The times., 1898-10-10
National Convention Meets
Here October Is.
OUTLINEOF WORK PROPOSED
Many of the Best Civil Engineers
in the Country VIII BE Present
The General Scope of the Discuss
Necessary to Good City Govern
ment.


vention of the American Society of Mu-
nicipal improvements is begun in the
banquet hall at the Arlington Hotel. The
| session will continue three days, during
which time the society will listen to
number of important papers from dele
gates and experts in their various lines
of study and numerous discussions of
municipal problems will take place.
The convention will be opened by an
address of welcome by John B. Wight.
president of the Board of Com
missioners of this city. This will
be followed by a paper from Capt
Lansing II. Beach, of the corps of engi-
neers of the army, and engineer commits
sioner of the District of Columbia, upon
the Utilization of Sewage in Vienna"
The paper will be translation of the
report upon the subject by the commits
sion appointed by the Austrian govern
ment to make thorough study of the
! question. The translation has been made
| with comments thereon by Capt. Beach.
Washington win be well represented in
| the matter of the presentation of papers.
| William p. Richards the assistant engn-
! eer of the engineer department of the
| District of Columbia, will read paper on
the subject. Tree Planting in the Streets
of Washington" Mr.. Richards will also
| contribute a paper the subject, "A
| Street Extension Plan for the Entire Dis
, trict of Columbia
| d. L. McComb the superintendent of
the sewers of the District will treat the
subject of the proposed sewage disposal
plan of the District of Columbia in a
paper to be presented at the first days
session of the convention.
Thursday morning will be devoted to a
visit to the various public buildings of
the city, including the Capitol the Con-
| gressional Library and the Smithsonian
| Institute. At o'clock Thursday aft
ernoon the report of the committee on
street paving will be read by Nelson P
| Lewis, civil engineer. of Brooklyn. The
! report will have special reference TO the
construction of surface railroad tracks
in public streets, with rail sections, foun-
| dations and other details
The following papers will also be read
The Selection of Paving Material" by
| George w. Tillson, civil engineer of
Brooklyn; THE Proper Regulating of
! Curbing and Streets" by Horace An
drews, city engineer of Albany. N Y
THE Cost of Repairs TO Asphalt Pave
chief engineer of the board of public
works, of Buffalo, and at the present
| time engineer TO the grade crossing COM
mission. The selection of officers, the
| selection of the location of the next con-
vention and other committee reports will
conclude Thursdays exercises.
EIectroIysis Tests.
On Friday paper will be given by Har-
old p. Brown, the electrical engineer of
| New York, upon "Electrolysis Tests at
Dayton, Ohio" and a paper on "Elec-
trolysis in Davenport, Iowa" by the
electrician of that city. The committee
| on municipal data, of which Civil Engin-
eer Charles c. Brown is chairman, is
preparing a report of special interest. in
which Will be set out special forms Of
| reports for cities, so that definite infor-
| nation may more readily be obtained
from these reports. 1t is hoped that the
special forms of reports may be recon-
| mended TO the proper authorities as a
basis for the statistical tables on munic-
ipal work of the next census George II
Bezenberg, civil engineer, of Milwau-
kee, will submit the report of this com
mittee- The work of the convention
will probably be followed by an ex-
cursion down the Potomac to Mount
Vernon and other points of interest
| The present officers of the society are:
| President, Harrison Van Duyne, civil en-
gineer of Newark n. j.; vice president.
L. w. Rundlett, of st. Paul; second vice
president, E. H. Heating, of Toronto;
third vice president, A. d. Thompson.
civil engineer, of Peoria; secretary, d. l..
| Fulton, of Allegheny City; treasurer J.
L. Kennedy, of Nashville, Tenn.
One of the prominent figures at the
| gatherings of the society is F. w Cap
pelen, of Minneapolis. and the city en-
gineer of that place He has been closely
| identified with the organization since its
| inception and has contributed many valu-
| able papers and discussions on many
| topics of interest He is a native of the
| great Scandinavian Peninsula, his birth
place being Dammen, Norway. He came
| to America and sought and found high
| professional distinction in the great
| northwest.
He entered school at the age of five
years and graduated from the Norwegian
Institute nine years later. Three more
years were spent in the Technical Insti-
tute and Mining School at Orebro-Swe-
den, from which he graduated and en-
tered upon a four years course in the
Royal Polytechnic Institute at Dresden
Germany. From this institution he grad.
uated with high honors in 1880. During
the last seven years of this period OF
preparation and study he was engaged
from time to time in government surveys
and railway work in Norway and Ger
many. He came to America in 1880 anC
obtained a position as draughtsman or
bridges with the Northern Pacific Rail
way.
| The following year he was sent by hi.
company to Brainerd, Mimi, and late,
to Montana. Here he remained until tn;
completion of the Northern Pacific Rail
way in 1888, his position being that of as
sistant engineer of location and construc
ton. He was next transferred to Min
| neapolis as assistant engineer. In 1887 ht
severed his connection with the Northern
Pacific to become bridge engineer for tn,
| city of Minneapolis. In this position no
only the bridge work but most of the heav.
| construction of the rapidly growing cit.
was in his charge. In 1893 he becam,
the city engineer, which place he still
| retains.
Sewerage and Sanitation.
The chairman of the, committee OF
sewerage and sanitation of the societ.
capital is capt. Lansing H. Beach, th'
engineer commissioner of the District
Capt. Beach was born in Dubuque, Ia.
in 1860 and graduated from West Poin
in 1882 standing third in his class. II,
has performed engineer duties at Willet
Point N Y, Galveston and Cincinnati
besides having been the secretary of tn
| Joint commission to determine the boun
dairy between Texas and the Indian Ter
| ritory From Cincinnati he went to Yves
| Point where he was instructor in civil
and military engineering until the Fal