(1) Pont de Bordeaux, 501 metres; 6,850,000 francs. (2) Pont de Roanne, 232 metres; 6,438,561 francs. (3) Paris, Pont d’Jéna, 6,135,105 francs. (4) Pont Saint-Esprit, on the Rhône, 4,500,000 francs. (5) Pont de Libourne, on the Dordogne, 4,236,248 francs. (6) Tours, on the Loire, 434 metres; 4,224,639 francs. (7) Paris, Pont Neuf, 231 metres; 4,000,000 francs. Compare these figures with those of some British bridges:-- (1) The hideous Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits, 1511 feet long, cost £601,865. (2) Westminister Bridge, London, 1160 feet; £235,000, or £202 per foot run. (3) Boyne, 550 feet; £140,000, about £254 per foot run. (4) Southwark Bridge, London, built in 1819, £800,000; it contains 5780 tons of iron. (5) Vauxhall Bridge, London, built in 1816, £300,000. (6) New London Bridge, 1005 feet long, £1,458,311. (7) Forth Bridge, about £3,000,000. We see, then, that the bridges of civilization, when viewed merely as financial investments, are valuable enough to be made self-defensive.[145] Yet it happens that I am the only writer who has tried to draw public attention to the ease with which any bridge in England could be crippled. And the trouble is that engineers hold the field, because the man of business finds in their work a hard routine that looks practical and mercantile. What we need is the influence of architects. For capable architects have the genius of artists, and when artists give their minds to practical affairs they show a range of common sense that men of trade rarely equal. It is in their nature to look at a question from all sides till they see it amply and as a whole, while men of trade isolate two or three things from many, and accept them tenaciously as the only things that merit attention. But in our social life and strife there are certain newcomers that will compel the world to reconsider its wrong attitude to bridge-building. I refer to airships and to aviation, with their threatened wars from overhead. A good many bridges over strategical waterways can be displaced by tunnels, but many others must be armoured with cone-shaped roofs. Art and science have done wonderful things for the modern battleship, and now--now they must invent and perfect a new battle-bridge, fit to protect arterial highways from “progress.” * * * * * It is the morning of the 4th of August, and I have just read the latest war news. The whole life of Europe is a note of interrogation, infinitely sinister and tragic. What is destined to happen? Which nations are doomed to perish? What navy will go down into the deep? Which airmen will make the most successful attacks on those bridges that govern the distribution of food supplies? Will the equity of Europe triumph, or will German felony succeed? * * * * *