THE EIFFEL TOWER. 735 



inaugurating" the first stage of the tower, and which sum up ray ideas 

 on the subject : 



"The beginning was difficult, and criticism as passionate as it was 

 premature was addressed to me. I faced the storm as best I could, 

 thanks to the constant support of M. Lokroy, then Minister of Com- 

 merce and Industry, and I strove by the steady progress of the work 

 to conciliate, if not the opinion of artists, at least that of engineers 

 and scientific men. I desired to show, in spite of my personal insignifi- 

 cance, that France continued to hold a foremost place in the art of iron 

 construction, in which from the earliest days her engineers have been 

 more particularly distinguished, and by means of which they have cov- 

 ered Europe with the creations of their talent. Doubtless you are not 

 ignorant that almost all the great engineering works of this nature, in 

 Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, are due to French engin- 

 eers, and the traveller discovers with pride, as he passes through foreign 

 countries, the traces of their activity and their science. 



"The tower, 1,000 feet high, is before everything a striking manifesta- 

 tion of our national genius in one of its most modern developments ; and 

 this is one of the principal reasons for its existence. If I may judge by 

 the interest which it inspires, abroad as well as at home, I have reason 

 to believe that m}' efforts have not been unavailing, and that we may 

 make known to the world that France continues to lead the world, that 

 she is the first of the nations to realize an enterprise often attempted or 

 dreamed of: for man has always sought to build high towers to mani- 

 fest his power, but he soon recognized that the laws of gravity hampered 

 bim seriously, and that his means were very limited. It is owing to the 

 progress of science, of the engineer's art, and of tlie iron industry, that 

 we are enabled to surpass in this line the generations which have gone 

 before us by the construction of this tower, which will be one of the 

 characteristic feats of modern industry." 



So it is that I have wished to raise to the glory of modern science, and 

 for the more especial honor of French industry, a triumphal arch as 

 striking as those which earlier generations have raised to honor con- 

 querors. 



