“System and the growth of the West did it. Things were changing at startling rates in those days. The West was growing fast. Its great areas of production offered good profits to men who would handle and ship the products. Railway lines were reaching out in new directions or increasing their capacities and lowering their rates of transportation. These changes and the growth of the country made the creation of a food-gathering and delivering system necessary. Other things helped. At that time (1863) a great many could see that the war was going to terminate favorably for the Union. Farming operations had been enlarged by the war demand and war prices. The State banking system had been done away with, and we had a uniform currency, available everywhere, so that exchanges between the East and the West had become greatly simplified. Nothing more was needed than a steady watchfulness of the markets by competent men in continuous telegraphic communication with each other, and who knew the legitimate demand and supply, in order to sell all products quickly and with profit.” QUALITIES THAT BRING SUCCESS. “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.” THE GENESIS OF A GREAT BENEVOLENCE.