is reasonably proficient in both writing and speaking, he will find himself in a difficulty in which no friend or book of rules can help him. Some features regarding "The Value of English to the Technical Man" were clearly brought out in an address before the Technological Society of Kansas City, by John Lyle Harrington*, an abstract of which may well be quoted in this connection: * * * * * * The great majority of technical men occupy salaried positions in the organizations of railways, governments, constructing companies, and manufacturing corporations. These positions are obtained by means of acquaintances made in a social way, by interview, by correspondence, or on account of an earned reputation. One who is ignorant of the language finds social progress substantially impossible. This may seem a trivial matter, but it is not. Matters of very large importance are very often settled by favor, and favor frequently follows social position. Other things being equal, almost anyone will show his friend the preference in business or professional matters. Social relations make largely for success or failure in the business or professional world. Many have received the opportunity which led to eminence through the recommendation of a casual acquaintance who was favorably impressed. In business correspondence the value of good usage is still more manifest than in conversation. The art of letter writing, like a *Consulting Engineer, Kansas City. knowledge of grammar, is commonly considered to be within the range of everyone's learning and skill; but anyone who has had large experience in business correspondence knows that few men write good letters. Many men owe the opportunity for advancement to their ability to write a good letter. The detrimental results of bad English in conversation or in correspondence are by no means so certain as in the more formal technical papers. In the preparation of articles for the technical press, and papers for the learned societies, there is time to study form and style and to eliminate errors due to haste; hence, when such matters are ill written, it is not unfairly argued that the writer is ignorant of the correct use of the language. The idea that a technical paper is dry at best, and that the English employed in it is of small consequence, has long been proved incorrect. There is so much nowadays that is well written that no busy professional man is willing to spare the extra time and effort necessary to read and digest an ill-written paper. A merchant may advertise his wares, a manufacturer his product, but reasonable modesty and his code of ethics prevent a professional man from advertising his skill. If he does not become known by his work or his writings, he remains in comparative obscurity. His ability is clearly exposed in his writings, in which he gives to the profession his best thought; and if he cannot write easily and well he will probably not write at all, for the censorship of the learned societies is now severe and is rapidly growing more so. Every normal, healthy-minded technical man desires to leave a permanent récord of the results of his best thought and work to aid his co-workers and those that come after him. An ably written description of work performed, discoveries made, or methods developed accomplishes more for the advancement of science than many well designed and well executed constructions. The latter benefit those who see them; the former may help all who can read. Provoking and expensive errors often arise from the misunderstanding of badly expressed orders, rules, and regulations. In large corporations, especially in railway, contracting, and engineering companies where employees are distributed over a wide area, it is impossible for an officer to give individual instructions, or to see personally that they are carried out; hence, general instructions must be so clear that they cannot be misunderstood or evaded. It is hardly necessary to say that the consequences of a mistake in train orders, in instructions regarding breaking track for repairs or renewals, or for making temporary constructions to span washouts, may result in expensive and fatal accidents. And even minor errors, oft repeated, may prove very costly. But the preparation of reports, specifications, and contracts is the most particular and momentous task the technical man has to perform. It is not enough to be careful in a general way. Every word, every phrase, every sentence, has a direct and vital bearing on the work governed by the documents. I have known the presence in the contract of a single word of equivocal meaning to cost one of the parties many thousands of dollars, though when the contract was drawn there was no question regarding the intent of the parties to it. Notwithstanding the vital importance of clear, concise, and full expression in such documents, it is not uncommon to find specifications and contracts so bad in their construction that they fail utterly in their purpose * * * as a large number of engineers and architects compose their specifications by copying and combining sentences and paragraphs from various sources, instead of by writing them, from fundamental knowledge of the construction desired. In such instances the client is protected infinitely more by the honesty, knowledge and skill of the contractor than by those of the architect. Very few railway specifications for complicated structures are so well written that a contractor cannot comply with them to the letter, yet give the company construction far inferior to what the writer of the specifications intended, thereby gaining for himself material advantage. The lawyers and the courts are kept busy rectifying the blunders of other professional men who do ill what they are paid to do well. I know of one contractor who has grown gray in the business of constructing buildings, who has never completed a contract without a law suit, and who has never lost a law suit. This speaks ill for the work of the architects under whom he worked, yet they are probably no worse than their fellows. If it were not good policy to be reasonably honest, many another contractor might easily approach his record. Literary expression should, therefore, be considered as one of the most practical problems with which the engineer has to deal. It can be cultivated to a high degree of perfection by a judicious application of the principles governing the elements of correct English composition, as given in any good text-book of rhetoric and exemplified in the standard literature of the language. WHAT CORRECT LITERARY EXPRESSION INVOLVES. Correct literary expression involves the study of many elements: selection and arrangement of ideas in accordance with the principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis; grammar, spelling, penmanship, and punctuation; words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters; clearness, simplicity, variety, and interest. Much depends on the means of expression, whether written or spoken; whether it is a letter, a detailed descriptive article, a theoretical article, a summary, or a book; a speech, a lecture, a debate, or ordinary conversation. The class of readers or hearers to whom the composition is addressed must be considered, also its purpose, and whether it will be read from written manuscript or from typewriting or from print, and even the style of writing, typewriting, or printing, needs careful consideration. It is manifestly impossible to give |