The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-23

Well. the Worlds Fair is over. the iuries are
regfuncG oGcio the awards arc published,
and the whole performance has ended. We
can now look at it'as a whole, from the birth of
the scheme. whenEpeople, talked OF riyalling the
monster Exhibition. ofs 1851, to the final d<nou-
ment as contained in the lists of the fortunate
exhibitors. Thougb,lit is announced that the
Crystal Palace will-still. be kept open as show,
like one of the great baZaars OF the East it can
no longer claim any. odor of nationality, and
differs only in size from the emporiums which
epterprisine batters or spirited BARRIERS have
erected on Broadway. So fur as the press is
concerned, therefore this is the proper time to
pronounce its reguiescat, and to accompany it
with encomium or regret. as the past career of
the defuuct may seem to require. We say re-
gret. for censure would seem a hard term to
apply to individuals. wbosaimed at rivalling an
enterprise which had exhausted the energies of
one of the greatest monarchcal governments in
the world and who, whatever errors and faults
they may have committed, are still generally
euiltless of any design-to promote private gain
under the mask of zeal for the public good
We put this point prominently forward as
one of the few bright traits in the history of the
Exhibition. The managers decided at the out
set that no individual. subscription should ex-
coed 81 coo. There may have been men among
the originptors to whom a handsome advance
on this rar value might have been au object
but no one familiar with the business public of
New York can read over..the names of the direc
ehor nlnll
that even rise of 100 per cent would have
hardly recompensed them for their trouble.
and would have very inadequately repaid the
odium necessarily attaching to stock specula-
ton on such basis, This we say in Justice
to the Prime movers OF the Exhibition Ii is
the last compliment we shall have occasion to
pay them.
The company was no sooner formed Il n the
stock took rank among the fanccs" Ii sold
at l75 before the pillars were erected. As we
cannot believe that three or four thousand dol
lars would have induced the directors to dis
grace themselves by lending their names to the
enterprise and then selling out we are bound
to suppose that those who took advantage Of
| this large rise in the stock were the smaller
| shareholders. We. regret that the directors did
not find means to check their avaricious propen-
| stiles, and prevent the Great Exhibition from
taking the same level as a fancy mining com
pany.
The opening was announced for May. To-
wards The close Of April exhibitors focked
| hiihcr from Europe and nearly all parts Of the
world many Of them having sent on their con
| tribulions beforehand To our knowledge num-
| bers Offoreigners were here on LIST May waiting
for thc opening and spending their money in
! living at expensive hotels. Some Of them Left
10 disgust; others remained, and spent ten
wccry weeks IN idloness at cost which ap-
| pears irightiul to one accustomed to the hotel
fares On the continent Of Europe. Atlength on
l4th July the ceremony Of Inauguration tool,
place. Need we again describe ceremony