The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1890-12-12

ana cheaper material than steel. Such
material has long been known. but a.
yet - lacks the merit Of cheap produc-
lion This Is aluminium. Scientific
men ar already predicting that IL will
change our industrial life as il has new.
Or before been changed.
Tho supply o. aluminium Il absolutely
immeasurcabc and inconcc yable. Ev.
cry farmer has II in his fields in quantI.
ties 20 supply his whole State for an
indefinite period. Every hill is III "a
with it-morc than 800 pounds in every
ton Of clay hut why has not such an
abundant metal yet come into general
use? The reason Is that we have not
yet found cheap way To separate il
from the clay IN which IL is hidden.
We are. however, making great progress
toward cheap way.
Already in 1853 French chemist dis
covered a method for separating tho
aluminium from tho clay, and
since then inventors in all parts
OF the world have been al work on the
problem. The difficulty has not been
so much in making tho metal as in
making II cheaply; for men do want
them cheap and struggle to make them
50, notwithstanding the assertions of
the protectIonist leader that cheap and
nasty go together, and thatcheapness is
un-Amcrican. Some years after the
Frenchman's invention the price OF tho
metal was $40 pound. and France
made most Of the worlds supply. Then
an Englishman invented much better
way Of makingi it. and the price went to
less than SIS a pound.
Some four or five years ago American
manufacturers began to make alumi-
mum; and Major Mckinley has just put
a duty OF IS cents a pound on the metal
for the encouragement OF those manu-
facturers; but before the bill became
law a Chicago chemist announced the
invention Of process by which IL can
be produced for less than Is cents q
pound.
II this announcement proves true. we
are on the eve Of great industrial
revolution. For what are the qualities
OF this remarkable metal? The two
qualities that give it the preference
over other metals are its iightness and
its strength. pound OF IL is about
three times the size Of a pound OF iron;
il is more than four times as bulky as
silver and more than seven times az
bulky as gold The strength CT this
metal Is no less remarks able than its
lightness Make an alloy OF 1t with
copper and the product Is what is called
aluminium bronze. A beam OF this alloy
will support as great a weight All can be
borne by one made OF the finest rrucble
steel. Make wire cable OF it and NO
no other metal will bear an equal
strain. Make it red hot and II melts;
cast il then into q mold and 1t is soft
and as easily worked as silver. But ham
mer IL or roll it and it becomes almost
as hard as IRON. Ii can be drawn oui
into wire as fine as a spiders web, OF
IL can be beaten into leaf as thin al
gold leaf 1t neither rusts nor tarnishei
under the influence OF water or air
With its great strength and lightncss
| II can be readily seen that 1t will com
pletely superscde steel in the building
OF stcamb boats. in house construction. in
rails for our railroads. and in thou
sand other things 1t has already beer
arranged TO construct railroads carr
with II. steamboat built with IL will
have a tonnage only one-third as grea'
as one built OF steel.
| What will DO the effect Of this on
existing industries like iron and steel
making? II is poss Bile that eventually
| most OF them may be closed up And
! what 81 the laborcrs employed in them'
| 1t will have to find employment il
other ways-a hardship TO a few labor
ers. OF course but far outweiged by tho
general good TO all laborers. The
greatest happiness to the greatest mum
Der will be attained in the shape q
cheaper comforts while few men may
lose their present employment just a
the frccr admission Of foreign cloth
would be great blessing to thousands
OF people. although small numbel
might lose their present work. The
rule OF progress is the greatest possible
chcapncss for the greatest possible mum
Der.