The Washington herald., 1917-08-16

conclusion. There appears to be lit
tie doubt that these railway supplies
can be transported from the United
States to France without meeting seri-
GUS loss by reason of submarine at
tack. The Bethlehem Steel Company
is anxious to facilitate as far as pos
sible this very great work of rail-
road construction which has already
begun in France and is to be con-
tinued until the French railroads are
in as perfect condition for military
purposes as 1t is possible to make
them.
The Government Comes First.
Many are the great Industrial and
building undertakings which were un-
der way before the United States de-
clared war against Germany which
must now be held in suspense on
account of the demand the govern
ment is making for steel and iron
products. All over the country skel-
eton steel structures stand half COM
pleted because it is impossible to se-
cure steel. There are two conspicu-
Gus examples of this in New York
City.
Now comes information that the
great bridge over the Thames River
at New London, Conn, which the
New Haven Railroad Company has
under construction, may not be COM
pleted until after the war is ended.
In many parts of the United States
this bridge, as far as. its location
is concerned, can be identified, be-
cause 1t will stand near the finishing
line of the Yale and Harvard boat
races. 1t was fortunate for the Penn
sylvania Railroad Company and the
New Haven Railroad Company that
they were able to complete the gigan-
tic bridge over Hellgate whereby New
England, Pennsylvania and the South
are brought into absolute physical
| contact, before the demands of the
government for steel compelled the
postponement OF construction which
| involves the use of steel. That
bridge. which is one of the worlds
wonders in bridge construction. was
completed only few months before
the United States declared war on
Germany and Austria.
The new bridge over the Thames
River was made necessary on ac-
count of the very great increase in
traffic and especially Of heavy trains.
and yet in 1883, when the present
bridge was built, 1t was regarded as
one of the finest railroad bridges in
the world.
With the exception of the masonry
work on the top of the piers the SUBJ
structure of the bridge Is completed.
Then the workmen were compelled
to stop. 1t was impossible to get
steel, although 1t was contracted for
many months ago. 1t may be that
the steel companies with which the
contracts were made will attempt to
deliver the steel late in the fall and
II that be done this great bridge can
be completed by the middle of the
year 1918. The sudden and unexpect-
ed appreciation in the price of steel
resulted in the estimates made by
the engineers of the cost of the steel
for this bridge being far out of the
way. When the United States was
at peace these estimates. there being
three In all, made by as many diff
ferent engineers, differed by less than
1900. Now the appreciation in the
price of steel will make it necessary
for the New Haven people to pay pos
sibly as much as $4,000 more for the
steel than the figures estimated by
the engineers of what the cost would
be.
The Corn Crop.
Some of the experts in this city are
persuaded that the government esti-
mate of 3.1s1, 900, 900 bushels of corn as
the harvest of this year is an under
estimate. They would not be aston
ished IL 1t were discovered in the
autumn when the corn is all harvest
ed that the yield is 3.250. .00o, 900 BUSH
els. perhaps more. They, however,
explain the government estimate by
saying that IT was made at time
when the weather conditions were not
so favorable as has been the case
within the past ten days.