New-York tribune., 1909-01-14
CITY ENGINEERS JOYFUL
Hold Dinner and Cheer MGyor De
CIeIIan and Other Speakers.

The Municipal Engineers of the city of New York
held their sixth annual dinner at the Hotel Savoy
last night. There were present about five hundred
of them and the abandon wiki which they sang
and made merry would lead one 10 imagine that the
building of subways. the damming of the Hudson
or the draining OF the bay were trivial problems
that caused them bit Of concern
Mayor Mcclellan the chief guest OF the en-
gineers Controller Metz also TO be Il guest of
honor and talk The Controllers Troubles"
but he having some unofficial trouble, being
installed the exalted ruler Of the Thirteen club.
and did not attend. George Cromwell president of
Richmond Borough was there. and talked about
'Richmond' President Dresser of Queens Borough
was also the guests table but did not talk.
Calvin TompkIns OF the Municipal Art Commission.
told Of The Future Development Of our city"
President Haffen Of The Bronx was absent.
Those who didn't speak got chance 10 sing. and
they took full advantage Of it: so did those who
had deliver speeches Mayor Mcclellan joined
the others in the singing Of Aud Lang Syne, and
he laughed when this followed BY d song that
said that the Dutch" better than the irish
and was in animste ed conversation with Nelson r.
Lewis, City Engineer. and neither laughed nor
sang when the diners vehemently sang Tam
many" which vas followed by applause all of
which proved that "auld acquaintance" are so soon
forgot"
There vas great cheer for Mayor Mcclellan
when Robert Ridgeway introduced him. and the
diners sang that he vas "a jolly good fellow.
They sent up another great cheer when the Mayor
said that the work of the engineer hard and
the compensation small The Mayor praised the
work of the engineers and said that the American
engineer, without self-advertisement self-cxplo-
tation. had the confidence Of his countrymen
that he held place side by side with the soldier
and the sailor. He had words OF praise for several
of the men in charge of the city's engineering
Mayor Mcclellan sand:
One OF my constant and gentlest critics had sug-
gested That / might have saved millions of dollars
II | mad hurried the various undertakings which
the city Is engaged He Is ignorant. apparently,
OF the fact tnat the city suffers from = disad-
vantage 10 which the private individual is sub
Ject, in that she has scarcely ever completed a
great work without losing very large amount OF
time through litigation. Ii is safe rule to follow
in undertaking public work, 10 add " per cent
To the estimated time for completion SO a. to
permit owners of real estate. disappointed con
tractors and more or less public spirited taXpaye
TO bring actions for the OF either delaying
the work or preventing IT altogether. Were il not
for this, public work would be done as rapidly as
private work The fault certainly does lie Al
the door OF the municipal engineers
To my mind the most remarkable example Of
your efficiency was the organization Of the engi-
neering force for the Board of Water Supply
Waldo, Smith with the help of Mr. Ridspay Ma
jer Merritt Smith Mr.. Davis and Mr. F1ynn in
less than year. out of nothing. organized one Of
the largest and most efieienf engineering forces
that the United States has ever seen, without fuss