for several days. Providence was on my side evidently.
Nothing on earth would induce that man to leave the city until he saw
those horses fairly started and it was an even wager whether he would
not insist upon going up on the steamer with them himself. We held the
bridge. "Pipe" made a splendid Horatius. He was one of the best men
and one of the most valuable partners I ever was favored with, and
richly deserved the rewards which he did so much to secure.

The Keystone Bridge Works have always been a source of satisfaction to
me. Almost every concern that had undertaken to erect iron bridges in
America had failed. Many of the structures themselves had fallen and
some of the worst railway disasters in America had been caused in that
way. Some of the bridges had given way under wind pressure but nothing
has ever happened to a Keystone bridge, and some of them have stood
where the wind was not tempered. There has been no luck about it. We
used only the best material and enough of it, making our own iron and
later our own steel. We were our own severest inspectors, and would
build a safe structure or none at all. When asked to build a bridge
which we knew to be of insufficient strength or of unscientific
design, we resolutely declined. Any piece of work bearing the stamp of
the Keystone Bridge Works (and there are few States in the Union where
such are not to be found) we were prepared to underwrite. We were as
proud of our bridges as Carlyle was of the bridge his father built
across the Annan. "An honest brig," as the great son rightly said.

This policy is the true secret of success. Uphill work it will be for
a few years until your work is proven, but after that it is smooth
sailing. Instead of objecting to inspectors they should be welcomed by
all manufacturing establishments. A high standard of excellence is
easily maintained, and men are educated in the effort to reach
excellence. I have never known a concern to make a decided success
that did not do good, honest work, and even in these days of the
fiercest competition, when everything would seem to be matter of
price, there lies still at the root of great business success the very
much more important factor of quality. The effect of attention to
quality, upon every man in the service, from the president of the
concern down to the humblest laborer, cannot be overestimated. And
bearing on the same question, clean, fine workshops and tools,
well-kept yards and surrou