"It's
all here in my notes. You've hurried over the line and you just
slipped up a foot or so in your observations of that section."
Mr. Lee refused to look at the notes and waved Neale aside.
"It'll hurt my chances for a big job," Neale said, stubbornly.
"You probably will lose your job, judging from the way you address
your superiors."
That finished Neale. He grew perfectly white.
"All this expert-commissioner business is rot," he flung at Lee.
"Rot! Lodge knows it. Henney knows it. We all do. And so do you.
It's a lot of damn red tape! Every last man who can pull a stroke
with the Government runs in here to annoy good efficient engineers
who are building the road. It's an outrage. It's more. It's not
honest ... That section has forty miles in it. Five miles you claim
must be resurveyed--regraded--relaid. Forty-six thousand dollars a
mile! ... That's the secret--two hundred and thirty thousand dollars
more for a construction company!"
Neale left the office and, returning to Henney, repeated the
interview to him word for word. Henney complimented Neale's spirit,
but deplored the incident. It could do no good and might do harm.
Many of these commissioners were politicians, working in close touch
with the directors, and not averse to bleeding the Credit Mobilier.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155