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Show TO VALUE RAILWAYS Oil AM BASIS One Topic Before American Society of Engineers at Chattanooga. - ROAD MAKING ANOTHER IMPORTANT QUESTION All Modern Progress Depends De-pends Largely on WorK of Such Men. BY-rBXDBICKjr"HA8XDr. The American Society of Civil En gineering ia now holding its forty-third annual convention in Chattanooga. Tba president of tha society ia Mordecai T. . Endieott of the United States navy. Civil engineers from ail parts of the United Statee are present, and many questions of moment in tha engineering world ara being discussed. Perhaps foremost among tha matters being considered is tha question of principles prin-ciples and methods for tha valuation of railroad properties and other public utilities. It long has been tha conviction convic-tion of many leading atudents of railway rail-way ratea that the only just baaia of rata making ia that of the actual physical phys-ical value of the property involved at the time of making tha rata. They hold it to be manifestly unfair for a railroad to reckon among its assets tha value of ita franchise, since it has bean given giv-en it by tba people. They also contend that rates predicated upon tha face value of stocks and bonda are equally unjust, since often they contain a great deal of water. Therefore, the only way to settle tha question is to have a physical valuation of the property by . impartial experta, and upon their findings find-ings to determine the amount of net income a road ia entitled to earn. It seems to be one of the probabilities of the future that congress will pass a law requiring such a valustion of railroad rail-road property, and it ia probable that it will adopt the ideas formulated by the American Society of Civil Engineering Engi-neering for doing the work. Already that society has decided to appoint a special committee to investigate in detail de-tail all queationa pertaining to pny""1 valuation. This investigation probably will be one of toe most notable undertakings under-takings oa the part of an engineering society it the entire history bf engi-k, engi-k, neering work. . ' How to Make rVoada. Other epeeral committee Ore work-, ing under th. direction of th society. One of these is engaged In the study of bituminous materiala for the construction con-struction of roads. The treating of ill-psved ill-psved highways with tar and oil prep-, aratioas, together with many other comparatively new questions relating to road construction have arisen ia the past few years, and it is the. hope of the society thst this process of mak-, ing good roads shsll become so eheap and practicable as to enable road build-era build-era everywhere to eliminate, dust and other bad conditions. Tha aoeietv also has a apeeial committee com-mittee for the preparation of uniform teeta te determine the quality of concrete, con-crete, cement and reinforced concrete. Another committee, haa to do with engineering en-gineering education. It is held that the civil engineer never baa received the rank and standing to wkich his lesrning and his service to humanity entitles him. and it is the aim Of the society of civil engineering so to. Teg-ulsta Teg-ulsta engineering education that the profesrion may rank along with medicine, medi-cine, law and theology. Another apeeial ape-eial committee has been engsged ia the atudy of ateel columns and struts, and it is unon the investigation mad by the engineern that the construction or all skyscrapers, bridges and other etrurtures using, structural ateel ia based. ' la aa Old Organization. The eivil engineering society was or- ganited in 185. A number ef years ago it built a large building in New York, where it maintains permanent keadquartere. Nearly all the leading engineern of the country are members of the society, aad it publisha two different acts of books each year. Oae of these ia known as the Transactions of the Society and the other as the Proceedings, together they constitute what ia regarded as the finest collection K of dieeuseione of ngineering problems ia the world. There are local socieUe in every part of the country. The eivU engineer feela that hi work lie at tha basis of nesrly all human progress, and that be is the controlling genius of the whole organisation of modern day civilisation. He pointa out that a hundred yeara ago a man living nfty milea in the country, wishing to consult an engineer befote undertaking the construction of a small eanaJ, would rise before day, make a light with flint, steel and tinder, have -hut - hreskfsst cooked with a kettle and craae, eat it by the light of a tallow dip aad then take a stsg coach over maddv roads aad roetie woodea bridges, crossing rivers oa ferry boats whose paddlee were driven by mule power at-tacbed at-tacbed to woodea winches, and finally would be landed ia the city over cobble atone, where he would go to a three- . i i-i. V... 1 V m, ke aand with a dark hall aad woodea staircase, and into the "office ef the ea-' ea-' giaeer lighted bv sperm oil lamp and the floor covered with home wovca rag carpeta. t Bdp World ta Picgiaag. Todsy his grandson, eating a breakfast break-fast of' ham aad egg cooked oa a gas range, reads ia kis . morning paper, made possible by tvpsetting maekines and electric ligkU and telegraph wires, that aa irrigatioa dam ia which be ia interested hss sprung a laak. He gets into aa automobile, drives to the station sta-tion in tima to take a parlor ear rhte towa across great bridge, throngs ' long .- tunnels, asd ever concrete viadncts. When he ar-' ar-' rivet at the gate of the city be ha th rhoit of ndergrond. orfce Caatianod oapag 4.) TO VALUE RAILWAYS (Continued from page 1) nr elevated earn, or automobile, to carrv him to the twenty-torr office building erected upon caisson filled with manufactured rock aueh aa it would take nature a million rears to prod tree. Once in the building, which it of fireproof concrete and structural steel construction, be rides up to the fif teenth utorv in a vertical railway and walks into a twentieth century office fitted with every convenience, from electric lights and fan to suxpended puh button. He considers that all of these things have been made poa nihle hv the studies and Investigations Investiga-tions of the civil engineer. Applies Science to Man 'I Use. The civil enfrinetr takes the dir eoveriea of the scientist and the book worm and applies them to the need) of man. His work h been declared to he that of directing the great -ources of power in nature to the uae and convenience of mankind. Prior to the latter half of the eighteenth century cen-tury httle had heen done in the di-rertion di-rertion if utilising any other than water and animal power in the activities activ-ities of men, and tbee only in a veTv limited war. Then followed the in ventmn of the spinning jennv bv Har grave, the spinning frame by Ark-wright. Ark-wright. the epinning mule by Cromp-ton, Cromp-ton, the pnwer loom bv Cartwright, the steam engine ,hv Wait and the pud ding process hv Cort. and from that time nn civil engineering began to lav the foundation for all of tha great tructure of progress that ha been reared in the century and a half which ha followed. In former times there were onlv two t!t)dftr engineering.-ctvinnd""miir tary. But the ride of new industries h o uhdivided the work of the en gineer and called for enecislitation that there are now mechanical engi neers, metallurgical and mining engi-neer. engi-neer. electrical engineer, nanitarr en ginepr. chemical engineer, and the end i not yet. No modern engineer can master all engineering knowledge, and the man who ie deignated a a civil engineer todav perhaps deal with only a tenth nf the matter which would have heen embraced in civil engineer ing lot) year ago. Ancients Had Good Engineers. Althongh the past 100 year has wit-Ti wit-Ti ,mor ""aioaering progress than all of the centuries preceding, in manv things the engineer of todsy marvel at the work of his prototype when the world wa voung. He regards the pyramids py-ramids of Kgvpt a the first great en gineering undertaking of which mod "i! ,.IT,,,"f" knows, and ha cannot tell how some problema were solved bv the Egvptisns. Perbsps the best engineer of former centurie were those of Rome. It i said that in the entire history of the world no public highway have surpassed those built under the supervision of th highwav engineer of Rome, is directness, sol idity and adaptation to the purpose tor which they were designed. Manv of the best, idea of modern highwav construction are simply adaptations of the engineering art upon which the Appian Way and other highwaya in Roma were constructed. Rome alio had a very excellent sewerage v tern. Represent Untold Wealth. The amount of monev inveated in engineering projerta ia the United Ktatea is beyond etimat. It is probable prob-able that one h. if of all the wealth of the nation ha been created indi reotlv Ay the civil engineer. With out him the Tnited Btatee would still be where rent r. I America i todav. for with nn railroads it could have rew modern eitie. There could be few factorie. and th nation' min eral wealth could not be realized upon except in a most meager way. The urban dweller ran carcelr tnrn around without thanking the civil engineer for something. The streets and the street ears are made what they are tiy him. Cheap i transportation come through htm. The big offic building, build-ing, the large apartment houe, the great hotel, the water mpplv nearly every comfort convenience and nece sitr of hi life is effected in a eon iderable measure bv the work of such men aa those who constitute the Amer ican Society of Civil Engineering. |