The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-07
Limit Of the
Hge Of Steel.
From the plttsburg Times.


@Y COMMON consent the present
I'D era is denominated the age OF
I'm steel. We have devised ways oil
IDJ converting ores with which ma
ture has so pcntlfully endowed
the earth into merchantaDle IRON ana
steel OF so vast scale that we iail 10
hnd any basis Of comparison in the past
history of the world. Ages and ages ago
man emerged from the stone age ana
learned the secret Of the manufacture
of metals. thereby securing his most po-
tent weapon in his struggle with the
forces of nature. From the time OF the
first discovery, for thousands OF years,
he advanced slowly in the perfection OF
the original processes, until within the
time of the memory of men sun living,
when, in the space of scarcely more than
a generation, our powers and facilities In
this direction were multiplied more than
a thCusandfold. and tho production OF
iron and steel In a single year now prob
ably equals that of thousand years
prior to the beginning of the present CEN
tury.
II Is tho great factor I'm the world %
day. 1t enters into everything from the
ready steel tools that We carry in our
pockets, costing q few cents, to the giant
steamships of steel which traverse the
oceans on errands of war or peace. /
write this article by the aid OF ma
chine of steel, it is nut in tpye by an
other marvellous machine OF steel, and
when placed In It's proper place on the
page another steel mechanism, a product
| of the present generation, prints and
folds the papers at an incredible speed.
We are given to no end Of boasting over
| these achievements. but now comes along
prophet who says IT will not last.
| One Gustav Liedenthal In an article In
the Engineering Magazine, says: In all
| probability, the steel age Will be the
shortest in history. 1t will end at time,
| perhaps, no farther removed from the
present than the present is from the time
| of the Crusadcs In Europe and America.
at least, steel bridges will be tnen crea-
tions of the past. This will be so. be-
| cause for the production of steel and iron
| in large masses, fuel in large quantities
| is necessary. Charcoal was the exclusive
! fuel and reducing agent before mineral
| coal was used. Once the mineral luGis
| tcoal. petroleum, natural gas, on tneir
| products) are exhausted, the production
| of iron must revert to the limitations OF
the charcoal period. Authorities esti.
mate that the coal fields OF Europe and
| America. will last from 400 to l,50O years
| longer. Those of Asia and Africa arc not
yet fully known. Measured by the age
| of the Egyptian pyramids, the steel aGt
| will, therefore, be of short duration. bu1
the most glorious in the history of man
| kind. The expectation that progress II
| the sciences will discover new ways U
| making iron and steel i'm large masse!
without fuel, OF with very little fuel. can
not be fulfilled. Power for mechanics
purposes mankind will be able to obtaii
from the four other great sources of ma
ture( wind, tides, waterfalls and the hca
| of the SUM. but mineral fuel is the Onl,
great source of power which can also b.
used for the reduction of iron ores. One
gone, it cannot be replaced or repro
duced. Moreover, the development an,
most extensive use of the four othc
sources of power cannot be achieved
without metals, and, foremost. withou
iron and steel for the necessary appli
ances. machinery and structures. With
ont coal, no iron and steel; without irol
and steel in great masses, no great ma
chincry for utilizing the sources of power
o
| 1t will be seen that while the write
places a limit to the production of stee
he yet gives us considerable time; sucl
a length of time, indeed, that the begin
ming of the end will not be felt for man,
generations to come. But however lonl
postponed. the end of the fuel will com
at last 1t will be observed that he no
| only shuts off our supply of steel by rea
son of the failure of fuel. but would ap
pear to shut off the, progress of civiliZa
| ton itself, in so far as il depends on ma
| chinery. He leaves us no loopholc of Cs
| cape after the supply of the kinds o
fuel at present in vogue have been use
up. He is the same sort of prophet a
Sir William Crookes. who i'm a recent ad
dress after showing that the progress q
the world depended on the supply @
wheat, preceded to tell us that in littl
over thirty years there would be a world
wide famine, and that, after that, W
would have to depend for a fun supply o
the improbable event of being able t
churn nitrogen out of the atmosphere
o.
Even If Liedenthal is correct ii by n
means follows that we could not continu
to advance in civilization and cultur
without iron and steel in such masses a
we are accustomed to at present.
In nearly every age there have arise
prophets who were able to give good rea
sons for the belief that was in them tina
! mankind was either destined speedily
perish from the earth or to lapse int
| barbarism but mankind has never waite
long to give practical contradiction
such prophecies. At any rate as world
go this one is very young and vigorous a
5 yet, and all of our experience goes towar
convincing us that we have but lust b,
gun to test it's possibilities in the way ,
ministering to the necessities of man.
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