One railway of some scores of miles hung fire; the directors were
congested with their fears of exceeding the estimates, and so a shrewd
man of business, a contractor, i.e., a man with a mind contracted to
profit and a keen eye to discern the paths of profit, called on them.
This man had made his way upward, and passing through the process of
sub-contracting, had obtained a glimpse of the upper glories. And thus
he relieved the directors from their difficulties, by proffering to make
the railway complete in all its parts, buy the land at the commencement,
and, if required, to engage the station-clerks at the conclusion, with
all the staff complete, so that his patrons might have no trouble, but
begin business off-hand. But the latter condition—the staff and
clerks—being simply a matter of patronage, the directors kept that
trouble in their own hands.
Our contractor loomed on the directors’ minds as a guardian angel, a
guarantee against responsibilities, backed by sufficient sureties, so the
matter was without delay handed over to him, and he knew what to do with
it.
—_Roads and Rails_, by W. B. Adams.