THE EXPOSITION MANIA.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13098, 24 April 1908, Page 5

THE EXPOSITION MANIA.

« Edwakd HuiKJEEyoRD, in "Harper's ■Weekly," f • January 4th.' Now that tho Jamestown Exposition, has closed, after meeting with a measure of success, tho question seems pertinent: Have wo not had enough expositions for some time to come? For tho earlier expositions there wcto reasons in plenty. There was splendid excuse for tho Contennial, and that show was good onough to bo worthy of the distinguished event that it commemorated. People were not surfeited by expositions in those days, ! and tho Centennial appealed to them mightily. | There was a good deal of excuse, too, for tho Chicago Fail* in '93. It can:© quite a number of years after the Centennial, and nono but a very minor show at New Orleans had iatervened, while tho country had grown j wonderfully in the meantime. Kleci tricity had developed from a mere J toy into a marvellously potent commercial agent of man, and we had ! learned to build with something of the • taste and dignity of older nations. »So there was a good deal to see at Chicago, and the lovely White City made a deep impression upon tho country; which, with the best will in the world, is more than one can say of its successors. But Chicago developed a tkv: factor in expositions: the side-show idea. From the strictly educational mountains of canned corn and thought-in-spiring triumphal arches of dried sheafed wheat a sido line was thrown in which little naked savages and piquant dunces from the Orient wore inVrodue- j ai as a new means of intellectual de- , volopment. From that moment the ; canucd-oorn pyramids and the sheaves ; ot wheat had a formidable enemy. Per- j eons who had tho price beg:in to seek the new form of diversion, and tho , Midway Plaisajice was, by many, the • most vividly remembered thing at Chi-; cage. There were many who found it \ a good deal easier to bo entertained ; than to be instructed. | ! The iamicnso success of tho Chicago ! I Exposition was. of course, a great in- | j centivo to other ambitious towns. Half- j I forgotten incidents of thoir early his- ! tories were carefully taken down from i tho she!.', dusted, and "oommonKrratj ed" with a greater or less display. ' San Francisco had an exposition, so ! }-*-d Nashville. Omaha feli into lino, and it was a jxwr year that did not se»> an exposition blossoming eomewhero in the country. In 1901, the Pan-American at- Buffalo would havo Ix-en a substantial success had it notbeen for the monumental tragedy that

darkened its closing days. For ono carried away EXQUISITE IMPRESSIONS FROM THE BUFFALO SHOW. Chicago had demonstrated tho possibilities of electric-lighting, hut the lighting of the Columbian Exposition Avar, by arc-light, and it was crude compared with the incandescent glories of tho display at Jh.'falo. The sidc.show features at tho l'an-Araerican wero immensely developed, ar.d it was. iu a large measure due to these that the show made its appeal, although architectural effects had not been equalled or approached since the Chi- . cago Fair, which wa& the high-water mark cf American expositions. ! "I don't care about the exhibits." cr.o would hear a visiter at Buffalo complain: "it's a 1.1 very tiresome. Let's | go over to the Midway and ride a cameL" Then it waa that the Exposition mania reached its -»xtreme height. What were tho pyramids of canned corn ar.d tho photographs of tho now High _<-hnol at Oxhkcsh compared with the intellectual opportunities afforded by riding the ship of tho de:_ert. teetering on a steel seesaw, or drinking sudsy beer at twenty cents tin. schooner while a real imported Herman band (from Hamburg, Frio County. New York) diffused atmos11hero and ra.gtimo? Of course there wero some who still wont ir_U> thie big exhibit buildings to sec the wheeLs _:o round, and came out bulging -with yard-sticks, catalogues, and other removable souvenirs ; but those ' wore scarcely in the majority. It was to be observed that even these went "tho limit" back in the Midway— tho limit of their purses. THE MIDWAY WAS THE CHEAT THING. the Pan-American the lesser. The tail was already beginning to wag the dog. !-_-o it was at St. Louis ar.d at Portland, so it has hewn at Jamestown. i From a mere &idc-:nsnc at Chicago, in- ■ tended to provide a slight diversion in ; the evening and at odd moments, this ; feature grew enormously iu im.portj ar.re. Business men saw less and less ! reason for participating in iho cxposi- ! tious. and big manufacturing and rei tail concerns have long since begun to j realise that the making of sn exhibit I at an average exposition—with the trc- , meudous expense aaid worry entailed i —is decidedly not worth the candle. [ A gocd many substantial firms have ! been dropping out of tho ranks or ■ curtailing their showings, and only ; Uncle Samuel remains in the front— and he has to. People have a pious habit of referring to the government exhibits atthese big shows as something half holy and altogether above criticism. But those who go from one to another of tlie expositions notice- that it it? the same okl gavornt-ieirt. exhibit, which upjioars to each fine of them. .Suppose we grant that the government exhibit io profoundly educational, that tlw

moving pictures of tho ovorworkod let-ter-carrier coming up the front steps with a bundle of duns for you is a stimulating demonstration; that tho long rows of serious-faced secretaries of tho something-or-othor department aa charming to look upon : that even i-ho printing of tho Presidential features by the Treasury Department upon a very ordinary variety of mouchoirs for retail distribution among the visitors at a quarter each is a iw.pa.lar hit: but is it worth while:-' People get to Washington pretty regularly nowadays, and all these thingsbesides a good many others, can bo foon thore,"without an exposition schedule, of prices all along tho line. SUPPOSE SQUASHVILLE WANTS AN EXPOSITION One may have forgotten that Squashvillo is on tho map, and tho Squashvillo correspondents of the metropolitan journals have found that the telegrinh editors havo. been turning down their clever stories of threelegged chickens mid nature-faking bears; so the situation becomes desperate. , Something must lie done. Somebody remembers that it is just a hundred yours ago that Uncle Jonas Cnibtreo begun grinding corn down at tho lower falls, thereby laying the foundation for •_ Greater Squashvillo: and that salient, event it. eelected as the basis for an international exposition— j nothing smaller will suffice. The earnings of the town go into the show, which is to be built en a marsh, bark of the settlement. A Mayor of Squashvillo is elected this time with an oratorical reputation, 'i valet, an automobile, and a big house for entertainments. Intellect attains new levels in Squashvillo. Aldermen are elected who were valedictorians in successive chisses at- the Squashvillo High School, for oratory i_ to be pumped pretty freely during the twelvemonth. All Squashvillo drives out on Sundays to see the lug "palices" going up on the grounds, each '"palace'' havin-s a lovely plaster exterior, and r.n interior resembling the- famous cow-bnnis that the descendants of the Crabtreos have built all through tho court-y. Tho dear old Government exhibit arrives, and en the crates one can see "Chicago." "Buffalo," "'St. Louis,'' "Jamestown," and other names which havo been lettered and then erased. So much for the official side of tho Squashvillo Centennial Exposition. Various ©xperts trained at preceding expositions are on the ground—publicity sand-baggers, director-generals of concessions, of transportation, of music, of art. cf .bout everything that can b-> imagined: and the fair will bo complete some three cr four months aiter the o.x-nn.g day, if some of its chVf features arc- omitted. As for unofficial Squashvillo, it. is to be ONE JUGHTY PENSION, i-.s our French cou_.ir_c. would say. Or'dinarily you can rent a weil-furnisbed _..._.._

room in Squashville for about- two dolhre a week; but this rate is altered to apply to a daily room, and the local hoVelries stoo serving dinner in the middle of the "day and enter upon the Euroi>ean plan, whilo their room rates achieve a New York and London level. -Squashvillo is on tho make, and the '"Evening Gazette" predicts tint the crept transatlantic lines will havo to withdraw some cf its steamers during the summer because of the rush of tr-uristß that- will seek ■Squashvillo instead of the more prosaic joys of the Continent. Delightful anticipation is rife in Bqun*hvi!le. Giant brick and j wood structures rise on tho marshes \ out toward the grounds. in the -penit-en- j tiary style of architecture, with tiers upon tiers of tiny cells, only slightly inferior to those cf the best prisons: - and there arc to l>o more hotels, with unifowned Ix-11-hops and tea-rooms and other metropolitan decorations. Tlie fair -Is opened on schedule time, which is about ai! that- can bo said of it. The Governor, certainly, and pes- | si"• >I y the President, aro -sandbagged j and brought to tho grounds; the militia makes a. brave show in the- rVn j (it always rains), and tho valedictorians re<-l off their oratory without a tingle e-asua-lty. Tho prose poets of the local papers do their part., and altogether it is the BIGGEST DAY TX SOTVYSHVILIIE'S EXPERIENCE. since the whole north side of Main (street with the K. and - C. freiglrthouso burned in a single night. But the second day at tho Squashviile Exposition! Tho treasurer goes home with a sick headache after he tot•»!« the receipts; and, as it is still ruining, you can hardly get acrcss tho Court of Honour without a canoe, while tl-.o carpenters are making such a din that you cannot begin to hear the Firo Department Band at its afternoon concert in front of the entrance to the Commemontivo Plaza to tho Nations of tho World. Tlie third day—tho same. Likewise tho fourth day. Tho fifth day shows an increase in gate receipts of 1. dollar 50 ocnts. But this is offset on the sixth day by a decrease of 1 dollar 50cents. By the .middle of tho second week the in tho club are afraid that exposition etock may not stay -vb par, and the local newspapers aro beginning to blamo the railroads rates because peoplo aro not tumbling head over heels to board trains bound for iSquashville. The railroads hive nothing to say in return, for they aro suro to b© the only thing in and about Squashvillo during its memorable centennial .year that is not ''done." They havo had experience. By the fourth week the exposition grounds aro fairly clear of underlying rubbish, but the foundations of several social feuds that are apt to last into iSquashville's second century have been not only laid but pretty firmly cemented. Mrs Ezra Holden is a grandniece of Uncle Jonas Crabtree by his second wife, twice removed, and tho Woman's Board of tho Exposition placed her eleventh in line at its first official reception instead of ninth, the place she had counted upon as her genealogical rhht. Mrs. Ezra Holden has money, and controls a bank, and she disseminates some disturbing rumours about Exposition stock and bonds held by her hank. Mrs H. Hoydephfettel had her name misspelled in the engraved invitations for tho same event, and so any man concerned with the Exposition management had better l>eware of tho German voto if he ever decides to run for office in Squashville. Squashvillo has Honeytown as its liveliest competitor. Honeytown has the cotton-mill and Zeke Pest's whiskers afi its star features —Zeko mad© -,\ vow in '96 that- ho would not cut his whiskers until Bryan sab in tho White House —ruid, being young, cannot offer tho intellectual treat of a centennial show. About tho fifth week of tho. ' Squashvillo Centennial Exposition tho Honeytown papers begin to print spiteful articles about tho incompleteness of tho 6how and tho "1U)BBER HOTEL RATES," while Squnshville papers come to tho rescue with vitriolic loaders about tho inborn jc*i-lousy of bucolic rivals. Fewer folk tliaai" ever como to Squaeliville. "It's early now. Just wait till the schools close," sing tho Squashvillo papers; but oven then most of tho people who alight from the train aro of the thrifty sort who planned to come and stop with their relatives as econ at it was known that Squashvillo was to have an exposition. But THE 'TRAIL" is completed. The "Trail" is a delirium of unrestrained joy; it is tho side-show feature of the Exposition; and if you want to bo altogether devolish you "Follow tho Trail," which costs ycu about- 23 doll-are 80 cents an evening, if you do not caro to eat or drink, and nets you about forty-two cents of actual pleasure, its educational value being roughly estimated at about six cents more. "Why prolong the agony? 'Hie "fulldress evening suits/' the "plug hats," and the "Trinco Albert.*" that Squashville has endured throughout tho hot- , test simmer of the decade are growing rusty before the ordeal is over and the Exposition has closed it6 doors. It is a wiser Squashvillo that is now selling its festival garments at cut rates, for Squashvillo h?.s had enough of formal entertaining to last it a second century. Prayer meetings como into popular favour again, and people once more eat their dinners in the middle of tho day. Oratory in a !o_>t art in Squash- - ville. The town elects a new Mayor in November who is tongue-tied. It postpones for ten years building the new High -School it -needed so much, and the big park that it planned to lay out down by the river is postponed for a generation. A lono cow munches her noonday meal in tho Commemorative PJa.-_a to the Nations of the World, and the. Buena Vista Hotel, which stood opposite the main entrance cf tho .show, has l>eon made into a picklefactory. Ask a Bqi_a*hville man out- lo dinner and tell him in sincerity that you enjoyed the Centennial Exposition : in his city, and you lo.?o a potential , friend. Xo iSquashville has ever held a Centennial Exposition, nor is any likely to. But just take aside a fair-minded man—in tome of tho big towns that have held expositions and ask him WHAT PERMANENT VALUE they have bad, and you are opt to fir.d" that Squashvilie'u was only an average experience. In a word, tho question resolves itself into two parts: It an exposition is to be a mere side show, what's tho use? Luna Parks, Wonderlands, and Electric Parks aro commoner than colleges throughout tho land, and they offer constant and scintillating joys of a kind equal to those of the best expositions. If an exposition is to be an exposition, why not givo the nation a fair chance? Why not space our expositions far enough apart to have each represent an era of national development, in manufactures, in science, and in tho fino art6? Why ' not mako our expositions real milestones of txrogress rather than mere street signs at every corner'-'