VERSUS FLOATING BRIDGES. 29 



average rate of current which we found on the trip down was only about 2.4 miles an hour, 

 there were plenty of points at which the current ran from 9 to 13 miles an hour, and at 

 low water it is very much of a problem whether, in the narrow, contracted channels, speeds 

 of from 12 or 13 miles an hour up-stream are going to be commercially feasible. 



The comparison, as shown in the photographs which we had the pleasure of seeing, is, 

 I think, not quite fair. Had I known that slides were to be used, I should like to have shown 

 you some slides which I have from photographs taken of modern and of existing large Mis- 

 sissippi River freight and passenger boats, which really are those with which this barge 

 should be compared. Some of them do not have the forest of timber shown in these pictures. 



One other point, and that is where, on page 23, last paragraph, the author says: "In the 

 construction of this boat I departed from the old ideas and placed the cargo on deck, not 

 cutting any hatches in the deck, making the deck like the bottom, airtight and watertight, shut 

 off by watertight bulkheads." 



I saw many steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. I did not see one that did not 

 embody these features. They are all built that way. It has an additional advantage, that 

 when you strike a snag or run ashore, in shallow water, your machinery does not get wet. 



The question of terminal facilities depends greatly on the people and the traffic. I went 

 down south with the usual opinion of the south of a northerner, who has not traveled much 

 in his own country, although I did spend some nine years on the other side, and am reason- 

 ably familiar with the ports Mr. Bernhard showed us this morning. I have come back from 

 the south far wiser. The possibilities of the south are wonderful, even to the northerner, 

 but when you consider the mud — such mud as you never dreamed of, mud in some places 

 60 feet deep, and in others where they do not think they have much mud, and it is 8 or 9 

 feet deep — when you consider that it is only by continual watchfulness and care that you can 

 keep your river put, so that when you send a letter to a business acquaintance, notifying him 

 that he can deliver freight at the levee, if you do not put a time stamp on it and stay up and 

 watch the bank, you may have to cart the freight 8 or 9 miles in the course of the next three 

 weeks — those conditions have forced the traffic of the Mississippi Valley to the railroads, 

 where they go by inland routes and the traffic can be relied upon. With the increasing sta- 

 bility of the river channels, due to the government work, the country is bound to redevelop in 

 its transportation lines and possibilities ; but to my mind the greatest promise of that redevel- 

 opment is the growth, the healthy, self-sustaining growth of the local traffic between the 

 various points, which is training the men, developing new types of boats ; and as these local 

 connections grow stronger, it will become an easier matter to link them together and get your 

 north and south transportation. 



In the remarks which I have made I do not wish anything I have said to be understood 

 as in any way lessening my admiration for the results that Mr. Bernhard has secured. Their 

 object has been merely to emphasize that the features which he has brought to a 1915 perfec- 

 tion are, after all, the features which the nature of the traffic has developed through many 

 years, without the manufacturing facilities or the facilities in material and machinery which 

 the gasoline engine and the steel construction have given him to work with, 



Mr. John Reid, Member: — I do not want to make my remarks redundant by repeating 

 what has been said by the previous speakers, but I think, touching this problem, Mr. Bern- 

 hard has been dealing with things which are not new but he has had to adapt old methods to 

 new conditions ; and perhaps my experience may be interesting. I had to do some work in con- 



