Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-11-08
COUNT THE COST.
Advice for Mechanics, which Certainly
Worth Following.

Advice for Mechanics, which Certainly IL
Worth Following.
Every thing. no matter how small,
has some value. Every thing used
about any shop. mill or place OF BUSH
ness costs something. and no matter
how small it is, or how little its cost,
it should in some way be accounted for.
The old Scotch saying, ''mony miclle
makes muckel!'' should always be
kept in sight Every thing purchased
should be thoroughly weighed and it's
value noted. The price paid for a
thing is not an exponent of its value.
Its value consists in the return it
brings. A book, paper, machine or
appliance is of no kind of value to its
owner unless it gives him something
in return, or renders an equivalent for
time or money expended, and we
should sscount the cost" A thing we
can not use, and consequently is of no
value to us, is dear at any price; we
should "count the cost" before buying.
Before buying any machine we
| should see it, or its duplicate, working
under all the conditions the machine is
calculated to work under, and in no
case buy second quality of tool, or
one that will do a small amount or an
inferior quality of work. The cost
should be counted, and if more is paid
for it than it will return to us in work
performed, it is dear purchase
The cost should be counted in buy
ing betting. A poor belt is costly at
any price, for it never runs well or
pulls well, and costs more in time to
lace and relace and patch than two or
three good belts in the end. Lacing
should be carefully selected. If you
trust to the dealer to select hides of
lacing for you, he always has few
hides of poor quality, and it is to his
interest to get rid of this poor stock.
and if you leave the selection to him,
you will probably get one of these poor
hides, therefore it is best always. be-
| fore cutting them up, to see how much
| it will cost you to use it.
The first cost of any thing is a small
item, and not a single thing should be
| bought because it can be bought ''for a
mere song" What will it cost to use
or run it, comparatively? If it is a
machine, count the cost of oil, betting,
time spent in repairs, and amount and
quality of work done in a given time,
and compare it with another machine
doing the same kind of work.
In buying files there should be a
close discrimination, for files are curl
Gus things to buy. There are thou
sands of them so poor that junk
dealer would not run the risk of steal
| ing them, for the cost of carrying them
to his pile of old iron would be more
than they we're worth. The only way
to get good files is to count the cost oil
using, and get hold of some firm who
always furnish first-class file, and
stick to them. Don't ever buy. or beg,
or even borrow, an acid re-cut file
Count the cost in hiring labor, and
be careful in selecting it. A man may
be good man for somebody, but no,
for you. A man to be of value in any
particular business must be adapted to
it, and be able to do it with ease and
dispatch. Simply because he is a man
is no sign that he will be of value to
you as an employee. Count the cost OF
every thing in the sense of what value
it will be to you in using. Wood
| Yorker