This suited him exactly; and it suited me equally well.
"Come into my room and talk it over," said the great sleeping-car man.
I did so, and the result was that we obtained the contract jointly.
Our company was subsequently merged in the general Pullman Company and
we took stock in that company for our Pacific interests. Until
compelled to sell my shares during the subsequent financial panic of
1873 to protect our iron and steel interests, I was, I believe, the
largest shareholder in the Pullman Company.
This man Pullman and his career are so thoroughly American that a few
words about him will not be out of place. Mr. Pullman was at first a
working carpenter, but when Chicago had to be elevated he took a
contract on his own account to move or elevate houses for a
stipulated sum. Of course he was successful, and from this small
beginning he became one of the principal and best-known contractors in
that line. If a great hotel was to be raised ten feet without
disturbing its hundreds of guests or interfering in any way with its
business, Mr. Pullman was the man. He was one of those rare characters
who can see the drift of things, and was always to be found, so to
speak, swimming in the main current where movement was the fastest. He
soon saw, as I did, that the sleeping-car was a positive necessity
upon the American continent.
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