Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-11-19
The ISCaria
Steel Works
A Story Illustrating the Diff
ference Between the
Old and the New.
By JOHN Y. LARNED


petty kingdoms, municipalities and
dukedOms that in the various changes
of the map which have occurred dur
ing ten or a dozen centuries have for
one cause or another been left out of
the great divisions. One of these is
| the duchy of Iscaria, which several
centuries ago, on readjusting the bound.
airy between Italy and Austria, be-
came Independent. 1t consists of sew
enteen square miles in a mountainous
region, the capital, ArancOn, lying in
a beautiful valley in the center of the
dukedOm. This little state has always
maintained all the ceremony of an en-
pire. The duke, being a reigning SOW
ereign, associates on equal terms with
the crowned heads of the world. He
has prime minister and a cabinet, and
his army numbers 400 men. On state
occasions he sits on throne and wears
crown. The royal family, being mem
bers of the family circle, find it diff
cult to gather about them sufficient
persons within the dukedOm of high
enough rank to form a court society.
Bob Anderson was a young Amer
lean whose grandfather had establish
ed foundry which had grown to be
the Pemberton Steel company. Bob
a few years ago came of age to find
himself the sole owner of these extern
!
of the conce@n, but there was an eff
cient manager who relieved the owner
of the responsibility.
The young man, having a taste fol
adventure, on completing his educa
| ton set out to see the world. During
| three years he Travelled, returning only
at long intervals to satisfy himself that
| all was going well with his steel
works, for he had inherited from his
father Il natural gift for administrative
action. He not only knew what kind
of man to get to carry out his ideas,
| but took care to make an examination
! of what he was doing at such intervals
as he deemed essential. After each in
| vestigatiOn he would start out again
| on another ramble.
| One day Bob found himself in Aran-
con, the capital of Iscaria. 1t hap
pened to be a field day, and the reign
ing duke, Michael Ill, reviewed his
army. Bob tried to hire a presentable
| livery rig in which to view the spec
tacle, but found everything engaged
! except the most rattletrap cab in the
| dukedOm. He was obliged to be CON
tent with this and drove on to the
/ grounds where the review was to take
place.
During the ceremonies BOb's Cabby
got on to grounds reserved for royalty,
and his old trap, desecrating a space on
which stood the splendid equipage of
the duchess, was ordered off by a pc
liceman. Bob slipped q fistful of gold
pieces into the mans hand, who
straightaway, pretending that there
was no way for the cab to get out of
the tangle of vehicles, permitted him
to remain. The duchess looked dag
gers at the official and at Bob but said
nothing.
Beside the wife of the sovereign was
her daughter, Eudoxia There was
something so discordant between the
cab and the carriage in which she sat
that she could not repress smile.
That smile brought a resolve to the
American to show her royal highness
that he was used to better equipages
than a cab that was ready for the
scrap heap.
Now, the dukedom Of Iscaria was
like a Partisan shop, where about all
the stock is in the window. The duke
was financially the poorest sovereign
in Europe. His territory, being noun
famous was unproductive, and his sub.
jects were gradually going elsewhere
to make living. Smarting under the
young duchess smile at his rig, Bob,
as soon as the troops had passed, re-
turned to his hotel to think over a
plan whereby he might show those i'm
poverished royalties that he was able
to ride in as fine coach as they. The
result of his thought and inyestiga-
ton was as follows:
Through the city of Arancon ran Il
mountain torrent directly before the
hotel in which Bob was stopping
| While cogitating a plan to show his
! power through his wealth he was look
ing on this stream.
II have It. he said suddenly. "Thut's
a splendid water power. | will line
| the stream with mills. ! will show
these people that can turn the flow Of
emigration to immigration | will
build up the dukedom, Then will
ride through the capital in donkey
cart if ! choose ana they will have
something to laugh at
Anderson spent some time inquiring
what manufacture would be best suit
ed to the locality and found that there
! were undeveloped iron mines in noun
tains near by that were very rich. His
| first move was to buy a large tract of
| land on both sides of the waterway be-
bDw the city Then he sent to America
| for corps of engineers and mechan-
les, and buildings began to go up
enormous dams were constructed and
machinery by the hundreds of tons be-
! gan to arrive.
Meanwhile the builder of this water
power plant went off on his travels.
leaving instructions with his managers
that they should keep the ownership
secret. The duke, seeing what was
being done, sent his grand chamber
lain to inquire what it all meant He
was told that the Iscaria Steel compa-
ny was building a plant to smelt the
iron to be taken from the mines in