homas A. Scott made Andrew Carnegie Superintendent of United
States Railways and Telegraphs. Lincoln once said that it was the most
difficult and exacting position in the whole government service.

The bent of the minds of both Scott and Carnegie was towards
construction and peace. They were builders, financiers and diplomats.
They accepted government position as a duty and they did their work
nobly and well. But if these men had had their way there would have been
no war. They would have bought the slaves and paid for them, and at a
price which we have paid out for pensions and interest on the war debt
every year since. They would have organized the South on an industrial
basis and made it blossom like the rose, instead of stripping it and
starving it into a dogged submission.

The lessons Carnegie learned in war-time burned deep into his soul, and
helped to make him as he is today, the foremost exponent of
international disarmament in the world. The game of finance Carnegie
learned from Scott, his foster-father. When but a salaried clerk
Carnegie was once called into Scott's office. "Andy, I know where you
can buy ten shares of Adams' Express stock--you had better get it!" "But
I have no money," said Andy. "Then go out and borrow some!" And Andy
did, the mother mortgaging their little home to raise the money--she
never failed her Andy. He bought the stock at par. It was worth a third
more, and paid dividends "every few minutes," to use the phrase of
Scott. There is a suspicion that Scott threw this little block of stock
in the way of Andy on purpose.

It was an object-lesson in finance. Scott taught by indirection and did
good by stealth.

When Carnegie helped to organize the Woodruff Sleeping-Car Company,
which later was absorbed by the Pullman Company, he was well out on the
highway to fortune. Next came investments in oil-lands, and Andrew
Carnegie, twenty-seven years of age, sold his oil interests for a
decently few hundred thousand dollars.

At this time all the bridges on the Pennsylvania Railroad were made of
wood. It was a wooded country, and the natural thing was to use the
material at hand. But there were fires, accidents, washouts, and the
prophetic vision of Andrew Carnegie foresaw a time when all
railroad-bridges would be made of iron. He organized the Keystone Bridge
Works, and took a contract to build a railroad-bridge across the Ohio
River. The work was a success, and practically the Keystone Brid