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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1958)
The Battalion College station (Brazos County), Texas PAGE 2 Thursday, December 18, 1958 BATTALION EDITORIALS . . . Our Liberty Depends on the Freedom of the Press, And It Cannot Be Limited Without Being Lost . . . Thomas Jefferson A Fatal Illusion This special Safety Edition is dedicated to the Aggies traveling home today or tomorrow for the Christmas recess. It is especially dedicated to those hapless few who feel that accidents only happen to “the other fellow” and who will never see A&M again. Perhaps the pictures and stories in today’s issue will be repulsive or frightening to some. Yet they are scarely ade quate to convey the horror one experiences at the scene of a highway slaughter. Words and pictures cannot describe the futility and waste of human bodies entwined around twisted steel. There is nothing beautiful about death. Too long has complacency taken the place of caution with drivers—the illusion that accidents only happen to the other fellow could prove to be fatal. . . Need For One For the Road Went Out with Stagecoach By BILL REED ' Battalion News Editor The “one for the road” theory was a favorite pastime back in the days of the stagecoach, but it’s fatal in ’58. And it may de prive several Aggies of the priv ilege of seeing ’59. Today the “one for the road” causes headlines in the morning papers which Aggies wouldn’t want to apply to their friends or themselves. It could read like this — “Head-on Collision Kills Three Aggies; Injures Two The automobile on the highway Time and time again the “one causes more fatalities than all for the road” has proven fatal for many American citizens, some of whom used to, be right here at Aggieland—that is, until they got careless and took that one drink. They will never take an other nor see the campus again. Are you going to join this band of Aggies who once enjoyed liv- in on this earth ? For those Aggies who do not see the wrong in drinking and driving at the same time, con sider this: The drink that “won’t hurt anything” should be shun ned while rushing to get home. There will be plenty of time later during the Christmas holidays to get caught up on drinking if necessary, without starting before arriving. About 34 per cent of all high way fatalities are “aleohol-iflav- ored”. Think and don’t join" this group. other accidents combined. And the drunken driver who terror izes highways is the nation’s No. 1 menace and killer. These facts are backed by page after page of tabulated statistics compiled by the various safety organizations in the United States. Often _ the. driver who thinks he’s -a big man because he has a bottle in one hand and a steer ing wheel in the other is caught in the “act—drunk in the midst of an accident. He—and there may be several specimens right here oh the A&M campus—is not only putting his own life in danger, but is also risking the lives of his best friends. • Some people think accidents are caused by those alcoholics \vho drink until they pan hold no more, and those who take only one cas ual drink are okay. Fact prove this is false. WhaVs Cooking The following organizations will meet tonight: 6:45 Denton Club will meet on 2nd Floor of MSC. 7:15 Austin Club will meet in Room 125, Academic Bldg, to discuss Christmas party. Austin of Houston Club will meet in Room 113, Biological Sciences Bldg, to make signs for party. 7:30 Galveston Club will meet in Social Room, MSC to see film and plan party. Pasadena Club will meet in Room 227, Academic Bldg, to dis cuss Christmas party. Southwest Texas Club will meet in Room 3-C, MSC. Laredo Club wilt meet in Room 3-B, MTSC to make final arrange ments for Christmas dance. Brush Country Club will meet in Room 3-D, MSC to make plans for party and to see football film. Bell County Club will meet in Ballroom, MSC for film and re freshments. Del Rio Club will meet in YMCA to plan Christmas party. Milby Club meets in 3-D, MSC to discuss club picture and dance. AIEE-IRE will meet in Room 301, Bolton Hall. Northeast Texas Club meets in Room 206, Academic Bldg, to plan Christmas party. Vice President’s Message STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF: At this holiday season, I would like to thank each of you for the assistance you have been to me personally since I arrived here Feb. 1. On behalf of Mrs. Rudder and our family, I would like to say thanks for the many courtesies that you have extended to us. May we wish for each of you a joyful Christmas and a most rewarding New Year. /s/ Earl Rudder, Vice President THE BATTALION Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the stu- de-nt writers only. The Battalion is a non-tax-supj)orted, non profit, self-supporting educational enterprise edited and op erated by students as a community neivspaper and is under the supervision of the director of Student Publications at Texas A&M College. Members of the Student Publications Board are L. A. Duewall, director of Student Publications, chairman ; J. W. Amyx, School of Engineering ; Harry Lee Kidd, School of Arts and Sciences ; Otto R. Kunze, School of Agriculture; and Dr. E. D. McMwry, School of Veterinary Medicine. Entered aa second - class matter at the Post Office in College Station, Texas, under the Act of Con gress of March 8, 1870. MEMBER: The Associated Press Texas Press Ass’n. Represented nationally by National Advertising Services, Inc., 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 Co it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Bights of republication of all other matter here in are also reserved. Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester, $6 per school year, $6.50 per full year. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 4, YMCA, Col lege Station, Texas. News contributions may be made by telephoning VI 6-6618 or VI 6-4910 or at the tutorial office. Room 4, YMCA. For advertising or delivery call VI 6-6415. JOE BUSER EDITOR Fred Meurer Managing Editor Gayle McNutt Executive News Editor Bob Weekley ; Sports Editor Bill Reed, Johnny Johnson, David Stoker, Lewis Reddell....News Editors Bill Hicklin Sports Writer Robbie Godwin, Jay Collins, Ken Coppage, Jack Teague, Henry Lyle Staff Writers Earl Doss, Laney McMath Photographers Ray Hudson Circulation Manager The Chance of a Lifetime Letters To Mr. Readers • • • Safe Driving Campaigns Are Paying Off--In Lives Dear Mr. Reaper: It’s like this. .. .1 think I’ve got the coolest little rod this side of the Mississippi and this Ag down the hall thinks his wagon takes the cake. We’re gonna have a little race on the way home Fri day. What do you think would be a good prize for the winner ? Speedy ’60 (Why not let the loser pay the funeral expenses—if it’s a double funeral just forget the bet. —G. R.) Dear Mr. Reaper: I’ve got a job lasting until midnight Friday and after I get off I’m going to drive home. What can I do to keep awake? Sleepy ’61 (Don’t worry about staying awake. By Saturday morning you’ll be sleeping permanently. Your only problem is getting someone to sell your books. —G. R.) A&M MENS SHOP 103 MAIN — NORTH GATE AGGIE OWNED CHICAGO (A 5 )—Are the na tion's drivers safer today than they were 10 years ago ? “You bet they are,” says the National Safety Council. “Motor ists are driving a lot safer now than they used to.” The Council, hub of the safety movement in the United States, acknowledges that the 1946 traf fic death toll of 34,000 was much lower than the 1957 toll of 38,500. “But,” said a spokesman, “dur ing that time the number' of cars on the road multiplied from 34 to 66 million. And the number of miles these cars traveled went up from 3,40 billion in 1946 to 650 billion in 1957. Death Rate Down “Meanwhile, the mileage death rate (number of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled) has gone down from 9.8 in 1946 to 5.9 in 1957. “To us,” the spokesman con tinued, “these figures mean only one thing-—it’s a lot safer out there on the highway than it used to be. “While the number of cars and. the number of miles they travel have nearly doubled, the mileage death rate has been reduced dras tically.” Some types of road hazards have become considerably less lethal in the past decade. For in stance, 1,703 persons died in 1946 as the result of collisions with trains. In 1957, only 1,313 died in this type accident. And with fewer streetcars on American streets nowadays, only 10 persons died in car-streetcar accidents in 1957 against 174 in 1946. Improvement Noted Either education or stricter en forcement of laws has made nota ble headway in two other classes of accidents. Deaths from bicycle -car collisions dropped from 540 in 1946 to 48 in 1957; 11,600 pedistrians died after being hit by cars in 1946, but only 7,850 in 1957. During this same period, collisions of cars with other motor vehicles climbed from 9,400 in 1946 to 13,450 in 1957 and col lisions with fixed objects (poles, bridge abutments, etc.) jumped from 950 to 1,650. The Council has a special committee looking into the reasons for this sharp increase. Nonfatal auto injuries also climbed during the period—from 1.200.000 to 1,400,000. City Death Decreases The number of urban auto deaths dropped from about 11,500 to 1957’s 9,700, but the number of rural auto deaths—including those occurring on turnpikes and highways—increased from about 17.000 to 28,800. What accounts for the overall safer record of motorists ? “They’re finally starting to drive as they’d like others to drive — carefully, courteously, skillfully,” the Council claims. Cars are safer and roads are getting better. # 1 Mr? 4% the man who PAYS MORE asks you to COMPARE COMPARE — Jefferson Standard strength .— Jefferson Standard pre mium rates — Jefferson Standard interest income return to policyholders and beneficiaries. Let us J give you full particulars. Judson C. Womble, ’40 2601 Texas Avenue Phone TA 2-0018 Representing LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY Home Office: Greensboro, N.C NEED MONEY? SELLYOUK USED BOOKS It Pays To Trade With Lou 4P Seasons Greetings A&M Men’s Shop On Campus Mth MaxShuJmazi (By the Author of “Rally Round the Flag, Boys! "and, “Barefoot Boy with Cheek.") ADVENTURES IN SOCIAL SCIENCE: NO. 1 “The proper study of mankind is man,” said Geoffrey Chaucer in his immortal Casei/ At the Bat, and I couldn’t agree more. In these tangled times it is particularly proper to study man—how he lives and works. Accordingly, this column, normally devoted to slapdash waggery, will from time to time turn a serious eye on the social sciences. In making these occasional departures, I have the hearty ap proval of the makers of Philip Morris Cigarettes, whose interest is not only in providing young Americans with fine cigarettes, matchlessly blended of vintage tobaccos, grown with loving care and harvested with tender mercy, then cured with com passionate patience and rolled into firm tasty cylinders and brought to you in long size or regular, in soft pack or flip-top box, at prices which wreak no havoc on the most stringent of budgets, but who are equally concerned with broadening the minds and extending the intellectual vistas of every college man and woman! I, for one, am not unmoved by this great-heartedness, and though I know it is considered chic, these days to disparage one’s employers, I shall not. Indeed, I shall cry “Huzzahl” for the makers of Philip Morris. I shall cry “Huzzah!” and “Viva!” and “010!” and “Ochichoonya!” But I digress. For our first lesson in social science, let us turn to economics, often called the queen of the social sciences. (Sociology is the king of the social sciences. Advertising is the jack.) , Economics breaks down into two broad general classifica tions: 1) coins; 2) folding money. But before taking up these technical aspects, let us survey briefly the history of economics. .. ffit-ft Economics was discovered by the Englishman, Adam Smith. He published his findings in 1786, but everybody giggled so hard that Smith, blushing hotly, gave up the whole thing and went into the cough drop business with his brother. For long years after that economics lay neglected while the world busied itself with other things, like the birth of Victor Hugo, the last days of Pompeii, and the Bunny Hug. Then one day while flying a kite during a thunderstorm, the American, Henry George (also called Thorstein Veblen), dis covered the law of diminishing returns, and then, boy, the fat was in the fire! Before you could say “knife” the Industrial Revolution was on! Mechanization and steam power resulted in prodigies of production. For example, before the Industrial Revolution, a Welsh artisan, named Dylan Sigafoos, used to make horse-shoes by hand at the rate of four a day. After the Industrial Revolution, with the aid of a steam engine, Sigafoos was able to make entire horses! And so it went—factories rising from the plains, cities bur geoning around the factories, transport and commerce keeping pace—until today, thanks to economics, we have smog, reces sions, and economics textbooks at $7.50 per copy. © 1958 Max Shulmaa The makers of Philip Morris are no economists, but they do understand supply and demand. Some people demand filter cigarettes, so they supply the finest—Marlboro, of course! Great flavor, improved filter—a lot to like! PEANUTS By Charles M. Schulz PEANUTS “PeAr 5A^TA CLhVS, UilOX, ITS WJ 77/ME (T? 7H£R£ ARE So /BAWy imte 1 WOULV UKE 7o SaYTo YOU BUT I FlttD IT (TARD To PUT TAElW IN <SS IT ^oulv Be 5o fAva] EASis* IF i cm TALK fo YOU IM PERSON. By t 2 PO YOu TH/N< 4\A)V£ \IJE CooiD HAVE LVNCA IoGeMR SOMME? iz-/r