The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-20
Sir Henry BeSSemer.

1t was once said that peace hath her
victories no less renowned than war
and without carrying this theory to the
extreme point of declaring that those
are the only victories worth having it
may be admitted that the great men
whose fame has been won in purely
peaceful directions are as worthy OF
honor as great genera or admirals,
because their work has been of as
much benefit to mankind. One of these
men was Sir Henry Bessemer, the dis
coverer of the process of TRANSMITTING
pig iron into steel by immediate action
on the hearth of the furnace. He re-
ceived his knighthOod as a reward for
this service to his country BY this
invention it was made possible to use
steel of good quality in hundreds of
ways where iron was formerly used.
BeSsemer steel was utilized in making
railroad rails, in sheathing war YES
sells, in the construction of bridges and
houses, and in the manufacture of
hundreds of implements. The superior
lasting qualities of the steel rails and
their cheapness-for they cost little
have made it possible to reduce the
rates on passenger and freight trans
portation. Steel in the construction of
houses and office buildings has pro-
noted public safety. Steel in the con-
struction of railroad bridges has con-
tributed to the safety of trains passing
over them. And steel used for the
various implements of household work
and the different trades has increased
the comfort of the public in innumer-
able ways
A man who has increased materially
the comfort, safety, and intelligence of
thousands, even hundreds of thous>
ands. of his fellow-beings, is surely
worthy Of honor from all civilized peo-
pie. The ultimate end of human en-
deavor after all is said, is the promo
ton of true civilization. A war may
do this; it may so unite the inhabitants
of one country in patriotic endeavor. it
may so purge the land of low and slug
gish and selfish motives, and give so
great an impetus to national energy
that it is worth all it costs. But there
. are influences which are at work in the
quieter times of peace which also pro-
mote civilization, and among these are
the various industries which enlighten
the common people, make their lives
more comfortable and more leisurely,
/ and give them time to consider, not
/ only the ordinary business of their lives
but the wider business of the world,
and the good of their neighbors. Every
/ great invention in some measure helps
forward this end. Everything that
makes it possible for more people to
live comfortably and happily, safely
and independently, everything that ia
/ cilitates commerce and brings the diff
ferent parts of the world into closer
I relations, is good in it's way; and this,
. surely, has been in some measure
done by the discovery of the Bessemer
steel process. OF course, railroads, and
ten-story buildings, and the telegraph,
and lightning rods, and newspapers,
are not in themselves civilization, but
in the long run they all help civiliza-
ton. A murderer can kill his victim
with a bulldog revolver or a Turkish
scimiter and it will not make much
difference to either party; one will be
dead, and the other will be a murderer,
in either case. But as most people do
not use iron in the shape Of reVOlvers
or daggers, but in more peaceful forms,
the good that is done by the increased
cheapness of steel is on the whole,
much greater than the evil.