Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-29


plus air in motion over and above this was
put down variously at from $40, ,000, 900 to
$50, ,0O0, 600 more, according to the credul-
ity of the listener and the soothing effect of
the Lake Michigan breath. A large por-
5ion of the local subscribers believe that the
subscription business was merely formal
Chicago deyice-a fake-for hornswaggling
Congress and were very much surprised
when they were asked to pay up. Indeed,
they were highly indignant, and some
hundreds of them stoutly refused to do so,
alleging that they were asked to subscribe
merely to get the great fair, and that the
subsequent proceedings interested them no
more.
As nearly as can be ascertained about
s., 600, 600 of the IS, 0OO,O 900 subscribed has
been collected. Probably at least 81, ,000, 600
will prove a financial myth. The city of
Chicago has pledged S., 600, 900 in bonds and
is in the market to get the money. How
much of that has been raised have no
means of knowing, / believe some S3,OOO,-
900. On the highest authority it can be
stated, however, that the expenditure OF
over $40, 600, 600 has been contracted for and
that fully SO, OOO, 900 more will be required
in cash before the Exposition Company re-
alizes dollar from the great show. The
construction expenses alone are now about
s., 200, 900 per month
An Expense Account of S25,0OO,0OO.
If there is any deviation from the "esti-
mates it is more likely to be in the direc-
tion of more rather than less money. Ifthe
detailed plans are carried to finish the
probability is that in round figures the sum
total of expenditures for the buildings and
grounds will at the time of opening the gates
approximate So, ZOO, 900. The knowledge
of this cuts off all hope of sufficient addi-
tional private investment as it is sure to re-
suit in loss.
The reason for this enormous expenditure
can be understood only by personal study
of the work in progress and the magnificent
scope of the plans The entire scheme is
intensely Chicagoan in dimensions and
grandeur Palaces rise on the waters edge
like promises to pay, swamps are turned
into fairy gardens and scooped out mudholes
are metamorphosed into grand canals.
Everything must be deeper and wider and
higher and greater and more elaborately
beautiful than anything that has gone before.
And so, apparently, everything will be- 1
happened to be in Paris at time when the
buildings were being erected for the late
Exposition, and can say that there is no
comparison between the Paris buildings and
these, either in point of size or beauty of
architecture and Ornamentation. In fact,
there is nothing and has been nothing as
whole wherewith to compare the Worlds
Fair buildings and grounds at Chi
csgo. L stood on the wide ex-
panse of two-inch pine flooring of the
building to be devoted to manufactures
and liberal arts and tried to imagine some
thing, but gave it up. All L knew was
here is floor covering 50 acres, walls are
rising on the far sides of it, and that it will
finally be rooted over in one unbroken roof
Put % or so city blocks together in a lump
and they might cover that space. The
other buildings are propcrtionately large.
To give figures is tedious and figures do not
convey the idea-it it only apparent to the
eye. 1t will also be apparent to the legs of
the thousands who walk around that room
among the exhibits. The elaborate finish,
the ornamental facades, the magnificent
arches, the statuary and gardens and canals
would furnish columns of descriptive ma
terial When all is done it will be the
wonder and delight of the visiting world.
It May and 1t May Not lie Finished.
VIII all this be done in time?
1t is hard to believe it. Perhaps if the
money were lying in bank waiting for con-
tractors to take it out the thing might be
accomplished between day and night, put
ting two years into one. Some 1000 men
are at work there, 1 am told. To all
appearances there were not as many, hun
dreds. So vast is the space and so varied |
the occupation. To me the work seems but |
fairly begun. They will show you in figures,
by weight of iron and feet of lumber placed. |
that more than half the work is complete |
but it doesn't bear that appearance. By |
act of Congress the dedication ceremonies |
must be held October IL, this wear, that |
being the four hundredth anniversary of the |
discovery of America by Columbus. 1t |
would be great pity if the work were not |
then far enough along to reveal all its /
grandeur and magnifcence. 1t is then the |
work as a whole will be turned over to |
the United States. The reception of ex- |
hibits will begin the following month |
When this once sets in there will |
be no room for workmen. The les
son of New Orleans ought to be |
remembered and the ready and expedi- |
tious handling and placing of EXHIBITS |
or five times as many exhibits here, and the |
proper care OF these involves one of the |
delicate and important problems of the
great Fair.
The want-of-cash snag is an ugly and |
dangerous one. 1t demoralizes the mana |
gerial heads, and in place Of harmony you |
can 60 from chief to chief in the Rand & |
McNaliy building and hear little but bick- |
ering and scandal would not dare reveal |
all l heard-and if l did it would take a |
page of nonpareiL The antaeonism be- |
tween the national and the local company
is bitter and deep-seated. To be sure, they |
declare in public that everything is lovely; /
but to me they cut into each other right |
and left.
a Confidence Beautiful to Behold.
There will be combined effort to squeeze |
President W. T Baker, of the company, out |
of his seat al the coming corporate election.
He knows this and being rather sensitive |
gentleman and desirous of finishing up what |
he has begun, he naturally feels somewhat |
hurt at the prospect. None of these gen.
tlemen appear 10 entertain any serious |
doubts but what Congress will step up and |
help Chicago complete the job they have
thus begun. This confidence is beautiful
to behold. They expect the visiting Con-
gressional delegation to go back to Wash
lIgtOn with q full realization of the magni-
tude of the work and the neces- /
sity of immediate Treasury coin to insure
its proper completion. If they insist upon
this it is rather difficult to see how Congress,
having gone into the fair business, can get |
away from the full share of the RESPONSE
bility it has itself created and assumed.
Under that clause of the Constitution called |
''the general welfare" Congress has assumed
a good many prerogatives not consistent
with strict construction and with these pre-
cedents it will be easy enough to reconcile
its Constitutional conscience to the loan of
some millions of the public money on the
of the gate receipts of butter-and-
egg show The chief drawback is that the
Federal Treasury is in almost as bad con-
dition Just now as the treasury of the |
Worlds Columbian Exposition Company, of
Chicago