ere is opportunity for the upbuilding of greater efficiency in the
conduct of employees and in securing the maximum output, by
establishing more comfortable and healthful conditions than usually
exist. The elimination of political influence from municipal service
is also a task which challenges the people of to-day, and the
operating and managing engineer is in a position to perform an
important part in accomplishing this end. The number of employees
can be reduced to those actually needed, and the way opened for the
employment of men who thoroughly understand the necessities of
honesty and efficiency in the conduct of public affairs. It should
be remembered that to design and construct well is only half the
job; to operate economically and efficiently is even more of a
problem than to build, and requires just as good talent, just as
keen appreciation of the various problems, and is even more
essential to public welfare. It seems to the writer that the logical
development of the art of obtaining economy as well as efficiency
should be along these lines, rather than to revolutionize methods,
without having a long-period test of their value, and at the same
time allow political influences to control, to a large extent, the
labor item.

_Preliminary Treatment._--The decision as to the preliminary
treatment of the Potomac River water before filtration is of
interest, particularly because various other conclusions have been
reached in different sections of the country. However, in the main,
these decisions have been due to differences in the character of the
waters, but it must be evident that they have sometimes been the
result of ill-considered action, or the desire to promote some
special interest. The use of preliminary filters, which involves a
large investment, is not always to be commended, particularly
because at times of reasonably good water the removal of some of the
organic matter is really injurious and lessens the effect of the
final filters.

For a long time, the writer has believed that, where other things
are equal, and where there is no important reason for double or
preliminary filtration, long periods of storage, accompanied by the
use of coagulant at times of severe and extreme muddiness, as
planned at Washington, solves the problem in the most practical and
economical way. It is true that the investment for a large storage
basin may equal, or even exceed, that required for preliminary
filters; but t