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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1951)
Page T1 l)£ f(i Battalion Editorials Page 2 Friday, September 21, 1951 Lepers or Stars NOW THAT HE’S HAD VALUABLE EXPERIENCE - Halfway Mark Hit In Building Plan By IDE TROTTER Battalion Staff Writer The A&M $8,500,000 building program has reached the halfway point and the completion of the currently planned program is scheduled to end in 1953. The new $500,000 Administration building is set to be ready for oc cupancy sometime in the latter part of December. This building was built to provide offices for the president, dean of the college, and dean of the graduate school. This in turn will release class room space in the Academic Building and in other buildings on the campus. The long range planning called for several of the A&M College System offices which are scat tered over the campus to be cen tralized in the “old” Administration building. Central Offices When completed, the new Ad building will have the registrar and fiscal offices housed on the first floor. The president and deans of the college and graduate school will have offices on the second floor. A large faculty meeting room is also planned for the new Ad building. The top two floors will be air conditioned. Storage space in the new build ing will be in the basement along with the heating and air condition units. Five earlier projects of the build ing program have been completed at a cost of $2,818,000 and are now in use. They are the MSC, Biological Science Building, Mark Francis Hall addition, the new beef cattle center, and' the college water system. Add to Physics A $250,000 addition to the Phy sics building will be completed by March 1, T. R. Spence, head of the department of Physical Plants, said. The five new farm centers also under construction will cost an estimated $975,000. An allocation of $611,000 has been set aside for a new engineer ing building to be constructed be tween Francis Hall and the Agri culture Engineering Building. Bids will be taken on Oct. 6 for the building which will house the In dustrial Engineering and Aeronau tical Engineering department. Bids will be taken for the Texas Engineering Library Building and the agronomy field lab. Bids will be taken in November for a pro posed veterinary clinic. Final project on the multi-million dollar program will be the building of a Colesium. According to Spence it will be used for all inter collegiate contests, replacing inade quate DeWare Field Hbuse which will be completely reconditioned for use by the Physical education de partment. Founders of A&M Physical Traits Belied True Characteristics of Ross-Coke VESTERDAY something new was added to the customs and practices at A&M—The senior companies marched. This of course was the subject of a great deal of griping from the members of the “Shock-Troops.” But it may be a wonderful opportunity in disguise. These four year men have the natural ability to become some of the finest marching organizations on the campus. Here are groups of men who have had four years of military training, and for some reason or another were assigned to the senior companies. These men have more experience in military affairs than any of the other companies in the corps. Instead of treating these men like social lepers, why aren’t they given responsibility. They could become one of the finest military escort units for visiting dignitaries, or they could even be come a precision drill unit. The men in these outfits have pride. They can give this pride an outlet in either of two ways. They can either be the sloppiest outfit on the campus or they can be the sharpest. All it takes is for the men in the units—and the officials to take the initiative to make these military lepers a mark of distinction for the corps. If these steps aren’t taken, they can continue as they did in the past year and be a blot to the corps. (This is second in a series of six articles on the former gov ernor Richard Coke. The story was written by R. Henderson Shuffler, director of the depart ment of information of the A&M College System. Governor Coke was in office at the time of the founding of the college and was instrumental in getting the col lege set up. He served for a time on the board of directors and his contribution to the college has been compared with that made by Lawrence Sullivan Ross, for mer president and “Founder of Aggie Traditions.”—Thursday’s installment told about the first meeting of Coke and Ross. Ross was a young boy in Waco and Coke was a young lawyer.—The Editor. Two men could hardly have been less alike, in physical appearance or background than Richard Coke and Sul Ross. Yet, they held one noticeable characteristic in com mon; each in appearance belied his character. Sul Ross looked the part of the scion of the Virginia gentlefolk, which in reality Rich ard Coke was. Coke’s big and rugged frame fit the picture one would envision of the son of hardy Shapley Ross. And as each grew older he took on more and more the manner and dress of his congenital disguise. Ross dressed meticulously and de veloped a courtly manner, while Coke became less interested in his dress as years went by and accom panied this with a bluntness of speech and manner which labelled him at once a con of the frontier. It was the scholarly-looking Sul Ross who killed the Indian chief, Beta Nocona, in hand-to-hand com bat in a dry creek bed; who recap tured Cynthia Ann Parker, white- captive wife of a chieftain and mother of the great chief Quanah Parker. Ross it was who served as a captain of the Texas Rangers be fore he was 21 years old and as sheriff of bloody Waco in its wild est hey-day. It was he who rose from private to general in the army of the Confederacy in four years, with a record of valor in more than one hundred battles. By the time he became president of A&M in 1891, Ross had acquired such a reputation as a firebrand of unlimited courage that the hardy sons of still-pioneer Texans gath ered around him like little lambs and behaved most beautifully throughout his entire period of of fice. Coke, in contfast, was a peace- loving man, slow to enter any new undertaking and to some degree awkward in his dealings with peo ple. While Ross was too impatient by nature to care for the pursuit of farming, and reportedly made a failure of his only attempt in this field, Coke early in his days at Waco acquired land and built up a plantation which he successfully operated throughout his life. Coke was frequently criticized in his later years for the carelessness of his dress, including an old black flop hat and a long coat flapping around his knees. He carried a heavy walking stick of the type made familiar by Sam Houston, and although he made the conces sion to convention of habitually wearing a collar, no picture can be found of him in which he wears a tie. His manner was abrupt and his speech, while forceful, was any thing but fluent. “Old Coke just gets up on a stump and waves that big stick of his and bellers like a prairie bull,” one contemporary re marked of him. “But,” he added thoughtfully, “he wins his point!” When the War between the States came on, Coke, too, left Waco for the Confederate Army, entering as a private. He displayed none of the dash and genius for war shown by the younger Ross, but by sheer courage and drive he won the respect of those around him and emerged as a captain with a creditable record. Judge Norman G. Kittrell, a con temporary of Coke’s, in his “Gov ernors Who Have Been and Other Public Men of Texas” told of hear ing a man say once, in the presence of a member of Coke’s old Civil War company: “I don’t like any man like who wears a great flop hat and long-tailed coat, and car ries a big stick, and hollers when he speaks.” To which Coke’s old comrade re plied in quick fury: “I like him. I like that flop hat because I have followed him when he wore it on the battlefield. I like to hear him holler, because I have heard him holler ‘Come on boys,’ when the bullets were flying and his men were falling around him. I have seen that bald head shining when, with his big hat off, he was in the lead where the fighting was the hottest. I like him for all you don’t like him for.” On another occasion, Judge Kit trell relates in the same delight ful collection of reminiscences, Coke, now a member of the United States Senate, was invited by Pres ident Arthur to dine at the White House. Knowing the President to be a stickler for the conventional ities, which he himself ignored as often as possible, Senator Coke was somewhat perturbed. He approach ed a fellow Senator, noted for his courtliness, and said: “Maxey, I have received an invitation from President Arthur to dine at the White House and I haven’t got any kid gloves, and I don’t want to wear any, and I don’t know what to do. Senator Maxey told his distress ed friend from Texas that he had an engagement with the Presi dent prior to the dinner, and would see what could be worked out. In the meantime, something prevented their getting together again until after the fateful evening. When Senator Maxey next saw Senator Coke he inquired whether he had ever found the right kind of gloves. “I did,” Coke said, “but come mighty near not doing so. I went down Pennsylvania Avenue on one side and back up on the other and could not find a pair big enough. Finally, in a little hole in 1 the wall on a side street I found a pair I could get on, and when I did get ’em on, my hands looked like a pair of canvassed hams, but I wore ’em.” “And when it was all over,” Sen ator Maxey inquired, “did you get the gloves off safely?” “Hell,” Coke snorted, “As soon as I could get home, I tore ’em off!” Senate, were masterpieces. While the charming and dashing Ross rose to the Governorship, largely on personal popularity and his reputation as a hero, the plod ding Coke came up the hard way, fighting for every step up the lad der. Governor Ross was one of the most popular chief executives Texas ever had in a, time of com parative peace and quiet. Coke took over the helm of State by sheer force in one of the most troubled times Texas has ever known, and steered a true course in spite of severe buffetings from every side. Time Is Extended On MSC Deposits The deadline for making a de- cations have been drawn for week- posit for room reservations in the ends must pay the deposit by 8 MSC has been extended to Mon- a. m. Monday or forfeit the reser- day. Those students whose appli- vation. ™ B.F.Goodrich k mtmsw speem Each man was great in his own way—Coke’s, however, was the hard way. (The third in this series will be published in Monday’s Battalion) Dr. Carlton R. Lee OPTOMETRIST 203 S. Main Street Call 2-1662 for Appointment WET UMBRELLAS In spite of his carelessness in dress and his impatience with some of the rather strict formalities of his day, Richard Coke was in no sense an uncouth ruffian. He was a thorough and profound scholar of Bryan BaptistStart Church Bus Service the law and one of the most force ful writers of his time. Some of the decisions he hand ed down as Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, as well as many of his messages as Governor and lat er his prepared speeches in the The First Baptist Church of Bryan will run a free bus service Sunday morning for Aggies who wish to attend services in Bryan. Two College-owned buses will ar rive at 9:15 a. m. to collect pass engers. One of the buses will park at the west side of Dorm 16, across the street from the Campus Theater on Sulphur Springs Road; and the second bus will pick up 1 riders at Dorm 12. They will leave promptly at 9:30 for Bryan. Church School starts at 9:45 a. m. at the Bryan Baptist Church, and the Worship Service will be gin at 10:50 a. m. The buses will return Aggies to the campus. Regular week-end services will be held at all the College Station churches. Jewish Services Weekend Jewish Services will be held tonight at 7:15 in the YMCA Chapel, and each Friday at the same time, unless otherwise speci fied. A weekly Wednesday even ing service will be held in room 2D of the MSC. Bethel Lutheran Church Think Ye of Christ?” will be the topic of the Rev. William C. Pet erson’s worship sermon at 10:45 a. m. Wednesday evening Vesper Ser vices are to be held at 7:30 p. m., with a service called, “How Do You Appear Before God?” Other meetings next week for the Bethel Lutheran groups are Ladies’ Choir practice, Tuesday 7:30 p. b.; and Confirmation Class, Saturday 9 a. m. A&M First Baptist Church Sunday is “Buddy Day” at the First Baptist Church of College Station. Church members are asked to bring an “unenlisted” buddy to church with him in time for the 9:45 a. m. Sunday School. The Rev. W. J. McDaniel, interim pas- (See CHURCH Page 4) Sunday School and Bible Class es will convene at 9:30 a. m. Sun day at the Bethel Lutheran Church, 800 S. College Avenue. “What SAFE T-WAY TAXI Phone 2-1400 ATTENTION STUDENTS PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS Royal Quiet Deluxe Come in for demonstration —Liberal Terms— Bryan Business Machine Co. SALES — SERVICE — RENTALS — SUPPLIES 209 N. Main, Bryan Dial 2-1328 The Battalion Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions "Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman” Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Staton, Texas, onder the Act of Con gress of March 3, 1870. Member of The Associated Press Represented nationally by National Advertising Service Inc., at New York City, Chicago, Los An geles, and San Francisco. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Rights of republication of aU other matter Iberein are also reserved. News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444) or at the editorial office. Room 201, Goodwin Hall. Classified ads may be placed by telephone (4-6324) or at the Student Activities Office, Room 209, Goodwin Hall. JOHN WHITMORE Editor Joel Austin Managing Editor Bill Streich i News Editor Frank Davis City Editor Allen Pengelly Assistant News Editor Bob Selleck Sports News Editor William Dickens Feature Editor NIGHT SCHOOL OPENS Monday, October First ^ mg," : INTENSIVE training will be given in Gregg simplified shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, and college arithmetic. R EGISTRATION accepted now. McKenzie-Baldwin Business College 702 South Washington Avenue Bryan, Texas Dial 3-6655 RADIOS & REPAIRING Call For and Delivery STUDENT CO^OP Phone 4-4114 lane in- 806ART .m, BACAtl m vetmitf ON THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR! Never mind... IPs Valspax'd! 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IT AIN'T NO MERE LUMP O'MEAT/' IT GOT A POISONALITYA'- IT SEEMS T'BE PLEADIN’ WIT' ME N-NOTrMOIDER IT Meanwhile.-- on the train is a BROKEN-HEARTED BOV-— OH, WHAR KIN MAH DOGPATCH HAM BE ?— AH IS SO LONELY, SINCE IT WENT AWAY AN' SO KONGRY/' IT'S YOUNG EDDIE M c SKONK, WHO DELIVERS TH' U.S MAIL, A-PIDIN'ON HIS PAF5TNER,TH' U.S. MULE.'.'