The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-13
BROTHERS OF THE BRIDGE,
Bridge Builders Inherit Traditions Hundred Years AgoAncient Still the Schools Learns Much s

Boston, Jan. F, 1904,.-During the 12th and 18th centuries there Hved and work
 ed in France a religious society called
 the Brothers of the Bridge" founded
 by the picturesque Benedictine monks to l establish houses for the accommodation of travellers at the stream-crossings, to collect money to erect bridges and to superintend their construction Many bridges, generally of stone. were built by this kindly association before 1t went out of existence, but bridge building it. self is one of the necessities of adyanc- ing civilization and many of the tradi- tions of the ancient brotherhood have been unconsciously inherited by the host of young men who are even now study ing the principles of former generations of bridge builders and combining them with later discoveries in the best use of the raw materials of stone, concrete or iron. Modern technological schools, such for example. as the, Massachusetts Insti- tutue of Technology in this city, have nowadays taken the place of the earlier guilds in producing engineers of all de- scriptions and in these schools lies the bridge building of the future just as many of the bridges of medieval France had their foundations in the formation of the old Benedictine association.
 lne nlSLOTy DTIUSe DullOInR IS LO n large degree the history of the arch--"the arch that never sleeps" as the old IIlndoo proverb used to describe 1t. for stone arches have been fin use since the earliest times while it is only during the last few centuries that other materials have been found available. and little more than 100 years since the first metal bridge-still standing at Colebrookdale. England-was erected Few persons. however. outside of the architects and bridge builders. re- alize the antiquity of the simple span of masonry that bridges every year a greater number of rivers and chasms and permits our carriages. bicycles, automobiles, troll ley cars and railroad trains to travel more easily from one city to another. It has even been said that the civilization of a country could be judged by its stone bridges, for the construction of these im- portant connecting links is a slow and costly process and until a nation feels itself pretty wen established it's bridges are likely to remain temporary affairs designed to answer the purpose only for a comparatively short period. Even in the United States there are comparatively few stone bridges, and these are chiefly connected with the water supply systems Of the larger and wealthier cities Our own railroads. unlike those of Europe
 are only just beginning the construction or permanent stone bridges for the sim pie reason that the American railroad has almost invariably been the pioneer of an advance of population into new re- gions and has been too poor at the time to build the costliest structures; many Eu- ropean railroads on the other hand have been in process of construction through already prosperous and we'll peopled ter ritory. and have been able to build ac- cordingly. On this side of the water, therefore, the man behind the arch' bids fair to be an important figure in the present century, fact very clearly pro- phesied in the number of young Ameri- cans who are studying civil engineering at the modern schools of technology. American bridge building of the future is likely to follow more and more the lines of the Thomas viaduct that crosses the PatapscO between Baltimore and Washington, the High Bridge that rises 100 feet over the Harlem, and the famous Echo Bridge that spans the Sudbury river not far from Boston
 Except for the fact that the strength and wearing qualities of the materials are better known and that new materials, such' for example, as artificial concrete. are being studied and utilized in combina- ton with steel and iron. the modern stone bridge differs very little from the bridges punt in the days of the Roman Empire.
 The principle of the arch was known even before the Roman period, but the