Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-09-30
CHAPTER I.
Tho Expert.

|
and other matters of hardware. sat
up straight IN an uncompromising
chair and watched the mysterious ma
neuVers OF a small electric juggernaut
Inc Jusgernaut went its way along a
narrow steel track, which turned cor
ners not only sidewise but I'D and
down. The track skirted the wall for
the most part, but occasionally took
short jaunt across the ceiling. There
was one point at which 1t dissppea red
from the room. through a hole in the
wall
| The juggernaut had habit of stop-
ping at desks, dropping papers on them.
picking other papers up, dropping the
other papers somewhere else, and eter-
nally going about it's business in an
awesomely silent and precise manner.
1t was mechanically uncanny.
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.
II.
New tangled business, eh?" OBJ
served Mr.. Brooke, staring in fasci-
nation at the hole in the wall.
"Oh, certainly"
Bet 1t cost you a lot of money"
"One thousand three hundred and
twenty-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 office boy re-
moved it. But for maintenance-well,
between 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 grandmother flu
neral-
Some boy" sighed Mr. Brooke,
whose establishment knew none of its
kind. Saves you something, sup
pose?"
it's cost Of installation in year and
dollars ahead of the game. Never
took vacation yet, nor asked for one.
Saves time, money and sorrow"
Mr.. Brooke, who was also the presi-
dent Of a corporation. nodded his head
solemnly, indicating that there was no
use OF arguing the matter.
How much is my bill?' he asked.
'"Twenty-tw two thousand dollars" re-
piled Mr.. Sherwood promptly. Here
It is
"Ouch!-
Ten per cent of what we've saved
you on a years operating cost. Is that
muchy'
Moo; not when you look at it that
way. ! suppose"
You admit the saving, don't your"
Got to-.
Everybody in the hardware factory
over which John w. Brooke presided
had to admit it The things that the
did to that establishment were amaz-
ing. The task had been one of sew
eral months in performance, and 1t had
been thorough in results.
1t did not always appear TO be i'm
portant---but II was. For instance,
when the E. and E. folks discovered
that one of Mr.. Brookes files. in the
process of making, Travelled 1923 yards,
passed thrsdgh IL machines, turned IS
corners, and consumed a total of 6S
to make the trip, they said,
IAN wrong" When they got through
with that file it was a domesticated
1t Travelled but 322 yards,
went through only Z machines, turned
27 corners, and did the whole journey
in 81 minutes and % seconds. The file !
was just as good in every way as its
slow moving predecessor, for it sold
for Just as much money and II cost
a cent and half less. John w. Brooke
made an appalling number of files.
What f. and e. did to the file It did
to almost everything in the Brooke
except the office boys; |
and Mr.. Brooke was now seriously con-
their downfall, as he |
watched the silent electric youth re-
move handful of letters from the desk
Of the brunette with the pink cheeks
and convey them to the desk OF Mr..
Sherwood. with directness and sin
gleness OF purpose that merited loud
acclaim.
MIR. Brooke had been a douoter when
the Economy and Efficiency folks, In
specting his imposing factory, nom
chalantly 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
and he thought he ought to
lnow something about his infant indus
Try. But when e. and Z. got through
Brooke admitted that he was wrong.
His baby had ailments of which he
never dreamed. The diagnosis made
I appear to be very sick child. He
was worried about 1t.
In his anxiety to see his industrial
offspring cured of its troubles and
hereby assured of green old age.
Mr. Brooke permitted the z. and 4.
business surgeons to operate and med
cate. Somehow they managed to do
I without bringing about a strike. a
Ire, or an earthquake. to the end that
John w. Brooke made more hardware
md more money. without reducing the
cost to the consumer one red cent