Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-05
ATTACKS UNSAFE CONCRETE.
High Engineering Authority Calls for
 Radical Reform.

New York, Dec 5.-"Carelessness
 in competence and interruptions skin-
 ming have about reached the limit in
 reinforced concrete construction. T
 This is the opening sentence of an ar
 ticle appearing in the current issue of the Engineering News on recent fail
 ures of this form of building. The
 article is considered all the more sig
 nificant because this high engineering
 authority has been one of the most
 positive advocates of concrete. The
 Engineering News says:
 1.-Two failures of large buildings un- der construction, occurring within q
 fortnight of each other, both of
 which had their harvest of dead, is q serious blemish on the record of rein forced concrete. A radical reform is necessary. The gray of our concrete structures is already too much stain ed with blood Shall we allow that stain to spread and grow still darker?
 Where are we to find relief? The events of recent years show no case, ill the scores and scores of building disasters, where the law has laid it's hand on the guilty and enforced it's penalties. Public assignment of blame. or criminal conviction have not been obtained. We know of no one case, in this country where the public investigation of reinforced concrete failure involved serious study of the design, or resulted in i'm peaching the sufficiency of the design. And the inevitable result has duly appeared. The interruptions and negligent have grown more bolder and more confident of security, and ply their nefarious business on q larger scale than ever.
 ''The practice that constructs build ing and bridges which collapse must be eradicated. The interests of every element of the engineering profession demand this, no less than public safe ty. If we do not. or will not design our structures with ample enough strength to permit of safe erection by is indeed time to call halt
 "The public is observing that alarming numbers of failures of rein forced concrete work are recorded in the news of the day It learns vague ly that each of these failures has been blamed upon improper workmanship or disobedience of workmen. and up- on scanty design or design unsuitable of safe execution by the grade of la Dor employed for the work.
 These observed facts impel the lay reader to one definite conclusion: That reinforced concrete is danger m atn al Io rNr unknown reasons, among which may be these: either CD because safe meth Ods of designs have not yet been de- veloped or (2) because the cOmmer- cially-obtainable materials of con- are subject to unknown va riations which may produce fatal weakness. or c3) because the quality of labor employed is not high enough to ensure the safe construction of the design. even though design and ma terials be satisfactory.
 ITO this conclusion we are regret fully forced to subscribe. We make but one reservation. namely. that if an independent engineer be employed to either work out the design. or to prescribe specifications and verify the design by them. and If further an in dependent engineer bc placed in charge of the construction work 10 see that it is properly done. then re- inforced concrete construction is as safe as other types of construction. l Under all other circumstances. we be- i lieve. 1t involves so much risk that it | must be characterized as dangerous"