CHAPTER IX 

 Machinery 



Probably no industry has been subject to such continual 

 change and constant development directly and indirectly 

 resulting from new inventions and the introduction of im- 

 proved processes and labor-saving machinery as has the 

 iron and steel industry. Improved methods of iron manu- 

 facture have lagged behind those of steel, but even these 

 have been considerable. It would require too much space 

 to trace the effects of all such innovations upon members 

 of the union ; but the most important of these will be dis- 

 cussed, and the attitude of the union toward them analyzed. 



The most notable inventions affecting the industry have 

 been the " Bessemer " and " Open Hearth " processes for 

 manufacturing steel. Not until the late fifties — about the 

 time the Puddlers' Union was organized — did Sir Henry 

 Bessemer finally succeed in producing malleable steel from 

 cast iron. In 1865 the new process was introduced in this 

 country'.^ Production rapidly increased to an enormous 

 extent. Many improvements followed, particularly in the 

 manufacture of steel rails, and many workmen were thrown 

 out of work by these new inventions and appliances.^ The 

 displacement of manual labor completely changed the rela- 

 tive strength of employers and employees ; and to this is 

 due, in large measure, the failure of strikes in the large 

 Bessemer works, and in certain localities — particularly in 

 the E^st — the complete subjugation of labor to the em- 

 ployers. 



' The first Bessemer steel rails made in the United States were 

 rolled at the North Chicago rolling-mill on May 24, 1865 ; hut not 

 until 1867 was any considerahle quantity made. From 2550 net tons 

 in 1867, the production increased to 1,438,155 net tons — the highest 

 point — in 1882. 



2 Proceedings, 1885, p. 1563. 



124 



