Page 2
THE BATTALION
Tuesday, August 4, T.953
Agricultural Workers Help
Long Drouth In 152 Texas
To Battle
Counties
There have been two real breaks
in Texas' long hard battle of the
drouth during the past month.
Not enough to turn the tide, they
still are enough to give new hope
to the thousands of Texans who
have been in the front lines of the
state's 152 stricken counties.
Seeing these breaks, a small, de
termined army of skilled agricul
tural workers who have for the
past several years been fighting
side by side with the drouth-strick
en farmers and ranchers of Texas
have taken a new lease on life.
They are the 375 agricultural re
search and extension workers of
the A&M College System who live
and work in the 152 disaster coun
ties. Some of them have been
fighting the steadily losing battle
of drouth for as long as four years
now, others for two years and
more. Until recently there seemed
little that could be done, except to
give ground as grudgingly as pos
sible.
The first big break came on
June 27, when Secretary of Agri
culture Ezra Benson came to Lub
bock and two of their group, Ex
tension District Agent Bud Jones
of Lubbock and Superintendent Don
Jones of the Lubbock Experiment
Substation, had an opportunity to
take him on an automobile tour of
some of the typical drouth-rav
aged areas. After this tour the
Secretary talked with farmers,
ranchers and agricultural workers
at the American Cotton Congress
in Lubbock and returned to Wash
ington to set the wheels rolling on
an emergency federal program of
relief through furnishing feed to
maintain foundation herds.
At the same time the Secretary
appointed his own drouth commit
tees, one for each of the 152 strick
en counties and one for the state
as a whole. On each county com
mittee he placed a county agent,
and on the State committee he
n
i.
DROUGHT FORAGE—A lone cow munches on Spanish
dagger plant, that is growing on this drought-stricken open
range between Brownfield and Lamesa. This area is in
the heart of the West Texas region so hard hit by four
years of drought and now declared a disaster area eligible
for federal aid.
Barry Will Chair
Production Credit Meet
Ralph W. Barry, director of the
Bryan Production Credit Associa
tion, will chair the opening session
of the state wide meeting of the
Production Credit Association of
Texas, to be held at A&M August
11-12.
The meeting will be conducted
by the 36 Production Credit Asso
ciations in Texas, the Pioduction
Ci’edit Corporation of Texas and
the A&M School of Agriculture.
A smorgasbord with officials of
the college will be given at 7:30
p.m., August 9 and at 8:15 p.m.,
J. S. Farmer, director of the Texas
PCA, will open the meeting at
which Chancellor Gibb Gilchrist of
the A&M System and Pres. M. T.
Harrington of the college, will give
talks.
College men on the program for
Monday morning at which Barry
will preside include D. W. Wil
liams, vice-chancellor for agricul
ture for the S5 r stem; Chas. N.
Shepardson, dean of the school of
agriculture; Dr. R. D. Lewis, di
rector of the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station; J. D. Prew
itt, associate director Texas Ag
riculture Extension Service; Dr.
Tyrus R. Timm, head of the de
partment of agricultural econom
ics and sociology; J. Wheeler Bar
ger, professor of agricultural eco
nomics.
J. B. Chambers Jr., of Harlin
gen, director, Valley Production
Credit Association, will chair the
Tuesday, August 11, 1:30 to 3:30
p.m. session.
Talks will be made by A. H.
Walker, Extension range special
ist, Prof. R. C. Potts, Agronomy
Department, Dr. J. Miller, head,
Animal Husbandry Department, all
of A&M.
Dr. Virgil P. Lee, president, Pro
duction Credit Corporation, Hous
ton, will be master of ceremonies
at the banquet session, August 11.
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Ag-gie Traditions
“Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechan
ical College of Texas, is published by students four times a week, during
the regular school year. During the summer terms, and examination
and vacation periods, The Battalion is published twice a week. Days of
publications are Tuesday through Friday for the regular school year,
and Tuesday and Thursday during examination and vacation periods
and the summet terms. Subscription rates $6.00 per year or $.50 per
month. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Entared as second-class
matter at Post Office at
College Station, Texas
under the Act of Con
gress of March 3, 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Represented nationally by
National Advertising
Services, Inc., at New
York City, Chicago, Los
Angeles, and San Fran
cisco.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republi
cation 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 all other matter herein are also reserved.
News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444 or 4-7604) or
at the editorial office room, 202 Goodwin HalL Classified ads may be
placed by telephone (4-5324) or at the Student Activities Office, Room
209 Goodwin Hall.
JERRY BENNETT, ED HOLDER CO-EDITORS
Bob Boriskie Managing Editor
Louise Street .- Women’s News Editor I
named G. G. Gibson, head of the
state-wide extension seiwice.
At the request of the Secretary
of Agriculture’s drouth commit
tees, the Extension Service took
the responsibility for the import
ant information and education
phase of the work, using its state
wide organization to form a com
munications network for getting
the details of the battle on many
fronts into the centers where the
plans were being made and carry
ing back to the farms and ranches
the vital infoianation on what aid
was available and how it might be
used.
Relief Details
One of the first jobs was to get
word to farmers and ranchers on
the exact details of the relief feed
plan and how it would work in
individual cases. Next came the
job of giving ranchers the latest
information on the type of feed
that would be available and how to
make the best use of it to keep his
cattle in condition.
This sort of information was col
lected at state headquarters of the
Extension Service at College Sta
tion and channeled out quickly to
the county agents through a series
of Drouth Emergency Letters, the
first of which appeared on July 7,
followed by an almost daily ava
lanche of down-to-earth informa
tion on the day-to-day problems of
the drouth region and the best
known solutions.
Extension workers of Texas and
other drouth states met in Kansas
City with extension people from
states which have a surplus of feed
and pasture and developed a sys
tem for exchanging information to
bring togethei’ the man with the
need and the man with the surplus.
Since that scheme began working
the* daily drouth letters have car-
ried lists of West Coast, Midwest
ern and Northeastern farmers and
ranchers who either want to sell
feed, lease pastures or buy cattle.
In tuni the Texas group has fm--
nished to other states names of
ranchers who sought to buy or
lease or to offer cattle for sale. As
a result of this service many deals
have been made.
The Rains Came
The second big drouth in the
long bal’d battle came around the'
middle of this month, when good
local rains, ranging from two to
four inches, began falling on wide
ly scattered spots in the parched
areas. While there’s not much to
be done in agriculture when it
simply doesn’t rain for a year or
two, something can be done when a
good rain falls, and it is important
that the right thing be done—and
done quickly.
When the rains come the farmer
or ranchman who knows what to
plant in his county at that partic
ular time of year with some hope
of making a good crop and who is
prepared to get his seed in the
ground immediately, has a chance
to start back on the road to re
covery. ^
On July 16 the Agricultural Ex
periment Station asked each of its
eig-hteen local research- centers
scattered through the stricken area
for a brief simple summary of local
conditions, experience of the sta
tion in similar situations over the
years and recommendations for
what farmers and ranchers of that
area could do until the rains came
and what to do immediately after
a good rain.
Prisoners
(Continued from Page 1)
Mark Clark, who is in the United
States. A letter from Clark will
be handed to each prisoner.
The prisoners will also get a
kit containing a summary of the
latest news, including sports. These
kits, and American cigarettes, will
be the first things given the pris
oners.
Taylor said that Major Gen. Wil
liam Dean, the captuied former
commander of the 24th Division,
will go through processing lines
like all the others.
Seymour said* that of the 500
sick and wounded prisoners to
be handed over, it was expected
that most would be suffering from
skin diseases or tuberculosis.
At Freedom Village, the men
will also receive mail from home.
Since the prisoner agreement was
reached, the Army has been hold
ing mail addressed to war px-ison-
ers and men listed as missing.
The men will ai'rive at Fi’eedom
Village by ti’uck. It will take less
than an hour to bring them there
fi’onx neuti’al Panmunjom.
Then the men will receive in
itial medical checkups, records
pi’oeessing, clothing, mail, show
ers, dusting, pi-ess interviews for
those who ai’e willing, coffee and
soup.
An Army orchestra to entertain
repati-iates and special shows are
being prepax-ed. They Mull also
hax-e their own post exchange, be
able to get milk shakes and see
movies.
Lists of crops and varieties best
suited to planting at this time of
year, suggestions for the most
practical procedures for farmers
and ranchers who still had cattle
and for those who had no cattle
were included. A few days later a
list of the best suited forage and
other crops for each area was pre
pared, with the length of growing
seaspn and moisture xequirements
of each being given, so that when
a lain came the farmer in each
area could quickly determine what
was best suited for planting at that
time.
Field Workers Busy
All of this information was
turned over to the Extension Serv
ice, to be channeled back to the
counties through their county
agents. Field men and women were
instructed to use every means
available to get the word out
quickly, particularly when a good
rain came, to give the people of
their area the best opportunity of
taking advantage of every bit of
moisture.
The battle goes on, day by day.
One of the latest emergency letters
gives instructions on the best var
ieties of vegetables for fall gar
dens, x’eviews the most effective
methods of planting and cultiva
tion and points out the value of
a garden to supplement dwindling
income in the hard-hit areas. Home
Demonstration agents are coaching
farm and I'anch wives in food pres-
ervation, clothing design and pi'o-
duction and all of the other tricks
for cutting coi’ners in the hard
times many families are facing.
A suxwey has been completed of
all the hay available in Texas for
sale and information on hay and
feed for sale in other states has
been gathei’ed and fuxnished to the
drouth areas. A similar survey of
seed for planting, when and where
it x-ains, is under way. As each
new situation developes new needs
will ai'ise and a new kind of in
formation will be needed. This
group of research and extension
workers see it as their job to fur
nish it.
Drouth Is Eternal Problem
Fighting a drouth is no new ex-
ricultural woi'kers. They know
that in any year you will find a
drouth going full blast somewhere
in Texas. About- every twenty
years it will assume the dreadful
propoi’tions of the current disaster.
They see the fight as a long one;
a fight in which man will never
whip the di’outh, but can learn to
live with it. Their principal weap
on is knowledge and their attack
is education.
Out of such disasters as the pres
ent they expect to gain some new
weapons. Individual plants which
suxvive such a drouth as this one
are obviously drouth-resistant to
a high degree. Selection and in
crease of the seed of many of these
will furnish new stocks for plant
ing in the next series of dry years
in Texas. Methods developed in
the emei'gency by ingenious farm
ers and ranchers will point the
way to new and better manage
ment.
Expeximent stations operating in
the drouth areas have been foi’ced
by cii’cumstances to concentx-ate
fox’ several years on drouth pi’ob-
lems, because of their own expex - -
imental crops were suffering along
with the others of their region.
They hope, tdo, that the hard
lessons of the drouth will bi’ing
home to Texans the need for usixxg
the best practices developed over
the years in range management,
crop cultivation and cropping sys
tems. These methods px’ove profit
able in good yeai’s, but in drouth
years they meaxx the difference be
tween survival and failure. They
expect the spectacular disaster’ of
today to impr-ess the whole state
with the necessity for a long-x’ange
program of x-eseax’ch and demon
stration which will put Texas far
ther along the road toward mak
ing use of its best brains and skills
to manage its agriculture in such
a way as to make it drouth-resis
tant, if not drouth-proof.
McCarthy
(Continued from Page 1)
the only school of its kind in the
world which teaches a comprehen
sive course on diamonds, colored
gemstones, silverware and other
precious metals, as well as lab
testing techniques for identifica
tions and appraisals. There are
currently around 3,000 students en
rolled representing 17 foreign
countries in addition to the United
States and Canada.
The Institute’s course is no quick
six week sprint that turns out a
gem expert in a few easy lessons.
Three and one half years are re
quired, on the average, for the
jeweler to complete the mail
course. After he has mastered a
required amount of the theory by
I correspondence, he may, if he
j wishes, take six weeks of lecture
1 and laboratory instruction in Los
| Angeles, Chicago, or New York
i City. It is such a class which Mc-
! Carty is now attending.
■he tinu
: about t
h. Flow
eitlwr
Us. Htl
they w<
yoUi' ai
mil Hu;'
s.
’ wi i 1 u
!Train. I'i’oi
'tunate i
In lal
gill, run
; arti fu-i
innows,
es wIn i'
:h-e spav
>e taiwi
iwniipu' ;
r not to
thod: i
as the j
THE SAND DUNES MOVE IN—Drifting - dust and sand, reminders of must f
acres, pile up a sand dune 10 feet high behind the home of L. R. Riney,a i to r an
16 miles southeast of Brownfield. Sand covers the plot where the Ki-d move :
etable garden normally, vtkjney’s pasture is burned up and his cotton.;
the help of a disability pension as a World War 1 veteran, and cash froir sh do no
field, Riney is holding onto his 320-acre farm. :ely revr
; ~^^Hal turn
Congressman Teague Reports
Adjournment Plans All
By Legal Debt Discuss
h, dealii:
aid that
catchinj.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug 4.—
Plans for the adjournment of Con
gress over the weekend of August
1 were snarled when it became ap
parent that the United States
Treasury would probably exceed
the legal debt limit prior to De
cember 31. The statutory limit on
the public debt was first imposed
by an Act of Congress in 1917
when the public debt was nearly
three billion dollars. This figure
was i'diSed to sixty-five billion m
1941 and was progressively raised
to three hundred billion in 1945,
and then dropped back to two hun
dred and seventy-five billion in
1946. Secretary of the Treasury,
George Humphrey has asked
through the President that the
statutory limit be increased to ap-
fishtTii
i. Dwri
ait, 1 lie
; belter
ck.
jried, pai
do not :
‘ish hav
‘• equ: s and a
ter it was mv , ,,
six billion dolla <U ‘
mi'<‘1 n,ressary td ° W ^ K
to maintain a 3-Uip 1 . >
ance of funds Weigl
proximately two hundred and nine
ty billion dollars. It is estimated
that the public debt will reach two
hundred and seventy-seven billion
dollars by the end of the year but
will be back, down to about two -t*^****-^
hundred and seventy-three billion to bor row mon onnije 11
when the fiscal year ends on 30 will carry thec Ugllt en
June 1954. j ent legal limit." au_gh t.
No one in our country likes to j , know th;i . Wilkins
think of or contemplate a larger j concorned over at Cam
debt burden—but the public debt'
is a consequence rather than a
cause of government spending. To
leave the present level or limita
tion unchanged in face of the bor
rowing operations which will be
necessary might invite possible | ‘Q]} ^
chaos. President Ersen bower rn
his message to the Congress stated
“To meet the Government’s cash
but it is due: ater in
government opes—
year from 1 Jul;
taxes are collefr
year basis. Tfe;
ha I f of the fiscT
A&M System Scientists
Open A ttack On Bo 11worm
last half of the
first half of tl
Under the Rev
collections of
JN
cl*
taxes were spef
ED V. II
Scientists from the A&M Col
lege System and the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture opened anoth
er flank attack in the pink boll-
worm battle Monday, August 3,
when they began ‘Operation
Shred’, at the Weslaco Sub-Station
of the Texas Agricultural Experi
ment Station.
Using standard shredder ma
chinery, H. P. Smith and Harry
Francis of the college’s department
of agricultural engineering moved
into a cotton-field of the substa
tion to pulverize stalks and leaves
of the cotton plants.
Substation entomologists Dr.
George Wene and Paul Rihevd, in
cooperation with A. J. Chapman
of the USDA’s Bureau of Ento
mology and Plant Quarantine, took
infestation counts of the pink boll-
worms before the operation, and
will take them again immediately
afterward.
Pulverized plants will be allow
ed to lie on the ground for a
week, then a third count will be
made.
Object of ‘Operation Shred’ is
complete elimination of bollworms
in test fields. A high percentage
of the pests will die during the
pulverizing operation and direct
exposure to the sun’s rays on the
surface of the ground should kill
the rest, the scientists feel.
Tests of machine efficiency will
be made during the pulverizing
process and possible adaptations
to increase the killing effect will
be studied for application this win
ter.
‘Operation Shred’ is preliminary
action on expanded studies of pink
bollworm control which was au
thorized by the recent legislature.
It is being started before the new
fiscal year gets under way because
deadline for plowing up cotton in
the Weslaco area is August 31 un
der present control regulations, Dr.
J. C. Gaines, head of the depart
ment of entomology at the college,
said.
Four different machines, loaned
by companies in Texas, will be
used on various test plots to de
termine the most effective type of
operation.
Additional data on bollworm
migration will be obtained as the
scientists watch the influx of new
insects into the areas cleaned dur
ing the tests, Dr. Gaines said.
Cooperation of the departments
of entomology and agricultural
engineering in ‘Operation Shred’
also is in line with the current
cotton mechanization studies be
ing conducted by thme agricultural
engineering department *rnd the
agricultural experiment station.
Press Spr
make the largei 1
payable in the l', new h
the calendar yearns Chris
six months of th e ge days
result has been " se Abo
Miss Beard Visits
The Culpeppers
Visiting with Mr. and Mrs. ,1. C.
Culpepper is her niece, Martha
Beard of Hillsboro.
lections are co: TCU thi
in the last six n enough
endar year whk' ir ry out
months of the f ; coursts ;
The collection doubtfu
ture then as cor coach e
expenditures re Vf h trouble
spending side th h Meyer
ry-over of conn Martin
unexpended bala; iS istant,
tions which mear'an one
have to be contn-h. But
merits for goo& iuch. In
the fiscal year !• 200-poui
for the last half ^n Dan
1953 or the first'.anan ar
year 1954 durif Thornps
budget receipts:r e Bryai
level—hence thei 1 ! ver y, 1
creased statutory the Jur
Under the preKys, “lig
ceipts and expcndjnder th
as a rule a budgmee r ule:
first half of thefk the la
over the whole fiYord and
modified by a sgible. F
receipts in the sec that lef
r esult, it is inev and Cn
public debt on Deoung Ei
year will be higlt Candida
be at the endofs.n outsi
30 June of the fohst such
-'Penn St
-rtnsas ar
A sophomore, Miss Beard attend
ed Lindenwood College in St.
Charles, Missouri last year. She
is taking dancing lessons while
here and enjoying the “good old
Southern hospitality” for which the
Culpeppers are noted.
She is planning to spend the re
mainder of the summer here with
only a short trip home before en
tering school in September.
lorried
close 1
ust mij
p with
led
rg 165-|
£r in t r
■rl 21 () p
■j l even c
HUch! line
s and M
may pu
t 148-i
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