Iron-Making in America.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 144, 22 June 1904, Page 4

Iron-Making in America.

CAIiXKGIK'S CHEAT WORKS. SOME MOJtAUSINC HEFLECTIOXW. (From a private letter by a young New Zealander.) "Pittsburg is—well the definition that most pleasvs its patriotic citizens is all h with the lid oil'.' Jhe reference is, of course, to tin* iron mamu'ueturing establishments . and the consequent glare ol' seething lurnaces and glow from belching stacks. A land of smoku l>v day and unearthly fire and clangour by night. H is useless to attempt to describe it—the wonder of it is more apparent in statistics than in reality. After all. it is only in nature that size realiy impresses us; it is no more interesting seeing ten million tons of pig-iron produced than one ton. The only traceable impression J gain from large establishments is one of confusion—l have no distinct cameo-cut recollection, bulla disturbing mental haze of red-hot plates, und sweating, dirty toilers. "I wonder if iron is really a Irenefit to the world. Are the men who '.vrought at forge and desk to make . possible this present supply of steel I rails at 28 dollars a ton, and boil--1 e.rs at f» cents a pound—are they enjoying a pleasant existence elsvwheie as benefactors to the race ? Or has not the God who made sunshine and moonbjeain. bursting bud and green sons lipped with foam, turned on them in his wrath and banished them to grimy depths? it sickens mc to learn what industrial supremacy spells for the district and people who essay it. Pid I not soy in my haste in a previous letter, 'God forbid that New Zealand should ever see the introduction of large iron works?' Well, I repeat it at leisure. Perhaps good government could obviate some of the degrading con-

comhants—the toiling, moiling, ignorant, labourers below the level of the luxurious!)- lazy beast, the dirt, Jie grime, flic smoky haze that forms ilk' atmosphere and poisons everything, the sulphur l'umes, the broken nun and women. "This world is a failure—it sickens me heart and soul to learn the condition of the working men here. And what must it be in Europe ! If ever j a man earned the collective curse of ' a nation. Carnegie did, for introducing Continental labour in his Homestead plant. Of course, 1 went through it as much as possible, the regulations against visitors being very strict, and was duly confused by its vastness, but—a real incident*) occurred while I was there, that! made me think. A poor Hunk (Hungarrani) labourer at 5s a day (say , 2s Gd in New Zeal'and) was discharg- j ed, and, penniless and old, saw, in his old age, no haven but the grave. Su he got some brass castings to weigh him down, got a rope over a beam and round his neck, and swung into oblivion right there at his working place, lie awoke, not in Heaven, but still in Homestead, and found that his fellow-employees had cut him down, and the Carnegie Steel Company prosecuted him for stealing' -brass 1 That evening, in the great library built by Carnegie, a musician paid by Carnegie, lectured on 'Bach and his Art,' with illustrations on a magnificent organ built by Carnegie,which entertainment was provided free of charge by Carnegie, for the delectation of the working men whom) Carnegie is afraid of pauperising by monetary gifts from the Carnegie millions—a train of thought that never fails to land me in a profane ejaculation regarding the ' Iron King's ' future abode."