The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-10-10

Special CorrepOndsHcc QCtse Ll.elgMcsr.
CHICAGO, Oct. S.-The Chicago papers
are in the throe, OF discussion and
suggestion as to what to do with the
Worlds Fair buildings, but as yet the
fair association is all at sea whether to
tear them down or blow them up. /:
seems to be taken ior granted that there
will be no salvage on them whatever.
They are yalueless commercially except
as for the iron and tirewood in them,
great as has been their cost, and this
iron and wood can be got at after
demolition by dynamite at much less
cost than by the slow and expensive
tearing down process.
DEMOLITION or THE BUILDINGS >
The bond entered into provides that
the park is to be in contract shape by
May l, 1895. This gives all winter for
tho fair association to come to a con-
clusion and all next summer and fall to
carry out their program, whatever 1t
may be. The park belongs to the pub
lie, and hence it can not be diverted to
any other use. 1t must be put in shape
for public enjoyment as park. But
why (some people are asking) need this
fact necessitate the destruction OF the
buildings? Why not let them become
interesting ruins-Alhambras Walhal-
las, Westminster Abbeys and tho like.
"Ah, alas my master" they are not the
stuff for such historic reproductions.
They are ephemera. They here spread,
like the tents oil the Arabs, Tor the tenn
porary occupation OF caravan that has
moved, and they must move also. They
will soon remind us, in the language oil
the old hymn, that I'VE have no abiding
city here"
There is no expression more fire.
quently heard on the fair grounds than
the pathetic inquiry as to whether this
scene OF beauty, this grand Arabian
Nights Entertainment, must really so
soon pass away forever. Those who
fully understand its fragile and evanes-
cent character have but one answer to
give to this inquiry, and that is that
when life is extinct the body, however
fair and attractive at the moment, must
be buried to prevent its becoming 4
nuisance. All the elements OF speedy
decay are present in these beautiful
buildings. They are already fading.
You see the discoloTed and disColoPing
"staff" falling off here and there. This
"stati," once white but now tinged with
discolor, is simply so much plaster OF
paris and mortar spread on immense
areas OF studding and lathe, and has a
constant tendency not only to dark
ening hue, but also to cease adhering
and to fall of. Once unoccupied and
left to all the harsh ecCentricities OF this
climate it would crumble into skeleton
ship very soon.
CHICAGO CLIMATE.
Chicago climate is something like the
peculiar little girl of the nur-
sery story who "when she was
good was very, very good, but
when she was bad she was horrid."
Next summer alter a Chicago winter
and spring, these beautiful buildings
will suggest many sad recollections to
those who have seen them in their
prime OF whiteness and beauty this
year. They would be in "the sere and
yellow leaf" then. They would not be
like massiVeAad dismantled ruins, iVy
crowned SAd romantic" but simply
Wondering dust heaps from which
every gust OF wind would scatter up
ward in the face and eyes OF every
visitor to the park. II these great build
ings had been built OF stone; il such
thing could have been; OF something
like the peperino and travertine blocks
at Rome composed them. then indeed
would Jackson park have become ma
tional Alhambra for all time to come,
ard in these great halls OF the park, in
the heart Of the London that is to be,
would have met soon afterward every
great national assemblage OF whatsoever
character, and possibly they would even
have become the inducement and the
equipment for a new national capital.
The ground that is now forever classic,
as having been the site OF the greatest
exposition ever known, would have
been the unquestioned site OF all future
Worlds fairs on this continent, for
here, classic and consecrated, would
have been both the site and prepara-
ton for succeeding fairs. Future geRer-
atoms would have said, there our
fathers held tho grandest fair ever
known, the like OF which has never been
since excelled. and here We are drawn
by all the traditions Of loyalty and all
the omens Of success.
no ROMAN PERMANENcY.
But OF course this Roman permanency
could not be given to tho fair grounds
at Jackson Park under the circum.
stances attending its initiation and ex-
ploitation as the most admirable OF all
selections in the country. The entire
gold reserve OF the United States treas.
ury, amounting to one hundred mil
lions, and ten years OF time would
scarcely have been sufficient, and an in.
terrational fair is something that must
be begun and completed on the instinct
Of the moment, as it were, while its in-
spring cause, as in the case OF our
40Oth anniversary. is a dominant in.
SEPARATION. But could such preparation
and such endurment have been posi-.
Bile, and could We have built here YER
liable Walhalla, what legacy twould
have been on such site for our pos
terity, and what gathering spot it
would have been for the nations for an
untold period OF time.
1t is something TO know that the gen.
eral topography Of the site as we now
sec it will remain. All the water aud
island features will remain. The beauti.
full lake frontage will remain. The
bridges will remain. Much else will
also remain but cannot be particuiariz.
ed. Tho boy Of fifteen who has been ut