local traditionalists it was used to preserve the cathedral structural integrity steel helps protect against fire and wood worms. but more importantly industrial age technology enabled the cathedral construction to be swiftly completed last american engineers are said to have learned a lot here for later use in the construction of skyscrapers but it was the local population who benefited most. it was also a job creation scheme for current workers and one of the cathedral was always a project by and for the local community and in the nineteenth century especially there was a very close connection between the community and the cathedral. when the cathedral was finished it was the tallest building in the world a powerful symbol but there was a price to be paid. the price depression s used the cathedral to advance their own