The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-02-07

81 s,I55e eIIFsI1ydue.s,. Nora than one Of
The undeFllngs IN the offIce knew that
the young bookkeepef who was dis
missed a. the time Of the first change
had been padding the pay ron for
weeks. Apparently the dismissal was
made without any knowledge OF this
BIT Of high.finance, but merely as the
result OF the studies IN personality on
the part OF the mysterious efficiency
Most remarkable ofau the change
had been the rapid rise Of Peter Nor
gen. At the time the upheGVal began
he had been employed Tor two weeks
as fireman down IN the boiler room,
and not especially capable fireman
had he been. He vas quiet and some
Of the men imagined dissatisfied.
Then SUDDENLY he had been pro-
NOTED. Within three weeks he was!
foreman OF one OF the departments,
and now at the expiration Of two
months, he had responsible position
in the private office OF Mr.. Kingdom
himself And this IN spite Of the fact
that young N6rgea had apparently re-
sisted all promotion. and had shown
an utter lack of schooling. He had
even proved his inability to write fig
ures and for this reason had special
| stenographer TO take all his d:ctatioN
for him. Moreover, he doggedly refus-
de to dress as man In Mr.. Kingdoms
private oGice should dress and came
F.; and went IN a flannel shirt over.
ais, and insisted on eating lunch with
the other men in the court yard at
noon and consortinS with them al
closing time rather than with the me1
in the Office departments.
No one was more puzzled than Nor
II IN
was at all pleased he did not show it.
And this was disappointing, il not to
! Efr. Kingdom, who had taken a fancy
! to the young man, then at least to the
daughter on whose persistent advice
! HNorgen had received his repeated pro-
motions. Already In his logged almost
surly way he had relieved Kingdom OF
great deal OF worry. In spite OF HIM
! self he was proving the rightness OF
the advice Of the efficiency adviser.
! One day Norgen came abruptly to
Mr. Kingdom with his question: WHO
I is responsible for my promotions" he
! demanded. eff there is something be
hind this, ought to know" You might
have supposed that he was complain.
| ing about plot to keep him forever
| working as fireman rather than be-
cause Of repeated promotions. I've
| heard you employ an efficiency ad-
wiser. wen, I want to know on what
| the expert bases his conclusions" He
| spoke slowly and at times with broken
! English, though It would have been
hard to determine the nationality that
| his accent indicated. "'9 You don't want
to tell me, at least You ought to let
/ me see this expert myself 1t Is very
important"
| kingdom said slowly and almost sol
EMMY. "You see the expert every day
-four times day and II am not
! much mistaken you usually stop and
chat with the expert for a few min
utes when you come in at noon In
fact" Mr.. Kingdom was looking
straight into the young mans face,
'I have reason to believe that the e1-
pert occasionally meets you ateer
hours and allows you to escort her part
way homeI
ance and then something akin to
amusemenmt "a curious choice for an
! efficiency adviser-what does she
know of mems abHities?" he asked.
"She picked you from the rest" was
! Mr.. Kingdoms answer, and you nave
made good. should never have no
| ticed you even in a dozen years. She
i sens to know every day. She IS pc
! coming invaluable. It's rare SaLC-a
sort of second sight"
"She might have found out" the
young men who went by the name OF
! Norgen said and then he made clean
breast OF the situation. AS a son OF
| large factory owner and sure some
| time to derive q large income through
| the operation of his own Inherited
! plants. he had started out intent on
! learning at first hand the point OF
| view of the men whose labor made
J Dossible the running OF such fac
| tories. The theory that he especially
! planned to prove to himself was that
! the men who worked for his fathers
plant had to show and were ground
| down as mere machines. He even en-
! tertained some high-flown idea OK re-
! nouncine all claim to the inheritance
! II he could. Justify himself in the belief
: that such was the case. He had
{ really wished to remain in the King
don factory. He took grim pleasure
| in the grimness OF it. And then N
| spite of himself, and in spite OF ms
i pretense of iIlfteracy his promotions
! had begun. Instead OF being able to
| 30 back to his father with any account
| of the oppression OF labor he would
| show him the rare proof OF his ab1li-
ties. For he was now holding down
a very important position for Mr.. King.
don and had thoroughly mastered
/ some Of the most important phases OF
! the large plant
I'm a little inclined to be angry
| with you," he told the sirl who had
been responsible for his promotions.
still perhaps you have done me
more fsood than harm You hape