The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-13
DETAILS OF THE EXHIBIT
WHAT the Government Has at the
Big Buffalo Show.
The Display Constitutes Il Report to
the People, Says One OF the Com
uITS~ioucrS Mail Carrying ana
Life Among the Men of the Navy.

. Life Among the Men of the Navy.
BUFFALO. y y. May ia member
Of the United States Government board
for the Pan-American Exposition said in
. his speech ON the opening day that the
display in the Government Building was
in the nature Of a report to the people
I Doubtless there is no other country in the
/ world where the people are so keeuIy in
! tercsted in all that the Government is do
! Ing as thy are in the United States. Yet
even here there IS a proportion small in
deed of persons who have the patience to
read actual reports of departments Of the
! Government. The people who visit Buff
/ faIo this summer VIII carry away with
them more knowledge of what the Gov
/ erETceat has done and is doing than all
the people of the country would learn IN
,vvJnty years by the study Of reports
. Reading is dull and figures are duiIerr but
everybody likes object lessons
The United States Government is a IA
nous exhibitor at fairs. and always has
. its space ready before anybody else This
I time the Government exhibit is the only
! one which can be iuteIlisently discussed
as a whole at the opening of the eNpoS1-
tion. Il is so nearly finished that what is
{ left to be done is mere detail Indeed, II
Is not unlikely that it will be absolutely
complete when this article is printed
There is no other department of the
( Government which comes so close to the
( whole people as the pOstoffice. That even
. q Government department may have
. sense OF humor is shown by the case%
filed with strange articles which have
been from time to time committed to the
care Of the mails There must have been
/ something wrong about then-Iack Of
able character-or else, of course, they
/ would have been deIiveed, instead of be
ing here The collection includes hats,
. shoes, Sabots, q tin coffee pot, iron chains,
/ q lamp chimney, d cocoanut without
/ wrapper. the address written and the
stamps stuck on its husk- a whole ham
and an umbrella. one OF the most curious
; OF all is letter removed from its wrap
per, if it ever had one. and bearing the
stamp of the Dead Letter Office 1t is
written with pencil on a piece Of board,
about two feet long and a foot wide. 1t
may have been detained for want Of post
( age, for the letter rate on it must have
( come TO a small fortune. 1t is written by
q man to a former sweetheaR and re-
/ proaches her for faithIessness- AS she
/ never received the letter in the regular
/ way, IL is TO be hoped that she will chance
! to come TO the exposition and viii see it,
Z and that it VIII harrow her heart with
( the thought of her perfdy and it's public
/ exposure.
! The methods of carrying mails. old and
! new are shown by wax groups, models
| and, in one OF two cases, by actual con
/ veyances. Among the last named is Il
/ battered old mail coach, built in 1858, II
! which President Garfield. President Ar
/ thur, and General Sherman all rode in
their time a man Of wax, on a stuffed
] 30 -L~E-- t. =
! in Porto Rico when the -Spaniard ruled,
and the tropical scenery around him is in
striking contrast TO the landscape Of
! Northern Michigan in the alcoVe adjOin-
ing In this space is another Waxen man,
I warmly wrapped up and walking or run
ming on suowshoes beside q toboggan
drawn by dogs EXclamat tons OF aston
/ ishment come from the most Of the vis-
itors before this group at the information
| that this mode Of mail carrying is in
I vogue in one Of the United States
The contrast of the old and the new
methods Of ocean mail carrying is shown
by the model Of the steamer Southerner
the first steam vessel which carried mails
/ across the Atlantic, placed beside the
models Of the Paris, the Oceanic. the
| Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse. and the Lor-
Talne- me SoutheFner, with her paddle
! boxes projecting far out from her sides
! looks like a model Of one of the little
! Thames steamers There is nothing, AT
all resembling her IN these waters now.
These models illustrate the progress Of
the arts Of peace and the most eficacious
means Of the advancement of civilization.
just across the passage from them ara
the models Of Warships, which, some say,
are agents in the advancement Of civil
cation also Others think differently But
/ there they are, and every American who
sees them may be proud Of his country $
navy Even more interesting than the
separate ships is the huge map of the
world with tiny ships, one for each of
the actual vessels Of the navy. placed
upon il and moved about from day to day
TO show the position Of the vessels. The
n Al -Far c. ~~Tr1 W
I ateIy between that of the Holland sub
/ marine boat and some big shells.
a little way of is a reproduction Of
/ I3-inCh gun, split through the middle to
/ show what the inside of it would look
/ like, If anybody could ever look at il in
/ that way Taken thus out of its natural
I surroundings and placed in a house It
! looks a quarter of q mile long Then. TO
! show what the American sailor lives or.
there are boxes Of bareback and jars Of
decidedly attractive looking salt beef and
pork
A group Of men of the navy hold re-
ceution on a raised platform Admiral
| p.vr.r- i in Tho middle and Ground F,i-1
| IS a select company. consisting Of one
man from each rank Of the service. down
to the common seaman
The equipment Of the War Department
! does not lend itself 50 readily to repro
auctions by models. nor has II the glamour
/ of the sea to aid its interest. but it eX-
| nibits abundant guns and munitions and
/ horses. and that faithful and invaluable
/ public servant. the army mule
/ The whole exhibit seems almost entirely
/ made up Of models New sorts are found
/ in the SPACE devoted to the Smithsonian
( Institution These show types Of the abor-
4 EginaI inhabitants of America. from
I Alaska to Patagonia, and something Of
/ their habits and modes Of life. There are
! iife-size family groups, and there are min
! iature. representations Of dwellings, and
I bits Of landscape, with the people chaTac-
/ te-i=tiCally disposed about them Cases Of
animals. fishes. birds and minerals I'll out
There are models and models in the ok
hibits Of the Geological Survey, the Patent
/ Office and the Department Of Indian 4 +
fairs In this last department there IS a
Z most fascinating collection Of drawings Of
men and things in Alaska, by native art
lists They have the naive simplicity of
I chUd's pictures on his slate at school but
/ they tell much about the country There
are pictures of people and costumes plans
( of houses and scenes and incidents in hunt
: ing fishing. working, fighting. eating,
sleeping, and playing 1t IS most in
! structive collection. but it is to be feared
/ that the artists have drawn slightly on
I their Imagination or else on legend or
r9vt biology at times. for there is one picture
/ Of a great bird flying away with whale
/ while other whales float about in the sea
below. with fGur-ffthS Of their bodies out
| Of the water, to show TO all the world that
! they are Enthusiastically whales. The rein
/ deer figuring prominently in the pictures
| and the models, IS an object of especial
! interest just now, on account OF the eff
. animal in greater numbers. for the saliva
/ ton Of the inhabitants The very exist
| ence of the people OF Alaska IS threatened
/ because of the want of food due to the de-
! structiOn of whales and seals and fish
I and the hope seems to be in the reindeer,