196 



NATURE 



[December 29, 1892 



cusses at length the American policy of protection. 

 Comparison is made of American exports as afifected by 

 British free trade. Then follows a series of short art- 

 icles on various subjects— the Anglo-American, imports 

 of tinplates from this country, imports and exports of both 

 countries, America as consumer and as exporter, and 

 other important matters. By way of illustration copious 

 tables are adduced with the author's deductions there- 

 from, and these will well reward the closest attention. 



Section 2 deals with the relative cost of the necessaries 

 of life in various mining and metallurgical localities : — 



" In the United States the manufacturers are enriched 

 at the expense of the agriculturist and of other con- 

 sumers. Some time before the abolition of protective 

 duties in the United Kingdom years of scanty harvests 

 entailed a great amount of misery among the labouring 

 population of these islands, and at all times the landed 

 interest by the protection granted to it by law, imposed a 

 burthen upon industry generally. This relation between 

 land and industry is now, as we have seen, reversed in the 

 United States, by which, according to our views, the 

 manufacturers are enriched at the expense of the agri- 

 culturists and of other consumers. 



" Circumstances have greatly changed since the repeal 

 of the corn laws, and the general introduction of free 

 trade in the British Isles, for we have a people, the largest 

 food importers in the world, obtaining their supplies 

 3000 miles from where they are grown, frequently at 

 prices as favourable as those charged in the cities of 

 America itself." 



Sir Lowthian Bell appears to grasp fully a difficult situa- 

 tion, and gives a fair summary of the relative economic 

 position of the two countries, and though his views will 

 hardly be endorsed in their entirety by Americans, the 

 present statement of them cannot fail to strengthen the 

 movement now in progress towards a modification of the 

 existing fiscal policy. 



It is somewhat out of our province here to comment 

 upon the protective policy so ardently advocated in 

 America, but we are of opinion that had iron manufac- 

 turers in the States adopted, even partially, our policy of 

 free competition, they and their employes would now have 

 been in a stronger position, and would have had a better 

 prospect of successfully competing with us. It is possible 

 that the very natural desire to foster the home industry 

 has carried them a little too far. 



In the next section the assemblage of materials on 

 American is compared with that on British railways in an 

 exhaustive manner. 



Section 5 treats of the iron ores of the States, and is 

 fully illustrated with maps, topographic and geological, 

 together with the coal fields. The quantities raised 

 at different periods are given, and show that in ten 

 years the production of ore has been fully doubled. 

 This is followed by a detailed account of the mines 

 and costs of working. Pages 96-104 contain some 

 interesting speculative matter on the genesis of iron 

 ores; the cost of raising ore, together with chemical 

 analyses, is compared with that of Great Britain and 

 other countries. The importance of having iron free 

 from phosphorus is shown. It is noted that iron ore 

 suitable for the Bessemer acid process has been imported. 

 In 1880 only 27'35 per cent, of native ore was deemed 

 suitable and raised for this purpose. 

 NO. I 209. VOL. 47I 



Treating of raw material in the States, the writer gives 

 a vivid picture of the boundless wealth of both ore and 

 fuel existing within a limited area. In the great Lake 

 district there is a wide strip of country over 1000 miles 

 long, where ore is found, and this is insignificant when 

 compared with the immense resources of fuel. The origin 

 of natural gas, petroleum, and its uses receive attention 

 — "natural gas is not a suitable form of fuel for the blast 

 furnace." 



Section 9, on the manufacture of coke, is interesting. 

 At the outset coke is defined and compared with its 

 analogues — anthracite or native coke. The losses neces- 

 sarily entailed in the manufacture of coke are discussed, 

 together with modes of minimizing them. It is shown 

 that it is impossible to utilise the gases evolved in 

 coking or heating coal in the blast furnace, and how 

 slowly this was realized in early practice. 



Here the author's ripe experience comes into play. 

 The rationale of coking is tersely put, together with the 

 methods dealing with the utilization and recovery of the 

 ammonia, tar, &c., the products of the destructive distil- 

 lation of coal, " or coking," with special appliances 

 adapted for this purpose. The comparative merits of 

 hard and soft coke in the blast furnace are discussed. 

 Commercial details are appended, which speak for 

 themselves, and which appear accurate. 



From the section on the manufacture of pig iron it 

 may be gathered that the gigantic methods of procedure, 

 and the enormous energy diplayed in the business of the 

 American iron manufacture, leave the average cautious 

 EngHshman in the rear. There is, however, the reverse 

 side for consideration : it is questionable whether even 

 the magnificent results before us have not been purchased 

 at too great a cost. Enormous quantities of iron have 

 without doubt been turned out, such as would never have 

 been dreamt of here ; but it would seem that authorities 

 are not yet in agreement as to the relative merit of 

 English and American practice. So far our American 

 cousins appear satisfied, pointing triumphantly to the 

 saving of both time and material accruing from their 

 present practice. At the Edgar Thompson Works (page 

 170) one of the furnaces ran 2462 tons of iron in one 

 week, and showed an average make of 2813 tons per 

 week with an expenditure of only i6'8o cwts. of coke per 

 ton of iron. One needs, however, only to take Sir L. 

 Bell's elaborate demonstration of the laws which govern 

 the consumption of fuel in the blast furnace, and its 

 utilization for the reduction of the ore, to see clearly that 

 the above production is scarcely in the domain of practical 

 work, carried out under ordinary conditions with average 

 ores and fuel. Also (p. 162) he remarks, if Great Britain 

 fails to offer striking examples such as are described by 

 Mr. Potter and Mr. Gayley, yet, all things considered, a 

 more uniform as vvell as loftier pitch of excellence in 

 British furnace work can be proved. 



Our space does not admit of a complete state- 

 ment of Sir L. Bell's proofs ; shortly, he first tabulates 

 the work done at Middlesbrough with that of the Pitts- 

 burg blast furnace, and absolutely demonstrates that the 

 large makes are not altogether due to superior practice. 

 A perusal of the tabular statement given satisfactorily 

 accounts for the larger consumption of fuel in the English 

 furnace. 



