The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-02
The Chesnnt Slreet Bridge.

The Chesnut Street Bridge.
HE Chestnut Street Bridge is likely to live
in our local history as a monument Of slow
work. We do not believe it took the Egyp
tians as long to build one Of their pyramids,
as it has taken the contractors for the above
named structure to get /: to its present half
completed stage. The thing has been so long
in course of erection, that we seriously doubt
whether many OF our citizens can remember
when it was begun; and hence it is possible
that the origin of the Chestnut Street Bridge
may, before it is finished, attain to the vene-
rable antiquity of those prescriptive laws of
Old England, whose whole authority lies in
the fact that they have endured so long that
the memory of man runneth not to the con-
trary. On one OF the granite stones OF the
centre pier of the bridge, some artist has en-
craven the figures 1865; but IL that inscrip-
tion was intended to express the date when
the edifce was commenced, 1t will, most GER
tainly, publish gross falSehood in chro-
nology.
The public, however, is much more con-
cerned to know when the bridge will be com
pleted than when it was begun. That has,
for some time past, been an uppermost ques-
ton in the popular mind, to which, unfortu-
nately, no one has yet been able to give
positive answer. Various predictions upon
the subject, made by the contractors and
others within the last four or five years, have
been unrealized; and the consequence is that
nobody now seems to be willing to take the
responsibility Of saying when the bridge will
baI ot Bhat thar
will ever, within the lifetime OF this and the
next generation, at least, be consummated.
The old proyerb, SO frequently used to rebuke
those who expect great undertakings to be
carried through with impossible expedition,
to wit "Rome was not built in day." is
likely to be superseded, in this city at least,
by this saying The Chestnut Street Bridge
,uaS not built in fue yearsl
There is nothing like having old apothegms,
which have lost their force by age, replaced
by new ones, which come home more imme-
diately and familiarity to the common under
standing of the people. They "point morap
much more effectively, and delight the mind
with so lively sense of their meaning and
pertinency, that we almost laugh at an afflc-
tion by reason of the righteousness OF the
illustration. And this is really the state of
mind with which the people are now regard
ing the Chestnut Street Bridge. The thing is
scarcely ever named in public without ex-
citing general ha ha! all round, and pro-
voking the tacetiOusness of every Wag in the
company.
But in good earnest, the bridge is no laugh
ing matter. 1t is greatly needed as an avenue
of communication between the east and west
ends Of the city, and ought, by all means, to
be opened to travel before the present century
runs out. And it is quite probable, if the
work is only pressed forward hencsforth with
the same vigor and promptneSs with which it
has been pushed hitherto, that we shall be
permitted to Cross the Schuylkill at Chssnut
street, without the aid Of a boat, before the
year 1900l The spectator will observe, any
day, the enormous number Of laBorers em-
ployed in the building Of the structure, and
be struck, no doubt, with the marvellous
energy with which they are straining every
muscle and nerve to finish the Sob" But
he cannot nevertheless, expect human thews
and sinews to work impossibilities. he must
make allowance for stress of weather; for the
difficulty OF getting competent workmen; fol
the enormous rise since the Rebellion in ths
wages Of labor; for the unAppreciable time il
requires to cast and raise TO their places huge
masses Of iron arches, and columns, and
braces; and, finally, the fearful perplexity tC
which the contractors for such works are
subjected, in having SO much other work or
hand that they cannot possibly get through
with their engagements to the public without
sacrificing their private custom. These, ant
other like considerations, should always b
borne in memory by those absurdly impatien
"Old fogies" who fO0lishly imagine that it i
as easy to build bridge over the 6chuylkil
as 1t is to build monument to the "Fathe
of his Country" Is it not notorious, that tn
cornerstone of structure in honor of tn
sage and patriot OF Mount Vernon wa
laid in the Washington Square more thai
quarter OF a century ago, an
that it is not yet fnished9 Is II not quite q