The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1922-03-11
MANY FAIRS TO
BE HELD IN 1922
Commercial Exhibitions Spring.
ing to Life After Discourage
" ment of War Years.
FAIRS THAT GO TO PEOPLE
Future May See Fair Established in
Ark Of Air Capable Of Carrying
Message Of Progress and Gull
ture to Remote Places,

Washington.-"From Winnipeg to
Rio de Janeiro, and from Christiania
and Algiers to Singapore and Tokyo.
commercial fairs and exhibitions are
springing to life after the discourage
ment of war years, and are playing an
increasingly important part in max
ing nations acquainted with each other
and with the kinds of lives each
leads" says bulletin from the Wash
1ngton headquarters Of the National
Geographic society. The bulletin
points out that greater number of
such expositions is scheduled for 1922
than those held in pre-war days in a
decade.
"Fairs have been important factors
in the lives Of nations and in the evo-
luton of society ITSELF" continues the
bulletin. "But in order to survive they
have had to go through some vital
changes. They probably started in the
dim days OF prehistoric Asia as sort of
irregular markets held at relatively
long intervals; and during the Middle
Ages when transportation was difficult
they were the chief agencies of Eu-
ropean trade.
A Few Old Types Survive.
where conditions have remained
relatively primitive the famous old
fairs have continued to function until
today. The annual fair at Mimi
Novgorod continued largely to dom
mate the commercial life of Russia
until the revolution, and even since
then the distribution Of foodstuffs, tex
tiles and furs through this old gather
ing place of traders has been an i'm
portant item. For centuries it has
been the gigantic exchange counter
between vast areas Of Asia and Eu-
rope.
-. In the portions of the world well
developed with highways, canals, rail
ways and ocean ports, both the local
and international fairs of the old type.
devoted largely to the distribution of
staple supplies, died out. But the fair
idea lived on, merely changing its
form. Special industries and groups
Of industries began holding expositions
in England and France, and the idea
spread to other countries.
Before a great while these local
lied and restricted exhibits expanded
to include many industries, those of
foreign lands as we'll as their own
Soon came the full-fedged worlds
fairs, the first of which was held in -
London in 1851. Many have been held
since, both in America and Europe,
Paris holding the palm for numbers.
"But at the root Of the world fairs
or international expositions was the
idea of general education, and closely
connected with it was the amusement
aspect. They served we'll as occa-
sional more or less sugar-coated DEM
onstrations Of the progress Of the
world, but they failed to measure up
to the efficiency standards of the mod
ern distributor. Side by side with
them had grown up special interna-
tional industrial exhibits and sample
fairs, and by the outbreak Of the
World war these had been forged into
modern agencies meeting Twentieth
century conditions. Now that all ma
lions are girding themselves for an
after-the-war scramble for trade such
fairs are being held on all sides.
Samples Of almost every conceiv-
able manufactured product and ma
chine are sent to some Of these ex-
hibits, duty free, and orders are So
licited from the buyers who gather
from various countries. Among the
fairs Of this sort which have become
established institutions are those held
in London, Birmingham, Bordeaux,
Lyons, Brussels, Dresden, Leipzig,
Prague, Barcelona and Milan; and in
dozens of other cities it is planned to
hold such exhibits annually.
Fairs That Go to the People.
'Tn meeting modern conditions not
only have fairs been placed on sam
pie basis and confined largely to spe-
cialities, machines and manufactured
articles, but they are seeking out still
more efficient methods of reaching
larger numbers Of potential buyers.
Italian manufacturers have adopted
/ the floating fair, fitting out special
exhibit ship which anchors for time
in the various ports around the rim
of the Mediterranean from Port Said
to Marseilles. French distributors
carried the idea Of a travelling fair
still further last year, sending an ex-
hibit train across Canada; and a
Czechoslovak train of a similar sort
has just finished two months tour
through the Balkans and Poland. Per-
haps 1t is not too extravagant vision
to see the fair which had its humble
beginning In some far off Asiatic oasis,
established In an ark Of the air and
capable Of carrying its message of
progress and foreign culture to every
little center of Industry and Iifan