Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-02
FALSE MOTIVES At CHICAGO.


governing bodies of the Chicago Worlds
Fair have taken their action with regard to
the site of the exhibition is set forth in .
special from that city published elsewhere.
If the statement given there cannot be
promptly and fully refuted. the suspicion,
already existing, will be fully confirmed
that the choice of site has been governed
not by the motive of securing a successful
Exposition, but by the hope Of an immense
real estate operation for local If not private
and selfish. benefits.
It is remarkable illustration OF the false
ideas which seem to sway all who have any
connection with the Chicago enterprise. that
those who present provisional opposition
to the plan Of turning the Fair into an en-
gineering operation to create $50 acres Of
new land for the benefit of Chicago, do so
from the most stupid and unworthy motives
on record. 1t is plainly asserted on their
behalf that they will wreck the Fair rather
than permit the new land to come into COM
petition with the high-priced ground al
ready occupied by the business of Chicago.
Both sides in Chicago are pretty well
embarked on the process of wrecking the
Fair; and that phase of the position can be
passed over for the present. But ii the
proposition to double the available business
territory of Chicago, stood entirely on its
own merits the man who would oppose such
plan, for the sake of maintaining high
prices in the existing territory, would con-
vict himself of an equal mixture Of ignor-
ance and greed. Such a position would be
equivalent to declaring that the present
prices of business property in Chicago are
exorbitant by reason of the scarcity OF land,
and that the scarcity must not be relieved
in order that the exorbitant prices shall
still rule. 1t is just as if the plans for
rapid transit in either Pittsburg or Chicago
by which the available territory for resi-
dences has been quadrupIed. should be
antagonized for fear that the excessive
prices for building lots in the old section
should be disturbed.
Standing on its own basis, freed from the
possibilities of corporate grab or munich
pal corruption, the addition to the business
territory of Chicago proposed by the Lake
Front operation might be splendid and
legitimate work. But the utter Improperly
of the matter in the present shape appears
from the fact which should be laid down as
an axiom at the start, that the Worlds Fair
should have nothing to do with any such
operations. Only one question should be
considered in determining the site, namely
the spot where the most ample sccommoda-
tions can be had for the Fair within single
inclosure, and where the work of putting
up the buildings and arranging attractive
features can be commenced at once. The
moment the Fair is Yoked with $500, 900, 600
real estate peration-although that total is
doubtless infated-that moment the success
of the Fair becomes secondary matter, and
the real estate boom is the controlling
feature.
The DISPATCH has earnestly and sim
cerely urged the view that the whole coun-
try is interested in the success of Chicago's
Fair and should be cooperative in securing
that success. But if the Chicago managers
insist on hitching the Fair TO the tail of an
immense real estate kite, they will practi-
cally serve notice on the rest of the country
that the success of the Exposition will not be
the leading motive in the management of
the operation. To outside interests it makes
little difference whether the land created at
the cost of the Fair is to be made a park or
business property. If the Chicago mana
gers wish the cooperation of the rest of the
country they should make haste to choose a
site where the Exposition will stand on its
own merits and be managed exclusively for
its success as an Exposition.