MASSACHUSETTS. 



METALLURGY. (!RON, STEEL.) 525 



"We believe that the State should establish a stand- 

 ard eight-hour day tor State and municipal employes 

 engaged in manual labor. 



We favor further legislation for limiting the hours 

 of labor of women and children employed m mercan- 

 tile and manufacturing establishments. 



We renew our demand of last year for legislation 

 for securing the publication and limitation of cam- 

 paign expenses. 



We believe in the progressive development of our 

 public-school system, and that ampler means than 

 are now afforded should be provided for the public 

 education of the children of all classes of our citizens 

 in all parts of the State ; that, while the opportunities 

 for obtaining higher education at the public expense 

 should not be curtailed, yet, as these are for the bene- 

 fit of the few, and are not of service to the many, we 

 believe that a large part of the school fund should be 

 employed in giving industrial instruction and tech- 

 nical training to the hundreds of thousands of chil- 

 dren who can not attend the high schools. 



We welcome the passage by the Legislature of this 

 year of the amendment to the Constitution abolishing 

 the tax qualification upon the franchise. 



We believe that the time has come when cities and 

 towns should be intrusted with larger powers of home 

 rule in matters of taxation and municipal administra- 

 tion, and we commend to the consideration of the 

 coming Legislature the expediency of authorizing 

 cities and towns, under proper conditions ? to exercise 

 those wider functions which municipalities in other 

 States and countries have found desirable, as well as 

 the expediency of authorizing towns and cities to ex- 

 act compensation from corporations enjoying public 

 franchises, where this can be done without injustice to 

 vested rights or detriment to the public interest. 



A few weeks after the Republican nominations 

 were made charges were made affecting the in- 

 tegrity of J. Henry Gould, the Republican can- 

 didate for Auditor, in consequence of which he 

 was induced to withdraw from the ticket, and 

 the name of Charles R. Ladd, the present Audi- 

 tor, was substituted therefor. Mr. Gould was 

 able to disprove these charges soon after his 

 withdrawal, and many of his friends became dis- 

 satisfied at the manner in which he had been 

 forced from the ticket. They refused to support 

 Mr. Ladd, and their defection gave the election 

 to Mr. Trefry, the Democratic candidate. Na- 

 tional issues were the chief topics of discussion 

 in the canvass. For Governor the vote was : 

 Russell, 140,507; Brackett, 131,454; Blackmer, 

 13,554. For Lieutenant-Governor, Haile re- 

 ceived 137,160 votes; Corcoran, 130,630: Kemp- 

 ton, 11,770. The Republican plurality for Sec- 

 retary of State was 6,468 votes ; for Treasurer, 

 9,849 ; for Attorney-General, 8,239. The Demo- 

 cratic plurality for Auditor was 7,921. Members 

 of the Legislature were chosen at the same elec- 

 tion, as follow : Senate, Republicans 20, Dem- 

 ocrats 20 ; House. Republicans 139, Democrats 

 98, Independent 1, and Prohibitionist 1. Two 

 amendments to the State Constitution were 

 adopted at the same election. The amendment 

 to prevent the disfranchisement of voters by 

 reason of a change of residence within the Com- 

 monwealth received 97,177 affirmative and 44,686 

 negative votes. The amendment relative to the 

 exercise of the right of franchise by soldiers and 

 sailors received 100,109 votes in its favor to 27,- 

 021 votes against it. 



The election for members of Congress resulted 

 in the loss by the Republicans of five districts 

 out of the eight that were previously held by 

 that party. 



METALLURGY. Iron and Steel. The 



problem of separating iron ore from impurities 

 in what are called wash ores has presented diffi- 

 culties that have never been successfully over- 

 come. Mr. Clemens Jones, in the course of some 

 experiments, when rapidly drying limonite over a 

 Bunsen flame, found that'the ore was magnetized. 

 Experimenting, with other ores, he found that 

 their particles were so strongly affected as to 

 permit their complete separation by means of 

 a magnet. The magnetization appears to be per- 

 manent, having been found unimpaired in speci- 

 mens that had been kept a year. The effect is 

 produced when the ore, placed in a convenient 

 receptacle, is roasted by the usual process, with 

 either solid or gaseous fuel. It is undesirable to 

 use much heat, since magnetization is fully im- 

 parted at a cherry-red temperature. The ore is 

 drawn as fast as it reaches this temperature, and 

 is at once ready for magnetic separation. It is 

 logically deduced that all hydrous ores of iron 

 become magnetic in the blast furnace, and that 

 at the proper zone even anhydrous hematite 

 with which no magnetic effects could be obtained 

 in the experiments does so. 



While the carbonization of iron by means of 

 the diamond is not a new experiment. Prof. Rob- 

 erts-Austen is believed to be the first who has per- 

 formed theoperation in a vacuum, with iron which 

 has been previously heated in a vacuum to deprive 

 it of its occluded gas. These experiments are of 

 interest in view of the assertions made by some 

 chemists that no two elements can react upon 

 each other unless a third element be present. 

 The author believes that a mere trace of the ad- 

 ditional element is sufficient to insure combina- 

 tion, for in his experiments carbon and iron in 

 their purest obtainable forms were used, "and 

 the only additional matter that could have been 

 present wa's the trace of occluded gas which the 

 iron may possibly have retained." Prof. Roberts- 

 Austen is satisfied that combination does not 

 take place till a full red heat is reached. 



Mr. Thomas Andrews has described experi- 

 ments made to determine whether the coefficients 

 of heat dilatation in iron and steel become grad- 

 ually less as the temperature is lowered below 

 C. An affirmative answer was obtained, which 

 Prof. P. G. Tate had remarked, in his work on 

 "Heat," was probable. The coefficients of dila- 

 tation were found to be greater in the soft steels 

 than in the hard, which may be accounted for 

 by the percentage of combined carbon, as shown 

 in the analyses which the author publishes, being 

 much lower in the soft than in the hard steels, 

 and the percentage of pure iron being conse- 

 quently greater. The author's figures show also 

 that the cylinders of metal, especially the ham- 

 mered steels and wrought iron, generally ex- 

 panded more lengthwise than crosswise. Hence 

 the inference that the crystalline particles of the 

 metals suffer slight permanent alteration of form 

 by'rolling, sufficient to very slightly effect their 

 relative longitudinal and transverse dilatations. 



The desired percentage of carbon may be pr,o- 

 duced in working steel by stopping the process 

 when that proportion is reached in the bath ; 

 or by decarbonizing the bath, and then add- 

 ing the element in the form of spiegel, ferro- 

 manganese, etc. The methods of introducing 

 carbon in these indirect ways left something 



