The Red Cloud chief., 1914-10-15
Career Of Engineer Who Has
Shown New Workers How
Graft Can Be Minimized.
ICE BILL GAVE HIM IDEA
Making Good on HE First Contract,
he Now Has Scores Of ONCE
Buildings In His
Charge.
BY RICHARD sPILLANE.
Copyright. 1914. by the Mcclure. News,

tnat was the period In which ne had
been in New York-he had not made
q dollar. His Office was so small that
me Of his friends used to say he did
not dare to breathe hard while in 1t
for fear Of straining the walls.
At first Compton had been proud Of
that office, but it had come to be a
nightmare. The rent bill worried him.
So did the water bill, the towel bill
and the ice bill. He was an electrical
engineer. and a good one. He had
expected to get enough business to
pay expenses, at least for the first
year, but was finding it hard to break
into the crowded New York field.
AS he brooded over his failure he
scrutinized the months bills. Twenty.
five dollars seemed q lot to pay for
that tiny Office, but there was no es-
cape. Ice at 81 q month appeared
high. Having nothing better to do he
figured what ice wal costing him per
ton. Some days the lump he got
weighed four pounds. and sometimes
i've. Sometimes he got none. Ac-
cording to his figures he was paying
$40 q ton for ice.
Spoff0rd, who was q bit of q pessi-
mist, called to see Compton and
Compton, full of his woes. told him of
the ice outrage.
well. what are you kicking about?"
Spofford asked. Don't you know
there 10 as much graft in an office
building as there is In q Tammany
Job? The ice man has to pay tribute
10 the superintendent or the ~janitor.
So do the towel man and the spring
water man. So does the man who does
the lettering on the office doors. But
that is petty. The big graft is in the
basement. The engineer gets a rake-off
: on every ton Of coal and every barrel
Of ~lubricating oil and every Job Of re-
pairs, whether to IN elevator. or the
boiler or anything else. II I had the
graft that is collected in the office
buildings of New York. I'd be a multi
millionaire in a few years."
Then He Got Busy.
For q week or ten days after Spot.
ford's visit. Compton was SO busy that
he wondered how the time passed so
quickly. He visited coal men. oil
men, elevator men, electric light and
power people and a host Of others.
He found q means of getting into the
engine Dom Of various skyscrapers.
and everywhere he went he asked q
lot Of questions.
. .
Every letter. marked personal or
other. that was directed to Peter
Tomlinson at his ONCE was opened by
Rogers, his private secretary. Out of
an average Of forty or fifty a day, Mr..
Tomlinson was bothered with the
reading of only a few.
who's this fellow Compton?" asked
Mr.. Tomlinson, testify, as he glanced
YER the communications laid before
him by his secretary mi morning.
II do not know, except what he says
In the letter." Rogers said. He ia
n Of our tenants. and seems to be
= graduate Of some good engineering
schools from the list he furnishes"
Mr.. Tomlinson read the letter again.
Il asked for an interview of ten min.
utes, and the writer promised he
would show how Mr.. Tomlinson could
save $1,000 . year in the management
II one Of his once buildings. That
was all, except the references Rogers
mentioned.
Timely Elevator Accident.
"Bah!" exclaimed Tomlinson. 1.-THE
town is full Of men who cannot earn
their salt, but who want to instruct
successful men how to conduct their
affairs. Don't bother me with these
pesky fellows any more" And he
threw Compton's letter in the waste
basket.
That afternoon IN elevator in one
OF T~omlinson's buildings dropped q
story. There were only q few per
IONS in II, but one OF those persons
was Mr.. Tomlinson; so the affair was
serious. although no bones we're bro
ken and no n suffered. except from
shock. At Mr.. Tomlinson's request
Rogers flshed Compton's letter out OF
the waste basket and wrote to him
Compton called the next morning.
MI. Tomlinson was DESTROYS Of
knowing why that elevator slipped
Compton promised to make an exami
nation and report, but ventured the
assertion that primarily there was
laxity Of inspection. No such acct
dent was possible with proper inspec
ton. Then he took up the matter he
had proposed.
He began at the beginning. He
told the story Of the ice bill. Then
he explained what he had been doing
for a week or ten days.
Points Out Some Leaks.
TN the building in which I have
my Office" he said. there Is about
$4,000 a year graft. The graft Itself
would not be so bad but for the fact
that It leads to ineficiency. Graf