Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-07-20
GREAT AMERICAN VICTORIES.


w ~
gineering skill, such as the Conway
and Menai bridges, of the earlier
period, and tho Forth Bridge of later
times, no piece Of bridge construction
has attracted so much public interest
and special attention az tho very
modest structure now in course OF COM
pletion across tho Atbara River, to
form a connecting link of the railway,
the construction of which formed no
small part of Lord Kitchener's great
achievements during bis last two cam.
paigns. And what is of higher interest
to our own engineers and bridge con-
structors it was to the United States
that the Sudan government was forced
to resort, because no one in this coun-
try was able to compete, either as
regards price or timo of delivery, with
the American firm that secured the
contract.
And since this surprise of the Atbars
"a surprise as great as that of the
Khalifa's hosts whom British and
Egyptian troops scattered them--an-
other object lesson has been taught.
On one of the government railways now
being built in Burmah large steel
viaduct is required-the longest, it is
said, hitherto built. The government
invited tenders from four British and
two American firms. Three of the
former declined to tender, and one firm
that had not been asked, requested and
received permission to do SO. Thus two
British and two American firms ten.
dered; the lowest offer of the former
was Ellis, 600 and three years for COM
Fiction: the best of the latter was
e65, 600 and one year for completion.
No amount of patriotism could con.
done loss of ESQ., and two years.
delay, so the order has gone to Phila-
delphia, to the shops that built the
Atbara bridge.
The causes alleged for these defeats
of British industry are: ~ Extreme
pressure in our own construction works;
t2l Inferior construction and material
in American work: (3) Willingness on
the part of American firms to do work
at loss in order to secure business;
az Undne favoritism to American
makers by the British and Indian
government agents; (5l The willing
ness of the latter to accept bridge-spans
made for another contract, and which
happened to be in stock. The answers
to which excuses are: a. That the
American works are driven fully as
much as those at home during these
busy times; but American makers can
always find means to take and COM
plete another contract. Thus, at tho
present time, besides their current
work, the Pencoyd Go. has il hand the
| 5000 tons of steel viaduct for the
Burmah railway, IL largo steel bridges
on Russian account for the Siberi
railway, and 10000 tons OF steelwo'
for the framing of Wanamaker's No
store in Philadelphia. q. That neither
| construction nor material is inferior in
| the Atbara bridge; it WAS made under
close official inspection, while the steel
analyses tell their own story. %.
| There was fair business profit on the
Atbara bridge contract, and in this
| connection we may mention that Mr..
| Roberts. the president of Pencoyd, told
us year ago that he had rendered for
large German bridge, and though he
tingencies, duties, profits &C., his tender
was lower by fi,0OO than the hest
German tender. a and 5. These
allegations of favoritism which have
been seriously made are too foolish for
consideration, though it may be men
toned that the working drawings for
| the Atbara bridge were all made after
the contract was signed.
| 1t is curious that so much ingenuity
should he exercised in inyenting
obviously false and shallow excuses
when the reasons are obvious, and un-
fortunately very serious. In the first
place. bridge design and construction
| in the United States has long been
reduced to system of manufacturing
few special and standard types Except,
| of course, in special casesl under these
conditions, plant of the most complete
and efficient kind can be laid down
| with confidence, for iu can be employed
| in the rapid manufacture of the various
standard types of bridges. Moreover,
no machine or plant is allowed to be-
come obsolete, and in such works as
those Of Pencoyd land there are dozen
Of the same class in the United States)
a machine or plant becomes obsolete
as soon as it can he replaced by other
machinery that can give better paying
results. In this way American shops
of the best class are kept always in the
highest state Of efficiency, and the vast
outlay incurred in the frequent renewal
of plant is more than repaid by in
creased output. In this country, on
the other hand, it has been the custom,
since iron bridges were first con-
structed, and Great George Street was
a power paramount, for each engineer
to design his own bridges, with the
MAN object of making them somewhat
different from every other engineers
design. Thus no bridge or structural
iron making plant of high efficiency
could be laid down with profit by the
British manufacturer; hence, slow and
costly production. 1t is the old story
over again, on large scale, of the
American and British lock making,
and dozen other industries.