Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-06-09


to do all in his power to break down the
Superintendent that he might supplant
him, that is get his place. How he ep-
Grated in order to gain his end will APP
pear as we proceed. Having thus in
troduced almost all of the leading actors
in this drama, on the stage, We will
now proceed to the play. yH q
The Surveyor of Customs at st. Louis
was in the Ring. He was also connect
ed with the st. Louis Railway Supplies
Manufacturing Company, which furn-
ished the bulk of the supplies used on
the work, commonly at about fifty per
cent. above what the same articles
could have been bought for in open
market; but he being paymaster on the
work, had no difficulty in settling the
bills; SO that for every dollars worth of
goods obtained from that source be-
tween the contractor and the Coul-
pany, the Government paid one dollar
and sixty-five cents; and every dollar
of a freight bill paid to the railroad,
cost the Government one dollar and
fifteen cents. SO much for getting the
supplies on the ground.
Under the bargains with the Govern
ment, the contractor was bound to
quarry the rock down to two inches
each way in excess of the finished
stone; but scores of rocks whose shar es
would have puzzled Euclid, came down
to the sheds from the quarry, and the
Government stone-cutters went to work
not to dress but to quarry them; that
is, to do in the sheds, at the expense of
the Government, the very work which
the contract bound the contractor to do
at the quarry at his own expense.
But this was not all. For every dol
lars worth of his work thus done for
him gratis by the Government, it paid
him, directly or indirectly. tLirty-two
cents besides.
There was good deal:of private work
done by some parties at the quarry, at
the expense of the Government. The
writer can give the names of seme dis
tingushed citizens of st. Louis in this
connexiOn. sr,+
Unfaithful employees were another
source of trouble Some of the fore
men would call the roll, set the men to
work, and then leave. AS soon as
they were gone some of their men
would straggle over the works, but be
back by quarter time, when the fore
man would return. The Timekeeper
noted the absence of these men, as well
as of the foremen, and shortened on
them; whilst the foremen, leaving the
men at their work when they went
away and finding them there when
they returned, credited themselves and
the men with full time. Tvyf
In one month this led to a jog of
more than thirteen hundred dollars be-
tween the books of the Timekeeper and
those of the foremen. This raised a
row. But there was one fact noticed.
The foreman of Section z. never left
the work one minute during the work.
ing hours, and between his book and
that of the Timekeeper there was per-
feet accord.
But the Chief Clerk in the Govern
ment office was a man of infinite re-
sources, adequate to any emergency.
and he remedied the discrepancy. For
instance, if A. had failed in October to
work to specified amount, and failed
in similar way in November, he re-
ceived in November for the time he did
not work in that month the pay for
the time he did not work in October;
and If the shortage in October overrun
that in November, the surplus was
credited to some other man who was
short in November. Thus the Gov
ernment paid men money they had
never earned, the contractor got his
thirty-two per cent, and
.The work went bravely on"
But to prevent such joys in future,
the Timekeeper and all the foremen
were required to leave their time-books
with the Chief Clerk at night. The
writer only knows two things. the one
is that when he handed in his book at
night he knew nothing about how it
would read IN the morning, and the
other is that matters went smoothly at
the expense of the Government; for he
footed up his tine-book by sections,
and kept daily abstract that was not
handed in at the Office.
But having spoken of some Of the
shirkers and dodgers on the work, very
few of that class remain to be noticed.
One man, blacksmith, cost the
Government four dollars and a half q
day without lifting hand TO work.
He roasted on his forge, whilst others
in the shop kept his forge clean, and
charged four dollars and half a day
for overWork. The Timekeeper raised
him in a hurry. Another one was .
e,,h;oot of OaueraI daunoPal liza tio0 -