Page 2
College Station, Texas
Thursday, June 20, 1968
THE BATTALION
IN BOOK BY A&M PROF
Story Of American, French
Face-Off In 1860’s Related
Few persons are aware that
Americans and the French once
almost stood “eyeball-to-eyeball”
along the Rio Grande at Browns
ville.
On at least one occasion the
Americans crossed the river, oc
cupied a town downstream from
Matamoros and tried to capture a
French ship.
THE STRAINED situation was
pq,rt of the colorful, tui'bulent
period in Mexican history of the
1860’s when the French Army oc
cupied much of Mexico, the tragic
Emperor Maximilian and his Em
press sat upon shaky thrones, and
the Mexicans Benito Juarez and
Porfio Diaz led the fight for
power.
A&M Professor Dr. Jack Autrey
Dabbs is author of the newly-pub
lished book, “The French Army in
Mexico, 1861-1867, A Study in
Military Government.”
The 340-page book was published
by Mouton and Company, The
Hague, The Netherlands, which
earlier this year published a mono
graph written by Dabbs for the
Central Asiatic Studies Series of
Indiana University and the Uni
versity of Leiden.
Dabbs, an A&M professor of
modern languages, is the author of
several books.
HIS NEWEST publication stems
from research for his doctoral dis
sertation written at the University
of Texas before he joined the A&M
faculty in 1950. Much of the re
search was done in the Latin
American Collection of the uni
versity library.
“I had just gotten out of the
Army and military government
work (he served in Korea),” Dabbs
said.
There was “very little” printed
material about military govern
ment problems. Books about mili
tary government policies and his
tories of other nations were even
scarcer.
“This book,” he said of his lat
est publication, “is intended as an
examination of the way some
other countries have conducted
military government in the past, a
cast history. The French Army
at that time was very experienced
and professional.”
THE FRENCH intervention,
however, was ’’the cast of a ter
rific mistake.”
“The Mexican conservatives
thought they would bring in 'some
one who would help them establish
a monarchy, but the French turn
ed out to be almost as liberal as
the Mexican liberals . . . the form-
Board Member Is
Ag Consultant At
Fort Worth Bank
Clyde H. Wells of Granbury, an
A&M Board of Directors member,
has been appointed ranch and farm
consultant to the First National
Bank of Fort Worth.
Wells, a 1938 graduate of the
A&M School of Agriculture, is a
Hood County rancher associated
with the J. R. Black estate. He
was formerly a member of the
Tarleton State College faculty and
has served with the U. S. Soil Con
servation Service in north, central
and east Texas.
A member of the Granbury
school board, Wells is married and
has one daughter. He is also a
member of the Texas and South
western Cattle Raisers Association
and the Texas Hereford Associa
tion.
er allies were almost fighting at
the end,” Dabbs said.
Civil war wracked the United
States at the time of the French
intervention, and this nation could
only protest the violation of the
Monroe Doctrine.
Stronger reaction came in 1865.
U. S. troops in the blue uniforms
of the Civil War period were in
Brownsville. Also in Brownsville
were followers of Juarez. Across
the river were Mexican troops of
the conservative forces, those sup
ported by the French.
THE MEXICANS fired at each
other across the Rio Grande and
on one occasion several hundred
troops in U. S. uniforms and with
federal officials temporarily oc
cupied a Mexican town downriver
from Matamoros. The Americans
also attempted to capture a French
ship.
The French used their Mexican
allies as a • shield to prevent as
much as possible any direct con
frontation of American and French
troops, but French ships put in
close offshore.
U. S. aid to the Juaristas also
was reported in California, and
American filibusters crossed into
Mexico.
New Liberal armies began to ap
pear, uniformed, armed, and in
numbers not seen for several years,
while the United States also exert
ed diplomatic pressure upon
France.
Both the Liberals and the Con
servatives sensed that any formal
entry of American forces into
Mexico might lead to a loss of
territory, so they did nothing that
might draw these troops.
The situation seased gradually.
In February of 1867 the French
Army marched out of Mexico City,
bound for Veracruz and ships for
France.
One Of First Vets
Later Became MD
COLLEGE STATION <A>) — At
65 years of age, Dr. Richard Henry
Harrison Jr. decided which branch
of medicine he wishes to practice.
He announced this with a flour
ish recently when he returned to
A&M and turned in his doctor
of veterinary medicine degree.
One reason was that he prac
ticed veterinary medicine only a
short time.
HE WAS assistant state veter
inarian with headquarters at Fort
Worth for a time. But after sav
ing enough money he entered Bay
lor Medical school in Dallas and
received an MD degree. He has
practiced people medicine since.
The general practitioner return
ed his age-yellowed DVM degree
to the A&M School of Veterinary
Medicine because of the document’s
historical interest. He was one
of the first four veterinarians
graduated from the newly estab
lished school in 1920.
Dr. Alvin Price, Dean of the
School of Veterinary Medicine, who
said it would be placed in the Vet
erinary Library along with other
momentoes.
THE PHYSICIAN was the first
to sign up in the veterinary school,
first president of the A&M Veteri
nary Medicine Club, first of the
four to march across the stage to
receive his degree, and the first
Texas-educated DVM to get a state
license.
It is a little hard to see how
he had time to get a degree.
When Harrison wasn’t mulling
over books and bones, the 135-
pounder quarterbacked and half-
backed four years on A&M’s foot
ball teams. This was when A&M
produced its famed undefeated and
unscored-on teams of 1917 and
1919.
HE ALSO was business manager
for the campus newspaper, “The
Battalion,” for a year. He was
first to be named “outstanding mili
tary student,” and led the best
drilled company in the Corps. He
retired from the Medical Corps in
1945 as a full colonel.
After receiving his medical de
gree, he interned in Houston. He
practiced there for a year and
then became surgeon for Humble
Oil at Ingleside from 1929-31. The
next stop was Bryan in 1932, where
he has since lived.
Dance, Hootenanny Scheduled
For MSC Weekend Activities
Upcoming activities provided by
the Memorial Student Center Sum
mer Directorate include a songfest
and hootenanny Sunday at 2 p.m.
and the Monday night dance with
live musicians and a door pxdze.
Paul Smith, publicity chairman
for the summer committee said that
stag girls will be admitted free to
the 8 p.m. dance in the ballroom.
Loupot’s Trading Post has provided
a door prize.
Live music will be provided Mon
day by The Paradons. Admission
for stag males and couples will be
75 cents and $1.25, respectively.
Smith said there is no cost of
admission for anyone who would
like to participate in Sunday’s
songfest and hootenanny.
Japanese Consider Bellies
Most Important Body Parts
TOKYO (TP) — When a Japanese
gentlemen tells you “The bugs in
my belly are restless” he means
“I’m not fully satisfied.”
If he says “My adomen will de
cide” he means “I’ll make up my
mind.”
Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda told
a news conference recently “Let
THE BATTALION
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VAN CONNER EDITOR
J. M. Tijerina Photographer
us hold our stomach firmer.” He
meant “Let us not get excited.”
THE REASON is that in Japan
the most vital part of the anatomy
is the stomach, abdomen, or belly—
known simple as “hara.” It is
the essence of the human body, like
the heart or head in Western coun
tries.
As a result the Japanese take
special care of the stomach, fully
protecting it from the elements of
nature.
Many Japanese wear a belly band
or stomach wrap-around — usually j
of cotton in the summer and of
wool in the winter. The stomach
band also serves as a sort of
girdle or corset for women.
Emphasis on protecting the sto
mach begins at birth and ends with
death.
THE “HARA” takes on an ab
stract meaning because the Japan
ese attach ritualistic importance to
the mid-riff. It can also mean
mind, courage, power, efficiency,
conscience, intention, and other spi
ritual functions.
Thus a “man of stomach” — a
very common Japanese expression
— doesn’t indicate a man possess
ing an extraordinary belly but
means a man of will-power, cour
age or strength. “Big stomach”
means broad-minded or full of un
derstanding.
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