Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-19

their ability to turn a keen, untroubled
face home to the instant need of things
typify what we are all proud to call the
American spirit. The days work of one of
them is chronicled here:
First, he must be a master of men,
knowing the sluggards from the workers,
and the indictments from the trustworthy,
ana able to bend them all to his will. In
erecting big skyscraper' employment is
gwen daily for many months to from
400 to 800 men, representing from thir-
ty to thirty-five trades. Each of these
trades has Its union, and each of these
unions has precise ideas as to the limita-
lions OF days work and the price to be
paid therefor, and in the present state of
a fallen world these ideas are subject to
change without notice. as the programs in
the vaudeville houses put it. The construc-
ton engineer must have the tact and the
knowledge of human nature necessary to
keep these men of diverse interests work
ing IN harmony. He will, If he is a man of
the nrst class, seek to establish such rela-
tions with his men that they will know his
interest Is their interest, and that any de-
boss
Decision Between Artisans.
sometimes it happens that men of two
trades claim the privilege of doing certain
Kind of work. The engineer must decide
winch trade is to have the job, and must
make his decision SO plain and deal such
evenhanded justice as to satisfy the disap-
pointed artisans. Practically not a week
passes that is not marked by some labor
dispute that, however trivial In its be-
ginning, has not in it potentialities for dam
ger ana delay: So it has come about that
one of the prime requisites of a construc-
ton engineer is an ability to handle men,
This must be considered apart from his ex-
ecutive ability, as shown in a well-ordered
plan OF work. supply of materials and the
direction Of the activities of his laborers
and artisans
When an engineer is assigned to build
ing he takes the plans of the designing
engineer and the architects and studies
them until he has mastered and carries in
his mind the last intricate detail Of each
truss and beam and angle, until he knows
each physical detail of the building to be
dren.
Beginning the Work.
Carrying the entire plans for the building
engraved on the plates of his mind, the en-
gineer Is ready to begin work. When the
iron workers and the riggers have showed
the framework up three or four stories the
masons. stonecutters. steamfitters, fire.
proofers tilelayers, carpenters and what
not are called in and the work of putting
on the hull of the structure begins. The
engineer is in daily consultation with the
architect: he lives on the building, and as
soon as possible establishes his office in it.
Here he 1nstalls clerk to receive mater
ials, timekeeper, a stenographer and may
be a clerk. AT a certain hour each day he
requires his division foremen, that is, the
foremen of each trade, to report. He ques-
tons them regarding the progress of the
work. the number of men employed and
their needs. But decisive action is never
taken until he has made a personal in
spection. The engineer must know s much
about the work of each trade as the best
man in that trade knows He notes the
number of men employed on each task, and
ha MN CT how 81
doing their full stint
when the boss steamftter comes to him
with the demand that hole be cut through
an angle iron that certain pipe may be
placed, he must know whether the hole is
necessary or not. He must be able to tell
a stonecutter or a mason with equal posi-
tiveness wherein his work is lacking.
Must Look Far Ahead.
HE must look far ahead and keep con-
stantly before his eye a mental picture of
the completed building. When a pipe is
once placed or a beam laid and riveted the
work must not be undone again to make
place for something that should have gone
before. Mr.. Kiping has written of that
board of London directors who destroyed
half an acre of calculations by decreeing
at the eleventh hour that Findlayson's
bridge should be half foot wider than
the original plans specified. The engineer
must uphold the plans of his architect
SUM- $les II nappeiis, whe5 haste IS ae-
sirable, that building Is started before
the architect has completed his detailed
plans when none of the inside work is
laid out. Then the engineers work be-
comes doubly difficult. He must anticipate
the plans of the architect and do many i'm
portant pieces of work on his own RESPONSE
bility. Told that a certain heating system
is to be installed work must be directed in
such way that the steam or hot-air pipes
will not mar the inside architectural beau
ties of the building. Every question the
engineer decides means a saving loss
In time and money to his employers. and
usually involves no inconsiderable sum.
They all agree that the man who can see
farthest into the future and discern the
needs of the growing structure is the man
of highest value