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CONTENTS:

Preface
I [1]. Fairs of the Past
II [2]. Historical Sketch of Chicago
III [3]. Evolution of the Columbian Exposition
IV [4]. The Site, the Plan, and the Artificers
V [5]. Exposition Management, Congress Auxiliary, and Finances
VI [6]. From the Dedication to the Opening - The Naval Review
VII [7]. The Government and Administration Departments
VIII [8]. Manufactures of the United States
IX [9]. Foreign Manufactures
X [10]. Liberal Arts
XI [11]. Woman's Department
XII [12]. Machinery
XIII [13]. Agriculture
XIV [14]. Electricity
XV [15]. Horticulture and Forestry
XVI [16]. Mines, Mining, and Metallurgy
XVII [17]. Fisheries and Pisciculture
XVIII [18]. Transportation
XIX [19]. The Live-Stock Department
XX [20]. Anthropology and Ethnology
XXI [21]. Fine Arts Part A
XXI [21]. Fine Arts Part B
XXII [22]. State Exhibits
XXIII [23]. State Exhibits
XXIV [24]. The Midway Plaisance
XXV [25]. Foreign Exhibits
XXVI [25]. The World's Congress Auxiliary
XXVII [27]. Results, Awards, and Incidents
XXVIII [28]. The California Midwinter International Exposition
INDEX

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PREFACE
 
Among monuments marking the progress of civilization throughout the ages, 
the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 will ever stand conspicuous. 
Gathered here are the forces which move humanity and make history, the 
ever-shifting powers that fit new thoughts to new conditions, and shape 
the destinies of mankind. Evidenced on every side are subordinations of 
the physical and the enduring supremacy of mind, while ready at hand are 
all those contrivances of civilization which help to elevate and ennoble 
man, to refine his tastes, enlarge his ideas, enrich his interests, and 
further his deliverance from the despotisms of nature. Halos of fresh 
thought descend and possess us. Questions and ambitions arise, instinct 
with new powers and new purposes. Objects of beauty meet the eye and 
illume the imagination; the aroma of culture fills the air, and knowledge 
is drawn in at every breath. Here is vitalizing food for men of 
reflection, for men of action, a wealth of stored experiences which comes 
to us as an inheritance of the past and a promise of the future - 
instrumentalities, each having its influence on the social structure, to 
the greater unity of mind in all that pertains to the happiness of the 
race. Men are flashes of thought, which come and go; results alone remain. 
Human nature changes but little, if at all; it is in this laboratory of 
life, with its enkindling, energizing potency, that are found those 
realities of progress which underlie the surface polish of society, and 
which carry all before them. 

Obviously, a gathering like this of men and things from every quarter, 
each country contributing of its best, must promote intellectual activity 
and physical energy, and accelerate progress in all its departments. As 
the intellectual and industrial are quickened, so are the moral and 
aesthetical, the tendency being to enlarge the social ideal, to lessen the 
evils of isolation, and bring into greater prominence organization in 
humanity. There is an education which seems perpetually to test the 
intellectual possibilities of man; an education which comes from the 
commingling of peoples and the comparison of things, quickening sympathy 
and promoting harmony in the whole human family; an education for the 
educated, for the intelligent and studious, who naturally derive the 
greatest benefit and enjoyment from that intercourse which stimulates 
thought, and tends to the repression of learned egotism. 

As the work of social reconstruction proceeds, the spirit of unity 
strengthens, and intellectual supremacy becomes more and more pronounced, 
for we must henceforth look to social power for our greatest benefits, 
political power having already bestowed upon us its best.

More than forty years have elapsed since the first of the great world's 
fairs was opened in London, covering a space of a million square feet, and 
contained within the walls of a single edifice. At the time it was 
regarded as a marvellous achievement, an undertaking which would not be 
again attempted, and certainly would not be excelled for many a year to 
come. But the success of this exposition, its financial success, its 
success as an artistic and spectacular display, and as a display of 
industrial products and mechanical inventions, quickly led to others, each 
surpassing its predecessor in magnitude, and for the most part in the 
character of its exhibits. Just as the London Exhibition of 1851 was 
thrown into the shade by those held later in Paris, Vienna, and in London 
itself, so all were eclipsed by the Philadelphia Fair, which, on the 
hundredth anniversary of the nation's birth, introduced a new era in the 
nation's industries and arts. Even on a more magnificent scale was the 
Paris Exposition of 1889, the centennial anniversary of the founding of 
the first republic. All these efforts, however, have been surpassed by the 
Chicago Exposition, dedicated in October, 1892, to the great navigator, 
who four centuries ago set foot on the New World shores, opening the way 
for the founding in this western hemisphere of many nations and 
governments. But though the plan of the present international exposition 
arose in the desire to celebrate in a proper manner the discovery of 
America by Columbus, the originating idea was made subordinate to the 
purposes of progress, and the celebration soon became lost in the 
exhibition. A hundred years hence it may be this Exposition will itself be 
deemed worthy of a celebration, and that without other excuse than its 
merits, for at the Chicago Exposition there is no greater wonder than the 
Exposition - except Chicago.

During the four decades that have elapsed since the date of the first 
universal exposition, such marvels have been wrought in the way of 
industrial, mechanical, and commercial enterprise as have placed the world 
as many old-time centuries forward in the path of progress. In 1851 there 
were in the United States but a few thousand miles of railroad and 
telegraph line. There are now 170,000 miles of the former, and more than 
that mileage of the latter. Apart from telegraphy the uses of electricity 
were almost unknown. It is now applied to locomotion, the the lighting of 
streets and buildings, and to other purposes for which but a few years ago 
its application would have been deemed impossible. Of still more recent 
origin are such marvels of inventive ingenuity as the telephone and 
phonograph. Meanwhile, improvements in mechanical appliances have more 
than doubled our volume of agricultural and manufactured production, 
giving to us the means of supplying all Europe with food staples and all 
the world with manufactured wares. The decades of the past, however, have 
not proved more prolific of beneficial results to the race than will the 
decades of the future. Following each one of these throngings of humanity, 
wherein all men and nations are brought nearer to one another, into closer 
commercial, political and social relationships, is a general awakening of 
intellect, and a further polish given to the surface of human affairs.

And as in its ethical influence this industrial display is but little 
behind its intellectual and material influence, so in the artistic it is 
but little behind the ethical. If for science and industry an historical 
panorama like this does so much, for art and the cultivation of the 
beautiful it will do more. The Exhibition itself, and taken as a whole, is 
a work of art; in the selection or rather creation of the site, laying out 
the grounds, and placing the buildings, the artistic instinct was brought 
into play no less than in the architecture and decorations. Grounds and 
buildings in their general aspect are things of beauty, and will do more 
for art in American than a generation of teachings after the ordinary 
method. Art and architecture are baptized anew in the healthful atmosphere 
of our great mid-continent. Nothing has been done for a mere display of 
skill and ingenuity, but everywhere the marvellous is made subservient to 
the useful and reasonable. Yet in general effect few if any grouped 
buildings ever presented a more artistic or impressive spectacle, 
homogeneous and scholarly, being a triumph of the aesthetical no less than 
of the material.

Of the several world's fairs which have been held, little now remains in 
the way of description save what has been preserved in books. In due time, 
their purpose accomplished, most of the buildings of the present 
Exposition, these splendid edifices which have been reared to science, 
art, and industry, and to which all the world has made its pilgrimage, 
will be taken apart, and their contents removed. Then all that will be 
left of this brilliant spectacle will be in the minds of men and in 
printer's ink. Many of the beneficial effects will remain, as I have 
already indicated, in garnered experiences and crystalizations of thought; 
much will be lost which were well worth preserving. The reproduction and 
record in book form will exercise an influence for good throughout the 
centuries. In this age of ideas, which in these splendid displays find 
such fitting expression, how greatly is civilization indebted to the 
printer's art, and how important it is that this art should be properly 
exercises, that the books written should be true to their great exemplar! 
The writing and publishing of a book which shall attempt to do justice to 
the subject offers a field for the highest ambition. It should be in the 
strictest sense a work of art as well as of material and moral 
instruction, and above all should faithfully reproduce this panorama of 
the nations, so brilliant and yet so transitory. It is the earnest hope of 
the author that his task will not prove altogether unworthy of this 
greatest of human displays, but in some small degree will aide, like the 
Exposition itself, in promoting a broader sympathy and fellowship in 
humanity, and enable us somewhat further to fathom the undeveloped might 
of man.