrometer Will
Aid Isotope Study
By Science Service
WASHINGTON, May 12—New
est tool for scientific study of
radioactive isotopes is a beta ray
spectrometer developed at the Na
tional Bureau of Standards here.
The new spectrometer has a
magnetic lens which can form im
ages with electrons sent off by a
redioactive material. Beta rays are
high speed electrons, negatively
charged particles which are a part
of all atoms. The instrument also
will aid in the study of gamma
rays, the short, powerful X-ray
like radiations which are more pen
etrating than beta rays.
First research job for the beta
ray spectrometer at the Bureau
of Standards will be in measuring
the penetrating power of gamma
and beta rays from the radio
active isotopes now available to
scientists from chain-reacting piles.
Shreveport Club To
Hold Final Meeting
The final meeting of the Shreve
port A. & M. Club wil Ibe held at
7:30 p.m., Thursday in Room 205,
Goodwin Hall, according to Ralph
Segall. Plans for a mid-semester
party will be made; all members
are requested to attend.
: Letters to the Editor :
TWO WRONGS NOT RIGHT
Dear Editor:
Considering the situation of A.
& M. in the light of one who might
be sitting on the sidelines, I find
that there are two wrongs on each
side of the student-administration
fight. The students seem to have
gone off half-cocked in making
their accusations and voting to ask
for certain resignations, as well as
voting “No Confidence” in the ad
ministration in general. The ad
ministration is on its side of the
fence has gone about its worthy
duties with the attitude that it
could do no wrong and that stu
dents were to take orders and not
ask questions.
Each side has rights and is right
to its basic concepts. However, the
methods employed in presenting
the cases were such that each side
had the opportunity to cloud the
issue by pointing out the fallacies
of method of their opponents.
Each side is rebelling against
the methods used by the other
and rationalizing by condemning
the ends.
A.&M. should be tops, co-ed or
not. But cross-purpose work is
not making the situation any bet
ter. Each side must give a little
in order to make ends meet. The
students, if they will, can become
better informed on matters con
cerning their welfare here. The
administration, if it will, can give
a little and thereby make up for
lack of tact by looking at this thing
from the standpoint of the student.
However, as things now stand,
the students are “out for the ad
ministration’s scalp”. And the ad
ministration is doing everything to
prove that the students are, after
all, just kids who don’t know right
from first-base and must be led at
all costs. The school, as a whole,
is between a rock and a hard place.
And it will be crushed if either side
has its way. Its spirit will not be
the proper spirit of cooperation
that is necessary when men work
with men.
So, forget scalps and rigid or
ders. Let the investigating com
mittee go to the end of the gory
road and take its decision and
recommendations in the proper
spirit. Then, work out the right
thing for the school as men
should work situations out:
peacefully, around a table with
sympathy and understanding on
each side.
The voice of cooperation could be
heard undimmed by cries of “Dis
cipline” on one hand and the shouts
of a scalping party on the other.
The VS A officers have little con
fidence in the investigating com
mittee and will attempt to carry
on the fight regardless of that
committee’s recommendations. Ap
parently they are out for blood,
and the president apparently is out
to prove that no group of kids can
floor him.
With the removal of those ideas,
the school could settle down to wait
for the committee’s recommenda
tions and then act as it should. A.
& M. would grow to be the school
it could be. Tops!
If it so happened that the school
turned out to be co-educational, so
be it! People come to school to be
educated, and if anything on the
campus distracts from that aim,
it should be cut out. Army train
ing can be had in the army, and is
necessary only to those who want
to use it as such—not as an excuse
to beat some freshman. Education
is the prime need of Americans and
all people today. Education—
gained from the proper sources and
in the proper atmosphere.
So again, those of you on the
campus who are hindering our ed
ucational opportunities and jeopar
dizing the standing of the school,
do your duty by A.&M. and clear
the way for reasonable thinking.
Step down!
TOM DIETZ
Air Future . . .
Hangar to Save
SpaceDesigned
By Science Service
WASHINGTON, May 12—A
space-saving hangar for servicing
the giant airplanes that dominate
today’s skies has been designed by
A. S. Miller, C. W. Frank and R.
R. Hagglund, all of Minneapolis.
The design is predicated on the
fact that most of the airplane parts
that need servicing—engines, steer
ing gear—are located forward. Ac
cordingly, the building is appro
ximately triangular, with vaulted
roofs forming a kind of tight tre
foil pattern. The forward ends of
three plans are run under these
three roofs, and sliding sectional
doors run up to about mid-fuse
lage. The middle, sections have
semicircular pieces cut out of their
free edges, which meet to form a
circle around the fuselage. A soft
blanket or curtain helps form a
closer fit.
Separating the three hangar
segments is a Y-shaped building
consisting of three long arms mut
ually subtending angles of 120 de
grees. This provides space for
shops and administrative offices.
The inventors point out that a
new field with little traffic can
start with one segment, adding
others as conditions justify new
construction. They also claim con
siderable economy in heating dur
ing the winter, and point out that
SALESMAN WANTED!
A good opportunity for college men. Open
ing for neat and aggressive men to sell Vita-
Craft Aluminum Utensils in their own dis
trict through leads in spare time, as well as
full time, Never sold in stores. Sales ex
perience unnecessary. We’ll teach you.
Good income for the right man.
Contact the A. & M. Placement Office
If Interested.
THE VITA-CRAFT COMPANY
OF TEXAS
336 West Davis, Dallas 8, Texas
This will be hard for the stiff
necked people on either side to
swallow.
Policies and personnel of both
groups will have to be altered in
order to meet the demands of
school quality. Some men on eith
er side may even be asked to leave
their positions for the sake of
peace and cooperation.
Is this not the workings of a
democracy we hold so dear? Is
jit not the way to build a school?
Long haired, impractical? Yes,
it is, if you don’t want to try it.
Some would as soon swallow a
brick as try this method.
President Gibb Gilchrist has been
asked to step down. Now is the
time to ask the officers of the Vet
eran Students Association to “step
down”. We do appreciate the good
that the president and the officers
have done, but we would, also like
to get this fight off personal
ground and down to the facts. If
these men left their positions and
took their policies with them, the
air would clear considerably. The
facts would stand forth unclouded.
‘Best Protection
From Air Attack
Underground’A AF
By Science Service
ORCHIDS FOR YOUR DATE
For the Senior Ring Dance
Our agent will call in the dormitory . . Day
students call at the Green House.
STUDENT FLORAL CONCESSION
WEIGHT FIELD, Ohio, May 6—
The best defense from air attack
is underground. That is the ver
dict of Army Air Forces officials
who have been studying Germany’s
underground aircraft production
installations.
The Air Material Command said
today that the Nazi had a total of
143 factories in production under
ground. Twenty percent of the Ger
man airfi’ame industry, nearly 60
% of the aircraft engine and jet
production and virtually all of the
V-weapon work were underground.
Today, the German’s installa
tions underground are rusting, due
to water seepage. They had other
troubles with their underground
factories, including noise absorp
tion, gas proofing, dust control and
others.
But AAF officials believe that
with adequate planning, the under
ground installations could have
protected German industry against
any weapon used against the Nazi
in World War II.
Naval Reserves To
Meet Thursday Night
A meeting of all Naval Reserve
Personnel, officers and enlisted
will be held Thursday, May 15, at
7:30 p.m. in the main lecture room
of the Physics Building. Plans for
participation in “Operation Naval
Reserve” to be conducted nation
ally May 18-25 will be discussed
and plans laid for an intensive
drive to be conducted on the cam
pus during this period.
Latest developments on the pos
sibility of an active naval reserve
unit for the Bryan-College area
and information on summer cruis
es will be presented by Lieut. Tom
Prickett, Jr., volunteer recruiting
officer for this area.
Freshmen
Sophomores
Place your orders for Dark Serge Slacks,
and Shirts now for Fall Delivery. Fresh
men will be allowed to wear Dark Serge.
Demand will exceed supply in September.
Order Now. Don’t Be Disappointed.
JUNIORS
Order Your Ice Cream and Khaki Boot
Breeches and Slacks Now.
— WHITE SKINS —
ZUBIK & SON
Uniform Specialists
1896— 51 Years of Tailoring —1947
cargo loading and passenger em
barkation can be carried on un
der shelter.
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-7- PIUS
M-G-M’s “Little Red”
— In —
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TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY
“LEAVE HER
TO HEAVEN”
Starring
GENE CORNELL
TIERNEY WILDE
in Technicolor
THURSDAY ONLY
“WHISTLE STOP’”
_ With —
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AVA GARDNER