276 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



process of puddling, the extra content of carbon in cast 

 iron is gradually burned out. This led the chemist to 

 believe that if this combustion could be stopped at the 

 right time the manufacture of steel could be rendered 

 much cheaper. This idea eventually took shape in the 

 Bessemer converter. As a result, every industry and 

 every art has been immensely benefited. All tools for 

 the machinist, the carpenter's planes, the farmer's 

 plows, have felt the influence of this discovery. It has 

 netted the continents with steel rails, and thus cemented 

 the ties of international friendship. It has made steel- 

 plated ships in place of the oak hulls of our fathers, and 

 has profoundly affected the progress and wealth of the 

 world. Cheap steel means plenty of work, good wages, 

 and cheap bread. 



Cheap steel is a great civilizer and a great mission- 

 ary. The most bigoted heathen idolater, who remains 

 unmoved by the sincerest and most potent appeals of 

 the devout missionary, would not endure for a year the 

 exhortations of a Bessemer converter. If science had 

 never done anything for the world other than making 

 cheap steel a reality the world would be to science a 

 hopeless debtor. What is true of the steel industry is 

 true of every metallurgical process. We are apt to 

 forget in the ripeness and success of a business how it 

 arose and by what fostering care it was protected. 



In this day, however, when most of the industries 

 and arts have already advanced to a fair degree of per- 

 fection, we are not practically interested in how they 

 had their origin. This is a question more of historical 

 than of practical interest. Science however has not 

 lost its vital relation to industry by this advancement. 

 Having been the source from which the industry sprang, 

 it remains the protector and promoter of industry. He 



