The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-04-21
A1addin's Feats Excelled
by the Deeds of Modern Genius.
Aat Douel.s Story Tells Of the Wonders of the Carnegie
.%A+ Steel Works

When the vessel was full the claws OF a
great electric crane were fixed in its sides
and 1t was swung upward-a proper tank
ard for some BacchanaIian demon to quar-!
AS 1t dangled above our heads. fifty tons
of swelling steel, 1 marveled at the silent
power of this birthplace of wealth.
II, a stay should break. or n bolt snapf
And I moved hastily away from the sim
lister vicinity Of the swinging caldron.
Seven thousand men labor daily in the
Homestead works. but nowhere Is their
presence felt. And yet the work done by
one machine would tax the muscles of the
army that built the Pyramids. The max
ing Of millions is no child's play, and sim
pie pieces Of mechanism will here perform
before one feats of strength that were i'm
possible to q force of q hundred thousand
men.
In the armor-plate department Is an en-
gine which will exert a pressure Of 5000
tons. In another shed IL a reversing engine
Of 10,o00-h horse power. There are electric
crane that will carry hither and thlther
weights of q hundred tons as easily as one
would raise q handkerchief. In the armor-
plate department are machines that bend
like tinfoil plates which the biggest gun
Of the Civil War would rave proved harm
less to penetrate.
In one shed there II q machine that re-
ceives a prodigious ingot. rolls 1t to and
fro into a shapely slab, cuts 1t into pieces
as though 1t were cheese. then weighs each
section and records the weight before pass
ing the regulation billets to the train
awaiting them.
The very sheds are -Brobdingnagian. One
10 I ON feet In LENGTH full oP psiJsipO ma
chinery, huge cranes and irresistible
presses.
In one of the mills a long pathway of
rollers receives a slab of glowing metal,
passes 1t down to the cylinder presses, car
ries 1t backward and forward till 1t Is twelve
times its original length and but a twelfth
of its thickness.
On to this great plate a man throws a
handful Of salt. In an instant there Is q
crackle like the first volley OF a battle, a
feu de joie that siiences every sound Of the
works and makes ones heart stand still
with apprehension.
They are beating the oxidlzed crust, and
what sounds like the rending of the worlds
supports is but an incident of manufacture.
When these plates have passed dow an
other long alley of rollers. they are arrested
for a moment, while men with measures
mark distances upon them. The stoppage Is
for an instant only: the next they are has
tening down to where the shears cut them
into lengths. a.
A few minute later. in the stock yard.
they are being loaded on to trains for ex-
portation.
Here also IS turned out most OF the
structural s~teel-angles, rods and I beams.
In all. the process is similar, the exercise
of force alike. the completed product equal
ly miraculous.
On Sundays. when the converters are
resting. q remarkable machine makes pig
iron. Until the other day pig iron was
nodded In sand molds. a slow and laborious
process. To-day the great caldrons of boil
ing iron are brought from the blast fur
naces. tugged up a line OF rails and tilted
into the endless chain of p~ig-shaped buck
cts. In these. like mud in asdredgers buck
cts. the metal cools, and. when it reaches
railroad wagons as FINISHED Mig iron.
Up on the hill fsdns. Homestead Is the
camping ground of the Pennsylvania, militia
at the time of the great strike. when the
men sought to coerce their employers.
VII the hliIsiue, cloSe u Wnefe uIo Hliiltla
Generals tent was pitched. is a free library.
With the library Is combined q club. we'll
appointed. with card-rooms and billiard
tables. q swimming bath. q gymnasium
and a music hall; For 81 a year all these
are open to the workers-culture, health
and recreation.
In the works is q savings bank, to which
the men can contribute and from which a
6 per cent dividend is paid. If the employees
would own their own houses. the money is
advanced and the sum repaid by INSTALL
ments. Everywhere men and master work
together to their mutual benefit and to the
preservation of good-fellowship.
Out Of eager competition. striving capital
ism and rigid economy has developed the
form of socialism. In the works