It must be made into steel. Steel, you understand, is iron which has again
been melted and combined with a small amount of carbon to harden it.
At first this was an expensive process, but during the last century ways
of making steel were discovered which greatly lowered its cost. As a
result, steel took the place of iron in many ways, the most important
being in the manufacture of rails for our railroad systems. Since steel
rails are stronger than iron, they make it possible to use larger
locomotives and heavier trains, and permit a much higher rate of speed and
more bulky traffic. All this means, as you can easily see, cheaper and
more rapid transportation, which is so important in all our industrial
life.
Steel has an extensive use, also, in the structure of bridges, of large
buildings, of steamships and war vessels, as well as in the making of
heating equipment, tools, household utensils, and hundreds of other
articles which we are constantly using in our daily life. If you should
write down all the uses for this metal which you can think of, you would
be surprised at the length of your list.
These four great industries give us a little idea of how men make use of
the products of the farm, the mine, and the factory in supplying human
needs.
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