Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-07-22
THE FARMERS.
Royal Reception Awaits Them
at the Worlds Fair.
A World in Itself to be Seen in Agri-
cultural Building.
Exhibits BY Nest Hatisss u The World q the
Expssitiea.

Expssiiiea.
| WORLDS FAIR, July H.- lspeciall
| Now the harvest Is about finished through
out the country. Soon the threshing will
be done and marketing Of the golden
grain begin Then the farmers will
come to the fair. Not only will they be
welcome, but a royal reception awaits
them. The man who feeds US, the man
whose prosperity is the prosperity of all Of
| us, " hose ill-fortune hurts us all, has not
been neglected in this exposition On the
| contrary, he and his contributions to the
worlds indus,ries-the foundation of all
| industries and source Of all wealth-have
front seat. They will be guests of honor
here.
II is the fashion among some OF the peo-
pie one meets here to sneer at the agrfcul-
| taral display, to say 1t is not worthy their
time or attention, that it is dull and com
monplace pity these people. They are
thoughtless. Their horizon is narrow. To
my mind the Agricultural building is one
of the most interesting Of all the great
departments Of the fair 1t is more than
interestingly is fascinating. IL takes Us
nearer TO the heart of the people, not only
Of our own country but OF all countries, to
the mass OF humanity everywhere, than
any other feature Of the exposition, ex-
cepting not even the Fine Arts gallery,
| which surely is next to it.
The creator Of this fair builded wiser
than they knew when they gave the Pal |
ace Of Agriculture the proudest position |
in their marvellous landscape-running
from the lake by the side OF the splendid
central basin TO the caIal-and made that |
palace the most beautiful Of all the expo |
sition buildings. There are just five really |
noble structures in this exposition assem- |
blage. One Is the Administration build |
ing, merely ornamental, crown-like |
structure. a yestibule, its only practical |
Use being for Offices; the Manufactures |
building, noble in proportions, lnagniti- |
cent in dimensions; Machinery hall, ga |
thedrallike, ornate, impressive; the Pal |
ace Of Fine Arts, which would be a note |
worthy structure IL taken up bodily and |
set down in Versailles, Rome or Athens; !
and the PaIaee Of Agriculture. classical |
in its form and decorations, perfect in pro- |
portions, the most beautiful of ali in the |
opinion of many who are competent to |
judge. |
Il will do the hearts of the farmers of |
this country good when they come here |
and see that they have not been assigned |
to the back yard Of the fair; that a rude |
and hastily reconstructed shell WAS mt |
deemed good enough for them; but that |
they are received in a veritable palace, a |
structure worthy its uses and too glorious |
a creation to be suffered TO disappear from |
the face Of the earth when the exposition |
shall have closed its gates. |
This Agricultural building is a world in |
itself In point of size it is the fourth |
structure of the exposition, Let the |
farmer imagine fifteen acres of ground |
floor under one roof, with several acrts |
more in the galleries. That gives space |
equal to the average farm in France
ard England, and larger than the
average farm of Belgium and Htl- |
land. The space is well used. Not a |
square foot Of 1t has been wasted. II there
were no building in Jackson park but the
Palace of Agriculture, no display but that
of the products of the soil and the ma
chinery and processes used in their proph-
CATION, harvesting and manipulation, the
Worlds fair would still be worth taking a |
long journey to see. /
Shall tell You what is in this building,
I wish could. | should like to write
book about it. But it would be like writ
ing book on the world-you would never
know where to start or where to end. 1t
would take pretty big book to do the
subject justice. Therefore in the space Of
a single letter cin hope only to point o4t
to you some of the most interesting things,
to give yo,I few samSles from the mighty
whole. When Won cSrnc to the fair set
.part at least one whole day for the Agri-
sultursl building. Make it two days II
you have the time to spare. Ii will not be
time wasted This applies with even
greater force to the city man, to the pro-
fe,sinnal man who comes from his desk or
Office, titan 10 the farmer himself The
man from the city can learn more here
that is worth his knowing than in any
other department Of the exposition.
Let us now take rapid run through |
this world Of the farm and briefly mention
the most interesting things that fall un-
der our eye Passing through the great
rotunda we arrive at the center of the vast
building 1t is wonderful scene that we
are in the midst of Here are most Of the
nations of the world and states and terri
tories Of our Union with little palaces Of
their own, showing therein their farm
products. As far as the vision extends the
faeades of these little palaces-and some
Of them not so very small, either-greet
the eye. In the broad galleries which run
through and around the great structure
are thousands more, the property Of firms
and individuals engaged in the manufact-
ure Of foods and preparations Away to
the s0utH is seen wide vista of moving
machinery, and thence comes a rumbling,
a clicking, whirring sound. There tens Of
thousands OF farm machines are in mo-
tion.
At the very center Of the building two
American states, an eastern aud q western,
Pennsylvania and Iowa, and two foreign
nations, Great Britain and Germany, have
posts OF honor. 4 single glance suilices to
show US they are worthy the distinction
England proper is largely confined to fine
food products, such AS pickles and timed
goods; but her colonies, eacn an empire of
itself. make wonderful displays. Canada
shows in graphic form the results achieved
by scientific agriculture, which has been
pursued with great energy under govern
nent protection. Australia, especially
New South Wales, handsomely illustrates
the wonderful development of her farm
industries which is making Of that Pacific
empire dangerous rival to the United
States. In the year sa1 the wool product 4
alone of New South Wales was valued at
s,5.o0.ono. Cape Colony shows her farm
ing methods, which are highly pietur
esque-
The richest and most costly structure in 4
the building is that of Spain, in which .
Cuba joins and where the display of Ifa
yana cigars delights the eye Of every
smoker. South America IL well repre-
scented. Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay. the
Argentine Republic show their woois. eof
fees and grains. Mexico has splendid
exhibit, and other Central American states
arc not far behind Some Of the most in ,
teresting feature come from Africa. BE /
sides Cape Colony, already mentioned .
Liberia. the little republic OF the Yves,
coast. surrounds her products with
pleasing array Of birds, OF stuffed arlimals