Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 136

Shops and the Norton Emery Wheel Co., in which Mr. Higgins and Professor Alden were officers and had substantial interests. The following year the shop committee, Morgan and Whitcomb, were asked to study the method of keeping shop accounts.

The occasion of Mr. Higgins' request for leave of absence during the year 1888-89, to superintend the organization of the shops at Georgia Institute of Technology, again aroused a controversy. Several of the trustees, including W. W. Rice and Waldo Lincoln, were much disturbed by the diversity of Mr. Higgins' interests. Somebody talked, for a Worcester newspaper blazoned a story, under the headline "No man can serve two masters," which in that day was a sparkling bit of sensational journalism. The writer brought up the question of contracts for making emery wheel frames for the Emery Wheel Co. in the Washburn Shops, "the prime mover of the one fixing the charges of the other." He also intimated that the "best brains" of Alden and Higgins might not be devoted to the interests of the Institute. Even though the integrity of these two men was never questioned, the publicity hurt them and the Institute.

Waldo Lincoln, in his treasurer's report for 1890, stated that the condition of the shop demanded prudence on the part of the shop committee. "It might be pertinently asked whether so great an investment for one department in one year is not more than its proportion," he wrote, and warned that if it continued the treasurer would be unable to meet the drafts of the shop committee or pay the salary of the superintendent.

In a supplementary report, Mr. Lincoln protested against a system that excluded the treasurer from personal supervision and care of more than half of the income and expense of the Institute, and he reminded the trustees that he was in no way responsible for the management of the shop. He also expressed some curiosity about why the Washburn Shops should not with careful management make a small profit each year, particularly since they were free from interest, taxes, and

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999