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They telephoned the superintendents of the two mills I was going to. I know they regarded it all as a great strain. “Nothing like this has ever been done,” they said. I think they apparently missed the point of why I wanted to go, but not entirely. Anyhow, they didn't have much choice about letting me in. They were in an awfully embarrassing situation, but I wasn't nasty to them. I was nice about it. The truth is that we are all friends still. It isn't hard if you just treat them right. They were not bad fellows, really and truly. They were just in a kind of a jam. They had taken a wrong position - a now outmoded position - with regard to the recognition of labor. They were just several steps behind the times. Sure I was ahead of them, but my profession, after all, was that of a social reformer. I hadn't been making steel all my life. I was in a very different position. They'd been making steel and their outlook on life was influenced by their life experience, just as mine was influenced by my life experience.

Then I called up Eugene Grace. I had a much harder time with him. I never could have broken him loose in this polite way if I hadn't been able to say that Mr. Taylor and Mr. Irwin had invited me to come. After much talk, I got him to invite me to come and see two mills. He wanted me to see the Sparrow Point mill, if I was going to see any,