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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1948)
Page 2 The Battalion \ ter the size of present-day Bat talion pages. Then it went back to the old Journal size and style, adopted maroon-colored covers. The Battalion was published in that pocket-size format until 1904. Editorials Sound Familiar For all the differences in ap pearance, there is a familiar touch in editorial comments of the early Battalions and Journals. In the first issue of The Bat talion, Editor E. L. Bruce wrote: “This thing of wading through water on rainy nights cannot last long!” He suggested better cam pus drainage and better street lighting, still subjects for editor ial consideration. Another editorial complained that prices at the campus store (a private concern) were so high that it was worth the 30-cent round-trip fare to go to Bryan for supplies. Apparently some state papers had been editorially attacking the college, saying that farmers were n’t getting enough from the col lege to justify the taxes they were paying. The Batt invited the ed itors to visit the campus and see what was being done. Same Letters to Editor A letter to the editor signed “Nemo” charged that the English department was assigning too much outside reading. Another letter in reply suggested that if “Nemo” didn’t like it at A. & M. he “should resign and go else where.” On the other hand, this state ment from an 1894 Batt now seems amusing: “Football at the A.&M. C. is surely the coming game. Two years ago comparatively no inter est was manifested in the scrappy game at all.” By 1902 The Batt was printing reports of all games in its two fall issues, and the A.&M. - Tulane game of 1902 — won by the Aggies—was reviewed IN VERSE! That game, inciden- tally, made the Aggies “Cham pions of the South.” Censured Gridsters In 1900 The Batt censured mem bers of the football team for “pre ferring cigarettes to glory” and frequently breaking training eith er by smoking or eating items not on the training menu. Names were printed. First glance at the record makes it hard to under stand The Batt’s indignation. A. & M. defeated LSU, Tulane, Bay lor, and Houston by lop-sided scores. But—they lost to ‘Varsity (TU) and Sewanee. Even then, a loss to Texas could sour a whole season. A little hard to believe is the fact that the chief article in the first Battalion was a long critical essay on Shakespeare’s interpreta tion of King John! Other Batts describe “Life in the U. S. Army” (six installments). The two big gest stories ever carried by The College Journal were Sully Ross’s acceptance of the A.&M. presi dency, and the elaborate memorial services conducted in the college chapel when Jefferson Davis died. Davis had been asked to become first president of the A.&M. Col lege; he declined because of ill health but suggested his friend Thomas Gathright instead. Gath- right got the post. Philpott Was Guide Always involved in the publica tion of the Journal and the early Battalion was William Bledsoe Philpott, Mephistopheles - bearded * professor of English and an early Aggie graduate. He was inevita bly on the mastheads of The Jour nal or The Battalion as supervis ing editor, alumni editor, or in some other editorial capacity. Born in Brenham, Texas, in 1865, Philpott received his early education at James’ Academy in Bryan and in Austin, and entered A.&M. in 1881. He graduated in ’84 with a degree in mechanical engineering, but after a period as