The Washington herald., 1919-02-24
MARYLA AND EDUCATOR URGES
LOAN OF TOOLS ARMY USED
Dr. Albert F. Woods Advocates Passage of
Bill to Have War Department Aid
Schools and Colleges.

DR. Albert F. Woods, president or
the Maryland State College, yester-
day came out in support of the bill
pending in Congress TO have the War
Department loan TO schools and col
leEcs. where traces are taught, the
surplus machine tools which the gov
ernment has accumulated during the
wa DR.. Woods characterized the
bill as the logical carrying out Of the
principle adopted by the Federal gov
eminent of aiding educational insti-
tutions.
Representative Caldwell's efforts
TO have Congress give the War De-
partment authority TO aid colleges by
lending to them excess industrial
equipment is only logical and carries
Just a little further the principle
adopted by the Federal government in
its friendship TO the land grant COL
leges." says DR.. Woods.
NO doubt exists in my mind that
the passage OF the bill would aid
many institutions to develop new lines
of work, would give impetus to lines
already established. and make all
technical institutions more proficient
in certain branches OF industrial ed
ucation.
Up TO Department.
The bill is broad-gauged in that it
makes no attempt TO limit or specify
in any way the authority Of the War
department; but simply gives au-
thoritY and leaves the exercise of that
authority in all cases to the depart
ment. 1t seems to me that this re-
moves any objection there might be
to suhc bill. and at the same time
orens the possibilities Of aid 10 edu-
cation.
Every land grant college. of whicn
there is one in each State. and many
other institutions, maintain in their
engineering school departments which
deal almost entirely with trades and
industry education Hardly any Of
these departments are so well
equipped that they would not be glad
TO have available War Department
help.
Such equipment is very costly and
the loan Of it to colleges would save
hundreds Of thousands of dollars for
expanding departments by procuring
more instructors and other needed
materials.
Another angle to the situation is
that many OF the institutions contem-
plate starting new lines OF work
branches Of education the need of
which has been shown during the
war. This action, taken mainly be-
cause of the need from a government
viewpoint, is sure to involve expeu-
diture of thousands of dollars, which
will be quite a hardship at many
places. Possibly if the War Depart
ment could loan equipment Of the
Kind suggested many colleges would
be able to get necessary materials
which otherwise they will not have.
Value of Many Trades.
In connection with this. ! might
cite as a particular instance our
situation at this college. The War
proved Conclusively that there were
certain kinds of trades in which we
were not near as well supplied as
we should be as a big nation. One
of these was in oNy-acetyene
welding. We intend TO give that in
one of our trade departments of the
engineering school. We arc also
developing an outline for a course
in radio engineering. and in con-
nection with the latter We will en-
courage considerable research.
1T is needless to say. how much
benefit we would derive from the
loan of certain kinds of tools and
materials developed by the War De
partment especially for that work.
Also it would be a great benefit to
the institution financially. We
operate on a budget system, and to
obtain the equipment we need for
carrying out our program, we Will