The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-04
SCHOOL BOARD
PURCHASED DESKS
Accepted Carload from Cax-
Ton Supply Go.
BLACKBOARDS REJECTED
Boards to Be Made of Cement
and Liquid Stating.

At the special meeting Of the school
board last night the principal topic Of dis
cussion was the purchasing of desks and
furniture for the additions to the city
school buildings. These desks were first
purchased from the Caxton Supply com
pany. but the contract was rescinded by
the board. This was done, however. after
a part of the shipment had been made
snd a carload of the desks and furniture
was in the city. The board communi-
Gated with the Caxton people and Sc
cured an agreement whereby they were
able to get the desks at less than the
contract price and after considerable dis
cussion last night the carload which IS
already in the city was accepted. The
remainder Of the school furniture will
not be purchased Of the Caxton people
snd the committee was authorized to pur-
CT se it of the Peabody Stiglemaide com
pany, and will meet this morning TO
make the contract. The carload shipped
b. the Caxton company comprises about
half of the necessary furniture and 1t
was purchased at figure much lower
than the original contract price The
figures of the Peabody-Stiglemaid COM
pany are comparatively low and by pro-
ceeding as they have the board has saved
a large amount of money on the furni-
ture.
1t was expected that the contracts
would be let last night for blackboards.
and several men representing supply
companies were at the meeting with sam
Pies of their goods. Bids had been re-
ceived from numerous houses but after
an hour of rather warm discussion all
bids were rejected and the board decided
TO have bIackboards made of cement in
the city. The samples on exhibition were
of both composition and natural slate
but the board could not agree on any one
kind. The composition or artificial slate
was not considered durable. but several
OF the board were in favor of making an
experiment with it. The natural slate is
known TO be durable but objections were
made TO the purchase of it on the grounds
that after being in use a number of years
1t became glossy and unfit for its original
use. This has been the case where it has
been in use in the city schools.
One member stated that many expert
ments had been made in attempting to
remove the gloss from the surface of the
boards but that every experiment had
been unsuccessful and that after twelve
or fifteen years of wear the natural slate
boards were unfit for use in a school
room. The natural slate boards come at
q high price and their purchase was not
considered practicable. and on the other
hand the purchase of the artificial boards
was looked upon in the light of an ex-
pertinent. and the board concluded that
IF they We're to experiment they would
do il in a cheaper way. They expect to
make the blackboards of cement covered +
with liquid stating. This has been tried 4
in many buildings over the country and /
has proved satisfactory. 1t is estimated /
that it will cost on an average 3 cents I
per square foot. which is about one-fifth 1
of the cost of the artificial slate. The (
total number of feet needed is approx
mately 4.00e and it viii be readily seen
that the cement viii he a great saving
1t was reported at the meeting that +
fhe heating boiler at the High school
building was in bad condition from rust
and that unless something was done in
q short time it would become unfit for
,Ise The boiler Is in the basement and
S. usually damp the wear around causing
the iron To rust and scale off Some sug-
Fested that IL he removed from the base
ment and Others tLat il be raised high
and dry. The committee on heating and
ventilation was instructed to inspect the
condition of the boiler and report at a
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