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THE BATTALION
Page 2 College Station, Texas Tuesday, September 25, 1962
BATTALION EDITORIALS
Death Becomes Cheap
Those citizens who are disturbed and alarmed about the
“high cost” of our arms program have not really studied the
economics of modern warfare. The total picture is bright in
deed.
The billions we are spending for armaments may seem
high, but in reality the cost of killing men (not to mention
women and children) has become cheaper than ever before. It
is almost, one might say, a bargain.
lit has been estimated that in the American Revolution,
it cost about $500 to kill a single man. During the Civil War,
the cost rose to about $5,000. In World War I it was $25,000;
in World War II it was $65,000.
Thanks to the brilliant technological innovations of the
last dozen years, in a nuclear war we will be able to kill a man
for only $50. As Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday
Review, has pointed out, “a,hydrogen bomb with the power
of 20 million tons of TNT costs no more than $250,000. If
TNT had been used, the cost would be more than $10 billion.”
Nuclear bombs have extremely high explosive power per
dollar of investment. When you double the destructive power,
you don’t add much to the cost; even when you increase the
power a thousandfold, the cost is low-
Attractive as this is to us, from a sound bookkeeping
point of view, it is also democratic—the nuclear bomb is a
boon to the smaller, poorer, more backward nations. After
the initial investment, the smaller countries can afford to
stockpile enough bombs to blow up half the world. This gives
them a parity with the larger nations, and allows the less
privileged people of the world to share the blessings of the
more advanced nations.
At last, was is becoming thoroughly democratized- In
the darker ages behind us, only large countries were able to
wage effective war—usually against their smaller and fatter
neighbors. In the atomic age, however, even a third-rate
power can amass enough bombs to blow our planet into the
next galaxy. The nuclear bomb offers real equality of oppor
tunity to all.
On a cost-accounting basis, not many men were killed in
World Wars I and II. The ratio between fatalities and total
war expense was embarrassingly low. Men were hardly worth
murdering at those exorbitant prices.
Modern efficiency, however, has finally caught up with
the facts of extinction. The cost of living may be rising stead
ily, but the cost of dying has become a source of fiscal gratifi
cation. When you can kill tens of million at only $50 a head,
you are pretty near the break-even point.
I hope that these warm and encouraging words give
heart to the distrubed among us. No dollar the government
is spending brings such a high return on investment as the
nuclear bomb program.
You can be dead certain of that.
—The Chicago Daily News
Bulletin Board
Professional Societies
American Meteorological So
ciety will meet at 7:15 p.m. in
Room 306 of Goodwin Hall. Of
ficers will be elected during the
get-acquainted meeting.
American Society of Agricul
tural Engineers will meet at 7:30
p.m. in the lecture room of the
Agricultural Engineering Build
ing.
Oct a flying start on Continental!
WASHINGTON
NEW ORLEANS
CHICAGO
NEW YORK
4-engine non-stops east. For reservation^ cail jfour
CONTI MENTAL AIRLINE*
- ^§F
THE BATTALION
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the stu
dent writers only. The BattaUpn is a non-tax-supported, non
profit, self-supporting educational enterprise edited and op
erated by sticdents as a college and community newspaper
and is under the supervision of the director of Student
Publications at Texas AnM College.
Members of the Student Publications Board are Allen Schrader, School of Arts and
Sciences: J. A. Orr, School of Engineering; Dr. Murray Brown, School of Agri
culture ; and Dr. E. D. McMurry, School of Veterinary Medicine.
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A.&M. is published in College Sta
tion, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and holiday periods, Septem
ber through May, and once a week during summer school.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all news
dispatches credited to it of 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.
Second-class postage paid
at College Station. Texas.
MEMBER:
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Texas Press Assn.
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Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester : $6 per school year, $6.50 per foil year.
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Address: The Battalion, Room 4, YMCA Building. College Station, Texas.
News contributions may be made by telephoning VI 6-6618 or VI 6-4910 or at the
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ALAN PAYNE EDITOR
Ronnie Bookman Managing Editor
Van Conner Sports Editor
Dan Louis, Gerry Brown, Ronnie Fann News Editors
Kent Johnston, Carl Rubenstein Staff Writers
Jim Butler, Adrian Adair Assistant Sport Editors
CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Earle
Sound Off-
Editor,
The Battalion:
After reading the editorial con
cerning the lack of student part
icipation in the Sept. 20 issue of
The Battalion, I was very startl
ed, especially about the section
referring to the lack of senior
class enthusiasm for the steak
fry honoring the football team.
The number expected to attend
and the amount of tickets sold
were greatly underestimated by
The Battalion. Over 250 attended
‘ t> * . : . >.v * v #:^ ^ 'i/
and the limited number of tickets
to be sold were “sold out” two
days before the occasion, which
many considered a success.
However, having written the
above, I can not feel but a little
hypocritical, for Saturday night
as I waited for the football team
to arrive at Easterwood, I watch
ed the beginning of the end of the
Spirit of Aggieland.
No general orders from the
Future Dates
. . . We’re at your disposal! If you have a topic for a car
toon send it to us and we’ll use it! Mail requests to:
Slouch, Box 4121, campus!
Photography Protested
TODAY
Landscape architecture seminar
Graduate lecture, Dr. Donald
Fenton Weseli, Ohio State Uni
versity, “Genetic Use of Cattle
Blood Types,” 3 p.m., Room 229,
Chemistry Building.
Dance class registration, MSC
In Estes 9 Court Room
TYLER UP) — While lawyers
maneuvered inside the county
courthouse and spectators waited
to learn whether Billie Sol Estes
would go to trial, a pickup tnjck
pulled to the curb.
On the side facing the court
house it bore a silver sign the
length of the truck bed and near
ly as tall. In neat black letters
was this message:
“TV and radio will be unfair
to Estes. Click your camera on
Castro.”
Two brothers sat on the grass
and watched as photographers
snapped pictures. They identified
themselves as Frank Rigdon, 30,
and his brother Alton (Buck) Rig
don, 42, owners of a Tyler sheet
metal works.
“We came here from Jackson
ville, Fla., nine months ago and
that sign says how we feel,” said
Frank. Brother Buck nodded
agreement as he continued:
“It looks to us like somebody
ought to be doing something a-
bout all those Cubans coming to
this country and putting people
out of work like they did us in
Florida.
“That’s the reason we put up
this sign. And besides, we didn’t
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think Estes can get a fair trail
with all those cameras in the
courtroom.”
Dist. Judge Otis T. Duncan
ruled earlier that television and
still cameramen could shoot pic
tures if the Estes case goes to
trial in his courtroom. There was
no indication whether the judge
saw the Rigdon’s sign..
WEDNESDAY
Graduate lecture, Dr. Joseph
Edwards, Milk Marketing Board
of England and Wales, “Intensive
Production of Beef and Milk in
England and Wales,” 8 p.m.,
Room 229, Chemistry Building
Deadline for dropping courses
THURSDAY
Annual Texas Industrial Con
ference
PALACE
Br-ffan Z-SS79
LAST DAY
David Niven
In
‘‘GUNS OF
DARKNESS”
STARTS TOMORROW
Elvis Presley
In
“KID GALAHAD”
QUEEN
NOW SHOWING
Mer0fh' i
W/ISOriSj
THE MOST MARVELOUS MOVIE EVER MADElfl
i UCHNIfttMT- TECHNICOLOR** PRESENTED RY WARNER EHOA
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NOW SHOWING
Kim Novak
In
BOY’S NITE OUT’
CIRCLE
LAST NIGHT
1st Show 7:00 p. m.
Doris Day
“THAT TOUCH OF
MINK”
&
John Wayne
“THE SEARCHERS”
STARTS TOMORROW
“JUDGEMENT AT
NUREMBERG”
Why Do It Yourself
FLOYD'S RADIO & TV
WiH Check Tubes FREE
and
Give Free Estimates On All Radios and TV’s Brought
To Shop Including Stereo, Hi-Fi, and . Any Unit That
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901 S. College
TA 8-5044
eommandafit, no general an
nouncements were made concern
ing the yell practice to welcome
back the team. Announcements
on the radio and by privates of
the guard were made in dormi
tory hallways reminding students
of the approximate time of ar
rival.
Tradition has set the preced
ent that Aggies always greet the
team when' it flies back from an
out-of-town game. Saturday night
only 49 students welcomed back
the team.
While I realize that many corps
unit commanders and leaders were
at the game, the responsibility
was a leadership responsibility
—* the responsibility of evti)
gie upperclassman to ins£
Spirit of Aggieland in lii
and sophomores.
Last year the football
was quoted to have been p!
for the teamls sake an
Twelfth Man. After Sate
performance by the stale
will be difficult for thete
think about the Twelfth!!;
they give thejr all on tki
as they did Saturday nif
Baton Rouge.
Should we be surprisedii
near future the team shoiiii
shirt the Twelfth Man?
Charles L. Blaschkt,
Senior Class Preside
On Campus
wth
MWl
(Author of “/ Was a Teen-age Dwarf’, "The Maaj
GiUis", etc.)
Loves of Dobie
WRITE? YOU’RE WRONG
In the recent furor over the assassination of President
it may have escaped your notice that a nationwide study of fe
writing ability of American college students has just beta
published.
The survey reveals an astonishing fact: that when studenii
have completed their freshman year and are no longer require;
to take English, their writing skill progressively declines®
we come to the fantastic situation where graduating 0fl
actually are poorer writers of English than in-coming Jrahv.
Many theories have been offered to account for this incredito
fact. Some say that seniors know less English than frealm®
because all seniors major in French. This is not true. No DP
than 94 percept of seniors major in French. How about It;
other six percent?
Well sir, of the other six percent, half—or three percent-
take physics, and it is not hard to understand how these jw*
souls grow rusty in English when all they ever say is “E equsi
MC squared.”
Of the remaining three percent, two-thirds—or two percecl-
major in whaling, and their English too grows feeble fid
disuse. Whalers', as we all know, do not speak at all except a
shout, “Thar she blows!” maybe twice a year.
Of the one percent remaining, it cannot be fairly said M
they are poor writers. The fact is, we don’t know what kindd
writers they are. Why not? Because they never write. And wb?
don’t they ever write? Because this remaining one percent d
American college students are enrolled at the University d
Alaska, and never take their mittens off.
(Incidentally, I received quite a surprise upon first visitic!
Alaska two years ago when I was invited to Juneau to crosi
the Queen of the Annual Date Palm Festival. Frankly I a-
ymmitm feeble urffc Am
pected to find a surly and morose populace. After all, gou!
through life with your mittens on all the time is hardly caltu-
lated to make you merry a? a cricket. Not only can’t you wrife
but you miss out on all kinds of other fun things—like this
card monte, making shadow pictures on the wall, and lint pid'
ing. However, to my astonishment, I discovered Alaskans k
be a hale and gregarious group, mittens notwithstanding, snl
I soon found out why: because mittens notwithstanding, thej
could still smoke Marlboro Cigarettes, still enjoy that rid
mellow flavor, that fine, clean Selectrate filter, that truly soli
soft pack, that truly flip-top flip-top box—and that, friends,
will make anybody happy, mittens notwithstanding. Intact,
Alaskans are the happiest people I have ever met in the whole
United States—except, of course, for the Alaskan vendors«
Marlboro Cigarettes, who have not been paid in many years-
indeed, never—because how can anybody dig out coins to paj
for cigarettes when he is wearing mittens?)
But I digress. What are we going to do about this deploribl*
condition where college students, having completed Freshmai
English, become steadily less proficient in the use of the lan
guage? The answer is simple. We will make them take fresi-
man English all through college. In fact, we won’t let theratah
anything else! This solution, besides producing a nation d
graceful writers, will also solve another harrowing probl©
where to park on campus. If everybody takes nothing h 1
Freshman English, we can tear down all tfie schools of laY,
medicine, engineering, and whaling, and turn them into parkin!
, lots. Can’t we? ffl w
The makers of Marlboro, who sponsor this column, pkf
guilty to being among those Americans whose writing^
is not all it might be. However, we like tq think that m
tobacconists we know a thing or two. Won’t you try utjM
see if you agree?
PEANUTS
By Charles M,
PEANUTS
£•». «. 0 u. S. Pol o<
C**. 1*2 *****
9-2-1
(j>URE SATISFACTION!)
PEANUTS
DO TO
PARTICIPATE MUCH
IN KINDERGARTEN,
SALLY?
I TRY NOT TO...l'M SORT )
OF HOLDING BACK... V
60 TO THE CHALKBOARD AND
DRAW, BUT I GOT OUT OF IT..
I TOLD HER IT OJAS HARD ,
ftR ME BECAUSE OF AWRSlK 1
-i