THE WORLD'S FAIR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2080, 4 January 1894, Page 10

THE WORLD'S FAIR.

(Fbom Oub Special Cobrespondent.) j THE STATES EXHIBIT. j I have been not a little exercised over just what would be the correct title for this article owing to the fact that in no sense is the timehonoured exposition term "court" applicable to the condition of affairs existing at the Fair. There are no courts here, each proudly flaunting the ensign of its own particular people, for the system of classification adopted has disposed of all this. There are, it is true, national buildings, as my previous letters have already placed en evidence ; therefore it is that to designate the collection which has been furnished by the parental Government of Uncle Sam, lam driven to the foregoing somewhat mild heading. If, however, one is cornered by the task of finding an apt title, they need not hang fire when it comes to speaking of the contents of the building. Here, indeed, it is a repetition of the old itory— the difficulty that has confronted them at every turn is here most markedly present. It is such an all-embracing, wide-reaching collection that where to commence and just how to -.wind up and yet in the allotted apace convey to the reader an idea of a tithe of the wonders embodied, is indeed taxing alike on the powers of discrimination and description. The interior decoration of the main portion of the building is lavish, marble pillars and- gilded cornices creating the hall into a fairyland of architectural delight. And then the contents— aye, there's the rub. Whose particular hobby-horse will you first ride ? for here it would seem one could almost tackle the complete stable, and, j mounting in turn each particular steed, ride, : Mazeppa-like, to the very death. Have you a craze, I guarantee you a period of alternating i sensations such as you have never experienced in your life — anticipation, admiration, surprise, joy, envy — aye, even envy, for I never yet met a collector who' could keep the Tenth Commandment in its.entirety— his neighbours wife, his servant, his maid servant, his ox, and his aas might all be safe from.covetousness on bis part ; but there would ever be the exception when it came to the last clause, and it would be in relation to these specimens. To see is to long for, Tenth Commandment or no Tenth Commandment. Are you. a philatelist? There are collections here that in their very completeness are edifying as well as surprising. The New World Editorial Exchange system seems -to have been thoroughly understood by the chiefs of the Postal Bureau. From the four corners of the earth, have come specimen collections, and the enthusiast can gloat over reprints of the very rarest and~ originals, of many almost extinct specimens of postage-stamp, facture. If you only find a passing interest in'"fourpenny reds" and "shilling blacks," then perhaps some of the interior arrangements may not prove wearisome. You can see how the mails are made up,' for there is a model post office behind plate-glass barriers, and there are life-size models of all the methods of mail-transporta-tion, from the human pillar-box collector to the flying express post office and . the snow-shoes and dog-sleighs in vogue in Alaska. Certainly a both instructive and amusing collection is that which emanates from the dead-letter department. The things that people can and have transmitted by post are beyond the reach or ken of ordinary cataloguing. An incongruous gathering— entomological, natural history, and other specimens abound. Human teeth, which Apparently have only left their owner's mouth upon compulsion, chignons, shoes, articles of dregs, and even Masonic regalia are

all here. The expertness of the officials in deciphering unreadable addresses is fully exemplified. Everyone has heard about the supposed abilities of compositors to decipher unreadable handwriting, but I fear that they would fail if confronted with many of these. Leaving the postal corner, inspection may be made of the arms and accoutrements used in the army and navy, and a little further over the work done in the armoury is shown — cartridgemaking, powder-making, &c, &c. There is a small but expressive exhibit of the field pieces and machine guns that are also turned out. The Smithsonian Institute — America's greatest museum — has sent the prime bulk of ita collections, and in animals, minerals, and birds the display is especially fine. What the nation has done in the matter of Arctic exploration is also* fitly set forth by sections occupied by mimic representations of the Peiry expedition and its doings. Of course, the story of the Red man occupies a coiner elsewhere, and in the telling of it there has been a big gathering of the weapons, dress, and ornaments of the noble savages. One can't help a little shudder as he gazes on the wampum belts on which hang scalps — not long, straight, black haired scalps, such as would have come from the head of a brother Red, but some shorthaired, curly and brown, and others long and flaxen, and you are struck by the thought of what horrible stories these hairs could tell if endowed with the power of speech. Doubtless, the Bed was noble in his owu particular path, but he was cruel and pitiless as these locks testify. The strides that have been made in invention form an instructive study as set forth in the specimens or rather working models frfcm the Patent Office. Elias Howe's sewing machine alongside Borne of the latest marvels 'of ingenuity in the direction of machines, that not alone sew, but pleat, box-pleat, kilt, rouche — indeed, it seemß impossible to find what they don't do. They make a contract. Type-writing machines, too, have been muchly improved ; indeed, the Remmington of days gone by and its namesake of to-day are strangely dissimilar. There are over a thousand models of various inventions, and these were, provided for by a special Congress vote. Certainly it is an object lesson in mechanics that cannot be easily excelled in this present century. There is near at hand a miniature mint, and the people gather in hundreds when the dies are at work, and watch with longing the outpouring of golden lOdol pieces or silver dollars just as the ease may be. Bank notes, or rather Treasury receipts ("bills" they are called over here), are being turned out at a machine close by ; but of course chief interest attaches to the work being done in gold. The handiwork of criminals receives attention at the hands of America's Scotland Yard; and the rogues' gallery and the methods of photographing and identifying criminals preach a lesson of rectitude — a warning to the world's wayfarer not to let his foot slip. There are the paraphernalia for detaining wrongdoers after their detection, and, if their offence be a capital one, an easy chair, in which electrocution can be carried out — that is, supposing you have not money enough to fight your life through the various processes of appeal that exist. Jf you have— well, then the chances, in sporting parlance, are long odds against the chair. Marine control is shown by modellighthouses, lifeboats, and the like, but they look more comfortable and habitable than a visit to the originals show to be the case. By that I mean that you get no idea of the hardships of the life of a keeper until you have seen for yourself. The exemplification of the style and method of working of the light is all right, bub you do not gain any very great acquaintance with the real condition of affairs. The telegraphic systems in the States are aU private

company concessions, and therefore there is little to be learned from the few exhibits on this subject. In the historical collections are fac similes of some of the important State documents — that first treaty signed by Franklin and Lafayette when the Republic received its first recognition as a '* Power" by its sympathiser and would-be helper in the War of Independence, the Declaration of Independence, and a number of others, all land-marks in the history of this great Anglo-Saxon race. Very rightly the Government declined to allow the originals to be removed from their place of custody at the Capitol, for who knows how the fair will get along in the matter of fires? Although to some people's way of thinking, in this land of daily catastrophes, a few lives lost doas not become a national calamity, certainly the destruction of documents such as these would be. Of course, there are numerous other features of the national collection that are all interesting, but these are the chief of one of the finest representative and historic exhibits ever made by our American cousins, and is fully worthy of the occasion.