to procure drawings and specifications from manufacturers than to make
them. Many manufacturers are very willing to furnish them, but those who
do are careful to so frame the specifications that they can secure the
contracts at prices to include the cost of the professional work for
which the engineer is also paid. There is nothing unprofessional in
recommending a patented article or process if it be, in the judgment of
the engineer, the best for the purpose to be accomplished, but he will do
it openly and with the courage of his convictions. The young engineer
should, I think, have no difficulty in recognizing the important
difference which inheres in the methods by which a given result is
accomplished.

In the relations of engineers to contractors there is many a snare and
pitfall for the unwary feet of the beginner. In superintending the
construction of work the engineer may err on the side of unreasonable
strictness or on that of improper leniency. If so disposed, he can
involve any contractor in loss and do him great wrong, but it more often
happens that the engineer is forced to assume a defensive attitude and to
resist influences too strong for a man of average courage and strength of
will, especially if his experience in charge of work is limited. He
should enter upon the discharge of his delicate and responsible duties
with a desire to do impartial justice between client and contractor. He
is warranted in assuming that his judgment and discretion are his chief
qualifications for the position of supervising engineer, and that all
specifications are designed to be in some measure elastic, since the
conditions to be encountered in carrying them out cannot possibly be
known in advance. He should not impose unnecessary and unreasonable
requirements upon the contractor, even if empowered to do so by the
letter of the specifications. The danger, however, is principally in the
opposite direction. Frequently the engineer has all he can do to hold the