Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-01-14
THEY TALKED FOR THE FAIR.
New York and Chicago Get In Their Plea
Arguments I'm Brief.

THEY TALKED FOR THE FAIR.
Sew York and Chicago Get In Their Pleas
Arguments I'm Brief.
WASHINGTON CITY, Jan 1S.-The senate
committee on location, etc, of the Worlds
lair of 1892 finished the hearings Of claim
,nts for the site Saturday, New York and
in that order presenting their
claims. The principal speaker on the New
York side was Chauncey M. Depew, and hb
speech was in his happiest vein He claimed
The location for the metropolis because 1t Is
the metropolis. This, he said, was not CON
by any one. New York was the
gateway to the country; it was the business
barometer; it contained within itself and en-
yironment what was already an exposition.
He made sport of the diagrams showing the
population contained within a circle Of given
radius, and said he was born in Peekskill.
A radius of 500 miles from that city includ
sd New York, Boston, Philadelphia and sew
sral other centers of populations; yet Peeks-
kill was not claiming the fair, because Peeks-
kill knew 1t could not house the throngs wbioh
would attend an international exposition
New York could. Within a short distance
Of New York were located all the watering
places of any account in the country. The
scenery of the Hudson itself was no mean
feature. As to site, Morningside park was
big enough. Regarding popu lation, the
speaker said that if Jersey City should ex-
tend its limits as Chicago had recently done,
and If Brooklyn did likewise, with New York
there would be three Chicagos within easy
reach of the exposition He said Chicago
could not entertain the visitors to the expo
sition. When the Republican national con-
vention met there in June, 1888, everybody
was crowded; ne was crowded himself Mr..
Depew made some humorous reflections On
Chicago as a summer resort, declaring that
every body who could left there and went to
New York in July and August
Hon Bourke Cochran followed Mr. Depew
and several other gentlemen spoke.
Chicago's Side of the Case.
The turn of the western metropolis came
next and Mayor Cregier opened with
short speech in favor of locating the fair at
Chicago. Mr.. Thomas B. Bryan next ad-
dressed the committee eulogizing the climate
and other Chicago advantages, its water
supply, ETC., and devoting much time to
showing that the site mentioned by Mr..
Depew was utterly out of the question, be-
cause it could not be had and because if it
could it would take the whole o., ,OO0, 900
Mr.. Depew said New York had raised to
make il available, it was all hills, hollows
and rocks He emphasized the desire of the
farmers of the west to have the fair located
where they could reach it. All the speakers
were generous in discussing of the rival cities
Ex-Manager Jeffery's Remarks.
The most effective speech that was made
for Chicago-because dealing more fully
with practical facts-was that of Mr. Z. T.
Jeffery, who was sent by the Chicago COM
mittee to the Paris exposition to pick up in
formation Mr.. Jeffery, said, that it was use
less to waste time in endeavoring to show
that any other city would not be able to
handle the great exposition properly. He
wouldsendeavor to show that Chicago would
handle it properly. The principal questions
to be considered were the financial and ply
steal advantages. He presented to the COM
mittee a certificate that S.. 900 900 had been
subscribed to the Chicago guarantee fund I;
also statement of the estimated receipts
and expenditures as follows: Rsceipts-
Guarantee fund, IS 900, 900; sale of privileges
81 600 600; admissions 15, 900 900 at 80 cents,)
s., 800, COO; sale of material after exposition,
$500, 600; total receipts, sl4, ,OOO,O ,O0O
Expenses-Buildings etc, 81, 900, 600; exc
cutive, 5000 900; contingent fund, 1900,
OOO; total expenses, S14, 100000
Railway and Other Facilities.
1t would be impossible now, in view of the
absence of information on the question of
the amount of space required, to make salts
factory estimate of the acreage or the build
ings required. By means of a map Mr.. JEFF
fiery illustrated description of the trans
portation and harbor advantages and the
public park system of Chicago. He de-
sl,I -, N,I . L., Aslxz
position. Chicago, he said, had twenty ty-four
railroads with terminal facilities; st. Louis
seventeen, and New York fourteen Mr..
Jeffery presented u comparative table of
mortuary statistics showing that Chicago
and St Louis for 1856, 's7, and 'sS were
nearly tied, while New York was the un-
healthiest, and Washington City next Mr.
Jeffery also presented a comparative state
ment Of temperature for 1889 as follows
New York 66 degrees, Washington City 66
degrees, st. Louis 10 degrees, Chicago 62 de-
grees.
shipping and Foreign Attendance.
He gave figures showing the number OF
vessels arriving at and leaving Chicago dur
ing number of years to show the great
amount of traffic that passes through Chi
cago. As to the convenience OF people wish
ing to come and go from Chicago he said No
city in the world had the railroad facilities
that she had He also presented statistics
showing the number of people landed in New
York by the different steamship lines from
Europe during the past year and placed the
extreme number that could be landed In
twenty five weeks with increased facilities al
277 600. Should these people, he asked, be
inconvenienced by having to travel from
New York to Chicago, or should the million.
of people in the United States be forced to
travel from the west to the coasti In con
clusion he urged the committee on behalf OF
Chicago and the northwest to select Chicago
as the site for the fair
The committee then adjourned The repre-
sentatives of the four cities have been &C
corded the privilege of filing supplementary
statements or answers with the committee