Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-10
CHAPTER !.
TILE EXPERT

machine tools, drills, pumps, saws,
files. and other matters Of hardware,
sat up straight in an uncompromising
chair and watched the mysterious ma.
neuvers of a small electric jugger-
maui. The jaggernaut went it's way
along a narrow steel track, which
turned not only sidewise but
up and down. The track skirted the
wall for the most part. hut occasional
ly took q short jaunt across the cell
ing. There was one point at which 1t
disappeared from the room, through a
hole In the wall.
The juggernaut had a habit OF stop
ping at desks, dropping papers on
them. picking other papers up, drop
ping the other papers somewhere else.
and e%ternally going about its business
In an awesomely silent I'M precise
manner. It was mechanically uncan-
NY.
What the blazes Is it," demanded
John W. Brooke.
President Sherwood, Of the Economy
and Efficiency Corporation, Limited,
glanced up from his desk and smiled
at the juggernaut, which at that in
slant vanished through its hole like a
startled prairie dog.
"Omce-boy," said Mr.. Sherwood.
"New-fangled business, eh?" observ-
ed Mr.. Brooke. staring in fascination
at the hole in the wall.
"Oh, certainly
BET it cost you a lot of money"
"One thousand three hundred and
tw%enty-six dollars and forty.eight
cents" said Mr.. Sherwood briskly, as
he blotted a paper and placed it in the
jaws of a steel continuance, from
which presently the ofice-boy removed
It. But for maintenance-well, be-
tween eight and nine cents a day.
Does the work of three ordinary boys;
never gets sick: never sasses the stem
ographer; never goes to a ball game;
never went to its grandmothers fun
eral."
Some boy" sighed Mr.. Brooke,
whose establishment knew none OF it's
kind. Saves you something, ! sup
pose "
wouldn't have it II it didn't. Saved
its cost of installation In a year and a
half. and is now several hundred dol
lars ahead Of the game. Never took a
vacation yet, nor asked for one. Saves
time, money, and sorrow"
Mr.. Brooke, who was also the presi-
dent of q corporation. nodded his head
solemnly, indicating that there was no
use OF arguing the matter.
"How much is my bill?' he asked.
twenty-five thousand dollars" re-
piled Mr.. Sherwood promptly. Here
It is"
Ouch"
"Ten per CEN Of what we've saved
you on a years operating cost. Is that
much?"
moo; not when you look at it that
way. l suppose"
YOU admit the saving, don't you?"
Got to-
Everybody in the hardware factory
over which John w. Brooke presided
had to admit 1t. The things that the
Economy and Efficiency Corporation
did to that establishment were amaz.
Mig. The task had been one Of several
months in performance, and 1t had
been thorough in results.
It did not always appear to be i'm
portant-but it was. Fol instance,
when e. and K. folks discovered that
n of Mr.. Brooke's files, in the
process of making travelled 1928 yards,
passed through IL machines, turned
rs corners, and consumed a total Of
So minutes to make the trip, they said. !
"All wrong" When they got through
with that file 1t was a domesticated
instrument. 1t travelled but 322 yards.
went through only Z machines, turned
~ corners and did the whole jour.
ney In 81 minutes and ~ seconds. The
ale was Just as good in every way as
-. sN~- ~a~xlr- -r~Aa1Auoor fOr ~ |
sold for Just as much money and 1t
cost . cent and a half less. John W.,
Brooke made an appalling number OF
nios.
What Il. and ID. did to the file it did
TO almost everything In the Brooke
establishment except the of1ce-boys;
end Mr.. Brooke was 10y seriously |
contemplating their downfall. as he
watched the silent electric youth re-
move q handful Of letters from the
desk Of the burnette with the
pink cheeks and convey them to the
desk Of Mr.. Sherwood, with a direct
ness and s%insleness Of purpose that
mse4tsd loud acclaim.
Mr.. Brooke had been a doubter
when the Economy and Efficiency
folks. inspecting his imposing factory,
nonchalantly offered to save him over
two hundred thousand dollars a year.
In fact. he had laughed scornfully.
He himself had builded the John w.
Brooke Hardware and Machine Tool
Company, and he thought he ought to
know something about his infant in
dustry. But when E. and e. got
through Brooke admitted that he was
wrong. His baby had ailments Of
wlcch he never dreamed. The dag
nosis made 1t appear to be a very sick
child. He was worried about it.
In his anxiety to e his industrial
offspring cured Of its troubles and
thereby assured Of a green old age,
Mr.. Brooke permitted the e. and E.
business surgeons to operate and med
icate. Somehow they managed to do
1t without bringing about a strike. a
fire, or an earthquake. to the end that
John w. Brooke made more hardware
and more money. without reducing the
cost to the consumer one red cent
which would have beer impossible !
-~ryh1ry h,oapca yDhnlv nr1r a ,