Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09
Paris is Preparing to Entertain
Enormous Crowds.
some OF TEE CHIEF ATTRACTIONS
Political Disturbances Might Have
a Serious Effect.
EXPOSITION BUILDINGS
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

marvelS under roofs. For the first time in
history, an international show will open
on time. The growth of the great white
buildings brings to mind the mushroom ris-
ing of boyhood's circus tents. The great
and little art palaces are almost COM
pleted, and the ugly buildings which hid
them from the ever passing throngs on the
Champs Elysee have been torn down. The
beautiful bridge across the Seine which
was, in a moment of hysteria, named after
the Gar Of Russia, and which will, of
course, have to be renamed in case the
Russian bear snarls at France. is nearly
finished. The builders are changing their
attention from the framework to the deco
rations Of buildings, and the railway lines
are already beginning to feel the great
rush of freight business which will clog
their lines from until after the expo
sltion opens. Almost every hotel in Paris
has rented many, If not most, of its best
rooms for the first weeks Of the exposition
ing the first weeks. because intending visit
ors realize that after those first weeks are
over the fuZZ will be off the peach to some
extent. 1t would scarcely be fair to say
that the exposition will wear OUT
quickly, but the French show is not being
prepared on the scale of broad and brilliant
beauty that was the magnificent charac-
terstic of our own worlds fair in Chicago
The buildings, with two exceptions only,
are of even Il more temporary type of con-
struction than were our fiimsiest struc-
lures. and their plans include much work
which architects characterize ginger
bread" This will be affected by the lapse
of time, and the brilliant paints which are
everywhere TO be used are likely to grow
dingy.
Paris in n Dust Storm.
That only two buildings-the great and
little art palaces-are being built of the IA
blessing to all Paris. The dust from this
is white and so penetrating
that it becomes a public nuisance. II has
actually changed the color of the roadway
in the Champs Eysee. From the ordinary
brown OF the average macadam road, the
pavement las become a dirty gray from
the white dust blown and tracked into it
from the neighbornood of the art palaces.
This has also had its effect on the health
of the trees which have helped to make
this famous avenue one of the most beau
tiful in the world The stone of which
these superb buildings are being construct
ed Is taken from the very bowels of Paris,
from the same stratum of underground
France in which the catacombs were dug.
1t is soft and very easily worked when
first taken out, but it hardens after eX-
posture to the air One of the early Won
ders of the show is the famous diamond
saw, which is now continually at work on
the exposition grounds, and which cuts
cheese-thereby adding to the dust which
Paris and blows and blows and
blows. until your eyes and your ears and
your mouth are full of it. No such ma
chine was ever made before. 1t is about
seven feet in diameter, and its saving
edge is studded with Brazilian diamonds,
or 'boorts.'' 1t has cut stones two feet
thick and twelve or fourteen feet long in
a quarter of an hour The same work
would take three or four days of a COM
petent mans time.
Politics and the Show.
Paris believes the show will be a great
success There is no likelihood that she
will be mistaken if she succeeds in keep
ing her temper long enough and fails to
have a revolution The Dreyfus case
said a very important Frenchman to me
the other day, would have caused real
revolution long before this had it not been
for the approaching exposition" This is
true. Mere principle would scarce
ly keep the mercurial French people cool
headed through such a crisis, but the hope
of gain will make a Frenchman do any
thing-even keep quiet The middle class
and that Is the governing clements
thrifty almost to the point of meanneSs,
and has been thoroughly trained in the
gentle art of plucking foreigners. Its peo-
pie will spare no effort to preserve and
make perfect 80 fine a chance as the eX-
position will offer Paris is city of small
Napoleon said a dozen times
makes the proportion of non-property hold
who have little or nothing to
save or lose-comparatively small Half
a dozen mobs have rushed through the
Paris streets during recent months, any
one Of which would, In an ordinary year,
have gathered strength and numbers
enough to have done great harm. But,
with the exposition in view, the efforts
to prevent such a catastrophe-to save the
life of the goose that lays the golden egg
were not only earnest. they were desperate
And so far they have succeeded How COM
pletely the gov eminent realizes the danger
is shown by the almost continuous press
exercised on Geographic dis
patches going out of Paris. President Lou
bet and his cabinet know that to brighten
the foreigners at this stage of the game
would be fatal to the show. Fond NAM
mas have no desire to take their darlingt
on streets likely to be mob-swept; nor have
exhibitors any yearning to place Their
treasures in buildings which may be looted
1T is possible that the approaching of the
exposition may save France from a cata-
clysm," said my informant
The Moon Within a Few Miles.
The most interesting of the scientific ex
hibits will be the great telescope, built on
an entirely new plan. The difference be-
tween $4,000 miles and forty-two miles is
said by it's projectors to be what this great
instrument will bring about when the anx-
ious American looks at the moon through
1t. 1t will magnify the moon 10000 times
The highest magnifying power obtained
through any other telescope so far has
been about 1900 times. An object on the
surface of the moon 700 feet long will be
visible to the eye at the telescopes big re-
fector as an object one-thirtieth of an inch
in length. The very largest ocean steamer
that sails earthly seas would look, If trans
ported and set afloat on a moon lake. some
what smaller than this when gazed at by
the aid of the big telescope
NJ. btrn will of ar
than $500, 600. It's object glasses will weigh
800 pounds, and cost not less than S120.000
Its plan of construction is distinctly nov
ell The tube will remain stationary on a
great brick foundation, laid horizontally on
the earths surface. Before the object
glasses OF lenses will be great mirror
which may be so moved as to throw the
reflected image of any part of the heavens
into the object glasses. From the other
end Of the telescope (where the human eye
would ordinarily be applied the magnifed
image will be projected on a screen after
the fashion of a magic lantern. This Won
derful instrument Is already nearing con-
struction in the palace of Optics" near
the bottom of the Eiffel tower The big
tube will be made Of twenty-four enormous
steel castings, each ~ feet long and Az
feet in diameter. The thing Is being built
by M. Gauthier, the most celebrated opti-
cal instrument maker in France.