Show II I Timely Topics I LICENSING ARCHITECTS The collapse of the Knickerbocker theatre In Washington Wash Wash- ington has revived the agitation that architects and en engineers engineers engineers en- en sh be licensed We Ve presume that means that architects and engineers should undergo an examination I Iby by a competent body to determine th the qualifications of the men who would follow these these- professions Seventeen Seventeen Seventeen Seven Seven- teen states have such laws most of them having hayIng been passed in the last two years This licensing movement is backed by the American Association of Engineers an organization of 24 professional professional professional pro pro- engineers It is a a. a credit to these professional engineers that they are seeking to purge themselves of the quack who hangs out a shingle and claims quail qualifications qualifications fica fica- ho he does not possess It is possible the arc architect ite t Is not always to blame for such accidents as befell the Washington theatre Itis It Itis Itis is a well known fact that all contractors are not paragons paragons paragons para para- gons of honesty Too many of them bid on the architects architects' architects architects' architects architects' archi archi- specifications and then set out to beat the job jobby jobby jobby by furnishing very inferior materials and doing a low grade of work Unless closely watched it is no trick whatever for a contractor contract r to weaken construction to a great degree He lie can slight a job to such an extent asto asto as asto to fatten his profits beyond a reasonable and arid legitimate percentage S These facts do not argue against requiring architects to be licensed lut shows that dee defective building may not wholly be laid at the door of the Fremont architect Fremont Neb Tribune Rep |