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As to the manner of conducting contract work, there is now 

 but Httle difference of opinion. The days of allotting work to 

 a contractor and accepting his report when finished, that the work 

 is satisfactory, are passed. Now, most organizations in this line 

 of work recognized the fact that the employment of a competent 

 inspector who shall lay out and supervise directly all work con- 

 tracted for and who shall certify that the work called for has 

 been performed according to specifications before any payment 

 is made means economy. To do work without such a personal 

 representative in the field is very poor business, and leads to 

 much dispute and dissatisfaction. 



While on this subject of the manner of conducting contract 

 work it might be well to say a word in regard to time extensions. 

 There has been a noticeable indifference in the past in the matter 

 of enforcing the time clause in contracts. To have a contract 

 which calls for completion in early July, still dragging along in 

 mid-August, means a serious retardation of the work in all de- 

 partments. It means the employment of additional men and 

 oil to protect undrained areas and a consequent monetary loss. 

 The enforcement of the time limit is of primary importance to 

 the success of the work. A contract should be so written that 

 the time stipulated is reasonable and the contractor should be 

 impressed with the fact that June 15th does not mean August ist. 

 A firm stand should be taken by the contracting party to insure 

 completion within the stipulated time. If contract work is to 

 stay in mosquito control, contractors must be taught that this 

 matter of time clauses is not a trivial one, but an essential one. 



To this point we have considered almost entirely initial work. 

 However, the work has now reached such proportions that the 

 item of maintenance is soon going to be a most important one. 

 We have in New Jersey 11,500,000 (approximately) feet of 

 ditching, and are steadily cutting more. New York is cutting 

 ditches at the rate of some 3,000,000 feet a year. Connecticut 

 and Massachusetts are ditching proportionately. All these 

 ditches must be kept clean if the system of which they are a 

 part is to act properly. At the present time most organizations 

 have so arranged their plans of operation that the cost of ditch 



