Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-06-06
FAIR FINANCES.
A Subject Which ls Frequently
Discussed.
WILL rHB GREAT E1poslTIoI PAY,

or not. The great desire = TO make Il .
success from the artistic and educational
points Of view. Its artistic success u a.
ready assured. There never was any.
thing 70 bsautiful. 20 inspiring. II win
be tremendous educational success II the
people come to utilize the opportunity
which has been afforded them. They
win come, too. They win como BY the
millions. Neither railroad rates nor
cholera fean can keep them away. But u
Ia true that from one cause or another
enough may not come 10 make the faif
financially successful There may b
dsacit At the end Of the six months; or, 70
put the case moro accuntsly. the city Of
Chicago and the people OF Chicago who
subscribed to the stock Of the expedition
company may get back only small part
Of their money. This Il not . thing to b
much deplored in itself. The Chicago peo-
pie didn't expect TO get their money back
when they put IL up. Al least. they did
not expect to get II back directly from the
exposition treasury. But that they will
get II back many fold in other WAYS
through the assemblage In their midst Of
millions of strangers. no one can doubt.
3 But large class Of Americans viii insist
upon regarding the fair failure unless II
earn profit for the stockholders. They
have q strong commercial instinct, and
think success In this a. In other enter
prises Il measured BY dividends. They
overlook the fact that this II not intended
and was never intended - money-mak.
Ing concern. It's greatest success viii lie
In afYortiing instruction, inspiration and
amusement to . largo proportion OF our
people. InAsmuch a. the educational sue
cess and the financial success to certain
extent are dependent upon the Same con
dition-a very large attendance-it Il
worth while to pause here and consider
what the chances are.
: The attendance 20 far during the month
of May has been rather disappointing.
But II Il easily explained. The fair has
not been complete, and the weather has
for the most part been cold and cherries.
The people, not only Of Chicago, but sur.
rounding country knew the fair was not
finished on the opening day, and they
were not willing TO spend their money and
time going TO zee an imperfect exposition.
You cannot fool the people, and some Of
the Chicago papers now wish they had not
attempted to do 70. At this date, how.
ever, the exposition IL practically COM
the ground after this. The work II done,
l. lat - l. NnS h.
inspection OF the world.
How great win the attendance have to
be In or,ier to make the exposition sue
cess financiallyi This Is very interesting
question, but Il cannot DO answered very
accurately because there are other sources
Of revenue which depend somewhat upon
the attendance but which cannot a. yet be
only estimated. Still, this inquiry about
/ the financial success of the enterprise Il an
interesting one, and speculation upon II II
a convenient means Of reaching better
appreciation Of the magnitude Of the
operation.
In round figures, which arc within q
hundred thousand dollars of the actual
sum, the cost Of the fair TO the opening
day was twenty millions Of dollars. This
enormous sum Is more than twice a. much
as was spent for the last Paris exposition,
aud there the government Of France was
behind the enterprise. Twenty millions
probably reaches the high water mark In
the outlay for international expositions.
II may be doubtful II the coming century
will see n parallel to this affair In mag
nitude or costliness. This fair Is not too
big, but Il Il big enough. Future fair
builders will probably devote their sner-
gies to making more perfect but not more
vast. How was all this enormous sum
raisedi Principally by the citizens OF
Chicago. In the first place, they sub.
scribed nearly six millions Of dollars OF
stock In the exposition company, and bave
paid over In cash thereon s., ,sji,l73. Then
the city Of Chicago ~ municipal corpora
tion issued bonds and devoted the proceeds
10 the purchase Of t5, ,000. .0O Of stock. Thus
nearly eleven millions In cash was poured
Into the enterprise here.
AT fiut Il was thought this would be
enough, or nearly enough, to build the
fair. But Il proved to he only half enough.
The exposition issued Ave millions Of Its
own bonds and sold them at par This
nave q total Of sixteen millions. Congress
voted five millions Of souvenir half dollars
In aid Of the fair, and then took away .
half million dollars worth Of them on .
bubble. Out Of the remaining two mill.
ions of dollars worth the management
realized, by virtue Of premiums, very
nearly t2,5Oo.0o. Thus the total receipts
were brought up to nearly eighteen and
half millions. Interest and miscellaneous
receipts swelled them to the grand total OF
100000
Il cost more than twenty millions to
open the gates. Only nineteen millions
had been received, therefore the exposi-
ton company began doing business May
ist with debt Of . million dollars staring
Il In the face.
Looked at a. q vast fnancisl operation
this fair Il almost as fascinating N from
,ny other point OF view, twenty millions
20 open the gates, three millions more
will be needed TO pay expenses till the end
Of the six months, therefore S9,oOo,0O u
20 be approximately the total cost OF the
Worlds Columbian exposition. II there
any chace that this enormous sum OF
money can be earned by the gates and the
soncessionsi At the close OF the fair II u
estimated the salvage from the buildings
and grounds will net million dollars.
Still twenty-five millions to raise. What
do you think Of their chancssi
At the Philadslphia exposition the ut.
tendance was 62,000 per day for the six
months. At the rscsnt Paris exposition II
was 300, 900 per day The former figures
st Chicago would mean failure, the latter
financial success. Results win probably
b found about midway between these
marks, or from $4,000 TO 10000 per
sons paying thsir way each day through
ths gates. II, a. Il looks now, the fair u
TO DO open every Sunday. the average ~
tendance may reach the latter figure
Chicagoans who well know their city and
their people aver that every bright Sun
day from this time on there will be from
three hundred thousand TO half million
people on the fair grounds. One finds no
difficulty In crediting this statement. CHI
cago II now . monster city with nearly
two millions Of Inhabitants. Besides, 10 n
o Sunday city. Three-lfths foreign born.
the population makes the Sabbath Q day
Of outing and recreation. The theate1
arc all open on Sunday. the dance halls,
the saloons. On this account many people
have argued that the fair should bs open
also.
OF oourss II the people Of Chicago pour
through the fair gates on Sundays from Q
quarter to . half million people, they win
not have enough people or energy lsft 70
constitute much Of an attendance during
the remaining six days Of the week. Then
the people who live outside the city must
swell the receipts. The Indications axs
that enormous numbsn ofstrangsn Win
dock hsrs during tAe summer. The