610 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 



try. In answer, however, to my inquiries I think the majority of you will agree 

 with me in saying that the plumbing which has been done in this city has, in the 

 greater part of it, been done in a very unsatisfactory manner. Of course some 

 exceptionally good jobs of plumbing have been made, but as a rule the plumbing 

 work is not up to the latest demands of the art. This is not only true of this 

 city, but it is true of every city where there are no plumbing laws and no in- 

 spection of the plumber's work. The condition of plumbing in this city could 

 not possibly be worse than it was a few years ago in Boston, New York, Brook- 

 lyn, Washington and Chicago, before their plumbing code came into existence. 

 Let us inquire what are the causes of inferior and dangerous plumbing. First, 

 property owners are largely responsible for cheap plumbing. Many of them 

 have very crude ideas of plumbing and care less to learn anything about it, and 

 know nothing about the dangers of drainage gas. They are eager to drive a 

 smart contract with the plumber, just as they would bargain for the excavation 

 of the foundation by the cubic yard, or for the brick by the thousand, so that 

 they often get cheap plumbing, with typhoid fever and diphtheria thrown in for 

 nothing. The avarice of property owners and their indifference to healthy plumb- 

 ing is one of the almost insurmountable obstacles to correct plumbing. But 

 again, the indifference and ignorance of some architects as to correct plumbing 

 is another difficulty to be overcome. We have in this city as intelligent a body 

 of architects as can be found elsewhere, but, gentlemen, I impart no secret to 

 you when I tell you that there are architects in this city who cannot write out 

 correct and proper specifications for a complete system of house drainage. Now, 

 we all know that in order to put in a perfect system of house drainage it 

 should be properly provided for by the architect, from foundation to roof, and 

 that if the architect does not do his work properly the plumber cannot perform 

 his. 



In this work of correct plumbing the architect has the greatest responsibility, 

 for however avaricious the builder may be, he generally puts great confidence in 

 his architect, and imagines that what the architect does not know is not worth 

 finding out. It is the solemn duty of every architect practicing his art in a great 

 city to make an exhaustive study of plumbing and not to be satisfied with a super- 

 ficial knowledge of this subject, gleaned from some occasional article found in 

 an architect's journal, or from some specifications of a plumbing contract ob- 

 served in some book of contract forms, or obtained from the pictures of plumb- 

 ing fixtures found in some advertising manual which has come gratuitously into 

 his hands from some wholesale manufacturer. It is not enough for the architect 

 to know that the foundation of the house is all right, that the walls will not crack, 

 that the roof will not fall in, that no ordinary wind storm will blow It down, 

 or that no common tramp can raise the window or pick the front door lock ; it is 

 his business to know that he has not written up and perfected plans and specifi- 

 cations for a nest of typhoid fever and diphtheria. But plumbers, gentlemen, 

 have their responsibility in this matter. Have you, as a body, banded together 

 and endeavored to enlighten the community as to the importance of correct 



