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THE
BATTALION
11 More Days
Until Finals
Published Daily on the Texas A&M College Campus
Number 55: Volumd 58
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1959
Price Five Cents
Left Monday Night
Search Begins
For Missing
Ag Freshman
By JOHNNY JOHNSON
Battalion News Editor
A search was underway yester
day and today for a missing “A”
Field Artillery freshman, Douglas
T. Rodden, who disappeared from
his j'oom Monday night, leaving
only a note to his roommate to
explain his disappearance.
The Lubbock general curriculum
major left his room in Dorm 6
about 9:30 Monday night wearing
only blue jeans and a T-shirt.
His absence was discovered
about 10:30 p.m. when his room
mate returned after he hud been
studying on another part of the
campus.
The note said he was dissatisfied
With the way things were going
and that he planned to join the
navy.
At 10:30 last night he had not
contacted his anxious parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Virgil Rodden in Lub
bock. He had not contacted any
relatives in the state at that time,
they said, expressing worry at his
disappearance. The Texas Highway
Ratrol and local law enforcement
officers were notified of his dis
appearance yesteiday and a state
wide pickup was to be issued today.
A brown-haired, blue-eyed lad
Weighing about 150 pounds and
wearing glasses, Rodden was in
relatively good spirits when he left
his home in Lubbock to return to
school Sunday, his father said.
In the note, Rodden instructed
his roommate to sell his books and
send the money to his parents and
to take his personal belongings to
Lubbock for him between semes
ters.
Rodden left behind a sports
jacket which he used to prop open
the screen of his first floor win
dow. His roommate said the only
things missing were the jeans and
T-shirt he was wearing plus a pair
of black leather gloves and ap
proximately $10 he had with him.
Anyone who saw this boy
Monday night or yesterday or
who knows anything that
might lead to the finding of
him has been urged to contact
either college officials or The
Battalion.
Douglas T. Rodden
. . . missing freshman
Graduation Moved
To G. Rollie White
January commencement exer
cises have been moved from
Guion Hall to G. Rollie White
Coliseum, according to Carl E.
Tishler, chairman of the Convo
cations Committee.
Tishler, head of the Depart
ment of Physical Education, said
the change ,was made to allow
graduating seniors to bring as
many guests to the ceremonies
as they wished... Candidates had
been limited to four guests each
because of a lack of seating-
room in the campus movie thea
ter.
“Seniors expressed ‘quite a
bit of concern’ over limiting the
number of guests and the Con
vocations Committee recom
mended that the exercises be
moved to the coliseum,” Tishler
said.
No limit was placed on the
number of guests candidates
could bring to the ceremonies in
G. Rollie.
News of the World
By The Associated Press.
Africans Dub Soviet Rocket
JOHANNESBURG—South African Zulus came up with
their own name for the Soviet cosmic rocket when told it
would go into orbit around the sun.
They call it Isiphuphuteki, which means “the thing that
goes round and round and never gets anywhere.”
★ ★ ★
Egyptians Warn of Danger
CAIRO, Egypt—The Cairo newspaper A1 Kahira said
yesterday King Saud of Saudi Arabia warned U.N. Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjold that war will break out in the
Arab world if Palestine Arab refugees are not returned to
their homes.
The newspaper said Saud delivered his warning in a talk
with Hammarskjold Monday.
★ ★ ★
Flames Kill Sleeping Airmen
SYRACUSE, N. Y.—Seven Air Force students perished
in their sleep yesterday and 13 others were injured in a wild
scramble to flee wind-whipped flames that made an inferno
of a barracks dormitory at Syracuse University.
Twenty-five airmen escaped without injuries of conse
quence, mostly by jumping through windows of the one-
story building.
. The 45 men, many of them in their teens, had just been
assigned to the university for a nine-month course in Rus
sian. Their headquarters is Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base, Dayton, Ohio, where they are attached to the Air In
stitute of Technology.
★ ★ ★
Martin Ousted from House Job
WASHINGTON—In a close battle that turned on the
issue of age and aggressiveness, House Republicans voted
yesterday to toss out the veteran Joseph W. Martin as their
leader and replace him with Charles A. Halleck of Indiana.
The vote, taken in a secret session on the eve of the new
session of Congress, was 74 for Halleck and 70 for the Mas
sachusetts congressman who has been the House GOP leader
for 20 years.
Aggies Called
‘Poor Sports’
By SWC Group
A&M was ranked last in sports
manship for 1958 by the South
west Conference Sportsmanship
Committee at their winter meet
ing in Dallas on New Year’s Day.
The rating was handed down by
four student representatives from
the seven conference colleges.
Texas Christian University and
University of Arkansas were
ranked “best sports” in the SWC
and were presented twin trophies
at halftime in the Cotton Bowl.
Judging was made on the basis
of sportsman-like conduct exhib
ited by both students and athletes
at conference football contests.
Representatives were not permitted
to vote for their own college.
Attending the winter meeting of
the Sportsmanship Committee
from A&M were John Thomas,
president of the Student Senate;
Richard Gay, representative from
a varsity team; and Joe Buser, ed
itor of The Battalion. R. D.
(Smokey) Hyde, head yell leader
and fourth member of the group,
was unable to attend.
Class Agents Set
Meeting Jan. 17-18
The eighth annual class agents’
conference' of the Association of
Former Students will be held Jan.
17-18, Dick Hervey, executive sec
retary, announced.
The club oficers will also hold
their meeting at this Jtime, Hervey
said.
Highlighting the program will
be the annual winter sports ban
quet honoring the ’58 football
squads and cross country team
Saturday night. Morris Frank of
the Houston Chronicle will be mas
ter of ceremonies.
A&M Ex - Students
Win $10,000 Award
Development Fund
Nation’s Top in ’5 7
Top honors, in the form of the grand prize and a check
for $10,000, went to A&M in recognition of the record com
piled by the 1957 Development Fund of the Association of
Former Students at the 45th annual meeting of the Associa
tion of American Colleges held in Kansas City last night.
Thirty-four of the nation’s universities, 1 college and
schools in all parts of the country were honored at the meet
ing with cash prizes and certificates to the winners of the
First Alumni Giving Incentive Awards Program. Entries
were received from more than 300 universities, colleges and
independent secondary schools.
A&M Development Fund *
Russians Hint
At More Shots,
Piloted Rockets
MOSCOW (AP)—Soviet scien
tists told newsmen Tuesday Mech-
ta’s space voyage can be considei-
ed a dress rehearsal for bigger
and better rockets, though they
haven’t yet licked the re-entry
problem for manned flights.
“I can assure you we will not
stop at this,” Vice Pi-esident Alex
ander Topchiev of the Soviet
Academy of Sciences told a news
Lt. Col. Wilkins
... to command school
Col. Wilkins Leaves
For Staff Training
Lt. Col. Taylor Wilkins, assist
ant commandant, left Sunday for
Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he
will attend the Army Command
General Staff School.
The course is four months long.
According to Col. Joe E. Davis,
commandant, Wilkins will return
sometime in May.
Lt. Col. Frank S. Vaden will as
sume most of the duties of the
assistant commandant in the ab
sence of Wilkins, Davis said.
The 1 9 5 7 Development
Fund at A&M was supported
by gifts from 15,284 of its
31.200 former students. It
represented a participation of 48.9
per cent. They gave a total of
$186,616.
“The participation figure of
48.9 per cent is the highest ever
compiled for the alumni fund ef
fort of a major tax-supported in
stitution,” the American Alumni
Council announced at the meeting.
Objectives for the 1957 fund
were a- campus chapel, Opportun
ity Award Scholarships, Faculty
Achievement Awards, President’s
Emergency -Fund, Directory of
Former Students and operation of
the association’s offices.
Freeman Was President
The record was accomplished in
the 1957 Development Fund of
the Association of Former Stu
dents. E. M. Freeman, ’22, Shreve
port, La., was president , of the
Association and chairman of the
Development Fund that year.
The Development Fund is ad
ministered by the college’s Asso
ciation of Former Students with
general offices in the Memorial
Student Center. J. B. Hervey, ’42,
is executive secretary of the Asso
ciation.
President M. T. Harrington, ac
cepted the top award for the col
lege. Present also were Hervey,
and E. E. McQuillen, executive di
rector of the Special Gifts and
Bequests Program.
Prize Money for Alumni Use
The prize money is to be used by
the presidents at their discretion
to further^ the alumni relations
and educational fund raising pro
grams for their institutions.
The Award Program, designed
(See A&M on Page 4)
Profs Impressed
By Prison System
J. C. Roberts, J. T. Duncan and
W. E. Benton, professors in the
Department of Government and
History, got a glimpse of life be
hind prison walls when they tomb
ed Texas penal facilities at Hunts
ville Dec. 9.
They were impressed with the
cleanliness of the physical plant
and the personal cleanliness of the
inmates themselves.
The trio was shown the living
quarters of the men and given a
demonstration of the electrically-
operated cell doors. On their tour
through the dining area, they
were shown a menu of the day’s
meals. The meals are well bal
anced, they said, and, according to
the men they questioned, the por
tions served are more than ample.
The professors said the prison
ers Who wanted to better them
selves and finish their high school
education could do so by partici
pating in the educational pro
gram offered by the prison. This
studying is dpne after the regu
lar working day.
Guide Posts
“Advice is like snow; the softer
it falls, the longer it dwells upon,
and the deeper it sinks into the
mind.”—Coleridge
conference.,
Academician Anatoly Blagonra
vov said no man has flown in a
rocket and “how soon he does fly
will depend on how soon we have
assurances he will be able to re
turn safely.”
Blagonravov reported that the
successful launching of the rocket
Mechta Friddy marked the first
Soviet attempt to put a projectile
outside the earth’s gravitational
field.
“There isn’t a spot in the uni
verse today which could not be
reached by rocket,” he said. “This
would of course require time, but
to wait would not be long.”
A panel of Soviet scientists de
voted an 80-minute news confer
ence to generalities concerning
their 1%-ton prodigy and what it
means in the future exploration of
space.
Topchiev announced that Mech
ta had practically entered orbit
as the solar system’s first artifi
cial planet.
Winter in the Valley
Pretty Lucy Moon of Raymondville absorbs her quota of
sunshine on a beach near Harlingen in the Rio Grande Val
ley. While some of the country has snow, it is almost like
summer time deep in the Lone Star State. (AP Wirephoto)
Wingren Named Prexy
Kiwanis Officers
Take ’59 Posts
New officers took their posts
for the coming year at the Col
lege Station Kiwanis. Club luncheon
yesterday, as the club reviewed
its objectives for the coming
months.
Officially, the new officers, led
After Hemorrhage
Aggie Needs Blood
To Repay Hospital
By DAVE STOKER
Battalion News Editor
An Aggie buddie needs help.
Ed Hudson, freshman agricultur
al journalism major from Fredon-
ia, Kan., has spent 12 days in Bry
an Hospital .starting during the
Christmas holidays, and is now in
need of four pints of blood with
which to repay the hospital.
While Aggies are being asked
to donate blood for Hudson, John
Thomas, president of the Student
Senate, said yesterday some funds
will be drawn from the Campus
Chest to help defray hospital ex
penses.
Hudson was admitted to the hos
pital on Christmas Day, suffering
from a nose bleed which wouldn’t
stop. He lost a large amount of
blood before the hemorrhaging
quit and had to be given a trans
fusion.
In a few days he was released
from the hospital, only to be re
admitted on New Year’s Day with
pneumonia, believed to be the re
sult of his earlier affliction. He
has been in the hospital ever since.
Hudson’s condition is improved
now and he hopes to return to
school soon. Howevei’, he must
stil repay the blood or $60, along
with his hospital bills.
Nurses at the hospital sa'id yes
terday any type of blood will be
sufficient, but that donors should
not eat breakfast or lunch before
reporting to the hospital.
“I would appreciate any help I
might receive,” Hudson said.
A part time employe at the A&M
Press, Hudson is a veteran of both
World War II and the Korean War.
He is married and he and his wife,
Lucine, have two children.
Army Sets Tests
For Contracts
Army qualifying examina
tions for advanced course con
tracts will be administered in
Building H, Saturday at 10:30
a.m.
Personnel must have success
fully completed four semesters
of basic Military Science or be
completing his fourth semester
of Military Science training to
be eligible for the examinationis.
by President Roy Wingren, will be
installed at the annual Installation
Banquet and Ladies Night to be
held Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the
Memorial Student Center Assem-
by Room.
Kiwanians resolved that during
the coming year they would strive
to the utmost to build individual
responsibility through morals, re
ligion and education in the com
munity.
Stressing individual responsibili
ty and following the Kiwanis mot
to—“We Build”—the club likewise
outlined plans to assist both in
understanding and aiding the phys
ically and mentally handicapped,
to utilize the talents of senior citi
zens, further law enforcement and
citizen safety, to champion high
standards in business and public
affairs, protect and conserve the
nation’s natural resources, strive
for law and justice in international
relations and reaffirm the bless
ings of freedom and democracy.
Following the review of 1959
resolutions, new officers and com
mittee chairmen were introduced.
Officers are Wingren, president;
John Longley, immediate past
president; K. A. (Cubby) Manning,
first vice president; Lloyd Keel,
second vice president; Murray
Brown, secretary; Ed Packenham,
treasurer; and Harrison Hierth,
editor of.the KI-NOWA.
Committee chairmen are Walter
Manning, Boys and Girls, Key
Clubs, and Circle K; Bill Adams,
Business and Public Affairs; D. A.
Anderson, Agriculture and Con
servation; Maurice Futrell, Under
privileged Children; Harrison
Hierth, Education and Fellowship;
Wendell Nedderman, Attendance
and Membership; Dave Franklin,
Inter-Club Relations; Howard
Graves, Vocational Guidance; Tom
Prather, Support of Churches; and
Lloyd Keel, Programs and Music.