The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-07-24
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.

in the paving contracts remarked an
old contractor, who was discussing paw
ing with friend last night and, as a
rule, it is the contractors bulI-headedness
that causes the loss although he loses
himself Nine times out of ten the loss
is caused by the contractor getting an
the actual cost OF the work IN order to
get the JOB and spite the other. fellow
money for spite is difficult for an out
slider to understand but when a man is
In the contest for the contract and can
come TO no understanding with his COM
petitors, he considers that he is doing
them an injury-and sometimes he IS
right I did a little of that kind of fool
ishness one time myself, and did IL when
could not afford to lose cent, but my
dander was up and I stood to lose $500. I
got out of it in an unexpected way 1 was
at that time doing bridge work. and there
were lot of Contractors in the same
line who had gathered in western KAN
town where the county commission
ers were asking bids on seventeen bridges
We had been together in a good many
county seats bidding on that class of
work and 1 had STAYED out a number of
times to accommodate the others I
wanted in this particular deal and told
the other contractors 50. but they made
some rather uncomplimentary remarks
and gave me to understand that was
not in their class and couldn't get a
no reply. but before o'clock the day
when the bids were to be opened. put
about ss5 per bridge less than cost I got
every one of the contracts and my, how
What do you mean? You can't possibly
do it, but I put bold face and
bridge contract and had not forgotten
how to figure My only hope was to sell
out my contracts and I succeeded One
of my competitors had been getting all
the bridge work in that section of the
country. for his frrn-one of the largest
in the business-and he could not AFFORD
to let anyone else get a foothold- SO he
came to me and after a lot of dickering
gave him the contracts for $50 don't
know how he fixed it with the commits
sioners, but it was SO arranged that he
out and I guess if he had not been afraid
of the loss of the business he. could have
worked me for a few hundred instead of
'Tt always makes me mad to have a
tleman at the oxford, and it is doubIy
aggravating when that woman is my wife
to know when to let go. but will keep
reminding one that at some time in his
joke She always does this when there
are visitors present. and, of course, dweils
feels the chills chasing each other up his
spinal column She generally makes it
ding: I really should not tell this, be
cause 1t always makes John angry; but
it really is too awfully funny: he made
such a sight of himself. and my, but you
should have seen the expression his
face; it was just too comical-' Then is
when man IS supposed to grin and look
pleasant, and then is when he really feels
that he could lay violent hands upon some
one | know, for have been up against
just that kind of proposition It hap
pened this way: The neighborhood
epidemic of snakes 1t seemed that all
the snakes in the surrounding country had
decided to make our suburban locality
their headquarters, and every evening
when the neighbor man and myself would
get home we would be RECALLED during
gated snakes Those women managed to
see more snakes than a man could find in
Of ha frar Va ia1-
part of it was that we men never found
more than an innocent gartersnake. OF
ings and evenings, and the snakes prob
ably regulated their appearance by our
tation of snakes my wife had purchased
some linoleum of a small diamond shaped
I had not seen the stuff and as she looked
at the Hnoleum she had what she con-
s,l 81 - Nc q attSntS oLlSht ssloIsht.
She took a superhuous piece OF it about
seven feet long and two inches wide and
placed it in the grass on the lawn in a
sinuous position; then she notified all the
other female wags to be on their front
porches when I came home I got there
and was met at the gate by my wife, and
as we walked toward the house she point
ed at the snake and screamed I jumped
finally ran around to the barn and came
back with a hoe I lit in that piece of
linoleum and chopped it to pieces while
those women laughed until they cried I
appreciated the joke all right, but
would like to be able to say that I had
heard it told for the last time"
They are getting this tampering with
the human body down too fine to suit
me- said one of the members of a group
in the Copeland II read an account of
a man in Sydney, Australia. who lost the
use of his larynx through disease, and |
of course, he lost his voice. A scientific |
man named Stuart, who is a professor in |
the University of Sydney. is said to have
made artificial one, and 1t can be so |
regulated to make his voice soprano |
alto. tenor OF bass, at will. We have be- |
come accustomed to artificial legs. arms, |
hands, eyes. hair, teeth and ears. and we
ly to a man who has been going about |
without his stomach or with whale bone
ribs We meet men in the common walks |
of life daily who have mad their inner |
works exposed to the glorious light of |
day and replaced without missing a meal, |
and we talk Familiarity with people whose |
been grated. thus destroying the person. |
ality. We are becoming accustomed to |
the man who is almost as much the Gre
aticn of science and mechanics S he is of |
carrying the thing too far; 1t is sIapping |
nature directly in the face and then dar-
a man with four voices could create in a |
community He could sit out the |
porch and talk soprano with q friend, and |!
the entire neighbOrhOOd would tell the |
guiltys of conduct unbecoming a gentle |
man He might travel as quartette and |
sing popular songs while he unfurIed the |
American flag.
Think of all the mean tricks man en-
dowed with four voices could play-they /
would fill a hundred books If the pro- |
and the report is authentic. he should be |
restricted by law to the issuing of but one |
voice to man, and that voice should |
be registered in the court to prevent q |
change
War Comes High