Page 2 College Station, Texas Thursday, August 8, 1968 THE BATTALION CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle University System Marks Platinum Anniversary Next month marks the 20th anniversary of a Texas institution which operates a fleet, two former Air Force bases, nuclear installations and a plantation, has personnel in 251 counties and provides aid to several foreign countries. All these aspects are in addi tion to the institution’s basic function, which is conducted on five Texas sites! Its operating budget last year exceeded $100 million. The uninitiated might say the organization has a certain mili tary flavor — and they wouldn’t be wrong. It has ties with all branches of the armed forces. FOR THOSE who still have not identified the institution, it might be helpful to note its best- known division won the Southwest Conference football championship last year. That pretty well defines the platinum - anniversary-celebration institution as the Texas A&M University System, organized Sept. 1, 1948. In addition to Texas A&M Uni versity, the system includes Prairie View A&M College at Hempstead, Tarleton State Col lege at Stephenville, James Con- nally Technical Institute at Waco and the Texas Martime Academy at Galveston. ALSO THE TEXAS Agricul tural Experiment Station, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas Engineering Ex tension Service, Texas Transpor tation Institute and the Texas Forest Service, all headquartered at College Station. “The Texas A&M University System,” notes its president, Earl Rudder, “is an educational, re search and service complex which directly or indirectly affects every person in the state.” BESIDES ITS campus aca demic pi'ograms, the university and its experiment stations and institutes conduct valuable ap plied research for both industry and agriculture. Its extension service provides practical train ing in a variety of fields, rang ing from home economics to fire and police work. A&M’s Agri cultural Extension Service has agents based in all but three of the state’s 254 counties. : ' _ Were You There... (see story column 6 page 1) Maddox Receives Extension Award One of the highest honors a person can receive in the Exten sion Service profession has gone to L. A. Maddox, Jr., Extension animal husbandman of Texas A&M. The animal husbandman was presented the American Society of Animal Science Extension Award of $1,000 and an engraved plaque during the 60th annual meeting of the Society July 28- Aug. 1 at Oklahoma State Uni versity. Maddox’ award was based on his many years of professional work in the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and its influ ence on the beef cattle industry. His citation was read by J. E. Oldfield, head of the Oregon State University Animal Science De partment, chairman of the Ex tension Award Selection Commit tee, and past president of the American Society of Animal Sci ence. Presentation was made by J. A. Hawbaker of Charles Pfizer and Company, award donor. The Extension Award was es tablished in 1959, and Maddox is the 10th person to receive it. Dr. O. D. Butler, head of the A&M Animal Science Depart ment, said Maddox is best known as one of the pioneers in per formance testing of beef cattle. It was 18 years ago that Mad dox started his first performance testing of young bulls at Pan Tech Farms. He provided the leadership for cooperating pro ducers who developed the first sale of performance tested beef bulls at Pan Tech in 1954. Next, he served as chairman of the working committee which decided that a national organiza tion could and should be formed that would register beef cattle with outstanding performance records. This decision, Butler said, was made at Amarillo in 1954 and started the Performance Registry International. The animal scientist wrote the first draft of the general and special rules of the PRI. Interest in performance and production traits of beef cattle were stimulated by the PRI. To day, many breed associations have advanced registry classifi cations based on production traits as part of their programs. Maddox joined the Extension Service in 1954. In 1956, he was assigned to the headquarters staff at Texas A&M and given the responsibility of developing a statewide program of beef cat tle performance testing. Texas county agricultural agents in 1956 reported that they knew of 1,238 beef herds with 146,449 cows on a production testing program based on calf weaning weight. Feedlot gain tests of young bulls were being conducted by 329 purebred breed ers. A high percentage of the registered breeders of beef cattle in Texas were carrying on per formance testing programs in co operation with their respective breed associations. James Connally Technical In stitute is providing highly train ed personnel for specialized jobs in industry, Rudder points out, and the Texas Maritime Academy is helping meet a continuing need for leaders in the merchant ma rine. The Texas Forest Service works closely with the lumber industry, while also looking after the interests of the general public. ALTHOUGH the system was organized only 20 years ago, Rud der emphasizes most of its major divisions are much older. Texas A&M, for example, was organized in 1876 and is the state’s oldest public institution of higher learn ing. Connally Tech, however, is only two years old and TMA is now in its (Sixth year. The system’s facilities are as varied as its services. It oper ates two sea-going vessels, a nu clear reactor, a cyclotron (some times called an “atom-smasher”) and a 3,200-acre plantation. It has converted the old Bryan Air Force Base into a research an nex, with highway proving grounds for the Texas Transpor tation Institute, and also has tak en over James Connally AFB, now home for Connally Tech. This is all in addition to stand ard academic classrooms, dormi tories and other conventional fa cilities. In 1954, the system went in ternational by providing person nel for foreign service under an agreement with the Agency for International Development (AID). A&M’s current international budget totals more than $2.5 mil lion for programs in Pakistan, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Ar gentina and Mexico. Telephone Rates Reduced By FCC A reduction of long distance rates has gone into effect for General Telephone Company of the Southwest customers as a re sult of the recent i-uling by the Federal Communications Commis sion which ordered the American Telephone and Telegraph Com pany to reduce interstate long dis tance rates by $20,000,000 an nually. The reductions are from 5 to 10 cents from the charge for the first three minutes on daytime weekday station-to-station calls. These are calls placed between 7 A.M. and 5 P.M. Monday through Friday. This is the 23rd time interstate rates have been cut since coast to coast service began in 1915. Dur ing that time, the cost of trans continental calls has dropped to as little as $.75 (station-to-sta- tion between midnight and 7 A.M.) from $20.70 in 1915. ! At The Grovel TODAY “For Whom the Bell Tolls” starring Gary Cooper and Ingred Bergman FRIDAY “Flower Drum Song” starring Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta SATURDAY “The Night Walker” starring Robert Taylor and Barbara Stan wyck, plus Chapter 10 of the serial “The Phantom Creeps” SUNDAY “Master of the World” starring Vincent Price MONDAY “Saga of Hemp Brown” Rory Calhoun TUESDAY “The Grass is Greener” starring Cary Grant and Jean Simmons WEDNESDAY “Baby, the Rain Must Fall” starring Lee Remick and Steve McQueen THE BATTALION Opinions expressed in The Battalion ■ 0k Rtpm _ ; —* MNANAb QvaWy MCAW U.S.D.A. CHOICE HEAVY BEEF ROUND STEAK WHOLE FRYERS GRADE ‘“A” BACON ROEGLIEN Ib, REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS. ^ 50 FREE TOP VALUE STAMPS With Purchase of Johnson’s Sun Country Air Freshener Coupon Expires Aug. 10, 1968 REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS. 100 FREE TOP VALUE STAMPS With Purchase of $10.00 or More (Excluding Cigarettes) • One Per Family Coupon Expires Aug. 10, 1968 REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS. 50 FREE TOP VALUE STAMPS With Purchase of 13-Oz. Can Magic Spray Sizing Coupon Expires Aug. 10, 1968