The sun., 1916-12-08
THE STEEL INDUSTRY IN ITS RELA.
TON TO LABOR.


duction and use OF steel. In the olden
time when ore was smelted with char
coal from the pit Of the forester the
resultant steel was chiefly wrought
| Into arms and armor. The Crusaders
learned the secret Of making the steel
Of Damascus and turned their knowl-
edge toward fashioning keen edged
tools Of peace. After nearly a thou
sand years the use Of coal and coke
In the furnace enabled the conversion
Of ore In vast retorts from which
emerges the Protean substance 50
strong that 1t Is rolled into the bars
and beams Of bridge and building
into the rails which withstand the
pounding Of heavy trains: so ductile
that II 10 drawn into the tenacious
wire that fences the Western range
into the gossamer thread OF the tele-
phone magnet: 10 elastic that It has
succeeded whalebone In the ribs of
ladies' corsets; SO penetrating and
nrm Of hold that II Is made into nails
and screws; 80 resistant to fire that
1t is wrought into safe and vault: so
impervious to water that 1t is formed
into boiler Of engine and hull OF ves-
sci, so ponderous that II Is made into
mighty hammers; so delicate that II is
fashioned into the handspring OF the
tiniest timepiece and into the instru-
ments Of surgery.
At the close of 1914 and the begin
ming OF 1915 the destruction OF the
peace OF Europe had wrought havoc
with the arts OF peace In the United
States. Feeble was the pulse Of mine
and mill. Then to meet the need of
began to throb. IN the spring Of
1915 began the demand of the
belligerents which has steadily risen
except during an interval or two
when they have finessed in the en-
deavor to score a point or so in the
negotiations for prices Their needs.
however. have been so urgent that
there has not been much pickering
as to prices, which have risen as the
demand has risen. Our mills have
been called upon to produce steel
for arms and munitions made in this
country. for steel to be made into
arms and munitions abroad, for steel
to be wrought into rails, cars, Iocomo-
tives and automobiles used by the con-
tending nations.
AS money flowed to the United
States in payment for the grain. meat
cotton and other supplies shipped
abroad, the demand for steel for do
mestic consumption was so stimulated
that mine and mill are pulsating with
an energy never known before. The
demand OF domestic consumers prob
ably Is now about four times as great
as that for steel for foreign consump-
ton. The swelling demand found the
producers unprepared. At first there
was fear Of ore shortage, but the
obvious fact that without ore there
could not be steel caused such concen-
tration of effort in its production. of
railroads and boats in its transporta-
tion from the mines to the mills that
this fear has not been realized More
blast furnaces were needed and they
have been built. More mills were
needed; they have been built and now
are building. Thus the steel corpora
tions are themselves competing with
their customers for the output of their
steel in the making OF structures. ma
chimes, nails. wire. tools and appliances
OF universal use has been obliged 10
pay unwonted prices or to postpone
placing his orders. Such as could be
postponed have been postponed and
many of the orders. that have been
placed cannot readily be filled. The
strain placed upon the railroads for
the transportation of ore that has
entered into the making of steel and
Of steel products has impaired the
degree of their usefulness for other
transportation. Cars and locomotives
are being worn out at an unprece-
dented rate and cannot Immediately
be replaced. The imperative domestic
demand and the imperative foreign
demand have obliged the steel manu-
facturers to apportion the output Of
their mills. Thus in a measure they
have become arhiters OF the course of
industry.
Notwithstanding all the hand!caps
necessarily incident to the unforeseen
and prolonged stress. the steel industry
Of the United states has achieved re-
suits that would not have been possible
with the methods OF even twenty
years ago. In great modern mill
masses OF ore and fux are loaded into
gigantic retorts where the dross is
blown away as by n hurricane. Molten
metal flows from these converters TO
the cooling beds whence ingots are
carried to the rolls from which
emerge the shapes OF steel that are
finally transformed into gun and shel
into structures. appliances and the
countless articles OF daily use. These
processes once required laborers in
squads and gangs by the dozen and
the score, But now they are performed
by machinery. Here and there in an
overhead cage calm and collected
individual with trained eye and trained
hand presses the button and moves
the levers that cause the mechanism
to start and cause IL to stop, that
cause the doors OF furnaces to omen
and the waiting mass to be pushed
into cauldron. that lift form OF steel
as II enters a set of rolls, seize il upon
cmergence and carry 1t to another
set. No longer do men toll with
strained muscles and racked nerves
in the face of white hot metal: the
work that once was daily eXhausting
and life shortening is now performed
by machinery.
The more effective the application
~ machinery tho less Is the need for
human effort. Thus human labor is
liberated for employment in other vo-
cations that have increased and ex-