The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-19

The managers OF the ExhlDltlon seem 70
be unfortunate in the opening 80 far as the
weather is concerned. A series of showers
in the middle Of May, and thunder storm
thrown in, are enough to dampen even
centennial show afame with Philadelphia
enthusiasm. The anticipations of an ex-
traordinary rush which came with the
opening have not been realized. We pre-
sumo the clear-headed men among the man
ayers abandon the idea Of paying the owners
OF tho Centennial stock any part of their
subscription. In addition to the subscrip-
tions Of the city of Philadelphia the State
of Pennsylvania and the sales of stock to
private parties, we understand there is q
debt'of million and half still to be pro-
vided for ont of the receipts for admissions
This deficit and the running expenses will
absorb a good part of all the money
taken in. Then comes the loan Of
lien upon the Exhibition, and is to
be paid as o preferred debt We believe
there is some question about this, and
we have heard that the act was drawn up
meaning one thing and passed meaning
another. and that when the government
comes to recover its money it will have no
lien, but rank with the ordinary investors.
We have paid no attention to this, knowing
the managers Of the Centennial to be honor
able men who would not be o party to q
trick. More than oil, the government is
secured by bond Of half a million of dol
lars, signed by hundred of Philadelphia's
millionaires, who would, we are convinced,
much rather pay the government the million
and a half out Of their pockets than allow it
to be deprived of the money by any legisla-
tive legerdemain.
Still we are not without hope that there
will be enough from the admissions to pay
not only the running expenses but the de-
felt and the special government loan. We
have supported the Exhibition as national
measure. and not as q speculation, feeling
that it was a wise thing to do even if not
dollar were returned. If the Exhibition
yieldeda financial profit SO much the better.
But oil the conditions are against financial
success. In London, in 1851, there was q
surplus, and from this grew up the Kensington
Museum, one of the attractions of that noble
city. But the London Exhibition was small
compared with Philadelphia COM
pared with any that came after it. The great
nations, France Austria and now America,
in initiating England, ran into bigness, be-
lieving that the larger the display the more
successful it would be. The history of exhibit
tions will, we are convinced, show this to be
Ia r. -, -
be SO in Philadelphia. The best part Of the
main palace in Vienna, the part given to the
Austrians, was little more than q walk along
the Graben or the Ringstrasse. And, as one
of our Philadelphia correspondents puts it,
the best part of the American section Of the
present show is little more than q continue
ton of Broadway or Chestnut street. A
walk through the American department is
like reading the advertising columns of
newspaper When exhibitions run into big
ness, like this in Philadelphia, they lose
their value. We can see toys and sewing
machines and trumpets and meerschaum
pipes by walking up Broadway and down
the Bowery. We can see wax or plaster fig
ures, dressed in foreign costumes, at any one
of dozen shows, and Gilmore and Thomas
are our own, without going to Philadelphia
to hear their fiddles. 1t would be much
better, looking at our fair as nm educa-
cation, if it were one-half its size. Instead
of striving to cover more acres than Paris or
Vienna we should have made our fair COM
pact and representative. Instead of select
ing jurymen who will go from exhibit to
exhibit arranging the medals and prizes,
how much better to have made the selections
in the first place. The proper worlds fair
will be that which has on exhibition the best
results Of industry and TASTE The compe-
Take the are galleries. We do not know how
many thousand pictures are within their
walls. The correspondents say it is days
journey from one end to the other. Yet .
competent committee, not composed of
artists with their own interests to serve, but
Of clear-headed men who know art, could
select all the pictures worth seeing OF having
any instruction in their colors and not have
more than fifty.
So there might be judicious process Of
elimination in all the departments. People
already complain that there is too much to
see. 1t is not in the power of human en-
durance to 60 through this Centennial in q
week. And yet everything worth seeing could
be seen in q day if we knew where to find
the gems A visit to the Centennial reminds us
of searching mountain of chaff to find q
peck of grain. The grain is there, but what
labor to reach it. The grain is in the Gen.
tennial, but where is it? The stranger as
he enters the gates and sees about him the
new city, which has grown up like an Alad-
din's palace, even as by an enchanter's
wand, looks to the right and the left and
asks. Where is it9 l CAM. to study the
results Of a century of civilization in one
comnact nauurama: to see Whit my country