CREATORS OF THE AGE OF STEEL 49 



cess, but a practical failure. Henry Bessemer 's life-work 

 was the production of steel from cast iron; all the other 

 many achievements of his mind were, after all, but side 

 issues. In the first twenty years of the life of his inven- 

 tion he had saved to the industry of the world over a 

 billion pounds sterling that is, the work of one man did 

 nearly twice as much to build the wealth of the world as 

 the American civil war did to pull it down indeed, figur- 

 ing upon the actual saving made, Bessemer 's invention had 

 saved enough money to humanity by 1882 to pay for the 

 American civil war, the Franco-Prussian war, the Austro- 

 Prussian war, and the Italo-Franco-Austrian war of 1859. 

 The inventor had been made a knight of the Order of 

 Francis Joseph, he had been given the Grand Cross of the 

 Legion of Honor, but the British Government declined to 

 permit him to accept it. Out of the enormous benefits of 

 his invention there has come to the inventor a fortune for 

 himself. When his patent expired in 1870, he had been 

 paid in royalties 1,057,748. Added to this, his Sheffield 

 works divided in profits during their fourteen years' exist- 

 ence fifty-seven times the original capital, and the works 

 sold for twenty-four times the original capital. In 1879 

 Bessemer was knighted by the Queen; honors were show- 

 ered upon him. His services to humanity were recognized 

 at home and abroad. All of the great cities of Europe 

 conferred their freedom upon him, and, what caused the 

 utmost pleasure to the inventor, a town in Indiana whose 

 chief industry was based upon his invention was named 

 for him, assuring him the only immortality that he desires 

 the constant record of his memory among the men for 

 whom he worked. 



SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS. Next to Sir Henry Bessemer 

 among the creators of the age of steel stands Sir Charles 

 William Siemens, who was the philosopher of the new era, 

 as Bessemer was the inventor. After becoming a thorough 

 student in electricity, Siemens' first exploit which attracted 

 general attention was the invention with his brother of the 

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