Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-28
PHILADELPHIA AND Omaha.

According to all accounts the Inter
national Export exposition, which will
close its gates on the LIST of December,
has not met the expectation of its pro
iectors. Congress had voted $500, 900
to this enterprise, as against S24O,OOO
voted to Omaha. including the Indian
encampment expenditure, and the city
of Philadelphia had contributed nearly
SjOO,0O0 more. With all it's attractions
the Philadelphia exposition failed to
draw, even though 1t was held in a city
of over 100000 population and 5000
600 more within a radius of 200 miles
The tiasco at Philadelphia is attributed
very nearly to the same causes that
played havoc with the Greater America
Exposition.
In discussing its vulnerable points n
Philadelphia paper makes this dcclara-
tion:
"An exposition of false pretenses
hurts the city. An acknowledgment of
the truth is better than further at
tempts at cOncealment. Exhibitors al
most unanimously express the opinion
that the side shows on the Midway had
been made the most important feature
of the show and that fact kept away the
multitude. The thing is a big fake so
far as the export feature is concerned.
Instead of exhibits by representative
American industries such as you would
expect to find in an export exposition
you see lot of stores set up for the
sale of department store goods"
representative of Il great New York
manufacturing house declares in the
Philadelphia Evening Telegraph:
We were led to believe that this was to be
an exposition that was to be national in scope
and intended to bring the various exhibitors
in close touch with the representatives Of
foreign governments. l have been here daily
since the exposition opened and l can say
that it appears to be nothing more than
local concern. We manufacture line OF
machinery that is intended for export trade
and yet the managers of this concern have
done nothing to bring the foreign delegates )
anywhere near us. The word national"
should be cut out of the title of the show
We have done little business with foreign
countries since we have been located in this
building but this was not due to any effort
on the part of the exposition people. | think
that the manner in which this exposition has
been conducted has done more to hinder
trade with foreign countries than it has to
advance it. Expositions such as this will
give a black eye to other events in this co n
try that are to be conducted for the same
purpose. l believe that after the Buffalo
exhibition there will be no attempt at an
international exhibition for many years.
The experience Of these who have been in
duced to come here will make manufacturers
very cautious about renting space in other
expositons.
The most suggestive Outcropping of
the Philadelphia misft is the contro.
versy over the department of publicity.
In self-eXtenuation its recently deposed
manager in an open letter accuses the
redoubtable Edmund A. Fielder with of
fensive partisanship towards the coun.
try editors and always quoting the ex-
ample of Omaha as a criterion for ad-
vertising the Philadelphia show. 1t
will be remembered that in Omaha
Fielder was one of the ghost dancers
who were constantly bowling about the
incompetency of the department of pub
licity and its dismal failure to adver-
tise the exposition, when in fact the
Transmississippi Exposition was better
advertised than any other American eX-
position, barring the Worlds fair. While
Fielder is n man of wide experience with
eXpositons his versatility would COM
mend him more for Midway exploits
than for directing the management of
an international exposition.
AS seen from this point of view the
disastrous experiment at Philadelphia is
chargeable more to the lack of compe-
tent and conscientious management and
the subordinaton of the exposition
proper to the sideshows on the Midway
than it was to inadequate advertising.
Philadelpha's great newspapers and
magazines, which rank among the abiest
and best in America, gave the most lib
eral encouragement to the Export eX-
position, and the New York dailies. as
well ms those in cities within n days
travel of Philadelphia, devoted much
space to it.
The squabbe about passes TO. editors
was as unseemly at Philadelphia as II
was disgraceful and outrageous at
Omaha. 1t belittled the craft and re-
fiected seriously on American journal
ism. The true cause of the fasco at
Philadelphia was the failure to meet
popular expectation, which is becoming
more eXacting from year to year. Each
exposition must excel the preceding ones
in most features and every attempt to
play on popular crcdulity by fake ad-
vertising is sure to provoke unfavorable
comparisons and almost inevitably ends
in failure.