Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-11

may, at the earliest moment, call the at
tention of the legislature of the city to the
imperative need that within Ave OF six
years there shall be begun another system
fully matching the colossal one which is
nearly completed and which, when IL was
designed. was thought to be suficient for
Manhattan and the Bronx for the lifetime
Of the generation.
A few comparisons will suggest the enor-
nifty OF the demand the old city of New
York makes for a water supply. The Eng
lish engineer when he came here reported
some most interesting details Of the con-
struction Of the Assouan lam. He spoke
not only OF its mechanical and engineering
triumphs, but also of the political and
economic revolution It is expected to ac-
complish within a few years. He said half
jestlngly and with half serious import:
You Americans should be Jealous OF that
conquest of the Nile. first. because 1t is
greater than any work OF kindred character
which you have. next because it may by and
by make is possible for England to rely to
a great extent upon the cotton and the
wheat fields of Egypt and the valley of the
Nile for its supplies. and possibly because,
with the fine development OF upper Egypt
and Central Africa and with the completion
OF the railroad stretching from the Cape 10
Cairo, there may come a shifting OF the
center Of commercial gravity which will be
OF serious , consequence to the United
States"
No one could make any reply in the way
OF fortified denial of some OF these state
ments. No one can tell VIII ether or not II Is
true that the conquest of the fertile valley
OF the Upper Nile is ultimately seriously to
affect the market for American cotton and
wheat in England. An imagination Of a
poet is necessary to forecast the economic
and political effects consequent upon the
construction OF a railroad with one terminal
on the Mediterranean sea and the other at
Capetown. But one OF the statements made
by this engineer was capable of positive
disapproval. The dam at Assouan is not as
great as the Croton dam, although Il ap-
proaches in magnitude the colossal struc-
ture now almost completed in the valley OF
the Croton.
The Croton dam is $500 feet in length.
That is some 800 feet longer than the
Assouan dam. In places II is ninety feet
I'm height. whereas in others the structure
is only one-third Of that altitude, and that
is because Of the varying topography OF
the outcropping' rock upon which the dam
is built. Til Assouan dam averages some
thing over thirty feet in height.
No Definite Figures.
When Mr.. Coleman, the contractor, who
has spent some Of the best years OF his life
In the construction OF this .Croton work.
was today asked how much the Croton dam
exceeds in magnitude that at Assouan, he
replied that the question had been asked
him many times, and had some from many
parts Of the world, indicating that else
where, even as far away as India and Hons
Kong, national pride has led TO assertions
on the part Of Englishmen hat their Nile
dam was the greatest In the world, and on
the part OF Americans that one near New
York was still larger. But Mr.. Coleman
said that Il is impossible, because there are
no detailed measurements Of the Assouau
dam at hand, for him TO say how much the
excess OF the Croton dam, measured by feet
or cubic yards OF capacity. Is. II was
enough TO say that our own public work
was considerably greater. Therefore. the