The Wilmington morning star., 1946-09-26
As Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

on which we feed our hardy native super
stitions is that which holds that the American
workman is not only highly efficient but a
conscientious toiler and honest from the heart
out. That %virtuous and stalwart individual is
no more typical than any other ideal, as all
of us know, and as the late Joe Pulitzer was
reckless enough to admit in a passing flick
when he denounced predatory poverty along
with predatory wealth. The hypocrisy of poll
ticians III salaaming to this fraud is easily
understood, of course, for the so-called COM
mon man las had a profitable advantage in
a reputation that he knows he doesn't deserve
and would annihilate any candidate who
should frankly tell him that he is no less
ready 70 cheat and chisel thar those soulless
corporations which have no votes and there
fore may be fearlessly attacked as monopo-
lists IN rleanness and greed.
There is no more average or common man
than the building trades workman to whom
millions of other AFRICANS now must look
for the labor to build them dwellings,. He
commands high pay and he Includes, to be
sure, some excellent citizens but disgra cefully
few who contain within their persons one or
more OF the virtues unfailingly remembered
IN the laho, day orations. He is. on average
as we'll equipped with faults as any congress-
man whom he claims a right to abuse. This
is common knowledge. in any sizeable crew
on a Joo and the same is true in any news
paper staff or office force.
The woeful tale of the overworked and I'm.
derpaid reporter is true in many a bitter
personal story but the humorous lore of the
Waoe Includes also many exploits, regarded
as elfln Whlmsies, in which journalists loafed
1or days Ill saloons when they were supposed
10 be tracking the suspect and put in expense
accounts that were, in a word, larcenous.
Having in mind the citizen, himself a work
err who undertakes to build a house for his
FAMILY on his savings and his future earn
1ngs' with a mortgage involved, l would sua-
gest that he trust nobody's frank. open counte.
nance and protect himself as well as he can
at all tunes. By all means, he should never
relax his basic assumption that the contractor
on the job will gyp him wherever he can.
"hether by fake invoices padding the number
vi punoles OF shingles and kegs of nails. bv
loading building material into his own car mr.
hldlng 1t under a canvas on his truck to he
delivered to some job that he is building for
himself, or by conniving with loafers and Job
stretchers to run up the costs if he is work
ing on a cost-plus agreement.
II the contractor is an honest man, as he
may De IN one case out of six, although
would call that a high incidence, he won't
have any reason to object to close surveil-
lance and snap inspection. Ii he isn't. the
victim may save a little money by catching
nm IN standard villainies, such as charging
the usual III per cent on a c~oSt-pluS lob for
collecting the income taxes of the workmen
and the social security and Workmen's COM
pensation taxes. No public tax collector is
paid a percentage of his collections and no
contractor is entitled to pay for this at any
rate, to say nothing of a 1.-THE.
This thlevery was practiced on most Of the
great war construction jobs, incidentally, and,
althOlOh the actual amount &c ra1atiyo1, e,oo1
in any project, public or private, the con-
tractor has no right to tie money and
shouldn t get it ana all bills should be ex-
amined mlnutely and this gyp firmly disaI-
lowed. II he threatens to Sue, let him for
he cant win and he will never meet you on
the coul t-hCuse steps.
1t is a wise idea to I've present when tn
trucks deliver lumber, sash, pipes and plumb
ing fixtures and to check actual amounts laid
down against the figures on the invoices. 1t
is wise. also, to glance carefully, as though
casually, but sharply nevertheless, at the
honest toiIers' cars, as we'll as the contrac-
tors, when they start home in the evening
for cans OF paint, hardware, brick and, |
said, shingles and nails. l knew a contractor
who shed actual tears in pleading for a house
building job in hard times, who built a house
of his cwn with material stolen in small lots
from his clients. A security watch after dark
is recommended lest some honest artisan
come back at night to admire his own work
and somehow find kitchen sink in his back
seat on leaving.
If you see a carpenter ripping a board, by
hand, ask the contractor why he didn't set
up a machine. If the operation is a remodel
ing job remove all liquor, canned goods, hunt
ing weapons and boots 70 other premises.
Don't be bashful about checking and asking
questions. You may see a carpenter building
a tool-box for himself with your materials,
on your time. Come in the back way some
times. In a case that l know of, a fine,
virtuous old contractor was sitting around a
hearth-rire at 10 o'clock on a winter morning,
roasting hot dogs with his crew. They had
posted a watchdog in a car in the drive but
the client, whose own mother raised no feeble
minded children, noticed that the job Jagged
while the bills mounted, so, one morning, he
approached from the back. eluding the dog,
and found himself paying a dozen horny-hand-
ed thieves straight time for a Weenie-roast.
Mans inhumanity to man has made cynics
of many a born philanthropist.
At the end of the job, arrange to be sub
stantially ir. debt to the contractor and, by
no means, pay him out until a year has
passed. He will tell you that his wife needs
an operation. That worked with me, once,
and I never saw him again, although time
revealed that he had chiseled on the specifi-
cations to the extent Of about 81, 900. He may
say the hank is threatening to foreclose his
mortgage. Let the bank foreclose. That is his
worry. He may tell you he needs that final