AN OLD, OLD GRIEVANCE.

It is with the diffidence of grave-diggers that we unearth the old subject of the Boylston street bridge, but we are led to speak of it again because of the structure's conspicuous inadequacy and the startling condition revealed by the recent repairs. The bridge was passed upon as safe enough to support the dense crowds of the big games last fall, but when some of the beams were changed a short time ago they were so rotten in places that large pieces could be knocked off by a slight blow, and one of the five timbers which support the draw was so thoroughly decayed that it broke in the middle when the cross planks were removed. The underwork of the bridge has not been replaced. As stated some time ago, by Mr. McDonald of the Boston Bridge Commission, "there seems to be no doubt about the necessity of a new bridge."

In 1904 an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the expenditure of $120,000 for a new structure, but the money was never appropriated. Shortly after this the Cambridge Bridge Commission proposed to build a $35,000 bridge, but the plan was abandoned at the request of President Eliot, Major Higginson and others, on the ground that a temporary structure would not justify the expenditure. Now the bridge has been repaired. It will last but a few years at best, and then if the money for a structure harmonizing with the general scheme of the surroundings is not forthcoming, a temporary bridge will have to be built. The street is so little used for general purposes that the public authorities would naturally not care to undergo the entire expense of an appropriate structure. It is apparently for the University or some patriotic graduates to co-operate with them, and erect a bridge of which we need not be afraid nor ashamed.