J.S. not ready
tor atomic war
n
>■ <mly. Ca
2.
UNITIES 1
akers
United Press International
the thick pine forests about a mile from where the Atlantic
^ers burst against the cliffs of Maine, Asa E. Phillips Jr. and his
lyofblueblood patriots are ready to ride out a nuclear holocaust in
ike a silent sentry on lookout for a nuclear doomsday, his cinder
k fallout shelter waits beside the family's summer home. The
| ter —30 feet long, 15 feet wide and 12 feet high — is filled with the
ssities of life — canned food, drums of water — and some of the
ries like decanters of the most expensive liquor,
lere has been a Phillips in America since before the War of
pendence and Phillips is determined his family will survive any
— even one fought with ICBMs and fallout clouds instead of
ket balls and cannon bursts.
ivery patriotic American should have a fallout shelter,” or at least
loiowledge of the use of one, said Phillips. "You know you don’t
da complete shelter. You can make a corner of a basement into a
ut shelter if you know what you're doing.
think the danger is greater now than it was ever before. Eight
But in the Armageddon of atomic attack most Americans
uld be lucky to find a fallout shelter and if they did, they
uld likely have little more than a few stale crackers to last
\ through the hard rain of nuclear fallout, says an Illinois
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nines now have the bomb, " said Phillips, a Massachusetts lawyer
past president of the Order of Patriots and Founders.
You know, Russia is way ahead of us on this thing. They have whole
s underground. '
alfway across the continent in the cornfield country of central
iois, A. Webber Borchers also is ready to face the unthinkable,
lurchers, a wealthy former state lawmaker who decries the current
e of nuclear preparedness in the Unites States, built a vault-fallout
Iter at his Decatur, Ill., home in the early 60s.
We are not well prepared and we should he,” he said.
The interest has fallen oft’and I think it's a mistake. In the olden
syou never knew when the Indian attack would come but you still
uld have a blockhouse. We re not civilized yet and should have our
ckhouses.
utin the Armageddon of atomic attack most Americans would be
to find a fallout shelter and if they did, they woidd likely have
more than a few stale crackers to last them through the hard rain
uclear fallout.
American civil defense measures peaked during the 1962 missile
is and have been near-moribund since.
rlilitary and civilian supporters for a marked increase in civil de-
se claim that if the Soviets made an all-out first nuclear strike on the
ited States now that half the U.S. population — more than 100
lion people — would die and another 35 million would require
dical attention.
"hese same sources say that under the same general war, “worst
e” conditions, the Soviet Union would probably suffer a loss of only
5 percent of its 260 million people because of vastly superior civil
ense and evacuation planning.
he supporters of civil defense got a boost earlier this summer when
ident Carter sent a message to Congress asking for the creation of a
Fhe civil defense officials sadly contrast America’s state of
diness with that of the Soviets, who give civil defense the
\e priority they do their armed forces and reportedly spent
ions on their civil defense program last year compared to the
n million the Carter administration requested in 1977.
ons
Gatti
by be
feral Emergency Management Agency that would include an up-
ded Defense Civil Preparedness Agency merged with groups han-
g natural disasters.
dministration officials say the agency woidd streamline the disaster
eaucracy and save millions of dollars. Part of the agency’s purpose
dd be to better to protect Americans in case of a nuclear war.
he announcement pleased state civil defense and natural disaster
anizations that say the nation’s civil defense capacity has dete-
ated to a state akin to that of the nowmoldering survival crackers
twere stored in public shelters in the early 1960s.
Pretty sad,” was the way E. Erie Jones, director of Illinois’
ergency Services and Disaster Agency, described the United
tes current state of civil defense preparedness.
There s still a lot of rotten crackers and rusty water cans,’ he said
ut current food supplies in Illinois’ fallout shelters. "You wouldn’t
the crackers unless you were literally starving to death.”
ivil defense officials in other states echo that view.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say we re at 2 compared to European
ntries, said Bob Gregory, Nevada’s civil defense director,
he civil defense officials sadly contrast America’s state of readiness
h that of the Soviets, who give civil defense the same priority they
their armed forces and reportedly spent billions on their civil
ense program last year compared to the $80 million the Carter
ninistration requested in 1977.
Sources say the Russians have built hardened bomb shelters under
st large apartment buildings in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev and
je a contingency plan to evacuate the population of these cities to
lective farms within 72 hours.
the Soviet civil defense system even includes an estimated 100
J rs of instruction for Soviet school children on the effects of nuclear
apons and civil defense procedures.
ut while American civil defense officials are pleased with the new
ntion their program is receiving from the Carter administration,
everyone believes it is necessary or wise to increase nuclear
Paredness.
-ritics claim the United States and the Soviet Union, with their
ear arsenals, have “assured mutual destruction and no adequate
section is possible.
“You think only God
can make a tree?
Try coming up
with a mackerel.”
Octobor- B &. 7; 8 PfVL
OARK STAR: IVNdnighfc, Oct. 7
& dj nuddar Auditorium
PEC 'AL FEATURE: HARDWARE WAFtS
MSC CERHEO VARIABLE
what’s up?
Wednesday
AGGIE PLAYERS: Will open its 33rd season of theater with Moliere’s
classic 17th century comedy “Tartuffe.” The production will run
through Oct.7 in Rudder Theater. “Tartuffe,” takes place in France
during the reign of King Louis XIV and concerns a confidence man
and his plan to take a wealthy nobleman for all he owns. Tickets are
$2 for students and $3 for the public and are available in the MSC
Box Office. Tickets will also be available at the door the night of
each performance.
MOVIE: “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” starring Basil Rathbone as
the immortal Sherlock Holmes who attempts to unravel the legend
of the mysterious great hound who has haunted the Baskerville
family for generations, will show at 8 p.m. in room 701, Rudder
Tower.
TAMU ROADRUNNERS: Will meet in front of G. Rollie White
Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. For more information call Mike Fred at
846-6601.
CZECH CLUB: Will hold their monthly meeting at 8 p.m. in room
607, Rudder Tower.
ACT: The Ag Communicators of Tommorrow will discuss the Ag
Section at 7:30 p.m. in the Reed McDonald Bldg.
BAHA’I CLUB: Welcomes everyone to their monthly meeting at 7:30
p.m. in room 141, MSC.
SOCIAL DANCE CLUB: From 7 - 8:15 p.m. there will be a regular
club meeting in room 266, G. Rollie White Coliseum and from 8:30
- 10 p.m. there will be exhibition group practice.
SAN ANTONIO HOMETOWN CLUB: Will discuss activities for the
year at 7:30 p.m. in room 110, Military Science Building.
GOLF: The men’s team will play in the the Jim Corbett Invitational in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana today and Thursday. The women’s team
will play in the Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. today,
Thursday and Friday.
Thursday
ROOMMATE SWAP SESSION: The Off Campus Center is holding a
roommate swap session from 3-5 p.m. at the Off Campus Student
Center.
POLITICAL FORUM: Thomas DeFrank will speak on “The Carter
Administration - A Press Reaction.” DeFrank is White House
Correspondent for Newsweek Magazine and Texas A&M former
student. He will speak at 8 p.m. in room 206, MSC.
MOYTE: “Blazing Saddles,” a madcap comedy spoof of westerns,
starring Gene Wilder and Harvey Gorman, will be shown at 8 p. m.
in Rudder Auditorium.
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: Will have a meetingat 7p.m. in
room 302, Rudder Tower.
W ATER SKI CLUB: Will have a meetingat 7 p.m. in room 230, MSC.
BLACK ENGINEERS: The National Society of Black Engineers will
meet at 7:30 p.m. in room 141, MSC. Everyone is invited and
refreshments will be served.
MSC RADIO COMMITTEE: Will have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. in
room 410, Rudder Tower.
VOLLEYBALL: The women’s team will play at Sam Houston State in
Huntsville.
- fl*> 4v>3 WM ,0 \
„ ,- r \ i > / 4
Friday
MOYTE: “Oh, God, about God coming down from heaven in the cool,
sharp form of George Bums. The person he picks to help him
straighten out mankind is the assistant manager of a supermarket-
-John Denver. The movie will be shown at 8 p.m. in Rudder
Auditorium.
ORGANIZATION OF ARAB STUDENTS: Will have a meeting in
room 502, Rudder Tower at 7 p.m. A membership drive will be
organized.
TENNIS: The women’s team will play in the LSU Invitational in Baton
Rouge, La. today through Sunday.
CROSS COUNTRY: The men’s team will run in Arlington at 4 p.m.
The women’s team will go to the Houston Invitational in Houston.
Darwin not originator
THE BATTALION Page 11
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1978
Evolution nothing new
United Press International
One hundred and forty years ago,
a 29-year-old naturalist sat down in
his London apartment to read an
essay “for amusement.” His eyes
moved over the words and an idea
formed in his mind.
The reader’s name was Charles
Darwin, and his idea was the theory
of natural selection — the mecha
nism of evolution.
No other theory has shaken scien
tific thought more than Darwin’s:
that the environment could modify
living organisms, and the
modifications could be passed on to
the next generation.
He waited 10 years to present his
idea to the scientific community with
the first edition in 1858 of Darwin’s
“The Origin of Species by Natural
Selection.” Its impact has been im
measurable.
Such thoughts were far from his
mind when Darwin, as an easy
going, 22-year-old Cambridge
graduate, sailed on the HMS Beagle
as ship’s naturalist on Dec. 27, 1831.
He returned a scientist when the
ship anchored at Falmouth on Oct.
2, 1836.
The five-year voyage took Darwin
around the world. He explored ani
mal and plant life on Tahiti, Austra
lia, the South American Coast and
the Galapagos Islands. He noticed
patterns. He saw 14 different species
of finch-like birds with different
sized bills in the Galapagos Islands,
and he noticed mice on one slope of
the Andes were different from those
on the other.
He later wrote, “It was evident
that such facts as these, as well as
many others, could only be ex
plained on the supposition that
species gradually become modified,
and the subject haunted me.”
After his return, he spent the
winter of 1836-37 in Cambridge pre
paring his ’’Journal of Researches”
for publication. In the spring he
moved to London. His mind was oc
cupied with variations of plants and
animals.
“I soon perceived that selection
was the keystone of man’s success in
making useful races of animals and
plants. But how selection could be
applied to organisms living in a state
of nature remained for some time a
mystery to me.”
On Sept. 28, 1838, in his bachelor
quarters on Great Marlborough
Street, came the chance reading:
“Fifteen months after I began my
systematic inquiry, I happened to
read for amusement “Malthus on
Population”, and being well pre
pared to appreciate the struggle for
existence which everywhere goes on
from long-continued observation of
the habits of animals and plants, it at
once struck me that under these cir
cumstances favourable variations
would tend to be preserved and un
favourable varations would tend to
be destroyed. The result of this
would be the formation of new
species. Here, then, I had at last got
a theory by which to work.”
In his notebooks, under the date of
Sept. 28, 1838, Darwin made a note
that determined the passage of
Malthus that gave him the insight to
conceptualize his theory:
“It may safely be pronounced,
therefore, that population, when un
checked, goes on doubling itself
every twenty-five years, or increases
in a geometrical ratio.”
It wasn’t new. Malthus published
his “Essay on Population” in 1798,
and Darwin’s father read it before his
son did. Malthus wrote about popu
lation limiting itself through pesti
lence and other hardships. To Dar
win it meant that the strong survive,
the weak perish, and species change.
iSoft Touch
707 Texas / ^
846-1972
Help us
celebrate
our first
year
anniversary
r 1
Elegance in lingerie
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MSC Great Issues and
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sent “The Bakke Case
and Affirmative Action’’
by Herbert Reid, dean
of Howard University
Law School.
J
■■
J Rudder Auditorium
| 8:00 p.m.
I October 4 - Wednesday
■ Students - Free/Others
I $-1 00
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