West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-02-13
CONTRACTORS.
Growth Of Thcir opctutIon. and nature
of Their WORK.

ot Their Work.
To many people thc word contractor
presents the idea of a person combining
the salient characteristics OF political
"boss' and the custodian of trust
fund; man whose pockets are lncd
with money gotten 10y ways that art
dark and tricks that are bv NO mcau4
vain As far rs accomplishing Che gath
cring in of Shckcls /, concerned Bu,
so far from beng social outcast and "A
moral cNcrcSccncc on the community.
the contractor is an extremely active
and important factor in modern civili-
zation, for he has hand i'm nearly
every work of public or private inn
porlauCc that Is undertaken lie is c..
scntially a modern institution Among
the aucicntS he appear, in but ono ~.
striCtod sphere Those interesting al /
dcSpotS, whose sole end and aim i'm life
was to squeeze the last penny out OF
their subjects used TO farm out the rev
enucs, dclcgating the squeezing procrs.
TO that one of their beloved and trusted
subjects who would pay the mos, ior
the contract. Further than this how.
ever, the system docs not seem tn have
b'NA AIil'llNAls utlN II no lttOIN tI tine
letting of contracts for hrick-Wurk ON
the Tower of Babel. Noah did not ad-
Vertise for proposals TO build the Ark
And we have every reason for believing
that the stone which went into tho
Great Pyramid was bought i'm opcn
market for, If furnished by contract.
1t would have been bigger lob than
the Philadelphia city buildings
Dutiptr frnp, thp first kt,t1.I,,.. - 80,
roads in England. when the older
Brassey and his compccrs ON the cont
ncnt laid the foundations of their colos-
sal fortunes, the modern contract sys-
tom has developed until now everything.
from putting up a country school-housr
or furnishing tho inmate, OF the city's
charitable institutions with Thanksgiy-
ing dinners, up to building twenty
million-dollar State House which threat
ems To slide down hill into the river. is
done 10y contract. Some wcll equipped
journals devote thor columns entirely
to the discussing and advertising OF
contracts, and every daily has il, cor
ncr reserved for the latter I'm this
country contracting received great
stimulus during the civil war, when the
major portion of three billions OF dol
lars went out of the Government Treas
ury into the pockets OF host of army
contractors
There are three great classes of
American contractors those engaged
upon internal improvements, those do
ing railroad and municipal work, and
Indian contractors The first class In.
cludes number of firms throughout
the country who are eng god in i'm
proving the National waterways Their
prosperity lluctuates with the varying
proportions of the River and lIarboi
bI'
TO the second class our railroads and
city improvements owe their existence.
The typical contractor is the Jolly, largo
llmbcd lrishman who has himself swung
the pick and handled the shovel. In
the city he is something of politician
and has n cousin or two i'm or near
the City Hall, who gives him "poiutar-''
on coming Jobs and lets him into the
ring. On railroad work hc must mike
himself solid with the engineer i'm
charge, for his fate is entirely i'm the
latter's hands BY means Of his cGti-
mates Of work upon which all bids are
based, 1t is in the power of the engineer
TO make or break the contractor A
liberal estimate makes clad the heart
and fat the pockct-book OF the contrac;-
or, while with "a close or scant c~timut
the completion Of the contract leave
him on the ragged edge of bankruptcy.
The labor employed varies in nation
atty Up to 1870 Ireland furnished
nearly all OF it, Since then Italians and
IIungarans in the East Swcdc, i'm the
West and Chinese upon the Pacific cor {
have largely supplantcd Patrick A. T.
ILiLlLnc