Special Crane Fittings ordered by Wm. A. Pope, Chicago, for the Ft. Wayne & Northern Indiana

Traction Co. Weight of the two fittings about 11,800 pounds

An advertisement in a current periodical is written by a purchasing agent.

It tells how, in his younger days, this agent thought that "Price" was King, and

that to cut a half-cent from standard prices was his idea of earning his small

salary.

Later he learned that the goods thus bought invariably were a half-cent

shy on quality or worse. He was not praised by the boss. He was

"damned by the whole works."

Now he buys only standard goods. Quality

is King, and price but a humble subject.

By "standard" he does not mean necessarily the highest priced stuff, but

goods that are the best adapted to the purpose for which they are made and

that are so uniform in quality that the manufacturer dares to identify them

with his trade-mark.

The purchasing agent who studies, first, what are standard goods in his

particular line and then confines himself wherever possible to the buying of

such goods, builds for himself as pleasant a berth as the field of business can

supply, and is a daily growing comfort to those who have to use what he buys

and pay the bills he incurs.

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE IN CHINA

The Chinese are credited with the invention of paper. For centuries they
have made it by hand, and they have managed to turn out some products that
for excellence of texture and finish have not been equaled by paper makers
anywhere else in the world.

Now a modern paper mill has been built, equipped and set running at
Kongmun, a city on tidewater in the Pearl River Delta. The enterprize is
backed by Chinese capitalists and a number of Chinese living in the United
States. The machinery is of German make, but the wily Japanese who installed
it have put their trade-mark on every piece of it.

This may be called the completion of the paper making circle in China
granting that the Chinese really are the inventors of this universally useful
article. The new mill uses chiefly rice straw for its pulp, and is said to turn

out a satisfactory article of paper. Rice straw in China is practically limitless in quantity, labor is cheap, and once the operators get well into their stride it would not be surprising if the Chinese eventually should furnish a solution for the problem that even now is confronting paper makers on this side of the water. The supply of wood pulp is far from inexhaustible. The time is not far distant when some other material must be found to take its place, even to satisfy the single enormous demand of the newspapers.

It is a long way from here to China and transportation cuts a large figure in the distribution of paper. But with modern methods, cheap water transportation and cheap labor, it is not among the improbable things that China before a great while may be furnishing a goodly amount of the paper from which we read our news each morning at breakfast.

HEALTH AND THE INSPECTION OF PLUMBING

Mr. Otto J. Moose, secretary of the conference committee of the Master Plumbers' Association and the Journeyman Plumbers' Union, of St. Louis, Mo., has urged the Board of Freeholders of that city to place the supervision and inspection of plumbing under the jurisdiction of the Board of Health. The plumbing divisions in St. Louis now are under the Sewer Commissioner.

This is a reasonable and enlightened request. As the prime purpose of plumbing inspection is to promote comfort and protect health, it would seem that the desired end might be most effectually attained under the direction of the department charged with the protection and conservation of public health. We do not mean by this that the inspector of plumbing should be a physician or an expert in hygiene, but that he should be required to demand conditions that the physician or the hygienist consider satisfactory.

Several of the cities in this country now have plumbing inspection in charge of the boards of health, with such satisfactory results that it can be only a question of time when such an arrangement will be the general rule. It is significant that in the case under consideration the change is advocated by a representative of both master and journeyman plumbers.

HOW TO ORDER GOODS

At the head of the order department of every large business organization, there is a man compared with whom Job had neither patience nor troubles. As a decipherer of cryptograms this man is of necessity a past-master. As a reader of signs and omens he is an adept of the innermost temple. As a translator of strange tongues he has Elihu Burritt "tied to the post."

This man does not do all these strange things from choice. His intuition, his insight, his legerdemain, often his gasping prayer that he may be “guessing" reasonably close to the mark, are thrust upon him; and all because about one person in ten knows just how to word an order that will be understood.

It should not be a difficult matter to write an order properly. It's largely a question of thinking clearly. If you know exactly what you want, know it

THE

VALVE

WORLD

clearly, and tell the order-man as exactly and clearly there need be no occasion
for "interpretation" or "guessing" where the order is received, no excuse for
asking for "further information."

An order that does not state precisely what is wanted means added expense
at both ends of the line. Always it means more correspondence; frequently
it means telegraph or long-distance telephone tolls.
All of this extra expense
could be avoided through proper care in the wording of the order.

It is not practicable here to illustrate our point by citing instances. Their name is legion, and the correctly and clearly stated order of to-day may be the subject of much guessing and worrying to-morrow. Every catalogue of importance gives all the information that is needed for the proper writing of orders for the products it lists. Carefully read what the catalogue has to say on a given subject; as carefully and clearly set down your wants; and the order-man will go ahead blithely and fill your order.

If we filled every page of this magazine enlarging upon this topic, we could add nothing substantially to what we have said in these few paragraphs. Boiled down to a short sentence it reads:

Know exactly what you want; order exactly what you want; and you'll get exactly what you ordered.

PREVENTION OF VIBRATIONS AND NOISES

There is an organization in Berlin known as the "Company for the Prevention of Noise and Vibration." Its purpose is to study first how vibration and noise in the operation of machinery are produced, and, second, to devise methods and select materials that will reduce both vibration and noise to the practical minimum.

As there can be no sound without vibration, this company might have chosen a shorter title. The "Company for the Prevention of Vibration" would have been an all-inclusive name. Increase in the size and the speed of machines has added largely to vibration and consequently measurably increased the volume of noise. A certain amount of noise in the operation of machinery is to be expected, but when that noise becomes a rattle or a screech or a pounding, it has no excuse from the point of view of efficient mechanism. In reducing vibration - preventing it is mechanically impossible - the first consideration naturally is the construction of the machine; the second, its installation; the third, its operation.

Special attention in designing and building should be given to those parts that will be most subject to strain and vibration in operation. This point far too often is overlooked by designers. Given a properly constructed machine, it ought to be so set that not only will its own tendency to vibrate be restrained but its vibrations will be kept as far as practicable from traveling beyond itself. It is at this point the Berlin company claims to be most useful.

With a machine rightly made and set up to the best advantage, an observant and intelligent operator is the next step in restraining vibration and reducing noise.

There really is no excuse for one half the din that assails one's ears in the

average factory. Not only is the noise trying to the nerves, but, as the expression of vibration, it is trying to the machinery. Efficient and economical operation recognizes in every sound made by a machine the voice of vibration, of jar, of friction, and each one of these spells wear. It may be set down as a readily demonstrable conclusion that the greater the noise made by a machine, the greater the wearing of its parts, and consequent shortening of its life.

Reducing vibration and noise, therefore, not only in machinery but in almost everything else, is an economic as well as an æsthetic problem. In lessening noise we are increasing profits by keeping down repair and replacement costs. It is worth while to think this over whether you are designing, installing, or operating a machine.

TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AMONG

MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS

The executive secretary of the National Short Ballot Organization, 383 Fourth Avenue, New York, which is working in conjunction with the National Municipal League on the problem of increasing the efficiency of municipal officials, has sent out the following seven principals which the joint organizations have formulated:

(1) Elimination of all considerations in the selection of all administrative officers (or members of the "operating" departments), except fitness, as determined by individual aptitude, training and practical experience.

(2) Perfection of methods of determining fitness of administrative officials, especially those of the higher executive class.

(3) Elimination of the residence requirement for all non-political officers.

(4) Assurance of proper authority to qualified public servants in the exercise of administrative duties.

(5) Assurance of permanency of tenure, promotion, and adequate compensation for satisfactory service.

(6) Expansion of the facilities for securing scientific information on all phases of municipal activities (Municipal Reference Libraries).

(7) Establishment of more adequate means for the training of men for administrative service, especially in its higher grades.

Expressions of opinion from engineers and others in the technical branches of municipal work are invited. Suggestions especially as to principles 2 and 7 would be particularly welcome.

WOMEN FAVOR PUBLIC COMFORT STATIONS

Chicago's backwardness in the matter of providing public comfort stations now may be considered a memory. The women of that city-united under the title "Chicago Woman's Aid"- have taken up this matter with their customary enthusiasm, and it goes without saying that at last something definite and satisfactory will be accomplished.

There are two things that every municipality should provide for its citizens and visitors, just as now street paving, sidewalks, water and light are provided - an abundance of pure drinking water bubbling from conveniently located fountains, and a liberal number of public comfort stations.

The cities of Europe are far ahead of us in both of these particulars, but more especially in the matter of the public comfort stations. London, to name but one foreign city, has spent nearly a million dollars in the construction of