the Young Men's Christian Association Building. There are three fine parks, comprising about 250 acres: Beardsley, Washington, and Seaside; the last, situated on the shore with a sea-wall and a drive two miles long, contains a soldiers' momunent, and statues of Elias Howe and P. T. Barnum. Extensive improvements have been recently undertaken in providing a new railroad depot, and in elevating the railroad-tracks, the project to require eventually the expenditure of about $3,000,000, a part of which is borne by the city.
Bridgeport is an important manufacturing city, and has considerable coasting trade, the harbor being safe and accessible for fairly large vessels. The principal articles manufactured are sewing-machines, corsets, coaches, locomobiles, plush goods, brass, iron, and steel goods, machinery, cartridges, ordnance, and hardware. Some of the factories are of vast size. The Wheeler & Wilson Sewing-Machine Works cover ten acres, and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company has one of the largest establishments in its line in the world.
The city government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, a municipal council, and the usual administrative departments, all appointed by the executive, and all, excepting that of public works, where the power is given to a single head, governed by boards. The school board, consisting of twelve members, four elected each year for a term of three years, is chosen by popular election. The annual expenditures of the city amount to about $1,000,000, the main items of expense being $60,000 for the police department, $65,000 for the fire department, $55,000 for the street lighting, $60,000 for hospitals, asylums, and other charitable institutions, and $170,000 for schools. Population, in 1880, 27,643; in 1890, 48,866; in 1900, 70,996, including 22,300 persons of foreign birth and 1100 of negro descent.
Bridgeport, first settled in 1665, was known as Pequonnock, 1665-94; Fairtield Village, 1694-1701; and Stratfield, 1701-1800. Until incorporated as the Borough of Bridgeport in 1800, it formed part of Fairfield and of Stratford townships. In 1836 it became a city, and in 1870 it was enlarged by the addition of a part of Fairfield, and in 1899, of Summerfield and West Stratford. Consult Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport (New Haven, 1886).
BRIDG′ER'S PASS. An elevated defile in the Rocky Mountains, in southern Wyoming, through which the overland stages went before the opening of the Pacific Railroad. It is several miles long, and in most places has almost perpendicular side walls from 1000 to 2500 feet high.
BRIDGES, Law Relating to. Legislative authority to erect a bridge is necessary in three cases: First, when toll is demanded for its use—the right to take toll being a franchise (q.v.), which cannot be claimed without express grant from the State; second, when the State owns the bed of the stream over which the bridge extends, as is the case in all public or navigable streams; third, when the structure interferes or threatens to interfere with navigation. In the last case the authority of our State governments is subject to the power given to Congress by the Federal Constitution to “regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States.” (Art. I., §8.) The States may authorize bridges over navigable streams, and may regulate their size, form, and manner of construction. Until Congress intervenes in such cases the power of the States is unlimited. When it does intervene, however, its will is supreme, and its legislation, within the limits of the constitutional grant, overrides that of any State. A bridge constructed over a navigable river in accordance with an act of Congress is a lawful structure, however much it may interfere with the public right of navigation. See Rivers, Navigable.
BRIDG′ES, Robert (1844—). An English poet. He was educated at Eton and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford; studied medicine at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, London; and held several important hospital appointments before his retirement (1882). Bridges has published eight plays and several volumes of verse, often privately printed. His choicest poems (with bibliography) have been reprinted in three volumes (London, 1898-1901). Late Victorian poetry probably has nothing better than Prometheus; Achilles in Scyros; and Shorter Poems. Bridges has also written on Milton and Keats. Especially noteworthy is his Milton's Prosody (Oxford, 1893), which has been enlarged and reprinted with an essay by W. J. Stone on “Classical Metres in English Verse” (Oxford, 1901).
BRIDGES, Robert (1858—). An American editor and author. He was born at Shippensburg, Pa., July 13, 1858. After graduating at Princeton, he became connected with the New York Evening Post, and in 1887 was made assistant editor of Scribner's Magazine. He is best known for the sprightly reviews which for many years he contributed to Life over the signature ‘Droch.’ He is also the author of poems and of two prose volumes: Overheard in Arcady (1894) and Suppressed Chapters and Other Bookishness (1895). His poems were collected in 1902 under the title Bramble Brae.
BRIDGES AND DOCKS, Military. The principal types of military bridges for the passage of troops and their supplies are the pontoon or floating, the spar, the trestle, and the suspension bridge. In most cases they must be constructed rapidly, and of such materials as are available, there being usually little time for refined calculations and for procuring the most suitable materials. The sizes of the parts of a military bridge depend primarily, as in other engineering structures, on the loads to be carried. Only in special cases will the width differ much from 8 to 10 feet. This is ample to provide for the passage of infantry in fours, cavalry in half sections, and guns and wagons fully horsed. It is considered desirable that, in whatever formation the troops may pass, the structure should be made strong enough to sustain them when crowded as a result of some stoppage in that portion of the column which has already crossed. In most cases 100 pounds to the square foot may be taken as the uniform weight for which a bridge intended for the passage of infantry should be made safe. If proportioned for this load, it will also be strong enough for the passage of the various train wagons and of field guns and carriages. If, however, it is to be crossed by steam-trac-
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