Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-07
CORRESPONDENCE.

The Exhibition of Railway Appliances at ChfcagO-WhY 1t was not a Success -Connecttcut's Representation.
 CHICAGO, June 30. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The great exposition of railway appliances at Chicago, which closed this (Saturday) even ing at 10 o'clock, has been the grandest ex- hibition of it's kind ever convened, and in the main great success. But it has been of so much greater magnitude than was antici- pated that the projectors and managers were wholly unprepared for it, and the force em- ployed to carry out the details of it's com- pIete organization and development was en- tirely inadequate for the work which forced itself upon them. Consequently nearly two weeks elapsed from the time of opening be- fore it was fairly in running order, and this crowded the other work to be done into so short time that it has been impossible that it should be satisfactorily accomplished. Committees appointed as judges to examine and award premiums have found their classes so large and the articles so numerous that they have declined to serve on account of the time and labor required of them. Then it became necessary that new committees be appointed, and again it was found that the new jury had conflicting interests in some of the articles which were to come before them, and remonstrances were sent in by exhibitors who thought that their interests were thus endangered, and so the jury must again be changed. In this way nearly all the time all lotted for the exposition had been consumed and yet nothing had been done in the way of examination and award. Tbe exhibitors be- came dissatisfied and clamorous. So com mittees were hastily filled and set hurriedly at work with only time left to devote min ute to each article, and the awards probably will not in one case out of ten fall where merit demanded. And the commissioners, G-. . I.~svH NE n,nAr rot,1 their ears, have wisely concluded not to an- nounce the awards till some time after the breaking up of the show. But setting all this aside the grand success of the enter prise must remain undisputed.
 AS this was an exhibition of railway ap- pliances only, it was truly wonderful to see what vast amount of machinery is neces- sary for the building and equipment of our great railway system. The increase in tray el, the demand for speed, comfort and safety have called forth the energy and inventive talent of the nation till now the number of appliances exhibited and used in each de- partment are counted by thousands, and still the march of improvement goes steadily on
 The New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad company had one of their day coaches on exhibition, it being one of the lot of seventy-five lately completed and placed upon the road. Every Connecticut man took just pride in referring to this car, as it was certainly the handsomest, best ven- tiIated and comfortable day coach on exhibi tion. Yet it is doubtful if they get the award, for other manufacturers are making great effort to carry of the medal.
 The Blake Crushing company had an ex- hibit. They also exhibited 8 pig iron breaker, the only one manufactured.
 The New Era coupling was shown and freely admitted to be the only fully automat- ic freight coupling on exhibition.
 Almost every town in Connecticut was well represented, and the little State of Connecti- cut made no mean showing in its contribu- tion to the enterprise.
 The display of electric machinery has had a goodly show of attention and interest. The building has been brilliantly lighted by electric lights of many different inventions, electric bells, signals, &c., &c., helping to make up the show, while the electric rail way about one-half @ mile in length, around the gallery, has carried thousands of passen- gers, running to it's fullest capacity, carrying twenty persons each trip and making the trip fin about two and ne-half minutes. But the feature of greatest curiosity were the old English locomotives dating back to 1925, and the contrast with the long TOW of modern engines was very striking, as showing the progress made in fifty years. A large collec. tion of southern plants and ferns was brought to ornament the grounds and building, but they evidently were not pleased with onr late spring and seem to be sorry they came, like some of the exhibitors. w. l.. E.