Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1885-03-27
Our Exposition Letter.
New ORLEANS, MARcH, "a 1885.

a tour of the main building of the
exposition, and will so far as posi-.
bic give the reader a word picture
of what was seen. The roof covers
33 acres of space. and almost every
foot Of it is occupied with exhibits,
excepting the aisles which traverse
the floor in every direction. The
Iprivate exhibits occupy neat and in
many cases highly ornamented apart
ments of various dimensions and
contain every conceivable variety of
goods, wares and merchandise, from
a lady's thimble to a ton of beer.
All the fabrics of mill and factory,
of art and genius are represented
here, and when it is remembered
that 5000 applications for spaces
were made for this building alone,
and that all are occupied, or nearly
all some idea of the grandeur and
the variety of the scene, may be
found.
To many visitors the machinery
presents the greatest facination. 1t
occupies the entire west side of the
building, space 400 feet wide, and
including the annex, about 1,700
feet long, all of which is literally
crowded with samples of the best
brands in the world. As might be
expected, cotton and sugar cultlva-
tors, mills and refineries claim a
large share of space, while general
agricultural implements, reapers,
mowers, threshers, plows, etc., have
myriads of representatives, and
wood and metal workers are numer-
Gus. As showing what extremes
meet, watch company exhibits the
smallest engine ever constructed,
having cylinder 1-32 of an inch in
diameter, its builder carrying it
about in globe only three-fourths
of an inch high. He sometimes
brings it down by the side of the
great Corliss engines, where there Is
a balance wheel alone weighing Co.,
900 pounds. The horse power rep
resented by the steam engines on ex-
hibition, is said to amount to con-
slderably over SIX thousand, nearly
all of which is in userunning various
exhibits.
There are cunning machines
weaving the finest and most beauti-
ful silk handkercheifs and ornamen-.
tai fabrics cotton thread machinery
which takes the raw material, put
ting it through nineteen different
processes, finally making the little
spools and winding the finished
thread upon them, and just across
the way is monstrous shingIe ma
chine, whose full capacity is eqnal to
three hundred thousand shingles per
day. Among the many devices of
special interest to your potatoe grow
ing readers, is a potatoe planter,
which cuts drops and covers the
seed at once, setting in eight acres
per day. But it IS useless to at
tempt any further mention of this
most interesting department.
The foreign section, in this build
ing also, while replete with much
that is very interesting, will doubt
less disappoint many visitors, owing
to the absence of such official exhib-
its from the great governments
of Europe, as were shown at the
Philadelphia exposition, there being
none from Great Britain, France,
Germany, Italy or Russia. In fact
there are no official exhibits from
any government of Europe or South
America. To very great extent
however their absence ir lost sight of
or forgotten in viewing the magnifi-
cent display of the Mexican govern
ment, which fills everyone with as
tonishment and admiration. Meet
ing Col. Donan the noted journalist
from Dakota, his opinion on this ex-
AAOi1 w % oohCO3 duO yOuI COIIcS-
pondent can give no better idea of
the impression it makes than by
quoting his reply. 'sThe Mexican
display" !" SAID he, sis to me the most
remarkable feature of the whole ex-
position-it is an absolute revelation
in everything, vegetables, fruits,
minerals, tlmbers and manufactures,
1t IS one of the most notable displays
Of a young and comparatively un-
known nations resources, that this
generation has ever witnessed.
Speaking to the courteous commls-
sIoner of that republic. was sur
prised to learn that his government
had appropriated four hundred
thousand dollars to defray the ex-
pense of this exhibit, which is said
to cover ten thousand square feet
of space, and includes every variety
of fabrics, fine arts and products of
the most astonishing excellence. In
addition they have erected a beauti-
full iron structure in which is sbownl
3 vast collection of the minerals and
precious metals of that country.
Well done, Mexico, IS the universal
verdict. Jamaica, British Hondu-
rous. the republic of Honduras,
Guatamala, China and Japan also
make creditable exhibits under the