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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 1971)
Page 2 THE BATTALION College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 17, 1971 CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle gUTHE SPIRIT Movl f’c.Prtc'Z S BLITHE SPIRIT AJCW ( 5' Blithe spiral SPIRIT Suthe SPIRIT Mol/ t‘5'' 2 ‘ <D ^Lb\)(S'-2'& &S(S> IL? rU^rBi^y ^io\) {^' za T\r\ puKre^ L\L) “Squirt, will you give me your word that you’ll never P ke on another public relations job?” The War Hymn This week during pre-registration the Student Senate is running an opinion poll. One of the questions in the poll, which we urge everyone to fill out, deals with the singing of the first verse of the War Hymn. ^ , L . Currently, the student body sings only the second verse of the song. This is the verse that downgrades the University of Texas. Now we don’t have anything against downgrading the teasips. If anyone deserves it, it is the Armadillos, those perennial Southwest Conference champions—until this year that is. The thing is, we put down the sips all the time, even when we play Arkansas or Tech or even Baylor. In this sense the term “dumb Aggies” applies. We can just about imagine what the opposing side is thinking as the students sing. “Good bye to who? Did they say Texas University? Who’s that?” To quote from Buck Weirus, executive director of the Former Students Association, “It’s silly to talk about beating Texas when we aren’t even playing them.” Silly isn’t quite the word, stupid is better. On top of that, why publicize the sips when we could be pulling for A&M? The words to the first verse go like this: 1 All hail! to dear old Texas A&M. Rally around maroon and white; Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies, They are the boys who show the fight. That good old Aggie spirit thrills us And makes us yell and yell and yell; So let’s fight for dear old Texas A&M. We’re going to beat you all to Chig-ga-roo-gar-em! Chig-ga-roo-gar-em! Rough! Tough! Real stuff; Texas A&M.” It makes a bit more sense than singing about Texas. Vote for singing the first verse. Speak out The Student Senate and the Great Issues Committee have come up with another Soap Box Forum this year. It will be held Thursday from 11 a.m. <: 1 p.m. at the review stand on the drill field. These Soap Box Forums, which sometimes are effective and sometimes aren’t, are a good way to hear what the students have to say about certain things. A good bet would be to expect Bonfire, voter registration, athletic fees and the laundry to be discussed. All of these are issues that students are concerned about. Go to these things and listen and, if you have anything to say, speak. Utilize your right to the freedom of speech—and who knows, maybe you’ll get in a good argument. Listen up War and ecology conflict in classes Editor: The teaching 1 staff at Texas A&M has changed as has some of their attitudes. I would like to show you to what degree. An English class I attend is reading The New Republic which ran an article concerning Vietnamese ecology and American security in South Vietnam. The journal reported American bulldozers were clearing a large area of jungle cover. The instruc tor turned from the topic of Eng lish and said she felt we were wrong in doing this as we were destroying the land. The entire class felt she was right except me. I said we were over there to fight a war, not beautify the country. No one sided with me. She then tried her luck with examples to back herself up, one was Napoleon at Waterloo. She said he fought in the area outside town so no one except soldiers would be hurt. Napoleon fought outside the town because that was where Wellington was. Welling ton moved outside town because Napoleon moved so slowly. The students at A&M have changed and so have the teachers. This teacher deserved her stu dents as they both felt ecology comes before American lives, al though neither deserve to be at Texas A&M with this attitude. Chris Outwin Editor: In the past few weeks, most of the articles in “Listen Up” have been so heavy, oppressive, and earth-shatteringly controversial (Groffe vs. Students, Students vs. Bonfire, Non-regs vs. CT’s, CT’s vs. women) that I feel it’s in order to complain about some thing downright down to earth— gophers. Yeh, gophers. For those unfamiliar with what a gopher is, I invite them to take a look at the lawn areas in front of the campus at the southeast corner on Highway 6. Just look for an area that has the appearance of having endured a three-day artil lery barrage and you’ll have found the spot. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a personal grudge against gophers, for they have a place in nature and even have bene ficial attributes (i.e., soil aera tion) but their place is not lawns or golf courses. (Take a look at the golf course.) A few months ago, I offered to remove these gophers for the school. This proposal was met with enthusiasm both by the Grounds Maintenance Dept, and the campus golf course personnel. However, the project fizzled and the reasons given were, get this, lack of funds. This makes me wonder why a university that pours untold thousands of dollars into covering the campus with concrete slabs (grounds improve ment & land (or cement-scaping) can’t spend a few dollars to im prove the appearance of the few remaining grassy areas that are left. Possibly this area is also slated for concrete-encrustation in the near future. Admittedly, this letter is not written totally on altruistic moti vation, for I hope it will provoke some action and I can make some money in the process. Meanwhile, the gophers keep on digging and I keep on waiting for someone to take some initiative. Don Baker ★ ★ ★ Editor: Since everyone is now more ecology conscious, and the colleges wish to have this represented by choosing a more passive, and if possible, endangered species of animal as school mascot.—For ex ample, the University of Texas (always first) has proposed changing their mascot from the deadly, grass-eating Longhorn to the more passive and ecologically beneficial Armadillo—Not far be hind is the University of Houston (never last) which has started nominations for their replacement mascot; replacing Shasta the cou gar will be Arky the Ardvark— Leading up the rear end (but al ways progressing forward), We of the Mclnnis Midnight Skulkers wish to lead the way for a new era in A&M’s ever-changing tra- Steve Hayes Poisoning: predator cure-all The poisoning of predators on an indiscriminate basis has evolved as a cure-all to the live stock industry, primarily the sheep men. Control, mostly by spreading highly toxic poisons in easily accessible areas, has beeVi perpetuated, despite objections, because this practice is thought of as an important management tool by the livestock industry. In the case of the cattle indus try, some progressive cattlemen have recognized the worth of predatory animals as a control agent over herbivorous animals which compete with cattle for grass. In fact, partly because of many cattlemen’s practices, the U. S. Department of the Interior stated that “on rangelands occu pied only by cattle there is little justification for general coyote control, and should be undertaken only in areas where losses are based on irrefutable evidence. However, wool-growers con tinue to border on fanaticism in regard to predator control, and they incessantly bemoan their fi nancial losses purported to preda tion. They are, in the words of one Montana state senator, “. . . . the best organized livestock group of all.” He should know, for after he introduced a bill which called for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service merely to follow its own rules in regard to poisoning prac tices, the wool-growers success fully organized a campaign against the bill, and his next election campaign. Sixteen years of public elective service had end ed for him. Why are the wool-growers so intently adhering to predator con trol ? Financially, the wool indus try is in serious trouble. Syn thetics, imports and the rising cost of labor are all important factors to the decline of the U.S. wool industry. In the last 30 years, the number of sheep in the country has decreased 40 million. Now only 16 million sheep are raised per year. Yet, although the wool-growers provide less than half of our an nual wool needs, they are the principal recipients of predator control programs, are paid a fed eral subsidy, and are allowed to graze their stock on public lands at 10 per cent of the cost of graz ing on private lands. In 1971 over TRY BATTALION CLASSIFIED $65 million were paid in subsidies to wool-growers. Wool-growers do lose many of their sheep each year to weather, starvation, disease, abandonment and predation. However, predation is the only entity that can actual ly be seen and engaged by man. Since predator control programs have developed, it has become convenient for many livestock growers to attribute most dead animals to predation, and to ask for more federal protection, with the hope that an intensive control program will aid in getting more livestock to market. A coyote will feed on carrion; however, because the sheepman discovers only a partially devoured carcass, the coyote is considered guilty of ac tually killing the sheep. As Jack Olsen noted in his article, “The Poisoning of the West,” “Every year the reported stock losses rise, the Wildlife Services budget climbs proportionally and the population of larger animals sinks to a new low.” If Jack Olsen is right, then even a moron could see that a decline in predators would mean a decrease, not an increase in the number of sheep lost to preda tors. Thus, given the mass dis tribution of poisons, and the near extinction of many species of predators, there is an inconsist ency in the figures turned in by wool growers. To confuse matters even furth er, the Division of Wildlife Serv ices states that the federal con trol program reduces predation to the sheep industry by 60 per cent. How did the DWS arrive at such figures? Incredulously enough, they are based on the judgment of the wool-growers! That such judgment is highly subjective is emphasized by the case of the red fox. Before the red fox was listed as a predator in Wyoming, no one mentioned it as a factor in preda tion. Yet when it was placed on a questionnaire sent out to ranch ers, whammo, 800 lambs were lost to the red fox. Even with such obvious inac curacies, the reported loss of sheep to predators in 1970 was submitted as 33,680, out of 2,095,- 000 sheep grazed on public lands. This was only 1.68 per cent of the entire sheep population grazed on public lands. It seems odd that our vast wilderness strongholds should be subject to mass poison ing when losses, even as subjec tive as they are, already minimals. Tomorrow: Why the federal government continues to maintain the status quo. Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is „,e «,ulen< writers on,. The Battalion is a non-,ax- supported, non-profit, self-supporting educational enter- May, and once a week during summer school. prise edited and operated by students as a university and c onnnunit) nticspaper. The Associated Press, Texas Press Association LETTERS POLICY The Associated Collegiate Press Letters to the editor must be typed, double-spaced, Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school and 7io 7nore them 300 wovds in length. They 7nust be year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% signed, although the writer’s name will be withheld by sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: arrangement with the editor. Address correspondence to ^exas^S"' ROOm 217 ’ Buildinf? ’ College Station ' Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, ~— College Station Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatchs credited to it or not — otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous Member,_ o, the Sledort Publication, Board are, dim £&• ^ " PUbU “‘ 1 °” - *" Rs’^biarSSSi l C D; W A'» r B. I -i b hSr, A K.: Second-Class ,o.ta g e paid at Colle„. Station, Team,. S , A”i=oRure“.:o.“ r L.” < e i K™i. II ,';udYnt E ' T< '' 1 '' ic,I ■ Coll '" ! * S DIT °. R : HAYDEN WHITSETT Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising News Editor Sue Davis Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San bports Editor ; John Curylo Francisco. Assistant Sports Editor Bill Henry TAMU Artist Showcase Presents . . . U. T. COLLEGIUM MUSICUM Music of the medieval, renaissance, and baroque eras performed with minstrel harp, harpsicord, organ, and lute. Wednesday, November 17, 1971—8:00 p.m. MSC Ballroom Town Hall season ticket and activity card holders ad mitted free. No reserved seats. A&M Student Date $1.00 Faculty, Staff, Patron $3.00 Other Students $1.50 Tickets & information — MSC Student Program Office 845-4671 dition. We feel that the following list of passive animals would bet ter represent the high ideals of the A&M student body. We re spectfully submit: Animal Cheer Anteater, Lick ’em Ags! Gopher, Gopher a touchdown! Whale, Whale, we lost anotM one. Do Do Bird, Go Go Do Do’s! Whooping Crane, Whoop! (famj. iar?) Hipolito Canales, Jr. ’72 Mike Kellough, ’75 Jerry Levy ’73 PEANUTS UHU4‘. I HAVE A 51/RPRiSE FOR YOU! BUSIER - JONES AGENCY REAL ESTATE • INSURANCE F.H.A.—Veterans and Conventional Loans FARM & HOME SAVINGS ASSOCIATION Home Office: Nevada, Mo. 3523 Texas Ave. (in Ridgecrest) 846-3708 ROBERT HALSELL TRAVEL SERVICE AIRLINE SCHEDULE INFORMATION FARES AND TICKETS DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ci 1 WAS Nixon to take terest fights Commi leased In said, 0 kave n grade Hacks Spanis A t titled, Enforc Later’ “Uni given rights cancer oidikel The ATTENTION All Seniors and Graduate Students! MAKE SURE YOUR PICTURE WILL BE IN THE 1972 AGGIELiAND YEARBOOK PICTURE SCHEDULE V - W - X - Y - Z Nov. 15 - 19 Make-Up Week — Nov. 22 - Dec. 10 NOTE: Students needing pictures for job-applications or ^ personal use may come ahead of schedule. CORPS SENIORS: Uniform: Class A Winter - Blouse or Midnight Shirt. CIVILIANS: Coat and Tie. PICTURES WILL BE TAKEN FROM 8: A.M. to 5: P- M ‘ NOTE: BRING FEE SLIPS to UNIVERSITY STUDIO 115 No. Main — North Gate Phone: 846-8019 1:26 1 HAP IT IIOCEP, AW NOW I'M HOOtED AGAIN. 1 By Charles M. Schulz I THOUGHT I WAS (XHNS V THE RIGHT THIN6. I