The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1914-10-30
Career Of Engineer Who Has
Shown New Workers How
Graft Can Be Minimized.
ICE BILL GAVE HIM IDEA
Making Good on His First Contract,
He Now Has Scores of Office
Buildings in His
Charge.
BY RICHARD sPlLLANE.

Mr.. Compton was near the end oil
his resources. For six months-and
that was the period in which he had
been in New York-he had not made
dollar His office was so small that
one of his friends used to say he did
not dare to breathe hard while in il
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 a lot to pay for
that tiny office, but there was no es-
cape. Ice at So a month appeared
high. Having nothing better to do he
figured what ice was costing him per
ton. Some days the lump he got
weighed four pounds, and sometimes
five. Sometimes he got none. Ac-
cording to his figures he was paying
$40 ton for ice.
Spofford, who was bit of a pessi-
mist, called to see Compton and
Compton, full of his woes, told him of
the ice outrage.
swell, what are you kicking about?"
Spofford asked. Don't you know
there is as much graft in an Office
building as there is in a Tammany
job? The ice man has to pay tribute
to 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 an elevator, or the
boiler or anything else. If l had the
graft that is collected in the Office
buildings OF New York, I'd3be a multiA
millionaire in few years"
q Then He. Got Busy
) For a 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 host of others.
He found means of getting into the
engine room of various skyscrapers,
and everywhere he went he asked
lot of questions.
Every letter, marked personal or
other, that was directed to Peter
Tomlinson at his office was opened by
Rogers, his private secretary. Out of
an average of forty or fifty day, Mr..
Tomlinson was bothered with the
reading of only few.
who's this fellow Compton," asked
Mr. Tomlinson, testify, as he glanced
over the communications laid before
him by his secretary one morning.
Il do not know, except what he says
in the letter" Rogers said. 'He is
one of our tenants, and seems to be
a graduate of some good engineering
schools from the list he furnishes"
Mr. Tomlinson read the letter again.
It asked for an interview of ten min
utes, and the writer promised he
would show how Mr.. Tomlinson could
save $4,000 a year in the management
of one of his Office buildings. That
was all, except the references Rogers
mentioned.
Timely Elevator Accident.
BAH" exclaimed Tomlinson. "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 an elevator in one
of Tomlinson's buildings dropped
story. There were only a few per-
sons in it, but one of those persons
was Mr.. Tomlinson; so the affair was
serious, although no bones were bro
ken and no one suffered, except from
shock. At Mr.. Tomlinson's request,
Rogers f1shed Compton's letter out of
the waste basket and wrote to him.
Compton called the next morning.
Mr.. 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.
'In the building in which 1 have
my Office" he said, there is about |
$4,000 year graft. The graft itself Z
would not be so pad but for the fact
that it leads to inefficiency. Graft