CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. 
To the Civil and Mechanical Engineers of Japan. 
Gentlemen, 
Before entering upon tlie subject of this treatise, it will be necessary to make so 
many explanations and statements of facts that it will be much better to address you 
directly ； I hope therefore, that you will pardon me for writing this chapter in tlie 
first person. 
Probably tlio first question which enters tlie mind of 0110 wlio is about to road a 
technical work is “for wliat purpose aiul in whoso interest is this book written. 
The Japanese arc generally, and perhaps with reason, suspicious of any proposed 
innovation by a foreigner, tl linking that tlio proposer may have an ** axe to grind. 
Oil this account they occasionally fail to profit by tho experience and advice of those 
wlio really have the interests of Japan at heart. But as nothing is clone without a 
reason, it may be as well to explain, before going any further, why this book was 
written. 
In the first place let me assure you, gentlemen, that 1 have not an axe tv jrind ; 
because my stay in this country is for various reasons necessarily limited to a little 
over a year longer ; indeed, it lias been with difficulty tliat I have so arranged my 
family affairs as to be able to comply with tlie request of tlie University authorities 
to remain a year longer than my original contract stipulated ; consequently I can in 
no way bo pecuniarily benefitted by your adopting the system of bridges herein pro- 
posed. My reason for preparing tlie treatise is simply tliis. 
I carae some two years and a half ago to Japan, hoping not only to be at the 
head of a large department, but also to be able to occupy my spare time iu attend- 
ing to practical engineering work. Instead, I liayo found that there is no work in 
the country for foreign ongineors ; and, wliat is worse, that there are never more 
than a dozen students in tlio engineering department. Now as I am unwilling to 
depart from Japan after a sojourn of three or four years without leaving behind me 
some professional record of my stay, I have devoted a twelvemonth of my spare time 
to tlie preparation of tliis work, which I hope will meet with your approval. 
Iu suggestmg that you change your present style of bridge designing to that ex- 
pounded in tlio following pages, it is no untried experiment timt I am asking you to 
make ; for th G system proposed is essentially iu agreement witli tlie best Americau 
piactice iu bridge construction. 
