The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-24
tstaft correspondent.)
st. Louis. May 2lst, hoo

St. Louis. May 21st, 1904. It is safe to hazard the bold asser- l ton that never in the history of this terrestrial globe has there been any thing in the way of exposi- tions SO gigantic. stupendous and am- bilious in it's vast scope as the Louis lana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis. l To attempt description Of 1t would | not only be manifestly absurd and l futile, but would be trying to enconn- pass the impossible--one has to be in reality from Missouri and be shown" | to- have anything like the faintest ap- preciation of the gigantic affair. For three years thousands of laborers un- der the direction of the most 'celebrat- cd architects, designers. artists, etc.. of the United States, Europe and the world at large have labored in season and out of season, day and night, and the fact that 1t will be some days yet before the magic "30" Is pronounced gives an idea of the stupendousness of the undertaking. Even in it's unfin- ished state the St. Louis Exposition Is so far ahead of anything that was ever dreamed of at the Worlds Fair in Chicago that comparisons would be insane. The result of the labors of these thousHnds of artists, designers and architects has been to present a miniature world of dazzling brilliancy. One of the first features that strikes a visitor is the substantial manner in which every one of the buildings has been erected--it seems criminal when one thinks that within less than a year from to-day these gilded palaces, gorgeous, glittering and bewildering in their magnifcence will be razed to the ground and a big part of the mill lions of dollars of work sold for junk The exposition flls-and the word fills" is used advisedly---something over 1900 acres of ground--a space larger than the city of Montgomery was before it took kindly to the the- ory of expansion and became chesty by taking in Greater Montgomery" To attempt a detailed description and enumeration of the various buildings would be to lose oneself in maze and lsbyrith so enmeshing that the full purport of not Knowing where you are at" would come home in all of it's significance. The Agricultural build ing--the largest structure in the known world-covers an area of some thing over fourteen acres---a space of ground greater than four or live city blocks in Montgomery. One of the
 
 is the old Cabildo in New Orleans faithful repetition and representation of the old building where the formal transfer of the vast territory known as the Louisiana Purchase" was made. The old desk with the official papers and signatures of the accredited rep- resentatives of President Jefferson of the United States and King Louis of France. In the courtyard behind the building is the old iron-barred jail with the rack, stocks and other pleas ant instruments of torture. The build Ing Is perfect in the thorough com pleteness of its every detail, and 1t re- quires very little effort of imaglna- tion for you to fancy yourself in the original building down in the delight ful Crescent City at the other end of the mighty Mississippi flowing by St. Louis The building is in charge of pr. W. c. Stubbs. the commissioner from Louisiana, who was for some years professor of chemistry In the Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Au- burn.
 The Alabama exhibit in charge of MT. J. A. Mcknight with its monsteH, Vulcan, giant of steel towering 73i feet in the air, easily holds the lions share of attention in its building.
 The greatest boon for visitors is the Intermural railway which runs from end to end of the grounds-its route is by most of the places of interest on the grounds and by its doubling and looping its length is eight miles,
 The following figures will serve to show the extent of the undertaking, figures comparing the size of six of the greatest expositions ever held in the world:
 Acres. Louisiana Purchase Exposition. St.
 Louis ........~ ....... ....-...1,24 240 Columbian Exposition, Chicago .. 633 Pan-American Exposition. Buffalo. 300 Trans Mississippi Exposition,
 Omana ............ 15O Paris Exposition, 1Ss9-1900 ... 336 Centennial Exposition, Phhadel-
 The Worlds Fair Is reality. The years of intelligent planning and un- renitting effort have been rewarded The accomplished thing is immeasura- bly, superior and more glorious than the most vivid imagination can pie ture The world has never produced anything to compare with it. The ex- position Is so large that as yet no man will say he has seen 1t all. When the visitor enters the main gate and sees the great exposition in full swing the feeling that he was prepared for such glorles is dissipated The Plaza of St. Louis opens to him and invol- untarily he joins the throng. Ere he