of freight was only
one of the many elements of lessening cost to the consumer which
enabled us to increase our volume of business the world over because
we could reduce the selling price.

How general was the complicated bargaining for rates can hardly be
imagined; everyone got the best rate that he could. After the passage
of the Interstate Commerce Act, it was learned that many small
companies which shipped limited quantities had received lower rates
than we had been able to secure, notwithstanding the fact that we had
made large investments to provide for terminal facilities, regular
shipments, and other economies. I well remember a bright man from
Boston who had much to say about rebates and drawbacks. He was an old
and experienced merchant, and looked after his affairs with a cautious
and watchful eye. He feared that some of his competitors were doing
better than he in bargaining for rates, and he delivered himself of
this conviction:

"I am opposed on principle to the whole system of rebates and
drawbacks--unless I am in it."

CHAPTER V

OTHER BUSINESS EXPERIENCES AND BUSINESS PRINCIPLES

Going into the iron-ore fields was one of those experiences in which
one finds oneself rather against the will, for it was not a deliberate
plan of mine to extend my cares and responsibilities. My connection
with iron ores came about through some unfortunate investments in the
Northwest country.

These interests had included a good many different industries, mines,
steel mills, paper mills, a nail factory, railroads, lumber fields,
smelting properties, and other investments about which I have now
forgotten. I was a minority stockholder in all these enterprises, and
had no part in their management. Not all of them were profitable. As a
matter of fact, for a period of years just preceding the panic of
1893, values were more or less inflated, and many people who thought
they were wealthy found that the actual facts were quite different
from what they had imagined when the hard experiences of that panic
forced upon them the unpalatable truth.

Most of these properties I had not even seen, having relied upon the
investigation of others respecting their worth; indeed, it has never
been my custom to rely alone upon my own knowledge of the value of
such plants. I have found other people who knew much better than I how
to investigate such enterprises.

Even at this time I had been planning to relieve myself of business