The record-union., 1891-05-10
Weather Forecast,
COLLECTIVE OR DIsrRIBUTIvE.

COLLECTIVE OR DISTRIBUTIvE.
We feel impelled to thank our con-
temporary, the Oakland Tribune, for
its very manly consideration of the
real merits of collective or dis
tributive exhibition of California pro-
ducts at the Worlds Fair. Our con-
temporary acquits the RECORD UNION
OF any jealousy of Mr. De Young, or any
bias in consequence of his personal rela-
ton with the subject. In this, it does
this paper simple justice. Since Mr.. De
Young's personality has been brought
into this discussion, we wish to say now
that from the very outset of his appoint
ment, 1t was the unalterable purpose of
this paper TO give our unqualified aud un-
changeable support in all the efforts
made by him to promote the interests of
this commonwealth. In this generous
purpose we have not faltered. We are
aware that personal considerations play q
very prominent part in affairs of this
/.
De Young should have at the hands of
this paper that judicial fairness which be-
longs to every man, and that support
which is the just right of every public
officer endeavoring to do his duty. Now
having disposed of Mr. De Young in the
premises, we propose to address our at
tention with perfect candor to the real
merits of this controversy, and that our
readers may not be confused as to the
matters in issue, let it be understood that
distributive exhibition means an exhi-
bition of all the products of California in
all the departments into which the great
exhibition is divided.
There are twelve general subdivisions,
each capable of some classifcations. The
twelve great departments thus being
divided into various sub-departments, it
is proposed to send the California exhibit
into that vast exhibition in competition
with the entire world. Competition is
not the Objectionable feature in this case.
It'is the yastness of the exhibition, which,
while it may enchain the attention, fails
to impress on the spectator the particular
country from which any specific exhibi-
ton is derived. Let those who feel an
earnest interest in this subject ask any
visitor to the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia, or to the recent Worlds
Exposition held at Paris, what impression
they received of any special country, and
it will be found that while the memory
retains the extent and the grandeur of
the exhibition, the beholder is no more
conscious of the particular country which
sent in the exhibits than the customer in a
large dry goods store is conscious of the
mill in which the fabrics exposed for sale
were woven. The stress that has been
placed upon immediate comparison" is
scarcely creditable to those who have
suggested it, Comparison in the depart
ments even is not Immediate, that is to
say, Bartlett pears from one place are not
placed by other Bartlett pears from
another place on the the same table and
in immediate contrast. Each exhibit is
placed in great department by itself.
Let US imagine building ten times as
large as the State Agricultural Pavilion
with seventy-five to one hundred separate
exhibits in any particular department.
Let US suppose this to be a horticultural
exhibition, and when the spectator has
passed through all and leaves the build
Ing, he has a confused recollection of its
extent and the beauty of the specimens
exposed to view, but he carries away
with him no distinct impression of any
specific country. The question would be
constantly asked, "You remember those
beautiful pears or oranges, what exhibit
were they in?" The experience of hun
dreds ofpeople here will vouchsafe the
statement that with a few exceptions.
and those exceptions relating specifically
to the fine arts, no spectator visiting any
OF the Worlds Expositions that have
been held in the past twenty-five years,
remembers specifically where the silks,
the cotton fabrics, the wooden fabrics, the
iron manufactures, or any other specific
things were produced.
1t Is against the obscurity of placing the
California exhibit in so large collection
that the RECORD UNION has and will con-
tnue to protest. At the same time we
are willing to admit that the value of a
separate exhibition does not apply with
equal force to other States than California.
This State can make an exhibit which
will at once attract the attention of the
world. 1t can place on exhibition one Of
the great trees cut in sections and lying
down in such a way as to give the spec