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XVII
KNOWING HOW
Say, fellows, have you heard of the expert who was called in to start
the big engine? Every wheel in the plant had come to a sudden
standstill. Something had gone wrong in the engine room, and the
engineer was nonplused. To save his life he could not locate the
trouble. The superintendent was down there mad as a hornet. A thousand
operatives were idle on full pay, and it was like burning money on an
ash heap. Still that engineer fumbled around. The "super" telephoned
for the expert to come at once and see what was the matter.
Directly, he walked quietly in, glanced at the steam gauge and turned
the throttle wheel a bit. Then, with a tiny hammer which he drew from
his pocket he lightly tapped some parts of the machine, here and
there. He paused at a certain pipe leading to the steam chest, called
for a wrench, removed a tap and a plate, peered in, then carefully
picked out a piece of cotton waste and replaced the plate and tap.
"Now open your throttle," he said to the engineer. The big engine
moved off like a thing of life, pulleys began to whirl and belts to
whirr, and a thousand hands resumed their work.
In the office the expert handed in his memorandum charge. It was fifty
dollars and fifty cents.
"It is all right," said the superintendent, "we're glad to pay it,
but would you mind telling me what the fifty cents is for?"
The expert smiled, "Why, that is my charge for the one minute spent in
locating your trouble, the fifty dollars is for _knowing how_.
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