The price of steel rails when we began was about seventy dollars per ton.

We sent our agent through the country with instructions to take orders at the best prices he could obtain; and before our competitors knew it, we had obtained a large number--quite sufficient to justify us in making a start.
So perfect was the machinery, so admirable the plans, so skillful were the men selected by Captain Jones, and so great a manager was he himself, that our success was phenomenal.

I think I place a unique statement on record when I say that the result of the first month's operations left a margin of profit of $11,000.

It is also remarkable that so perfect was our system of accounts that we knew the exact amount of the profit.

We had learned from experience in our iron works what exact accounting meant.