St. Paul daily globe., 1893-05-02
THE COLUMBIAN OPENED.


is the law and there is the combination.
"Go for" it.
THE COLUMBIAN OPENED.
The Columbian exposition was opened
yesterday with a pomp and Splendor
fitting to the marvellous occasion. The
chief of the nation, surrounded by his
cabinet, high American officials, and the
distinguished representatives of other
nations, performed the ceremony in
the presence of 175,000 people. The
prayer of the divine, the dedicatory adj
dress of the director general and the
speech of President CLEVELAND were
not more eloquent than have been heard
many times on ordinary occasions, yet
there was a magic in every utterance
that thrilled the multitude as by a wave
of wondrous light. The act which un-
furled in moment 700 flags and set i'll
motion all the vast machinery was so
simple that it could have been per-
formed by child as well. The con-
triYance by which it was done was SO
simple that the wonder is that the agen-
cieS brought into use were not in work.
ing harness 400 years ago; yet had the
average man who died 100 years ago
arisen from his grave to be present, he
would have looked upon the president
touching the button as being in league
with tine prince of darkness.
The Lord defeated the building of the
tower of Babel by confusing the tongues
of the multitude engaged in it. Now
the people Of every tongue have come
together and brought into existence
something compared with which the
tower of Babel would be insignificant.
The Columbian is so StupendOuS i'll its
design and perfection that those WHO
have brought it into being are them
selves aStOunded. There are 400 build
ings, and i'll passing over the grounds
one may live for moment in Chinese
village, where he sees the manners and
customs of that Oriental race; then pass
through street in Cairo, where all
about him are the strange people of
that distant land, acting as though they
were 3t their own home; from this he
may enter a Dutch village; and thus
when he finishes he has lived among
every people in the world and seen
their manners and customs as perfectly
as though he had visited their coun-
tries. The representations are so per-
feet that one Is made to forget that they
are only mimcs.
AS all educator the benefits of the fair
cannot be oYereStimated. One can be-
come familiar with the ways of every
people, the product and history Of every
country, and the fine arts and works of
all the great masters who have ever
lived.
AS one contemplates the event he can
not represS the regret that COLUMBUS
could not have lived to see the growth
of the land he discovered. But it is the
unfortunate lot of all great inventors
and discovererS to die before their fame
has developed.
We are proud that this, the greatest
of the worlds events, was conceived by
Americans and is held in the land Of
the free. We are proud of Chicago for
the magnitude of the event is due alone
to the matchless enterprise of the mar
velous city. Had any other of our
great cities been chosen for the fair, it
would have been made a wonderful
occasion, but everybody is satisfied that
Chicago has developed it to nearly
twice the proportions any other city
would have attempted. And yet Chi
cago is not sixty years old. Tue out
side world must be amazed at this
accomplishment of city SO young, and
in it the people of other nations must
realize something of what it means to
live in land of freedom; for the pros
perity of our nation is not due alone to
our boundless resources, but much
more to the character of our people and
the government of which every citizen
is part.
The fair is opened and between now
and the closing day millions of foreign
erS will see our country for the first
time. They have all read of it, but they
will find that their brightest dreams
have fallen very far short of the reality.
We may we'll expect the occasion to
bear fruit in the interests of freedom
the world over. The common people
who come from other lands will be filled
with new ideas and aspirations, and
they will go home to sow the principles
of democracy, which will develop, per-
hapS not in their day, but some time.
Some of the rulers of other powers
will be here, and they will doubtless
gather ideas which will enable them to
draw their people closer to them.
The cost has been over S33, 100000:
but it is not unreasonable to believe
that when the fair is over more than
100000, 900 brought here by foreign Wis
itors will remain with US; many esti-
mate the amount at 5000. 1000.