Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-01-13
200 BUILDERS OF
QUAD CITY CLUB
At ANNUALFEAsT
nj. Lewman. Louisville. ky- Presi-
dent National Association Is
Honor Guest,
ppOTD OF CONTRACT REFORMS
hectares at Banquet at New Harper,
This Is Great Business Achieve
ment for Public.

"The Quad City Builders Exchange.
Rock Island, Moline, Davenport and
East Moline, has an excellent chance
N land the 1917 convention of the Ma
tional Association of Builders Ex-
changes" said H. L. Lewman, Louis
Vile, Ky, president of that organiza-
ton. following the banquet last night
at the New Harper, at which he was a
guest of honor and the principal speak
Or of the evening.
II was the first annual banquet of
the Quad City Builders Exchange, and
in spite of the unfavorable weather
conditions. over 300 contractors, ma
terial men, bankers and architects of
the tri-cites were present. The gath
ering was a splendid success in every
way and the committee in charge is
more than pleased with the results.
The dinner was served at O'Clock
in the main banquet room of the hotel,
Host Mueller Furnishing high class
cabaret entertainment between the
courses.
A. A Arnould, Davenport. president
Of the Quad City builders. introduced
Irving c. Norwood. secretary of the
Greater Davenport committee, as toast
master for the evening. Mr.. Norwood
presided in HIS own clever way In his
Introductory remarks he told an in
teresting story on organization as in
terpreted by the late Ebert Hubbard,
who visited an asylum for the vio-
lently insane. Over nine hundred pa
TENTS were quartered in one large
building and Mr. Hubbard was sur
prised to find only one guard there.
He questioned the man on this unusual
condition of affairs and asked if there
was not danger connected with the
plan of having one man TO hold in re-
straint over nine hundred violently in
sane men. The guard informed Mr..
Hubbard that there was not the least
danger, because each patient was for
himself They did not have sense
enough to organize or more guards
would have been required. Mr.. Nor
wood stated that he hoped that the
builders were not insane William B.
Mcintyre Of Rock Island and Andrew
Olson, former mayor of Moline, also
responded with short talks, comment
ing at length upon the value of organ
iZation.
Contract Reform.
After expressing his pleasure at be-
ing a guest of the Quad City exchange,
Mr.. Lewman. who was the principal
speaker of the evening, declared the
greatest business achievement of the
builders was their recent successful
campaign for contract reform, which
resulted in the new contract dOcu
ments prepared by the American In
stitute of Architects and and National
Association of Builders Exchanges Of
the United States.
Our endorsement of these docu-
ments is not upon the ground that they
are perfect, but because they are well
considered ard well balanced and be-
cause they embody very substantial
advance over any existing building
contract forms" he declared. IF l
should use just one word to designate
the character of the new documents
and their difference from all previous
ones, I should say certainty If
were to add another word, I should
say Justice
When the National association
made its declaration for contract re-
form, az called the attention of the
business and building world to the un-
reasonable and unbusinesslike condi-
tons prevailing in the methods en-
ployed in the preparation and execu-
ton Of contracts and specifications,
and the enormous losses TO the owner
and all concerned, by the lack of rea-
sOnable business procedure fer the
conduct of construction, this declara-
ton was received by many as a severe
shock. The builders had been subserv-
lent for so long, and had permitted so
many abuses and unfair practices. that
they and the business world had be-
come Calloused TO these conditions. A
prominent architectural journal char
acterized this movement as CONNER
clal arrogance and stated: If the
need for so doing actually exists. their
chance for success appears extremely