Financially the Company was rated high, and yet was heavily in
debt. This condition of affairs by no means constitutes an anomaly
in the lumbering business.

The profits of the first five years had been immediately reinvested
in the business. Thorpe, with the foresight that had originally led
him into this new country, saw farther than the instant's gain. He
intended to establish in a few years more a big plant which would
be returning benefices in proportion not only to the capital
originally invested, but also in ratio to the energy, time, and
genius he had himself expended. It was not the affair of a moment.
It was not the affair of half-measures, of timidity.

Thorpe knew that he could play safely, cutting a few millions a
year, expanding cautiously. By this method he would arrive, but
only after a long period.

Or he could do as many other firms have done; start on borrowed
money.

In the latter case he had only one thing to fear, and that was
fire. Every cent, and many times over, of his obligations would
be represented in the state of raw material. All he had to do
was to cut it out by the very means which the yearly profits of
his business would enable him to purchase. For the moment, he
owed a great deal; without the shadow of a doubt mere industry
would clear his debt, and leave him with substantial acquisitions
created, practically, from nothing but his own abilities. The
money obtained from his mortgages was a tool which he picked up
an instant, used to fashion one of his own, and laid aside.