The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 21, 1915, Page 3

THE NONPARTISAN LEADER - PAGE THREE M ore Dzsclosures About the Agassiz School - Roof of School House' e Must Be Propped Up to Protect Children Drawing No. 1 shows a typical pair | . of roof joists tied together with 1x6 strips and fastened with 8-penny nails, Many of the joists are not as strong as the drawing shows and in several places the joists were cut off for vents and short pieces of 2x4 were used to support them directly on the cloak room partitions thus iransmitting the roof load - to the lower concrete floor slabs, 34 feet square, which have no supports under them except at the edges. It was undoubtedly the roof load which caused the partitions to crack as may be seen. Drawing No. 8 shows how scme of the joints &at “A” werc fastened. Drawings No: 2 and 3 show the ~ frame and stress diagrams used by ‘Architects to determine the loads in the different parts of the construc- tion. By the diagram No. 4 it is absolutely proven that the force pull- ing on the joints “A” or “C” is 2,- 2:0 pounds and each joint would call for seven half inch bolts to carry a snow load of forty pounds to ths square foot according to the follow- ing accepted authorities, Toautrvin, Merriman, and Bergh. Now as this building is nearly 200 feet long and the roof is nearly flat with all water flowing to the center, ‘and as there is a parapet wall several feet high all around it, forming an enormous pan it would be. possible ~for a snow drift 8 or 10 feet high to form on it and produce a weight ‘of 200 pounds and upwards to the square foot. That the roof has at “‘some time been subjected to a near- “ly destructive load is proven by, the way the cloak room partitions, which partly support the roof are cracked. " Last week the.Leader - contained the story of the Agassiz School build- ing in Fargo, which was erected at a cost ‘of approximately $110,000 to ‘the taxpayers of that city, after four vears’ service is falling into decay. The defects in its construction are many, but principle among them are these: o1 JOINT A" ENLARCED OCALE 1£%10" AN The unequal distribution of the dead weight of the building over its foundations—certain portions carry- ing twice the weight of others—is causing an uneven setlement of the footings resultmg in large' cracks ap-. pearing in the cement floors. These are built in panels, 32 feet square with never a support under them, their actual dead weight being ap- proximately 50 tons per class room floor. How much unequal settlement must take place before these cement floor slabs will crack and give way is the question uppermost in the mmds of Fargo parents. Of the roof of this building the accompanying photograph and dia- gram tell their own story. Improper- ly trussed it menaces the life of every child beneath it. And its cracking and buckling rafters speak volumes of the efficiency of its de- signer and superintendent of con- struction, Mr. Samuel Crabbe, State Architect by the grace of R. S. Lewis and the sanction of L. B. Hanna. Of course one must not take the Agassiz building too seriously. Re- member it is all of four years of age and only cost $110,000, Let’s stroll over a few blocks to Fargo’s newest monument, or is it tombstone? in the way of building design-and construction, The Horace Mann School. This building is just nearing com- Crabbe than the lid to a gigantic pletion at a cost of almost $125,000 and has not yet been opened to the public. Mr. Seth Temple, of the firm of Temple and Burrows, Architects of Davenport, Towa, who at the request ° of the school board of the city, ex- amined both buildings, states in his report filed .................., that . the steel in the floors of this newer structure, the Horace Mann building, are overstressed nearly 100 per cent. oes this mean that the floors in this building are unsafe—that they are but a death trap to the children who will attend? And of the roof the report reads: ‘Examination of the roof shows that the wide spans are supported on what appear to be well designed wooden trusses, the remainder of the roof has the same construction as the corresponding part of the Agassiz and is equally unsafe............... and immediate stepjs should be taken to strengthen the construction.” Does this mean that the roof as constructed after the plans and un- der the direct supervision of Mr. is nothing more nor less coffin? they have shown rare judgment in their selection of a State Architect. For if the (?) efficiency displayed in the drafting and construction of these buildings erécted and remodeled un- der Mr. Crabbe’s direction at' James- town in 1914, then it is a certainty that the work will have to he redone with an additional burden on the taxpayers and an added profit— to whom? FINE BIRD. *An ‘Irishman, who ‘wasn’t much of | @ hunter, went ‘out to hunt one day, and' the first thing he saw to shoot at was a bird sitting. snucrly on, the ~top ‘of a fence., He bjazed away and then walked over to pick up the vic- tnm. What he- happened to find there | was ‘a' dead frog, which he raxded. 'carefully at arm’s length, lookmg at it with.a puzzled air, Fmally he re-