liv CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



His companionship in travel and peril with Edward Cooper led to relations 

 with Peter Cooper, in consequence of which he abandoned his intention to prac- 

 tice law, and formed with his friend the firm of Cooper & Hewitt, which as- 

 sumed the iron branch of Peter Cooper's business, and the long, enterprising, 

 and honorable career of which is part of the commercial history and progress 

 of the United States. 



The key to Mr. Hewitt's life is given by his words above quoted. He devoted 

 himself to " the welfare of his fellozv-citizens.'' This is not to be construed as 

 limiting his philanthropic sympathy to American citizens alone. Many generous 

 acts prove that he drew no such rigid line. But, as illustrated by his life, it does 

 show plainly that his cherished aim was patriotic as well as philanthropic. 

 With Peter Cooper, he believed in the Republic, and in its free institutions as 

 furnishing the necessary and sufficient atmosphere for individual well-being and 

 progress. And he believed that knowledge, or rather the opportunity to acquire 

 knowledge, was the one thing that could be bestowed gratuitously by the State 

 without pauperizing the recipient. That being given, the maintenance of free- 

 dom, justice, and order would complete all that government could wisely under- 

 take from the standpoint of internal administration. 



The period of his childhood was the first age of our national history — an age 

 of ardent patriotism and undaunted enterprise and adventure. And the inspira- 

 tion of this period unquestionably continued to be with him a motive power. 

 But his manhood was cast in a new and different age — that of the material con- 

 quest of a continent, the defense of national unity, and the development of 

 industry and commerce. The questions thus encountered called for not only 

 stanch patriotism, but also a knowledge of law and practical business ; and in 

 these respects Abram S. Hewitt was thoroughly equipped for illustrious service. 



During the war of 1S61-5, though always politically a Democrat, he gave the 

 government a hearty support. In fact, the iron works of Cooper & Hewitt were 

 for four years largely given up to the manufacture of munitions of war, without 

 profit to the firm, but (as the War Department has repeatedly acknowledged) 

 to the great and in some instances decisive advantage of the Union cause. 



In 1867 Mr. Hewitt was one of the U. S. Commissioners to the Paris Exposi- 

 tion, and his report on the manufacture of iron and steel, as illustrated at that 

 exposition, produced a profound impression at home and (through translations 

 in several languages) abroad. Years before, his firm had made experiments 

 with the Bessemer process ; and after 1867, it undertook the introduction into 

 America of the "open-hearth" process. Still later, it was concerned in the 

 adoption of the " basic-lining " principle, applicable to both these methods; and 

 thus it may fairly be said to have had a vital connection with the methods which 

 now cover the manufacture of nearly all the steel (except the so-called crucible- 

 steel) of this country and the world. For his services in connection with these 

 great improvements, the Iron and Steel Institute awarded to Mr. Hewitt, in 1890, 

 the " Bessemer Gold Medal." Meanwhile, the iron-works of Cooper & Hewitt 

 in various localities exhibited the results of the latest scientific practice, and 

 stood, at times, at the head of American practice — a position which no single 

 concern can long continue to hold. 



In 1876, and again in 1890, Mr. Hewitt was elected President of the American 

 Institute of Mining Engineers ; and his presidential addresses during both terms 



