THE PASSING OF
I hi
y ' ' - - fa WMh
rM"': f lmfJvMx
BORN IN 1823;
When General Grant was returnln
"world, he said: "I have met on this jo
consfield, Gambetta and Li Hung Ch
ered, but LI is the greatest of all the
Minister of the United States to Chin
tlievwonderful one-man power in the
leal figure of the century the one Chi
and courage to lead his people toward
tlon; a masterful, Intrepid spirit, who
American $tEEl. :
By AValdon Fawcctt.
clip
nTrrrnTrmrmTf
WTEEL, that most useful and,
after all, the most valuable
lCJ of metals, is so pre-eminently
the most important of the pro
ducts of Uncle Sam's energy, that its
superiority has come, of late years,
to be universally recognized.
The age of iron has passed and the
Industrial and commercial world now
lives in the age of steel. The latter
metal is! of course, an outgrowth of
that which was once supreme in the
manufacturing world in that the iron
ore must first be converted into pig
i iron ere it can attain to thfe dignity
j of classification as steel; but the lat-
Iter commodity is tougher "and more
f Vy-t'ft and so it is preferred for
fji instruction of buildings and
J I and ships and, indeed, every-
M Vyhere great strength is required.
nen steel first came into popularity
It cost much more to produce a ton
of steel than to turn out the same
"iQunt of iron, but a gradual cheap
"Gjjnof processes has been going on,
r r
J Am -
; lit ' iH:k 5Y SwJ fe. 101 wi
i
A MODERN BLAST FURNACE.
(Stoves in the background.)
V)W the disparity is not nearly
It.
f.llow a car of ore in its journey
S the modern steel making
-.to witness a constant succes-
!f the most stirring incidents and
;t dramatic pictures to be found
' -re on the globe. The iron ore,
y. from Nature's wonderful
U HUNG CHANG.
DIED IN 1901.
g from his famous Journey around the
urney four great men Bismarck, Bea
aug. I am not sure, all things consid
four." John Itussell Young, one-time
a, has made this fine word picture of
Chinese nation: "I see In him an histor
nese statesman with the prescience
what is best in our Western civillza
has done his work with fortitude."
storehouses in the Northwest, a train
load at a time, is unloaded by means of
iron buckets, each holding more than
a ton of ore, which spin back and forth
along structures that resemble minia
ture suspension bridges and carry the
dark red material to the foot of the
blast furnaces. Here small cars run
ning on an inclined railroad take the
ore and ascend with It to the top of the
N. m ' .i.
IRON OBE MINE.
blast furnace and, upon reaching the
summit, an ingenious mechanical de
vice overturns the car and tumbles
its contents into a great fiery pit which
yawns below.
A blast furnace Is nothing more nor
less than a gigantic mixing pot in
which the raw material from the
mines, coke or some other form of
fuel, and limestone are churned about
until each has wholly lost Its identity
in one fiery boiling mass. The fright
ful heat of the blast furnace may not
perhaps, be better Illustrated than by
the fact that its blinding intensity is
such that a person may not look stead
ily into this seething caldron even for
a few minutes.
The furnace derives Its name from
the fact that through fnch grcnt
"brt-w" of white burnluif liquid, re
plmiNlu'd every quarifr of an liyur
with fn-Hh ore and fnvsh futl, therv
forced fur hourn at a ttnu a tormido
Uk blunt of hot uir which not only
luaU'H tht iiuiMM lmll uuire nctively, tnit
also tends to drive oIT Its ImpurltleH.
ltuuged mar each of the blant fuinavn
are m-verul monster irou tubes, re
Heinblitig in general outline the ajv
pearuuee of the Mait funiuce itself.
Tln'se are the "utoves" of the blunt and
nd in them is heated the air which in
blown through the fiery mass within
the blitHt furnace. When It Is ex
plained that many present-day blast
furnaces give forth considerably more
than half a thousand tons of Iron
very day, and that two tons of ore,
a ton and a quarter of coke and half a
ton of limestone are required for each
ton of molten metal produced. It will
be appreciated that the operation of
a single blast furnace Is no luconsld-
rabie enterprise.
In the tapping of a blast furnace
there in presented the first of those
thrilling pictures which have no coun
terpart In any other field of activity.
A handful of men, pitifully pigmy in
appearance beside the towering fur
nace with Its tiny, glowing white eyes,
thrust and wrench and pound until an
Incision is made low down in this
great tank of burning metal, and then
spring quickly out of the way in order
to avoid the stream of scalding metal
which spurts from the opening, looking
for nil the world like a luminious por
ridge. This liquid Iron, newly escaped from
rOUIHNG MOLTEN
the boiling pot, is a deceitful quan
tity. Apparently it Is slow and slug
gish in its movement, and yet It burns
its way forward with inslduous and
surprising rapidity. The workmen In
charge, black, half-naked figures sil
houetted against a glowing back
ground, either guide the furious stream
into ponderous kettles which stand
awaiting It on the railroad cars near
by, or else they allow It to furrow Its
way to little channels cut in the sand.
A few years ago all the iron from a
blast furnace ran into the hundreds
of little troughs, each about three feet
long, which dotted the sand floor all
about the flame-spitting tower, and
when the metal had become quite cold
each tiny trench contained an un
shaply bar of iron appropriately desig
nated as a "pig." However, inasmuch
as the very next step in steel-making
is to get this metal back into the
molten shape, the shrewd Ironmongers
who were ever seeking every possible
way to save money In the process, con
cluded that it was simply a waste of
time and money to let the pig-iron
cool at all, and now the molten metal
is trundled away in broad-mouthed
kettles to f"j steel-making plant.
It is essential at this juncture to in
troduce the reader to the two different
methods of st?el-making the Besse
mer and the "open-hearth" processes,
as they are respectively termed. Up to
this point the transformation of the
iron is invariably exactly the same,
no matter what its ultimate destina
tion may be; but with the end of the
journey of the railroad, train loaded
with half a dozen kettles each con
taining full twenty tons of the bub
bling, red-tinged mass, comes the part
ing of the ways.
From a spectacular standpoint, the
Bessemer process is the more interest
ing. Each kettle of molten iron, as it
arrives from the blast furnace, is
poured into a still larger caldron known
as the "mixer," where it boils and siz
zles in company with the contents of
other kettles for quite an interval of
time. Next it comes to a "converter,"
an egg-shaperd receptacle of hercu
lean size and strength, and here once
more it undergoes purification by
means of another terrific blast of air,
forced upward through the mass with
such violence that the top of the "con
verter" literally resembjes a volcano
In action. When the purification by
this heroic method is completed, the
molten mass is ready to be poured into
the ingot moulds, where It hardens in
the form of blocks, each weighing
five tons.
The "open-hearth" method Is less
Impressive In the eyes of the onlooker,
tpt It results n the production of a
totter trade of utecl. Formerly It was
o much more expensive than the Ben
ne.Tier process that few eoiiHutncrH of
Htei-1 could afford to pay the price ex
acted, but here, a in nil other
brunches of utecl making, costs have
been shaved very heavily of late yearn,
In the open-hearth plant, Instead of a
ItOLLINd IRON.
"converter," there are long lines of
furnaces that look like bake ovens and
In which miniature seas of white
metal, so Intensely hot that you cannot
gaze upon It save through blue glasses,
boil and bubble, like lime in the mortar
box before some building In course of
erection.
Cast into ingots, these are nllowed
to cool In their moulds, and are then
once more thrust into a bath of flame
and for the last time reheated. Thence
the metal may be fed Into the enor-
IRON INTO MOULDS.
mous jaws of giant rolls which flatten
It into plate of various size; it may be
presed Into armor for battleships by
means of huge presses, or It may be
squeezed into long slender strands that
are ultimately cut Into bars or railroad
rails. All the while It remains red hot
and water must be continually poured
over the machinery, with the result
that every time the rolls "bite" a slab
of iron to force It Into some thinner
form, there Is a report like the dis
charge of a cannon.
It may be stated advisedly that no
where among the world's workers arc
there men who hourly brave death In
such terrible form as It Is presented
to the steel workers. A blast furnace
may "break-out" and engulf the poor,
helpless mortals at its base in an ocean
of annihilating flame; one of the giant
ladles hoisted hither and thither by
long, gaunt arms of steel, may slip
from its place and drown hapless vic
tims in a molten cataract; or some
wriggling, snake-iike cable of burn
ing steel may snarl and tangle and,
without an instant's warning, wrap it
self around some bystanding work
man before he can even turn to escape.
It is by the conduct of steel-making
on so heroic a scale that the United
States is being enabled to capture the
steel markets of the world. Last year
she sent abroad nearly $118,000,000
worth of Iron and steel, an increase
of one-fourth over that of the two
previous years, and it was distributed
amongst all the countries on the globe.
-The Book World.
Automobile Racing Track.
A correspondent in the Horseless
Age suggests that some of the rich au
tomobile owners who are constantly
grumbling at the impossibility of se-
SUGOESTED AUTOMOBILE TKACK.
curing suital.le roads or tracks upon,
which to speed their machines should
get together and build a double-kito
track, something on the order of the
acccipanying ilustration, with a
bridge over the crossway. The track,
he thinks, should be at least eight
miles long and fifty feet wide, with a
level "run-in." A grandstand midway,
he says, would give a commanding
view of the whole course.
The present growth of London's pop
ulatloa is 2000 a month.
A WOMAN'S HAND,
A woman's hand! no white, io wd
o covered wp with iVwelry,
h:.i oft, no iiflnt y planned
That you tan hardly undertinl
The itmigth in itn fair Bjnunntrj.
A hand to Mt a prim crx.k fref,
Or ruib a tyrant's tyranny
By simple couture of command
A woman's h.uul.
Ah, but I lio'd in memory
The viion of ft bended knee.
I etUI hear rchoiiiK through the Inn-l
Yell tlmt were futile, foolish, and
I still fed coming down on me
A woman's hand.
"How well behaved Mrs. Good
street's children are." "Yes; she has
left their bringing up entirely In
charge of a governess." Philadelphia
Bulletin.
Tommy (on a visit) "Do your specs
magnify, grandma?" Grandma "Yes,
Tommy." Tommy "Do you mind
taking them off while you cut my
cake?" Tit-Bits.
Kind Lady "And does your mam
ma let you go out alone at night, my
little man?" Little Man "Ycs'm;
maw ain't afeer'd t' stay by herself."
Ohio State Journal.
Salute that mighty man, the fool!
Who else may wreck life's dearest joy
And what was built 'neath wisest rule
In one brief idle hour destroy?
Washington Star.
Agnes "WTell, Ferdy has finally pro
posed. I knew he would." Ethel
"Wrhy, you said you thought he had
no Intention whatever of proposing."
Agnes "Well, he didn't have." Tit
Bits. She (at the afternoon tea, to him)
"Oh, I'm bo glad you came. Mamma
says it's almost Impossible to get
any man who is half-way decent to
come to an afternoon tea." Town
Topics.
Cholly "Dickey was wun over and
killed by a cable car, don't you know."
Willy "What horrid bad form!
Everybody knows that the proper
thing now is for your auto to blow
up with you." Judge.
Mrs. Horse "Say " Mr. Horse
"Say what?" Mrs. Horse-" When fall
comes and our folks drive out to make
calls, you'll have to wear a plug hat
and I'll have to wear a velvet bon
net" Chicago Record-Herald.
Crawford "Did your wife have a
jood time in the country?" Crab
haw "No; the only thing that recon
ciled her was the thought that she
stayed away two weeks longer than
:he woman next door." Town Topics.
The weeping heroine has fled
The fainting heroine's no more;
For gain or loss, we have instead
One who talks epigram galore.
Detroit Free Press.
"Life Is nearly all strife and decep
tion," said the mournful man. "That's
true," answered Mr. Flatson. "When
you aren't making a futile attempt
to coerce the cook, you've got to be
jollying the Janitor." Washington
Star.
Auntie "Don't you know, Bobbie,
that it's very bad manners to put
your knife in your mouth?" Bobbie
"Don't you think, Auntie, that it's
very bad manners to stare at your
guests when they're eating?" Glas
gow Times.
Toor b'ye!" exclaimed O'Harra,
condoling with Cassldy, who had been
Injured by a blast. " 'Tis tough luck
teh hav yer hand blowed off." "OchI
Faith, It moight 'ave bin wurse," re
plied Cassidy. "Suppose Oi'd had me
week's wage In it at the toime."
Philadelphia Press.
"What good does your college edu
cation do you If you can't carry a
bowl of soup to a guest without put
ting your thumb In It?" said the sum
mer hotel proprietor to the student
waiter. "Oh, well," was the reply,
"you must remember I have two years
more In college!" Yonkers States
man. Deacon Joneu "So you have lost
your husband, Mrs. Grimes? It is
very sad." Mrs. Grimes "Sad Is no
name for It. I don't believe any other
woman ever had such a run of luck.
He was my third, you know. I'm so
discouraged I've about made up my
mind not to have another." Boston
Transcript.
Some Australian Nicknames.
Australians have some queer nick
names for different States and for one
another. The Queenslander3 are
dubbed "banana landers;" Western
Australians, now abbreviated into
Westralians, are known as "sandgro
pers." The Westralians class the
j whole of the other States in one
: group and call them "t'other side,"
and the Inhabitants "t'other siders."'
Tasmania, so much like England In
! climate and other characteristics, is
; usually regarded as a little behind the
times, and referred to as "the land of
lots o' time," "the land of sleep a lot,"
and so on. Tasmanians are called
"Tassies," also "jam eaters," jam
being one of the chief productions of
the "tisat little island." j
i