My advice to young men would be not only to
concentrate their whole time and attention on the one business in life
in which they engage, but to put every dollar of their capital into
it. If there be any business that will not bear extension, the true
policy is to invest the surplus in first-class securities which will
yield a moderate but certain revenue if some other growing business
cannot be found. As for myself my decision was taken early. I would
concentrate upon the manufacture of iron and steel and be master in
that.
My visits to Britain gave me excellent opportunities to renew and make
acquaintance with those prominent in the iron and steel
business--Bessemer in the front, Sir Lothian Bell, Sir Bernard
Samuelson, Sir Windsor Richards, Edward Martin, Bingley, Evans, and
the whole host of captains in that industry. My election to the
council, and finally to the presidency of the British Iron and Steel
Institute soon followed, I being the first president who was not a
British subject. That honor was highly appreciated, although at first
declined, because I feared that I could not give sufficient time to
its duties, owing to my residence in America.
As we had been compelled to engage in the manufacture of wrought-iron
in order to make bridges and other structures, so now we thought it
desirable to manufacture our own pig iron.
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