Branching, as a rule, direct from the president's office and occasionally from the general manager's, are the purchasing agent and the store-keeper, many times one and the same, or the former acting as superior to the latter. The purchasing agent has no easy role. If he is not above sharp practices--the gift of a bit of furniture or a theatre box, in the least instances--he will fulfil only part of the reputation of his office; and if he is--as many, many of them are--absolutely honest down to the keenest degree of an acute conscience, he will probably still be under the suspicion of some querulous minds. His opportunities for deceit and guile are many, so much the more must he be an honest man in every full sense of that word. He brings the modern railroad's passion for standardization down to the purchase of its every sort of supplies; for his office goes out into the market for anything, from a box of matches to a locomotive. The very fact that his department is a non-revenue department, save for an occasional sale of scrap-iron or discarded materials, only serves to put him the more upon his guard. He must not yield to the wiles of crafty salesmen. He must measure their wares by a single standard--economy, as expressed in selling-price, in durability, and in cost of maintenance; and upon that standard he must decide between them, as impartially as a justice upon the bench. He must be guided by standard. If it be typewriters, he must struggle against the preference of this department or that for some particular machine, and bring all to the test of his three-headed economy. The successful machine will then be adopted for the system and brought as such. No small responsibility rests upon his accuracy of judgment. His store-keeper must see to it that there is no waste of supplies. He must see to it, for instance, that the engineers are as careful in their use of oils as the clerk in that of stationery. "We use $4,000 worth of lead pencils alone in the course of a single year," says one of them; "and if we didn't keep hammering at the boys, that figure would jump to $5,000 or $6,000 without realizing it." He keeps check on the supplies that he issues. His stock of blank forms, alone, would do credit to a wholesale stationery house in a sizable city; for the railroad is a liberal user of printer's ink in its own devices. He must be thrifty and he must be economical; he must look to it that the railroad's money is not wasted in the purchase and use of its supplies. Together with the general counsel, the general attorney, the claim-agent, the treasurer, and the comptroller, the purchasing agent and the store-keeper stand as guardians of the railroad's strong-box. CHAPTER XII THE GENERAL MANAGER