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Show Fntcr of Skytcrcptn. - i, .The news thatUhe Brooklyn bridge win liave to ber completely rebuilt within a few years should set the builders of skyscrapers to thinking. It is a comparatively com-paratively short time since the great bridge was built, yet its term of usefulness is over. What then may be expected to happen within the next twenty years to the mammoth structures-in New York and Chicago that are almost cities in themselves? True, progress has been made in the art of construction, con-struction, but the strain that is put upon steel and masonry is enough to tax the improved methods to their utmost. The sky-scraping office buildings cannot can-not last forever, and if the Brooklyrf bridge furnishes fur-nishes an example of the longevity of steel construction, construc-tion, their life will be rather short. The experts who have examined the bridge -declare that steel wears out in a certain length of time and that its dissolution dissolu-tion is hastened by electrolysis. That will apply ta buildings as well. It may not be exactly fair to compare a bridge with an office building, but there are points of analogy. anal-ogy. The movement of elevators and the vibration of tall buildings caused by wind are almost equal fa the strain on a bridge due to heavy, traffic. It will be easier to replace a bridge than it will a skyscraper. There are better opportunities for ascertaining wEen a bridge is in a dangerous condition. condi-tion. A building, however, is likely to crumble without warning. 1 It is not borrowing trouble to surmise in regard to this possibility. The future must be reckoned with. Within twenty or thirty years the great cities will have a tremendous problem in their tall buildings. build-ings. - |