Weekly journal-miner., 1920-02-25


 the services of such a man would pay for themselves many times over. 1 do not wish to be construed by the above as casting any aspersions on local engineers in any respect; my plea is based upon the opinion that no comprehensive system for the inn provement of the city as a whole rather than as a number of segre- gated groups, has been prepared and submitted to the citizens.
 I was painfully surprised at the statement accredited to the mayor in your columns of February }, 1920, in which the opinion was expressed, presumably by him that engineers of ability for properly supervising the comprehensive development of civic improvements such as l under
 stand will ultimately be carried out by the city of Prescott should not be paid the enormous salary of $500 per month. 1 am entirely in sympathy with the opinion expressed by Coun-
 cilman Byers that the city would certainly not want a cheaper man.
 The salary of $500 per month is not very munihcent one for good men at the present day, although I am Of
 the opinion that the services of a
 competent engineer with municipal planning and improvement eXperi-
 ence could be procured for some
 where near that figure. The most
 important thing is that the services of such a man should be obtained and at once l might ask at this
 point who was employed to lay out and supervise the construction of the Hassayanpa Country club golf
 links? Was this man a lawyer, mer-
 chant, engineer, banker, carpenter, brickmason? No, he was man of
 wide experience in golf link construc-
 ton, and the further question might be asked, do the results of his em-
 ployment justify the procurement of his services? Certainly, from what I have read in the "Journal-Miner'
 relative to the links, they do. Is 1t illogical then to call for a man
 trained and skilled in municipal
 work when there is infinitely more
 at stake in cost, results and innu- merable other considerations? How
 many citizens either in committee
 group or in mass assembly are qual- fled to make decisions on such sim
 pie but vitally important questions in municipal constructions as:
 whether it is advisable to place man
 holes or sanitary sewers every block or every three blocks; whether 1t Is
 advisable to lay a crowned pavement
 on flat or crowned subgrade, what system of surface drainage is the most satisfactory and economical un- der conditions similar to those in i Prescott; where should valves be placed on the new water mains for accessibility and efficiency; what considerations should be sought rela- tive to the profile of a water main
 and its depth below the surface. Ar
 bitrary decisions regarding such mat | ters in conjunction with width, park ing space, alignment, type, etc, lead
 to the establishment of vicious prec-
 edents resulting in confusion, dissat- tisfaction and poor results i'll general. The policy at this time when civic improvement is in its infancy should be constructive, not obstructive, and
 well developed plan of improve ment and construction based upon study by an expert in such matters should be adopted ill order that the
 desired results may be obtained with
 the minimum cost and to the general satisfaction of all The functions Of
 the citizens relative to the improve ments finally adopted would be in fnitely better served through crlti-
 cisms of plans submitted by an e2S- pert familiar with the good and bad points brought out in similar cases
 ill other municipalities, than they
 would be by having the citizens as
 whole or as a group develop such plans.
 I strongly urge again that the most ! important consideration before the
 citizens of Prescott is the obtaining of a first class municipal engineer. and emphasis should be made that political considerations, affiliations, 1 friendship, etc, should have no in fluence in the selection, merit, abil- Ity and exeprience in municipal work as determined by past records and
 references should decide. l have noted that your paper is very favor able regarding results to be obtained ! by advertisement and would suggest ! that if it is decided 10 obtain such
 man that advertisements be placed
 in such technical journals as Engi- ueering News-Record, Mining Jour nal, Chemical Engineer, and that the
 American Association of Engineers l be communicated with.
 l am not an expert in municipal
 work and can accordingly deal
 largely only in gencralities; there are l however several small matters in re
 pards to such construction which arc