53 



last year in the biological report of Dr. Charles A. Kofoid, but its 

 importance is felt to warrant its repetition in the present connection. 

 So important is it that the enactment of legislation for enforcing such 

 marine sanitation is a most urgent need. 



Practical Difficult ies 



Any such program as that above outlined will doubtless inconven- 

 ience those engaged in the handling of piling or the erection of piling 

 structures, and may increase the cost of their work. It thus may 

 cause irritation, or even evasion of instructions, alike on the part of 

 contractors and workmen who are used to more lax methods. Much 

 can be done to help, by personal explanation and discussion, as a sup- 

 plement to specifications or instruction orders, especially with respect 

 to care in handling, and it is time well spent for an engineer to seek 

 in this way to enlist the cooperation of rafting and construction crews. 

 Eternal vigilance is the price of safety in this respect. Inspection of 

 piling in the gins, which has been recommended, takes more time. It 

 is thus likely both to be opposed by contractors and evaded by inspec- 

 tors, and can only be secured by continuous insistence. But its re- 

 sults would be worth its cost. 



Additional cost, if any, must of course be paid for; but if require- 

 ments are plainly stated in the specifications upon which bids are 

 taken, all bidders are on the same footing. Contractors cannot afford 

 to scrap valuable material, such as piling, which they have bought in 

 good- faith under previous conditions of practice, because of new re- 

 strictions. The increased cost of getting new requirements fulfilled 

 will be lessened, as well as the danger of having rejected piling slipped 

 in again, if provision is made for the acceptance of piling rejected 

 because of dog holes or similar injuries when properly repaired. 



While carelessness as to penetration of the creosoted shell of piling, 

 in both handling and construction, has been universal in the past, bet- 

 ter practice is already appearing. The Committee is gratified to have 

 been informed of many cases in which this better practice has been 

 directly due to its work and report of last year. Many concerns in this 

 region are now rejecting piles which show holes made by dogs. The 

 Board of State Harbor Commissioners now permits the dogging of no 

 piles, green or creosoted, except within 3 feet of the butt or 10 feet 

 of the tip. These particular limits are dictated by local conditions of 

 driving depth, etc. The general principle should be to prohibit such 

 dogging within the water section, with an additional margin sufficient 

 for safety. 



PROTECTIONS SIX TIOX 



The object of the creation of a Sub-Committee on Protections was 

 primarily to install under the supervision of the Committee test speci- 



