RENT AND LEASE OF ROOMS.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRIMSON : -

SO much has been said about the goodies, and about their methods of cleaning rooms, and so little notice has been taken of these complaints, that any further remarks on the subject seem entirely useless. Still, if anything can be said to convince the Corporation of the reality of this grievance, it ought to be published. At least the attempt ought to be made to persuade them to procure better servants for the ensuing year.

The goodies are not wholly to blame for the wretched way in which they do their work. What kind of attention can we expect a woman will give to sweeping and dusting, who is paid only forty cents a week for the care of each room under her charge? The trouble lies in the parsimony of the financial managers, who prefer to employ the untidy, clumsy, unintelligent Irish at the rate of fourteen or eighteen dollars per month (in proportion to the number of rooms cleaned), than to secure, at slightly higher rates, neat, careful, and efficient workwomen.

The care of rooms in Beck Hall presents a striking contrast to the care of rooms in the College buildings. While the duty of the College domestic seems to be the spreading of dust at an equal depth all over the room, the servants in Beck work as if they had seen good furniture before, and knew how to take care of it. Any one who has seen the interior of rooms in that building will acknowledge that a degree of cleanliness is there maintained which is unknown in Weld, Matthews, or Holworthy.

It is the wages that makes the difference. In Thayer the servants earn $19.20 per month, in Beck they earn $26.00. Forty cents a week for each double room is the wages of the goodies. Seventy-five cents a week for each room is the rate of wages in Beck.

We are aware that the finances of the College are not in a flourishing state. For all that, when a Corporation continues charging students exorbitant rents, and at the same time employing for students cheap and inefficient labor, it is carrying economy a little too far. It may be urged that the person who has charge of the College domestics makes frequent visits to the rooms and inspects the work, but it can be said in reply that, although Mrs. Ames may be satisfied with the way work is done in College rooms at forty cents a week, the occupants are not satisfied, and they do not believe that neat, orderly, and intelligent servants can be hired at that price.

D.