My aim had been to reach a point where I could command the capital necessary to establish my business according to the plan which I had cherished ever since my return from England, but on a much larger scale than I then contemplated. I had now reached that point. Parties who were finding themselves enriched by my engine were ready to pour out their money like water for my use; but there was something else that I needed even more than their money, without which indeed, as the event proved, their money was of no use at all. That was their respect for me and confidence in me as a strong business man; my record would have sufficiently justified that confidence, but of this they were ignorant. They had no means to form a judgment of me except what I did then and there. I never thought of this supreme requirement, and in response to their request made them an offer which, regarded from their point of view, appeared so unbusinesslike that they could form only one conclusion, that while unquestionably I could make engines all right, in matters of business I was a mere baby whose opinion on business matters was not to be regarded seriously. How came I to do myself, and them also, as the victims of their mistaken judgment, this injustice? My whole life was bound up in the engine; I cared nothing for money except to develop its manufacture; I felt that every dollar paid to myself would leave so much less for this purpose. I asked nothing for the good-will of my business, for I was not selling it; they were putting money into my business, which, of course, I would continue to carry on as I had done. This was my mistaken view. I consulted fully with Mr. Hope, whose interest was equal with mine, and he viewed the matter precisely as I did. Although standing at the head of his profession as a fire underwriter, he had not the special business training or experience that would enable him to give me the advice I needed, so I told them that if a company should be formed to manufacture the engines with $800,000 capital, I would assign to it my patents for $100,000 of its stock, the value of which I assumed I would increase several fold in a few years. Beyond this I assumed everything and made sure of nothing, so our minds never came together. I did not assert myself because it never occurred to me that I needed to do so. They could not understand my position. They could not appreciate my sentiment. They were business men, and did business on strictly business principles. What their position was I came to understand later. From the fact that I did not stipulate for it they concluded that I did not expect the presidency of the company, but had yielded it to them, which they accepted, of course, in accordance with the general usage that capital takes the direction of a business which it knows nothing about, relying upon skilled experts in its various departments.