New-York tribune., 1918-04-22
Neu Things

wv JAR is no respecter of preiudce,
wv and these are not tho davs
when the inventor strugc,a,
hopelessly against public opinion-w;t.
ness Garabed. Even in the COS the,
celebrated the impertinences of cam
merce by singing:
Steel rails and paper wheels:
Kansas City and Omaha.
So perhaps the calm with which tbs
concrete ship is accepted is only natural
and right.
But it was not ever thus-certain,v
not with things maritime. Arnold Ben.
nett stands witness to the row kicked IN
when somebody dared to build an iron
steamship back in 1860, and opinion that
an iron-steamship man had of steel when
it came in about 1885. With Edward
Knoblauch he set it down in the p]av
called "Milestones."
There we find John Rhead, the Younger
partner in a firm of iron moulders, tellno
of the miracle of the first iron shin and
reaping the scorn of his prosaic senior,
Sam Sibley. John speaks of attending
the launching Of the Warrior, and a
friend asks, What is the Warrior"
JOHN-The Warrior is a steam frigat
the first vessel of the British navy Il,
be built entirely of iron. She's over six
thousand tons burden, and she represent,
the beginning of new era in iron.
This 29th of December marks great dsy
in the history of the British navy
SAM-Nonsense! All this day marks
is the folly of the Admiralty. You may
take it as an absolute rule that whatever
the Admiralty does is wrong Always has
beeny always will be.
JOHN (musing) You should have seer
her go into the water-the waves she
made! All that iron--and rvets! Iron,
mind you. And then float like a
cork. l never was at launch before, and
it gave me thrill. can tell you.
1'll tell you something tears came into
my eyes when the frigate took the water
Couldn't help it! In thirty years ever
big ship in the world will be built of iron
Very few people to-day believe in iros
for shipbuilding, and know there's a la
of silly easy sarcasm about it--especialf
in the papers. But its comng ltt
coming!
SAM-Five- -sixths of the experts II
England have no belief whatever in ths
future of iron ships. You know that
Iron ships, indeed! And what about Eng
lish oak? Would you build ships of ths
self-same material as bridges? Why ne
stone ships, then?
Something the same happens in 1886
when another young inventor, Preece
bothers Johns firm with his enthusiasm
for steel ships.
PREECE-1ts just like this. I've sue
cceded in making mild steel nearly per
cent lighter and no extra cost. It's
quite O. X. you know. And the thing
comes to this Assume the steel for
biggish ship costs 100000. Under mg
new process you'd get the same result
with steel that weighed about twen'
tieth less and cost, roughly, s19,OO0 Ne.
saving of nearly one thousand pounds
And not only that AS the hull weighs 50
much less, you can carry proportionsN'
ly heavier cargo in the some bottom.
SAM fully admit that I was wi'ns
that steel's going to take the place %
iron for ships!
JOHN (breaking in)-I don't think i
is on n,v works. But, as for prophess'ls
i don't prophesy. Heaven knows ~
one can accuse me of being consen''
tive in my ideas. But must say the nts
generation seems to be going clean %
its head. If one of these up-to-dah " :,
vertors came along and told me nss
made flying machine, ] should keep n'
nerve. / shouldn't blanch
When Arnold Bennett got to the tnls
act and 1910 there was no heresy le,'7
in the shipbuilding trade, so he le1 81
new hero go into farm macnlne's
Imagine the emotions of Mr.. Benne"~
ever an o-the-minute sort OF n's'.
ary man-when he read in the psls',.
that there qUas a new one after all. A'''
r l.