The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-06-17
THE OnAHA FAIR.
The Registers Correspondent Writes a Graphic
Letter About the Great Show.
Omaha, June IL, 1898.

Ntu0 90 We aIo lOlu tudI f6hCe naUn
her victories no less renowned than
War. Bat when Peace and War
strive against each other to gain the
public eye, Peace comes out sorry
second in the conflict. Hence it is
that this Omaha Trans-M ississippi
Exposition. designed to commemorate
the victories of thirty years of peace,
as almost wholly overshadowed by
the nt1mphs of sixty days of war.
Aud wheR to the distraction of wars
and rumors Of wars is added the adj
versity of prolonged and repeated
delaye, one can but expect that the
hopes and plans of the promoters of
this Exposition have met with tardy
and incomplete fulfillment. And
when j consider the difficulties al.
ready overcome, l marvel that the
Fair has attained the growth that
1T haze.
Beginning with the heavy rain on
commencement day in Lawrence
everything has been wet. ON the
road to Atchison we found all the
streams swollen beyond their banks,
and many fields submerged. In
Atchison / found very wet town,
for there are in the city 35 or 40 open
saloons, the first | ever saw in Kan
:sas. And in contravention of the oft
repeated resubmission plea, that open
;saloOns ate what we need to make
business good in Kansas, l observed
that wide-Open Atchison is the dead
est town I've seen. and the weed
grown streets and untidy buildings
give evidence of decay, borne out by
the statement Of one of her citizens,
that the population has fallen off at
least 1900 people from that of better
times
And on up the eide of the Missouri,
now at high tide, the air was damp
and the soil soaked with rain, and
at Omaha the sureharged atmosphere
was pouring floods Of water upon
the grounds and buildings already
drenched and saturated The COM
pletlon of unfinished buildings was
delayed, the lagoon overlooking and
dts banks were .caving in, and the
gravel streets were running streams.
But the splrits Of the officials seem
bathed in eternal sunshine, and the
work 10 pushing vigorously in inter-
walls between the showers; and all
jndicstiens point to q completion
which will be ,creditable exponent
TO the enterprise and energy of the
wild and lanate West.
The Exposition Ia housed in sec.
ond White City. They have succeed
ed here in initiating all the features
of the Worlds Fair which were
worthy of adoption and yet are
hardly to be charged with servile
limitation The buildings are of
white stuff, and are arranged in q
dong reetsngle about a lagoon, and
beyond this is II Midwa and the
buildings are named Government,
Manufactures. Literal Arts, Mines
aud MIXING just as in Chicago. But
here the Imitation ceases, and in the
style af architecture and shape of
grounds and as far as possi BILE in the
character of exhibits, originality has
been Introduced. 1t must also be
admitted that the World Fair build
ings have not served ne models in
point of size. The Government build
ing IL the only one | think which
rivals in size its namesake at the
Fair, but am told that the attrac-
tiOns of the Midway are quite as
numerous and meritorious as were
those IL '92. The place of the Ferris
wheel is supplied by a great sea-saw,
with two Gags swung from opposite
arms of q huge frame of steel. Some
of these concessions | do not consider
worth the price of admission, but
most of 4hem are. Shooting the
'Chutes, the Moorish Palace, Streets
of Cairo, Japanese Tea Garden and
Others are not new to attendants of
the Worlds Fair. The total number
of concessions on the Midway, in
Guiding lunch stands, IL sixty-two,
and Father hasty estimate leads
me to think that one wouldn't have
much change left from Il IS bill after
taking them all in.
The Government building has prob
ably the most interesting diplays of
all, hGt not. OF course, distinctively
Representative OF the West 1t is one
of the fewsthat are all complete, as yet,
and have already spent half day
lin it without eKhsusting its wonders.
II find here none of the blood-thirsty
spirit among 'ieoncessionaires" that
was the suBert OF so much complaint
at the Worlds Fair. Meals can he
secured near the gates for 10 to rs