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TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



tion may limit the total of expenditures 

 for which he may contract with others on 

 behalf of his principal ; but it cannot at 

 the same time obligate him to produce 

 certain results within that sum. It can 

 only require him to stop incurring obliga- 

 tions when the limit of the appropriation 

 is reached, whether the proposed result 

 has been accomplished or not. If as a 

 result of his legitimate action (within the 

 scope of his authorization) damages are 

 incurred, his principal is liable for those 

 damages even though they exceed the 

 amount of the appropriation within which 

 he was instructed to keep the cost of the 

 work. He is obligated to use due dili- 

 gence and skill in protecting his princi- 

 pal's interest, but guarantees nothing be- 

 yond that. 



The lump-sum contractor, on the other 

 hand, is his own principal, and under- 

 takes to produce for the other party to 

 the contract a more or less well defined 

 result for a certain sum. He hires and 

 fires on his own account, buys goods on 

 his own account and enters into other 

 contracts on his own account. Claims 

 for payment growing out of his actions, 

 including claims for damages sustained 

 as a result of his action, are claims 

 against him and not against the other 

 party to the contract. He takes a specu- 

 lative risk, and he makes a speculative 

 profit if he can, and as large as he can. 

 He is not accountable to the other party 

 to the contract for the amount of that 

 profit nor for the actual cost of the work. 

 He is in the position of the speculative 

 purchaser of any commodity who sells it 

 as best he can, accepting a loss if he must, 

 and making all the profit he can in the 

 face of the competition of others. 



There need be nothing in the least de- 

 gree unfair or dishonorable in this rela- 

 tion of a speculative contractor or vendor 

 to his customers. But such a relation is 

 absolutely incompatible with the fiduci- 

 ary relation which a professional land- 



scape architect assumes to his client, be- 

 cause the essence of that relation is the 

 obligation which he assumes to protect 

 his client's legitimate interests in the 

 matters at issue to the best of his ability. 

 He can not run with the hare and hunt 

 with the hounds. If he tries it, under 

 whatever pretext or in whaever form, he 

 is not merely acting unprofessionally ; he 

 is outright dishonest. 



Now let us return to the scope of what 

 may be undertaken by a professional land- 

 scape architect under an agency contract. 



It is a frequent arrangement for a land- 

 scape architect, especially upon small or 

 upon complicated and delicate work, to 

 recommend to a client the employment of 

 superintendents or foremen in whom he 

 has confidence, to advise or direct them 

 in their employment of laborers and ar- 

 tisans, to direct their work, to order ma- 

 terials for the client, and to check and 

 recommend for payment by the client the 

 payrolls and bills as they become due. 

 Less frequently the landscape architect 

 may receive deposits of cash in advance 

 from the client and draw upon them for 

 payment of bills and payrolls on the 

 client's account as they become due, sub- 

 mitting vouchers to the client subse- 

 quently when he accounts for expendi- 

 tures made. Still less frequently, but, so 

 far as I can see, without any essential 

 change in the character of the relation- 

 ship, he may, if so requested, borrow the 

 funds from a bank or other source of 

 credit and make similar payments on the 

 client's account, charging up interest pay- 

 ments on these borrowed funds as part 

 of the cost of the operation, and account- 

 ing as before with proper vouchers for all 

 expenditures. Finally he might furnish 

 the funds out of his own capital, and 

 charge interest thereon as a banker would 

 do. If in the latter case his charges for 

 interest on the capital advanced were not 

 segregated but were lumped with certain 

 other overhead expenses in the general 



