of my cousin and partner, Mr. Lauder,
the cost of mining and washing was reduced to a low figure, and the
Scotia ore made good all the losses we had incurred in the other
mines, paid for itself, and left a profit besides. In this case, at
least, we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. We trod upon sure
ground with the chemist as our guide. It will be seen that we were
determined to get raw materials and were active in the pursuit.

We had lost and won, but the escapes in business affairs are sometimes
very narrow. Driving with Mr. Phipps from the mills one day we passed
the National Trust Company office on Penn Street, Pittsburgh. I
noticed the large gilt letters across the window, "Stockholders
individually liable." That very morning in looking over a statement of
our affairs I had noticed twenty shares "National Trust Company" on
the list of assets. I said to Harry:

"If this is the concern we own shares in, won't you please sell them
before you return to the office this afternoon?"

He saw no need for haste. It would be done in good time.

"No, Harry, oblige me by doing it instantly."

He did so and had it transferred. Fortunate, indeed, was this, for in
a short time the bank failed with an enormous deficit. My cousin, Mr.
Morris, was among the ruined shareholders. Many others met the same
fate. Times were panicky, and had we been individually liable for all
the debts of the National Trust Company our credit would inevitably
have been seriously imperiled. It was a narrow escape. And with only
twenty shares (two thousand dollars' worth of stock), taken to oblige
friends who wished our name on their list of shareholders! The lesson
was not lost. The sound rule in business is that you may give money
freely when you have a surplus, but your name never--neither as
endorser nor as member of a corporation with individual liability. A
trifling investment of a few thousand dollars, a mere trifle--yes, but
a trifle possessed of deadly explosive power.

The rapid substitution of steel for iron in the immediate future had
become obvious to us. Even in our Keystone Bridge Works, steel was
being used more and more in place of iron. King Iron was about to be
deposed by the new King Steel, and we were becoming more and more
dependent upon it. We had about concluded in 1886 to build alongside
of the Edgar Thomson Mills new works for the manufacture of
miscellaneous shapes of steel when it was suggested to us that the
fiv