The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-16
Concerning Work
 of Raising Maine
Engineering News.)

Engineering News.)
 We print elsewhere in this issue the report of the Board of Engineer Of f1cers in charge of the work of "Rais- ing the Maine" or, to give the work it's official title: Removal of Wreck of Battleship Maine" Those of a;-r readers who are accustomed to peruse the official reports of the Army En- gineers i've wonder how many such readers there areD will understand that these documents are not long on sentiment.
 For sentiment one must go else where: and we have found it by the gallon-in story in Golfers" of Sept. g, headed in big letters:
 1.-THE MAINE REMEMBERED"
 The story sets forth how away back in 1905 salvage company proposed to raise the wreck of the Maine" and make money out of the job. How were they going to make money? By charging admission to visitors either in Havana Harbor after the wreck was laid drA or else by floating the ship Ion her own or a false bottom and exhibiting her in the principal ports of the United States. ~In the remote event that it is utterly impossible te float the wreck it will still be a paying investment, for after exhibiting the wreck at Havana it will be taken apart piece by piece to be manufactur- ed into mementos. v
 All this the story relates and re- lates correctly The circular wooden rotterdam which the company planned to build around the wreck in order to lay it dry was described and illustrat- ed in Engineering News of Dec. 8, 1904 Tn fact an earlier proposal for a wooden cofferdam around the vessel was made in this journal by Mir. G. w Pearsons in our issue of March 10, 1898. It is interesting to note that the prospectus of the salvage company set forth that .ft will take from forty to sixty days to complete the coffer- dam and to pump it out.
 The "Collier's'' story then tells how one of the stock-se1ling prospectuses of this company happened to fall into the hands of an old soldier, Captain Alfred King of Arlington, N. Cap tain King at once ibegan writing let ters to the newspapers protesting against such commercial exploitation Of the wreck and the story writer re ports the result as follows:
 gro the salvage company this pub licity was more than vekation. Two months passed and found them still lowering over the wreck but afraid to SWOOQ tQOWIf lO ptCA li6 OOfiSc. < King simply kept on writing.
 A few more months of hesitation and the salvage company closed its offices and evaporated.''s
 There is one thing that is better than sentiment, or attempts to pro- duce sentiment by picturesque mar rative and that is truth. The real reason why the company referred to sssevaporated" was because the suck CTS, whom it sought to entice by it's fine prospectus and it's glittering pie lures of the enormous profits to be made by an investment in its stock. did not suck.
 Only. a beggarly s2o,0o0 or so was received by the company as a result the promoters of the scheme were per- force obliged to drop it.
 It might perhaps be claimed that the stock did not sell because of the old soldiers newspaper letters; but one does not need to go so far af1eld to find a reason The investing pub lie simply was unconvinced by the glittering promise of huge profits held out by the promoters. Captain King did not kill the scheme. It died a natural death.
 The story then continues-and from this point onward we have no reason to doubt it's accuracy-to tell how Cap tain King then proceeded in his cam paign of publicity with the object of .persuading the U. s. Government to undertake the work of raising the wreck. The promoters of the salvage company had indicated how cheaply and easily it might be done. He had no req son to doubt that part of their claims. And according to the story writer. Kings appeals to public sen tinent were so effectual as to be ac- tually responsible for the passage by Congress. in 1910. of the act ordering dertaken.
 And so. as a result of this stirring LID of patriotic sentiment by this we'll meaning old soldier the United States has spent half million dol lars already, and will spend the bet ter part of another half million doi- lars at least before it finishes the job, to pulI the pieces of an old battleship ont of the mud of Havana harbor.
 The writer in "Colliers'' carries the idea that the work is a particularly patriotic job, redounding to the honor of the country If that were indeed true we would raise not the slightest objection to the expenditure of a mil lion or two million or whatever the xuor1< might cost. To stimulate true patriotic zeal in people is we'll worth a nations expenditure. But we have never been able to see any such re- suits from the work on the wreck of the Maine
 So far as recovering the remains of the men who lost their lives in the wreck is concerned, the bones of the men who died in that wreck are just as decently and honorably buried there. where they met death in the line of duty, as they could be any where.
 As for there being any particular glory to the nation in recovering any part of the rusted scrap which forms the wreck of the old vessel it has never been apparent to us The idea once prevalent that the wreck was in such condition that it could be raised and fioated intact probably had strong influence in inducing Congress to or der the work in the first place; but it is now known to be utterly fallacious. It would be possible to cut off, bulk head and float the after third of the hull; but after it was hoated it would be a perfectly useless piece of scrap and the only thing to do would be to tow it into deep water and let it sink.
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