FIRE AND WATER ENGINEERING
timore显然被守卫的霍霍t the exposure hazard, to which it is claimed that twenty-eight per cent, of all the losses by fire are due. This is the worst and at the same time the most easily guarded against of the external hazards, which include lightning, sparks and bonfires. A little care in the arrangement of the windows, fitting them with fire-resisting frames, glass and shutters, and co-operation with neighbors when new buildings are being erected, especially in congested districts, will do much to lessen the dangers from the exposure source, and this, all tlie more, if the new buildings are not only fireproof, but, also, fitted up internally with hose, nozzles, standpipes, fed from the outside by the engines of the fire department—better still, if furnished internally with underwriters’ pumps in the basement, with independent standpipe and laterals to work separately from or, if necessary, in conjunction with the local fire department. Still greater security is obtained by the use of fireproof wood for partitions, floors, shelves, paneling, etc., and if the electric wires and the gas pipes are frequently inspected and the employes in the building organised into private fire departments and regularly drilled by an expert both in the use of the house apparatus and in at once taking and working in their proper post in case of fire. This style of protection seems to be in process of adoption at Baltimore, at least in the new district that is arising from the ashes of the old, where the fine fireproof and fire-protected structures are not only a protection to the occupants, but materially aid in the protection of their neighbors.
The source of all the trouble in Philadelphia has been the political ring, with its game of grab and graft. This clique of politicians held the city councils bound hand and foot, rendering them mere tools, incapable of being honest if they would. Passing over everything else and adverting simply to the filtration scandal, in which so many are mixed up, some, we are sure perfectly innocently, it will be found that the McNichol contracting firm was in reality composed of Durham (the Croker of Philadelphia), McNichol and Mack. Contract twenty-five was for the “entire work of constructing a filtered water basin, the estimated cost of which was $475,542. The contract was awarded to McNichol for $1,146,000, which allowed a protective margin of more than 100 per cent, against all risk of whatever extra work might be found necessary. This was fully understood on both sides, and there was one agreement in particular to the effect that, if the excavation provided for in the plans did not give a satisfactory foundation, the contractor was to carry it to a sufficient depth and fill up to the required level with concrete of a specified quality, ‘without additional cost to the city.’ ” The contract being for a completed work, the contractor should neither have charged nor been allowed to charge for changes—certainly not for such alterations as actually reduced the cost, as was the case in this instance. A foundation not sure was reached, for which provision was made in the contract, and it was proposed to fill up the hollow part, not with concrete at $10 per cubic yard, but with gravel at $1.38 cents and one-half per yard. The director of public works allowed this to be done, thereby saving the contractor the amount he would otherwise have had to pay for 20,469 cubic yards of concrete. Using a cheaper material certainly did not tend towards raising the value or the quality of the work; it most assuredly did not lessen its cost to the taxpayers. But, while the contractor saved nearly $205,000, he was also allowed the extra compensation of $28,349.57 for the gravel. Yet lie was bound by his contract to complete the whole work without extra cost, and the specification in that contract required the use of concrete, which was included in the total price as contracted for. There were other contracts, such as that for sand, or that for laying pipes. In the latter case the excavation was to he paid for on a graded scale, according to depth, and we are told that the whole excavation was certified for as being of the maximum deptli with an extra allowance for non-cxistant rock!
