Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-15
JUSTICE TO A STATISTIcIAN
What Becomes Of All the Watches
Discovered at Last

"Only a few years ago." said MT.
Fatherly, "I read some statistics about
the sale of watches that seemed to me
at that time to be fabulous. The num-
ber of watches sold annually was So
and-so many, while the entire popu-
lation of the country, men, women and
children, were so many, much smaller
number.
"How could those watch statistics
be right? Did every man, woman ana
child in the land carry a watch, carry
two or three watches, as they would
have had to do to make the watch
figures come out anywhere near right!
Poohl The figures were foolish.
"But now 1 know differently, now that
1 am blessed with youthful son.
zone Of my young sons earliest ambi-
tions was to own watch, and of course
that wish was gratified, and unless you
have O young son yourself you may
doubt my figures as to the number OF
watches that we have since supplied
to him as much as I doubted the figures
in the general watch statistics.
1.-THE number of watches that the kid
uses up is something astonishing. He
drops his watch in the street and in
the house, and so Jars its internal
organization into chaos.
HE winds 1t till he breaks some
thing, he regulates 1t till it's beyond
regulation, he sets 1t seven times day
he is always tinkering with 1t, and
under such handling watches with him
don't last long.
I'VE got them repaired at first, but
even with constant repairs the life of
watch In his hands is short, and then
we have to buy him a new one, for he
must have watch. And how many
watches we buy him in the course of
year I wouldn't dare to tell you.
ITO be sure, we don't buy him expen-
sive watches, and in that fact lies the
key to my present knowledge of the
accuracy Of the watch figurer's statis-
tics, which once I doubted. He didn't
say that we used up in q year so many
squintillion million billion trillion stem
winding, full-jeweled stop-watch, split
second chronometer repeaters; no-he
just said watches. And that was where
I was misled.
II hadn't any young sons then, and
my idea of watch at that time was
of pretty good sort of watch, such as
people ordinarily carried, and I knew
that there couldn't be any such number
as he said we used. But now l know
that he meant all watches, including
the sort carried by small sons, and
now 1 know that his statistics, instead
of being ridiculously exaggerated, were
really far within the truth, and made
so by him with deliberate intent. I can
imagine that appalled, by the figures he
got from various sources he said to
himself:
What's the use? Nobody would be-
lieve these figures If I put them out
and I'll scale 'em to somewhat within
the bounds of reason and understand
ing
And that is what he undoubtedly
did. AS has often been done before and
since, in many causes, he sacrificed
truth on the temporary altar of popular
error and made his estimate most con-
servative.
But L am glad to be able, even at
this late day, to do that watch sta
tistician justice. which 1 am now able
to do because now / have at least a
glimmering of the enormous total con-
sumption of pocket timepieces. 1 don't
pretend to be able to solve the ancient
problem of what becomes of all the pins,
but 1 have got at least some sort of idea
of what becomes of the watches"