The evening times., 1900-07-16
MONEY IN SMALL THINGS
How Millions Have Been Made by
Attention to Trifes.

writer in current publication says
that great fortunes have sometimes hung
on very small hinges. that many a man
has made a million dollars or more by
paying attention to little things, and that
others have found that what seemed in
significant proved TO be very important
indeed. He continues:
"A seedy individual called on Alonzo B.
Cornell. IN his office on lower Broadway,
New York, and exhibited device which
he claimed would do away with that
plague of the modern business mans life
the Office boy. He held in his band
crude instrument about three inches
square by two inches deep, with a wire
attached, and a small key, or lever, to
pull down. Mr.. Cornell listened atten-
lively to what the inventor had 20 say,
especially to his explanation how q com
pany could be organized-with offices at
some central point in a city-where mes
senger boys could be kept in waiting 10
respond to calls: how call-boxes could be
placed in business houses, to be operated
| by this simple lever, and how the boys
could run erTands, sweep out Offices. and
do ether things, al a charge OF so much
per hour.
Mr.. Cornell paid the man s.. 0C0 for it.
and then he organized the American Dis
! trict Messenger service. a business which
enabled him 10 clear 500 .000 from the sale
OF his surplus stock and which has earn
ed millions Of dollars for him and for the
telegraph companies which succeeded him
in its control. Thousands of boys have
been given employment as a result and
millions OF messages have been added TO
| the business Of the great telegraph lines
II Mr.. Cornell had ignored the matter the
| chances are that the. discouraged inventor
would have given up the attempt to in
terest people in his scheme, while It Is
certain that Mr. Cornell would never have
rea,e ed millions from IL. and that he might
| never have become Governor Of New York,
as be did a few years later. IN 1873.
Almost q similar experience was that
Of Charles Gould, who was Collector OF the
Port OF Buffalo. sixteen years ago. One
day he bought q patent car coupler from
a poor man. who offered II for $500 and a
| job IS foreman Of the factory which should
make il. NJ Gould knew that the Patent
Office al Washington had granted patents
On seventy five different styles OF car cOu-
piers and that il - a standing joke among
the Washington officials that every crank in
The United states sooner or later tries HIS
hand AT invenJing them. Upon enquiry,
Nr. Gould ies med that, while less than
100 had been given patents. over l,TcO had
been received up 10 that date-about 1883
Bur Mr. Gould did not care II there were
a million patents in existence. II this was
a good one he would find way 70 put Il
/ on the market. or. rather. on the cars OF
the United States Il IS now in use on 20
many railways that X requires 5000 men
20 make the coupiers. and 300 other men
10 ship them and put them on Mr. Gould
is president OF many large manufacturing Z
companies. which have groNc out Of the
coupler business. Mr.. Gould enjoys an in
come Of s.. eco a day from these companies,
and has accumulated a fortune Of Sle.-
coo oH0 in the past ten years He kept his
. promise 20 the man who furnished Ihe cou-
pier.
Twenty years ago the great brownstone
Quarries Of New England were furnishing
the cities OF the Atlantic seaboard mil
lions OF feet c. sawed stone. In saving
] the stone rough diamonds were used. fast
I ened securely in the edges Of great swing
ing blades 0f steel which were driven
back and forth by steam power across the
giant blocks brought from the quarries.
But the diamonds cost a great deal OF
money. and wore out in a few weeks ow-
ing 10 the incessaHt friction on the sand
stone IL was not possible 10 split the
sJone-nOthing but clean. smooth surface
on the slabs would do. TIE teeth Of sven
hardened steel saws were found 10 wear
out IN one day. and steel saws cost many
dollars each The trade vas ripe for some
genius who could lessen the expense Of the
saving
He appeared In the person OF M Till
man. who had an idea that chilled steel
would be sufficiently hard 10 weE. a. least
as long as diamonds. He fastened steel
shot in the saw and started IT, They drop
ped out. because. being round hey coG.a
not be securely inserted near sire edge OF
the saw he did not notice the rnishap uu-
ri some tine had elapsed Then he stop
ped the saw and found that an The tiny
steel bullets had dropped out. Bur what
was his establishment to find that the saw
( had done better work than ever before.
using the chilled shot IN q detached way.
rolling them back and forth in the aper-
tura. He cut deeper and deeper into the
stone. having just as many shot left as
NJ the beginning He patented his discov-
! cry. and soon all the mills in New Eng
land were using his CALLED steel shot"