The morning call., 1893-05-07
FOUR BITS FOR A HAM SANDWICH.

The accounts from Chicago are not as
encouraging as might be wished. 1t seems
to be Impossible 10 get the buildings fin
ished. Some progress is being made. The
display in the California building is i'm
proving; the Machinery building is getting
over the appearance OF workshop through
which an earthquake has passed Bat there is
throughout the show an unfinished appear
ance which tries the patience. Why did the
ChieagOaGs open the fair before they were
ready to ring UP the curtain? II is annoying
for visitors who secured rooms early To rave
to wait at their hotels at an expense of SO
a day per head until the exhibits are un-
packed.
The expected gouging has begun at the
restaurants. 4 ham sandwich costs so
cents and minute slice Of pie quarter.
a San Franciscan. who enjoys the advan-
tage OF being able to take the public into
his confidence in The matter of his private
affairs, SAYS his lunch cost him So, which
did not appall him, as he is in the habit of
spending rs much as that on the meal, but
the dishes were not suited 10 his faS tidlous
palate. We have pictures of millionaires sat
isfying the cravings of hunger with the con-
tents of n paper parcel Outcry being made in
the Chicago papers the exposition directors
pass resolutions cOpdemning the looting of
the visitor, to which the restaurateurs reply
that the fair company takes % per cent Of
their gross receipts and that if there is any
eXtortion it is the eXt0rliOner. There ap-
pears to be a good deal of common-sense in
this view.
On Friday q vociferous demand arose for
wooden seats in the grounds Visitors who
are tired-aEd every one knows how IA
tiguing sightseeing is-have had the alter
native of renting one of the Bath chairs
belonging to the company which owns the
monopoly of that kind Of conveyance, or
sitting on the steps or lying down in the
mud. The idea OF the fair people was bor-
rOwed from the sleeping-car company which
requires the vacant upper berth to be
pulled down on top of an occupant OF a
lower berth, in order to compel the traveller
to pay for both berths. The fair people
knew the value of rest to wearied sight
seers and they proposed TO charge for it.
The idea was shreTd-Chicagoan-b it
was calculated to exasperate strangers.
The effect of this and similar devices has
been to diminish the attendance from
250.0G0 on the opening day to 1900 on
Friday and to disapp0lnt public expecta-
tion as to excursion parties. The railroads,
noticing the grab-all propensities OF the
fair managers, quietly resolved that there
should be no grab at their expense TIE
New York Central is charging its regular
rates-S50 for the round trip from New
York to Chieago-and other lines will fol-
low the example. il there is to be any
general loOting the transportation compa-
nies propose to get their share.
1t is evident that the Chicago managers
made the same mistake as the New York
managers committed in 1858. They dis.
pensed with skilled talent in the Snowman
line. Faced with the prospect of failure,
the New Iorkers acted like men of sense,
resigned their positions, and placed the faiI
in the hands of p. T. Barnum. 1t is not
impossible but that the Chicagoans may fol-
low the precedent, Their fair is wonderful,
the buildings splendid. the array of exhibits
marvellous, but there is no special drawing
card to attract visitors. ike the Eiffel tower
at Paris, or the Centennial memorials al
Philadelphia. 1t is said, probably witt
truth, that there never has been such dis
play of dynamic electricity. and in other
departments the exhibition has probably
never been equaed. But the number OF
people who will travel hundreds of miles to
see what electric motors can DC, or what are
the latest improvements in agricultural
machinery, is small. Such evidences Of the
march of civilization appeal to limited
class. There is nothing at Chicago W hich
everyb ybody-men, women and chldren-feels
that he must see, if he has to go hungry
next winter to recoup the expense.
1t is perhaps too soon to despair. 4 time
| viii come when the whole exposition will
be in full dress, and the danger Of failure
will have set an eXtinguisher on the cor.
morant breed. Next month New York:
| four hundred will visit the fair with theil
British brothers and their cousins and theil
aunts, and that parade alone will be worth
| going to Chicago to witness.