But if diamonds were cheap they would be good for nothing except
grindstones and drills. An imitation diamond made of heavy glass (paste)
cannot be distinguished from the genuine gem except by an expert. It
sparkles about as brilliantly, for its refractive index is nearly as
high. The reason why it is not priced so highly is because the natural
stone has presumably been obtained through the toil and sweat of
hundreds of negroes searching in the blue ground of the Transvaal for
many months. It is valued exclusively by its cost. To wear a diamond
necklace is the same as hanging a certified check for $100,000 by a
string around the neck.
Real values are enhanced by reduction in the cost of the price of
production. Fictitious values are destroyed by it. Aluminum at
twenty-five cents a pound is immensely more valuable to the world than
when it is a curiosity in the chemist's cabinet and priced at $160 a
pound.
So the scope of the electric furnace reaches from the costly but
comparatively valueless diamond to the cheap but indispensable steel.
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