Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-09-24
THE COMING ACE OF ALUMINIUM.
Death of Copper Industry Foreshadowed
and Ultimate Downfall of Iron.

Death of Copper Industry Foreshadowed
and Ultimate Downfall of Iron.
The coming age will be the age of
aluminium. 1t is only 20 years since
this wonderful metal was discovered
by Woehler, and the aluminium indus
try, scarcely 40 years old, commands
already the attention of the entire
world. Such rapid growth has not
been recorded in the history of civil
ization before. Not long ago aluminium
was sold ut the fanciful price of $50
or $40 per pound: today it can be had
In any desired amount for as many
cents. What is more, the time is not
far Off when this price, too, will be
considered fanciful. for great improve
ments are possible in the methods OF
its manufacture.
The absolutely unavoidable conse-
quence of the advance of the alumi-
mum industry will be the annihilation
of the copper industry They cannot
exist and prosper together, and the lat
ter is doomed beyond any hope of re-
coyery. Even now it is cheaper to con-
yey an electric current through alu-
minum wires than through copper
wires; aluminium castings cost less,
and in many domestic and other uses
copper has no chance of successfully
competing. A further material reduc-
tion of the price of aluminium cannot
but be fatal to copper. But the prog
ress Of the former will not go on un-
checked, for, as it ever happens In such
cases, the larger industry will absorb
the smaller one; the giant copper in
terests will control the pigmy alumni
mum interests, and the slow-pacing
copper will reduce the lively gait Of
aluminium. This will only delay,
not avoid, the impending catastrophe.
Aluminium, however, will not stop at
downing copper. Before many years
have passed it will be engaged in a
fierce struggle with iron, and in the
latter it will find an adversary not
easy to conquer. The issue of the con-
test will largely depend on whether
iron shall be Indispensable in electric
machinery. This the future alone can
decide.
While it is impossible to tell when
this industrial revolution will be con-
summated, there can be no doubt that
the future belongs to aluminium, and
that in times to come it will be the
chief means of increasing human per-
formance. 1t has in this respect ca
pacities greater by far than those OF
any other metal. l should estimate
its civilizing potency at fully one
hundred times that of iron. This esti-
mate, though it may astonish, is not
at all exaggerated. First of all, We
must remember that there is 80 times
as much aluminium as iron in bulk
available for the uses of man. This in
itself offers great possibilities. Then,
again, the new metal is much more
easily workable, which adds to its
value. In many of its properties it
partakes of the character of precious
metal, which gives it additional worth.
Its electric conductivity, which, for
Il given weight, is greater than that
of any other metal, would be alone
sufficient to make it one of the most
important factors in future human
progress. Its extreme lightness makes
it farm easy to transport the objects
manufactured. By virtue of this prop
erty it will revolutioniZe naval con-
structlon, and in facilitating transport
and travel it will add enormously to
the useful performance of mankind.
But its greatest civilizlng potency will
be, believe, in aerial travel, which is
sure to be brought about by means of.
Telegraph instruments will slowly
enlighten the barbarian. Electric
motors and lamps will do it more
quickly, but quicker than anything else
the flying machine will do it. BY
rendering travel ideally easy it will be
the best means for unifying the meter
ogeneous elements of humanity
Nicola Tesla, in the Century Magazine.