New-York tribune., 1876-09-27
EXHIBITION AWARDS.
wopr or rrIE IrnGEs coMPLETED.


UNIFORM BRONZE MEDALS,
IFRoN A sTAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUSE.l
PnIIApElPHIA Sept 26-The work of the judges
snpointed by the Centennial Commission has been
substantially completed and their awards VIII 90
announced with appropriate ceremonies tomorrow
evening The lists are arranged in twenty-elght
groups, aad the awards in each group appear
in the order in which they were made, without ref
erence to the nationality of the successful competl-
tors OF the nature Of the reports which the awards
are based. list Of the awards made to the exhibit
ors from each country will be separately transcribed
from the general list, and, with the accompanying
medals will be handed to the commissions represent
ing the several countries tomorrow evening.
The systern by which the awards have been made
Is new one The old or international jury system,
from which satisfactory results were never obtained
broke down at Paris in 1867 and actually fell into
contempt AT Vicuna in 1873. Commissioner NJ M
Beckwth of New-York, who was one Of the repre-
sentatives Of the tinted States ut the former OF
these exhibitions. became disguised with the jury
system, as did every one else who desired to see
awards based ON merit only, and proposed the new
one which was adopted in the present instance us
success has exceeded the expectations even OF ITS
friends.
The failure of the old system was due to two
fundamental defects. The first was Inherent IN the
Jury, the body which made the decision, anu
the second in the method of giving expression 10
that decision The jury which made the awards in
any given group was far as possible, maze UP OF
representatives of the countries which contributed
articles to that group and the jurors served without
nay or allowance for expenses. Experience proved
that the cld for the selection OF jurors under TINS
system was very limited. Many whose services On
a Jury would be of the greatest value, and VINO
would be glad to give their tme could not afford IN
addition TO pay their own expenses 50 that IN many
instances the jurors representing gwen country
were not recognized authorities in their several de-
partments but the best men who could be fouhd
among those who happened to be in attendance on
thsexbibition. Theabsencc of any remuneration also
prevented the Exhibition authorities from having
a,v real claim upon the time labor OF urors they
eould make no contract with the and the faithful
ness with which they attended to their duties ue-
pended principally upon their convenience or nell
nation The natural tendency of each Jury, there-
fore was to degenerate into rump; three or four
or half dozen members whose interest IN the sue
cess of certain exhibits great or who had strong
national preiudices and were anxious to secure rs
many medals for their countries as possible,
often did ali the work and used the names Of the
entire iury TO give authority to their decisions.
Rat even when the right were obtained and
their attendance was secured, the jurors generally
felt no judicial responsibility. Each man repre-
sented his own country, and considered 1t his duty
Ia secure AZ many medals for the exhibitors OF his
own country as possible This gave rise to rivares,
misunderstanding, and quarrels among the jurors
or else to intrigue and "log-rolliEg." In almost
every instance where the competition between eN-
hibitors was at al sharp, there was general scran-
ble in the Jury for the awards, and very rarely
calm. judicial consideration Of relative merits
Under the new system the gentlemen who make
the awards are judges not jurors, and their duties
are wholly judicial, not representative. one-han
are Americans, selected by the United States Cen
teunial Commission and the other half are foreign
gentlemen appointed to the different countries ac-
corJlng to their relative Importance and the interest
they have manifested ia the Exhibition. The latter
were designated by the commissioners to represent
the foreign countries. The whole number oil Judges
Is about i25 or Only one-fourh great as tic num-
ber of Jurors ut the Vienna Exhibition. Each
American Judge is paid 5000 and each foreign
indoa 81 900 70 cover his necessary expenses.
The new system has proved to be a success. trSt,
bv enabling the commission to secure the services
of much ADLER class of men to act as judges than
have over been induced to serve OF international
luries at former exhibitions They are not men who
happened to be here and were appointed because
they alone were available, but they were carefully
selected by the commission for their special Qualh-
cations, aud many Of them are men whose reDuta-
ton is not simply national, but worldwide. The
presence of some distinguished men who could not
have afforded to serve without pay has given the
Board of Judges such high character that others
eonaly quaiied and to whom the small salary was
of no consequence, have considered their appoint
ment an honor though they would have declined TO
serve on any international jury. In other words
the presence of few distinguished men has at
tracted others. The attendance of the judges has
also beeu good receiving small salary, they have
felt that they were bound TO devote themselves TO
the duties which they assumed and the work has
practically been done with full benches.
AS each man was put upon bis honor to act as
iuge and not as partisan or representative OF ms
own country, all intrigue and "log-rclling" have
been abolished and tc action of the judges has IN
almost every case been harmonious. The number
of groups into which the Exhibition is divided ls 2S
and no foreign nation has apportioned to it more
than 20 Judges. While majority of them have
less than 10 each it follows that on every group
several countries must fail to be represented, and no
particular country, except the United States and
Great Britain can have judge on each OF ma
ority Of them This fact and those already men
TONED in almost every ease have caused the judges
10 rise 10 the full demands Of the occasion, and the
iniernatlonalisa that has beer displayed, especially
by the Judge, from Teutonic nations. has surprised
even those who were the most enthusiastic adVo-
Gates OF the new system. These gentlemen have
acted not as Americans Englishmen or French
men hut as Judges bound to DO equal justice with
ous reference to nationaties
Numerous examples illustrating this international
character of The judges might be given, but one or
two will be sale.ent, 1t was the purpose OF the
commission to h, the number of the judges 10 each
group about evenly balanced between Americans
and foreigners, bat when the board to examine the