Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1885 — A Paving Inspector. [ARTICLE]

A Paving Inspector.

“ What’s this man doing here?” ,“ Why, he’s the Paving Inspector.” “ Of what use is he?” “ Well—um. He gets $3 per day.” “ For what?’ “ To inspect.” “ What does he inspect?” “ Nobody knows. When the contractor on the excavation begins work the Paving Inspector appears. He looks over the street and nods his head. He walks up and down and thinks of his $3 a day. He sits around on the curbstones and shakes his heads in the most solemn manner.” “But if he failed to show up?” “O, that would make no difference. What the contractor doesn’t know the inspector can’t teach him. Sometimes they are not even personally acquainted, and nobody ever heard of an Inspector giving any orders on a job.” “ Doesn’t he throw out suggestions?” “ Very rarely. He sometimes suggests that it is a cold day, or that a glass of beer would just touch the spot, but further than that he never goes. Some folks think the excavator might dig right down to China if the Inspector was not on hand, but that is a delusion.” v “ And when the excavating is finished?” “ Then the excavator packs up and leaves, but the Inspector sticks the closer. He is there when the sand is drawn in. He may know sand from blue clay, but is not required to. He . may know the paver, but he has nothing to say to him. Wnen the blocks come he may pick up one now and then, turn it over and over to see whether it be walnut or cedar, and then lay it down with a trembling sigh, but that’s all. When the blocks are all laid be remains to see the hot tar poured on and the gravel spread out. He knows hot tar from mineral paint, and he knows gravel from clover, seed, but his knowledge is thrown away. When the street is opened for traffic he certifies to that' effect, and his tre-

mendous mental and physical labors are conclude#—except to draw his pay.” —Detroit Free Press. [