METALLURGY. 



427 





the peoples whom we have freed from her tyranny. 

 While we would not interfere with the diplomatic 

 negotiations now in progress, we desire that they 

 be so conducted and terminated as to secure to the 

 Philippine Islands and to Cuba in amplest measure 

 the blessings of liberty and self-government. 



" The building of the Nicuniguan Canal, con- 

 trolled and -operated by the United States, is now 

 imperative. Our possessions in the Caribbean Sea, 

 the annexation of Hawaii, our position in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands, and the notable voyage of the 

 ' Oregon,' have made its necessity clear to all." 



The platform favored restricted immigration to 

 the extent of " requiring of the intended immigrant 

 that he be able to read and write." 



Any action that will imperil the North Atlantic 

 fisheries was protested against. 



The State administration was commended, and 

 the State officers rcnominated, as follows: for Gov- 

 ernor, Roger Wolcott ; Lieutenant Governor, W. 

 Murray Crane; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 

 William M. Olin ; Treasurer and Receiver General, 

 Edward P. Shaw ; Auditor of Accounts. John W. 

 Kimball; Attorney-General, Hosea M. Knowlton. 



The Republicans elected their State ticket, but 

 with smaller pluralities than in 1897. The vote 

 for Governor stood: Wolcott, Republican, 191,146: 

 Bruce, Democrat, 107,960 : Shapleigh. Prohibition- 

 ist, 4,734: Peare, Socialist-Labor, 10,063 ; Porter, 

 Socialist-Democrat, 3,749. 



The Executive Council consists of Nathaniel F. 

 Ryder, William W. Davis, George N. Swallow, 

 Horace H. Atherton, S. Herbert Howe, M. V. B. 

 Jefferson, and Perley A. Russell, Republicans, and 

 Charles I. Quirk, Democrat. 



The Legislature stands : Republicans in Senate, 

 33 ; in House, 165. Democrats in Senate, 7 ; in 

 House, 65. Independents in House, 10. 



Of the Representatives elected to Congress, 10 

 are Republicans and 3 Democrats. 



Municipal elections were held Dec. 6 in 16 of the 

 cities of the State. Reports say : There were some 

 surprising changes in the license vote in some of the 

 cities, notably in Holyoke and Lowell. Last year 

 olyoke went "yes" by over 1,400 majority, but this 

 ear it declared for license by a bare 69. In Lowell 

 he license majority last year was a little less than 

 100, but this year the city falls into the no-license 

 lumn, and elects a Democratic mayor. Holyoke 

 tself went over solidly into the Republican column, 

 lecting a Republican mayor, and Lynn's new 

 ayor is a Republican. Salem and Everett voted 

 o license. Haverhill has a Socialist-Democrat a 

 ayor. Woburn elects an independent Republican 

 ver Republican and Democrat, and comes to the 

 o-license line. Chelsea re-elects Mayor Little- 

 eld, and sticks to no license. Cambridge votes 

 or no license by an increased majority. 



The only change in the license policy is in Low- 

 ell, where it is from "yes" to "no." 



The Socialists showed their strength in Wor- 

 cester, where they piled up a vote of over 900, and 

 in Lynn they cast 300 votes even against Mayor 

 Ramsdell, who has been considered as in sympathy 

 with their views. 



In Boston the license vote fell away remarkably. 

 While the " No " kept steadily up to its figures of 

 last year, the " Yes " fell off, and the majority of 

 last year was cut down by a very material percent- 

 age. 



METALLURGY. Iron and Steel Bog-iron 

 ore is extensively worked in the province of Quebec, 

 Canada, and arrangements are being made to extract 

 manganese from the bog-ore deposits in New Bruns- 

 wick. The ore is a soft wet stuff, containing 50 

 per cent, of water, and is covered by a thin coating 

 of vegetable earth. It lies at a depth varying from 



3 feet to 30 feet. When it is dried the residuum is 

 a black powder too firm to be treated in the blast 

 furnace and it has therefore to be made into bri- 

 quettes, as is done with fine dust from blast fur- 

 naces and the finely divided iron produced from 

 low-grade ores by the Edison electrical process. 

 The cementing materi.il used is kept secret. 



Bessemer pig is not produced for the manufacture 

 of steel exclusively, but is used in an increasing de- 

 gree in the production of malleable castings. Manu- 

 facturers of car wheels are also said to be able to 

 secure thoroughly satisfactory results from the use 

 of it. Coke Bessemer is most sought for these pur- 

 poses, but the charcoal metal also enjoys a share in 

 the trade. 



Mr. Alexander E. Outerbridge, Jr., believes that 

 manganese is greatly maligned and misunderstood 

 by foundrymen as a rule. It behaves very differ- 

 ently under different circumstances and with differ- 

 ent kinds of iron. Experiments made fifteen years 

 ago satisfied him that under suitable conditions the 

 effect of manganese added in a ladle of molten metal 

 was to cause a large proportion (nearly one half) of 

 the carbon in pig iron, low in silicon, to revert to 

 the graphite form. The strength of test bars of 

 metal so treated was increased from 30 to 40 per 

 cent., the depth of chill was decreased about 25 per 

 cent., and the shrinkage was decreased nearly as 

 much. The tests were made with car-wheel iron. 



George R. Johnson describes experiments which 

 seem to indicate that further use may be made of 

 high manganese irons. The characteristics of man- 

 ganese that make it suitable for. mixture with iron 

 are its high affinity for sulphur, rendering it a use- 

 ful aid in eliminating that substance; the possession 

 of the property in combination with iron of allow- 

 ing the absorption of more carbon : and its tendency 

 to increase carbon in the combined state. A number 

 of English and Scotch brands of excellent quality 

 are referred to as containing a high percentage of 

 manganese. In Mr. Johnson's experiments of six 

 specimens of iron, submitted to the test of scratch- 

 ing with a diamond, the manganese iron proved the 

 hardest ; and the results of tests in brake shoes 

 showed that very great hardness, with good strength 

 and toughness, might be obtained by using high 

 manganese iron and chilling at a blue heat. 



In a casting machine devised by Mr. R. W. Davis, 

 of Warren, Ohio, for the production of sandless 

 pig iron the molds about 140 in number are ar- 

 ranged around the circumference of a wheel about 

 50 feet in diameter. As the wheel is revolved, each 

 mold comes successively under the ladle. After a 

 cast has been made and the molds are filled, the 

 wheel is revolved, and as each mold, which is hung 

 on trunnions, reaches a given point each pig is 

 tipped into a chute leading to a wagon. 



It appears, from a discussion of the subject in the 

 Pittsburg Foundrymen's Association, that the use 

 of sandless pig iron in foundry practice has not 

 proved as successful so far as in open-hearth prac- 

 tice, because of the oxidation of the overheated iron 

 when it is not protected during the period of heat- 

 ing by the sand clinging to the pigs. It was sug- 

 gested that the difficulty might be partly overcome 

 by adding a small amount of slag. This, however, 

 would protect the iron only after melting is com- 

 pleted, and not during the process. 



Relative to the value of sandless pig iron as com- 

 pared with ordinary pig, E. A. Welling says that 

 the sandless iron has been demonstrated in the 

 basic open-hearth furnaces at Homestead to be 

 worth at least 50 cents a ton more than sand iron 

 of the same composition. The enhanced value is 

 due first to the fact that it melts more readily than 

 iron with a crust of sand about it, and, being in a 

 more advanced state of reduction when melted, is 





