ly repaid for his time and labor.
The least that can be said is that reform all along the line, in matters
of reinforced concrete design, is insistent.

JOHN STEPHEN SEWELL, M. AM. SOC. C. E. (by letter).--The author is
rather severe on the state of the art of designing reinforced concrete.
It appears to the writer that, to a part of the indictment, at least, a
plea of not guilty may properly be entered; and that some of the other
charges may not be crimes, after all. There is still room for a wide
difference of opinion on many points involved in the design of
reinforced concrete, and too much zeal for conviction, combined with
such skill in special pleading as this paper exhibits, may possibly
serve to obscure the truth, rather than to bring it out clearly.

_Point 1._--This is one to which the proper plea is "not guilty." The
writer does not remember ever to have seen just the type of construction
shown in Fig. 1, either used or recommended. The angle at which the bars
are bent up is rarely as great as 45 deg., much less 60 degrees. The writer
has never heard of "sharp bends" being insisted on, and has never seen
them used; it is simply recommended or required that some of the bars be
bent up and, in practice, the bend is always a gentle one. The stress to
be carried by the concrete as a queen-post is never as great as that
assumed by the author, and, in practice, the queen-post has a much
greater bearing on the bars than is indicated in Fig. 1.

_Point 2._--The writer, in a rather extensive experience, has never seen
this point exemplified.

_Point 3._--It is probable that as far as Point 3 relates to retaining
walls, it touches a weak spot sometimes seen in actual practice, but
necessity for adequate anchorage is discussed at great length in
accepted literature, and the fault should be charged to the individual
designer, for correct information has been within his reach for at least
ten years.

_Point 4._--In this case it would seem that the author has put a wrong
interpretation on what is generally meant by shear. However, it is
undoubtedly true that actual shear in reinforcing steel is sometimes
figured and relied on. Under some conditions it is good practice, and
under others it is not. Transverse rods, properly placed, can surely act
in transmitting stress from the stem to the flange of a T-beam, and
could properly be so used. There are other conditions under which the
concrete may hold the rods so rigidl