10
MOOSEHEART MAGAZINE
Mooseheart’s Soldier Training School
that the war might be won in the shortest possible time and with the least loss of life.
The War Department has worked at top speed constantly and the work of the Committee on Education and Special Training is typical of the wonderful spirit and zeal with which the War Department has conducted all its preparations for winning the war. Mr. Woodworth wasted no time in non-essentials. It took him exactly fifteen minutes to present his plan and convince Engineer Havlik that it was our patriotic duty to undertake this special training of the soldiers. Fifteen minutes after he met Mr. Woodworth in his office Mr. Havlik received all the necessary information and made arrangements to have Mr. Woodworth put the matter before our Board of Governors who were then in session at Mooseheart. Mr. Woodworth took the first train to Mooseheart and met with the Board of Governors the same evening.
The, soldiers were to receive eight weeks intensive training in all kinds of practical concrete construction to the end that they could qualify as foremen and superintendents capable of supervising important concrete war construction. We were to train seven hundred men for this in the shortest possible time at the rate of two hundred men per term. The course was to consist of practical work such as form building, placing of reinforcing, concreting, surface finishing, manufacture of precast units sucih as building blocks, sewer pipe, etc. The soldiers were to be taught by learning to do the actual concrete work, under the direction of competent instructors.
The Board of Governors considered the matter very carefully for two days, feeling that they should undertake the work, if it were at all possible to do so. Finally, however, they concluded they could not undertake the work and very regretfully informed Mr. Woodworth of their decision. Mr. Woodworth then tried unsuccessfully to arrange for the work elsewhere and finally sent a special representative, Mr. Curtis, to see us again about three weeks later. After a careful study of the matter, Mr. Curtis and Engineer Havlik reached the conclusion that one hundred soldiers per detachment could be trained here successfully and put the matter up to Superintendent Adams, who concurred in their views, and recommended the undertaking of the work to the Board of Governors at the following meeting
district in which Mooseheart is located is Mr. Philip B. Woodworth, Dean of Engineering, Lewis Institute, Chicago. This Committee was called upon to furnish certain numbers of trained soldiers, such as auto-mechanics, carpenters, concrete workers, truck drivers, etc.
When the call for concrete workers was made, but one of the nine District
By RODNEY H. BRANDON
Soldier Class in Cement Laboratory
A FEW days before going to press the following telegram was received by Mooseheart from the United States War Department:
“Washington, D. C., Nov. 27, 1918. “Loyal Order of Moose,
Mooseheart, 111.
“Commanding officers of all units of Student Army Training Corps, both Sections A and B, have been directed to demobilize and discharge the men, commencing week of Dec. 1st, with a view to completion of discharges by December 21st. Secretary of War has directed this committee to arrange adjustments under contracts between institutions and War Depart- / ments concerning which you will be advised. Letter follows.
COMMITTEE EDUCATION,
“ ‘Rees,’ Lieut. Col.” This brings to a close Mooseheart’s big work in the winning of the World war. Since July, Mooseheart has been training United States soldiers of Section B of the Student Army Training Corps in all kinds of concrete construction for service in the army over seas. The work was done under the direction of the Committee on Education
this department has been recognized as the foremost in that line by educational authorities. Educators have visited this department and taken special training in it for several years. The high quality of the concrete courses given at Mooseheart by our engineer, Robert F. Havlik, and his ability in getting the best possible results with concrete, were well known to the representative of the War Department, Mr. Woodworth, who unqualifiedly recommended the institution to the Committee.
Mooseheart was called upon immediately to undertake this work. Eight days after the organization of the Committee on Education and Special Training, District Director Woodworth contracted with the Michigan Agricultural College to train men along mechanical lines. He next closed a similar contract with Toledo University and his third call was upon Mooseheart, but this was the first call for concrete workers in any school of the United States.
On Monday, April 9, 1918, Mr. Woodworth sent a telegram to Superintendent Adams, inquiring if Mooseheart would undertake this work and Superintendent Adams sent Engineer Havlik to Chicago to confer with Mr. Woodworth about details of training required by the War Department.
One of the outstanding features of the World war is the wonderful organization effected by the United States War Department in the training of its soldiers. Our War Department took advantage of all the knowledge gained by the allied nations and profited by their mistakes, as far as possible, with the result that all our industries and resources were at once thoroughly organized to the one end,
The Students Before the Post Office
Soldier Students Placing Reinforcing

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Directors considered that he had a school in his district competent to give this kind of training to the soldiers. Very fortunately, this school happened to be Mooseheart. Mooseheart was particularly fortunate in the fact that a greater variety of concrete work has been done at Mooseheart than any other place in this country. This work has been done under the sole supervision of our engineer, Robert F. Havlik, who lets no opportunity pass for making anything of concrete that can possibly be made of that material. Were it left to Mr. Havlik, he would even make tables, chairs and other furniture of concrete, and perhaps he will yet succeed in that as he has already mads some tables and chairs of concrete for outdoor use. All the permanent construction at Mooseheart is of concrete in some form or other. The exterior walls of our buildings are made of beautiful concrete blocks, faced with Vermont granite and white or gray cement. The interior floors are of polished cement and marble commonly known as terrazzo. The marble wainscoting in the wash rooms is also made of cement and marble. The stairs, base-boards, etc., are also of concrete.
For three years, Mooseheart has . been training its students in plain and ornamental concrete construction, and
and Special Training of the War Department. The War Department was so well pleased with the results obtained at Mooseheart that it requested Mooseheart to double its facilities, so as to train two hundred soldiers instead of one hundred per detachment as heretofore. This was to go into effect December first and continue for the duration of the war.
The armistice with Germany changed the plan of the War Department completely, with the result that the above telegram was sent out on November 27th. It is therefore possible for the first time, to tell the full story of our Government service.
Early last spring, the War Department discovered that there were not a sufficient number of skilled mechanics of soldier age in the country to fulfill the requirements of our army. To overcome this shortage, it was decided to call upon all thé schools and colleges of the country to give soldiers intensive training in short courses along the lines of the greatest needs of the army. To this end, a Committee on Education and Special Training was organized by the War Department on April first, 1918. The United States was divided into nine districts, each in charge of a District Educational Director.
The Educational Director for the
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