No magic formulas

Abstract

During this vacation period in the late summer of 1944, the janitors of the Western Kentucky State Teachers College are hard at work removing from the floors of halls and classrooms the black marks left by heavy-soled G. I. shoes. The wearers of the shoes were some 1,600 aviation students, members of the 321st College Training Detachment of the Army Air Forces, stationed on the Western campus from April 3, 1943, until June 30, 1944. There must be several thousand college janitors-and administrators-in the United States who would be glad to know it if our janitors have discovered a quick, easy way to remove those marks. I am sorry to report that they haven't. They tell me that several trips over the floor with a heavy, electrically-powered rotary brush and strong cleansing powder, then several more with vigorously administered floor mops and clear water, and then a few hours of concentrated attention on individual spots of an especially stubborn disposition leave the floor in only a reasonably good condition for rewaxing. The Army left behind no magic formula for the rehabilitation of floors.