The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-05
Will Work New Era In Transportation to and
 From New England
CASSATT THE MAN
 WHO CONCEIVED TT
Will Have Largest Span and Will Carry Greatest Weight of Any Bridge in the
 World
By HOLLAND

1 By HOLLAND
 | New York, October 4.-(Special.)- has been spoken of as an irony of fate that A. J. Cassatt passed away before the vast and comprehensive projects which he conceived for the Pennsylvania rail- road were completed. He did not live long enough to take part in the ceremony which memorialized the triumph of his minal for the Pennsylvania railroad and making the true terminal on Long Island, which was to be reached by means of tunnel construction under the Hudson, under Manhattan island and under the East river.
 l One feature of the comprehensive plan 1 President Cassatt conceived was the bridging of Hell Gate, that whirlpool es- tuary which connects Long Island sound with the East river and New York har- bor. Were Mir. Cassatt now living. he undoubtedly would, as an enthusiastic spectator, have taken part in the closing of the great arch of the bridge, realizing that from the point of engineering and science it is one of the worlds great works in the way of bridge building. President Cassatt knew also that when this bridge was completed it would serve considerably to alter some features of United States.
 The arch itself is one of the greatest In length and the greatest in strength of any similar feature of the great bridges of the world. When completed the bridge will carry a heavier load than any other bridge ever constructed. and very likely the time will come when there will be good demonstration of the expedency of constructing a bridge of this kind, the greatest of weight carriers, for the traffic is likely to be very heavy.
 This bride might have been completed some years ago had it not been for cer- tain political obstruction, or, more accu- rately stated, obstruction created by poli- ticians who happened to be in power The surmise was always strong that this obstruction could have been removed speedily had MT. Cassatt and those who were associated with him in this under taking been willing to adopt methods that sometimes have been used to conciliate the politicians It was essential to obtain
 
 stacles were removed.
 This bridge will, when in operation make Manhattan island sort of way sta - tion or, in fact, will cut 1t out entirely from some transportation lines There fore in this sense the great structure is not local, but it is really national. At least it is national in the sense that it vii. permit continuous traffic to be car- ried on between the middle west the south, the southwest and New England
 The construction of the bridge Is in line with the view taken by railway managers 40 or 50 years ago. Commodore Wander bit was convinced that he could not per- feet his New York Central railroad sys- tenn through union with the Hudson River railroad unless he secured control of the railroad bridge at Albany The struggle for that control was desperate, but the commodore was triumphant.
 Similar reasons to those which influ- enced Commodore Vanderbilt persuaded President Cassatt that if he and the Pennsylvania railroad system were to realize the full opportunities which were open to that system it would be necessary to construct one of the worlds greatest bridges with one terminal in the Borough of the Bronx near the Harlem river, which bounds Manhattan island on the north and the other in Long Islano, where the true terminal of the Pennsyl- vania system was to be established.
 A bridge of that kind however, en- tailed unusually long land approaches since the height of the central span over Hell Gate must be sufficient to permit passage under it of any vessel no matter how tall her masts. The estimate of the cost including approaches, something like s2O,0o0,000, was not thought to be too much money to invest in an undertakin of this kind. The great bridge builders were occupied for several years in work ing out the plans and specifications En- gneers in this country and in Europe have taken great interest in the building of this bridge, and some of them have spoken of 1t as a public work exceeded only, from the point of view of science by the construction of the New York adueduct system, and, relatively to the size of the Panama canal, it fully matches that from the point of view of science and the engineering work needed for the construction of that interoceanic waterway. a
 It is from the point of view of national transportation that this structure is of the greatest interes and importance It is especially noteworthy that it leaves out Manhattan island. It is a New England and a Pennsylvania transportation propo- sition, using the word Pennsylvania in the sense that the Pennsylvania railroad spreads tlke 1an throughout the middle west and toward the southwest and south
 Heretofore traffic to and from New England with the west and southwest has entailed the use of the bridge at All bany or the employment of barges by means of which freight Is lowed 12 miles around Manhattan island from the Penn sylvania railroad terminals and other terminals of Jersey City to the great freight yards of the New Haven railroad on the northern side of the Harlem river.
 Now this bridge. when completed. as it rapidly will be in view of the fact that the central span is now in place, secures ac- tual physical union between the Pennsyl- vania railroad system and the entire New England territory. It may be said also that the Pennsylvania lines now extend through alliance into New England, while the New Haven railroad lines extend by alliance into Pennsylvania and beyond. Railway managers. some of whom at first were disposed to look upon President Cas- satt's plan as visionary, are now per- | suaded that they were as wise as any plans for railroad development which l were conceived and worked out by the master minds in the world of railway af- fairs The close alliance is illustrated by