, 1889-08-08
AMERICA HANDICAPPED.
Commissioner Franklin Sharply
Scored by Aggrieved Exhibitors.
London Letter New York World

tLondon Letter New York worldl
When the several estate commission
ers" to the Paris exhibition get hom
and begin to tell what the American
show there really is, compared will
what it might have been if the commits
sioners-general had been at all wide
awake, there is going TO be some grum
come back here after their "otlicialn Wis
its have the same story to tell. The OK
hibits for America are simply ridicu.
lous, considering what might have been
done if enterprising Americans had beeg
given fair chance.
First and foremost, the French toob
every inch of room they wanted in tho
exhibition before any other nation was
given standing-room there, French ex-
hibitors are not crowded in one single
department. They have appropriated
three-fourths of the machinery hall, and
monopolized room in nearly every other
department.. Great Britain comes next,
but simply because her commissioners
were on the ground nearly one yeat
ahead of the American commissioners,
grabbing all the space they could Law
hands on. England has 258OO0 square
feet. Belgium has 10000 square feet.
The United States has only $4,000 square
feet.
The state commissioners say that they
could get no attention at all from the
American commissioners-genera. Many
of them had to pay when they went
into the exhibition. Harry DeYoung
of San Francisco, who Is one of the com.
missioners from California, told a cor
respondent that he paid one visit to the
Offices of the American commissioners,
and he never went near it again. What
| courtesies he got from the exhibition
people he obtained as member of tho
American press. From the outset tho
Frenchmen who have had anything 10
do with the exhibition have gone out ol
their way to do kindnesSes for Ameri
cans. The trouble is that the American
commissioners general have appropria.
ted to themselves what was intended IA
be an expression of good feeling to an
entire nation, and it has swelled thciI
heads.
Commissioners De Young said that tn,
failure of the United States to get any
thing like ample space in the exhibit
ton was mainly due TO lack of energy
on the part of General Franklin and M
associates. "They did not 20 near the
place." he said, "until month before
the exhibition opened. Tho American
flag does not float over single building
that we can call our own. Allowing
for the obvious seltishness Of the Erpnch
in parceling out room, the United Statci
exhibitors have not secured anything
like the attention they should have had
and would have had flour commissioners
had been sharp.
Take an exhibit in which New Yorl
was particularly interested in--tho Corr
Palace. Produce exchange mon in
New York and Chicago raised money toI
it. If the American Commissioners huC
shown the slightest interest in the mat
ter this Corn Palace would assuredlS
have been strong and thoroughly rep.
resentatiye feature OF the American see.
i 4 Ihaa Ia ~
sary to go the American commissioners
general and ask them for 81, 800 to pa
up the frame work. That was all THAI
was wanted. The produce exchange
men would have fitted out III,
building and paid the cost o.
running, it. General Franklin declined
to give them cent, and we had no corn
exhibit. But he found way TO furnish
about $4,000 for IL meat display, u
feature about which we have heard q
good deal in America Well, L went to
look for that meat display. / assure
you it consisted of one refrigerator car.
| don't know what has become of the
money the commissioners have spent,
but there is no doubt that they have
placed it to poor advantage,
'The railroad exhibit is about as
striking an instance of tho poverty of
the American section as can think of.
We have more miles of railroad and |
/ DtllcNc Dcttcr IdluOttus tdll JulHRS con-
sideredD than any other nation on the
globe; but our exhibits is the refriger-
ator car | have already referred to and
one small locomotive, so that man can
stand on the floor and look over the tor
of it. The wheels are certainly not
more than three feet in diameter. Eng.
land and France have II magnificent
display-tne passenger and freight cars
massive locomotives, with wheels nine
feet in diameter, capable of covering
seventy-two miles an hour and carving
water and fuel for u run of Loo lnilei
without stopping.
There is another department which
requires looking into. Before leaving
America our commissioners laid great
stress on the display of cereals. They
say that they spent q large share of the
$3.50, 600 given them by our government
on this department. Yet the show we
have there would disgrace Vermont
county fair.
1--WE hear good deal from soms
friends of the commissioners, who don't
seem to be very close observers, that
: America is coming in for good share
of the premiums. But you win find
this to be mistake. The French are
not going to let any more premiums get
out OF the country than they can help.
The Americans have about forty mem.
bers on the several juries, andno more
Many homeward-bo tourists tel
the the same story. The exhibition as
: whole is wonderful, but the share theii
country has in it makes them fee
ashamed.