Stories of Later American History Part 29

Between times they roam free over vast areas of land. In the spring they are driven slowly toward a central point. Then the calves are branded, or marked by a hot iron, with the owner's special brand. These brands are registered and are recognized by law. This is done in order that each owner may be certain of his own cattle. In July or August the cattle are rounded up again, and this time the mature and fatted animals are selected that they may be driven to the shipping-station on the railroad and loaded on the cars.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cattle on the Western Plains.]

The journey to the stock-yards often requires from four to seven days.

Once in about thirty hours the cattle are released from the cars in order to be fed and watered. Then the journey begins again.

At the stock-yards the cattle are unloaded and driven into pens. From there the fat steers and cows are sent directly to market. The lean ones go to farmers in the Middle West who make a specialty of fattening them for market, doing it in a few weeks.

In the year 1910 there were ninety-six million six hundred and fifty-eight thousand cattle in the United States. This means that there was one for every human being in the whole country. But the number of beef-cattle is decreasing, as the larger ranches where they graze are disappearing, as we have said, and are being divided into small farms.

COAL

By means of these three industries--cotton, wheat, and cattle--we are provided with food and clothing. But besides these necessaries, we must have fuel. We need it both for heat in our households and for running most of our engines in factories and on trains. Our chief fuel is coal.

To see coal-mining, western Pennsylvania is a good place for us to visit.

Were you to go into a mine there you might easily imagine yourself in a different world. In descending the shaft you suddenly become aware that you are cut off from beautiful sunlight and fresh air. You find that to supply these every-day benefits, which you have come to accept as commonplace, there are ventilating machines working to bring down the fresh air from above, and portable lamps, which will not cause explosion, to supply light, and that, where there is water, provision has been made for drainage.

The walls of the mine, also, have to be strongly supported, in order that they may not fall and crush the workers or fill up the shaft. In deep-shaft mines, coal is carried to the surface by cages hoisted through the shaft. It is sorted and cleaned above ground.

One of the largest uses of coal is found in the factories where numerous articles of iron and steel are made. The world of industry depends so much upon iron that it is called the metal of civilization.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Iron Smelters.]

The iron and coal industries are closely related, for coal is used to make iron into steel. If you stay in Pennsylvania you may catch a glimpse of the process by which iron is made usable.

As it comes from the mine it is not pure, but is mixed with ore from which it must be separated. In the regions of iron-mines you will see towering aloft here and there huge chimneys, or blast-furnaces, at times sending forth great clouds of black smoke and at times lighting the sky with the lurid glow of flames. In these big blast-furnaces, the iron ore and coal are piled in layers. Then a very hot fire is made, so hot that the iron melts and runs down into moulds of sand, where it is collected. This process is called smelting.

The iron thus obtained, though pure, is not hard enough for most purposes.

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. Each fulfils its place, and we are dependent upon all. That means that we are all dependent upon one another. There would be little in life for any one if he were to do without all that others have done for him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Iron Ore Ready for Shipment.]

There is something which each member of a community can do to make life better for others. If he does this willingly and well, he co-operates with his fellow men and a.s.sists in the great upbuilding of the nation. And the amount of _service_ the man or woman, boy or girl can render those about him is the measure of his worth to his neighborhood, his State, or his country.

It is good for us to ask ourselves this question: How can I be helpful in the community where I live, which has done so much for me? If we try to give faithful service, working cheerfully with others, we are truly patriotic. Are you a patriot?

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. What are the four great industries taken up in this chapter? Can you tell in what ways each of these is of special value to us?

2. Use your map in locating the cotton region; the wheat-growing region; the cattle-raising region.

3. In what ways are coal, iron, and steel especially useful?

4. How are we all dependent upon one another? How may we be truly patriotic?

THE END