Circulated to
More Than 90% of
College Station’s Residents
The Battalion
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF A GREATER A&M COLLEGE
How New Amendment
Will Affect Truman,
See Story, Page Two
Number 103: Volume 51
COLLEGE STATION (Aggieland), TEXAS, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1951
Price Five Cents
Singing Stars
The Singing- Slurs, a group of sixteen young
ladies from TSCW, will be a part of the pro
gram to be presented in Guion Hall tomorrow
night at 7:30. The ensemble will sing several
Cole Porter selections, some American Folk
Songs and music on the popular side. Miss
Bettigene Slover, right front, will be soloist for
the group.
Talented Texan
Denny Beckner Signs
To Play Military Ball
By BILL DICKENS
Denny Beckner’s orchestra, hail
ed by the Music Corporation of
America as the finest entertain
ment band to come up over the
horizon since Kay Kyser, has been
named to play for the Military Ball,
March 10 in Sbisa Hall.
Prior to the dance at 9 p. m.,
Beckner’s orchestra featuring
Betsy Ross, singer and dancer,
will provide music for the con
cert in Guion Hall at 7:15.
Known to theatre-goers through
out the laud as a comedy dancer
of the vaudeville circuits, Beckner
has traced his steps with his band
to reach stardom.
With successful holdover en
gagements at the Roosevelt Hotel
in Washington, 1). C. and the
Hotel Park Central in New York,
(he Denny Beckner Orchestra is
acknowledged as one of the im
portant name bands in the field.
A patented metronome provides
ii definite dance beat to satisfy all
Air Force ROTC
Plans Expansion
The Air Force ROTC program
will be expanded to include 187 in
stitutions in the United States
next fall, the Air Force announced
today.
The program, now operating at
125 colleges and universities, will
include 62 additional institutions.
The names of the chosen institu
tions will be announced in April.
Liberal arts colleges and other
non-engineering institutions, as
well as those which offer engin-
eering programs, are eligible for
the new AFROTC units.
Instructions as to application
procedures have been sent to eligi
ble institutions in the form of a
Defense Information Bulletin, is
sued by the Federal Security
Agency, Office of Education.
The AFROTC is a principal
source of officer procurement for
the Air Force.
Architects Plan
Ft, Worth Trip
Eight staff members of the Ar
chitecture Department, will attend
the regional meeting of South
western Schools of Architecture, to
be held in Fort Worth, March 9-10.
The men who will make the trip
will be Ernest Langford, head of
the department and members T. R.
Holleman, B. M. King, G. C. Mc-
Cutchan, M. M. Rotsch, J. M. Row
lett, J. N. Wood and R. Voorman.
Other schools which will be re
presented include the University of
Texas, Rice Institute, Texas Tech,
University of Houston and schools
from New Mexico, Oklahoma and'
Arkansas.
Theme of the meeting will be
“Philosophy of Teaching Archi
tectural Design.” Professor Row
lett will be one of the speaker*.
fypes of dancers. The over-all style
is smooth with Beckner providing-
comedy in the Denny Beckner- fash
ion. Seeing the band for the first
time, Walter Winchell rated it
“Orchids.”
As a personality leader, he has
been compared with Kay Kyser and
Horace Heidt for his pleasant
manner and ability to keep the
patrons happy. His band efforts
to seeing that every customer has
a good time and his patter and ad
lib clown effects are dedicated to
that end.
A native Texan, Beckner was
born in San Antonio. With his
parents in show business, he
wasted no time in following in
their footsteps. At the age of
ME Students Win
Contest Places
Two senior Mechanical Engin
eering students won places at the
Student Conference of The Amer
ican Society of Mechanical En
gineers for the Southern Tier of
Region VIII.
Hubert P. Davis, San Antonio,
presented a paper which took
fourth place at the meeting, held
on Louisiana State University cam
pus at Baton Rouge last week-end.
His paper was entitled “Electric
Strain Gauges.”
Philo H. DuVal, Shreveport, ,La.,
won fourth place with a paper on
“Cathodic Protection of Oil Pipe
lines.”
First and third places were won
by University of Texas students
and second place was won by a
Rice Institute student.
The delegates to the conference
were taken on tours of the Stand
ard Oil Office. and Engineering
Building and the Morganza Spill
way.
nine he was with the A1 C. Fields
Minstrels and for 18 years since
then he has been on the road,
playing in tent shows and vaude
ville acts with his band.
An all around athlete in high
school and college, he at one time
thought seriously of making box
ing his career. With the advice of
Jack Dempsey, heavyweight box
ing champion, he decided to con
tinue dancing. He became a vaude
ville hoofer and a master of cere
monies in the same circuits with
such stars as Red Skelton and Bob
Hope.
Realizing that baton waving was
the field for him, Beckner slowly
added to his act, until it grew into
a full sized orthestra with soloists
as it is today.
In addition to his chores on the
podium, the tall and slim musician
finds time to write songs and for
relaxation, to pilot his own plane.
Religious Leaders
Critique RE Week
College Station ministers and
members of the Inter-Church Coun
cil will meet in the Cabinet Room
of the YMCA March 6 to discuss
■the recent Religious Emphasis
Week program.
Beginning at 5:30 p. m., the
group vdll meet to criticize the
Guion Hall Services, the forums,
and the discussion groups and make
suggestions for improving Relig
ious Emphasis Week next year.
“It is important that those pre
sent bring their criticisms before
the rest so that a more effective
program can be offered next year,”
said Curtis Edwards, chairman of
the Inter-Church Council.
Supper will be served to those
attending and the meeting Will dis
miss in time for the Guion Hall
Town program, Edwards said.
Records Broken
In 4th Annual Pipe
Smoking Contest
By BILL AABERG
Seven records tumbled last night as 75 stout-hearted
contestants gave the Assembly Room of the MSC a true
baptism of fire at the Fourth Annual Battalion Pipe Smok
ing Contest.
Prizes with a total value of $280 were passed out during
the three-hour long affair as several dozen spectators squin
ted into the smoke-filled depths.
Top time-event of the affair was the Cigar-Smoking
Division, in which P. T. Cardeilac bettered last year’s record
by 15 minutes to roll up a two-hour long session with the
■stogie. W. S. Lang puffed into
second place at one hour and 42
minutes and C. R. Matula dropped
out of the running at one hour and
36 minutes to grab third place.
The lads with the long-stemmed
church-wardens made the best
showing of the night by breaking
last years record in that division
by 42 minutes. Top place honors
went to Frank Simmen with a time
of one hour and seven minutes.
Second place winner Lang made a
53-minute showing in this even
while number three man J. M.
Mathis had a time of 42 minutes.
Another of the records to
tumble was in the calabash di
vision where Glenn Cummings
went 20 minutes better than last
year’s time of 30 minutes.
Second place man Z. H. Fehrman
smoked close with a 45-minute run
ahd third place Bill Witty called
it quits at 28 minutes.
Large bowl pipe smoker, J. D.
Linton, broke last years record by
nineteen and one-half minutes with
a time of ninty-one and one-half
minutes. Bob Shawe smoked into
second place with one hour and a
minute, and J. D. Linton was third
with twenty-three minutes.
Little pipe smokers broke rec
ords as G'. G. Sawtell smoked for
forty-eight minutes — double last
year’s time.
A very close second in the event
was E. L. Huber who stayed forty-
seven minutes. Third place was
taken by Robert Wolslegel who had
twenty-seven minutes.
The corn cob pipe smoking
event was acclaimed to be the
toughest of the evening. The
pipes were really hot and as one
contestant put it, “Those things
will jar your molars.”
(See WONDER PIPE, Page 6)
300 Students
Will Attend
OflS Activities
Approximately 300 hundred
Texas and Louisiana high
school boys have indicated
their desire to participate in
the Operation High School
activities on March 3 and 4, Pete
Hardesty, Business Manager of
Student Activities announced to
day.
The Haskell, Jones, Stanwell, and
Knox County Clubs lead in the
number of high school students
participating in the program with
32. Wichita Falls with 18 pros
pective students and Houston with
17 are the other leading clubs in
the number of visiting students.
Hardesty said.
A delegation of eight from the
New Orleans area is expected to
be on the campus to take advan
tage of the program.
Presidents of all hometown clubs
with visiting delegations are re
quested by Hardesty to meet in
301 Goodwin at 5 p. m. today to
receive final program plans aiyl
the tickets to be issued to the stu
dents for the Sports Day Program.
Local USMCR
Officer Takes
Field Courses
Maj. Maurice J. Gremillion,
Marine Corps reserve from
College Station, is among 300
community leaders attending
a two-week field course of the
Industrial College of the Armed
Forces in Houston.
Instruction covers basic elements
of mobilization of the nation’s
economy in event of war. A spec
ially trained faculty group of Ar
my, Navy, Air Force and Marine
Corps officers are conducting clas
ses in the Veteran’s hospital audi
torium.
A condensed version of a regu
lar 10-month coin-se offered by the
Industrial College in Washington,
the session has 31 students from
the Navy and Marine Corps, and
approximately 50 each from the
Army and Air Force.
Dr. Turk Named To
Vet Congress Panel
Dr. R. D. Turk, head of the De
partment of Veterinary Parasitolo
gy in the School of Veterinary
Medicine, has been appointed one
of three members of a panel to
discuss Internal Parasites of Ani
mals at the first Pan-American
Veterinary Congress to be held
October 20-26, 1951, on the campus
of the Veterinai’y School in Lima,
Peru.
Jack Gwynne
. . . will give the Aggies a taste
of prestidigitation March 14 in
a show in Guion. Tickets may be
purchased in Student Activities
Office, Goodwin Hall.
Finletter OK’s
Inactive Duty
Officers Boost
Promotions for Reserve Of
ficers on inactive duty have
been authorized, Secretary of
the Air Force Thomas K. Fin-
letter announced today.
Inactive duty promotions, ex
cept for second lieutenants, were
frozen last summer when USAF
Headquarters suspended such pro
motion authority pending the or
dering of large numbers of Re
serve Officers to active duty.
The action was taken at that
time to permit a study of inactive
duty Reserve rank as compared to
that of regular and Reserve offi
cers who have remained on active
duty since the war, and to correct
as far as possible any promotion
inequalities.
Twenty-five percent of the Re
serve Officers on inactive duty
were holding grades higher than
their highest rank achieved during
the war. A large majority of Re
serve Officers still on active duty
were found to be serving in their
World Wat II grades because of
limited postwar promotion possib
ilities.
The new promotion program will
not consider Reserve Officers on
inactive duty who received terminal
promotions, and promotions, except
to the grade of first lieutenant, will
be made only to fill unit vacan-
Four Cents a Meal
Mess Hall Prices Boosted
Still the Ends Don 4 Meet
The job of feeding some 4,000
boys and staying within budget
limitations has recently proven
quite a headache for J. G. Penis-
ton, supervisor of subsistence.
Caught in the squeeze of rising
prices recently, Peniston found it
necessary to request the board of
directors for authority to increase
the charge for students’ board.
The request was approved,
raising the charge from $36 to
$39.60 per month. This figure
brought the average cost per
meal to 44 cents.
For the average of 44 cents
per meal, the Aggie gets all he
can eat. His bill of fare for lunch
and dinner includes meat, potatoes,
or substitute, vegetable, bread and
butter, and dessert. The cadet has
a choice of milk or coffee for
breakfast and the evening meal,
and tea, punch, or some other bev
erage is served for lunch.
Some 3,400 cadets are fed in
the college’s two dining halls.
Non-military students may eat in
the college cafeteria, where sim
ilar prices prevail.
Peniston recently compiled a list
of 25 food items, which make up
70 per cent of the college’s total
food cost, and their comparative
costs to the college in 1939 and
1951. Total cost of one unit of
each item (pound or dozen) in
1939 was $3.19. Today it is $9.84,
an increase of 208 per cent.
During the period of 1939 to
1951, the charge for board has in
creased 86 per cent.
Before the outbreak of the Ko
rean war, food prices were down
almost 25 per cent from the
postwar peak in 1948, Peniston
said, but an all-time high was
reached early this year.
“It was easier to meet high food
prices in, 1948 because the college
had a peak enrollment” Penniston
said. “It cost very little more to
feed the larger student body than
to feed tse present one.”
With enrollment lower than the
postwar peak, the college’s sub
sistence department was caught in
the squeeze when prices began to
rise following tha outbreak of war
in Korea.
New Gifts, Grants
Accepted by Board
A total of $92,796.50 in gifts, Bryan donated equipment to the
grants-in-aid, scholarships and fel
lowships has been accepted the col
lege’s Board of Directors.
In addition, the board accepted
gifts of equipment on which no
specific cash value was placed, as
well as a number of equipment
loans.
Agricultural research drew $51,-
400 of the total cash gifts and
grants, with that amount going to
the Texas Agricultural Experi
ment Station in the form of grants-
in-aid; $30,946.50 in scholarships,
fellowships and awards went to
the college.
Scholarships, fellowships and
awards to the college were:
Dow Chemical Company, grad
uate fellowship in chemical engin
eering, $1,500; the Humble Com
pany, additional graduate fellow
ship, $1,200; James F. Lincoln
Foundation, scholarships in agri
cultural engineering, $500; W. P.
and Bulah Luse Foundation two
additional four-year scholarships,
$2,100. Fort Worth A&M Mothers,
$200 scholarship award; Southern
States Life Insurance Company,
four-year scholarship, $2,500.
S. W. Nichols, four-year scholar
ship; $1,200; Dick Price- Motor
Company, four-year scholarship,
$300; East Texas Chapter, A. P. L,
$300 scholarship; Permian Basin
A&M Club, $250 scholarship; Sam
A. Shannon, four-year scholarship,
$1,200; Anderson-Clayton Com
pany, research fellowship, $2,400;
Gifford Hill Pipe Company, addi
tional scholarship, $200.
New Scholarships
Col. T. H. Barton, the Barton
Foundation, four-year scholarship,
$1,200; Mosher Steel Company, two
scholarships, $1,200; H. Larsen
Memorial Scholarship, $3,500; Mrs.
S. W. Henderson, Sr., two addition
al four-year scholarships, $2,400;
T. W. Mohle, annual awards and
prizes, $250 and the Deep East
Texas A&M Club, two four-year
scholarships, $1,000; Magnolia Pet
roleum Company, graduate fellow
ship, $2,000; First National Bank,
Houston, $2,000 scholarship, annon-
ymous for petroleum engineering
equipment, $2,500; Ray E. Dickson
Memorial Fund, $846.50.
Lilly Ice Cream Company of
Veterinary Bacteriology and Hy
giene Department and Roy A.
Brewer, field representative of the
John Hancock Mutual Life In
surance Company, San Antonio,
gave a Kodaslide projector and
carrying case to the Animal Hus
bandry Department.
Prairie View Fund
W. M. Adkinson, Minneapolis,
Minn., contributed a grant of $450
to Prairie View to serve as a nu
cleus of a fund, the interest of
which is to be used to provide an
annual gift to the freshman stu
dent making the highest grade in
mathematics.
The board accepted a gift of
$10,000 from Arlington citizens to
aid in construction of dressing
rooms, rest, rooms and other fac
ilities of the Arlington State Col
lege stadium at the earliest possible
date.
Labor Refuses
To Aid Truman
Defense Plan
Washington, March 1—(/P)—A flat refusal by the top
men of labor to participate in the defense mobilization pro
gram confronted President Truman today with a home-front
crisis that threatened the whole wage and price control
effort.
A complete break with the mobilization agencies as they
are now constituted carried with it an ominous threat of
widespread industrial unrest.
The decision to boycott the program was made last night
by the United Labor Policy Committee in protest against
what it called “legalized robbery” in price control, “unjust”
wage ceilings, and “big business” domination of the defense
drive. +
It was a vote of no-confidence i n r'l * r'l i
SA Symphony
Scheduled For
Luion, March 6
Mr. Truman’s economic program,
and unionists looked to the Presi
dent’s news conference today (TO
a.m., EST) for clues as to whether
he will respond by shaking up his
mobilization policies and personnel.
Investigators Wait
Two Congressional investigations
loomed. Senator Bricker (R-Ohio)
said he will ask the Senate-House
“Watchdog” Committee on mobili
zation to start an inquiry. Senator
Humphrey (D-Minn) promised
quick action by his labor subcom
mittee.
Bricker said the labor chiefs had
made a “fatal mistake.” He told
a reporter:
“Public opinion is certain to be
against fellows who walk out just
because they can’t get everything
they demand.
The instructions to union offi
cers to “resign immediately” from
defense posts bore the unanimous
endorsement of some of labor’s
biggest names. These included
AFL president William Green, CIO
president Philip Murray, and 12
other policy committee members
representing most of the country’s
15,000,000 organized wage earners.
Green and Murray themselves
are quitting several government
advisory jobs.
Hack Wilson
A chief target of their attack
was Charles E. Wilson, director of
the office of defense mobilization,
accused of running a big-business
show and excluding labor.
Going further, the committee ev
idently sought the scalps of Cyrus
S. Ching, chief of the nine-member
wage stabilization board, and of
both the other public members,
John Dunlop and Clark Kerr.
Until Mr. Truman entirely “re
constitutes” the board, the union
ists decreed, labor’s three repre
sentatives will boycott the board
which formulated the disputed 10
per cent wage-increase formula by
the vote of the public and industry
members. That percentage would
be allowed above Jan. 15, 1950 lev
els.
The committee left only one
small appar-ent loophole. It said
labor stands ready to meet with
“responsible representatives” of
the government to seek a remedy.
There was no immediate nicial re
sponse.
Highway Course
In MSC, March 7-3
Experts will discuss street and
highway problems at the 25th an
nual short course in Plighway En
gineering to be held in the MSC
March 7-8.
DeWitt C. Greer, state highway
engineer, Frank S. Maddox, assist
ant state highway engineer, John
A. Waller, chief engineer of con
struction and maintenance and
Fred J. Benson of Civil Engineer
ing Department, compose the pro
gram committee.
Subjects to be discussed include
“Effect of National Emergency on
Texas Highways,” “The Contract
ors Present Position,” and “Mak
ing Better Use of Existing High
ways” and other subjects.
Town Hall will present the
San Antonio Symphony in
Guion Hall Tuesday night at
8.
The orchestra will be un
der the direction of Franco Autori,
guest conductor for the remainder
of the season. He replaced Max
Reiter who died last December.
Autori, is the regular associate
conductor of the New York Phil
harmonic Symphony. He will di
rect the well known musical or
ganization in a program especially
planned for a college audience.
The program will include some
light classics and a few selections
of popular works.
The orchestra was founded 12
years ago by Reiter who was its
permanent musical director and
conductor until his death. People
of San Antonio regard their orches
tra as one of the great musical or
ganizations of the Southwest and
the nation as well.
Featured with the orchestra will
be Julius Hegyi, the concert mas
ter who is in his third season as
the number one musician in the
orchestra.
Hegyi has performed with some of
the leading symphonies of the Uni
ted States. Several of his top pos
itions have been as soloist with
Leopold Stokowski and the City
Center Symphony of New York, the
NBC Symphony and CBS Sym
phony.
IVIethodists Attend
Citizenship Meet
The Methodist Students of A&M
are represented by Hugh Winn,
Dale E. Walston, Kenneth Bakes
and Nat Kenney Jr., at the five day
Citizenship seminar being held in
Washington, D. C. and at Lake Suc
cess, N. Y.
The Aggie delegates were ac
companied by the Rev. and Mrs.
Robert Sneed of the A&M Wesley
Foundation.
Between 60 and 70 Methodist
Students representing college and
university campuses of the United
States will take part in the semin
ar.
For three days the group will
meet with governmental leaders
and statesmen discussing the
Washington scene and current leg
islation.
On Feb. 27 the students will
move to Lake Success where they
will spend at least two days ob
serving the United Nations in ac
tion and meeting with top leaders
of that body.
■
V . -GL T - ■■'• 4
V ' ■ e, ■ ; '
The San Antonio Symphony will present a pro
gram especially desigsed for college audiences in.
their Tuesday night performance in Guion Hall.
Thef program is being sponsored by Town Hall.
There are still a few tickets for sale for the per
formance and two other presentations to be pre
sented later in ths spring. Thsy may be pur
chased in Student Activities Office, Goodwin Hall.