St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1893-11-04
The End of the Exposition.

n. O. Times Democrat, Oct 81
The Columbian Exposition closei Of
iclally last night.
As we have already noted, although
the Fair is officially over, the gates will
remain open as long us it pays. The
Chicago papers imagine that there will
be enough persons in attendance to con-
time the Exposition unofficialy in this
way for three or four months logger,
bnt this We seriously doubt. With most
of the exhibits removed, and the winter
at hand, it will be impossible to get any
! sort of attendance later than November
If it continues that long.
, But even without this extra attend
ance, the Exposition will 90 Oh record
as the greatest the world has ever seen.
| The total paid admissions will lun up to
I 81 ,703, y49 as near as can ba given now,
and including passes it was 26,320643.
! This is ahead of Paris, for it should be
remembered the exhibitors there had to
pay. Moreover, the prices of admission
varied, some daysas many as ten tickets
being required 1t is impossible, there
fore, to tell exactly how many persona
! entered the gates ut Paris, but probably
not over 20,0O0,000.
In every other respect the Chicago
AAApJSill'ii iltS pNtll "itIlotC pal tlfESIs
1t cost more than any other Exposition,
and its receipts were larger. 1t cover
| ed moro ground and embraced a larger
floor area. One building alone, covel-
ing thirty acres of ground, was nearly
half as large as those at the Paris show.
The Chicago Fair was notable also for
the beauty of its grounds, its location
on the lake front giving it splendid Op-
portunities to make a handsome dis
play, and for the arrangement and APP
pearance of its buildings, whether taken
together or individually.
In its exhibits the Worlds Fair at
Chicago surpassed all its predecessors
in their value, variety, arrangement and
in the numbtr OF countries from which
they came. 1t was exceptionally strong
raj and live stocks; and while its art
display fell below that at Paris, it was,
with that exception, the grandest the
world has ever seen. The display of
wOmen's work WAS enc of its novelties
and features.
Considering tho fact that the rail-
roads acted so Obstinately in keeping up
the rates, aud that financial crisis fell
upon us in the very midst of the Expo
sitiOn, the attendance was larger than
we had reason to expect. Bnt for the
fiard times IT would probably have run
up to 30.000,000, and had the railroads
acted favorahly it might have reached
$4,000 600. AS it is. the interest in the
great Fair has steadily increased, ar
shown by the attendance. On only
three days since Oct. 6 has it fallen be
low 100000, and two of these were Sun
days, when the buildings in the Fair
proper, except the art gallery and about
half of those in the Midway Plaisance
were closed. On no week day since the
middle of August has the attendance
been under 100000, whereas at the Phil
adelphia Centennial it reached that fig
ure on only ten occasions. The largest
attendance at the Centennial was 257,-
159, and it fell one day to .05G. The
largest at Chicago was TIC s31. and on
eight other days it exceeded 100000, be-
ing more than the best day at Philadel-
phia. The maximum at Paris was 3e7.-
879, and there were but six days VIXEN
the attendance was over 100000.
Altogether the Chicago Exposition
was the greatest the world has ever seen,
and it will he years before We can hope
to witness its equal.