Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-04-08

from the n. Y. Trfbune.1
A Tribune reporter called on Capt.
James B. Eads, at the Albemarie Hotel,
Yesterday afternoon, and learned that
he is thoroughly in earnest in reference
to his ship-railway project. and is con-
fident of getting Il in course OF con-
struction in . few months after Congress
shall have passed the bill introduced
into the House by Mr.. Wells, OF Missou-
ri, and in the Senate by Senator Vest.
Captain Eads expressed the opinion that
the De Lesseps canal project was now
virtually dead. He continued with ref
erence to the bill advocating his plans
as follows:
1T authorizes . corporation to build
the necessary works across the Isthmus
anywhere between North and South
America, after securing from the Gen.
trail American States the necessary con-
cessicns. 1t guarantees the protection
of the United States to the franchises
he may secnre and to the works he may
construct, and provides for the detail Of
two ships Of war, officers and men, to
aid in the necessary surveys for the
works. After the works are completed.
and loaded ship of specified tonnage
shall have been safely and satisfactorily
transferred from ocean to ocean, the
guarantee Of the United States Govern
ment of six per cent. dividends on ESQ.,
0OO, 900 of stock shall take effect for
thirty years; and in consideration of this
guarantee the United States shall have
the right to fix and alter the rate of tolls
at its pleasure. am confident Of sue
cess, and think It the sheerest waste of
time on the part of Congress or the pub
lie to be discussing q canal when . bet
ter method, which can be put in opera
ton in one-quarter Of the time and for
one-quarter of the money, has the high
est and most emphatic approval Of the
ablest engineers and shipbuilders In
America and Europe. II M. do Lesseps
were an engineer he would not spend
his time on scheme so hopeless as o
canal. 1t is hopeless, because capitals
timid and conservative, and IL Is not go
ing to be put into q canal when . better
and much cheaper method is urged and
has the approval of experts of the very
highest standing. Men will not put
money into the canal, at any rate, until
the cheaper method Is shown to be Wis
ionary, and this is simply impossible 10
be shown, because the more the ship
railway is discussed and examined the
more simple and practical will II ap-
pear. The discussion that has now
opened reminds one of the discussion
which preceded my proposition in 1873,
to deepen the mouth Of the Mis-
sissippi by jetties. Almost every
one thought the Fort st. Philip
canal was the only way the river could
be opened. I said other rivers had been
successfully treated by the jetty system.
& VaS oh 1,,St ali
rivers, was the reply. To-day I urge
that vessels are transported by rsa and
have been for forty years, and the
answer is the same, Yes, yes, but they
are small ones-canal-boats, schooners,
the opposers said the quantity 81 sand
sippi River was so great that il could
out the cargo is SO great in q big ship
that she can not be carried without
straining the ship. The most eminent
in the world say this is all
a mistake. They tell Us that one OF tho
rules Of their art requires
that a ship shall be built Of such
strength that If she be lifted up by o
force at each end, and without support
in the middle, she shall remain unin-
jured; and, in like manner, II she be
only at the middle, her hull
shall be SO stiff that IL will not be in
jured thereby. am not without.
practical knowledge myself on this point.
have built fourteen iron-clad YES
sells for the United States. The
first eight she ever owned
built, and know that the strength
Of ships hull, to stand the storm
Of the ocean, must be calculated lust q
we calculate the strength of a bridge
ylrder. Naval architects in calculating
he requisite thickness of iron for ships
,reat the proposed vessel rs though it
we're bridge girder. When the Boz
.ussia foundered, last fall, have no
ioubt that the iron of her bottom was
If poorer quality than her architect
vas promised, or that It had become so
INJURED by rust that 1t could not stand
he tension put upon the bottom plates
when her bow and stern were lifted at
he same moment by two different waves.
When the ship Is upborne Mt the middle
~ q single wave, and the bow and
tern are without support, the deck
plates are strained in tension, while the
,ottom plates have their strains reversed
o compressive ones. Iron, like every
hing else used in constructing vessels
md bridges, is elastic. A strong iron
order four hundred feet long, IL heavily
oaded, will defect six inches with per-
ect safety under the load, and ships
our hundred fifty feet in length, In
,eavy seas, no doubt bend rs much a.
hat. 1t is simply impossible TO keep them
rom bending under such strains; but
Is the elastic limit Of the iron Is not ex-
,eeded it does them no harm whatever.
The main arch of the St. Louis bridge,
i've hundred and twenty feet In length,
under the test load Of eighty
our locomotive engines and their ten.
lers about three inches. The arch Is Of
teel and its form resists bending mich
,eiier than That of girder. A girder
# the same strength and depth would
AVE detected twelve inches. Ships on
J railway could not be subjected to any
UGH strains as these, az the road-bed
an not bend, and as she would be sup
,orted throughout her entire length by