The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-07-11
Will FIJI Young Men
For Forge and Anvil
From Thursdays DaiIv.

the board of education last evening
that the contract for the enlarge
ments which were decided upon for
the manual training department had
been let to the Mankato Manufactur
ing company at bid of 81, 1850,
including such materials as betting,
etc. The machine shop equipment
will cost $2S3.50; the two lathes,
$541; the forge shop, s35450, three
horse power motor, SOS, betting and
other materials, $3.50, shafting, pull
leyS. hangers, etc. included. The
matter of acting on the specifications
for these improvements as provided
by Director Vernon A. Cooper, was
left to this committee with power to
let the contract. The building of a
smoke stack to convey the smoke
from the forge room to the big stack
from the boiler rooms has not yet
been decided upon, and the route of
the connection to the stack has not
been fixed. This was referred back
to the committee with power to act.
Mr.. Scherer suggested that asbestos
and galvanized iron be put over the
rafters where they are near the
smoke stack, to prevent them catch
ing fire, and a motion to this effect
was unanimously carried.
Repairs to School Buildings.
DIR. w. A. Beach reported on the
repairs which are to be made on
the several school buildings, the most
important of which will be on the
high school buildings The halls and
walls will be repainted below the
chair rails, slate black board will
be put in the eighth grade arithmetic
room, and also in the forge room.
The light well in the new building
will be re-whitewashed; wire win
dow guards will be put on the win
dows on the old building; fire es-
cape is to be built on the new build
ing on the side facing the alley; a
cork carpet will be laid in the phys
les and chemistry laboratories;
new floor will be laid in the sewing
room, and vault will be built in
the office of the superintendent for
the keeping of all the valuable pa
pers and records of the schools bust
ness. The repairs in the other build
lngs will be repairing the plastering
where 1t is needed, new locks will
be put on some doors, window calks
viii be put on, some new shades fit:
ted, and number of desks will need
re-varnishing. The recommendations
of the property and expense COM
mittee for these improvements and
repairs was approved by the board.
Wants an Office Clerk.
A letter from Superintendent F. ].
Sperry was read in which Mr.. Sper-
ry asked for the privilege of en-
ploylng an office clerk. He enumer-
ated the multitude of clerical duties
which he has to perform, and cited
which of the more important super
Vlslonal work had been neglected on
this account. and questioned the adj
visibility of school board letting a
$4,000 man do the work of a $500
clerk. The growth of the school has
made these clerical duties much
heavier than ever before. The state
authorities require more reports, the
faculty is increased as we'll as cor
responding increase in the enroll
ment. The board, after hearing Mr.,
Sperry's explanation of the situation
did not hesitate to grant him per-
mission to hire, clerk at a salary
not to exceed $500 per year !
upon the recommendation of Mrs.
Alice Ayers Smith, chairman of the
school committee. Miss Una e. Hod.
son of Mankato was elected principa,
OF the Pleasant Grove school. lat a
salary of $65 per month. Miss Hold.
son has an excellent reputation for
her teaching in every place she has
taught She has taught at Kasota,
Cottonwood, Fulda and Blue Earth.
Taking School Census.
The taking of the school census
was turned over to Miss Minnie
Bangerter as supervisor, and she is
to enlist the help of those members
OF the faculty who are still in the
city. Mrs. Smith reported the Gus
tomary acquisitions for supplies for
the various schools and departments,
and all were the same, as last year
with the exception of a smaller
amount of material in the manual
training department on account of IA
large stock of lumber left over. and
a larger sum for the purchase of
music books for Miss Fannie Pitcher.
musical director Miss Pitcher asked
for about S155, which is about 500
more than has been paid for this
purpose before, but as this DEPART
ment has never been expensive. and
as 1t is necessary to give a good
teacher good equipment to work
with, the board cheerfully allowed
this amount for the good of the mu-
sic department.
Iruant Officer E. P. Rutan ap!
peared before the board and asked
to be given $3.50 for salary for the
first two weeks of last September.
He held that he was doing the tr,,.
ant work by the years job, and
that it all had to be done, whether
1t was all done in each month or
not. Mr.. Rutan was not elected I'M
til September IA, and he did not
work the first two weeks of the
schoofyear Therefore he did not re-
cefye pay for this time. He said
that he had spoken to Superintend-
ent F. j. Sperry about this last fail,