“Do you believe that system does so much?” I ventured.
“System and good measure. Give a measure heaped full and running
over and success is certain. That is what it means to be intelligent
servants of a great public need. We believed in thoughtfully adopting
every attainable improvement, mechanical or otherwise, in the methods
and appliances for handling every pound of grain or flesh. Right
liberality and right economy will do everything where a public need is
being served.”
“Have your methods improved any with years?”
“All the time. There was a time when many parts of cattle were wasted,
and the health of the city injured by the refuse. Now, by adopting
the best known methods, nothing is wasted, and buttons, fertilizer,
glue and other things are made cheaper and better for the world in
general out of material that was before a waste and a menace. I believe
in finding out the truth about all things—the very latest truth or
discovery—and applying it.”
“You attribute nothing to good fortune?”
“Nothing!” Certainly the word came well from a man whose energy,
integrity and business ability made more money out of a ditch than
other men were making out of rich placers in the gold region.
“May I ask what you consider the turning-point of your career?”
“The time when I began to save the money I earned at the gold-fields.”
“What trait do you consider most essential in young men?”
“Truth. Let them get that. Young men talk about getting capital to
work with. Let them get truth on board, and capital follows. It’s easy
enough to get that.”
“Did you always desire to follow a commercial rather than a
professional life?”
“Not always. I have no talent in any other direction, but I should have
liked to be a great orator.”