THE ROMANCE OF STEEL.

Bush Advocate, Volume XX, Issue 1002, 14 April 1908, Page 6

THE ROMANCE OF STEEL.

Is there, any industrial romance so fascinating as the romance of- Steel? Fifty -y.ears the., most- ; pressing 1 need of the industrial tvorld'was a new metal, stronger and cheaper than iron. The railways were using iron' rails that wore out in less than twoyears. William Kelly, an IrisliAmerican, of Pittsburg, and Henry, Bessemer, of England, gave the world lwhat it wanted. Kelly, one learns : from a new book on the romance of tlw industry, -was the original inventor of the process which bears Bessemer's name, but the commercial success was. due to Bessemer's machinery, perfected in Sheffield. Kelly was an irbnmaker, and faced with bankruptcy for want of charcoal. ;One day as he, watched his "finery fire" he noticed that in one spot cold air alone "had made the molten ir-on Vhite' Hot; The idea of a new pror cess came to him instantly. Everj? ironmaker believed , that cold aii would chill hot iron, and Kelly, was derided as a, crank when he made his discovery known. "Some crank will be burning ice. next," said one man. This- effect of air on. molten iron was the basis of a process which to-day converts 18,000,000,0001 b of iron into steel every year in America. The historian ©f this wonderful process calls his history tlie story of 1000 millionaires. Andrew Carnegie made his money in steel, and through it Charles Schwab was receiving £20,000 a year at 39 as President of the Steel Corporation f Mr Carnegie's operations became- so;, Napoleonic that manufacturers and financiers became alarmed. At all cost they must get rid of him. Pierpont Morgan was the negotiator. "How much?" he, asked. : Mr Carnegie named terms which amounted to a cash price of about £97,000,000. The sale was effected, and the Steel Trust came into being. It is not a pretty picture that is drawn of the lust for gold at the Carnegie works. "Partnerships were dangled before the eyes of young clerks until they were fevered with ambition: It was a system of make or break. Every young officer, who served under General Carnegie was either .a millionaire or a physical wreck in a few years. Every superintendent was pitted against every other. The heaven of a partnership and the hell of dismissal goaded the bosses and sub-bosses into a furious activity that put the Carnegie Company far in advance of all its competitors." The cry was always for more% ; >The romance of steel is partly a tragedy.