“What were some of the principles you applied to your business?” I
questioned.
“Well, I made it a point that all goods should be exactly what they
were represented to be. It was a rule of the house that an exact
scrutiny of the quality of all goods purchased should be maintained,
and that nothing was to induce the house to place upon the market any
line of goods at a shade of variation from their real value. Every
article sold must be regarded as warranted, and every purchaser must be
enabled to feel secure.”
“Did you suffer any losses or reverses during your career?”
“No loss except by the fire of 1871. It swept away everything,—about
three and a half millions. We were, of course, protected by insurance,
which would have been sufficient against any ordinary calamity of
the kind. But the disaster was so sweeping that some of the companies
which had insured our property were blotted out, and a long time passed
before our claims against others were settled. We managed, however, to
start again. There were no buildings of brick or stone left standing,
but there were some great shells of horse-car barns at State and
Twentieth streets which were not burned, and I hired those. We put up
signs announcing that we would continue business uninterruptedly, and
then rushed the work of fitting things up and getting in the stock.”
“Did the panic of 1873 effect your business?”
“Not at all. We didn’t have any debts.”
“May I ask what you consider to have been the turning-point in your
career,—the point after which there was no more danger of poverty?”
“Saving the first five thousand dollars I ever had, when I might just
as well have spent the moderate salary I made. Possession of that
sum, once I had it, gave me the ability to meet opportunities. That I
consider the turning-point.”