The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-21
ALL ABOUT ASBESTOS
WILL. MAKE IRON OR EVEN
 WOOD SAFE.
Notable Expenses-Many Hundreds of Ways in Which Builders May Use Enemy of
 Flames.

Mature never fails to grow the anti sots for every poison in the latter's own locaiity--human lives and property beiig in constant danger, Providence place1 it's autidote-a reach or all. says New Bedford, Conn, special 10 The Louisville Courier-Journal.
 Asbestos is found in Vermont and Cal sfornia. The latter State is full, of suc- cessful asbestos mines; the implacaoie enemy of danger from fire exists in the Russian steppe and in hundred places in the United States and South America; fhe Swiss Alps, the rockhound fortresSes of IJimalaya. the mountains of Silesia, the Saxon lowlands, Norway's ftords, Spain, Italy, Greece, the islands Of the Mediterranean. The world is full Of as- bestos and the United States asbestos trust, in combination with the United Asbestos Company of London controls IL all.
 In 1SIs this Canadian district produced less than 300 tons of asbestos, worth &2O.0O0 while S,T00 tons were mined here in 1898, at selling price of $S6S,ooo. TWO years ago million dollars worth was exported, namely. nearly 4o.0o0 tons, and the industry Is still growing. The last figure means that Canada is now pro ducing in the neighborhood of sS per cent. of all asbestos mined. The United States is sending per cent. of the total to market and various European coun- tries supply 10 per cent more
 Why. only about 5000 tons of the min- eral. intended by kind nature to protect its children from awful deaths and fear ful loss are mined. though abundance ia all parts of the world is patent to ail, ia d question for national economists to solve. It is a fact, though, that out nut and sale are controlled by handful of capitalists, who gobbled up this nat ural treasure as kerosene, coal and other products of the earth were appropriated by certain fnanceirs. Under the circum- stances, of course, prices are severely regulated" and kept at figure prohib- ting the general use of the only known antidote against fire. That this means death for many we have just seen in Chicago.
 Not Too Much for MilliUnaires.
 By the proper use of asbestos several great New York hotels, the stamping grounds of the millionaires and would-oe millionaires from ali over the Union, arc rendered fire-proof, or nearly so, and If only nearly so," 1t is the owners fault, as the material to make them absolutely fre-proof can be had for the money big money. it must be admitted, for tho Asbestos Trust is as hint-hearted cor- poration as ever was conceived.
 Some people have a notion that build ings can not be made entirely fre-proof, even with iron, concrete and stone used throughout. This view is partially coz rect, for asbestos is needed, in fact, a5- solutely essential, to finish the business, and as pointed out the finishing asbestos touch has been applied in a few million aire hotels.
 It is not the purpose of this article to go into the matter of the Iroquois 4s- bestos curtain, whether it was the real thing or fake, whether it's lowering WAS possible or not. In order to render a theater or any building fireproof, ak parts, walls, decorations, etc., must be covered with asbestos. The New York hotel chamber set on fire on purpose was thus equipped. It's contents of infiamma- ble material burned up, but its walls and wall decorations, ceiling, doors, mal- eels, panels, floors, etc, remained intact
 And this brings up the issue of the day: The possibilities of asbestos with respect to the preservation of life and limb of persons assembled in a place of pubic resort.
 The overwhelming majority of Amefi- can theaters and hotels throughout the States have walls very prettily hung with 6AAA SbblAS UT pnpCAb Al6SCAAAA SdAOdAdtS0 to cause a fire to spread all over given surface with lightning rapidity. That such infammable material Is allowed 10 jeopardize life and limb of vast audiences Is as scandalous as 1t is unnecessary, for every conceivable kind of wall cov- ering and wall decorations can be made of asbestos fiber in endless variety. The decoration of ocean greyhounds is csi- tainly as artistic and lavish as that em- ployed in any theater or hotel in the worId-and it is asbestos.
 Demand for Wall Covering.
 A few years ago the Asbestos Trust started to manufacture asbestos wall GOV erings, and So great was the immedial le demand by rich people and hotel keepe4 catering to the wealthy classes that the works had to be doubled and trebItd within the first twelve months. Strange | to say, not a single theater manager sent l in an order.
 The architect of the ill-fated Iroquois | was quoted to say, on the morning after | the catastrophe, that never again would | he allow a particle of wood to be used | tn the construction of a theater. It is |