The Chinese friends of the college brought much moral pressure to bear upon the Waichiaopu ix the early part of this year, converted Mr. Wang Yen-ai the Foreign Minister, and Mr. Wu Chin, the Vice-Minister, to. their way of thinking and, through them, of the Fengtien administratic agree to the creation of a board Of directors that would be entirely independent of the Government in its control over the faculty and the administration of college funds, and would fill vacancies in its own ranks without reference to offi dom, The Chinese members of the: deard were carefully and wisely selected, an effort being made to find men owing political fealty to no one and therefore under no obligations to champion political appointees on the faculty or the: administrative stof, The Americans appointed were Mr, J. K. Davis, Chinese Secretary to. the American Legation, Mr. Charles Bennett, manager "of the local National City Bank of New York, ud Dr..R.B, Branch, of the staff of the Peking Union Medical College, formerly with Yale in China at Changsha, With the approval of this board General Wen was appointed president. General Wen, a nephew of Mr, Wen Tsung-yao, who is well known in Shanghai, is a graduate of West Point and once made an immaculate reputation for himself as chief of police of Harbin. This may not seem much of a qualification for a college "president, but what was wanted was discipline and rigid honesty, and. these qualities were found in General Wen.
The committee and the new preident got, busy during the early months of this year and mary radical changes were made.
{$180,000 Annual Waste General Wen was asked to check over the budgets of previous years and suggest economies. After a very short time he' submitted report in which he pointed out that 'a cursory examination of previous expenditures enabled him to sugest a saving of $180,000 a year in the administration of the college by simply checking what was too obviously "waste" and to suggest a reduction of $280,000 n year in the expenses of students in America. His report showed that on the local faculty there was one professor to every four students and that all the employees of the college, facnity, administrative staff and servants, made up a small—army—something like ten employees to each student. Previous presidents, hay been ical appointees, had maintain their posts as Chinese officials by padding the faculty snd the administrative staff with the relatives and proteges of those in power and be blind to the fact that these' appointees in some office contrived to make their jobs pay. handsomely. The coal bill for last year, for instance, came to something like $60,000 and no one need be informed that while it was all paid for there was not that much coal consumed, ~The Students for America With General Wen's report before the.bodrd, the faculty was reduced somewhat and a new budget drafted for this- year putting all the suggested economies into force. Then came up the question of send-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.