Purchasing Agent Reveals Acute Space Shortage Here

Writing for the latest issue of "The New England Purchaser," William G. Morse '99, University Purchasing Agent, described Harvard's conversion to war service. Besides reciting the familiar list of service groups using University facilities, he pointed out the great administrative difficulties and changes occasioned by the shift in population.

Discussing the bad overcrowding of University eating facilities, Morse said, "Maybe we'll have to call on some of the undergraduate clubs to help." Dining halls, according to him, have been one of the tightest bottlenecks, with one designed for 600 men now serving 700. Some additional kitchen space has been gained with a little help from priorities.

Clubs' Offer Pending

An offer to case the University's burden, made some time ago by most of the clubs, has received President Conant's thanks but has not as yet been made use of, Morse said last night. More important even than meals, the new facilities would alleviate the shortage of rooms for young instructors and research men, he explained.

But Raymond Dennett '86, secretary of the Committee on Wartime Personnel, reported that the most scrious shortage in Cambridge was not one of rooms, but of accommodations for families of men working at Harvard. The clubs, he pointed out, would do little to correct this deficiency. Dennett's committee, headed by Emory L. Chafee, Rumford Professor of Physics, tries to look after service men not required to stay on Harvard grounds.

Describes Changes

Morse's article told readers of the magazine of the great changes wrought at Harvard by the service influx, and some of the strange jobs now being done. In connection with administration he mentioned that the new type of institution has necessitated $300,000 worth of new bookkeeping equipment.

He also described a remote corner of the University that has been turned into a workshop for glass-grinding, and told of a request he received lately from a Canadian university asking for rats' viscora for scientific study.