Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-01-23
WHAT UNCLE SAN PROPOSES
Plans Now Completed for the Govern
ment Building TO be Used for
the Worlds Fair.
How the Editiee Will Appear and How
the Several Departments Will
be Divided.
One Million Dollars Will be Used TO
illustrate the Working of Yari-
Gus Bureaus.

y Hdt i lne Rlteu states government
going to do for the world fair!
This question has Just been decided and
the plans regarding 1t are herein publish
ed for the first time.
The supervising architect of the treas
ury has finished the plans and specihca-
tons for the government exhibition build
ing. and they have been formally accepted.
so that everything Is III readiness for
driving the piles on the lake front and be-
ginning the structure \ combination
of beauty and utility has been most hap
PLY attained in the edifice as designed,
which will be nearly square, covering
l50 600 square feet Of floor space. and
having most ornamental facade. with Il
mann entrance resembling somewhat the
Arc de Triomphe at Paris. In the middle
Will rise handsome, pagoda-like tower,
beneath which will be a big rotunda.
Around this rotunda the great hall will be
divided up for the uses of the various de-
partments. The building will cost 500. goo.
and 81 900. coo will be spent upon the ex-
hIbItIOn in 1t and It's annexes. In the
latter, which will afford more than 80 900
additional feet of floor space. will be ac-
commodated the navy. the life saving ser
vice. the military hospital service. etc.
That the government show in Chicago
Will far SurplsS the one it gave a. the cen
tennlaI IN Philadelphia Is readily per
caIyed When the fact is considered that at
the exposition of 1876 only $50 900 was
spent upon the building and 100000 up
on the display 1t contained.
The scheme on which this government
exhibition Is being organized is that it
shall be one harmonious whole, independ-
out If ~ f., -
fish commissioner show will not be To-
ated IN the general fisheries division of the
exposition. but IN a section of the United
States building. In sh TT. Uncle Sam ;
contribution will be complete in Itself and
without relation to the rest of the celebra-
IIon. The managing board has provision
ally allotted 81 100000 to be spent among
the departments. giving to each sum in
proportion by no cans to its relative i'm
pOrtance as department by the govern
ment. The departments of state and the
treasury were given comparatively little.
for the simple reason that diplomacy and
finance sdO not materialize very we'll
for show purposes. On the other hand.
the department of agriculture needed a
big slice because it has very much to dis
PLY that is well worth exhibiting.
Of all the departments that propose to
exhibit at the Columbian fair the war and
navy have the easiest task of preparation.
inasmuch as their materials ere all pretty
much IN readiness for exposition purposes.
The most important contribution of the
navy will be the duplicate, already spoken
Of IN the newspapers of battie-ship.
which will be a fac-simile of one of the
latest war yes 2elS built by Uncle Sam.
Nevertheless, for the sake of convenience
and cheapness. it will be built of brick.
instead of wood and iron, and covered on
the outside with painted cement. so that
the affect will be quite realistic, even
though the craft sails on dry land. In
this snip will be housed the entire naval
exhibit. and the IeOple from the western
states who nave never seen the ocean will
get Il notion as TO what a war vessel looks
like, and will learn how the officers and
men live. For there will be an actual
crew on board, of sailors and marines
properly otficered. and all the latest naval
appliances will be on view Cor the edifca-
ton particularly Of the inland folk.
As for the war department., a board of
FIVE officers under Maj. Comfy has been
appointed by the secretary and is busily
engaged now In putting things into shape
The exhibit of this section Of the govern
ment will be quite elaborate. 1t will en-
brace, among other things, a display of
improved small arms and big fertilization
appliances, an eXemplhcation of the man
ner IN which cartridges are made, models
of TyplCa! engineering work. and illustra-
lions of the telegraph hospital and am
bulanCe, and tlag-signal services. The sig
nal service proper would be included like
Eise, but for the fact that it will be trans
ferred in July next to the department of
agriculture.
This Litter department is rather more
embarrassed than any other to1knOw pre-
ciseiy what it will do for the fair 1t has
so many divisions. each of which is eSpeci-
ally interesting, that it is question which
of them deserves best to be exhibited.
Neither the means available nor the space
provided are sufficient to show all. The
work of the department in the way of i'm
porting and distributing seeds vii! be
illustrated by the exhibition of various
kinds of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and
grasses raised in different parts of the
country. lncidently to this attention will
be given to showing the notifications of
crops by soil and climate, which will be
most interesting to the farmers. The
chemistry division will show the processes
of Analysing foods ana the component ele-
ments of which are found to be composed.
BY the bureau of entomology, specimens of
Bugs, injurious and otherwise, will be
displayed, while the division of vegetables
pathology will show how fung0us and
other parasites affect plants. The divi-
sion of mammalogy and OrnithoIogy will
exhibit how the animal and vegetable
areas Of the United States are divided up.
the two having immediate relations to each
other. and each experiment station will
offer to view whatever Is most distinctively
of ifs branch of work.
Now for the department of the interior:
The geological survey, to begin with, will
make superb display of the mineral re-
sources of the country. By the patent
Office a board has been appointed to pre-
pare collection of models and instru-
ments showing what the patent system
has dOre for invention and mechanical
civilization at large. For example, the
germ of machine will be shown As it was
first originated, and this will be followed
up 10y a display of progressive improve
ments upon the beginning, showing the
steps 10 each complete and perfect crea-
ton. The Indian bureau will show by
illustration the progress of the aboriginal
races on this continent, and the industries
which the copper-colored peoples have
learned to pursue To the bureau of eth
nology the savage in his primitive con-
dition will be left, including the theories
as 10 his origin and the lines of demarka-
ton which separated the various great
tribes at the time when the white man
first came to America. The bureau of
education will show the most improved
appliances for teaching the young idea
how to shoot. But the great exhibition
in this department will be that of the dsh
commission. 1t Is always a great success.
and this time it means to be particularly
so. The latest fishery appliances. which
dre far ahead of any known abroad, will
be displayed; likewise aquaria with living
sea and fresh water creatures, big and
little OF all the displays at the fair this
Is likely to be the mosf Popllariy attract
i've.
n the exhibit Of the treasury depart
ment the bureau of engraving will take
the most Interesting part. 1t will show
how paper money and revenue stamps are
printed, as well as the manner in which
the engraved plates for these are made up.
The life-SavinE service will make itself en-
tertalning by daily reScuIng from the
raging lake. when the weather Is pleasant.
persons hired for the purpose. who will
cling at 50 much an hour to half-sub-
merged vessel and wait to be taken of in
a lIfeboat or breeches buoy. Likewise the
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