The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-08-24
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Iron as an Element Of Civilization.

Probably the trueSG SLauuaTu Dy WulCu W
measure the value of an article, is to consider
the need that existed for it at the time of its
discovery, the uses that can be made of it, and
the position in which a given form Of civiliza-
ton, or any essential portion thereof, would
find itself if it were to lack an element neces-
sary to its progress-an element the need OF
which might be felt while the element itself
could not be supplied. Necessity stimulates
the spirit of discovery; and it is part OF the
immutable and exact economy of nature that
one of the most useful and profitable results of
discovery is to create wants in connection with
and inseparable from everything of value that
has ever been developed, whether from latent
principles into practical systems, or from form,
less masses into articles that serve practical
ends. When civilization had so far advanced
that mankind required houses to live in, huts
and cabins were first made to satisfy this want;
and when the artistic faculty which expresses
itself in architectural design was combined
with the domestic taste and the wealth that
exacted more beautiful and more commodious
dwelling-places than could be wrought from
earth-mounds, stone was found to be an i'm
provement for the purpose on any other mate
rial that had hitherto been known. With the
increase of the population and the tendency OF
people to aggregate in large cities, stone was
found to be too scarce and too unwieldy for the
multlIOrm neeUS VI CHe peoplS aiu CIe iaPAoity
with which their interests demanded that it
should be handled. The necessity for substi-
tute for stone for many of the objects to which
it had been applied suggested the possibility of
making artificial stone, and bricks were accor-
dinghy invented. Then the principle of max
ing artificial stone was amplifed and refined,
and through slow degrees chinaware, porce-
lain and Kindred substances of utility and or
nament were produced. So of all others of the
useful and beautiful inventions and discoveries
by which the world has been benefited. The
want of them, though frequently underlined,
was felt and the means of supplying the
want were discovered and applied. Then the
supply, growing in excess of the demand reac-
ted, and, showing its adaptability to create
wants by its own worthiness and to supersede
own created and multiplied new industries,
and was thus the means of promoting human
welfare and of advancing civilization.
There are many of the constituent forces OF
the great whole of inanimate nature that, when
discovered and developed, have contributed to
found true material civilization; and, so vast
and manifold have been the objects to which
they could be applied, that not only has civili-
zation been wholly unable to outgrow the need
of them, but the farther it advanced the moro
absolutely it required them. Among these con-
stituent portions of the semper utile we may
name gold, silver and copper. We do not wish
to slight the claims of these articles of multi
form utility when we claim for iron an extent
of utility that surpasses that of gold, silver and
copper combined So far as these three metals
serve as the representatives of money they ac-
eomplish useful purpose; but civilization
would by no means retrograde if they were
withdrawn. AS regards their services to the
other requirements of civilization, satisfactory
substitutes have been found for them in ma
iority of instances. But for iron the world
knows no perfect substitute. Other metals may
in some instances be advantageously used in
lieu of j; ; but for absolute material utility, in
the most comprehensive sphere on the largest
and most solid scale, and as applicable to the
greatest number of what may be called the
uses of detail, iron stands pre-eminent above
any other one of the mineral products OF ma
ture.
The great superiority of iron over other
heavy work of The world as must be performed
by metal consists in the fact of its combining
the qualities of malleabilty and durability in
degree in which no other metal combines
them. In this connection we leave platina
out of account, since the mine of it discovered
In Siberia some years since has been exhaus-
ted.) Iron may be either cast or wrought and
it is susceptible of being tempered to the lowest
degree of softness in which hard metal need
be used, and it can be tempered also to de-
gree of hardness that will bore-as in the case
of the Alps tunnel-through firt. 1t can be
east, rolled or nodded into any conceivable
form, and in its product, steel can be ground to
the finest edge Concerning the uses to which
iron has been put, it would require columns
simply to name them. If the circumstance
could arise in which the world should be called
upon to say which of the great metals it must
necessarily discard, iron would doubtless be the
one it would retain in preference to any other,
and perhaps to all Others. since no other pos
sesses such universal applicability. None other
is at once 30 cheap so plentiful, 80 varied in it's
usefulness, and SO lasting. 1t has superseded
wood as the material for building ships, whether
of sail or steam. For architectural design it is
equal to stone or wood, while it is known to be
cheaper, and it is believed to be more durable
as building material when kept properly
painted. There is nothing for metallic uses
between needle and steam hammer-between
a locomotive and a pen-knife blade-that can
not be made at less cost and of more lasting
quality from iron than from any other metal.
If to stamp its name upon great age be an
honor to 6. metal, which, of all the metals, has
a post of honor like that of iron? Among diff
ferent peoples, and through successive ages,
when literature and the high arts fourished
oontemporaneously with the poverty of the
nasses-in other words when railroads and
steamships were unknown-when gold was
money and coins were few-each of the great
cpochs of nations was called their golden age"
But iron has supplanted gold ia poetry as we'll
as in fact In this epoch of civil and religious
liberty, of general prosperity, diffused educa-
cation, large wages and large fortunes, we say
that we live in the iron age.-NeD York Paper.
Some people, ignorant of what good edit
ing is, imagine the getting up of selected mat
ter to be the easiest work in the world. to do
whereas it the incest work that is done on a pa
per. If they find the editor with scissors in
hand theu are sure To say "Eih that's the WAY