7*> TOWERS AND TANKS FOR WATER-WORKS. 



prices without any idea of doing it as it should be done. 

 Engineers and architects are not a little to blame for this 

 state of things, since too many of them fail to consider the 

 inspection service as one having degrees of quality. They 

 have become accustomed to consider that all inspection is the 

 same, and to require that each inspector who makes applica- 

 tion for their work shall submit his prices in competition with 

 any one else who may be an applicant, and then employ the 

 man with the lowest price without taking the trouble to 

 properly investigate the comparative facilities or reputations 

 of the applicants. . 



" It cannot be expected that the best results of inspection 

 will be gained by crowding the price for such services down 

 to the lowest possible figure. There is a limit below which 

 good inspection cannot be performed. The only way in 

 which an engineer can get the full benefit that inspection can 

 confer is to determine at the outset to pay a fair price for 

 that service, and then, before appointing an inspecting firm, 

 to look carefully into the reputations of the different inspect- 

 ing companies available, by references to other engineers and 

 to pieces of work that have been inspected by them. 



" Thorough and complete inspection of iron and steel 

 structural material should generally be worth one dollar per net 

 ton of shop shipping-weights. At times, and under especially 

 favorable conditions as regards the location of the bureau's em- 

 ployes, it can be done for less. On some small jobs it may 

 be more, but there is in general a chance for the inspector to 

 make a fair living at that average price. Such inspection 

 should include the careful comparison and checking of work- 

 ing plans, and complete supervision and tests by thoroughly 

 experienced, expert, and reliable men throughout the manu- 

 facture of the material from the time it is first produced until 

 it is shipped from the shop." 



