uld at all events have been
tested, had not its leading spirit, the very life of it, died.

Even though he was at the same time engaged in investigations so
important as those at the Mersey and at Galveston, Eads devoted the
last six years of his life mainly to this daring and tremendous
enterprise. In 1885, after obtaining from the Mexican government a
modification of his concession, guaranteeing one third of the net
revenue per annum, he had a bill introduced in Congress, whereby, when
the ship-railway should be entirely finished and in operation, the
United States was to guarantee the other two thirds. Though this bill
was favorably reported, Eads finally decided to withdraw it, and to ask
after all for a simple charter, which would doubtless have been
granted. During those six years there was perhaps not another man in
the country who was so able to persuade others of the scientific,
financial, commercial soundness of his projects. If, more than any one
else, he could make a scheme appeal, it was not that it was in any
sinister sense a scheme, but because his tact and his address were
pleasing, his reputation firmly grounded for honesty and common-sense
as well as for thorough scientific knowledge, so that his enthusiasm
was contagious. His enemies might call him a lobbyist, but his sole
means of persuasion were the soundness of his views, the clearness of
his arguments, and the fervor of his wish to benefit his country.

For this undertaking, as for his previous ones, Eads invented many
devices. All in all he held nearly fifty patents from the United States
and England for useful inventions in naval warfare, bridge foundations
and superstructure, dredging machines, navigation, river and harbor
works, and ship-railway construction.

In January, 1887, when his bill was to come up, he went to Washington.
He was in such poor health that he was not able to remain there, but on
his doctor's advice he went with his wife and one daughter to Nassau.
While sick there, he was still at work on improvements for his
ship-railway. He was wont to say to his intimate friends, "I shall not
die until I accomplish this work, and see with my own eyes great ships
pass from ocean to ocean over the land." But in Nassau it was soon
known that he was dying; and still he said, "I cannot die; I have not
finished my work."

He died March 8, 1887, not quite sixty-seven years of age. No one has
finished his work.

*