uns were tried on first one and then the other; the English
armor cracked in four pieces, but on the nickel steel the shot were
shattered into fragments.

Congress immediately voted that the new battleships should be supplied
with nickel-steel armor, and an appropriation was made for this purpose.

Before the new contract could be carried out, President Harrison learned
that a man named Harvey had invented a process for hardening the surface
of the steel used in making tools. This process was found to be so
excellent that it revolutionized the making of tools, which were
thereafter made from the hardened or "Harveyized steel."

This process had never been applied to any large surface, but it was
thought that if Harvey's method could be used for the nickel-steel
plates, a perfect armor would be the result.

The experiment was therefore tried. A large nickel-steel plate was
subjected to the process and then tested at Annapolis.

The result was highly satisfactory; all the projectiles sent against the
plate were shattered, while the plate remained comparatively uninjured.

The success of the Harvey process on the nickel steel was universally
acknowledged; other countries abandoned their previous style of armor,
and the United States set out to build a number of new ships that should
be protected with this invulnerable armor.

It was soon found that the Bethlehem Company was not able to furnish all
the armor needed, and so the Government persuaded the Carnegie Company
to go into the armor-plate business. The Carnegie people were promised
an equal share of the work, and the same prices as the Bethlehem
Company.

Matters went on peacefully until July 10th of last year, when Congress
directed the Secretary of the Navy to inquire into the cost of making
armor-plate, and to give an idea of the price he thought the Government
ought to pay for it. The result of his inquiries was to be made known on
January 1st of this year.

The Secretary did make the inquiries, and found that the actual cost of
making a ton of armor-plate was $197.78.

After an elaborate calculation of profit and loss, and the cost of the
machinery used in making the armor, he decided that the armor could be
made for $250 a ton. He suggested that the Government ought then to
allow the companies a liberal sum per ton for profit on their
enterprise, and suggested that a fair price to pay would be $400 per
ton.

Had Congress accepted this suggestion the