Wilmington daily commercial. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1866-1877, 1874-10-10
SECOND EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA.
OUR sATuRo DAY LETTER.

The opening of tile Franklin Institute Exhibi
ton has been the principal feature of the weoI,
No matter what time ia given to malS
ready it seems to be the fate of al
such enterprises TO be caught unprepaled wlel
tue time for opening arrives. But the fault i
generally that of exhibitors, rather than of thu
managers. The arrangements in this case weri
as perfect as they could be made and the tu
multuous state of things on the inaugural da,
was not to se laid to the account OF tire Insti
tute authorities. There were many late conner,
aB there always are, ard there were numerous
others who had not thought OF participating nn
Ill they saw how the current was running. ga
| well to be out of the world as out of the fash
ion, " in business MS we'll RS in Society. Conse
1uently last hour demand was made upon the
| Institutes resources, OF which they haC
had no intmaton, and which somewhat
confused the inauguration. These late comert
| might have been refused under tho rules but
il was 80 desirable to make the display complete
| hat tho managers waived ceremony and bade
all enter until there 10 longer an inch OF ex.
hibitng space. The great show has now set.
tied iteolf down and is in perfect order, attract
| ing thousands of persons, day and night.
| The public is agreed that, despite some draw
backs, the exhibition ia the most complete and
| satisfactory ever seen hero. In machinery it is
especially large, and every product of th3 skill
| of Pennsylvania mechanics may be seen, from
the steam engine TO platinum points for gold pens.
lf there was nothing else In the exhibition tho
| display i'll the Machinery Department would rem
der the affair success. But it equally rich in
manufactured products in silk, woollen and
cotton goods i'll iron, bronze, steel, and other
metal work in manufacturers of leather and
| wood in carriages, harness, gas-fiXttires-a
IN brief, in all the many matters which supply 80
oiety with its comforts luxufies or necessities
The display of bronze work is particularly fine,
| and the extent and beauty Of the gas-fxtures
| exhibited surprises even those who knew that
Pmladelphia led tine country in this trade. Tho
drawbacks referred to relate to tho exhibition
building and its situation. Although very
spacious and well suited to tho wants of exhibi-
tors tho Market street depot is not 10 well
adapted to the comfort of visitors. There are
no galleries from which may ba had a view of
tho busy floor, and in which TO promenade in the
intervals OF sight seeing. Ihe Chinese Muse
um galleries were among the great attractions
of the Franklin Institute In other times Nor are
| there here any numerous by-places where vsi-
tors can sit and rest, they may at fairs in the
Academy of Music. Furthermore, tile neigh
borhood of 18th Market is rather undesira-
BILE ono for ladies' and children to visit. At night
it is quiet, but by day when ladies 60
alone it is a driving, business locality in which
sght-seers seem out of place. This mention il
made in entire fairness and only to give as COM
plete general picture of the exhibition as pos
sible. Putting one thing with anothersit is
doubtful if any other building would have
served the purpose better, il as well That the
project has been genuine success may be in
ferred from the fact that whereas tho plan orig
inally was designed for the accommodation OF
between 500 and 700 exhibitors, yet by Tuesday
noon 1900 parties bad applied for space. Many
had to be rejected, and all the week since appli-
cations have been received which could not be
entertained. Come and see us, and Judge.
The ''raislng" of railway ttOck, to enable the
fraudulent Central Insurance Co." to Offer its
necessary $500 600 of capital has been complete
ly exposed. A counterfeiter aud forger named
Ripley has been arrested in New York who was
fI.n. nl Is 4I.r.
Asiing in buying shares of Reading anl other
stocks and altering them 80 as to make them ap-
pear to represent greatly increased values. Rip
ley had his headquarters in New York and ship
ped his work to Philadelphia fast as finished
Inc fraud is now seen i'll all its simple ugness
and the business public wonders how it could
have been 30 thoroughly deceived.
The 1teform Association has published another
appeal to Independent Tax-Payers, DWELLING Oh
recent enormitles in municipal government, and
demanding to know if this ia al looseness in
public opinion is to continue until there will be
no security left in civil affairs So true IL the
greater part of the Indictment that there is not
even an attempt made to answer it.. But the
time for the Tammany Smash does not seem vet
to have come. The bogus bail case, even, ex-
posed this week. does not move lis much. Here
were lawyers in good standing-among them Mr..
AIR. Lucas Hrrstand, Jared Ingersoll, members of
well known legal families, convicted of hiring q
coored man TO go bail for one OF their clients.
The man had no property, and the whole thing
was deceit. That is another specimen of the
morals of the "Row" and yet the people are
calm, and will vote 1.-THE whole ticket" as usual
A sort of letter-writing rage overcame the ac-
tors at tho Arch street Theatre this week. Mr..
Theodore Hamilton who assumed the leading
part i'll the play of "Clancarty,' having some
hard but true things said of his performance by
the bulletin. made the singular claim upon hiA
critic that he should not be judged as profess
sonal but as an amateur actor. 1t is curious to
see such claim advanced when it is considered
that this appearance was made on Il re-
gular stage, and that people were asked to
pay Tor seeing 1t in quite the regular
way. III this lis to be an amateur where are we
TO go for professional 'talent'g But, In fact,
Hamilton has been professional actor for years
He is very well known in the Baltimore and
other Southern theatres, and not a great while
since he was member of Mr. Booths company
i'll New York. His claim is one of the queerest
ever made by even the sensitive class to which
he belongs Mr.. Morton, stage manager of the
Arch, had rather better success in a tilt with
the critic of the NORTH An,er7can The ques-
ton was upon the historical accuracy of the
dressing in 'Clancartyn and Morton being taken
to task therefor, rejoined that the dresses were
faithfully copied from a standard work of cos
TUNES, and were as nearly those of the period rs
could be furnished by following all the informa-
ton on the subject While it is true thatthere is
a great deal of absurd dressing on the Stage it
IL also the fact that managers often do not get
credit when deserved for care aud correctness.
we have Dd'ty Commercial in Philadelphia, |
now But lest you should be alarmed at this |
rivalry shall hasten to add that the paper is |
designed only to serve the purposes of the In- |
-tltnte Exhibition. A paper was published daily |
during the Sanitary Fair some years ago, but the |
object of the Commercial is more especially to |
attract attention to the manufactures now eyhi- |
bited. That there ie felt to be room for ii is an
evidence of the vastness of the exhibition and |
the interest excited by it. In the newspaper
world proper, 1t may be remarked there is no
appreciation OF this room, Notwithstanding the
fact that several risky ventures have
been latterly made What it is that Possesses
men to attempt the publishing business at this
of all Seasons it would puzzle the longest head
to determine, though it may he no puzzle to
long ears. The business likely to be done is
barely sufficient for those already in the field
and even well-establlshed journals feel the
pinch OF the times very sensibly. Fresh news
paper ventures AZ this time is so like folly
That to draw distinction is not easy. After a
very brief independent existence one of the new
,omers has become partially sensible of its mis-
lake. The Mdtl, it il announced, has been con-
solidated with the Chronicle. The latter paper
made mistake in removing from German
own. There it meant something, and
lad influence here it IL lost. The Express
penny evening paper, seems to be printed for
he one end of attacking District Attorney Mann.
&c is nothing but "Mann" from one column
o another, day after day. But while Mr.. Mann
deserves great deal the Express says about
nm, such platform Is poor support for
newspaper. Somebody will suffer-and it won't
70 Mann, to any apprecable extent.
line lb7th annual meeting of the Baptist AS
ocatlon, ,one of the Oldest of our religious or
aniza1ons, was held, this week, and WAS an