OUR COLLEGE DEBT

NOTE: The following article by Mr. Parkhurst STATES briefly and clearly one of the chief problems which the College today faces. There is no one who could speak with more authority than the Chairman of the Committee on Business Administration. He knows the facts, because he devotes as trustee a quite disproportionate amount of his time to studying the affairs of the College He knows too, the meaning of generous giving Almost spendthrift of valuable time, a constant contributor of money he has erected a permanent monument in the Administration Building whose in ria" cost he met and whose special charges year by year he has assumed

His statement is timely now as giving added emphasis to the movement started by the Alumni council for the raising of annual countributions to meet certain of the general expenses of the College.-Editor.

Colleges, like individuals, are sometimes compelled to run into debt. Oftentimes a young man in order to acquire a home or secure an interest in a business, has to borrow money; in fact, for a young man to assume a debt, if it is not too heavy, is sometimes the making of him. It gives him something definite to work for. In the case of a college it is sometimes necessary and wise to run in debt provided the amount assumed is not too large and there is a reasonable probability of its being liquidated in due time; but a' permanent debt for an individual or a college is not to be thought of.

There is a difference, however, between a college and an individual with reference to liquidating a debt. The individual controls, to a certain extent, his source of income, while the college can not. When a debt is once incurred by a college, its final extinction must depend upon the generosity of friends, and this is oftentimes a variable quantity which can not be absolutely counted upon when most needed. Dartmouth has always been most fortunate in its benefactions, and there is no doubt that the present emergency will be taken care of in due course.

At the present time the debt of the college may be seen from the statement which is given below:

Annual int. charge Heating and Lighting Plant $69,623.00 4¼% $ 2,958 97 President's House 20,000.00 4½ 900.00 Gymnasium 57,734.79 4½ 2,598.06 Rollins Chapel Enlargement 22,250.00 4½ 1,001.25 Wentworth Hall Remodelling 40,750.00 1,833.75 Bissell Hall Remodelling 10,000.00 4¼ 425.00 Robinson Hall Land 27,000.00 4½ 1,265.00 $247,357.79 $10,982.03 59,623.00 2,958.97 $177,734.79 $ 8,023.06

The items given above have .been incurred from time to time when the exigencies seemed to absolutely demand it, and as there were no funds available the only possible way to go on with the work was to borrow the money and trust in the generosity of the friends of the college ultimately to take care of the debt.

The first item, Heating and Lighting Plant, is an income-producing property and need not give us any concern. The total cost of this plant to date is about $140,000, and all but this indebtedness has been paid, principal and interest, out of the earnings of the plant. At the present rate of income this debt will disappear in about ten years provided no extraordinary additions to the plant are needed. .

The last six items, however, are of a different character. They are all nonincome-producing property and the in- terest charges must be paid from the income of the College.

When Dr. Tucker was president he owned his residence. Upon retiring, he built another house and sold his former home to the College. We felt that it was right that we should purchase it from him at the satisfactory valuation which he put upon it. This, with additions, remodelling, and repairs, brought the total amount up to $20,000. And at that a building which must often represent the official respectability of the College is far from being as commodious, or convenient, or as dignified as many of us would like to have it.

When the Gymnasium was started it was. expected to cost about $150,000. The alumni, especially the younger men, raised something over $100,000, and there was approximately $30,000 available from funds then in the possession of the College not otherwise appropriated. Your trustees, believing that the Gymnasium was one of the greatest educational forces ever brought into Hanover, felt that they were justified in borrowing money to complete it, although the cost came nearer $200,000 than $150,000 as originally estimated.

in the case of the. Chapel, with tour large classes it was impossible for them all to be seated except by enlargement, and there were three courses left: do away with compulsory chapel, excuse the senior class, or enlarge. Believing that daily chapel attendance by the entire student body was a time-honored custom that must not be changed, we felt that we were warranted in incurring this debt.

The recitation rooms in the college were entirely inadequate. There were hours in the day when there were not rooms enough to accommodate the classes which ought to be in session, and so we remodelled Wentworth Hall, one of the oldest dormitories which was entirely out of repair and lacked all modern dormitory equipments. The shell of this building, which was as good as the day when it was built, was retained; a cellar was put under it; a new copper roof provided, and the entire inside of the building taken out and rebuilt with steel and concrete construction, making it a slow-burning construction if not fire-proof, equal to the best of our modern equipment, and good for fifty and perhaps a hundred years. This expense seemed absolutely necessary. When the new Gymnasium was completed the old gymnasium was of course abandoned, and this gave us opportunity to give the Thayer School quarters and equipment somewhat commensurate with the importance of that department. It had always suffered for lack of room, so this building was made over into one practically fire-proof, good for many years, at an expenditure of $20,000. $10,000 of this was paid by an income then available from funds given by our generous benefactor, Mr. Tuck.

Then again within the last twelve months, through the great generosity of a citizen of Boston, not one of our alumni, we were offered a building to cost, furnished and equipped, more than $100,000, provided we would furnish the location on the west side of the campus, a part of which was then occupied by the old bank building. The bank people, feeling that this was a valuable piece of property with a location unsurpassed in the town, put upon it, as some of us thought, a somewhat larger value than we had hoped, but on the whole, as it was the last piece of property facing any one of the four sides of the campus which the college did not own, and in order to enable the non-athletic associations, of which there are now many in the college, to have as good facilities _ for their work as the athletically-inclined have in the gymnasium, we felt justified in making this expenditure and borrowing the money to do it.

So altogether we have a debt for all these purposes approaching a quarter of a million, with annual interest charges amounting to over $10,000. Deducting the income-producing item, we have left a balance of $177,734.79, with annual interest charges of $8,023.06.

Now the expenses and income of the college, leaving out this interest charge, are just about equal, with I think this year a small balance on the right side; but this interest charge will create a deficit, which if allowed to accumulate will add to the debt. We hope that-the younger alumni particularly will not forget that they have an obligation to complete this gymnasium project which they have already so handsomely commenced, and that the college may at an early date be relieved of this burden through the same channels which have already taken care of the bulk of the cost.

Here, therefore, is an opportunity for individual alumni or groups of men or classes to assume for a time one or all of these interest items, or of course betther still, to liquidate the principal itself, until funds become available from any source to take care of the debt

We who gives cheerfully and promptly in time of need gives twice. The habit of freely giving according to one's means, whether great or small, is not an easy one to acquire. This is especially difficult for the average Dartmouth man who has been obliged in his early years to 'devote his entire thought to saving in order to meet the requirements of his family and his business; but I know of nothing in life that gives more real joy than to give cheerfully to worthy objects, and what can be more worthy than to promote the best interests of our old college ?

Lewis Parkhurst 78, Chairman of the Committee on Business Administration of the Trustees