The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 16, 1955, Image 1

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    The Battalion
Number 2: Volume 55
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1955
Price Five Cents
Joint Meeting
Next Week
To Draw 400
More than 400 persons are
expected to register for the
joint meeting of the 30th an
nual Texas Association of
County Superintendents Con
ference, the 19th annual Texas
School Administration Conference
and the 5th annual Texas Asso
ciation for Instructional Supervis
ors Conference at A&M June 20-
22.
The three groups will meet each
morning in general assembly to
hear addresses by leading educa
tors. Afternoon sessions will be
devoted to separate conference
meetings to discuss problems of
the individual groups.
Lawrence Derthick, superinten
dent of schools in Chattanooga,
Tenn., will address the general as
sembly Monday morning, while the
Tuesday speaker will be Jess S.
Hudson, assistant superintendent
for instruction at Tulsa public
schools, Tulsa, Okla. Wednesday
moiming J. W. Edgar, commission
er of education for the Texas Ed
ucation Agency in Austin, will
talk to the general assembly, fol
lowed by Alvin A. Burger, execu
tive director of the Texas Research
League in Austin, who will present
the league’s report to the confer
ence.
L. A. Roberts, Dallas county su
perintendent, is president of the
Texas Association of County Su
perintendents; Dean Murphy, su
perintendent of schools in Cleburne,
is president of the Texas School
Administration group and Howard
L. Ezell, supervisor of Johnson
county schools, Cleburne, is pres
ident of the Texas Association for
Instructional Supervisors.
Services Held
For William Eakin
Funeral services were held at 3
p.m. Tuesday at College Station
Baptist Church for William Whit
aker Eakin, 11-year-old son of Mr.
and Mrs. L. C. Eakin, who was
fatally injured Monday evening.
Eakin, whose father is in charge
ef Brazos Valley A&M College
Farms, was driving a jeep at the
farms in Burleson County, when
the jeep overtunred. He was dead
upon arrival at a Bryan hospital.
A negro boy who was with him was
not seriously injured.
Survivors include his parents and
a brother, Larkin Jr., his paternal
grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Eakin of Moody, and his maternal
grandmother, Mrs. Verna Mathews
of Bryan.
Burial was in Hempstead. Hillier
Funeral Home of Bryan had charge
of arrangements.
*
GRADUATE’S BEST FRIEND—Jim Elston of Laredo and
Pic, his seeing-eye dog, both received diplomas from Baylor
University at Waco. President W. R. White conferred the
bachelor of arts degree, with honors, to Elston, and a Cita
tion of Faithfulness to Pic. Pic has guided Elston through
four years of successful study and a busy extracurricular
schedule. At left, is Miss Clara Duggin, assistant regis
trar at Baylor.
SP Wants To Stop Sunbeam;
Asks Railroad Commission
A Short History
Of A&M in 1875
Want to reminisce? Well, let’s
go back to 1875 and see what took
place so far as A&M is concerned:
“Texas is destined to be the
most useful, the most necessary
and the most important of all the
states in the Union,” President
Jefferson Davis of the Confeder
ate States of America, stated after
he had declined the presidency of
Texas A&M College.
The first board of directors of
the college met on July 16, 1875,
in Austin, and elected Davis as
president.
Reuben O. Bowen, an early stu
dent of the college, knew President
Davis and visited with him at his
home at Natchez, Miss. Bowen re
lated on the occasion of the semi
centennial celebration of A&M in
1926, that President Davis made
the following statement to him:
“When I was asked to accept
the presidency of the Agricultural
and Mechanical College of Texas,
I consented. I could not picture
a more pleasant and satisfactory
Army, Air Force ROTC
Summer Camps To Start
occupation than to be enabled to
aid in instructing the youth of
Texas, many of whose fathers I
knew personally.
“I think Texas is a great and
most wonderful state. It is desti
ned to be the most useful, the
most necessaxy and the most im-
poi’tant of all the states in the
Union. It is composed of men and
women of sterling worth and char
acter and patriotism to a just
cause. Some of the wisest coun
selors from my side were soldiers
from Texas.
“After I decided to accept the
presidency of the Agricultural and
Mechanical College, my family in
sisted that the burden would be
too gx-eat. They insisted that my
(See DAVIS, Page 2)
Summer camp will soon be un
derway for more than 500 army
and air force ROTC students from
A&M. The camps start during the
latter part of this month, and are
six weeks long.
Army
Foxt Hood, Tex., will get 90
students from A&M in infantry,
chemical corps and ASA military
science. Majors C. C. Waddell and
E. C. Wi'ight of the Military Sci
ence Department will be at the
camp.
Fort Sill, Okla., is the site for
50 field artillery cadets. Lt. Col.
G. H. Watson, Maj. K. J. Ed
wards Jr., and Capt. F. A. Walker
will also go.
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., di'aws
36 Aggie cadets in the corps of
engineers. Attending also will be
Maj. H. S. Thigpen.
Forty armor cadets from A&M
will go to Fort Knox, Ky., for
their summer camp. Maj. C. H.
Brown and Capt. F. J. Bloom will
also attend the camp at Fort Knox.
The summer camp for 33 AAA
cadets is Fort Bliss, Tex., with
Maj. D. E. Philips and Capt. W.
R. McNeil also there.
Attending Fort Eustis, Va., will
be 17 transpox-tation coxps cadets.
Fort Lee, Va., draws 21 quarter
master cadets. Maj. J. F. Birkner
also will be at the camp at For-t
Lee.
Sixteen ordinance cadets will re
port to Aberdeen Proving Grounds,
Md., for their summer training.
From A&M will also come Maj.
W. J. Winder and Capt. A. A. Hord.
The signal corps summer camp
will be at Camp Gordon, Ga., with
12 cadets from A&M attending.
Maj. S. L. James Jr., will also be
at Camp Goi-don.
Air Force
Most of the A&M air force of
ficers reporting to camps this sum
mer will go to Bryan Air Force
Base.
Four A&M air force ROTC stu
dents will go to Harlingen AFB.
One cadet will report to Vance
AFB, Okla.
Representative Dewey
A&M Bills Discussed
The Texas Legislature passed
several bills of interest to A&M
during its 148-day session. B. H.
Dewey Jr., state repx-esentative
from Bryan, gave a repoi't on some
of them.
The Legislatui’e passed a joint
resolution on a constitutional a-
mendment relative to building
needs. Dewey was co-author of
f this bill which would enable all
state schools to get the money
they need for building without
having to go to the Legislature to
get it out of the genei’al revenue
fund.
The measure provides for broad
ening the investment oppoi'tunities
for the Univei'sity Pei'manent fund.
The amendment will be voted upon
by Texas voters in the November,
1956, election.
The Student Activities fee bill,
SB 186, died without appi’oval,
Dewey i-eported.
Dewey was on the conference
committee which wrote the repoi’t
on House Bill 666, pi'oviding for
coverage of state employees under
’the old age and survivors insur
ance provisions of the Fedei’al So
cial Security Act. This bill gives
social secui’ity to all state employ
ees who are under the State Em
ployees Retirement Act, effective
Sept. 1, 1955.
He was also on the conference
comrhittee which wrote the re
port for House Bill 709, which was
the first step in seeming social
secui’ity for college professors. A
resolution was passed asking the
Commission on Higher Education
to make a study of the feasibility
of college professors securing so
cial' security.
The biggest increase of any of
the parts of the General Appro
priations bill was for agencies of
higher education, Dewey report
ed. The increase was approxi
mately 13.5 million dollars for the
next biennium. For 1954-55, the
At The Grove
Thursday, June 16 — “Malta
Story,” with Alec Guiness.
Monday, June 20 — “It Hap
pens Every Thursday,” with Lo
retta Young and John Forsythe.
Tuesday, June 21—“Shoot First”,
with Joel McCrea and Evelyn
Keyes.
Wednesday, June 22 — “Ten
nessee Champ,” with Shelly Wint
ers and Keenan Wynn.
Thursday, June 23 — “Come Fill
the Cup,” with James Cagney.
appropriation for higher education
was $80,283,619; for 1956-57, it is
$93,806,271.
The conference committee report
recommended $1,475,000 for major
repairs and rehabilitations of ex
isting classroom and laboratory
buildings on college campuses. The
report also included $148,000 for
the Texas Commission on Higher
Education, recommended by Gov.
Allan Shivers and created by the
session of the Legislature just end
ed. The Commission is to coordi
nate academic programs in state
colleges and universities.
(In a later issue of The Battalion,
the function of the Texas Commis
sion on Higher Education and what
it can mean to A&M will be given.)
Dewey wrote House Bill 629,
called the “Texas Travel Act of
1955,” which passed the House
and died in the Senate. However,
most of the better features of the
bill were incorporated in the Gen
eral Appropriations Bill, he said.
As part of the riders, the per diem
base for offiical travel by state
employees was raised from its
present $6 maximum (which in
cluded filling out papers to show
that $6 was spent) to a flat $7
per day.
Norton AFB, Calif., will get 19
A&M cadets for summer training.
Sixty-eight cadets will attend
camp at March AFB, Calif., this
summer. Two camps will be held
with 38 cadets from A&M at the
first camp, and 30 at the second.
Williams AFB, Ariz., will get
15 A&M cadets, as will Luke
AFB, also in Arizona.
Another Arizona base, Davis-
Monthan AFB, will have two
camps. Thirty-nine A&M cadets
will be in the first camp, and 27
will be in the second.
Eglin AFB, Fla. will have a
late camp, to start in August.
Twelve cadets from A&M will be
at Eglin.
Hide-A way
Dance in MSC
Mon day Nigh t
Monday night’s Hide-away
dance will be held on the ter
race of the Memorial Student
Center. The dance will be
from 8 to 11.
The dances are part of the
MSC’s summer entertainment
program. The Capers Combo
will play for the dance.
Both boys and girls should
feel free to come without
dates, said Mrs. Frances
Shackelford, summer program
consultant.
The dances are informal, and
cost 25 cents per person.
Mock Disaster
Rescue Planned
At 8 Tonight
A mock disaster situation
will be set up at College Sta
tion tonight at 8 on “Rescue
Street.” “Live” victims will
be rescued from the buildings.
The rescue operations will be
a part of the National Civil De
fense Alert called by Pres. Eisen
hower June 15, 16 and 17.
The program will be put on by
the Brazos County Rescue Service
cooperating with the Texas Civil
Defense and Disaster Relief.
“National guard, fire depart
ment, police, Boy Scouts and Red
Cross will be on hand to perform
their various duties in assistance
to the rescue crew to avoid con
fusion or panic,” Virgil B. Phips,
director of the Brazos County Res
cue Service said.
“Rescue Street” will be located
at the Fireman Training School
area adjacent to the WTAW radio
tower north of College View apart
ments.
The public has been invited to
watch the rescue operations in ac
tion.
Weather Today
PARTLY CLOUDY
Skies today are partly cloudy
with a possibility of scattered
thunder showers this afternoon.
Yesterday’s high was 94 and low
was 70. Temperature at 10:15
this morning was 83 degrees.
Continuous Losses
Given As Reason
Backed by the protests of the Chamber of Commerce of
both College Station and Bryan, local residents are awaiting
a public hearing by the Texas Railroad Commission on the
removal of the two day-time passenger trains between Hous
ton and Dallas.
The Southern Pacific Railroad has asked the Commission
for authority to remove the trains, known as the “Sunbeam,”
which stop only at College Station. Neither train carries
mail or express baggage.
The request was made because “losses have been con
tinuous,” according to a statement issued by the company.
Operating results for a recent 12 months listed all expenses
as $675,767.79 and all revenues f-
as totaling $439,575.99—a loss ' "
of $236,191.80, reported by
the company.
Cancellation of the Sun
beam would leave only two night
trains for passenger service in this
area. Both are mail trains, and
stop all along the line. The north
bound leaves College Station after
1:30 a.m., and the southbound
leaves the city a little past four in
the morning.
According to the railroad, traffic
is now moving by its own choice
over the highways and the airways.
“By far, the greater percentage
has gone to the privately owned
automobile.”
Further Losses
“Therefore, the future of these
trains, so far as traffic is con
cerned, offers only the prospect of
further and probably greater los
ses. It is futile to hope that they
will ever ‘pay their way,’ much
less make a profit,” the statement
reads.
A. P. Hardy, assistant passenger
traffic agent with the SP, said,
“The losses sustained in their op
eration have been continuous over
the past several years, and have
reached the point where they rep
resent a considerable drain upon
the railroad’s financial resources.”
The daily average departures
during March from College Station
were 7.1 in the morning and 5.2
in the afternoon, he said. Aver
age arrivals were 5.2 in the morn
ing and 12.3 in the afternoon.
Hardy said that removal of the
trains would not affect any local
employees.
The Railroad Commission is ex
pected to hold a public hearing on
the action soon, at which persons
opposing the removal of the two
trains may appear.
Reading Course
Has Specialists
In Textbooks
Specialists from companies
which publish the elementary
textbooks used in the Texas
public schools system are
working in conjunction with
the reading consultants in the
Reading Workshops now being
held at A&M.
The workshop which ends June
24, is designed to improve reading
in the public schools through care
fully planned reading programs.
Sponsored by the Department of
Education and Psychology, the
workshop is considered one of the
best being held this year, Dr. G.
P. Parker, department head, said
as the meetings began.
Teachers registered include Mrs.
Jackie Clark, Bellville; Mrs. Mil
dred Heidemann and Mrs. Emma
Seeker, Brenham; Mrs. Elda Ad-
kinson, Mrs. Lee Coffey, A. R.
Denny, Mrs. Fred Elliott, Mrs. A.
L. Giesenschlag, Mrs. Stella Haupt,
Mrs. L. L. Johnston, Mrs. Jocelyn
Kimberling, Miss Jean Kirby, Mrs.
Margaret McAdams, Mrs. Thelma
Nolen, Carl Orr, Mrs. Bertha
Prince, Miss Judy Rosier, Miss
Maxine Sanford, Miss Gertrude
Standley, Mrs. Moselle Streetman,
Miss Ophelia Wilcox, Miss Mar
garet Zuber and Cecil T. Nabors,
all of Bryan.
Cecil Brown, Caldwell; Mrs.
Flake Fisher, Mrs. Ruth Lewis,
Mrs. T. O. Williams and Spencer
Smith, College Station; Mrs. Onis
Dyer and Mrs. Dorothy Norman,
Navasota, and Mrs. Ella Jackson
Horn, Palestine.
Tornado Warning Service
Network Review Set
Operations of the nation’s first
radar tornado warning service, the
24-station Texas Radar Tornado
Warning Network, will be review
ed at a two day conference at
A&M June 24-25.
About 50 radar meteorologists,
civil defense officials, weather bu
reau personnel and officials from
cities participating in the warning
network will review two years op
eration of the service. Climax of
the conference .will he formal ded
ication of the service on the morn
ing of June 25.
The Texas Radar Tornado Warn
ing Network was set up follow
ing the disastrous tornado that hit
Waco on May 11, 1953, in which
114 persons were killed.
At a conference held at A&M
June 23, 1953, a five-man commit
tee representing state and federal
agencies and the college’s Depart
ment of Oceanography laid plans
for the warning service which now
operates in Texas, Oklahoma and
Louisiana.
Leading Disease
Strept throat was the leading
disease in the College Station-Bry-
an area for the week ending June
11, with 15 cases reported to the
county health unit. Next was diar
rhea with 13 cases, and gonorrhea
was third with eight cases report
ed to the health unit.
Surplus U. S. government radar
sets are obtained for use by par
ticipating cities. Modification of
the sets for use in tracking tor
nadoes is done by personnel of the
A&M Research Foundation. Cities
participating pay installation and
modification costs of about $10,-
000 a set. Sets are operated by
weather bureau personnel.
The modified sets have a track
ing range of about 200 miles, and
cities in the network are located
so that there is considerable over
lapping of territory scanned. This
allows continuous round-the-clock
watch to be kept on suspect weath-
County Changes
Charges of Theft
Theft charges against two A&M
students were changed to charges
of malicious mischief, according
to the county attorney’s office.
Gerald Forrester of Fort Worth
pleaded guilty in justice court to
a charge of malicious mischief and
was fined $5 and costs. He and
Carl Green of Austin, both last
year’s freshmen, were originally
charged with theft of equipment
from the A&M Athletic Depart
ment.
No action has yet been taken
by the school, according to Lt.
Col. Taylor Wilkins, assistant com
mandant.
er conditions that may result in
the dreaded “twisters.”
Stations are in direct communi
cation with the state departments
of public safety and offices of
civil defense and disaster relief.
When a dangerous weather area is
noted, state police headquarters
are called and officers in the dan
ger zone are notified by radio.
Additional warning services to ra
dio stations, weather bureaus, and
television stations are also pro
vided.
Radar meteorologists believe that
a high proportion of casualties
from tornadoes can be eliminated
if persons in threatened areas can
be given sufficient advance warn
ing to allow them to seek shelter.
The warning service provides
forecasts of conditions that are
favorable for tornadoes to develop.
In 1954, with only eight stations
in actual operation, 17 alerts for
possible tornadoes were sounded.
Six twisters followed, striking
heavily populated areas — with
only three deaths.
At present the network has four
stations which are scheduled for
modification. The remainder, in
actual operation, work in close
communication to give warning of
possible tornadoes in an area that
extends from central Oklahoma to
the Gulf of Mexico—from the Big
Bend area of Texas to beyond New
Orleans.