LAW AND BUSINESS OF ENGINEERING AND CONTRACTING WITH NUMEROUS FORMS AND BLANKS FOR PRACTICAL USE -- PREFACE THE matter contained in this book is the result or elabora- tion of a series of lectures delivered to the engineering stu- dents of the University of Washington during several years past. The additional matter that has been added in the shape of forms of contracts, specifications, and blank business forms will be found of advantage to both the student and the prac- ticing engineer, and it is hoped that the entire work will be a valuable addition to the engineers library. It is sincerely hoped that the discussion of the relation between the engineer and contractor in Chapter I will result, in many cases, in a better feeling between the engineer and the contractor as they may come together on contract work. The writer has made it a lifelong study to further the good feeling that should exist between them, but must confess to having made so little progress as to despair of seeing a better condi- tion of affairs result. Yet the writer is convinced that by continually keeping at it, on the part of those having this matter at heart, much good will eventually come about. The subject of ordinary forms of contracts is one on which there has been much written, and is a subject on which the engineer should be well posted as to fundamentals. In addi- tion to reading the standard works on the subject of contracts, it is very easy for each engineer to get together such standard forms as are valuable and file them in shape for handy refer- ence. It is believed that the forms given herein will be found of much use to everyone as a basis for a larger collection. The subject of ordinaryspecifications, as treated in Chap- ter 111, is intended to serve as a discussion of the anatomical structure of ordinary specifications. No better specifications are to be found in the world than those in use by the great railroad systems of this country and practically all of those published by the engineering journals and kept on sale for general use are of the best of their respective kinds. Specifications of the War and Navy Departments, as dis- cussed in Chapter IV, are models of concise description of the work to which they refer, although it is best that the engineer should so carefully study the construction for which he is to let a contract that nothing is left to the judgment of the bidder, although this is not always possible...