Here are some figures showing
loss and expense in the general maintenance account. Look them over and
tell me what you think."
"Wastage, you mean?" queried the trainmaster, glancing at the totals in
the auditor's statement.
"That is what I have been calling it; a reckless disregard for the value
of anything and everything that can be included in a requisition. There
is a good deal of that, I know; the right-of-way is littered from end to
end with good material thrown aside. But I'm afraid that isn't the worst
of it."
The trainmaster was nursing a knee and screwing his face into the
reflective scheme of distortion.
"Those things are always hard to prove. Short of a military guard, for
instance, you couldn't prevent Angels from raiding the company's
coal-yard for its cook-stoves. That's one leak, and the others are
pretty much like it. If a company employee wants to steal, and there
isn't enough common honesty among his fellow-employees to hold him down,
he can steal fast enough and get away with it."
"By littles, yes, but not in quantity," pursued Lidgerwood.
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