deposit with the Comptroller to the full amount originally required. In addition to, or in lieu of, the sale above provided for, the Commission may, in the name of and in behalf of the City, bring any appropriate suit or proceeding in any proper court to enforce the lien and claim of the City in and upon the said deposit, whether such deposit be in money or securities.

Some forms provide that a surety Bond shall be furnished instead of the certified check, and the following form has been used:

K.

PROPOSAL BOND

In consideration of the premises, and of One Dollar to us and each of us in hand paid by The City of ... and of other good and valuable considerations, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged:

We, the undersigned, jointly and severally, consent and agree, that if the contract for which the preceding bid or proposal is made be awarded to the person or persons making the same, we will, upon its being so awarded, become bound as his or their or its sureties for the faithful performance of said contract; and if the said person or persons shall omit or refuse to execute such contract and give the proper security within ten days after written notice that the same is ready for execution, is so awarded, we will pay, without proof of notice or demand, to the City, any difference between the sum to which such person or persons would be entitled upon the completion of such contract, and the sum which the City may be obliged to pay to the person or persons to whom the contract shall be awarded at any subsequent letting; the amount in each case to be calculated upon the estimated quantities of work, labor and materials by which the bids are tested; provided, however, that the estimated amount under the subsequent letting be greater.

In Witness Whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, this.... .....one thousand nine hundred and.....

day of.....

(Note. Each and every surety must sign below and state his place of business or residence.)

No seal is shown here; apparently reliance is placed, in this form, upon "One Dollar......and other good and valuable considerations" as the consideration of the agreement, while in the other forms reliance is placed upon the seal.

In the form above there appears to be no limit to the liability incurred by the sureties, and most surety companies would probably be at some loss as to what charges to make for furnishing such a Bond.

Another form somewhat similar in its general features provides in case of failure to sign the Contract and furnish Bond:

...thousand dol

L. We bind ourselves, . . . . . .to pay......the sum of lars ($.... .) as liquidated damages to reimburse said Board for expenses or delays incurred in making another letting for the construction of, etc.......and we do further bind ourselves to pay to said Board, the difference, not exceeding thousand dollars ($. .) between the amount of the accepted pro

posal of the undersigned bidder, and the amount for which said Board may procure and accept a bid or proposal from other parties to do said work, if the latter amount be in excess of the amount stated in the proposal of the undersigned bidder.

The criticism of both of the above is as to substance rather than as to form. Most Engineers and most Contractors would probably prefer that the Bond should cover a specific sum just as the certified check does, to be forfeited in case of failure on the part of the Contractor to sign the Contract and furnish the Contract Bond. The general practice is in harmony with this view.

If a Bond of this sort is to be furnished it may simply and properly be in the following form similar to that of the Contract Bond used by the Cambridge Bridge Commission, and that approved by the American Railway Engineering Association.

M.

PROPOSAL BOND

Know all Men by These Presents:

That the undersigned....

are held and bound unto the (name the Board or Company) in the sum of.. ....dollars, lawful money of the United States

of America, to be paid to the said. its successors and assigns, to which payment the undersigned, jointly and severally, bind themselves, their heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns. The condition of this obligation is such that in case the Proposal made by Contractor for (briefly indicate the work), to be opened A.D. 19.., shall be accepted by (name the Board or ComContractor shall sign the Contract and furnish the Contract Bond in all respects as provided and agreed in said Proposal, this obligation shall become of no effect; otherwise it shall continue in full force. Signed, sealed and delivered this.... Attest:

pany), if...

...day of.....

.A.D. 19..

(SEAL)

CHAPTER XIX

SPECIFICATIONS

As has been stated previously, it is not always possible to draw a clear dividing line between Contract provisions and Specifications. It has also been stated that the Specifications are sometimes bodily included within the limits of the Contract, and are sometimes contained in a contemporary document which by express provision is made a part of the Contract, as the plans, in their turn, are made a part of the Contract or of the Specifications.

Strictly, as to form, the Contract should be an agreement and the Specifications not. The latter should specify qualities of materials, methods, and processes, and the quality or condition of any resulting structure. In form, the Specifications should state that a certain material shall have specified qualities, and not that the Contractor shall furnish such material of specified qualities; or that a process shall be carried out in a certain way or under certain conditions rather than that the Contractor shall conduct the process in this particular way; or it should provide that the structure shall have specified qualities. The form, however, is less important than the substance.

For a general statement the Contract should cover an agreement to do work, and the Specifications should apply to a particular class of work as well as to the particular work in hand. Practically it is often difficult not to overrun the theoretical line between the two on one side or the other. Clearness of description is of the utmost importance. For this a clear vision of what is wanted is the first requisite. To this must be added. sufficient ability in the use of language to make clear to others what the Engineer sees clearly. An able Contractor has stated that his training in descriptive geometry was of great value to him because it permitted him to visualize a piece of work.

There are several mediums of expression, among them: spoken words, writings, drawings, and models, all of which may at times be used to describe work to be done. Specifications in writing, and drawings are regularly used to express what the work is to be, or perhaps how it is to be done. For some classes of work, models are well-nigh essential; and

the frequent use of moving pictures for such purposes is by no means improbable in the early future. They have, however, the disadvantage, ordinarily, of not being available for frequent examination.

Specifications should be logically arranged, partly for clearness, partly so that two clauses differently worded shall not be written covering in whole or in part the same thing. Otherwise the meaning may be made obscure, and while the decision of the Chief Engineer may in general be final as to the meaning of a clause so far as technical questions are involved, the court, if appealed to, will not allow its jurisdiction to be ousted, certainly as to whether a breach of contract has occurred, and commonly as to the meaning of a Contract which is to be decided. A Contract means what it says and the Chief Engineer cannot directly change it, or misinterpret it, which is the equivalent of changing it. The quantities of work or the quality of construction are matters wherein the decision of the Chief Engineer will not be disturbed unless for lack of good faith on his part, as has been stated.

Specifications and drawings not only express what work is to be done but they also state in many cases existing conditions as to soil or foundations or borings, or other facts necessary for the Contractor for an intelligent bid.

Upon the Company or the City, properly devolves the duty of determining the conditions as to soil, foundations, and other matters upon which the construction depends and upon which the bids must be based. It is uneconomical to require that each Contractor shall make borings or extensive surveys or investigations to determine conditions, and this should not be expected of him. A failure to know conditions means, in the long run, bids from the Contractors high enough to cover risk, and it is good economic law that the Company is the gainer from reducing the Contractor's risk to a minimum.

The Company or the City oftentimes refuses or fails to provide money or opportunity to make the proper preliminary investigations of conditions necessary both for adequate designing and for intelligent bidding. Friction and lawsuits are among the probable sequences. The Engineer should exercise great care in stating facts or conditions whether in the Specifications and drawings, or in the Information for Bidders. He should state only facts and not conclusions derived from them. If borings have determined certain ledge elevations, these should be shown. Drawing contours based on these as probable elevations of ledge is unwise; let the Contractor do this if he cares to, or let him rely on the elevations shown.

With relation to Specifications and drawings, however, it is sometimes provided: