Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-02
NOT A FINANCIAL SUCCESS.
A Review of the First Half Of the O..
lumbar Exposition.

With the closing of the gates Monday
night the first half of the Columbian ex-
position passed into history. The number
of paid admissions during the month was
2.75e.s1 and the largest number Of paid
admissions was registered july {. when
2sS,2S people deposited the admission fee
with the ticket seller. The smallest num-
Der was on Sunday last. when only 1A6S1
paid admissions were recorded The paid
attendance for May was l;eSOsSl. while that
reaching a total Of 2.6s5.ll3.
Officials of the fair are greatly please
position. but this much cannot be said OF
the financial end of the enterprise. The
attendance has failed largely 70 reach the
mark IL was expected 70 attain during the
first half Of the fair and especially during
the month OF July. For this the railroads
are in the main held responsible and the
officials do not hesitate TO criticise their
stubbornness and meanuess ia refusing 10
make one fare round trip at the begin
ming of the fair.
The present hard times have had much
TO do with the poor Attendance but the
management thinks the people would have
attended largely had the railroad fares
been reduced. There must necessarily be
a large attendance during the remaining
period of the fair IL the management ex-
poets to pay it's debts. and this is all they
now hope to do.
Ii is a foregone conclusion that the stock
holders OF the fair will get nothing on their
Investment, nor will their subscriptions be
returned. as the money for which the ex-
position is legally liable amounts to SO
much that IL Will take tremendous daily
average of paid admissions to ease the OBJ
legation.
President Higinbotham is as hopeful az
any OF the officials in the matter Of finance.
He said:
Il have only one fault to find with the
first half OF the exposition. The attend
ance has not been what IL ought 10 have
been. In all other respects the exposition
has been a success, a. no one can reason
ably deny, but in that respect the frst
half Is by no means the better half. i be-
lieve that the attendance from now on Will
missions this week will exceed those OF
last. There have now been about e.5oo.ooo
admissions. Surely more than that many
will be registered during the rest OF the
fair, and the total attendance VIII more
than double those figures. The latter half
a large attendance as the first half has
disappointed us with bad.
The retrenchment policy viii be renewed
at once with increased vigor. One OF the
first effects OF economy is felt In the elimi-
nation of one special" night per week.
day were designated as special" nights
and were rendered attractive by band con-
certs fireworks, &C. This feature has been
abridged to two nights ana Wednesday
and Saturday VIII hereafter be known as
special" nights. There will be no music
at nights except upon those days, and the
hours for the day concerts have BEEN
changed so as 20 divide the music equally
between the morning and afternoon. The
free orchestral concerts will be given as
usual when the orchestra is not engr ged
in rehearsing for an afternoon program.
at least for the present. The new arrange
ment will work a saving of a few hundred
dollars daily.