Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-29
st. Louis Fair Compared With
Chicago's.
MANY IMPROVEMENTS
NOTHING IN THE WORLD TO COM
PARE WITH THE PLAZA.
Facilities for Getting About Grounds
Better Arrangement of Ex-
hibits Than in 1893.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald
ST. LOUIS. September IS, 1904.
You can figure on the bigness of this ex-
position until you are blind, but you cannot
comprehend until you have been here and
attempted to see things. The distances are
great; everything is so enormous; there
is so much to admire and attract in every
direction that the day and your strength
are gone before you have accomplished half
or even a quarter of what you planned to
do whom you started out In the morning.
Three mornings in succession have 1 started
for the Illinois state building. but have
never been able to get within half mile of
Ii. There was so much to see on the way.
The finest exhibit of all is the buildings
and other architectural work The EXPOSE
ton is colossal picture, as we'll as what
Mckinley so aptly termed "a timekeeper of
progress and II is also an epitome of hui
man activity during the last ten years. All
progress, here considered, dates from the
Columbian exposition at Chicago.
The architectural picture is not so COM
pact or harmonious or charming as that
we saw at the Pan-American exposition at
Buffalo. 1t lacks the color, the continuity
and grace, and nothing here excels the
court of honor at Chicago, although several
exquisite vistas. at least two of them, per-
haps three, are very nearly If not quite
equal to it. Leaving that out of the COM
parison, the plaza of st. Louis, the central
and chief feature of this exposition is
above and beyond everything that has ever
been achieved in the history of architec-
ture, the greatest triumph in design and
construction that we know 1t is much
larger than the court of honor at Chicago
and has several details surprising any
there, particularly the cascades 1000 gal
I'm
minute ninety feet down series of basins
INTO lagoon surrounded by trees flowers
shrubs and turf, which we could not have
at Chicago.
Must All Pass Away.
II makes one sad to be reminded that all
'nis beauty, glory and majesty will be torn
away. 1t Is a pity that it cannot be pre
served In marble. Festival hail. designed
by Cass Gilbert of New York, surpasses in
beauty Hunts administration building at
Chcaso, and occupies similar RESPONSE
pllty In the architectural scheme of the
exposition. And 1t stands upon an emf
hence hundred feet or more above the
surrounding buildings, its stately proper
tons and graceful embellishments apnear
to better advantage
There Is nothing in all the world to COM
pare with the plaza of ST. Louis Not in
London. nor Paris nor Vienna nor ST
Petersburg. The nearest approach to it is
st Peters at Rome. with its long colon
metry and splendor of St Peters are
married by the ugly walls of the Vatican.
Whlch 1roWn upon IL from the right hand
centuries ago, no doubt, the Acropolis at !
Athens may have surpassed ii in beauty
but We can only imagine what that was
and even the Greeks were unable to intro
duce in their picture the trees and shrub
berry and lawns and flowers that add so
much to the beauty of the picture YOU can
witness here.
The color of the buildings at ST. Louis
is delicate buff, which is a great improve
ment upon the white that dazzled the eyes
at Chicago.
Beautiful Spectacle at Night.
The scene at night is quite as effective as
during the day, for while the spectacular
effects of lie illumination do not equal
those at Buffalo the calm and silent splen-
dor will make impression upon an ar
ustic soul that can never be effaced The
outlines of every building within sight are
marked with stars. The entire exposition
is bedecked with diamonds. Five hundred
thousand -sxteen-candle power bulbs have
been used for decorative purposes. The
regular evening illumination is the largest
item in the bill of daily expenses 1t costs
5000 to light up the grounds from sunset
to midnight.
Alternate bulbs of crimson and pale green
have been placed upon festival hall and its
approaches. and similar arrangements have
cascades, so that after one has fastened
the Incompatible picture into his memory
IN white light the senses are delighted by
transformation The dome and colonnades
appear in deep reddish glow and a few
minutes later in a delicate green. The dia-
monds are changed to rubes and then to
emeraldS.
If there is choice among the several
buildings l think that devoted to the edu-
cauonal exhibit is the favorite. 1t is more
modest than most OF the others, and critics
say II Is without a flaw. The mining build
ing Is more novel and sensational and
makes a striking picture but, at the same
time, Its most prominent features are fam
tasuc and lncongruous, and you wonder
why the architect mixed his metaphors as
one might say, In such conspicuous and
inexpicable manner. He has placed Egyp-
tan obelisks in front of Byzantine arches
and Gree k columns and capitals The gov
eminent building, by j. Knox Taylor of
Washington. occupies the most slightly emil |
hence on the grounds, and stands next to
the festival hall in beauty. 1t is the most
dignfed appropriate and worthy building
the government has ever erected at an ex-
position and again you regret that 1t must
be torn down. / imagine, however, that
the plans may be adapted without much
alteration. for federal building in some
of our cities. All who have admired 1t here
will hope that it may be reproduced in per-
manent materials.
Some of the Notable Statues.
Speaking generally, the decorations of the
buildings. the statuary about the grounds
and other features, do not equal those at
Chicago, but there several individual
pieces which critics estimate higher than
anything had there, and they, too,
should be preserved. The employees of the
exposition are talking about raising fund
among themselves to reproduce In bronze
or marble as their memorial the splendid
statue of st. Louis, King of France, which
stands at the opposite end of the plaza
from festival hall. 1t is by Charles H.
Niehaus. and by far his greatest work
Others have suggested the reproduction of
a bas relief by Karl Bitter at the base of
the Louisiana monument, representing the
transfer of Louisiana territory. That
would not be so expensive, and the theme
is quite as appropriate. although the work
Is inferior.
think a unanimous verdict would place
Daniel c. French's statue of Napoleon at
the head of the list of statuary. He rep
resents the man who sold US Louisiana
sprawled in his chair with a map of North |
america lying across his knees. The face |
Is youthful, the features are conventional, |
the attitude Is easy and natural and the ex- |
preston Is taking. Unfortunately this the |
best piece of sculpture at the exposition is |