The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-23
whose leading features were food for merriment

| and shame?
| The disorderly throng-the absence Of any
thing like arrangement o. provision for guests
| the unfinished buildings and endless rows OF
halfopened boxes the disgraceful scene of
President dragged perforce through crowd
| by police men and, finally, the very undg-
nifed specimens Of rhetoric which were sup
posed to Daugurate the occasion-to disinter
| such "reminiscences were too thankless a task.
nor shall we delay on the dinner. No company
OF fremen inviting their friends to celebrate
their captains birthday would have displayed
so little tact in the selection Of their guests in
their reception at table, or in the management
Of those little details which are essential to the
success of banquet But let this pass.
In the middle OF July the Exhibition
| opened. There were few OF no paintings, a
small show of sculpture, very few objects of art
of any kind; the departments Of machinery aud
manufactures were about half completed, and
very large proportion Of the building was
either entirely empty or filed with packing
cases. Hence numbers Of people from the
country, who bad come to see the Exhibition,
witnessing this sorry show after ten weeks
|
home thoroughly disappointed. and proclaimed
the enterprise failure. The press throughout
| the country gave utterance to severe structures
| on the management. Under these infections
the stock teli below par. AS time wore on.
however, the defective departments were grad
ualy filed up. Every facility was afforded to
enterprisipg storekeepers to puff them
selves and their wares. Space which ought
to have been devoted to objects of
art was resigned to fantastic adver-
tisements Of BARRIERS and hatters. The picture
gallery was opened at last and covered rather
mere space than any French gallery except the
Louvre 1t contained about eight hundred
paintings. about fifty of which were worth more
than the frame. Soon afterwards the vsiter
noticed q new feature in the Exhibition. He
was pestered on every side with offers of wares
for sale. The Crystal Palace was converted
into large store, at which you could buy any
thing, from segar to steam engine This
was the preface to the conclusion.
In December the juries were summoned
Men of intelligence were invited simultaneously
with men who did not know q tea caddy from a
steam boiler; and many, many names, whose
verdict on the articles exhibited would have
been worth knowing, were entirely neglected.
Vague rumors of corruption among the juries
have been prevalent enough Had the jurors
been properly selected these injurious reports
| would never have arisen. Charges Of ignor snce
have been advanced against certain of the
juries and we have every reason to believe
them well founded In some intances it would
| hat ~, 81.
others q silly wish III fyor contributor whose
life Or whose postio was meritorious induced
them to reward en- object utterly unworthy of
| honorable mention; in others again, the reports
Of subcommittee were rejected by the cem-
mittees without the designation of any ground,
and really without any other possible motive
than mere caprice. No one who is familiar
| with the respective merit and standing OF
| our own artists. manufacturers ard other con-
| tributors, can fail to see how very false view
| of their respective claims to public patronage
is presented by the list of awards
Fortunately, the number of the medals will
complete the work which the character Of the
yiuriss began, and will deprive the distinction
of al, abiding value. A judicious sense of
economy dictated the substitution of silver ami
| bronze for gold: and Of the former metals some
| 1900 medals were struck, about 500 OF which
have been awarded to citizens of the United
States. When we reflect that 500 individuals
or objects in this country have received the
palm Of excellence, it will be quite as rare to
| find manufacturer without a medal-to say
| nothing OF honorable mentions-as it was und r
Louis Philippe to End Frenchman without tie
ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Shrewd men
of business viii say as little about their prizes
as they possibly can.
| So ends the New York Exhibitions failure
we regret to say, from beginning to end. \
failure certainly so far as practical results
were concerned with regard to the Improvement
of our national industry, and in every way I'M
worthy of the national name and so great "a
| failure as private speculation that none but
those directly interested in bofstering up the
stock will buy it even at seventy per cent dis
| count. 1t must be lesson for the future.
VINO EDITS THE EXPRESS MIR. Cunard has
called upon US and tells us that he really has
nothing to do with the editing of the Express;
| that Mr.. Brooks wrote to him for information on
| the subject of the revenue laws, and that he ac-
| cordingly furnished him with the statements
and arguments which the Express had the i'm
pudent folly to accuse US Of stealing from its col
umns. Having prepared this statement, Mr.
| Cunard, being probably anxious that the mem
bers OF Congress and politicians at Washington
should see it as well as the four or five thou
sand readers Of the Express in Wall street, en-
closed US duplicate and it was this of which
the latter coolly claimed to be the author. We
have reason to believe that the Express is gen.
orally edited on this system. 1t is not only
| glad to receive voluntary aims from any one
/ who nav think fit to make ii donation of