The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-18
THE PARIS CENTENNIAL.
proqress Of the Eiffel Tower for Next
Years L opposition.
From the Netc York sun.


Years Exposition.
From the Ne,c York sun.
PARIS. June 22-The ground covered by
+be Paris centennial exposition of next year
ircludes not only the whole of the vast
Champ de Mars, but also the grounds of
+ba Trocadero, the former exposition build
;no, of 1878, on the opposite hank of the
sine Besides this enormous space, they
ore constructing long iron sheds all along
Eve river front on the QuaI d'Orsay for
oIricultural produce and machinery. The
i1,yar stories of the TrOcadero are also to
io devoted TO the exposition.
II isa marvellous spectacle to behold the
scrivitv and enthusiasm with which the
commissioners are pushing on the gigantic
.r,,ctures which are to eclipse all those ever
cared here or elsewhere for like purpose.
irbe iron works and workers of France
must he making a rich harvest. For all
these constructions, the Eiffel tower i'll
clnded. are OF iron. The tower itself has
NV attained one-third Of its total hight
Il 600 feet. They are at work on the sec
ond great platform, from which the shalt
NJ t6e tower is to shoot upward some $50
feet more.
Crowds of foreigners and of Frenchmen
from, every part OF France are to be seen at
very hour of the day stationed at the
entrance to the exposition grounds, or on
he Pont d'Jena, or IN front of the TrOca-
dero amphitheater, watching the swarms
nj workmen on the huge aerial pile; while
others are seen from afar running up or
down the open stairways in the converging
base. like spiders speeding back and forth
along the threads of some gigantic web
snread high in the air against the blue sky.
The topmOst iron beams alre idy surpasS
In elevation the lOftiest spires in the city,
and from the leaty avenues of the Bots de
Boulogne, from the shady drives beyond it,
around Neuilly, and st. Cloud, and Seyres
the traveller describes the brick red structure
of the ElfTel tower soaring above the loftiest
trees and houses.
watcned some of the visitors to the I'M
completed second platform as they turned
to descend On their way upward, after
reaching the height of 200 feet, few cared,
evidently, to cast their eyes beneath them.
But TO 20 down one has to look before one.
And the view thus opened to the eye is one
bewildering maze Of iron beams crossing
each other, and disclosing together with the
moving multitude far away below, another
multitude of figures seemingly rushing
bither and thither wildly among the airy
wilderness beneath and around. Add to
this distracting effect on the eve the per
Upetual changing of the hammers on the iron
mass. the shouts of the worlmen, and the
din arising from the thousands and thous-
ands at work on the other neghboring
structures, and you can judge what steady
nerves it requires to go up all the way to
the second platform, AMI what prefer
natural firmnesS of head, hand and foot is
needed to 90 down without accident.
saw more than one sitting down, and
that frequently. The fact is that there i;
no little risk for persons unaccustOmed to
climbing to face the glddy task of coming
down three, four or five hundred feet OF
open. unprotected iron work under the
circumstances l have described.
The dangers to the workmen themselves
are very great, in spite of the precautions
prescribed bv the overseers. Not a week
passes without having to record some
serious or fatal mishap both on the Fife
tower or on the other great iron build
ings Of the exposition in course of cOnstruC-
ton.
A few DAYS ago the Petit Journal an.
nOunced a rumOr, which was unfounded,
that these accidents on the Eitfel tower
we're of such increasing frequency tina
French workmen refused to expose them
/ selves at such an elevation and under such
risks The com missioners, it was said, had
applied for American workmen, who il
their turn declined because forsooth they
were about TO construct in the United
States national monument destined far &C
surpass in elevation the Eitfel tower itself
Is there any truth at the bottom of thi.
pTepOserOuS rumOr!
Surely American money can be better be
slowed IN thousand ways than in The
achievement Of gigantic works undertake.
only to satisfy a cdlldlsh vanity. Muct
money a, the federal treasury can afford to
sluauder, the defence of our seacoast citie'
and the creation of navy suited to our
needs aud fitted to meet every warlls'
emergency would offer nobler objects fol
national expenditure than the building Of
huge Babel towers, which would only be
public danger and public nuisance.
And yet, as | examine more carefully
everything connected with this interna
uonaI exposition of 1889 | cannot help ad
mrlng the genius of tho French people
There is nothing great which they are not
capable of cOncelving and executing, i
only properly guided. Economically con
alered the coming exposition may moi
prove the success which the party in power
expect million or two of francs spent
IN repairing the Trocadero buildings would
nave given, for all national or intena
uonal purposes, palace worthy OF indus
traI France. As it is, what with the Fife
tower, and what with the magnificent
structures in course of erection around it
tle outlay will be prodlgious, while somt
Vi Che continental governments absolutely
refuse to take any part IN the exposition O
next year, and Others only give it half
hearted encouragement.
As your readers know, the financial con
utlon Of the city of Paris is ten times worse
man that Of New York and the nationa
debt is yearly increasing to sucl
dimensions as to appeal to the very best O
ner statesmen. Nevertheless, believe that
"Aetaer the Centenary of 1883 will be
pecunlary success or not, the French VII
make Of 1t, in many resp'c the most won
Sriul and attractive thing OF the kind eve
YET seen in either hemisphere
BERNARD O'REILLY.