As a case in point, on a certain contract involving over a million dollars, the company that was organized to conduct the work was provided with a small working capital, bought its plant on a time basis, and proceeded with a small working capital, under the impression that it would not be necessary to borrow any money, that the work immediately commenced would be sufficient to pay all the expenses and leave a profit, which profit would gradually accumulate and enable a running fund to be maintained which would take care of future contingencies. The idea was admirable. It happened that the work was in earth and rock excavation also known as _unclassified_, and was taken at a price which would admit of a large profit in any event. The rock work, if taken economically, would cost more than the contract price; the earth work, if taken economically, would cost considerably less than the contract price. The original plan contemplated starting the earth excavation at a point to which another contractor was to excavate, and it was not deemed feasible to commence the earth excavation until the other contractor had cut up to the line between the two contracts. Dependence was placed upon the other contractor doing his work on time, which he did not do; and it was then decided that it would be impracticable to commence in the earth, and work was accordingly commenced in rock, which work was conducted at a considerable loss. The strong financial position of the contracting company was the only thing that prevented it from going to the wall with a most excellent contract partly completed and a lot of good money tied up. [Illustration: A VIEW IN THE STRUCTURAL SHOP OF THE MINNEAPOLIS STEEL & MACHINERY CO., MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.] We shall assume, for purposes of illustration, that a certain contractor desires to bid on some public work involving the removal of 100,000 cubic yards of earth work and 50,000 cubic yards of rock work. He estimates that he can do the earth work for 30 cents per cubic yard, or $30,000, and rock work for 80 cents per cubic yard, or $40,000, making a total of $70,000 for the entire 150,000 yards, or 46.66 cents per yard for an average of the earth and rock; and he puts in his bid at this figure.