New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1907-05-29

SERIOUS CHARGE IF TRUE
Railroad Wrecks Explained by John
W. Gates.

If John w. Gates is telling the truth
many of the railroad wrecks are due
to the poor rails manufactured by the
United States Steel corporation. That
is a serious charge to lay at the door
of a concern that is seeking business,
but Mr.. Gates must be in position to
know what he is talking about. Mr..
Gates says that under the process used
by the steel trust the first foot or two
of the rails are full of air bubbles,
and that they used to be cut off to en-
sure sound and safe rail. OF late,
so it is claimed, the trust has been saw
ing money by sending out the rails with
the bad ends, and in Gates opinion
this as been the direct result of some
of the awful catastrophes which have
been the cause of the wholesale loss OF
life, not to mention the great number
of injured. It should be an easy mat
ter for the government and the big
railroads to ascertain whether Mr..
Gates statements are founded upon
facts. IT so the remedy is plain.
It mnst be admitted that the accusa-
ton is a serious one. We hope that it
us not true. We do not like to believe
that even trust that robs the public
would enter into a diabolical censpir-
acy to murder people. The charge,
however, is of such a serious character
that an investigation as to it's truth or
falsity should be instituted.
A few months ago the railway COM
mission of New York state commenced
an investigation of a number of wrecks,
and in a report recently made public
they stated that for the first four
months of the present year 2, 1919 brok-
en- rails were removed or caused
wrecks in that one state, New York.
The steel trust is charged with having
connived at murder. Can that COR
poration clear it's skirts of this fear
full accusation? This is the corpora
ton that has been nursed, fondled
and pampered for many years by the
government. Now that its child has
been charged with high crimes, the
parent should make an investigation,
and if the allegations are found to be
true, it should administer the proper
punishment to its offspring.
John W. Gates. the Wall Street
Spectator, makes the distinct charge
that greed for profits has induced the
makers of Bessemer steel rails to neg
lect the former safeguards in manu-
facture, and that the frequent break
ages of late are due solely to improper
manufacture and low standards.
Drawing a diagram of steel CONVEX
ter from which steel ingots are cast
Mr.. Gates said that only two-thirds
of the metal poured into the converter
to be made into steel was of high
enough grade to be rolled into rails.
s'When I was headof the Illinois Steel
company" he said, I'VE used to cut off
ten inches below the core of the molten
steel. Above that point the steel was
full of 'blubber' air, puffs and impuri-
ties. In cutting ten inches below the
core we obtained pure Bessemer steel.
Nowadays the rail companies using
Bessemer steel believe that they can
roll out these impurities and save at
the same time from 10 to 20 per cent OF
the material. With pig iron at s23 a
ton this saving amounts to consider
able sum when one is rolling 1000, 00O
or 100000 tons of steel rails which
sell at S2S ton. The Bessemer makers
do not cut enough from the cooling
steel below the core. Hence these
flaws in the steel before it is rolled. y