"PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH."

THE following rules have been laid down by the Bursar for the government of janitors: -

ROOMS OF TENANTS. - These things are to be done daily: The beds must be turned and neatly made; the crockery washed; the ashes removed; the floors brushed where needed; sports on the paint washed off, and the rooms and furniture carefully dusted with cloths. - The rooms must be thoroughly swept once a week. The windows must be kept clean. - The work in the rooms is to be done at such times as may suit the convenience of the tenants, but it must be finished before noon. It may be begun at 7.40 A.M.

ENTRIES AND STAIRS. - The entries and stairs must be swept daily, after being sprinkled with wet sawdust, and must be thoroughly washed often enough to keep them clean.

The janitor will spend his whole time from 7.15 A.M. until 6.30 P.M., except an hour for dinner, in or about the building. - He will keep the building free from beggars, pedlers, traders, and all other objectionable persons, and will admit no one to a tenant's room without an order from the tenant. He will take from the tenants orders for repairs and give them promptly to the Superintendent, and notify the Superintendent of any thing about the building which needs his attention. He will keep the steps free from snow and ice. He will light the gas in the entries at dark. He will keep the rooms and all other parts of the building as neat and clean as in a well-kept private house.

For "scout services" he may charge the tenants not exceeding twenty dollars each a year where two tenants in a room employ him, and not exceeding twenty-five dollars a year where only one tenant in a room employs him.

The Janitor will be discharged at any time if he or his work prove unsatisfactory, and will receive payment of such part of his salary only as may be due at the date of his discharge.

The observance of the above rules, as every one who rooms in a College building knows, is in most cases a mere farce, particularly with regard to the italicized directions. It is gratifying to note that such regulations have been made; but we are sorry that they are not enforced. The rents are so exorbitantly high that the greatest care should be taken of the rooms, and of every thing in them. It is, of course, impossible that the Bursar should himself superintend these matters; but the fact that some of the janitors do not perform these duties at all, and others only in a most unsatisfactory manner, shows them to be very inefficient men for their places. A part of this inefficiency is doubtless due to the fact that each janitor wishes to make as much money as possible, and therefore hires the cheapest, which is the poorest, help, - in most cases recommended by an intelligence office. On this account, too, changes are constantly taking place, and one cannot tell, when he goes to bed, who will come in the morning to make his fire and set his room in order. To this fact, more than any other, may be attributed the many thefts which have occurred of late in College buildings.

The finances of the College, as we all know, are in such a condition that the salaries of many of our instructors are very meagre; and yet a man with little experience finds employment here at a salary amounting in all to $1,500 or $1,800; and that, too, by spending not more than four or five hours a day in the Yard, contrary to the rules under the head of INFORMATION FOR JANITORS.

The following figures will explain the above statement: -

The janitor of Matthews is said to receive a salary of $1,200; his entire income as "scout" from forty rooms is at least $1,200; he employs four "goodies," paying them all four $360, and an assistant at $135, and a "scout," to black boots, &c., at $75; for the cost of utensils, allow $40. The coal for heating the building is furnished by the College. His running expenses, then, are $600, leaving, from his total receipts, $2,400, an income of $1,800. The janitor of Weld receives from the College $1,000, and, as nearly as can be estimated, $1,000 from the students themselves. His total expenses are in the neighborhood of $475, which gives him a net income of $1,500 or more. And of these two men, the former is tolerably faithful in his attendance at the building of which he has charge; while the latter repeatedly absents himself and neglects his duty. Not to draw invidious comparisons, what professor has so easy a task?

We cannot conceive how $1,500 a year can be wasted in the case of these men alone, when there are scores of efficient persons who would gladly take the place for an income of $800 at most. We hope that due attention may be paid to these facts; for here not only a large sum can annually be saved to the College, but also an essential improvement in the management of these matters can be instituted.