I Feature Section Allow Ar A60, t liii Featuie Section VOL. XXXV. No. 24 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1924 EIGHT PAGES MICHIGA IN THE ROLE OF DEDICATOR '* i' 0 r lip 4 rJ w ..-1 THE THREE STADIA listed for dedication on Michigan's schedule for 1924. Above- The new Illinois stadium at Champaign. Left-Minnesota's football arena. Below-Architect's plan of M. A. C.'s stands at completion. By Williarm H. Stoneman Michigan's 1924 football season bids fair to go down in history as one of her greatest, if oily be- cause of the number of spectacles in which her elev- en will have engaged by the end of the season. Already this year the Woiveriies have dedicated two stadiums, at M. A. C. and ;Urbana,. and on No- vember 1 there will be a third dedication game at Minneapolis. A total of 143,000 people will have witnessed Michigan's Varsity ir th-e three gridiron battles. The value df the three stadiums dedicated will be in the neighborhood of two and three-quarter million dollars.. Never before.in' the history of foot- ball has any one team dedicated three stadia in one season and never in years will any team have the honor of dedicating three such ,magnificent struc- tures as those at Lansing, Urbana; and Minneapolis.. It will be the fourth great dedication game in which Michigan has engaged since. her return to the Western Conference, when the Varsity starts the Minnesota battle, a week from next Saturday. Ohio State's great horse shoe, dedicated two seasons' ago with a 19-0 victory by Michigan is one of the great- est in the land and accommodates over 52,000 spec- tators. The great jIlini stadium, dedicated in a classic battle yesterday afternoon, is by far the largest of the stadia being opened by the Wolverines this year. Memorial Stadium,, as it is ,called in honor of tire Illinois men who last their lives in the World War, is a massive structure of reenforced concrete with a brick and stone exterior, capable of holding 66,000 people. The structure consists of two main wings, par- allel to one another on either side of the playing field. Each wing has a super-deckor balcony great-, ly increasing the seating capacity and enabling a largernumber of persons to have seats in advan- tageous positions. Slightly more than 75 per cent of the spectators in the Memorial stadium have seats betweei the goal posts. The step taken by Illinois in preference to completing a "U" is an advance in the art of stadium building.- The cost of the Memorial Stadium, exceeding $1,- 700,000, was taken care of by student and alumni subscription. Preceding the game at Urbana yes- terday afternoon the mammoth structure was pre- sented tothe state of Illinois by. George Huff, direc- tor of intercollegiate athletics. In impressive ceremonies Friday afternoon, a parade of Illinois ex-service men and students f^" nl niim nrr +d . hestaium where th The stadium will accommodate exactly 50,263 people and there will be a ramp for approximately every 1,500.. The circulation of crowds has been the special study of the architects and according to sta- tistics compiled the entire crowd can leave the struc- ture in four minutes. There are 37 arched entrances leading into the concourse, directly beneath, the outer part of the "U" and 30 ramps sloping uP toward the entrances into the stadium proper from the concourse. The Yale bowl was carefully stud- ied in the design of the entrances. The problem of allowing everyone a clear view of the playing field was also carefully studied in connection with the cross-section shape of the stad- ium. As a result seats do not rise in a straight line but form a dish-shaped curve when the structure is LaFollette, A Character Sketch viewed from the side. The accoustics of the stadium are better tlan those in any other in the country:. Signals called on the playing field are heard as clearly from the top By Wiliiam H. Hobbs For a period of seventeen years, from 1889 until :1906, I was a member of the Faculties of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin and a resident of the State cap- ital Madison. During -this period Robert* Marion LaFollette was for. the first twelve years a mem- ber of Congress, then for six years Governor of the state, and though re-elected for a third term, he was elected to.the- United States Senate -and at the time- I moved to Ann Arbor he had already sat in the upper House of Congress about a year. When LaFollette was Governor, Roosevelt was making his great fight against special privilege, at the time firmly entrenched and LaFollette was the standard bearer of these progressive policies for the State of Wisconsin. As Governor, he occupied the, Executive Mansion, which was separated by a single' house from my own residence, and in the opposite direction a few doors removed lived John C. Spooner, a corporation lawyer of outstanding ability, one of the most brilliant men who ever sat in the United States Senate, and at the time the High-Priest of special privilege in that august body. LaFollette and Spooner were, therefore, in the State of Wis- consin the leaders of most bitter political factions, and this condition produced a cleavage at the State. Capital which extended even to social lines. If un- pleasantness was to be avoided, one could hardly accept an invitation to a dinner in Madison without first learning the names of the other guests.. I was at that time a warm supporter of .LaFol- lette and on quite intimate terms with him. Though our political viewpoints are now very different, I can still testify to the excellent legislative measures which were written into the Wisconsin statutes dur- ing LaFollette's administrations. Wisconsin was unquestionably a pioneer state in the reform legis- lation of the period-legislation everywhere ap- proved today; and it was LaFollette's cogent argu- ments, his strong personality, and his sledge-ham- mer methods, which are, responsible for- its enact- ment. Among the progressive laws which he forced through was one taxing the railways, and later one establishing a State Railway Commission for the regulation of rates. the late President Angell, were present as delegates and a considerable number were awarded honorary degrees on this occasion. It was my own good for- tune to be sitting in the audience beside the vener- able President Angell when LaFollette as Governor of the Stage made the address of welcome to the in- vited guests. At its conclusion President Angell turned to me and said, "Your Governor is a scholar," and later one heard much comment of the same nature from other eminent visitors. LaFollette's great ambition in life was at first to be an actor, but he is small of stature, and a well- known actor whose counsel he sought strongly ad- vised him against a career in which he would be so heavily handicapped. Though a powerful orator, LaFollette's political speeches depend far more upon a reasoned argument, than upon "flights" of oratory. Leaning out from the stage toward his audience and with upraised finger driving his arguments straight at the front row of benches, LaFollette asks, "Is not that fair?" "Could anything be fairer?" Then he goes over the record of his political enemies with scorifying denunciation, a method most effective and frequently referred to as the LaFollette "roll-call". When he last spoke in Ann Arbor, he appeared com- pletely worn out, and before the lecture he said to me, "You can hardly imagine how tired I am, I' have been speaking practically every day since Con- gress adjourned, and, exhausted after each address, it is early morning before I can get to sleep." His voice, as he began his speech, was husky and diffi- cultly audible, but it improved steadily as he ta' ked and after three and a half hours ofacontinuous speaking it had become strong and resonant with the audiencequite willing that he continue.At one time early in the lecture attention seemed to flag, when the speaker suddenly pointed his finger to a section of his audience and fiercely denounced stud- ents there for trying to disturb the meeting. I had seen nothing that indicated improper conduct on the part of anyone, and subsequent inquiry did not reveal any, but LaFollette cleverly appealed to his audience for sympathy and got a round of ap- plause; and the spirit of fair-play once aroused he had the support of his audience to the end. A col- leagne told me later that he had seen an identical of Roosevelt for President awl' LaFollette for Gov- ernor. LaFollette made a 'whirlwind campaign throughout the state, but it was remarked that he Spoke no word in favor of Roosevelt, the head of the ticket, but only for himself. It was LaFollette's autobiography, published in 1911 and 1913, which first led me to believe him in- sincere and disingenuous. The burden of the book is rancor against Roosevelt, who he claimed through duplicity had cheated him, LaFollette, out of the Presidency.' Roosevelt, says LaFollette, at first promised to support hin for the Presidency, and then, when he found it to his disadvantage, thought only of himself. Every sort of rumor is in the book elevated into a fact, but with nowhere any sup- porting evi'dence worthy of consideration. The larg- est number of page references in the index is found under the caption, "Duplicity of Roosevelt", and the next largest number under "Betrayal of LaFollette". Sub-heads under "Theodore Roosevelt" are "Sup- ported, by Wall Street", "His relation to the Steel Trust", "Has no Tariff policy", and "Opposed th-e Progressive Movement in Wisconsin". Roosevelt, for his part seemed always to have some doubt of the genuineness of LaFollette in re- form ,measures. So far as I now remember, he never warmly praised LaFollette. When America at last took up her responsibilities in the war and LaFollette came out as the advocate of Germany's cause, Roosevelt hesitated no longer. Speaking in St. Paul the week following the infamous speech by LaFollette in that city which had brought down upon his head the condemnation of patriotic citizens throughout the country, Roosevelt denounced La- Follette as a "Shadow Hun". Of such "Hun's within our gates", he said; "They are on a-level with Val- landingham, whom Lincoln sent beyond the Con- federate lines. I wish, I could send them to Ger- many as a free gift to the Kaiser . . The most sinister enemy of democracy in the United States is Senator LaFollette . . . We are to stand against men of the type of LaFollette." When I was supporting LaFollette's policy in Wisconsin, be presented me with a fine portrait of himself on which he had written a very warm per- sonal dedication. This picture I framed and hung ... +~n r.t~c nPm, c-n ir TX-- - - ntor n. of the bleachers as theyare at the sidelines. Special amplifiers are being installed to carry voices of speakers on, the field to all corners of th arena. The press boxes of the stadium are fur- nished for the accommodation of scouts and news- paper men. The one on the south side of the field is equipped with 140 individual seats and desks to- gether with complete telegraph and telephone con- nections. The field itself has been carefully graded and seeded to insure the best playing conditions. A 12- inch layer of clay, four inches of black loam, and two inches of sandy loam were laid on the field. This combination remains firm under a test of three inches of rain in eight hours and inasmuch as such conditions have never actually arisen in the Minnesota climate the field will be suitable for games under any conditions. A good sod has been laid on the field and will be in perfect condition by the time of the dedication game. The actual cost of the stadium amounted to $750,000 and was raised by subscriptions among the students anI alumni. The amount was raised as part of a greater University Corporation fund which amounted to in excess of $2,000,000. The new stadium at M. A. C., while not as pre- tentious as those of Illinois and Minnesota stands as the finest structure of its kind in a school of the Aggies size. When Michigan dedicated the stadium with a hard-fought victory there were 25,000 spec- tators present, 15,000 more than had ever before wit- nessed a game at East Lansing. The new stadium as it now stands will accom- modate 16,000 spectators in permanent seats and will be increased in size as the need arises until it can take care of three times that number. At pres- ent there are two parallel tiers of seats with nine ramps leading into the seats of each tier. With the growth of the school a curve of seats will be added, completing the "U" at the south end of the field. Funds for the erection of the stadium came out of a $3.000.000 lumn for general building on the