The times., 1898-08-07
THE GREAT EXPOSITION
A Further View of 0maha's
Show.
OCTAVE THANET'S LETTER


aIs-The Wonders OF the Machine
Section and the Interest In the
Boys and Girls BuiIding-A Night
Visit to the Exposition Grounds.
Omaha, Aug. 5.-There is nothing more
interesting at the exposition than the
wonderful food exhibit made by the grea.
food-bearng S;ates aud by the railways
passing through them. The Agricultural
Building. in which the bulk of this exhibit
is shown, is decorated with a designed
lavish and sumptuous richness of sculpt-
ure. IL is lavish as nature has been lavish
and sumptuous as the autumn glory of the
West The great arched entrance of the
central pavilion orens into a semi-circu
lar vestibule, the three doors of which
lead into the building. Broad bands of
fruit and waving grain form the mold
ings of the arch and are surmounted by
the generous and placid matron who sym
bolizes architecture and by three figures
typifying aspects of plenty. The pavilion
itself shows fine groups against the blue
Nebraska sky. those on either side rep
resenting the zodiac and the seasons and
the colossal central group showing Pros
perity supported by Integrity and Labor.
The corners of the pavilion have smaller
but very spirited figures, and everywhere
are inscriptions, for the most part ex-
ceedingly happy, applying to agriculture:
the names of notable inventors in the ma
chinery of agriculture and notable pa
irons of the earthtillers are carved upon
the panels of frieZe. The whole effect is
that of careless luxury, careless be-
cause SO oculent
Within all the marvellous ingenuity
which has made corn palaces, has been at
work 10 deck the booths with every con-
ceivable arrangement of color, every kind
of mosaic in which grain can be used for
pigment and line. There are queer pic
lures of the old-fashioned farm and the
new, of locomotives and landscapes-all
in grain. and some of them pleasing. as
well as ingenious. A pretty device Is the
seed howitZer and shells which Kansas
offers as Peace ammunition for Cuba"
Samples, charts, statistics, of all the prin-
cipal grains and illustrations of their
cultivate make only a part of this ei-
gantic exhibit. There is the finished food
product the innumerable fours and
meals, the sugars-the sugar beet has a
show of its own-and there is, also. the
great exhibit of the famous packers who
however. nave most of their exhibit in
the Manufactures. Tea coffee and spices
are TO be found in the Agricultural Build
ing. as well as chickory, hops, etc, and
tobacco Is not neglected; while wool cot
ton, flax, and silk urge their own claims
to attention A very taking exhibit is
that of farms and farm buildings with it's
models and plans. The Cotton Belt has
striking exhibit, as have the Rock Isl
and and Burlington Railways The ce-
real artist of the Cotton Belt has bull:
two pictures of the Southwest as 1t was
and the Southwest as it is; while he of
the Rock Island displays a locomotive
under full steam going through a vivid
landscape
Among the State displays no one State
attracts more attention than Texas Mr..
Z. 5. Penfield is the commissioner: bur
on the day when l visited Texas another
Texas gentleman was on guard whose
patient courtesy and State pride I ad-
nhred equally. The day was so warm
that he had discarded his coat, and he
fanned himself necessarily; but he never
tired. YES. sah,''-I love the soft, blur
ring accent of the South-"Yes. sab. the
you see, including those animals. Take
a fan. ma 'am-the State provides them
Tor the accommodation of vis'tahs 1t is
wahm day. Oh, don't know: we have
some wahm weather in Texas; but the
nights are always cool. / find this wahm
Western weather rather debilitating"
Never in my life have / met the in
hapltant or one sizzling and scorching
section of the country who was tenn
1rlrr
section, that he did not talk about the
cool nights and the peculiar quality of
his own atmosphere which made heat
easy 10 bear / drew near and had lit
tie soulful converse with the Texas man
on the vast State which he represented
Yes, ma am, cohn and cotton-here IS
some of our long-fiber cotton: II is no
use of other States talking of competing
with US in cotton. And cohn is pressing
cotton hard Texas is bound to be the
greatest cohn State in the Union
And fruits? Fruits? Well, ma'am
will you be here on the 1st? Please come
around here. We are expecting our mel
ons and some peaches then and | should
like you 10 sample them. That's all we
ask-eat some of our fruit and we'H pro-
vide the fruit for eating" l am told
that Texas fruit and melon day was all
that her citizens could ask
ne next DullQlng on the main court
the Manufactures, is as severe as the Ag-
ricultural is ornate. The feature of this
poric structure is its beautiful shadows.
The center of the building has a group
OF statuary representing the mechanical
arts, the wings are capped with shallow
domes. One is reminded of the Worlds
Fair in this bewilderins, building. where
are exhibited all kinds of American man
ufactured articles from packing products
in the shape of hams and glasses and tins
to sewing machines and drugs.
Take it all in all, the entire food exhibit
and the farm exhibit surpasses that of
the Worlds Fair. / am not prepared to
so as far as the enthusiastic young Iowan
who declared that the Worlds Fair
wasn't in it. with the Omaha show as
to agriculture but there certainly is an
impressiveness, a clearness of arrange
ment, a finish of detail about this part of
the exposition that I did not find at the
great fair. This may be my own fault,
but it is the experience of others as well.
The agricultural exhibits are in charge of
Prof F. w. Taylor. The Manufactures
building being smaller than the similar
building at the Worlds Fair, is more
easily studied and it will repay an indefi-
mite amount of study.
I am not trying to write a catalogue.
only trying to give an idea of the object
and scope of a fascinating exposition. so /
will only mention one exhibit that struck
me for its excellence, the Utah silk ex-
hibit The beautiful portieres which show
tba deft workmanship of the Utah gill,