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'44 TRE Marine. REVIEW ' BRIDGING THE STRAITS OF CARQUINEZ Secretary of War Wm. Taft was in San Francisco very recently on his way to the Orient. While there he made a personal examination of the Straits of Carquinez across which the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. is very desirous of constructing an immense bridge. The ques- tion of the construction of this bridge is the most im- portant one that has perhaps arisen in San Francisco for the past quarter of a century. Such a structure would directly and indirectly affect the interests of naviga- tion and commerce of the entire upper part of the bay, and of the great port of San Francisco. From the very start, this project has been. bitterly opposed by ship owners,-shippers, river steamboat com- panies, merchants--in fact by all classes having any 'inter- ests in marine and commercial matters. Of course. the opposition is based solely on the 'ground that such | a structure would be a very 'grave obstruction to naviga- to shipping, but -- the right seas ths can be re- duced to a minimum.' Secretary Taft stated that the would act in a judi- cial capacity only, and that the initiative for a bridge would not come with him. He continued: '"All that I can do is to pass upon such plans as are proposed. It may be that the construction of the bridge will be delayed for some time. It all depends upon the necessities of traffic. Perhaps it will not at present bear the expense necessary to build a proper bridge." Assurances were given by Secretary Taft that he would not approve of any designs which were not of a character to preserve the necessary freedom of the straits to navigation. It was a question of compromise, the declared, the interests of interstate commerce and of shippers needing both to be carefully weighed and guarded. That should be done in the exercise of the power belonging to the secretary of war, he affirmed. WL aU nent suet paca eae : ee ee Ce Re se ee [50.2 GABLE SHIP BURNSIDE: tion to all that stretch of the bay above the 'straits. _ Application for permission to build this great bridge and the vigorous remonstrances against such an obstacle, have been before the war department for months. Sec- retary Taft said: "I expect to appoint a special engineer to consider the Carquinez matter. A proposition involv- ing such large interests should not be left to the deci- 'sion of one man. With engineers as with doctors, it is well to have the opinion of a number of them. Our army engineers aré excellent, but I think a civilian expert should be called in. The partictilar man for the place has not yet been selected positively, and no definite steps will be taken until my return from the Orient. There is no question but that a bridge must be built. The inter- ests of San Francisco, already a great and flourishing metropolis, demand it. San Francisco cannot fulfill her destiny without keeping in close touch with the east by rail. "Nowhere in the civilized world near the great ave- 'nues of commerce will you find straits of the character of Carquinez unbridged. The question to be considered 'ts what kind of a bridge will accommodate' the and 'traffic' without | interfering too 'seriously with the traffic by water? All bridges are in the nature of obstructions MORE WORK FOR THE CABLE SHIP BURNSIDE The appropriation by corigtéss of $95,000 for the exten- sion of the Alaska military cable from Valdez, its pres- ent terminus, to Seward 'on Resurrection bay, is pro- viding new work for the United States cable ship Burn- side, which, since the completion of the present section 'of the cable has been laying up at Tacoma, Wash. The contract for the additional 'stretch of cable has already been let by the war department; and as soon as it is com- pleted it will be shipped' to Seattle to be loaded on the Burnside for laying. It is anticipated in Alaska that the work will be completed during the present summer. The present Alaska cable system, laid, owned and op- erated by the government, consists of 2,127 miles of line, connecting Seattle, Wash., with Sitka, Juneau, Fort Wil- liam H. Seward, Skagway and Valdez in Alaska,-and con- necting at Valdez with a government land-line telegraph system covering 1,504 miles, which in turn connects at St. *Michael with a wireless section of 107 miles across 'Norton Sound. The first appropriation for the construc- tion: of the system was made in 1903, at which time the cableship was in China, undergoing repairs. The cable was manufactured 4 in ees: ene and seprevisee to Se- Pov Mean-