The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-09-24

idebtOr to the Power Plant. AS ! re-
1cail, the accounts with the different
departments are, collected only once,
POSSIBLY twice, each year. The rum
lining Of the Power Plant is one Of
1.-The problems Of the College, but it
must be kept going. ii there are no
Power Plant funds available, then q
borrow must be made. 1t would be
puerile to do otherwise. In the fall
1of 1918, when there were approxi-
Imately 1900 students, the water sup
lply ran short Notwithstanding the
Pumps were kept running "a hours
each day.
DR.. R. c. Carpenter, head of the
Engineering department and under
whose direction the Power Plant is
operated, said of the Plant in his BIZ
ennial report of July /, 1919; Pre-
vious to 1917, the service was main
tanned at a nominal cost and the
Plant always had funds to meet an
Emergency or to make necessary i'm
provements or repairs. All are famil-
lar with the fact that steam coal
has advanced almost 1000. We
have been unable to increase our in
come to an appreciable extent, and
therefore our disbursements are
greater than our receipts" This in
Formation was before the trustees in
president Smiths annual report of
July 1, 1919.
The Mess Hall Cattle account is
not operated with funds provided by
the legislature. The College went in
to the buying and %fattening of cat
tie for several reasons One was
that cheaper and better beef might
be had for the Students, and further,
that the students might have the OPP
portunity to see a practical demon
stration of the feeding and fattening
of cattle and learn the foods that
would fatten the fastest. | take it
that during the last fifteen months
or more there has been some loss to
the College in handling this account,
why, those who have kept posted as
to the market and feed prices well
understand.
The Hospital is operated on a fee
of five dollars collected from each stu
dent. l do not recall in any year of
my connection with the College that
this fee was large enough for all
necessary purposes. In the fall of
1918, an anomalous condition on
fronted the College because of the
"fu." There were nearly 100 stu
dents and approximately 1900 cases
of the "1u" within 40 days. The cpl
demic of "fu" brought about a con-
dition that had to be attended to at
once. When the lives of the boys
committed to the College were hang
ing in the balance, it was no time to
halt about, technicalities. The stu
alton was handled in a highly credit
able Out of an enrolment
of 100 students and 1900 cases of
the "fu" there were but 38 deaths.
There are a number of other ac-
counts which are in no wise support
ed by legislative funds. / recall just
now a few of them: Book Store ac-
count, Athletic, Soda Fountain, Sum-
liner School, Barber Shop, Multigraph
Printing and Uniform Contracts. l
mention these accounts to show. that
there were what might be termed
some floating" funds, from which un-
der favorable conditions the Col
lege might draw with %impunitv to re-
imburse other accounts. There was
a payment made last year, / think,
10 DdUUS u w ClIIOiSS
out of the War Training fund on the
new dormitory. President Smith III
his report to the trustees under date
= of July /, 1919, made the following
statement in which specific reference
5 was made to the deficit confronting
: the College,:
"This has probably been, financial
| ly, one of the most difficult biennial
periods in the history of the Col
The legislative appropriation
r was barely equal to the appropriation
= made in normal times before the war.
while the cost of material has in
Id many instances more than doubled
during the biennium. AS a result OF
/ the high cost of supplies it has been
2 necessary to resort to various expedi-
r ents to meet temporary emergencies
#******We have not been able tC
r keep the buildings and equipment OF
e the College in satisfactory repair ano
: have been unable to prevent deterior'
: alton in buildings and equipment fol
k lack of repairs. We could not hope
e to reach the legislative session In Jan
uary without a deficit"
Gov. Russell vas a member of the
: board of trustees to whom Mr.. Smith
submitted his report and was present
r at that meeting. He uttered not
word of protest nor did he make any
criticism. Mr.. Smith was not inter
t rogated by Gov. Russell or by any
+ other member of the board as to what
S accounts or departments showed ar
overdraft.
e l am too loyal to my Government
Ito even intimate that the War De
t partment will not pay the nineteer
and odd thousand dollars which it j:
S stated it owes the College in con
S aection with wal training work. The
account, whatever it is, is as good al
i gold. The College did a patriotic worl
S I'm doing war training. Other insti
~tutions Throughout the country were
S doing a similar work and Mississippi
would have been untrue to her pas