We had another valuable partner in a second cousin of mine, a son of Cousin Morrison of Dunfermline.  Walking through the shops one day, the superintendent asked me if I knew I had a relative there who was proving an exceptional mechanic.  I replied in the negative and asked that I might speak with him on our way around.  We met.  I asked his name.

“Morrison,” was the reply, “son of Robert”—­my cousin Bob.

“Well, how did you come here?”

“I thought we could better ourselves,” he said.

“Who have you with you?”

“My wife,” was the reply.

“Why didn’t you come first to see your relative who might have been able to introduce you here?”

“Well, I didn’t feel I needed help if I only got a chance.”

There spoke the true Morrison, taught to depend on himself, and independent as Lucifer.  Not long afterwards I heard of his promotion to the superintendency of our newly acquired works at Duquesne, and from that position he steadily marched upward.  He is to-day a blooming, but still sensible, millionaire.  We are all proud of Tom Morrison. [A note received from him yesterday invites Mrs. Carnegie and myself to be his guests during our coming visit of a few days at the annual celebration of the Carnegie Institute.]

I was always advising that our iron works should be extended and new developments made in connection with the manufacture of iron and steel, which I saw was only in its infancy.  All apprehension of its future development was dispelled by the action of America with regard to the tariff upon foreign imports.  It was clear to my mind that the Civil War had resulted in a fixed determination upon the part of the American people to build a nation within itself, independent of Europe in all things essential to its safety.  America had been obliged to import all her steel of every form and most of the iron needed, Britain being the chief seller.  The people demanded a home supply and Congress granted the manufacturers a tariff of twenty-eight per cent ad valorem on steel rails—­the tariff then being equal to about twenty-eight dollars per ton.  Rails were selling at about a hundred dollars per ton, and other rates in proportion.

Protection has played a great part in the development of manufacturing in the United States.  Previous to the Civil War it was a party question, the South standing for free trade and regarding a tariff as favorable only to the North.  The sympathy shown by the British Government for the Confederacy, culminating in the escape of the Alabama and other privateers to prey upon American commerce, aroused hostility against that Government, notwithstanding the majority of her common people favored the United States.  The tariff became no longer a party question, but a national policy, approved by both parties.  It had become a patriotic duty to develop vital resources.  No less than ninety Northern Democrats in Congress, including the Speaker of the House, agreed upon that point.