The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-02-26
Gte 9aiIg Ars,'s
The Worlds Fair.

4
The Chicago Times does not favor ID,
| worlds fair" project and advances som,
cogent reasons why the project shoa no
be national affair. The TINES says;
| Surprise is expressed by General Gran,
at the moderate amount of interest eaker
by the public in the worlds fair" project
| The generals establishment has no visible
sufficient cause: In the superabundance
LOT his vanity he perhaps supposed that
the mere announcement of bis name al
I''president" OF the incheate schsms lwould
gawaken popular enthusiasm, and set ever
the children crying for the fair. Il hal
happened. on the contrary, that the name
supposed to be capable OF sumnonins
even spirits from the Vastly deep has
failed to call dollars in respectable.num-
bers from the pockets of torpid and un-
fintersrested public The reason Of this
apathy is simply that the people have not
been able to discover any sufficient reason
for having a words fair. and consequently
can not see the expsdiency or necessity OF
pouring their each into the treasury OF
the projectors. The suggestion that some
action should be taken to arouse the ar
| dor of the citizens" is not partieula rly
| brilliant or practical. To render such ac-
| ton successful, there must be at least a
| latent popular conviction that some gen
eral good may result from the prosecution
of the enterprise No such belief exists.
The Philadelphia exposition is still fresh
in mems memories 1t traded on the cap
| ital of that established institution, the
| Fourth of July. There was eomprehen-
sible fitness in rolling a hundred Feurths
into one on the completion of the cent
ury, and making a grand demonstration
on the republics hundredth birthday
| But, except the Philadelphia merchants
and boarding house keepers and the rail
road managers. ii is not known that any
| body in particular remembers reeeiving
| highly remunerative returns for bis per.
sonal investment in that affair. AT its
conclusion there was a general feeling
that the business of the country had been
materially deranged by sort of pro-
tracted spree, in the course OF which much
money had disappeared from the pockets
in which it should have rested and the
channels In which it originally circulated.
and that the net results were not nateri-
ally more pleasant to contemplate than
those of other temporary cash consuming
freLZles
These things have not been forgotten,
and it wcuId be difficult to arouse the
ardor" of any considerable number of
people now to a point that would carry
them head!ong into another experience OF
the kind. The close of the Revol dictionary
war was an event Of great historical i'm
portaRee. but there have been no annual
celebrations to keep alive public interest
la it. Outside of New York city, where ii
lis proposed 20 hold this supplementary
centennial celebration, there are not
many persons who can convince them
selves that they would reap material bene-
fits from it. If the New Workers choose
to make the necessary Investment, it is
probable they will succeed Ia drawing
great many people to their show. There
are always multitudes of people going to
New YORK on business or pleasure. The
excursion rates that might be offered by
the railroads during the exposition would
be of some advantage to them. aud the
temptation of cheap travel could hardly
fail TO influence many others. But, count
ing al influences that might be in opera
ton at their highest value
there is nothing il the history OF
past expositio7s to warrant the belief
that the New York project can by any
means be nad, financial success. The
na,ionai SEMI uent aroased by the cegteu
NAL Of Independence can not be made
svaiiah.e as a substitute f,r pecunarl
prospects in the rrese1t ca~"; and it i
IN possIbte to resist tha c3uetcts0d the *
position OF 1883 is pr+destioea "a failure