Excerpt from Concrete Steel Construction: A Practical Treatise for the Constructor and Those Commercially Engaged in the Industry

There is unfortunately today a much too popular notion that concrete is mere mud, a conglomerate mixture of sand, stone and cement which any chump ought to understand fully. How far this notion is from being correct is best understood by those who have worked carefully from day to day, year in and year out in this line, and realize fully the breadth of the field.

That this notion has indeed possessed many in the engineering and architectural profession is evident by the ridiculous presumption of those totally innocent of any practical experience in this line of business in accepting appointment on committees supposed to draw up safe rules for the conduct of this class of construction resulting in dangerous regulations, loss of life to workmen and increased cost to the owner for inferior construction.

While making a business of putting up reinforced concrete construction and not of writing books, the author is moved to make an effort in this line in view of the fact that present treatises on this subject contain no discussion of safe and unsafe details worthy of the name, no formulae for figuring the strength of multiple way systems that would indicate that the authors ever have built and tested a building and absolutely no suggestion as to the possibility of figuring the elastic behavior of the slabs or their strength with a degree of precision within several hundred per cent.

Another feature in which the majority of treatises are of little value lies in the lack of information as to the cost of executing many kinds of work.

As no human work is perfect, the writer will merely offer his contribution on the subject as an attempt to fill, as best he may, what he considers a want in the field. If the writer"s effort in this line tends to prevent loss of life in erecting a class of construction which, barring gross ignorance of its design, is unquestionably the safest to erect, most permanent, fire proof and satisfactory known, his aim and object will be attained.

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