Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
With Discussion by Messrs. F. Lavis, Charles H. Higgins, S. D.Newton, William V. Polleys, C. P. Howard, J. E. Willoughby,Henry C. Adams, Carl C. Witt, R. A. Thompson, Charles H.Ledlie, William G. Raymond, W. H. Williams, P. E. Green,E. Kuichling, Richard T. Dana, George T. Hammond, LeonardMetcalf, Charles Hansel, J. Martin Schreiber, Clinton S.Burns, Halbert P. Gillette, Arthur L. Adams, C. D. Purdon,A. Mordecai, W. B. Ruggles, and Henry Earle Riggs.
The industrial and economic development of the past two decadeshas opened many new lines of special work in the Profession ofEngineering, none of which is more difficult and complicated or ofgreater ultimate value to the public at large than that of the appraisalor valuation of the property owned and operated by public servicecorporations; and none of the fields of engineering specializationrequires greater care or calls for more skill, experience, integrity, orsound judgment.
The individual engineer, or commission of engineers, enteringupon an appraisal of large magnitude, particularly one including propertiesof more than one company, will find conditions varying in everyone, and each property presenting new, complex, and confusing elementsof value to pass upon and determine.
Prior to 1900 there had been few calls on engineers for largeappraisals, and the literature descriptive of engineering effort along2this line was practically nothing. Since 1900 many extensive appraisalshave been undertaken by States, by railroad and banking corporations,and by cities; certain well-defined lines of practice have beendeveloped; many differing opinions as to certain methods and principleshave been brought out; and enough has been added to the printedliterature to enable one to compare methods of work and to fix with reasonablecertainty upon some as correct, and to discard others as improper.
There are so many complex factors entering into the problem ofvaluation, so many widely different plans have been presented, andthere are so many thinking men who have opposed and do honestlyand sincerely oppose any form of valuation, that a most thorough studyof the subject should be made. It should be examined from all angles,and every possibility of danger from legislation regarding it should beweighed with utmost care.
The question of railroad valuation, involving as it does the largestindustry of the nation, naturally takes first place in such a discussion,but so many of the general principles of railroad valuation areapplicable to the appraisement of corporate property, so many argumentshave been advanced by engineers and others, and so manyjudgments of the Courts have been rendered in connection with water-worksand gas-works valuations, that it is not desirable to limit thisdiscu