The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-10-16
The Degeneration Of Steel


What q superb career steel has re-
nounced. 1t had shaped the world; II
had carved out history; 1t had formed
b nations; it had fixed the limit Ct
languages and the geography of char
acter and thought; it had vanquished
the strong; it had rebuked tile proud;
1t had ~succored the weak; 1t had been
the arbiter Of honor and the accom-
plisher of Justice. The sword was, al
the ancient chronicles said. the oldest.
the most universal, the most varied Of
arms. the only n which has lived
through time. All pc pie knew it; II
was everywhere rega led as the sup
port of courage. as the enemy of per.
tidy, rs the mark Of commandment, as
the companion of authority, as the EN-.
blem of sovereignty. of power. OF
force. of conquest. of fidelity and Of
punishment Aud all of this has steel
TO become rails. Look at what il
was. and what it is. Its aspect was
brilliant. Its habits were punctilious,
its manners were courtly. its conncc-
tons were patrician. It's functions were
solemn, its contact was ~ennobliny, even
It's very vices were glittering. for most
OF them were simply the defects of its
superb qualities. 1t Is true that it was
sometimes cruel, and that its processes
OF action were distinctly sanguinary,
but those reproaches apply to all other
weapons. too. Throughout the ares ii
grandly held up its head and haughtily
bore its name. 1t lost no caste whom II
allied itself with lance and dagger.
with battle-ax and helm, for they were
of its natural kindred; and even when,
In later times. 1t stopped to generate
such lowly offspring as razor,, lancets,
knives and needles. the world saw no
real abasement in the act, for the chiy-
alrous blade was still the image which
represented steel to man.
Steel is now bursting coarsely on the
earth at the rate of thousands Of tons
q month. It is positively made into
steam-engines. and cannons, and ships,
and all sorts of vulgar, heavy, income
ly, useful objects. Worse than all, 1t
is becoming cheapi Steel cheapl Tho
steel of old, the steel Of legend and Of
story, the steel Of the paladin and the
chevalier. the steel of the noble and the
brave, the steel of honor and Of might,
the steel that was above price, that
knew not money and cared naught for
proit-that steel is no more. 1t has
been driven contemptuously out Of
sight by metallurgic persons called
Bessemer, Krupp. and Seims, and
these destructive creators have put in
to its place a nineteenth century sub
stance, exactly fitted to a mercantile
period. but possessing no tic whatever
with time OF fame.
No more will steel append its per-
ronal signature, its glaring rccooniza-
BILE autograph to the great events of
history. The dagger that slew Cesar,
the glaive that Brennus hurled into the
scale to weigh against the liberty of
Rome. the ax that gashed OF Mary
Stuart's head. the knife that MANNED
the hand of Charlotte Corday-of
course they were not all steel. but they
admirably represent the notion of it
are mere faded antiquities. Steel has
other functions to discharge now; it
has given up marking dates in the
worlds life. and has gone in for trade;
= has ceased to be history. and has be-
rome actually; it is in O state of new
departure; it no longer incarnates a
sentiment it is nothing but o fact. 1t
has turned its bsck on the blades of
Damascus, on the armor Of Milan, on
'he shields of Augsburgh, on tho ra-
piers Of F~errara, on the halberts O
Flanders. on the poniards of Biboa,
and at this very moment is forsaking
almost the last refuge which was lef. to
Il, and is deserving the marvellous sa-
bres Of Japan. In the place of its
former glories, it is taking up all sorts
IF low associations; it is being manu-
..actured in big furnaces; it is being
east" as il It were mere clownish
pig-iron; il is being rolled, as II it were
1ncouth ''bar;;" 1t Is condescending to
DO boiler-plates and axletrees, and
driving shafts and girders. To this is
itoel reduced. -Blackwoods Maga-