Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-11
A VAST UNIVERSITY
Educational Value of the st.
Louis Exposition.
THE DAILY CONCERTS
WORLDS GREATEST ORGAN IN
FESTIVAL HALL.
Courses of Lectures Given in a Dozen
Different Halls-Series of In
ternational Congresses.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
| chicago Record Herald.
! ST. LOUIS, October 1, 1904
AS Frederick ]. V. Skiff observed in his
| eloquent address of welcome to the dele
gates to the International Congress of Arts
and Sciences, the Louisiana purchase expo
| sition is vast university Its buildings
are filled with exhibits representing the re-
suits of human endeavor in every part of
the world, and are laboratories where stu
dents may see how those results have been
accomplished. Art, science, history, ethnol-
ogy and all the other branches of learning
and research are represented more COM
pletely than ever before, and history is
| spread out upon the grounds by a series
of object lessons, some of which have been
pointed out to you already in these letters.
Every channel of human thought, every
field of human activity, every purpose Of
human ambition is illustrated here, and no
man or woman is so obtuse that he or she
can pass through the grounds without learn
ing something.
| Aside from the museums and the labora-
| tories the art galleries, the historical col
| lections and other exhibits, which are al
ways open to the students, there is play
ground for athletic sports, which is always
| occupied; there are healthful and whole
some forms of exercise always in practice,
and 1.-The pike affords field for amuse-
| ment and diversion.
The Greatest Organ Ever Built.
Those who are fond of music can attend
a classical concert at the festival hall every
| day, where the greatest organ that was
ever built is exercised by selected perform
ers from all nations. The organ is sixty
three feet long, thirty feet deep. fifty feet
| high has 40 stops, ninety-nine mechanical
movements, 10,059 pipes, twenty tubular
| chimes and 1916 electric switches capable
n OsO Is-%f
nations of tones. The largest metal pipe
| weighs $40 pounds, and an ordinary man
can easily crawl through it, The largest
| wood pipe is more than two feet square in
| side, and weighs nearly a ton. There are
| 1870 miles of electric wire, and 300 magnets
inside the organ. The afr is furnished by
The entire weight of the organ is 100000
pounds, and 1t filled twelve of the largest
furniture railway cars when 1t was brought
from Los Angeles, Cal, where 1t was built.
| The next largest organ in the United
States is In the Mormon Tabernacle at Salt
Lake City. The next largest in the world
| is in the cathedral at Haarlem, Holland.
| Although the organ concerts are severely
| classical festival hall is usually crowded,
| and it seats 1000 people. 1t is convincing
| evidence of the musical taste OF the patrons
! of this fair that 5000 or 5000 Of them are
| willing every day to pay admission lee 10
hear Bachs Fugues and other serious
organ music. The audiences are made up
OF ali kinds of people, as you may judge by
| the garments they wear anu the cut VI
their whiskers. Many of them are from the
| country and never had an opportunity OF
hearing good music before They seem TO
enjoy it, and to appreciate Its quality, ana
| 1t certainly does them good.
| The concerts take place at noon. and per-
haps some people are drawn there for rest
| as we'll as culture. That certainly has been
my motive for several visits. After tramp
ing over the grounds and through the pulld-
ings for two or three hours until your head
aches and your legs refuse to perform their
| functions it is a most grateful relief to hnd
| yourself in such a restful place, and nave
| YOUR tired senses soothed, refreshed and
| stimulated by such music as is 1urnlshed at
| festival hall. l am sure that many nnd IL
so. The man who sat next to me TOOK OH
his boots and breathed a sigh OF relief as
he showed them under the seat. L knew
| exactly how he felt and l wished that L
could take mine on also.
Plenty of Music.
There is always plenty of music about
the grounds, half dozen bands being In
constant employment, and they are the best
bands In the world, having been brought
from Europe, Mexico South America ana
the Philippines, as well as from several
cities of the United States The music has
been a notable feature of the e1posltlon'
| and has cost several hundred thousand doi-
lars The Philippine band has been sur
prise and a qualification, as l wrote you
from Manila that 1t would be. Whle It's
and training of the members OF the euro
mean organizations those OF the United
States, and are defective in technique, they
make up for such deficiencies by the nat
ural taste spirit and precision with which
thew play Trey have been brought into
comparison with the best bands OF England
France and Germany, and will carry home
a certificate of triumph.
All the best organists of the country ana
several of the best in Europe have been en-
gagged for stated periods, several OF the pest
choral societies have given concerts, ana
will continue to do so until the eho VI the
| exposition.
In the German section of the varied in
dustries building is an orchestrion which
am told is superior to the best that was
! ever heard here in this country ana II mas
| been sold to a st. Louis gentleman. Similar
orchestrions are to be found In the palaces
| of the native princes of India. They are
| very fond of music, and find that mechani-
cal organs or pianos give them as much
satisfaction as any other. The Sultan of
Turkey has six orchestrions in his different
| palaces, and you find them also in the royal
| palaces in Italy, Austria, Roumania, Egypt.
| Greece Russia and other countries. The
| finest and largest orchestrions in this coun-
try are in the residences of Fred w. Van
| derbilt at Newport, Claus Spreckles at San
Francisco and Charles H. Cummings at
| Mauch Chunk.
Daily Lectures.
Courses of lectures are given daily in
dozen halls throughout the exposition
| grounds by what Director Skiff has termed
the faculty of this great university. Since
| early in May there has been series of in
ternational congresses of delegates on liter
AZURE, science, arts and industry, under the
| direction of Frederick w. Lehman. chair
man of the ST. Louis local committee and
Howard ]. Rogers assistant superintendent
of education for New York state, who is
| chief of the department of education and
social economy. These congresses have at
| tracted to ST. Louis the foremost thinkers
and workers of the world, who have deliv-
! cred lectures and read papers Of great i'm
| portance bearing upon their special lines Of
thought and inquiry. There has been
| scarcely day since the exposition opened
, | that the lecture halls that are scattered
| about the grounds have been unoccupied,
, and usually they are crowded because no
| onnortunitY has ever been offered In this