The Portland daily press., 1900-05-17
WORLDS FAIRS
OF THE PAST.
Large Amounts Of Money Have Been
Made and Lost In Great Inter-
national Expositions.

Now that the great Paris Exposition
has ut last been opened one Is naturally
curious to know how the financial end
Of such an immense exhibition Is man
aged. While Il Is one thing to be able
10 persuade all the nations of the world
to contribute to the artistic success OF
such an enterprise II Is quite another
matter to so arrange the OUTLAWS and ex-
penditures as to leave a balance on the
right side of the book when the turn
stile has Mt last retired from business.
At the present moment the reports
from Paris are roseate enough to lead
one to imagine that there can be nothing
but profit in tine affair, but those who are
acquainted vita sthe nature of the ex-
penditures do not hesitate to say that
managers of the big show will find II
no easy matter to make botn ends meet.
In fact. 1t is freely limited that there
will be an immense deficit Mt the close
of the season. but even IL this should
prove TO be the case ii will by no means
be the first time that international ex-
positions have been run at a loss.
Among the several nations that have
! held worlds fairs in the past, England
has been one of the most successful
from financial point OF view. The first
great International exhibition ever held
in the woild was given by Great Britain
in 1851. and for that time II was most
amazing affair.
Architects from NIL parts of the world
submitted designs. and the one chosen,
that OF Joseph Paxton, now comprises
| the buildings of the Crystal Palace.
| Sydenham. The entire floor space con-
sisted OF no less than twenty-three acres.
while the area of the buildings covered
nineteen acres OF ground. No less than
1900 tons of iron were used in the
structure and when the exposition was
opened Mt 2 o'clock on October Z, there
were $4,000 people assembled under that
one roof 1t is needless to say that such
novelty was genuine success. the
| profits of the affair being fully $J2O,O0O
FIRST BIG SHOW.
1t was the success of this exposition
that persuaded France to inaugarate n
| similar movement, and In 1888 she gave
| her first big show at Paris. Artistically
| il was great success. The buildings,
| which were most attractive, covered
+! twcnty-nine acres of ground, and the
number of exhibitors was not less than
2I,G0O. Financially. however. the affair
was most dismal failure, for when the
| gates were closed the treasurer reported
a deficit of $I.350.000.
In 1861 brave effort was made to
| give n worlds fair at Florence, Italy.
| but for several reasons the nations ditl
not respond with the alacrity that had
! been anticipated and the experiment cost
| its projectors n round sum OF money.
| A year later the second big English
| exhibition was held at London and II
would undoubtedly have been another
unqualified success IL the death OF the
| Prince Consort had not occurred. As II
was, however, the receipts so nearly
| balanced the expenditures that there was
| a deficit of something less than 100000.
| Not at all discouraged by the failure
| of her first experiment. France held an
| other exhibition in 1867. This time II
was a success in every sense of the word.
The floor space OF the buildings alone
| occupied an area of thirty-six acres. and.
| for-the first time, the exhibits were so
| arranged that each nation occupied a
separate division. During the progress
| OF the exhibition over 100000 persons
paid for admission. and the books showed
| a surplus over all expenses of nearly
| $4,000.
1t was this success that inspired the
| people OF Vienna TO indulge in a similar
enterprise in 1873. and they went about
| il in most elaborate manner. Tho total
| cost of the buildings alone exceeded $10,-
100000, and no money was spared t.