Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1914 [PAGE 273]

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1913]

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

271

The law specifically requires that these vouchers must be "certified to by the President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, with the corporate seal of the University attached thereto." While in Springfield recently, I visited several State offices working under requirements similar to those referred to above. I discovered it to be a uniform practice in these offices for clerks to sign the names of those required by law to make official certificate on vouchers. The number of University vouchers to be sent to the Auditor of Public Accounts will approximate three thousand per month. Because of the number of such youchers, and because of the practice in other State departments, referred to 1n the preceeding paragraph, I respectfully recommend that authority be given me to sign the names of the President and the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and to attach the corporate seal of the University to such itemized vouchers as •are by law subject to such proceedure. Very truly yours,

GEORGE E. FRAZER, Comptroller.

On motion of Mr. Montgomery, this recommendation of the comptroller "was referred to the Finance Committee, with power to act.

BETTER FROM T H E COMMANDANT CONCERNING T H E ARMORY. THE FLOORING OF

(21) A letter from Lieutenant Colonel B. C. Morse, Commandant, reference to the flooring of the new Armory.

with

This letter was received to be printed in the minutes:

June 24, 1913. The President^ University of Illinois. SIR: In view of the appropriation soon to be available for building, I have the honor to request that such an amount be appropriated a t once to extend the new Armory to its full length, to build the towers, and to floor, heat, and light the building, that it can be occupied- for drill purposes not later than the arrival of unsettled weather this year or about November 1. In regard to flooring the building, I beg leave to state that for the uses of the Military Department for drilling alone, men can drill on a soft floor as well as, •or better than, on a hard one; but in case it was left soft, the floor would have to be made of some material that would not get muddy when wet and could never be used unless it was damp enough to keep the dust down. This would be a never •ending and an almost impossible task, but would be absolutely necessary to save the clothing of the men drilling, and, still more important, to preserve the rifles and equipment to the value of $30,000 that are stored there at all times. I sincerely believe that the use of the Armory with a dirt floor for drilling or athletics, with the arms stored in the main room, where they will have to be stored until the company rooms are completed, would soon result in their being ruined with dampness and dust. The rifles have always been kept in very good ^condition in thie old Armory, as reported continuously by the W a r Department Inspectors, and it is desired that they continue to be kept in such condition. Drill is always out of doors when possible, but the Armory is used from 4:00 to 6 :00 P.M. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays each week Irom about November 15 to April 1 by about 400 men each day; this in addition to several sections in drill regulations held there during the week. At all these times the Armory could not be used by anybody else for any other purpose ^whatever. Aside from its uses by the Military Department, it has always been my idea that the Armory was built to be used by the University for many things beside mere drilling during bad weather; uses that would often require a seating capacity and hence a floor. To have a floor half dirt and half wood would be simply out of question. Such a floor would have all the disadvantages of both, combined with the advantages of neither. Men drilling immediately increase the cadence of the step in marching from a soft to a hard floor, and decrease the cadence in marching from a hard to a soft floor. I t would ruin the drill. Every precaution against dust would have to be taken, and the wooden floor would be as dirty as the dirt part. After every consideration is weighed, for the uses of the Military Department, and the care of the arms and equipment, as well as for the general uses to which the building will be put, I am strongly of the opinion that the building should be floored with wood. Furthermore, if the building is not so floored, it will take, with the greatest care and precaution, but a short time to ruin the arms and equipment, for whose safe and careful keeping the University has given a bond to double their value. Very respectfully, Lieut. Colonel, Infantry, Military Science.

EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS AUTHORIZED IN B. C. MORSE,

Professor of

T H E WATER

SURVEY.

(22) The proposed budget of the Water Survey, drawn up by Professor Edward Bartow, Director of the Water Survey, dn the supposition that the •Governor will approve the item in the present omnibus, bill now before him for •consideration providing for additional duties for the Water Survey and for an