zatablished - 1 880 - 1927 Rev ived I\!ARCH 1929 Y~' lJ Lt" Vol. 3 110 .2 ~pec \..1.\\..1. " , 'llIE HOUSI NG PnOBLEl.f ---..-- - - - - As per usual we mu st say something in re gard s to the Hew Hous e vie are hoping t o have in the (near) future. Maybe a s ummary of the event s leading up to our present conditi on would enlighten y ou to the necessity of a different housing situation than that in which we now fi nd ourselves. Some three or four years ag o t he active circle was faced with the fact that the Union Literary Soc iety was becoming mo re and more di suni ted 'due t o the fac t that the member s were sc attered in various r ooming houses allover Ea st Lan s ing . At the same ti me the sp irit of brotherhood was becoming sadly lax because the memb er s had practically n o c ommon interest at heart o ther than to keep the name of the Union Literary Society before the eyes of the campus. - This was not due entirely to the then active members 9 the f our for the c ircle was well rep resented aI:long the officers of classes , in varsi t y athletics, and in schol arship som e of our men we r e among the highest.. It was due ch iefl-y to the fact that they did not live togethe r and so~et i m e s saw each othe r only on ce a week and at that time only for t h e duration of the busi ne ss meet .. ing . In order to c orrect such a condition it wa s decided t o obtain a place which Y{ould house all the active members of socie ty .. This was d one, and noW" after one or two changes we find ourse lve s in the old Collin~~ood House on Su n s et Lane. Th i s ha s taken care of the former difficulty t o a lar g e ext ent and we find the boys more U11i ted and hav ing mo re intere s t in each othe r's affairs. the Now another pr ob lem confronts u s wh ich make s us see more st r ongly the nece ss i t y of having a home of our oym 0 As y ou have p r obably learned through vari ous channels of inf or mati on f r om the Alma Eat er, the maj ori ty of the ira terni tie s on the caInp us have either built new fraternity houses , which are really mighty fine J or have b ought and refini shed vari ous houses in ~ast Lansing . When rushing time c omes in the Fall, haven't the s ocieties with these new homes, or at least a house of their own, a much better talking point to the freshmen than we? Yes, they have a decided a dvantage and it has been proved in the last few year s . - 2 - The Soc iety, to put it in plain fact s , h as b een l .iving on thei r pa s t reputati on to a lar g e extent. The need for a new house looms lar ge befo re us and steps are now being taken to whip int o shape s ome plan that will g ive us a vvorking basis on which to star t . As you probably kn ow, a very desirable tract of land' cove ring some 2-~ acre s just outside the Ea st Lansin g city limit s on Abbott Road bas been purchased • The l ots on East Grand Ri yer that are owned b y us have been placed for sale in the hands 0:( the l.:us seh1an Real ty Co . of Eas t Lan si ng. The trend of thought is that the running expenses of property in the city and on the ma in highway would be too much for the active members to handi~~ and with the desirability of the Abbott Road pr op erty it seemed to be l ogical to switch our eff orts in that directi on . With the s a l e of both tracts of land and have a clean slate t o start o~r much longed fo r b uilding program. the Grand Rive r property we hope to payoff our debt on ALm.iNI UEETI NG In regard to the abo ve~ The All.u;mi have been inc or porated and we are calling a meeting f or Friday evening 9 ~a rc h 15, to try to find SOli1e s tarting b a s i s f or will be called in the Ho use on Sun s et Lane at 7 : 30 o ' clock . the coming p ro g ram. The meet ing NEW MEII3 EnS Four new men we r e initiated int o the society during the term . The new members are Clyde Coster, Holland; p re sent winte r No r man },Iill e r, Br ooklyn ; Buss West , Flint ; and Ed Carr of Ea st Jo rdan. that they have f ound the makings of a true Union Lit. If ever any of you sho uld meet these boy s we hope that you too will find in them a college brother . these men the present active membe r s feel In each of ACTIVES I n campu s activi ties the Li ts are st ill trying to hold thei r p l ace a.mong the leader s . Val Andersin, '2 9 , as manager of the var s ity basketball team has just finished helping Coa ch Van Al styne to take h i s team through another succe ss ful seaso n. Schultz, ' 29 has been taking honor s on the wrestling team , while Peter son ' 29 and Pa ss ink 129 have been repre sent i ng State on the track . Chuck Li sch 131 has been threatening the college ind oo r record in high jump . J ennings , trea s urer of the junior clas s , i s runnin g for bus iness manager of the colle ge paper in the all - col le ge elections on the twenty- first of this month, and Tr o th, a l so a junior, i s compet ing f or the edi t or ship of th e Nevrs . In the way of s ch olarsh i p, Rossman Smith 13 0 has recently b ecome a membe r of Alpha Ch i nho, national hono r ary chemi cal fraternity . Paul. Troth 130 has become a membe r of Tau Sigma , ho norary a r ts and science fraternity . And nussell Sanders i s a member of Tau Be ta Pi, national hon orary engineering fraternity. -3- In inter-fraternity a thletics we are up to the finals in basketball and will :r.1eet the Lamb da Chi Alphas thi s week to docide the championship. to the top. The swimining meet and ind oo r track meet are among the events scheduled in the next two yveeks. In bowling and indo or basebaLL w€ ranked close ~}T I IN} T.A, TI OIr The annual winter tern formal dinner dance of the soc·iety wil l be held in the balll'oom of the :::1otel Olds on Saturday ev-eni ng of thi s week, l~ arch 16. All mer.:bars of the society both .pa.8.t and present are invi ted to help make this party a success. plan to be with us, try to let us know as soon as possible so we can make arrangements for you. If you C~l;PANILE T'ne BeaUiaont me:r.1orial tower erected on the si te of Old College Hall is practically finishe d and the installati on of the chir.1e s and clock work is being comple ted at the present time . c aLwani le i s an impressive addition to our campus. ']he REPORT OF ALUMNI ~ SECRETARY AND TREASURER Dear Brother: I regret that I am unable to report much of any progress in the way of lining up our a ssets so that we will be in a position to build a new College Home . We still have the tw o 1 8 ts~ one on · Abbott Read c osting $15,000 with $8~500 paid down on the c r ntract and the ( ne on Grand River wi th about $2,500 paid down on the contract price of $6, 000 , in addi tion t o some improve:r.1ent taxes p aid such as payment and curbing, amounting to nearly $2,00 0 which i s usually supposed to enhance the value of the property . The house on E. Grand River , known as the Guson Property i s being leased t o an antique dealer at a rental ef $25 per month. about carry the annual taxes and repairs on the property. ':Chi swill just At an Alumni Meeting several months ago, it yms suggested to take the property back . She stated s however ~ that she that we see what could be done re garding a cancellation of the contract on the Abbott Road property,purchased frQTI1 Mrs. Burtrain. It was found that most of the moaey we had paid her had been used to payoff the mortgage on the property, so no d eal could be Dade Vii th he r \;vas perfectly willing to extend the expira ti on time of the contract, which was Lay of this year, if necessary, provided that the inter est due at that time wa s properly taken care of. Lansing is boom ing in a business vTay and th i s of cuurse reflects upon East Lan s ing and it i s to be hoped that something can be d one early this spring to move the Grand River property. Because of the fact that it is Ru:srounded with Fraternities and restricted as residence property, it i s apparently only salable a s a sight for an ~partment or fraternity house. Those f raternities who desire to build haven't the cap~ tal to pu:rcLase such a l ot a,nd their me th od of acquiring a home is usually to go to some local real estate company or c on t ract or and have a house b uil t on a cheaper l o t of several thousand d ollars and balance at so :r.1uch per 1!lon th like ilvi th a payment d own - 4 - rent over a long te~2 c l ntract. SometL les ju. s·~ \[:l Oil tll.ings 80e ;'-.1 t ll e darkest the sun llad just about de t no (')f th ese good brothe rs, Vlho back in 'Ju:tsts -Chl~ou gh iil rl.,~ ll sple:L1G. c:;:'. Last \7eek I ] leted t~e cas~ on ~ and t n repay a long standing loan of $100 to :·}:.~o t:1e r G.F . 3.ic::"::10nc. ;, 5 :':1us sell Avenue ~ Nutley, NevI Jersey. B r o-::;~lo r Ric ;:D.-.'. ~~ld \ra s COTlI]e nCemen -c '_L ,le iil 1 913 ~ loaned -c:le 80ci e -cy a sum of ~; lCO vii th out inter es-c f er ·c :~c pu:cp l se ~f helping to clean up the j,lo rt gage on -ci1e ol( Li -c ::-Iouse on t~1e Camyus. Yl:.lon tili s job of 'I'reasuTeT was \7 is'.l ec~ I TC O c e l~·cd.iJ.l no ·ces ::,'e:L.:ained to bo paid a:ld these \7eTe all paid off in dtH~ se8.SO~1 2.i.l( it was not until sOLlctii:le du:.~i nb -C~"lC past year that I leal1 iled -c:.1a-c :0 rother Rici1E1ond' sloan :lad 'oeeil ove::'looked. ccrtainl y ~c en very patient and I pron ised hi~ at t~at timc that I vloulc~ gO"c thc ~:lOney to hiD as soon as I possibly could. i.i~ C a number of yeaTS ago, I vms infommed "chat only ~ie has nO';! fo::..~ the brigh"c spot 0 I am takinG t~1.e li :)e::..~ty of quo tinc a 10"c·cc:;.' ::,,'cccived fl~Or:1 V/ade 3 1ackma::..' of thc Cla.ss of 125, :cccci vcc~ yracticc::.lly the same day. r r. L. P. ])endel 203 N . Capitol Ave . , Lansille:; ~ r i chigan. ])ca:c "Pete"; ($25.00) d011 a rs - twenty that is due and an cxtra five you can usc ·co buy St2.:.~".}S Vii t ll or sor:1eth ing . I an1 enclosing cl1eck for twenty- fi vc l~ o thanks necessary as I can appl'c c iate you:c troubles aad only \7i sh I c ould afford to add a fC\7 ciphe rs on the ar.lOuil"C. ])0 not credit me for the five. I c o.l1not re e all anything like thi s ever occurring w. S. Blacbnar ' 25. Fraternally yours, before alt~1 0 ugl1 a lal' g e nUlilbo r of you follows are coul~teous enough to at lc ;:.s·c drop me a lin~ occasionally in anSVler to the usual d.unning lc "c tcr, telling me about \v11en I can expect paYl:lent . ;you, fcll ~~:rs, it is t~1. ings like this that giv~ us " courage to go Oil i1 I tell u Til. e usual notices re garding pledges due January 1st ~ E~C ~ CCl1 sent out, but the response so far has been very neage r . l~ . '.:TI fc llov7s, vlc've g ot to dig Ul) about $800 by lIay in orde::..' to -cal:c care of the interest due on l~:rs. Burtrams contract or the '_':ceasurcl~ and -che Boa rd of ])i:cectors vlill ~1ave to d o some high financ in g . p ledges nou due at the earliest possible ~oillent so that we can ~:::ecp our i1 0a.ds above water until Vie disposo of some of our Real Estatc hol ding s. I vrill very rn.uch apprcciate your taking care of your is thc r cfol~ o nccessarily brief . I '.;rish~ hovrcver, to extend my ~.r: is let te r is being sent out Yiith a Speculum and - 5 - best wi shes -Co everyone of you and only wish I had the opportunity -Co see you in person more oft en. Lou Russe ll , I'arm, I s land Lake, Bri gh t on , I.Iich i gan dropped int o our offic e today a nd I accidentally ran across him . Hadn ' t seen him since he l eft Coll ege . We have a brand nevr five story offi ce building called " Th e Eutual Building ", vrhi ch is located one - half block north of t h e Capi tol and vvh ich is rated a s one of the most complete and :-,10de rn offic e buildings in the s-cm.ee . Would be glad to have you drop in and l ook it over . the Russell ' 14 of Fra-cernally your s ? L. P . ])endel s ec retary & Treasurer D.L.S. Building As so ciati on .