Selling ability in its highest development is a strange gift. There is no accounting1 for it. One has it or one has it not. He had it in that all-plus-X degree, which is the indefinite part of genius. The final irony2 was that Gib should have discovered it, for it belonged to the steel age and was destined3 to be turned against him. In this young man who could sell iron rails he prepared a weapon for his invincible4 adversary5.
The steel age always knew in advance what it needed. Salesmanship was its very breath. Why? Because when it came suddenly, like a natural event, men found themselves in command of means for producing wealth,—that is to say, goods, enormously beyond any scale of human wants previously6 imaginable. Production attended to itself. It ran utterly7 wild. There was a chronic8 excess of producing capacity because the supply of steel had been magically increased one hundred fold and steel was the basis of an endless profusion9 of new goods.
The dilemma10 that presented itself was unique. Its[120] name was over-production. It occurred simultaneously11 in Great Britain, Germany, France and the United States. They all had the same goods to sell, the very same goods, rising from steel, and they sold them to each other in mad competition. Prices fell steadily12 for many years, continuously, until goods were preposterously13 cheap, and always there was a surplus still. Rails fell from $125 to $18 a ton, and the face of two continents was netted with railways. Yet there was a surplus of rails.
Never before in the history of mankind did goods increase faster than wants. It is not likely ever to happen again.
In a way that becomes clear with a little reflection, a surplus of steel caused a surplus of nearly everything else—food to begin with. There was a great surplus of food because steel rails opened suddenly to the world the virgin14 lands of the American west. The iron age had foreshortened time and distance. The steel age annihilated15 them.
It made no difference how far a thing was hauled. Transportation was cheap because steel was cheap. Kansas wheat was sold in Minneapolis, Chicago and in Liverpool. Minneapolis made flour and sent it to New York, Europe and back to Kansas.
The great availability of food released people from agriculture. They went to the industrial centers to make more steel and things rising of steel, so that there were more of such goods to sell.
More, more, more of everything.
[121]
Sell! Sell! Sell!
That was the voice of the steel age.
But we overrun the thread of the story. It lies still in the iron age.
How did John Breakspeare sell iron rails for Enoch?
It is to be mentioned that he founded the art of Messianic advertising16. He took the message of iron rails to the people. He dramatized the subject.
After four weeks of study and reflection, going to and fro in the mill, absorbing all the technical literature there was, acquainting himself with the way of the trade,—Gib watching and letting him alone,—he outlined a plan of campaign. It involved a considerable outlay17 of money. Gib approved it nevertheless and the young evangel set forth18.
At Philadelphia he arranged an exhibit the first feature of which was a pair of New Damascus iron rails that had bridged a perilous19 gap twelve feet wide and twelve feet deep washed out under a railway track at night. A locomotive and six passenger cars passed safely over those rails in the dark. The miracle was discovered the next morning. Steel rails under that strain would have snapped. This was very effective. He reproduced in public the breaking tests applied20 to steel and iron rails alternately in the New Damascus mill yard. He collected data on railway accidents, which were then numerous and terrifying, and published regularly in the newspapers a cumulative21 record of those that were caused by the failure of imported[122] steel rails, at the same time offering $10,000 for proof of the failure of a New Damascus iron rail under any conditions. He handled his facts in a sensational22 manner. Public sentiment was aroused. In several state legislatures bills were introduced requiring all new railway mileage23 to be laid with iron rails and all steel rails in use to be replaced with iron. None of these bills was passed. Still, they were useful for purposes of propaganda. A Committee of Congress made an extensive inquiry24 at which the young Elias from New Damascus appeared and made a worthy25 impression. This was the beginning of his familiarity with the lawmaking mentality26. Without asking for it directly he got what the iron people had prayed for in vain. That was a punitive27 tariff28 against foreign steel rails. He had moved public opinion; the rest was automatic.
Thus he sold first the idea of iron rails. Next he proceeded to sell the rails.
Railway building at that time was the enchanted29 field of creative speculation30. Railways were made in hope, rejoicing and sheer abandon of wilful31 energy. Once they were made they served economic ends, as a navigable waterway will, no matter where or how it goes, but for one that was intelligently planned for the greatest good of the greatest need four or five others derived32 their existence fantastically from motives33 of emulation34, spite, greed, combat and civic35 vaingloriousness. When in the course of events all these separate translations of the ungoverned imagination were linked up the result was that incomprehensible crazy quilt[123] which the great American railway system was and is in the geographical36 sense. It was more exciting and more profitable to build railways than wagon37 roads. That is how we came to have the finest railways and the worst highways of any country in the civilized38 world.
Into this field of sunshine and quicksand marched the young man from New Damascus. He could scent39 a new railway project from afar, up or down wind, and then he stalked it day and night. He sold it the rails. Without fail he furnished the rails. He sold them for cash when he could, and when he couldn’t get cash he took promissory notes, I O U’s, post-dated checks, bonds and stocks. He took all he could get of what he could find, but whatever it was he sold the rails.
Enoch Gib, greatly startled at first, was willing to see how merchandising by this principle would work out. But as he was unused to excursions in finance and as the notes and stocks and bonds of railways in the gristle piled up in his safe he called in his banker for consultation40. John was present.
“It’s not so much of a gamble if you go far enough,” said John. “There’s a principle of insurance in it. It would be risky41 to sell insurance on one ship. Nobody does that. It is perfectly42 safe to sell insurance on a thousand ships. This is the same thing. Some of these railways will bust43 of course. But if we sell rails to all of them we can afford to lose on the few that go[124] down. The whole question is: do you believe in railways?”
The two old men looked at their youthful instructor44 with anxious wonder.
“Is that your own idea?” the banker asked.
“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” John answered.
“When you mention it, yes,” said the banker. “I should never have thought of it that way.”
“That’s a very dangerous young man.”
“Very,” said Gib.
Yet it worked out rather well, owing partly to the principle and partly to John’s uncanny instinct for making a safe leap. He could smell bankruptcy47 before it happened. Moving about as he did continually in the surge of the railway excitement he had access to much private information. He knew pretty well how it fared with the companies that owed the mill for rails. If one were verging48 toward trouble he knew how and where to get rid of its paper at a discount. There were losses; but the losses were balanced by profits in those cases where a company that had been charged a very high price for rails because it was short of cash and nobody else would take its notes was able at length to redeem49 its paper in full.
In John’s mind was no thought of either loyalty50 to iron or disloyalty to steel. It was a question of American rails against foreign rails. Steel rails were entirely51 of foreign origin. The steel age had not crossed the ocean. His work justified52 itself. It was immediately[125] creative and greatly assisted railway building. It was speculative53 also, and this is to be remembered. A collateral54 and very important result was that it hastened the advent55 of the American steel rail, since the punitive tariff against foreign rails gave the American steel people the incentive56 of greater profit. That presently changed the problem.
Meanwhile, never had the New Damascus mill been so active. Never had its profits been greater. Yet Enoch Gib was uneasy. He had offered the young man a partnership57. John had flatly declined it.
What did that mean?
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1
accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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9
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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preposterously
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| adv.反常地；荒谬地；荒谬可笑地；不合理地 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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mileage
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| n.里程，英里数；好处，利润 | |
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24
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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mentality
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| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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punitive
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| adj.惩罚的，刑罚的 | |
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28
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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32
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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34
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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35
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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36
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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45
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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47
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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48
verging
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| 接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式） | |
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redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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50
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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51
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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52
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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53
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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54
collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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55
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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56
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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57
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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