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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1961)
Ailing Chimp ... Spud and owner, Dwight Hodges Chimpanzee Seeks Medical Aid Here The Battalion Volume 60 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1961 Number 48 Frosh Vote For Officers SCONA VII Final Address Noted Washington political columnist Wil- Student Center. His speech closed the con- liam S. White presents the closing talk to a ference Saturday afternoon, and its content SCONA banquet audience numbering well generally summarized the issues and ideas over 200 in the Ballroom of the Memorial presented during the three days of the meet. White Praises SCONA For ‘Giving Chance To Disagree’ "Spud,” an 8-year-old, 120- Bnd chimpanzee, was admitted the A&M Veterinary Hospital [10:30 a.m. yesterday. Mr. and is. Dwight Hodges, 2134 W. Illmont, Phoenix, Ariz., had mn all day Sunday and the flowing night to get their pet College Station. Mrs. Hodges said Spud has been i off and on for nearly two »rs, suffering from paralysis of his legs. She said that veteri- alent Show Date langed, Cast Set Previously scheduled for Friday, iA?gie Talent Show will be held Brsday at 8 p.m. in Guion Hall, »rding to Robert L. Boone, pro- im advisor. Boone said that final auditions treheld last night, and the acts (twill appear on the show were lied. They will be announced hy- Students have shown a lot of test in the show, Boone said, d tryouts have been numerous. Bin these tryouts 10 acts were fected for the show. Three judges will choose the top ree acts, he said, and the first- ice winner will represent A&M the Intercollegiate Talent Show ire next spring. An admission charge of 25 cents 1 be made at the door. >1 clinic here about six months narians in the Phoenix area did their best to treat the ailing chimp but finally had to recom mend the hospital here because of its facilities. The chimp, clad in a pink sweat shirt and pink shorts, was carried in by Hodges and placed on spe cial heating pads provided for him. Dr. C. K. Jones, who is treating the animal, explained that chimpanzees are used to trop ical climates and must be kept warm at all times. , Radiographs show an old injury to Spud’s right shoulder but Jones said they will not know exactly what is wrong with the chimp until X-rays are taken and a com plete diagnosis made. He said that chimpanzees are subject to about the same diseases as human beings. Spud is originally from Con necticut, where the Hodges’ bought him from an animal importer at the age of six months. The fam ily has lived in Phoenix for five years. The chimp, according to Mrs. Hodges, “is like a member of the family.” He sits in a chair and eats at the table with the Hodges’. He eats the same food with added amounts of fruit. Spud is especially fond of cof fee. When the Hodges’ stopped for refreshments at a Bryan drive-in, he refused the hot choco late that Mrs. Hodges thought would be more nourishing and de manded coffee. Connally Quits, Plans To Run For Governor FORT WORTH — — Navy Secretary John B. Connally, Jr., ! resigned Monday and announced he will run for governor of Texas. President Kennedy accepted the resignation with regret. The President immediately appointed another Fort Worth man, Fred Korth, 52, as Navy secretary to succeed Connally. Connally said he made the de cision to run for governor only a few days ago, although political observers predicted months ago that he would seek the Democratic nomination. The Fort Worth oilman, lawyer and businessman said “effective political leadership of the separate states is an essential foundation” for national strength. Connally became Navy secretary Jan. 25 shortly after President Kennedy took office. His resig nation is effective Dec. 20. The 44-year-old attorney is a close friend and adviser of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. He also was a close friend of the late Sam Rayburn, speaker of the House, also a Texan. “I return to Texas confident in the knowledge that our great Navy-Marine Corps team is ready and capable of carrying out any mission which the President may call upon them to perform,” Con nally declared at a news confer ence at which he made his an nouncement. “In announcing for governor, I do so with the conviction that military strength alone cannot guarantee our security and our way of life. If I were otherwise convinced, I would not be here today. “The long and continuing world struggle which we face as a nation involves and tests all our resources. The Communists, know ing well the power and readiness of our military forces, have not chosen an outright test on that front and I believe they will not do so as long as we maintain a modern military establishment.” By TOMMY HOLBEIN Battalion Managing Editor After almost four controversy- packed days, the seventh annual Student Conference On National Affairs ended Saturday afternoon following the final address by Wil liam S. White, noted Washington political columnist. White said, “The opportunity for opposing ideas to collide in a civ ilized atmosphere is invaluable to students of politics and govern ment, and the significance of this conference is that the chance to disagree was presented.” “But it is the genius of the Anglo-American system of gov ernment to be ‘not quite right’ and ‘not quite wrong’ and the willing ness of our politicians never to press the opposition too far that enables us to build lasting politi cal institutions that do work,” White said. The political writer described the practice of politics as an art, comparing it to an author’s style of writing. “The purpose of an author isn’t just to exercise his style, but to use it as a means of communica tion. The same is true of pol itics. It, as a practice, is honor able. But when it becomes an end in itself, instead of a means to the end, its purpose becomes dis torted,” he added. White started as a full-time re porter for the Austin American- Statesman while still a sophomore at the University of Texas, where he received a degree in English in 1927. Since that time, he has devoted the past 35 years covering politics, although he became a noted war correspondent during World War II. He rose to become Washington columnist for United Features Syndicate and the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, “The Taft Story.” Friday night, a panel of four congressmen including Olin E. Teague of Texas, Thomas B. Cur tis of Missouri, William Jennings Bryan Dorn of South Carolina and B. F. Sisk of California con ducted a discussion based around questions from the audience. The panel vividly illustrated the overlapping of liberal and conserv ative views in the two major po litical parties. Of the four con gressmen, three were Democrats and one had been elected on the Republican ticket. However, each presented divers ified view, some liberal and some conservative, fluctuating with the issue at hand. Speaking against the press, Cur tis continued by saying, “If the press would report what goes on in the hearings room and on the floor of the House, congressmen wouldn’t have the hard time of going back to their people and explaining why they voted as they did.” Speeches Termed ‘Success ’ Campaign speeches last night before a “fairly light turnout”' set the stage for today’s voting to name the four officers to head this year’s freshman class. Voting is being conducted today to decide the issue between eight run-off candidates. Freshmen are voting in the MSC corridor be tween the bowling alley and foun tain room until 5:30 p.m. Election Commission President John Authis last night called the campaign speeches a definite suc cess, even though the audience was not large. “The speakers were really good and there’s no doubt but that we’re going to try to make such campaigns a permanent fixture,” Anthis added. Speaking last night and on bal lots today were Joe J. Allen and Wiliam P. Matthews, president; Bill K. Altman and James Love, vice president; Tucker Fuchs and Thomas W. Wright, secretary; and Dennis B. Barr and Louis F. Anderson, social secretary. These eight, plus nine position winners, were chosen Nov. 30 in a primary election between 80 can didates. Positions won were four Student Senate posts and five po sitions on the Election Commis sion. These winners were Larry Phil lips, B. D. Echols, Donn Germann and Albert Tijerina, Student Sen ate; and Gordon G. Broussard, James W. Blankenship, Martell Battle, Roland Skaggs and Joseph K. Armintor, Election Commis sion. These victors have already as sumed their respective offices, while the class officer winners will take charge of their positions immediately after results of to day’s voting are made public. Today’s results will be posted on the door of The Battalion Of fice after 8 p.m. tonight. Liberal’ And 4 Vidal: ‘‘Reactionary' Dreads Majority Rule By GORE VIDAL (Written for the Associated Press) The terms “liberal” and “conservative” have no real Meaning in current American politics, Originally, a Liberal fas one who favored changes and reforms tending toward Sreater democracy while a Conservative was one who resisted ge in order to maintain thing the way they are. In that Wise, at least, Barry Goldwater is lLiberal (he does not want great- it democracy but he certainly ►ants to change the status quo: bp all this welfarism, etc.) While Win Kennedy would be a Conserv- tive for he would retain and not leatly extend the present wel- ire programs of the Federal Wernment. Free Socialism Possible own. The fact that our people don’t understand that - socialism is the perferred form of govern ment of most of the civilized world, not to mention the new countries of Africa and Asia, makes for much misunderstand ing in our dealings not only with the enemy but with our allies and would-be friends. Despite the cries of the Radical Hight, there is no important lib- ^al movement in the United states and by liberal I mean so- 'ialist in the sense that most of ►astern Europe is socialist and >1 the same time democratic. It bs been one of the tragedies of ®r recent politics that the Rad- ►al Right has managed to con duce the majority of our people tat socialism is the same thing ^ Communism which is our ferny. The Soviet is our enemy nt socialism is not communism, nor Russian dominated. More im- Urtant, and a fact which would tome as a great surprise to most *1 our people, it is possible to tave a socialist country (Den mark, for instance) which is also a free society with a representa tive government just like our Negative Program What then is the division in America? It is, I should say, be tween conservative and reaction ary. John Kennedy is a Conserva tive. Barry Goldwater is a Re actionary. A Reactionary is one who wishes to reverse an exist ing state of affairs and to return to a previous condition of society. In the case of Goldwater and his fellow reactionaries the previous condition is the old agrarian America before the income tax, the industrial revolution, and the disturbing responsibilities of be ing a world power. The program of the reactionaries is largely negative. Get the government out of this and out of that; don’t give federal aid to the school; don’t extend Social Security in any way; do nothing about the five Conservative’ View The Rival Camp Buckley: Liberal' Idea Produces Uncertainty By WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. (Written for the Associated Press) Most students who enter college are not interested in politics, and nothing much is likely to change this, short possibly of a good whiff of radioactive dust, or news that Senator McCarthy has risen from the dead. There are lots of reasons for staying away from politics, including Greek plays, trombone playing, football ♦ -- million unemployed; save as much money as possible by cut ting out all human services so that the income tax can be grad ually eliminated. Freedom to Exploit Now the sophisticated reac tionary knows exactly what he is doing. He wants complete free dom to get as much money as posible with no interference from the government. The free dom to exploit others is the cor nerstone of his philosophy. Gold- water’s book “Conscience of a Conservative” is a hymn to self- interest. The simpler more in stinctive reactionary tends to be puzzled and annoyed by the state of affairs in this country (and no one argues that we have created another Eden). He sees a vast impersonal and not very com petent government involved in more and more areas ‘of his life. Each year he pays more money to support this government and with some justice he is resentful. He reacts: just get rid of those taxes, stop giving money to for eigners, don’t help out those deadbeats who aren’t smart enough to get a job or take care of themselves, then everything will be all right. But the matter is not that simple. Large countries have large governments and they do cost too much and this is a real problem for “liberal” as well as “conservative.” Human izing government is going to be the principle task of the next century. The reactionary would prefer to eliminate most govern ment but that will not happen, and (See LIBERAL on Page 3) Just what is a conservative in American politics today? What is a liberal. Where do both stand, and who do they differ? A&M students and delegates from over 60 college from Canada to Mexico who attended the seventh annual Student Conference on National Affairs here last' week heard both labels tossed around in attempts at definition. SCONA delegates generally agreed there was no one pat definition for either term. T o d d a y conservatives say they’re enjoying a resurgence on the college campus which the liberals once claimed as their own. One factor in the revival of interest seems to be Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz). New align ments may be in the making. If Goldwater is the voice of conservatism today, where does that leave Richard Nixon? And if Nelson Rockerfeller is the voice of liberalism among Re publicans, where does that leave the liberal Democrats? Obviously, neither conserva tive nor liberal is what either was regarded just a few years ago. Then what do they rep resent? In this spirit of inquiry, the Associated Press sought the views of two of the most articulate thinkers on oposite sides of the political fence to day—Gore Vidal, playright, politician and liberal, and Wil liam F. Buckley Jr., author, edi tor and conservative. Each was asked to view the enemy camp. practice, and the undistracted pur suit of the opposite sex. But the best reason is that politics tend nowadays to be so consumingly dull. That is what Liberalism has done for us. Even so, there is lately a modest revival of political interest in American colleges, and this seems to be in considerable part the doing of conservatives. The phenomenon of 21-year-old conservatives is causing considerable dismay among the faculty, who were about ready to believe that intelligent young conservatives were as unlikely to reappear on the modern scene as, say. Pithecanthropus Erectus. A generation’ indoctrination in the light and the truth should have succeeded in making the species extinct. But there they are—coast to coast. It is as though the stu dent body of Moscow’s Lenin Insti tute were suddenly to play hookey to celebrate the Czar’s birthday. Nothing of Liberalism How can it be that so many stu dents are turning Right? The answer is: Because so many stu dents have awakened to the great Nothingness of Liberalism, and are looking for something to believe in, and act upon. The happy few have begun to realize that the much heralded renewal of Liberalism under the New Frontier is just the same old thing again: more spending, more federal power, more appeasement abroad. The only thing young about John Ken nedy is his age: all his ideas, if that is the word for the chaos in Washington these days, are Liberal retreads, no more likely 'to serve us today than they did yesterday, or the day before, when they teetered about seeking to cope with reality, while bombs fell, na tions lost their freedom, and bureaucracies thrived. Desolation Perceived As education raises them up out of the child’s garden of content ment, some students will begin to perceive the desolation that sur rounds us; and will realize that it is a world which Liberalism helped to build. Some students will make their renunciations after a fasti dious study of Liberalism’s per- mises. They will come to realize that there is nothing in the Liberal creed skve an intricate methodolo gical structure (Academic Free dom, Dissent, Democracy, the United Nations, Mrs. Roosevelt) on which you build and build and build, as tirelessly, and as futilely as Sisyphus, but which ends us up— “Whereupon Mr. Krushchev took off his left shoe, and pounded the desk, interrupting the proceedings, and reiterating his threats against the West”—helpless, before the barbarians. Other students will come intui tively to the knowledge of Libera lism’s emptiness—the cold shudder of loneliness that every sentient man will feel on contemplating our disintegrating world, and knowing that only Washington, and London, and Paris; only Harvard, Oxford and the Sorbonne (those centers of homeopathy!)—“The foreign of fices of the United States and Great Britain and France, pro tested today the Soviet Union’s unlawful closing of the East Ber lin frontier . . .)—stand between us and disaster. A World Far Worse During this century we have fought two great wars, and a few dozen smaller ones. For our pains, we have a world far worse off than ever it was before. Why? During this century, the science of revolution has advanced every bit as fast as the technological ad vances we read so much about. It is a great feat to put a man in space. It was an even greater feat to bamboozle the ruling class of the West into believing that the Chi nese Communists were merely agrarian reformers. We do not yet know, how many, if any, victims will fall to Communism because of the Soviet Union’s temporary superiority in outer space. We do know that the analysis of the West during the period when China might have been saved, yielded (See CONSERVATIVE on Page 3)