The San Francisco call., 1898-07-27
This Years Exposition
 Has Been Abandoned.
TOO MANY FAIRS THE CAUSE
NATIVE DAUGHTERS ROAST
 INSTITUTE TRUSTEES.
They Say They Were Treated Like Prize-Fight Promoters and Tell How-Some Caustic State
 mentS.

There was a rumor current on the street yesterday that the trustees of the Mechanics Institute were greatly wor- ried over a shortage or deficit of several thousand dollars in the receipts for the last fiscal year. According to the state ment of Rodney Kendrick, vice-president of the institution, however, the shortage has not materialized but there has been much anxiety as to whether the institute would be able to hold its own during the balance of the calendar year.
 Some time ago financial conditions be- came so unsatisfactory that 1t was found necessary to appoint committee to in- vestigate the situation and report the re- suits with suggestions as to means to be adopted to turn the adverse tide into one of prosperity. The results of the labors of this committee have not been made public. but one particular point they em- phasized was the fact that if the loss or membership in the library continued as 1t had been maintained In the preceding three months the institute would md it. self at the end of the current year with a very awkward deficit to provide for.
 The knowledge of these bad conditions led to general discussion Of affairs among the trustees regarding the policy to be pursued under these circumstances. If had been intended to hold the Me chanics' Fair as usual i'll the hope or add- ing to the general fund but after long and earnest consideration IL was laclt- ly agreed that it would not De wise lo give an exposition this year lest 1t prove a losing instead of a paylnS proposition, ard the announcement will probaply De made at the next regular meeting or the
 S'rnere Is no deficit at the present time" said Vice-President kendrlck yes terday afternoon. in speaking or the feared at one time that for several req sons. particularly on account of the heaVy loss of membership that came Wlta lhe prospect of war, that we would SuIe! loss Lately, however, we find that the roll of members is increasing steadily, and if that keeps up we will be all rlght We had intended to hold a fair with special features this year, but after looking over the situation we concluded 1t was not promising.
 Masonic Fair, the several military exhl- bitions and now comes the Irish talr. It was not reasonable to suppose that the merchants and manufacturers, on whom we largely depend for the success of our expositons, would care to do more or 1hat at kind of advertising this season, and as a consequence we have decided that we would not be displaying good business sense to hold a fair. So there will be none this year at least. Between now and the time to hold the exposition in 1888 we will endeavor to devise some new and taking features which will assure its success
 Of course the institute Is quite wealthy. tor instance, our pavilion prop erty alone Is worth anywhere rom SioO,Ool to $1.000 900. Then We have the Mission blocks, which are very valuable; How ever that property is not all paid for, as will be seen by the fact that We are now paying $500 per month interest on the in- debtedness. This drain, with other regu- lar expenses, has to be met, and you know we always want to show a good substantial net profit at the end of each year. l think things will run along nicely from this time on.'
 The Native Daughters, Red Cross Aid which gave the highly successful drill of the Seventh Regiment at the Pavilion last Thursday night, has something to say with reference to what 1t calls ''The penuriouSnesS Of this wealthy public in- stitution." The entertainment was given for the purpose of raising money to send to Colonel Smith for the benefit of the First Regiment, California Volunteers, at Manila, and the public responded to the worthy call in d most gratifying manner.
 we innocently hoped when we under took the work" said one of the officers of the Native Daughters organization that its charitable object would receive some consideration from the Mechanics Institute. The Seventh Regiment pre- pared for and did it's arduous work gladly and the Native Sons band volunteered tc furnish concert and dance music, but when we approached the trustees of the Institute we found that we had sterneI stuff to deal with. We naturally supposed that an institution that counted its wealth by the hundreds of thousands of dollari and which derived it's property and sup port from the public would in these times of war and its horrors display charity and patriotism as the thousands of citi- zens of this city and State have beer and are now doing. When we asked fol terms on the use of the Pavilion we were i curtly refused, and to our surprise found | that we were. so far as rental was con Cprned. laSSlfle0 prize fights and every other private en l terprise We appealed to their patriotism ] and asked for reduction, but could no | get one dollar concession. They charged 1 us 3l00 for the use of the building, anC | said the gas would cost s10 When wt ! got the bill we found that we had no
 only been charged s14 for gas but g fol | turning 1t on and $2 for the fact that tn, | fixtures were equipped with a paten | burner. The public we believe wil agree with us that this was a display O a miserly spirit and what makes 1t wors, | Is the circumstance that it comes iron ! the managers of this great popular pub | lie institution.
 "I must not forget to mention tn,
 smallest and meanest thing done by tn, | trustees After charging us the ion fig | ure we were informed that we must senC
 two free tickets to each trustee Thinl | or that, and they were twenty-five cen l tickets too. Compare this with the fac i that every one of the women who organ | iZed the entertainment paid for admis
 sion, and the daily press gave us columns | of their valuable space to assist in mak | ing this charity work a success.
 However, without any thanks to tn 1 trustees of the Mechanics Library, ant
 with heartfelt thanks to the thousand
 of citizens and soldier, boys who cheer
 ters are proud and happy to say the!
 cleared nearly $500 at that drill. Ever!
 cent of this money will be cabled t ] fO ha fn