76.  As  a  practical  illustration  of  the  usefulness  of  Statistics,  the  same  Value  of
President  told  me  how  he  had  been  able  to  reduce  the  cost  of  handling  a  ton  Statistics
a  mile  over  one  of  his  Districts.  It  used  to  be  some  mills  and  a  fraction,  il'
The  District  Officer,  he  knew,  was  sparing  neither  time  nor  trouble  over
his  work.  None  the  less,  he  told  him  that  he  must  devise  ways  and  means
of  knocking  off  that  fraction.  But  just  as  the  District  Officer  began,  to
see  some  possibility  of  meeting  the  President's  wishes,  an  order  came  for
some  large  work  to  be  done,  the  cost  of  which  was  to  be  charged  to
operating  expenses.  Ordinarily,  a  new  force  would  have  been  engaged  to  do
the  work,  but  that  would  have  increased,  not  diminished,  the  cost  of  carrying
a  ton  a  mile.  He  knew  his  President,  and  he  knew  that  even  unexpected
work  would  not  excuse  his  failure  to  do  what  he  had  been  asked  to,  and
therefore,  that  he  must  somehow  or  other  contrive  to  do  that  work  and  at  the
same  time  knock  off  that  fraction.  He  was  made  to  think  ;  and  it  eventually
occurred  to  him  that  each  gang  of  trackmen  could  spare  a  man  for  a  few
days  without  affecting  the  efficient  maintenance  of  the  real ;  so,  instead  of
employing  outside  labour,  he  took  one  man  from  each  gang  and  did  the
work ;  and  with  this,  and  other  economies  which  he  found  possible  ivhen  be
looked  more  careiully  into  the  details,  he  succeeded  in  meeting  the  President's
wishes.
