Battalion Editorials
Page 2
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1953
Legislature’s Fast Move
Requ ires Citizens ’ A tlen lion
•TTHE EYES of Texas will be on the Legis-
lature during the next few days after the
swift and secret move yesterday by the
House Appropriations Committee which ap
proved a bill providing 161 million dollars for
general state services for the next two years.
Although this would hold the budget
strictly in line with the present spending
rate, it is three million dollars under the bud
get recommendation of the governor.
Many legislators have complained because
of the hasty action. Others want the bill to
move quickly through both the House and the
Senate to a joint committee where a com
promise bill may be developed to determine
how much to spend for state services such
as courts, colleges, departments, hospitals
and special schools.
After the money is alloted, some groups
will be left out.
Yesterday the Texas Prison Board chair
man said a proposed $3,500,000, thousand-
man cell block is needed to relieve the crowd
ed conditions in the system. A few weeks
ago, budgets of many colleges and univer
sities were trimmed. Every group wants
more money.
Many representatives rightly questioned
why four subcommittees had worked for
weeks, listening to money requests of state
officials, if there was no intention of making
use of the gathered information.
One thing is certain: The Legislature
plans to fall in line with the governor’s
economy plan. But no one knows how far
they will follow the governor’s suggestions.
As yet, no one has introduced a bill concern
ing the tax increase he has suggested of one
cent per gallon of gasoline.
For many groups—such as the colleges
and universities, all of which need more mon
ey, especially for increase in salaries—the cut
will hurt.
No one knows how it will effect A&M.
Only a wait-and-see attitude can be adopted.
However, former students interested in
the development of their school should make
positive efforts to see that the educational
institution’s budgets are filled.
Economy is not always the answer to ef
fective government. The Legislature’s ac
tions will be watched more closely as time
passes.
ARTS AND DARTS
I >rawling Sex
j ones-I leston
By JERRY BENNETT
Battalion Managing Editor
“RUBY GENTRY” — starring
Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston,
and Karl Malden—20th Century
Fox—Campus Theatre
“Ruby Gentry” gives Jennifer
Jones and Charlton Heston a
chance to practice rough and tum
ble necking everywhere from the
front seat of a moving convertible
to the foggy swamps of North
Carolina.
Against a corn pone and sow
belly atmosphere, Miss Jones gives
the role of Ruby all the southern
sex appeal censors allow.
Three Notches
ex-
AG AINST REGULATIONS—Jennifer Jones tries to
plain her disobedient attitude to worried hubby Karl Mal
den in one of the few tranquil scenes of “Ruby Gentry.”
Before the film ends, Ruby’s
tight sweater and loose morals
have helped cause the death of
three men, bankrupt several oth
ers, wreck a marriage, practically
close down an entire town and
ruin a multimillion dollar irriga
tion system.
Director King (Duel In the Sun)
Vidor has fife
the sex and'
novel cover,
direction, the*
through a s\r
sudden death;
pletely sinking;!
of improbabiil
Charlton fits
through an
heated clinch;
that should ha!
with Lee’s surr
ly early in thJ
still has time’
stupid as Rut
Although \
all the requi:
powered teat
tors always s .
much fun i Jh ■
downfall to
tragedy.
Whal\
\k
tra<
/
“Education is the apprentice
ship of life”—Willmott.
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
Coeds Not Needed Here;
Students Should Decide
yestet
will 1
“Who escapes a duty, avoids a
gain”—Theodore Parker.
Church Noticed
By Investigators
Cadets Deserve
Better Example
/'kNE OF THE loudest “wildcats” to ring
^ through the aisles of Duncan Hall fol
lowed the announcement yesterday that the
“inspection had been cancelled.”
The reason?
Through a little work, The Battalion
found the inspection, according to College
Regulations, is illegal at that scheduled time.
At least one of these inspections has al
ready been held in the Third Division Area
this year.
One of the first things a cadet learns at
A&.M is “to do anything one can get away
with.” We do not know whether or not the
military department was promoting this
practice, or if it has merely infiltrated into
its channels, or if an oversight occurred.
This we do know. The reason for many
disturbances in the student life here can be
traced to the original root of the administra
tion, mainly the lax discipline, or the “show
an example” type of rule.
Ross Hall and inhabitants could stand an
inspection themselves. There seems to be a
little dust settling.
Another “wildcat” would be in order, if
a successful coordination throughout the
chain of command would be established to
“set a better example” of the military in ac
tion.
/CHAIRMAN VELDE (R-Ill.) of the House
^ Un-American Activities Committee plans
to investigate alleged communist influences
in churches. He is not definite as to when,
but presumes that colleges come first, then
the churches.
But Velde has made it clear that “the in
vestigation would be the field of individuals
rather than the churches themselves,” and,
of course, organizations affiliated with some
churches.
This includes everyone.
From clergy to congregational members,
from college president to janitor, the com
mittee plans a clean sweep of the nation to
search and “to determine whether the Amer
ican communist party, through its member
ship is attempting to destroy religion, or in
fluence education in this country — by in
filtration and by external means.”
No one can blame the senators and rep
resentatives for directing the investigations
toward other grounds. After all, the be
ginning of such investigations was in the cap-
itol, and they were not completed.
But Velde and his associates may be
right. He said, “If the universities and col
leges and their administrative bodies had
been able to handle the problem, they would
have done it before now.”
The same, he eventually will say, about
the churches, and soon the homes. And the
congressman can be happy knowing he has
helped to clean everyone’s house but his own.
When that investigation is started, he
might say, “Oh happy day.”
Th e Battalion
Editors, The Battalion:
Let’s stand pat!
One of the most controversial
issues to come before the Texas
Legislature in recent years is the
issue which has all of A&M Col
lege in an uproar and Ex-students’
Associations all over Texas hold
ing frenzied meetings to plan
campaign measures—Coeds for
A&M!
It’s true that the quality of
the military corps has declined
in recent years—noticeable to a
startling extent even in the past
two years. But this is due, not to
a deficiency in morale which
could be corrected by co-eds on
the campus, but it is due mainly
to the enforced laxity of the re
strictions placed upon the under
classmen by the upperclassmen.
It’s true that the seniors still run
the school, but only when they
run it the way the military de
partment dictates.
In the days before any “Mam
ma’s Boy” could break a cadet
officer’s rank by writing home to
his folks that he was hazed, the
spirit, and pride, and respect, and
love of A&M was high. Class dis
tinction was rigidly enforced,
while on the campus, as the offi
cers in training would find it
when they assumed their duties
in the military service of their
country.
There was pride in personal mil
itary organizations because the
cadet officers built it with the
tools of tradition. A&M was fam
ous and admired for those same
traditions. A new underclassman
was forced to knuckle down under
those traditions until he learned
the meaning for them. Then he
realized that they were what A&M
stood for, what made A&M! That
they were what had built a great
school . . . that they were what
made A&M one of the outstanding
schools in the country.
All of A&M’s fame is based, to
a large extent, on its traditions,
and if those traditions are tossed
out of the window, then what is
there left? The “Boys Only” tra
dition is one of the most basic
ones, on which the others have
risen, and if that one is destroyed,
all the other traditions will fol
low, in like manner, and make
A&M just another school!
Whereas the majority of the
upperclassmen do not want the
coeds, the majority of the under
classmen do want them. This is
partly because the underclassmen
have not yet learned to love the
traditions which have made A&M
what it is today. They still have
hopes of a merry, carefree four
years of fun before assuming the
responsibilities of adult life.
A&M degrees have a very high
distinction in the modern business
world, not only because of the
high scholastic standards, but also
because anyone who can take four
years of A&M student life is
worth his metal, personally, and
is also topnotch in his relations
with his associates.
mil-
boy
ma-
BACKWARD]
GLANCES
One Year Ago Today
The portraits of six former Ag
gies, who were awarded the Con
gressional Medal of Honor, are dis-
played on the second floor of the
new Administration Building. Four
of the awards for bravery in
World War II were awarded post
humously.
Five Years Ago Today
The Campus Security Office an
nounced that it had collected .$295
“in fees for reinstatement of driv
ers’ permits during the current
school year.” Money collected
from the violators is deposited in
the Student Recreation and Wel
fare Fund.
Ten Years Ago Today
A. Varga, “who is rapidly gain
ing fame and popularity in Es
quire,” has accepted an invitation
to judge Vanity Fair entries.
Fifteen Years Ago Today
A detachment of one officer and
eight enlisted men from the (!9th
Coast Artillery Regiment at Fort
Crockett will be at A&M to in
spect modern antiaircraft equip
ment.
It’s true that a large number of
cadets drop out of school before
the end of their first semester
because of the roughness of Ag
gie student life. But before those
practices can be censured, how
ever, it must be remembered that
A&M trains officers with its
itary corps, and not every
who comes to A&M is officer
terial.
To uphold the high scholastic
standards of the college, the cours
es have to be haixl, too hard in
some cases it’s true, but a high
scholastic tradition can not be
maintained with ’“snap-courses.”
Enough time must be spent now
on studies, if there were coeds on
the campus, available for extra
curricular activities, the grades
would suffer for many boys.
Although coeducation would
probably benefit the businessman
of College Station and Bryan, it
would not benefit the college as a
Whole, any more than making
West Point coeducational would
benefit that school. It’s true that
the quantity of enrollment might
increase, but would the quality?
It is obvious; the type of coed
who would come to A&M would at
tract boys of like caliber. To
gether with the draft deferment
plan and the financial cheapness of
the college, anyone who wanted
a cheap, gay, carefree four years
of draft-deferred fun could come
to A&M, and the upperclassmen
would be stripped of their tools
with which to weed the men from
the boys.
The student body, as a whole,
should get together and decide the
issue, because it is their school,
and not merely the plaything of
some unscrupulous businessmen.
The student body, in a general
election, should decide A&M’s fate,
and the board of directors, if not
the Texas Legislature, should act
accordingly.
But what ever we do; the stu
dents, the exes, the friends of the
college; let’s all work together
and decide what we want, and
then act together for a better
Texas A&M!
Robin Ransome, ’54
5 p. in.—Nt- .
new Adpiinisti£ sdak '
for Aggielam
5:20 p. -, .
Club, front
Aggieland. N’ d ^ el ‘
7 p. in.-m u
Course Banqr H ,
t 1,3 have
Lutheran It .
on MSC t
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2C MSC. Ralph
Executive hopes
Room, MSC. . 01 .ing
Newman Ci. i . e ^ a y ; N \
el, will disc. t sea so
the conventio; >ai . the
7 p. ni.- le j r ho
Rooms 2A ati re( l .As!
Architecture Fiitli
South Solar; C aptai
Vrooman of SrWilliu 1,1
partment vr /on the
8 a. in. to 5 sg
Water and
tions and ^ Y-///
MSC. iamKK'-"
7 p. m.-C T J3K; ;
Room 3B, Mr ______ ....
Petroleum ilVMil'llUfcj. 1 .!
ment. Scholar g . CL
Assembly R ne See
7:15 p. m.-’TGE F
ial Room, Mr
7:30 p. m—URSDV’i
Room, MSC, stress
Amateur K,‘ '
-MSC.
Junto Club magapA??
Aggie V-ggOg;
Rooms 2C t ■ t f £ f
A&M Fill k If
Voyage Houk’m^w^
Knights
of St. Mary’;
East Texas roDAX
301, Goodnir
High School•
the Aggielanc TswV-tJ
8 p. m.—MSC
3D, MSC. “
REW
To BeliU,,;
Future pis:; .
elude several "—=—■■
J. Gordon Ga; •
There areal
needs at the k P ■
iiversaMnt;
I hose are: a
conduct the trouble
a better folloj
Gay explain
underway to it,
Individual
members aretl
RE Week a
added.
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
“Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
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FRANK N. MANITZAS, JOEL AUSTIN
Ed Holder, Jerry Bennett
Harri Baker
Peggy Maddox
Co-Editors
Managing Editors
City Editor
Women’s News Editor
Jerry Bennett
Chuck Neighbors
Bob Boriskie
Today’s Issue
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£ c! El
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