foundly impressed by his first sight of a Bessemer converter, he had
little interest in the every-day process of making steel. He had also
many personal weaknesses: his egotism was marked, he loved applause,
he was always seeking opportunities for self-exploitation, and he even
aspired to fame as an author and philosopher. The staid business men of
Pittsburgh early regarded Carnegie with disfavor; his daring impressed
them as rashness and his bold adventures as the plunging of the
speculator. Yet in all its aspects Carnegie's triumph was a personal
one. He was perhaps the greatest commercial traveler this country has
ever known. While his more methodical associates plodded along making
steel, Carnegie went out upon the highway, bringing in orders by the
millions. He showed this same personal quality in the organization
of his force. As a young man, entirely new to the steel industry, he
selected as the first manager of his works Captain Bill Jones; his
amazing judgment was justified when Jones developed into America's
greatest practical genius in making steel. "Here lies the man"--Carnegie
once suggested this line for his epitaph--"who knew how to get around
him men who were cleverer than himself." Carnegie inspired these
men with his own energy and restlessness; the spirit of the whole
establishment automatically became that of the pushing spirit of its
head. This little giant became the most remorseless pace-maker in the
steel regions. However astounding might be the results obtained by the
Carnegie works the captain at the head was never satisfied. As each
month's output surpassed that which had gone before, Carnegie always
came back with the same cry of "More." "We broke all records for
making steel last week!" a delighted superintendent once wired him and
immediately he received his answer, "Congratulations. Why not do it
every week?" This spirit explains the success of the Carnegie Company
in outdistancing all its competitors and gaining a worldwide preeminence
for the Pittsburgh district. But Carnegie did not make the mistake of
capitalizing all this prosperity for himself; his real greatness as an
American business man consists in the fact that he liberally shared the
profits with his associates. Ruthless he might be in appropriating their
last ounce of energy, yet he rewarded the successful men with golden
partnerships. Nothing delighted Carnegie more than to see the man whom
he had lifted from a puddler's furnac