Ticklish Problems in Lowering Rates Face New Council Committee on Board

How do the College dining halls spend their $500,000 food budget and where could it cut down on its expenses? These are the ticklish questions which confront the recently appointed Student Council Committee on Board.

Most of the $500,000 passes to Boston wholesalers through the hands of Roy L. Westcott, manager of the University Dining Halls, who every morning buys tons of Hubbard squash, emince of beef, and other edibles requisitioned by the dining hall stewards.

Purchases All of the Food

All of the food cooked by the Adams Kitchen; the Dunster Kitchen; and the Kirkland Kitchen, which serves the other Houses, is purchased by Westcott. He goes over the menus of the stewards of the three establishments, making certain that they contain sufficient Vitamin A and protein, and then contacts the wholesale dealers. If the lima beans, which might have been served in Adams House, cost too much, he substitutes another cheaper vegetable.

Price Increase is Problem

To prepare a tasty and economical meal is no mean task, University officials say, and if an expected rise in food prices materializes, the whole budget may be thrown into the red.

The dining halls' slim operating profit of $5,505.08 last year would be entirely wiped out by the 10 per cent rise in the cost of food which current national agricultural policy may very likely produce.

Expecting such a rise in prices, the University could not contemplate a reduction in board-rates, unless the student body would accept a much simpler bill of fare, dining hall officials say.

One economy which the Student Council Committee on Board may recommend would calf for more student waiters. Unlike the Union, the Houses have never employed many students in the dining halls; for the University felt that they would interfere with the attempt to create a clubby House atmosphere.

Since the cost of labor has become a major item on the budget of the dining halls, the movement for student waiters will probably gain force.

An increase in wages granted to waitresses last spring was given by Aldrich Durant, Business Manager, as the main cause for the change in board rates this fall. He stated last year that "the cumulative effect of these (labor) adjustments has been such that for the past two years the receipts of dining halls have failed by a considerable margin to cover the charges."