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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1913)
PFKflONS AND EVENTS FIGURING IN NEWS PHOTOGRAPHED Sailors of Future in Training-Royal Wedding Anniversary Celebrated-Mary Garden Abf oad-Cyclists Crossing Continent-Wealthy Indian Motor Enthusiast-Tots' Funeral Spectacular. f : -;v kCPm :yy: Ir'tM (L SKtit r ill f3JVrV'H Fv ! 'M j'' 1 T ' ,,, J , ., I , .1. c JErArz I EW YORK, May 17. (Special.) The training: ship "Newport" Is on her annual voyagje from New York. She carries 75 boys who want to learn to be tailors. She will crulao to Halifax in the North and Bermuda the South. Last year the ship went to Kurope and after a vl.it to Great Brit ain took her apprentice sailors to Stockholm to see the Olympic games. The ship is under command of Captain Tillman. United States Navy, and un der control of the Board of Education of New York. A law which goes lno effect in October will place her under the control of the Slate of New York. The King and Queen of Denmark re cently celebrated their marriage annl Tersary. The Queen was Princess Al exandrine of Mecklenburg. She is the sister of the Grand Duke. Women In royal families have much more chance of advancement than men. If a male member of a royal family Is not in di rect line of succession, he has no pros pacts. Marriage to a reigning monarch would only make Mm a Prince or Prince-Consort. But the humblest fe male member of a reigntng family may become a Queen and she has much bet ter chances than her sisters, for how ever ill-favored she may be, she may have a husband assigned to her for rea son of State. Mary Garden baa sailed for Europe with her future so far as America Is concerned shrouded In considerable doubt. It la said her contract for the American season is with Andreas Dip- Arc- pel personally, and his separation from the management of the Chicago com pany may make a change in Mary's plans. But she has little doubt of the attitude of the American people toward her and wherever she sings she is sure of a splendid welcome. Mary makes more friends in opera than In concert. Mary's forte Is not singing and she has disappointed as many concert audiences as she has delighted operatic ones. Kaiser Wilhelm Is "the war lord" of Germany. mm Frederick Scherrer and Walter Wiley recently started from the City Hall to ride across the continent on their blcy cles in a race with George McAdams and Ernest HIggrlns. They started with a 24-hour handicap. They call them selves the Caribou team. Many mem bers of the Caribou Club accompanied them on their first day's run. Long Time Sleep is the original na tive American motorist. He is a wealthy Indian of the Glacier National Park Reservation in Montana and one of the richest Indians in the country. He is one of the Plegan Tribe. Long Time Sleep, wanting to take part in a reliability run for motors from Min neapolis, July 11, which has for its destination Glacier National Park, has joined the American Automobile Asso. ciatlon. The funeral of the two children of Isadore Duncan, who were drowned in an automobile accident near Paris, wag as spectacular as is almost everything connected with the American dancer. The Colonne orchestra played, all the leaders of literary and artistic Paris were present and the mother made her appearance dramatically at the head of the staircase at the beginning of the ceremony at the house. Then the bod ies were taken to the cemetery in a rather ornate hearse and there cre mated. Isadora then announced that she would abandon dancing and become an army nurse. But since her grief has become a little modified she has decided to return to the stage. No one knows who the fathers of these chil dren were. When last in this country Miss Duncan announced that she had had three children, each with a dif ferent paternity. One of the fathers was said to be a poet, one e painter and one an actor. The three were supposed to be experiments in eugenics. Joseph Stransky and his wife have sailed for Europe. Mr. Stransky is the conductor of the Philharmonic Orches tra, He succeeded Gustar Mahler at Mr. Stransky was married in Germany the head of that organization and with a line of predecessors, including Anton Seidl, he had to meet severe compari sons. In his first season he was emi nor.ty successful in preserving the reputation of the old Philharmonic and adding to It In some ways. During the season just past, which was his second, he made an equally agreeable ImpreBsion not alone in New York, but in other cities which he visited. Mr. Stransky was described by some Ger man papers when he first came here as a "distinguished dilettante." But he has proved to be a skilled conductor. when on his vacation last year. John McCormack, the sailed for home recently cessful conceit tour of States. Mr. McCormack Irish tenor, after a suc the United worked his waj up from a choir singer In Dublin to a place in the opera company at Covent Garden, London, and Oscar Hammerstein brought him to tho United States, where he made a great success. Mr. McCormack Is especially successful in his singing of old Irish songs and especially popular with Irish audiences in the United States. PORTLAND MAY COMPETE IN STEEL MANUFACTURE WITH PITTSBURG Rapid Perfection of Electric Furnace, Abundant Cheap Water Power and Convenient Rail and Water Trans portation May Accomplish Cheap Iron. EUGENE. Or, May IT. (Special.) "That Iron and steel can be pro duced In the vicinity of Portland at cost comparing favorably with Pittsburg. Is not altogether an extrava gant statement. The rapid perfection of the electric furnace, coupled with the presence of abundant and cheap water power, convenient rail and water transportation, and the anticipated in flux of foreign labor with the opening of the Panama Canal, will bring about this desirable result." declared John H. Lewis. State Engineer, In an address at the Commonwealth Congress yesterday. "Through the use of the electric fur nace, the poisonous gases emanating from the ordinary smelting and blast furnace operations will be almost com pletely eliminated, and we will enjoy the advantages of a smokeless manu facturing city in a climate unequaled for the production of roses. It Is esti mated by Herbert W. Wilson (1) that the smoke nuisance In the country as a whole causes an annual loss of $500, 000.000, or tlT per capita for each man, woman and child living In large cities. Aside from this financial consideration, the solution of the smoke problem will be a leading factor in the future de velopment of a manufacturing city. "A careful summary of available in formation relative to water power In dicates that more than 1.000,000 horse power can be developed within eco nomical transmission distance of Port land. In this respect, it is believed that no other city of its size in the world, similarly located on tidewater, can make such a showing. Franchise Limit 40 Years. "The problem confronting Oregon is. therefore, to awaken 'such a strong public opinion with respect to the im mediate development of this resource that the necessary legislation can be enacted. This development can be ac complished without Injury to posterity, as all waterpower franchises in Ore gon are limited by law to 40 years. "The development of the electric fur nace has been phenomenal. In 1905 there were few In operation. In 1910 60 were In use (2) or under construc tion for various purposes, and in 1912. Vom Baur (3) publishes a list of 131 electric furnaces which are used ex clusively in the iron and steel business, with 14 listed as under construction. "This phenomenal development can perhaps be appreciated better from the statement that the carbon electrode of such furnaces has increased in some cases to SO Inches in diameter and ten feet In length, (4) as compared with those for the ordinary arc lamp, which are hut little larger than a pencil. "When all of the projects now under way in Norway and Sweden are com pleted, 250,000 tons of pig Iron will be produced annually in the electric fur nace. (5) "These few statements sbould be sufficient to convince us that cheap and abundant water power is likely to prove as great an economic asset for the development of a country as the presence of cheap coal. ' v Electrle Rails Unbreakable. "In the preface of a recent work translated from German (3), we find the statement that electric steel rails are found to be unbreakable in ser vice when laid beside open hearth and Bessemer Talis. In these latter, scores of breaks have occurred In one season. The future of electric steel rails con sequently seems assured. Electrlo steel castings have been on the market for four years and are looked upon with favor because of the high percentage of good castings and freedom from blowholes. The ability to make homo geneous toll stel, free from gases, brought the electric furnace into com mercial use about 19 years ago. "With these three principal fields now open to electric furnace products. It cannot be long before all other do mains in the use of steel will be in vaded. The cost of producing electric steel is lower now than that of the cru cible process, or of the small converter process, and even less than that of the open hearth process, as practiced with 10-ton furnaces or under. A success can, therefore, be confidently predicted for electrlo furnaces and their man ufacture of iron and steel." (3) "The cost of producing electric steel rails In the vicinity of Portland was estimated for the writer by Edward C. Potter, former superintendent of the Illinois Steel Company's plant in South Chicago. He states, underrate of March 31, 1913, as follows: . Local Ore Supply Small. "Considering the raw materials "ne cessary, the supply of local iron ore does not exist In sufficient quantity or in economically available localities. Chinese Iron ore, however, of a very high grade has already been employed In the manufacture of steel on the coast at a .commercially economical price.. It can be had in quantity and would' be transported as a return 'car go by ships transporting lumber and other commodities to the Orient, so that this could be relied upon, as a source of supply. Moreover", there are vast quantities of high grade Iron ore in Mexico lying contiguous to the Pa cific Coast, which could be drawn up on for an indefinite period. The ne cessary carbon would be supplied by charcoal from the local forests, and limestone is everywhere available. These are all the Taw materials re quired. "At $9 per horsepower for current, and with the prices at which I know the various raw materials can be laid down at the proposed site of plant, I have no hesitancy in stating that fin ished steel rails of standard weights could be there manufactured for $17.50 per ton. Standard open-hearth rails are selling at $30 per ton at Chicago, which would mean approximately $40 per ton on the Coast, or let us say $35 per ton in the competitive territory from BOO to 1000 miles back from the Coast. Electric Ralls at Premium. "Electric steel rails are commanding a premium of from $6 to $10 over open hearth rails, but assuming that the price of open-hearth rails had to be met the proposed plant would be able to realize a very handsome profit The consumption of steel rails in the terri tory which would be tributary to the proposed plant would amount annually to fully 300,000 tons. This would re quire a plant capable of turning out 1000 tons of finished rails per day, which would be a plant of considerable size. There are also numerous other forms of steel which it might be de sirable to manufacture, and for which there would be a ready and a growing market. As to the technical and finan cial success of such a plant, I have not the faintest doubt. "As to the cost of Chinese ore, I know that it was delivered on the dock on Puget Sound for $4.50 per ton. This ore averaged 64 per cent metallic iron, making the cost Just 7 cents per unit of iron, which compares with about 8 cents for Lake Superior ore In Chicago. "At Heroult, Shasta County, Cal., 18 tons of pig Iron are now being produced daily In the electric furnace at a cost of about $14 per ton, where the same grade at Pittsburg costs $17.25 per ton, according to a statement published in Sunset for April, 1913. Freight to the Pacific Coast is given as $10.80, or a margin of $14 per ton In favor of electric Iron on the Coast Five addi tional furnaces are now being installed, which will give a daily production of 120 tons of pig iron for this plant Investment Is La rye. "The approximate investment re quired for a steel plant in the East cap able of turning out annually 425,000 tons of Bessemer steel rails. Including working capital. Is between $23,000,000 and $30,000,000, according to the Com missioner of Corporations. (6). As the capital cost of an electric steel plant Is about one-third that of the old method (7) such a plant for the Pacific Coast would require the Investment of $10, 000,000. It would consume about 1,000, 000 tons of iron ore and 830,000 tons of charcoal annually. As electric power is now being used in almost every de partment of the iron and steel industry, this plant would afford a market for approximately 150,000 continuous elec trical horsepower. "The establishment of the Iron indus try In Oregon would greatly stimulate the lumber Industry, as the waste from our sawmlli and logging operations, which is now disposed of at a loss, could then be converted Into charcoal at a profit F. T. Snyder (8) of Chi cago believes that if electric energy was used in the distillation of this wood, enough by-products could be pro. duced to make the net cost of the char coal much lower than any other car bonaceous material for smelting pur poses In Oregon. As It takes about two cords of fir wood to make one ton of charcoal, this incidental Industry should prove of great benefit to the state and afford an additional impetus for the de velopment of waterpower. Fertiliser May Be Made From Air. "The most Important use to which our undeveloped water powers will eventually be put will doubtless be in the making of fertilizer from the air. The possibilities in this direction are almost Inconceivable. Authorities esti mate that all known deposits of natural nitrate fertilizers will be exhausted In about 40. years. "A single company In Norway is now utilizing 200,000 horsepower In the manufacture of fertilizer from the air, giving employment to about 2000 men. Over one-fourth of this company's product is said to be shipped to Cali fornia and Hawaii in competition with the Chilean products. "It would require a capital Invest ment of about $860,000,000 to assure the production of an amount of Norway saltpeter equal to that now consumed by the civilized world, assuming that sufficient cheap power were available. "As It takes about 1.6 horsepower year to produce a ton of fertilizer, 1,000,000 horsepower of that now going to waste in Oregon would furnish 625, 000 tons of freight annually. This would go far towards maintaining reg ular freight service to all parts of th world. "In order that these various electri furnace industries may be established In Oresron, power must be delivered at from $9 to $15 per horsepower year. In comparison with $40 to $80, the cost of fuel power. At such low rates there can be but little. If any, profit in th electrical end ot the business. Niagara Power Limit Reached. "At Niagara Falls, where the de velopment cost was comparatfvely low, some power Is now being sold as low as $9 per horsepower year. The limit of available power has however been reached, and power prices are being advanced as old contracts expire. Most of the Industries built up at that point are rapidly expanding, and will have to seek new locations In the near fu ture. These can be attracted to Oregon If we are in a position to furnish power at such cost as will permit them to live. "Senator Chamberlain recently in troduced in Congress a bill providing for the construction of a railroad In Alaska, so as to make available for use the coal which is stored In this in accessible region. Even when placed on the market at lowest possible cost. It Is doubtful if this coal can compete with cheap water power in Orepron, as Professor Richards, of Lehigh Univer sity, states that even in the Pittsburg district 'it will be worth while for the Iron and steel men to figure out In the near future whether It will not pay to make pig steel' direct from the ore in the electric furnace. - "It would, therefore, seem more logi cal for the public to construct water power plants. Including necessary transmission lines, so as to make avail able for use the 3,300,000 horsepower now going to waste in the streams of Oregon. To produce this power in . (Concluded on Pag 10.)
