THE SOUTHERN CHAPTER, A. I, A. 23
foolish boasts, what the building would have been had the architect not
put it "in shape."
Now, what an archltect does not want is to be classed with the "Jack-
legs" who never did learn the business nor ever could. He does not
want to be invited to go into a competition where he is expected to put
a dollar "in the slot" and take out a nickel. It is all very well to say
"competition is the life of trade," and that it ought to bring out the
best points of an architect. Experience does not bear out the statement,
"The battle is to the strong ''--the man in the ring. The race is to the
swift; the fellow who does the most drumming. In short, it is the
thick-skinned, half-taught, not-to-be-downed, strong, hearty, pushing
interviewer who wins the prize. The modest, quiet, unassuming archi-
tect who may have spent much money and many years in: fitting him-
self for the art he professes and adorns, has but a poor show in most
competitions; and if he enters upon them atall he is almost sure to find
the prize awarded to a design as inferior to his own as he may be supe-
rior to his opponent.
I need scarcely tell you that in many a competition the award is made
beforehand, and if, out of policy, half a dozen men are invited to send in
competitive designs, it is only because the committee wish to get half a
dozen ideas for the price of one. That is what the architect is roaring
about, and it's enough to make him roar.
One word more about competitions, and I have done. It not infre-
quently happens-let us hope very infrequently-that after an architect
has done his best and won the prize, he finds he has been underbid by
a rival, and is forced to accept half the regular fee for his services or
leave the prize untouched. Five per cent is a small remuheration for
the services an architect is expected to render. For this he must be
held responsible for the safety and stability of the building, see to every
minutiæ of detail; must undergo much anxiety, spend many toilsome
days and sleepless nights perfecting his work, and when all is done,
perhaps has to wait many weary months before he can collect his fees,
and that is what the Architect, he, is roaring about.
The President: Mr. G. L. Thompson, electrician, is pres-
ent, and has a paper to read on " Electricity and its Applica-
tions to Building and Equipping Buildings." He will now
read that paper.
ARCHITECTURE: AS CONNECTED WITH ELECTRICTY.
The principal act in practical. electricity is to see that the machine,
iustrument or battery be properly connected with the wires and other
apparatus to be operated. Electricity, however, as connected with
architecture, is a subject on which little has been said, and at first thought
one might wonder how the two could in any way be connected; truth-
fully, only a few years ago they were not; but as demands are advancing
and increasing every month and year for both architecture and elec-
EN