The herald., 1893-07-10
JUST BEFORE JULY FOURTH,
A Letter From the Great White
Fair City.
Sunday Opening Proves Not to Be q
Success Financially.
A Mistake ON tho Part of the Directors.
Various Theories About the Mat
tery-A View OF Some of
the Exhibits

Special Correspondence to the HERALD.l
JACKSON PARK, July 3.-Here we arl
on the threshold of the greatest day o.
all. with as fair and beautiful weather
as l ever saw anywhere in the summer
and ne mistake.
Yesterday (Sunday3 was perfect day
from beginning to end, and yet ther,
were less than 10000 paying people or
the grounds.
There has been one thing demonstra
ted, and that is that Sunday opening il
not bowling success from the stand
point claimed. To be sure, the directors
never intended to return the souvenir
halves or their equivalent, SO what is
picked up on Sunday 10 clear gain. But
the Sunday fair is not bringing out the
crowds as was expected. 1t is too great
and too beautiful and too educating and
too elevating, however, to keep closed
on Sundays, and even if only few went
~ on those days it is of great good to
those. All the same, if the directors
could not make expenses on Sundays
they would close their fair with bang
that could be heard across the country.
have believed all along that the direc-
tors had no right to open Sundays and
that, even ii they intended to return the
amount OF money they voted should be
returned. it did not help their case at
all But they don't intend to return it.
The first mistake made by the direct
ors was to accept any money from con-
gress, or from any other source. upon a
contract to close the gates of the fair
Sundays. Their next mistake was to
traduce congress for doing this, after
they had received 1900. .000upon which
they have already received premium
OF more than 81 500, 900, as it was no diff
ficult task to employ attorneys willing
to arraign and traduce the government.
There are few people who like to see the
government slandered or called mean or
stingy, meaner especially after it has
given toward the fair, all told, more
than So 100000. Another mistake was
in making any fuss about the Sunday
opening matter at all but rather to have
started in with open gates and taken the
consequences, or to have abided by their
contract and gone on with closed ones.
The few Sundays that the fair has
been opsnsd has not demonstrated that
the so-called poor laboring people need
open gates on that day, for no such peo-
pie have yet been seen within the gates
only the same people are seen upon
the grounds Sundays as are TO be seen
at other places OF amusement Sundays
and Saturday nights elsewhere; and the
majority of these people are those who
have Saturday and Thursday evenings
in Chicago, aH all shops and nearly all
stores are closed up those two davs
after II noon. 60 be sure, clerks in
stores and workers in shops are, many
OF them, poor enough, but they do not
belong to the class held up by the Sun
day openers as needing Sunday on ac-
.ou' VI p"o - nv 5 ~ oi - !. 80,
people, in all, connected with the expo
eition who would have been glad had the
courts decided that the gates should not
be opened on Sunday, as this would
have meant day OF some kind of rest or
recreation to them other than they have
upon the grounds. The so-called Sab
batarians would also have been de-
lighted, although the Joy would have
been something in the order of spirit
OF iliberality or revenge. From no
standpoint whatever would they
have been the gamers. and from no
standpoint whatever would religion
have been the gamers, as there are 100
places of amusement of some kind, and
many of them excellent ones, that
would have been the gamers, and not
the churches. On the whole, while tie
so-caled poor laboring classes know
little and care less about the fair, its
closing on Sundays would have been
positive harm to religion, education and
morality. There Is no earthly doubt
about this thing in any human beings
mind, unless said human being has dis
missed his reasoning faculties, or is
overburdened with fanatical impulse,
bigotry or scornful illiberality.
Chicago is great city from the stand
point of population, and there is pro-
digious conglomeration of good and evil
here. and the Closing Of the gates on
Sunday would not have increased the
former, surely. 1t would have been
great sacrifice OF intelligence and moral
ity and justice would have been left
somewhere in the lurch.
Within this enclosure there are many
organs and orchestras there are many
machines and statues and pictures and
flowers, from which the glory of God is
beautifully preached; and on the out
side there are thousands Of temples of
infamy, decoys for the weak, and
rum holes of every description
that hang out their horrid signs and
their infamous doors. 1t would really
have been too bad that this magnificent
educator should have been compelled to
have stopped one day in elk, especially
when that came day is not only given
over to wrong doers, but additional i'm
moralities are assigned public space
upon that day. So it is good that the
fair is opened Sundays, even il the di-
rectorB have broken their faith.
With few unimportant exceptions,
it may be aaiely said that the fair is
complete enough to make it inviting to
all who visit it. The main buildings
are all in order, having been newly
painted and repaired, and there are
very few of them in which the exhibits
are not installed. although there will be
some hammering and some obstructions
in come Of the buildings few days yet.
The manufacturing and liberal arts
building is the wonder of the grounds,
not only on account of it's great dimen-
sions, but because of the rich and stu
pendons exhibits it contains. I saw it