MORAVIANS. 



521 



of about 12 feet, and consist of steel staves 

 banded and held together by steel jackets or 

 hoops. The top and bottom chords or tubes 

 are 12 feet apart, connected with each other 

 by a triangular system of bracing, so arranged 

 as to constitute, with the tubes, an arched 

 truss of great lightness and strength. The 

 bridge is 54 feet wide, and costj together with 

 the tunnel under the city of St. Louis, by 

 which access is gained to its western end, 

 $9,000,000. 



By order of the War Department, a board 

 of engineer officers was convened in August 

 for the purpose of examining the construction 

 of this bridge, to ascertain whether it " will 

 prove a serious obstruction to the navigation 

 of said river, and if so, in what manner its 

 construction can be modified." The report 

 of this commission was made September 11, 

 1878, and signed by J. H. Simpson, Colonel of 

 Engineers, U. 8. Army, and G. K. "Warren. 

 G. Weitzel, William E. Merrill, and Charles 

 R. Suter, Majors of Engineers, to the effect 

 that "the board are unanimously of the opin- 

 ion that the bridge, as at present designed, will 

 prove a very serious obstruction to the free 

 navigation of the Mississippi River." The 

 chief objection wns, that the height was not 

 sufficient for the passage of steamboats. After 

 stating the difficulties that would arise in alter- 

 ing the structure, the following solution of the 

 problem is suggested : 



tinder these circumstances, the board do not feel 

 justified in recommending any chancre which would 

 involve a complete remodeling of this magnificent 

 structure, now to nearly completed. At the same 

 time, as already stated, they deem it absolutely neces- 

 sary that some provision should be made for allow- 

 ing large boats to pass the bridge with safety when- 

 ever they find it necessary to do so. 



Thev would therefore recommend, as the most 

 feasibfe modification, a plan which has already been 

 tried and found efficient at the railroad-bridge over 

 the Ohio Kivcr, at Louisville, Ky. 



Let a canal, or rather an open cut, be formed be- 

 hind the east abutment of the bridge, giving at the 

 abutment a clear width of water-way of 150 feet ; the 

 shore side of the cut should be laid out on an easy 

 curve, joining the general shore-line about 500 feet 

 above the bridge, and about 800 feet below it. The 

 river-side may be entirely open, but the shore-side 

 should be riveted vertically with stone or with crib- 

 work to a height of about five feet above extreme 

 high water. This wall should be provided with ring- 

 bolts and posts, to enable boats to work through the 

 cut with lines. Let this opening be spanned with a 

 drawbridge, giving n clear span of 120 feet in width. 



Bv this plan, boats an Inrge as any now built would 

 be able to get through the bridge in any weather and 

 in any stage of water, and only at the cost of some 

 little outlay. 



MORAVIANS. The latest statistical re- 

 I of the Moravians at largo were made at 

 the close of the year 1872. They are given in 

 the following table. An apparent decline is 

 shown in the number of communicants re- 

 turned by the German Province. This is ex- 

 plained by the fact that in the reports of some 

 of the churches the total membership only is 

 given. In the "Diaspora" missions in Eu- 



rope, 100,000 persons are counted as in spirit- 

 ual communion with the Church. 



The total number of bishops of the Ameri- 

 can church is seventeen, of whom five have re- 

 tired from active service. Four active bishops 

 and one retired bishop are connected with the 

 American Province. 



In the British Province, the number of con- 

 gregations is thirty-eight; number of day 

 schools, 13 ; of scholars, 1,382 ; number of 

 boarding-schools, 14. A general home-mission 

 society and three local home-mission associa- 

 tions are connected with this province, besides 

 which, several congregations have charged 

 themselves with particular spheres of home- 

 missionary work. The Training Institution, 

 a. theological seminary at Fulneck, was estab- 

 lished in 1860. 



The Unity's Elders' Conference forms the 

 Provincial Elders' Conference for Germany. 

 The number of congregations in the German 

 Province is 20; of boarding-schools, 19; 

 there are also five smaller ones, a school for 

 the children of missionaries at Kleinnelke, the 

 Paedagogium, or grammar-school nt Nisky, 

 Prussia, a normal training-school for teachers 

 at Nisky, and a theological seminary for pre- 

 paring candidates for the ministry at Gnaden- 

 feld, Prussia. 



The peculiar home-work called the Dias- 

 pora, carried on by the German section of the 

 Church, dates from 1729. Its object is stated 

 to he Catholic and unsectarian. It does not 

 seek to make proselytes, or to draw members 

 from other Protestant communities, "but to 

 excite and foster spiritual life by means ad- 

 ditional to those provided by the Established 

 Church." These missions are established in 

 Denmark, Norway, Sweden, German}', Russia, 

 (chiefly the Baltic provinces), Poland, and 

 Switzerland. Four congregations have been 

 organized in connection with the mission in 

 Bohemia. This work is prosecuted under ad- 

 verse circumstances, it being opposed by the 

 local officers, and subjected to acts of petty 

 persecution. It is supported by contributions 

 from the churches at large. 



The American Province is divided into two 

 divisions, called the Northern and Southern 

 divisions. The Northern division is subdi- 

 vided into four districts, called the New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Western, and Northwestern dis- 



