Y
A Frank Discussion . . .
On Bears and Bootblacks
The time seems ripe once more for dis
course on a familiar topic—sportsmanship.
And, sadly enough, it appears the discourse
is slightly overdue.
Within the past few days a rash of “in
cidents” involving A&M and relations with
other schools have developed. What started
out as an isolated instance seems headed, by
repetition, toward a rather unhappy conclus
ion. A long-clean sportsmanship record at
A&M is picking up a few unsightly blem
ishes.
i But before we get to specific cases, let’s
clear up a point. Seems words like “sports
manship” are beginning to hold about the
safne station in a college newspaper as words
like “sin”. It’s the accepted “duty” of the
editor to advocate the former and denounce
the latter.
Reactions to editorial opinions on either,
therefore, are usually of the “there he goes
again—so what” variety. The two subjects
have a common quality — they deal with
things that invariably tend toward the ideal
istic.
Allow us, if you will, to try to approach
the topic realistically for once.
Yesterday’s paper announced that seven
Aggies were arrested Tuesday for using
shoe-polish to paint signs on Waco cars. It’s
now someone’s duty to evaluate those ac
tions. Probably more than one opinion will
run like this:
“They had the spirit. It’s just too bad
they got caught. That’s good bull. Sports
manship? What difference does that make?”
We would prefer to mince no words and
say a few of our “spirited” group have been
caught red-handed in pure and wanton de
struction or defacing of property. But to
avoid that trite phrase let’s restate the
charge. Some Aggies painted a sign on a
car in shoe polish. That shoe polish has to
be removed. Its removal is going to cost
someone some time — and possibly some
money. Its removal is liable to injure the
finish of the car. That is liable to cost even
more money.
But, you might say, the ones who did it
are the ones who have to pay for it. Right.
But only because they got caught. And pay
ing for the damage to the cars doesn’t buy
back respect for A&M. The owners of the
cars are perfectly within their rights to be
mad as hell. The payment of the damage
might ease that, but it doesn’t dispense with
it.
. Going further, what was gained? Several
Aggies have spent a night in a Waco jail
and had that fact publicized throughout the
state. The sign read “Beat Hell Out of Bay
lor.” Nothing was gained in that direction.
Our football team did a pretty good job on
TCU—and didn’t need any shoe polish to ac
complish the job.
This Saturday, though, the Aggie team
is going to have to fight that shoe polish—
that shoe polish and a little cub-napping epi
sode. Baylor and A&M are pretty staunch
rivals. This year Baylor is the generally ac
knowledged underdog. But, like most un
derdog teams, all they need is a psychologi
cal shot in the arm to make them a foe to be
contended with. Could be they now have
that shot in the arm—two-fold.
Don’t pass that psychological factor off
as a bunch of hog-wash. Check with an ex
perienced football coach and see how much
stock he puts in it.
We mentioned some cub-napping. While
we’re on the subject, we might just as well
clear up some rumors on that. The infor
mation we have is from official sources—
mainly because we couldn’t get it from the
individuals involved. We don’t know who
they are. Nor do we think it’s particularly
important to know their names. If our facts
are wrong, they’re free to correct them.
Fourteen Aggies, most of them Waco
high school graduates, had a long-standing-
rivalry with several of their fellow high
school graduates now attending Baylor. The
A&M boys were more or less dared by their
Baylor buddies to steal the Baylor mascot
or mascots.
In response to that dare, and for no other
particular reason, the boys carefully plan
ned and executed a cub-napping. Their first
attempt to get a bear was unsuccessful.
Their prey escaped. A second attempt was
more fruitful. With two freshmen strug
gling with a cub in the back seat, three cars
returned to College Station.
The cub was tied to a tree in the nearby
country and treated well—much better treat
ed than the captors on whom he vented his
wrath. The Aggies realized before too many
hours had passed that the incident was be
coming serious, so they returned the bear in
directly. In the process they gave them
selves away.
The case naturally came before the dean
of men. The cub-nappers made a complete
breast of the story and sent their apologies
to Baylor. They realized that they had made
a mistake and admitted it.
The mistake, though, had been made. And
the guilty ones will have to take their pun
ishment for it. That punishment shouldn’t
be too severe ... it probably won’t be too
severe. It will be made public when it is
decided.
The incident was probably one of the
more humerous ones of recent times. The
captured cub dealt a little misery of his own.
But it may not be so humerous to some ar
dent Baylorites who prize their mascot quite
highly. No more humorous to them than
would their kidnapping of Sully, just as a
joke, would be to us. An absurd compari
son? We don’t think so.
Just so we don’t miss any aspects of this
case, let’s mention Baylor’s action of a few
weeks back. A few Aggies on the Baylor
campus were molested by a small group of
Baylorites whose actions were entirely un
provoked. In the course of the incident, an
A&M student’s ukelele was wantonly de
stroyed.
An apology from Baylor reached A&M
almost before news of the incident. And the
Baylor students responsible paid fully for the
ukelele. The apology and the payment of
damages did not excuse the incident — no
more than an apology and payment will ex
cuse our latest episode.
Fortunately neither of the incidents were
anything more than isolated actions by in
dividuals who did not reflect the feelings of
the greater majority of students at either
school.
Therein, though, lies the reason for this
lengthy discussion. Such small incidents
are the things that kindle more wide-spread
ill feelings. If they persist, unnecessary and
disasterous heated rivalry can develop.
This business of sportsmanship is not an
idle dream of idealists. It’s a common sense
proposition aimed at preventing ill-feelings,
unnecessary damages, unnecessary costs, and
unnecessary trouble to everyone concerned.
Let’s treat it as such.
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
’’Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
Page 2 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1950
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, is published
five times a week during the regular school year. During the summer terms, The Battalion is published
four times a week, and during examination and vacation periods, twice a week. Days of publication are
Monday through Friday for the regular school year, Tuesday through Friday during the summer terms,
and Tuesday and Thursday during vacation and examination periods. Subscription rates $6.00 per year
or $.50 pen month. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Entered as second-class matter at Post
Office at College Station, Texas, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Represented nationally by National Ad
vertising Service Inc., at New York City,
Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
DAVE COSLETT, CLAYTON L. SELPH
Co-Editors
John Whitmore, L. O. Tiedt
Sid Abernathy, Jerry Zuber
Frank N. Manitzas
Joel Austin
Managing Editors
Campus News Editor
Sports Editor
City News Editor
Today’s Issue
John Whitmore
Jerry Zuber
Ralph Gorman
Joel Austin
Managing Editor
Campus News Editor
Sports News Editor
City News Editor
T. M. Fontaine, Carter Phillips Editorialists Kay Williams, Roger Coslett 1 Special Assignments
Bob Hughson, George Charlton, Tom Rountree, Leon
Ralph Gorman, Ray Holbrook, Harold Gann, Jo* McClellan, Raymond Rushing, Wayne Davis, Robert
Blanchette, Pat LeBlanc, Dale Dowell, Jimmy Curtis, Vanable, Herb O’Connell, Norman Blahuta, John
Chuck Neighbors, Fred Walker — Sports Writers Hi-debrand, Jerry Fontaine, Jack Fontaine
Emjnett Trant, Jerry Clement, Bob Hendry Cartoonists L. News and Feature Writers
From the Woman's Point of View . . „
Baylor Packing
Uinderway Du ring
Spare Moments
... By Vivian Castleberry
In student apartments all over college, traveling bags
sit open as working wives and busy mothers find time to
toss in articles of apparel for this weekend’s Big Bear Hunt
over in Waco. Among the couples who will make the trek
are Bobbie and Joe Adams, Mary Ann and Jimmie Lester,
Bobbie and Albert Jackson, Joyce and J. C. Stewart, Doris
and Bob Marcotte and the two Rutledge couples, Peg and
Red and Jerry and Bill.
Jeanne McCullough, receptionist in Student Activities, is still walking
on clouds from her personal meeting with Leonard Warren, the
Metropolitan opera star who opened Town Hall here. Jeanne and her
husband, Charles, described the singer as “just too marvelous for
words.” . . . Scott and Ann Stiles have been on the go recently, first
with a trip up Dallas-way and a visit to the State Fair and more
recently to the Huntsville Rodeo. . . . Norma Cavanaugh was honoree.
at a shower-party Tuesday night with Wilma Barrett doing the honors.
0
The Seventh Regiment staged a big show Friday night last
to open officially A&M’s current social season. . . . The
belles looked for all the world like debutantes. By far the
most charming couple on the dance floor was President
and Mrs. M. T. Harrington. . . . Queen was lovely Pat
Young, but a host of student w ives were just as sparkling
in their once-in-awhile evening dresses.
It has been said by one college official who works closely with students
that “There is more drama in a square foot of the veterans housing
units than you’ll find in lots of whole city blocks.” ’Tis true, ’tis.'true,
and especially so as the month end nears as it does twelve times out
of each year. By next press time the checks will be here again, but
until then Baby better stay well, mealtime guests better not come,
and the bill collector just as well forget where we live. Some fortunate
few are able to> stretch their sheckles over an entire thirty days, but
for most of us the month closes out on menus of beans, crackers and
cheese and peanut butter!
9
Note to My Public: This is not an editorial column.
Please DON’T ask me to air your personal gripes in these
lines. The letters column was made for you and you and
you and the editors of The Battalion will be glad to print
your letters. Maybe you will find, through voicing your
opinion, that others feel just as you do about the subject
in question . - . and it’s possible that something might be
done about it.
•
Powder Developed
To Eat Dead Tissue
Boston, Octt. 26—(dP)—A white
powder that eats up dead tissue
and pus in a chest infection, with
out hurting healthy tissue, was
reported yesterday to the Ameri
can College of Surgeons.
It promises to become a new
wonder medicine to clean up in
fected wounds, chronic sinus
trouble, and other infections.
The powder is pure crystallized
trypsin, a natural chemjcal in
your digestion. The trypsin made in
your body digests the meat and
other proteins you eat. But it
doesn’t touch living proteins, or.
otherwise it would dissolve the in
testines.
Trypsin has easily dissolved
jelly-like masses that sometimes
form in the chest cavity, outside
the lung, in people with tubercu
losis, said Drs. Howard Reiser,
Armour is stepping up production
and supplying trypsin to various
clinics to study other uses of this
chemical that automatically sep
arates living from dead tissue.
One possibility is treating war
wounds or any infected injuries.
In these, there is danger of gan
grene, an infectious process that
spreads to and destroys healty
areas. The dead areas have to be
cut out, with much healthy tissue
also removed for safety. Trypsin
may remove the dead tissue and
halt the infection quickly.
Wilma and John Drisdale had a big event at their house this week!
Wilma, who is a nurse was on duty and had left instructions for no
one to call her unless an emergency arose. The telephone rang . . .
for bar . . . and she could see visions of a sick child until a voice
came excitedly over the wore “Miss Wilma, I just had to call. Diana’s
walking all over the house!” Diana is the thirteen months old queen
of the household. She, no doubt, was taking the first steps toward being
a future Aggie sweetheart.
The Why Don't We Department? . . .
The best way in the world to foster good relations is for
people to meet on equal footing with favors being handed
but and returned. One of the nicest things we Aggie couples
can do for our single classmates is to offer lodging for their
girl friends when they are down for weekend games and
parties. Many of our cadet friends are in the same boat
we’re in: little money for the big dates they like to have.
Of course, not all couples have the facilities to offer, but
those with extra bedrooms couldn’t do a nicer deed than
offer them to a cadet friend for his date. . . . Likely as not
you’ll get a nice pleasant treat, too, just as we did this past
weekend when we had Tessies Muriel Forte and Jean Hen
derson, dates of Bob and Joe Turcotte, with us for two
nights. They were lovely ladies, a credit to their parents
and to their school . . . and now we number among the nicer
things about Aggieland two more cadets that we might not
otherwise have known.
L. C. Roettig and George M. Cur
tis of Ohio State University Col
lege of Medicine, and Clark County
and Rocky Glen Tuberculosis Hos
pitals, Columbus.
This condition, called empyema,
is one of the worst complications
of lung tuberculosis. The mass is
made up of blood, bacteria, pus,
serum and dead tissue. It tends to
get hard, While the pleura or cov
ering of the lungs may become
thickened. Sometimes it is impos
sible to operate,.to remove .ribs,
to rest the infected lung-. ••
Trypsin, injected by needle,
liquifies the mass, turning it into
a tawny watery fluid which then
can be sucked out of the chest
cavity. The cavity itself seems to
become sterilized in some cases, by
a peculiar action not yet under
stood.
One woman, dying of TB, was
helped so much she gained weight
and was able to walk around again,
the surgeons said.
The trypsin, extracted from the
pancreas glands of cows, was sup
plied by Armour Laboratories, Chi
cago.
TODAY & FRIDAY
m
l&isfmto&t
Starrinp:
101 BARRYMORE, 1R.
Written and Directed by ALAN LeMAY • Produced by
GEORGE TEMPLETON • A LeMay-Templeton Picture
Legislator Sees
Billion Dollar
Tax Increases
Washington, Oct. 26 —
(AP)—Senator George (D-
Ga), a top manager of tax
legislation, told the nation
yesterday to expect further
multi-billion dollar increases in
taxes, despite victory in Korea.
He foresaw enactment of a cor
poration excess profits tax by
Christmas—or at least “very early
in 1951—” to be effective retro
actively as of last July 1 or Oct. 1.
This bill will be confined strictly
to a super tax on excess profits
or “war profits.”
He saw the possibility of an
other general tax bill next year.
“The successes in Korea,”
George said, “do not remove the
necessity for additional taxes. We
cannot afford not to go ahead
with strengthening our defenses
—and that costs money.”
TODAY thru SATURDAY
FRI. NITE PREY—II P.M.
• • —-V a: , » 1’ i
SAT. NITE PREY.—11 P.M
Letters
Grimy Grand (No, 3)
Editor, The Battalion:
I am aware that you dislike for
your Letters To the Editors column
to be used as a medium for any
disputes. However, I feel that an
injustice has been thrown at the
staffs of Town Hall, Guion Hall,
and the people responsible for the
presentations of the Town Hall
program.
A one Mr. Tom Rountree, Class
of ’52, expressed his deep regret
over the condition of the piano at
the Warren concert last Thursday.
To quote, “Dust was about two
inches thick. . .”, “It seems as if
one of the first duties of the per
sons responsible for the piano
should be to see that it is in as
perfect condition as possible for the
concerts.”
May I present facts ? The piano
had been wiped by four individuals
with everything from a damp rag
to cleaning solutions. It had been
inspected and passed by Mr. Sek-
terg — Mr. Warren’s accompanist.
As for the finish—if Mr. T. Roun
tree, Class of ’52, was fully aware
as to the volume of people that use
our piano he would be terribly
proud of the instrument and its
appearance.
If Mr. R. would care to discuss
this further, may I suggest some
sympathetic ears that will listen
to catch every word? He could
come to me or, if he would care
to, see Mr. White or Mr. Toip Pud-
dy.
Arnold F. Schmitz, 51
(Editor's Note: Now, now Mr.
Schmitz, let’s not be waving
our senior ring in the air.)
Scientist Missing
London, Oct. 24——Finland’s
security police were ordered to
scour the country for Britain’s
missing atom scientist, Dram Bruno
Pontecorvo, also the British House
of Commons began a debate on the
man who admittedly might have
atom secrets of value to an enemy.
9 OR i5 YEARS
SADIE MAVKINS.
HOMELY
tWJGHTEROF
DOOPATCH’S
EARLIEST
SETTLER.HAD
F AILED TO
CATCH A
HUSGAND-
^ER PAPPY IN
DCSPERADON
ONE DAY,
CALLED TO
GETHER ALL
THE ELIGIBLE
BACHELORS
OP
DOGPATCH,