The Book of the Fair - Chapter 7



Page 99

Chapter the Seventh:
The Government and Administration Departments

"Unless it be for metaphysics and moral philosophy, perhaps the least 
progressive of all human sciences is the science of government. Just as we 
are today no nearer to a solution of the great questions with which 
Eliphaz the Temanite vexed the soul of the afflicted patriarch, so are we 
far from solving the political problems with which pericles wrestled, and 
which Plato and Aristotle attempted in vain to demonstrate. Among the 
modern autocracies of Europe we find no such administrative faculty as was 
displayed by Philip of Macedon; nor in the annals of the Athenian Republic 
do we find such crudities of legislation as those which deface our own, 
such abominations, for instance as the poll-tax, the tax on works of art 
and libraries, and other relics of a by-gone age. 

If, in these latter days of the nineteenth century, society is in some 
respects better regulated than when men selected as kings to rule over 
them the tallest and strongest of their number, little thanks are due to 
governors or government. Pointing to our armies and navies, our burden of 
taxation and our extravagant system of tax collection, to the costly and 
cumbersome machinery of national, state, and municipal administration, the 
nations of old might claim with some degree of reason that matters were 
better with them. In war each man took his share, his share of the 
fighting and of the expense, his share of the spoils in case of victory 
and of tribute in case of defeat. As to the other encumbrances, they would 
have banished them from their midst as quickly as would Carlyle the 
"scoundrel and sluggard protection societies," whose false philanthropy he 
loved so well to deride. If history has taught us anything, it is that the 
weal or woe of a nation depends on the people rather than on the 
government, of which there is and ever has been too much. Nations become 
great not through, but in spite of their government. If at long intervals 
in the annals of our race, the dazzling generalship of an Alexander, a 
Caesar, or a Napoleon has raised a nation to the highest pinnacle of 
glory, such ephemeral splendors have ever been followed by collapse. The 
world has no use for such men, and no longer is it possible for any one 
man to shape its destinies or fashion its fate. That which the peoples of 
earth accomplish now-a-days is the aggregate result of their intelligence, 
energy, and thrift, and in that result government figures at best as an 
insignificant factor and a necessary evil, whose greatest achievement 
would be to confine itself to its legitimate functions. 

Within the six acres of space allotted to the government display it cannot 
be said that the authorities have failed to collect such a series of 
national exhibits as was contemplated in the organic act of the 
Exposition. In one of the sections of that act are thus outlined the scope 
and purpose of this department: "There shall be exhibited at said 
exposition by the government of the United States, from its executive 
departments, the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Fish 
Commission, and the National Museum, such articles and materials as 
illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the government in 
time of peace, and its resources as a war power, tending to demonstrate 
the nature of our institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the 
people." Add to this such accessories as the naval exhibit, the life-
saving and signal service stations, the lighthouse, the hospitals, the 
weather bureau, all contained in separate buildings, and we have 

Page 100

probably the most complete collections ever grouped together for such a 
purpose. The entire department was planned under the control of the 
government board, composed of the chiefs of its several divisions, and by 
which were expended to the best advantage the amounts appropriated for its 
purposes. 

To the character, scope, and arrangement of the government exhibits there 
are few who will care to take exception, but as to the buildings in which 
they are housed, the main edifice has been not inaptly termed "the only 
discordant architectural note in Jackson Park," the only one erected, as 
it would seem, without consulting the Exposition architects, and as to 
design, differing as widely from its neighbors as decorative art differs 
from the mechanical process of manufacture. Its prominent site, moreover, 
north of the Manufactures hall and near the centre of the grounds, gives 
further emphasis to its unsightliness. True, it is less unsightly than the 
average of government buildings, some of them deformed, most of them 
commonplace, and nearly all inartistic, which are being scattered 
broadcast about the republic at no small outlay of treasure. If in its 
plan there are certain commendable features, these are yet not enough to 
relieve it from the conventional monotony which appears inseparable from 
structural compositions intended for national use. 

In these remarks I cast no aspersion on its artificer, who, chosen for the 
task in virtue of his office as supervising architect of the treasury 
department, labored under the burden of manifold duties and 
responsibilities. His plan is well balanced, articulate, coherent, 
practical, and if somewhat cumbersome, with lack of due proportion and 
crudeness of decorative scheme, this is merely the fault of a system based 
rather on utility and tradition than on the recognized principles of art. 
In the architectural department at Washington there are frequently planned 
from two to threescore public buildings at a time, many of them large and 
costly, and all of specified materials and workmanship. Only with thorough 
organization could such a task be accomplished at all, and no wonder that 
instead of a chaste and elegant composition, carefully designed and 
studiously elaborated, we have her a building planned amid the pressure of 
other work, with business-like despatch, and according to the established 
formulas handed down by a long succession of official architects. It is 
not the government building as a building that provoked so much 
unfavorable comment, but the fact that it is out of place, that it is the 
only break in the symmetrical outlines which veil the huge dimensions of 
the Exposition temples, veils then so completely that the observer almost 
fails to notice their colossal proportions while admiring the harmony of 
effect. 

In the evolution of his scheme the architect of the federal edifice must 
provide for the several departments of agriculture, war, justice, state, 
the treasury, the interior, the post office, the fish commission, the 
national museum, and the Smithsonian Institution, with quarters for 
administration purposes and for special collections. For each of these 
suitable areas must be furnished, varying from a few hundred to more than 
twenty thousand square feet, and with an entire floor space of nearly 150,
000 feet. The general plan includes a longitudinal hall, with subdivisions 
for the various groups, and flanked with parallel aisles supported by rows 
of columns, and covered alternately with arched and gabled roofs, the 
loftier of these aisles having clear-story windows, so arranged that their 
light may penetrate the entire edifice. Intercepting them transversely is 
a central nave, with lateral passage-ways, and above which culminates the 
roof system, masked by a balustrade. 

From the centre of the main floor, at the intersection of hall and nave, 
is developed the domical treatment of the building, taking, below the 
roof, the form of an arched octagonal pavilion, and above, that of a 
podium with double windows, flanked by pilasters on each of its sixteen 
faces. On this are supported the ribs of the dome, near the summit of 
which is a circular line of projecting windows, and above it a lantern, 
its 

Page 101

base surrounded with a light balcony, the flag-staff which forms the 
culminating feature displaying the national colors one hundred and seventy 
feet above the ground. 

The principal entrances, one in the middle of the east and west facades, 
are fashioned as pavilions, with a central arch, and above them an 
allegorical group of figures, on either side of which are eagles mounted 
on pedestals. At each of the corners is a square pavilion, with glazed 
opening and low squat dome. On the remaining frontages are doorways in 
three divisions, projecting somewhat boldly but treated as in 
subordination to the main portals. The curtain walls are divided into 
bays, with arched windows, flanked with buttresses, and with a line of 
transoms on the level of the gallery floors. 

While the general scheme is not without merit, as in its relation of parts 
and its economy of space, the structure bears upon it the true government 
brand. Even to those unacquainted with the first principles of 
architecture treated as one of the fine arts, it stands forth as an 
architectural reproach among its chaste and scholarly environment. At best 
it is merely of conventional type, on that does but scant justice to its 
opportunity, and fails in the dignity of expression that should 
characterize our public monuments. Says the architect of the Fisheries 
Building adjacent: "In England, in France, in Germany, and indeed in all 
great European countries, the public buildings are the highest and most 
characteristic efforts of their artificers. It is the ambition of every 
architect to make himself worthy to be employed upon them. They constitute 
the great prizes of the profession. We cross the Atlantic to see the 
cities which they have made beautiful. In our own country enough of 
treasure has been appropriated for national buildings, and expended on 
the, to make our cities equally noble and attractive. But under the 
present system these opportunities have been worse than lost; for they 
have encouraged an unnecessary extravagance of expenditure without 
adequate return, and they offer no higher type to be accepted as the 
expression of our civilization than respectable conventionality and 
organized commonplace." 

"If the suggestive contrasts of quality in the buildings of the Exposition 
should serve no higher purpose than as an object lesson to our 
legislators, teaching them that their responsibilities in respect to our 
national architecture are not properly discharged by maintaining a costly 
architectural factory at Washington, the unsubstantial pageant at Jackson 
Park will not have been in vain." 

In the Government Building the unsightliness of its exterior is in part 
atoned for by its central rotunda, whose mural paintings, representing 
famous scenes and cities, with symbolical groups beneath, and pillars and 
arches on either side, are all in the highest form of decorative art. 
Midway in the pavilion is a hollow section cut from on of the hugest of 
California redwoods, its interior lighted with electricity, and with a 
winding stairway leading to a platform above. Within the redwood chamber 
are photographs, showing how this exhibit was fashioned and forwarded into 
place. Six of the eight alcoves contained within the rotunda were placed 
at the disposal of the Board of Lady Managers, by whom is displayed a 
large number of colonial relics, some of them never before exhibited and 
all of historic interest, prominence being given to the thirteen original 
states, nearly off of which are represented. Among the Massachusetts 
collection is a Bible, printed in 1559, and which came to this country on 
the Mayflower, in the keeping of John Alden. There is the Latin grammar 
which General Warren studied; a copy of the stamp act of 1765; a fragment 
of Plymouth rock, and a piece of the torch that lit up the cave at 
Pomfret, where Putnam killed the historic wolf. Next to the pipe which 
Miles 

Page 102

Standish loved to smoke, lies the spurs and epaulets of Burgoyne, and near 
them the fife of Benedict Arnold and the visiting card of Aaron Burr. 
There are also the proclamations of Governor Hancock, and the ring which 
he wore while signing the declaration of independence. All these and 
hundreds of other curiosities are grouped among these alcoves. 

In the two remaining alcoves and a portion of the aisle adjacent are the 
exhibits of the State department, whose object is to explain its functions 
and operations as a working business office, and as the proper repository 
of the national annals. The first of these functions is illustrated by 
sample letters and documents of the several bureaus, and on a series of 
bookshelves is displayed every class of publication issued by the 
department since its organization in 1789. On the shelves occupied by the 
Bureau of American History are the records of the revolution with the 
causes that led to it, the original petition to the king, presented by 
Franklin in 1774, by the side of which is a collection of his autograph 
letters and documents. In one of the cases is a perfect copy together with 
a photographic reproduction of the Declaration of Independence, with 
portraits of those who signed it, so far as they could be procured. Here 
also are the originals of the treaty of peace with Great Britain and of 
friendship and alliance with France. 

In the adjoining alcove is a photographic copy of the original 
Constitution of the United States, with portraits of those by whom it was 
drafted. There are several of the LaFayette relics, of which a larger 
collection is contained in the French building, and there is a group of 
Washington relics, including one of his swords, his diary, and other 
manuscripts, of which a meteorological record is the last production of 
his pen. There is the original portrait of Washington by Peale, and his 
statue in bronze by Baron Marchetti. Covering the earlier historical 
period, and relating especially to diplomatic negotiations, are manuscript 
documents by Madison, Monroe, Jefferson, Robert R. Livingstone, and 
others, and with them engravings or portraits in oil. To the more 
thoughtful observer this is one of the most interesting features of the 
Fair, and while gazing on these priceless treasures, he wonders how it is 
that congress has expended many thousands of dollars in printing the 
records of the secession, and not a single dollar in printing those of the 
revolution. By a few faithful students of our earlier history these papers 
were in part transcribed, and thus alone were the public informed of their 
contents or indeed of their existence. 

In a series of maps are displayed the several acquisitions of United 
States territory, under treaty stipulations, beginning with the treaty of 
Paris, whereby was acknowledged the independence of the United States, and 
ending with that which Seward negotiated, securing, in 1867, the 
possession of Alaska. By maps also is illustrated the consular-diplomatic 
representation of the United States, the first one bearing date of 1776 
and the last, that of 1892. The proclamations of presidents are copied 
from the original, among them the nullification edict of Andrew Jackson, 
and the one with which in 1863, Abraham Lincoln broke the shackles of the 
slave. Then is traced the evolution of the American coat-of-arms or 
government seal from the earliest design submitted to the first 
continental congress to its final adoption in 1782, with an emblazoned 
reproduction of that instrument as it exists today, after all the 
modifications adopted since, by act of 1789, it was provided "That the 
seal heretofore used by the United States in congress assembled shall be, 
and hereby is declared to be, the seal of the United States." 

In the exhibits of the State department are included those of the 
executive mansion or White House, for with the presidential functions this 
department is more closely allied than any other. In sample letters and 
blanks, including an original despatch from each of the foreign powers 
with which diplomatic relations are maintained, one may study the inner 
workings of the president's cabinet, with the mode of conducting 
correspondence with foreign potentates and ambassadors. 

In concluding this sketch of the State department a brief allusion to the 
diplomatic service of a century ago may be of interest, if only by way of 
contrast with the more costly and elaborate system of today. By act of 
July 1, 1790, the president was authorized "To draw from the treasury of 
the United States a sum, not exceeding forty thousand dollars annually, 
for the support of such persons as he shall

Page 103

commission to serve the United States in foreign parts." In 1892 such an 
appropriation would not have served for the single legation at Paris or 
London, and how to make it serve, in 1792, for the ministers 
plenipotentiary at each of these cities and for the residents at Lisbon, 
Madrid, and the Hague, was one of the problems presented to Thomas 
Jefferson, the first of our secretaries of state.1 This he solved, as 
related in the archives of the department, by appointing for the Hague an 
agent in place of a resident, thus securing a small surplus from his 
allotted fund. For the salary of a minister plenipotentiary was allowed $9,
000; for his outfit one-seventh of that amount; for extras and homeward 
passage, $671, and for his secretary $1,350; for a resident the total 
allowance was $5,653, while the agent must be satisfied with $1,650 and 
find his way home as best he could; but not at the expense of his 
government. Jefferson himself was content with the modest stipend of $3,
500, with $800 for his chief clerk, and $500 for each assistant clerk, as 
appointed by act of September 11, 1789. If in such modest proportion were 
the present salaries of our public servants, we might have more efficient 
service with less unseemly scramble for office. 

Opposite the department of State is that of Justice, where are portraits 
of all the chief-justices and attorney-generals of the United States, 
together with court reporters. A prominent place is accorded to Judge 
Marshall, on the right of whom is Oliver Ellsworth, and on his left, Roger 
Brooke Taney. In a colored chart are displayed the judicial districts of 
the republic, and that with such clearness and accuracy of delineation 
that one may readily select and trace the boundaries of each and all. For 
the student of law there are sets of Howard's and Wallace's supreme court 
reports, and of the United States court reports, with other law books and 
documents more than a century old, and with facsimile specimens of 
executive messages from 1789 to 1890, including those of Washington, John 
Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln. 

From the rotunda access is afforded to the principal exhibits by a series 
of aisles at equal distance from the centre. To the north is the Fisheries 
department; to the northeast the Agricultural display; to the northwest 
that of the interior department; to the south are the collections of the 
Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum; to the southeast are the 
bureaus of the War department; to the west and southwest those of the 
Treasury and Postoffice. Apart from those contained in the federal edifice 
there are several attractions in the grounds and waters adjacent, of all 
of which, and especially of the naval display, mention will be made in its 
place. First let us make the circuit of the main exhibits beginning with 
the War department, as one of the largest and most attractive; for amid 
the temples 

Page 104

of an exposition devoted to the arts of peace, there is nothing that 
excites more general interest than its enginery of war. 

In this department, under the direction of Major Clifton Comby, with a 
staff of officers selected from the various branches of the service, is 
one of the most complete collections, not only of the implements of war, 
but of historic and other curiosities, every grouped together for such a 
purpose. The ordnance section forms of itself an arsenal well stored with 
the weapons and munitions of war, with guns of the heaviest caliber and 
explosives such as are used on the battle field or in besieging a city, 
with smokeless powder, bombs, torpedoes, and all the varieties of fixed 
and other ammunition known to the several branches of the service. 

In the ordnance section the centre of attraction is a twelve-inch breech-
loading rifle-gun, weighing 52 tons and carrying a projectile a thousand 
pounds in weight. Next to it is an eight-inch breech-loader, carrying a 
450 pound ball. In the long array of modern swift-firing ordnance are 
several guns of the Hotchkiss pattern, perhaps the most destructive of 
modern weapons, one of them throwing the lightest of light field 
artillery, a one-pounder Hotchkiss, strapped on the back of a mule, with a 
wheel on each flank, a miniature carriage, boxes for ammunition, and a 
soldier's blanket. For an entire battery six loads are required, each of 
similar fashion, and to unlimber and bring such a battery into action is 
the work of a very few minutes. On either side of the portal is a mortar 
of modern make, such as are now being constructed in large numbers for 
coast defense, and capable of being fired at any angle between horizontal 
and vertical lines. 

Among a collection of historic guns is a six-pounder presented by La 
Fayette to the republic whose cause he made one with his own, and near it 
is a British cannon, surrendered at Yorktown. The guns which fired the 
first and last shots of the civil war are opposite to a bronze six-pounder 
of the Mexican war, almost as much out of date as the Chinese breech-
loader elsewhere in the collection. Nor should we forget an historic 
weapon of antiquated pattern, presented by the king of Portugal to the 
United States, at the request of President Harrison. This is the famous 
gun "Long Tom," whose home, for about three-quarters of a century, was on 
the island fortress of Fayal in the Azores. During the war of 1812 it was 
mounted on the spar deck of the privateer, General Armstrong, which, under 
command of Captain Samuel Chester Reid, held at bay an entire British 
squadron in the harbor of Harta, Jamaica; but was finally sunk, to avoid 
capture, as a line-of-battle ship came within range. Other curiosities 
there are, not numerous, but extremely suggestive, including Confederate 
torpedoes and shells, a collection of historic rifle-balls, two of which 
met in mid-air at Gettysburg, and, as would appear from their flattened 
surfaces, with equal propelling force. In the stump of an oak tree are the 
marks of musket balls by which it was riddled at Spottsylvania courthouse. 
A cannon wheel tells its tale of the war, as does the case of rusty, 
twisted, and shattered muskets gathered from many a battle-field. 

There is powder of all varieties, safely stored within glass cases, from 
the description commonly used in the civil war to the smokeless explosive 
with twice its power, and which, now that it can be handled without fear 
of accident, is gradually superseding the other. Of small arms he display 
is varied and measurably complete; but in this division the United States 
appears somewhat at a disadvantage, as compared with European exhibits, 
more so perhaps than in her collection of ordnance she excels the nations 
of Europe. This is readily explained by the need of furnishing the 
standing armies of the latter with the best and most recent weapons, 
changed at quickly recurring intervals, in keeping with the inventions of 
science. Here we may compare the Springfield rifle and its trowel-shaped 
bayonet with the Martini-Henry and its sword-shaped appendage, with 
serrated edge. Germany and Austria have given us their 

Page 105

Mannlicher rifles; France, the Lebel, Denmark, the Crag-Jorgensen, and 
other nations, weapons of great power and precision. But if our collection 
is not the best, it is by far the most interesting of all, for here are 
small-arms of every pattern and period, from the earliest specimens of 
colonial times to such as today are stored in the magazines of the war 
department. There is also a gun shop in actual operation, where small arms 
and cartridges are manufactured. The method of making gunpowder may also 
be studied, but only so far as it is generally know, for the more occult 
processes are not here revealed. 

To illustrate more fully the difference between the weapons of the present 
and the past, the modern exhibit, in the way of small-arms, is in 
proximity to the historic collection already described. Further to display 
the progress made in the manufacture of arms, from its earliest inception 
up to this year of 1893, on the eastern wall adjacent is a series of guns 
and pistols, from the most ancient up to the most recent patterns. Among 
the former class is a Chinese wheel-lock pistol, the most antiquated of 
all, with a heavy wheel-lock musket of the make of 1520, and match locks 
of Arabian, Indian and other patterns. Then come flint locks, first 
invented in the seventeenth century, and in which the various stages of 
progress are shown, up to the days of Austerlitz and Waterloo, for it was 
not until 1820 that percussion muskets began to come into general use. 

In the shooting gallery of the Ordnance department are various instruments 
for determining the velocity of projectiles and the pressure of powder in 
fire-arms, from the earliest methods to those at present in use. First of 
all is the so-called powder eprouvette, a small mortar used to test the 
strength of powder by the distance that a ball is carried by a given 
quantity. In connection with it is a ballistic pendulum in the form of a 
swinging block, whereby until recent years pressure and velocity wee 
estimated through the swing of the block under the stroke of a missile. In 
modern methods velocity is measured by electrical appliances and pressure 
by the pressure gauge, of which there are several varieties. In the former 
process the missile passes through two electric circuits, one near the 
muzzle and the other at a given distance, the interval between the 
breaking of the currents being recorded by instruments of various dates, 
may of which are here on exhibition. There are also appliances for target 
practice, with hand and bench reloading tools such as are used in actual 
service. 

In the exhibits devoted to military equipment the observer does not fail 
to notice the absence of all suitable provision for the soldier's health 
and comfort. His tent is the same as in the days of the civil war, and the 
same is the litter which carries the wounded from the field to a hospital 
of antiquated pattern. So also in the transportation, the commissary, and 
the quartermaster's departments. The uniform is still the same as that 
which our troops disgraced at Bull's Run and covered with glory at 
Gettysburg; nor is it at all superior as to make or material. Of similar 
pattern is the canteen to that which he filled from the waters of the 
Potomac; the kettle in which he boils his coffee and the oven in which he 
bakes his bread are no less old-fashioned; nor is there any improvement as 
to quality in the damaged bacon 

Page 106

and beans, and the coarse brown sugar that complete his diet on actual 
service. 

But in the quartermaster's department are more interesting exhibits, and 
especially those which display the uniforms worn since the colonial period 
until this present year of 1893, together with the civilian garb in which 
the pilgrim fathers were attired. On lay-figures are reproduced the 
regimental costumes of the several ranks, from an era antedating 
Braddock's defeat, continued through the revolutionary war, to the war of 
1812, the Mexican war, and the war which ended at the court-house of 
Appomattox. In this collection are represented all the more prominent 
commanders of past and present times. In front is a figure of Major-
general Schofield, mounted on a wooden horse, and behind him members of 
his staff, all in full uniform. Then comes a train of pack mules, a wagon 
drawn by a six-mule team, an escort wagon and an ambulance wagon, the last 
containing a paymaster and flanked by Indian scouts. There are hospital 
tents and models in plaster of the burial grounds at Arlington and Fort 
Sheridan. Finally there is the wagon which, for the five years of the war, 
carried the effects of General Sherman, and near to it a glass case in 
which is his battle-flag, draped amid those of several of our military 
chieftains. In other cases are collections of epaulettes, chevrons, and 
service stripes pertaining to various arms and grades, with all the 
equipments and accoutrements of officers and men. Nor should we forget the 
display of national and other flags depending from galleries and roof and 
from the pillars which support them, containing in addition to those used 
under present regulations, the colors and corps and division flags carried 
by the federal armies. 

Turning from the quartermaster's section into the rotunda, the visitor 
pauses for a moment in front of a large model in plaster, depicting in 
realistic fashion an Arctic scene of 1882. Here Greeley is in the act of 
welcoming back Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant Brainard, after taking 
observations as far north as 83 24", the highest point of norther latitude 
as yet attained. Near by is displayed in a glass case an interesting 
collection of Greeley relics. 

In the section allotted to the corps of engineers is a choice collection 
of photographic views, representing the most notable achievements of this 
department in the line of river and harbor improvements. In addition to 
these is a number of transparencies, with handsomely colored views, one 
with a panoramic outline of Chicago harbor, another displaying the 
Washington aqueduct system, and a third the movable dam across the Ohio 
River. There are also models of Hell-gate before and after its 
obstructions were removed and during the process of removal. Among others 
are those representing the work accomplished at the mouth of the 
Mississippi River, at the harbor of Key West, and the Delaware breakwater. 
A study of the various illustrations will show that the sum of $225,000,
000 already appropriated for these and similar improvements has not been 
expended in vain. 

In connection with the war department may be mentioned the army and naval 
hospital, south of the main structure, where are all the equipments 

Page 107

and appliances in common use at army posts, with a ward in which are dozen 
cots, a dispensary, an operating room, and a collection of pathological 
and physiological specimens. While the treatment of patients is not 
included in the programme, the method of caring for sick and wounded men 
is fully illustrated. 

In the medical museum, in connection with the hospital, is a collection of 
many thousands of skulls and bones, gathered from the battlefields of the 
civil war, for the purpose of displaying the effects of wounds from 
various missiles, with charts illustrating diseased and malformed anatomy. 
There is also a large case filled with skeletons, scores of which are 
suspended from the wall in such close array that we might fancy them 
returning in single file from their own funeral procession. Though many 
races are here represented, the difference can not readily be detected 
between the Caucasian, the Mongol, and the Negro. In a corner hidden from 
sight is the brain of Garfield's assassin preserved in alcohol, and 
elsewhere are grewsome relics of John Wilkes Booth. On these and other 
horrors those may feast to the full who will. 

Adjacent to the War department are the exhibits of the Smithsonian 
Institution and the National Museum, of which it may first of all be said 
that, while they have taken the first prize at several of the great 
world's fairs their present display excels all previous efforts. Under the 
direction of G. Brown Good, assistant secretary of the institute, by whom 
were arranged similar collections for the Philadelphia and other American 
and European expositions, a staff of experts was long engaged in preparing 
this the largest and most complete collection of all. Moreover, the system 
of classification and labeling adds largely to its interest, and might 
have been adopted to advantage in other departments, where the visitor is 
too often left to grope his way, with the aid of an incomplete and faulty 
catalogue. Among the purposes of the management, and indeed its principal 
purpose, has been to show in an instructive and entertaining form groups 
and samples culled from its principal sections, with a view to illustrate 
the proper methods of mounting, labeling, and installing museum 
collections. On each specimen is a label and a description, brief but 
sufficient to afford an adequate idea of that which it represents. Such 
was the plan adopted by Professor Baird, the founder of the museum, and at 
the Exposition display no portion of his system has been omitted. 

First of all are the ethnological and archaeological exhibits, described 
in another chapter of this work, in connection with those elsewhere in the 
grounds. Then come the groups relating to physical geology, supplementing, 
as an illustration of geological characteristics, the mineral display of 
the geological survey, its own collection being limited 

Page 108

mainly to gems, crystals, and ornamental stones. Here are exemplified cave 
formations, with the peculiarities of such as are found in the United 
States. In another group are portrayed the formation and phenomena of 
volcanoes, active and extinct; in a third the glacial era, showing the 
portions of the American continent that were covered by ice in by-gone 
ages. 

But to the average visitor the most interesting groups are those of the 
natural history series, containing as they do the most complete collection 
extant of American fauna. Here are arranged in regular order, from the 
monkey classed as the highest to the opossum ranking lowest in the scale, 
all the families in our animal kingdom, and with rare exceptions all the 
genera of each family. And so with birds, reptiles, and insects. So far as 
is possible there is also displayed the environment of the several 
species, the herbage on which they feed, the trees and shrubs among which 
they live, and the waters which they frequent. Thus deer may be seen 
emerging from swamp or forest, the badger at his avocation, the paroquet 
in the act of feeding, and the hornbill preparing a nest in which to 
imprison his mate. 

In preparing the collection of mammalia skilled workmen were employed for 
nearly two years under the direction of William Palmer, taxidermist of the 
National Museum, each specimen being mounted in its natural attitude, from 
sketches and photographs taken from life. Perched on a seaweed covered 
rock is a sea otter, one of the few perfect skins that have escaped 
mutilation at the hands of the Aleuts, and secured through the good 
offices of the Alaska Commercial company. Near it is a walrus, from Walrus 
Island of the Pribylov group. There is also a remarkably fine specimen of 
the manatee, a species rapidly becoming extinct, and a sea elephant, such 
as were formerly common along the California seaboard. On a miniature 
heights is a group of Rocky Mountain goats, and on moss and sand brought 
from their native homes are Labrador and Alaskan caribou, while burrowing 
amid cactus and sagebrush are a dozen Texan armadilloes, with California 
wood-rats nestling in heaps of brushwood. In a tree top is a group of 
raccoons feeding on berries; of monkeys there is a large collection, one 
of them a small brown specimen with red face, among the rarest extant. 
Badgers are there, and tiger and civet cats, and bears, all handsomely 
mounted, and among other curiosities the smallest specimen of the 
armadillo genus thus far discovered, a native of the Argentine republic, 
only four inches in length, and with a sesquipedalian title altogether out 
of keeping with its size. 

Next to the cases containing the animal groups are those devoted to the 
various families of American birds, the latter among the most interesting 
of the natural history series. All are arranged in life-like manner; a 
flock of wild pigeons, for instance, perched on the limb of a tree; 
ptarmigan, and a second cluster in summer attire, resembling so closely 
the sere leaves of autumn as to deceive an experienced hunter. In a group 
of prairie chickens males are represented in deadly combat for the 
proprietorship of the hens. There are Carolina paroquets, some at roost 
and others at supper; there is a large assortment of birds of paradise, 
and of humming birds the most complete collection ever got together. Close 
to his friend the crocodile is the bird that bears his name, and near by a 
number 

Page 109

of lower birds, in nests adorned with flowers which, as naturalists would 
have us believe, they replace with fresh ones when faded. 

In addition to the beasts and birds there is a collection of all the 
principal articles of commerce gathered from the animal kingdom. First of 
all is a large assortment of goods made of hair, wool, and feathers, the 
last in the shape of brushes, fans, robes, artificial flowers and feather 
paintings - that is with feathers in place of pigments. Near to some cases 
containing various kinds of skins and furs, are groups of leather and 
leathern goods. Among the latter is the collection of a New York firm 
including the perfect skins of crocodiles and alligators, tanned in many 
colors, with those of the python and boa constrictor, the lizard and 
iguana, the eel and porpoise, tame and wild fowl of many species, with 
others too numerous to be mentioned, from the elephant to the chameleon, 
the woodchuck and the domestic cat. Next comes the exhibit of horns and 
whatsoever is made therefrom, with the ramrod of the Dutch Boer and the 
war-club of the Hottentot, both of rhinoceros horn, up to umbrella and 
cane handles, tortoise-shell combs so-called, and all the manifold uses to 
which horns are applied, not omitting glues and fertilizers. 

Teeth and tusks form another division of the National Museum exhibits, and 
here is one of the largest of elephant's tusks, more than eight feet long 
and weighing nearly one hundred and forty pounds. The manufacture of 
articles made from ivory is largely illustrated, one segment cut 
lengthwise, for instance, having brush handles traced on the surface ready 
for sawing out, while the tip of another serves as a carving-knife handle, 
and the lower part of the tusk, where the ivory is not solid, is converted 
into napkin rings. From the tusk of the narwhal or sea-unicorn, whose long 
and pointed lance of ivory will pierce the side of a ship, there are many 
beautiful ornaments, and in walrus ivory there are numerous carvings of 
most elaborate design, the workmanship of Japanese and Eskimos. There are 
specimens of jewelry and brooches made of boars' and alligators' teeth; 
there is the sword of the South Sea islander, its edge bristling with the 
teeth of the shark; there is a necklace of human incisors, and other 
ghastly exhibits, as of the claws of animals and the joints and finger-
nails of men. 

Of oils there is a remarkable collection, including those extracted from 
the nose of the pilotwhale and the forelegs of the crocodile, the latter 
valued as a leather dressing. Here one may compare with olive oil for 
table use that which, prepared from the fat of the guacharo, serves as a 
palatable substitute to the native of Equador. Here also are oils made 
from the entrails of the eel and the fat that underlies the upper shell of 
the turtle, 

Page 110

the former recommended as a specific for deafness, the latter for 
rheumatism. Still another is the golden colored oil used for water-proof 
coverings and obtained from a Central American insect, which yields more 
than half its weight of the grease from which the oil is manufactured. 
Elsewhere is a collection of materials used for medical purposes, and 
especially such as insects contribute to the pharmacopoeia. 

In another group is an illustration of the various articles manufactured 
from mother-of-pearl, the shell being cut by a small revolving saw and 
each part used for the purpose to which it is best adapted. The outer 
edges, for instance, are made into penholders, and the sections adjoining 
into knife-handles, while the central portion is converted into pistol-
handles, and other parts into cloak, cuff, collar, and shirt buttons. By a 
careful economy of material all these articles may be obtained from a 
single shell of the largest size. 

To the numismatist the collection of coins and other currency belonging to 
the National Museum at Washington is one of surpassing interest, for in 
these quaint and curious specimens is traced the history of all the 
world's principal media of exchange. Here are not only rounded disks of 
gold and silver stamped with various devices, but metals, precious and 
base, of all classes and shapes that have been used as current funds since 
the days when Saint Peter extracted from the mouth of a fish the tribute 
to be rendered unto Caesar. Among them is the Chinese knife money, pieces 
of razor-shaped iron, six inches long, current in the first century of the 
Christian era, before which date knives were actually used as money. There 
is also the ring money which to Gaul and Briton served for ornament or 
cash, often forming his entire worldly wealth. Of these was unearthed in 
Staffordshire, England, nearly two centuries ago, a specimen containing 
twenty-six ounces of pure gold, some four feet long, and with all the 
ductility of the virgin metal. Other curiosities are the brick-salt money 
of Abyssinia, moulded into shape at the king's storehouse, and the brick-
tea money of Siberia, by the value of which is largely regulated the price 
of other commodities. 

Of American coins the earliest are the disks of copper minted by Cortes, 
and next in chronological order the copper coins of Bermuda islands, the 
material for which was imported from England in the seventeenth century. 
Bearing date between 1737 and 1739 is the earliest coinage of Connecticut, 
also of copper, the workmanship of a colonist named John Higley and made 
from ore discovered on his homestead. On one side is the inscription, "I 
am a Good Copper;" on the other, "Value Me as You Please." These and other 
curiosities without number are exhibited in the assortment of the National 
Museum, which, together with that of the treasury department, forms one of 
the most complete collections in the world. 

At the southern end of the Government Building and on the left of the 
southern portal is a chamber devoted to the religions and priesthoods of 
the world, their ceremonials, costumes, manuscripts, relics, traditions, 
statuary, and other objects of interest to the curious or the devout. In 
the first case is a breastplate of silver and gold, on which are the 
tablets of the decalogue, and near it are scrolls of the law in minute 
characters, with tapestry work representing the sacrifice of Isaac and 
costumes of Jewish rabbies such as are worn in Mohammedan countries. There 
are also Hebrew manuscripts, including those of the pentateuch and of the 
book of Esther, with ancient manuals of devotion, and a Jewish marriage 
contract in illumined characters inscribed on parchment. Another case 
devoted to the ceremonials of oriental Christian churches, contains 

Page 111

Russian ikons, the vestments of a Russian priest, and scenes from the life 
of Christ and the virgin, studded with pearls and precious stones. In a 
third is the Koran with illuminated text, resting on a stand inlaid with 
mother-of-pearl and inscribed with a Mohammedan invocation bearing the 
date of 1210. In the Assyrian display is a bas-relief of an eagle-headed 
divinity and a cast of Shamosh, the Assyrian god of the sun, taken from 
the original in the royal museum of Berlin. In the Greek and Roman 
sections are casts of their favorite deities, of the muses, and of 
historical figures, some of them reproductions of antique statuary 
contained in European capitals. 

On the walls of this room are pictures of mosques and harems, of 
worshippers in attitudes of penance and devotion, of wedding and other 
ceremonies, and of oriental scenes in far off eastern lands. Musical 
instruments there are in abundance, many of them of most primitive device, 
as the rattle of the Haida Indian, the xylophone of the Zulu, and the drum 
of the African negro, with gongs and horns, harps and guitars, lutes, 
zithers, and violins, all these and others gathered from many nations and 
in every conceivable pattern. Of pottery there is also a large collection, 
showing the development of the ceramic art from its inception to the 
present day. The engravings include specimens belonging to the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries, historic and symbolical figures, and etchings, 
drawings, and color prints of scenery and ancient ruins. 

In an adjacent room on the opposite side of the nave is a large collection 
of photographs of prominent Americans, including members of the 
continental congresses, the federal congress of 1787, and the American 
colonial bills, powder horns of the revolutionary period, engraved with 
battle scenes, models of the viking ship and other ancient craft. Several 
cases are filled with medals forming what may be termed a series in 
medallic history, beginning with the one with which William Penn 
commemorated his treaty of peace and friendship with the Indians, and that 
with which George III pretended so to do. Then come the medals of the 
revolutionary era, included among others of value those presented to 
Lafayette, a Dutch medal acknowledging John Adams as envoy to Holland, and 
a number of Washington medals in honor of his battles and his 
inauguration. There is also a large array of the military, civic, and 
ecclesiastic medals of other countries, the first including those of the 
Peninsular wars, and the last one issued by order of Napoleon I. Finally 
there is a collection of coins, of which the oldest was minted in England 
in 1615. Others worthy of note are a Washington two-penny piece of 1795, 
and pieces of Mexican cob-money, roughly hammered into shape and stamped 
with the arms of Spain. 

In the Treasury department, adjoining that of the National Museum, are 
portrayed the financial history and financial condition of the United 
States, from the war of independence, when continental money ranked lower 
than the Argentinian currency of today, until, in this year of 1893 our 
bonds sell almost on a parity with British consols, esteemed as the most 
stable of national securities. Here he who will may study the operations 
of one of the heaviest of coining presses, not in the act of producing 
coins, but stamping medals of bronze for those to whom they may be 
awarded. In truth it is a powerful machine, and yet not more so than its 
uses demand; for to coin the half dollar with which the Fair 

Page 112

pilgrim pays his admission fee requires a pressure of more than 200,000 
pounds, and for a silver dollar more than 300,000. It produces, moreover, 
every coin in use, from a one-cent piece to a double eagle, and that by 
merely changing the die. 

In show-cases adjacent to the press is the treasury collection of coins 
and medals, forming, as I have said, in connection with that of the 
National Museum, one of the largest and most valuable collections extant, 
valuable more for the rarity of its specimens than for their intrinsic 
worth. Started in 1830 this collection includes nearly every description 
of coin issued by the government, beginning with the first one, minted in 
1792, in the form of a silver half-dime or disme, as our forefathers 
termed it. Most precious of all is a dollar of the mintage of 1804, one of 
the few that remain, and worth many times its weight in gold. In all there 
are 7,500 rare coins and 2,500 medals; nor is the collection limited to 
American coins; for here are not a few gold pieces from two to three 
thousand years old, with the shekel of the Hebrew patriarchs, the silver 
currency of Aegina, and the golden stater of the Alexandrian era. 

Elsewhere are exhibited in a gilt frame of cunning design specimens of all 
the paper currency, bonds, and other certificates of value at present in 
use. Here are treasury notes ranging in denomination from $1 to $1,000, 
with four percent bonds of a face valuation of $50,000 and a market 
valuation of nearly $60,000, with gold and silver certificates 
representing fabulous amounts, but not, it need hardly be said, in 
convertible shape, the bills and bonds being printed only on one side and 
with portions of the numbering omitted. In a word we have here a complete 
reproduction of the currency system of the United States, including all 
such outstanding obligations as are represented on paper. 

In the frame adjacent are copies of the commissions, official invitations, 
and other documents issued in the name of the United States, together with 
a collection of stamps. In a third case are the vignettes of all whose 
portraits have appeared on certificates of value or other instruments 
issued by the national government, including those of all the secretaries 
of the treasury, from Alexander Hamilton whom Washington appointed, to 
John G. Carlisle whom Cleveland called to office. There are pictures of 
such historic events as have been used for symbolic decorations, as the 
landing at Plymouth rock and Perry's achievement on Lake Erie, and 
vignettes of many of the more prominent generals of the civil and other 
wars. Side by side with Winfield 

Page 113

Scott, in the stiff uniform of his day, is General Custer, attired in the 
frontier garb which he loved to wear. Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan are 
there, with others whom the nation will never forget to honor, and among 
statesmen and financiers are many whose names have long been household 
words throughout the land. 

In connection with the Treasury department may be mentioned the exhibits 
of the United States Coast and Geodetic survey, consisting largely of the 
instruments used in this branch of the service. But here the centre of 
attraction is a device representing in plaster of Paris the surface of the 
United States, with an area covering about four hundred square feet and a 
scale of one to each million inches of actual area. The true contour and 
curvature of this portion of the earth are also delineated with accurate 
distances and elevations. At intervals from the coasts a series of blue 
lines represent each increase of a thousand feet in ocean's depth. Around 
the map is a stairway with landings, about two feet from its surface. 

In the Lighthouse exhibit, adjacent to that of the Geodetic survey, are 
models of old lighthouses, lightships, buoys, and river-lights, with large 
illuminating apparatus containing hyper-radiant lenses ranged and numbered 
in the order of their strength and brilliancy. Elsewhere in this 
department are the outfit and implements of a lighthouse keeper, his chest 
of tools and his working library, with photographs and paintings in oil 
and water colors of the lighthouses along our coasts, showing the 
materials of which they are built, some of timber, some of steel, others 
of boulders of rock, and still others resembling an old-fashioned water 
tower or windmill. 

In the Post-office department is first of all a branch in practical 
operation, connection with the main Chicago office, and not only as a 
distributing point for mail matter, but for the registry of letters, the 
issue of money orders, and the sale of stamps. An interesting feature in 
this connection is a combination postal car for letters and newspapers, of 
most recent pattern and manned with the most expert of sorters and 
operators. Here the entire mail gathered within the grounds of the Fair is 
sorted, placed in pouches and sent forth for distribution, wagons 
delivering and receiving the mail-bags direct from incoming and outgoing 
trains. The car itself is a model of workmanship, constructed by the well-
known car-building firm of Wilmington, Delaware, and named the Benjamin 
Harrison. It is sixty feet in length with five-foot platforms at either 
end, painted a light cream color and handsomely upholstered and equipped, 
the interior finished in white ash and with furniture of maple and 
mahogany. Except that it is stationary this model resembles in all 
respects a postal car in actual service. 

The working space is divided from the main lobby by a screen surmounted 
with glass, on which are the names of the various departments, beyond 
which may be partially observed the workings of the department. The 
service is further illustrated by a collection of uniforms, facsimiles, 
and models, belonging 

Page 114

to the museum of the Postoffice department at Washington. Side by side 
with a pony-express rider is a letter-carrier mounted on a bicycle; near 
to mail-coach of antiquated patter, which saw hard service in the Rocky 
mountains, and in 1877 was captured by Indians, is a miniature postal-car 
completely equipped, and in company with one of the old fashioned mail 
steamers that plied on the Mississippi in the days of the Mexican war, is 
a beautiful model of the steamer Paris, one of the floating palaces used 
for the postal transport of the present day. 

A feature in this department is the collection of stamps, gathered by the 
American Philatelic association, and dating back almost to the invention 
of the adhesive stamp in the office of a Dundee printer in 1834, though 
such were not in public use until several years later, the first in the 
United States bearing the date of 1841. From a few thousands issued in 
that year the number has increased to 700,000,000 or 800,000,000, New York 
alone consuming 100,000,000 a year. Of nearly all that have been used up 
to 1893, including those of other lands, there are samples on exhibition 
in the gallery, where also are the offices of employees. On the walls are 
portraits of all who have held office as postmaster-general, and in some 
of the alcoves those of presidents and justices of the supreme court. 

But to the average sight-seer the most attractive exhibits in the postal 
department are those which contain the unclaimed packages of the dead-
letter office, for never before was such a heterogeneous assortment of 
odds and ends collected within so small a space. In truth it is a fitting 
accompaniment of an exposition intended to display all the products of 
soil, mine, and sea, for many of those products, including also the 
denizens of air, are to be found in these grotesque and strangely blended 

Page 115

groups. In one case is an owl perched on a human skull; in another an 
Indian scalp, side by side with a Chinese doll; in a third a string of 
battered Mongolian coins. Pistols there are of quaint and olden pattern, 
with knives and daggers, axes and hatchets, stuffed birds and reptiles, 
centipedes and tarantulas. Next to a group of bronze medals, a package of 
tobacco awaits its owner, and elsewhere in this postal morgue are jars 
filled with snakes preserved in alcohol, and flanked with bottles of 
whisky. On each articles is placed the address, and on some the letter 
that accompanied it; thus, among other purposes, the Fair may serve as a 
means of restoring to owners some of their stray effects. 

In the exhibits of the Interior department all the functions of this 
branch of government are clearly illustrated, its subdivisions including 
the Education, Land, and Census bureaus, the Patent office and the 
Geological survey. The display is further enriched by curiosities gathered 
the world over, by John M. Ewing, as special agent, with a corps of 
assistants in each of the several bureaus, while to its groupings and 
classification, under the management of Horace A. Taylor, no exception can 
be taken. Of such exhibits as relate to ethnology, archaeology and kindred 
subjects, mention will be made in a chapter specially devoted to such 
topics. 

The exhibits of the bureau of education are classed in four divisions, 
first among which is the one relating to Records and Correspondence, 
including the collection, publication, and diffusion of information, with 
statistical charts presenting in figures and by means of graphic devices 
data collected from the public and other schools and colleges of the 
United States. In the division of International exchange is a comparative 
exposition of foreign educational systems. 

In the Library and Museum, which form the third and fourth divisions, are 
catalogues of all the principal collections of school and college 
textbooks in the United States. There are also samples of text-books 
printed during the earlier colonial period in New England, Virginia, and 
Pennsylvania, and opened at such pages as display the characteristics of 
the era in which they were published. There is a library devoted to the 
science of teaching, and to general instruction, where is illustrated the 
best system of utilizing a small collection, say of two to three thousand 
volumes, whether for school or other purposes. By models and charts is 
shown the method of administering such libraries in France, with the 
classes of books that are circulated and some of the results attained. 

In the Museum are water-color and other paintings, with drawings, prints, 
photographs, and models, showing the evolution of the modern school 
building and grounds. Among 

Page 117

the models are those of the primitive school-house of logs or sods, of 
which there are still many actual specimens extant. As exhibits of school 
furniture and fittings, the models of the Patent office have been borrowed 
for the occasion. The collection of school apparatus is devoted mainly to 
object teaching, and includes such as can be made by the teacher. Methods 
of objective teaching are also illustrated, such as are adapted to 
laboratories and training-schools, with experiments by teachers and 
students in chemistry, electricity, and other branches of science. Finally 
it is shown how, for a brief course of instruction, these branches may be 
so arranged as to obtain the best results at the smallest expenditure of 
time and money. 

In the space devoted to the general land office are displayed the methods 
of obtaining government land and the process of acquiring title until 
confirmed by patent. On maps and charts are outlined the sections disposed 
of to actual settlers or remaining unoccupied at the time of their 
delineation, with location, character, and capabilities, whether as 
agricultural, pastoral, mineral, or forest lands. On the walls are copies 
of the actual patents whereby the government itself acquired possession, 
with such as were granted to the earliest settlers in several of the 
original states. While of practical value, the display of the land office 
and public land system is also an educational and historical collection. 
Here is presented in attractive guise a complete record of the country's 
progress, its various acquisitions of territory, by cession, purchase, or 
occupation; the surveyed and unsurveyed public lands in each state and 
territory and the areas granted to railroads, with their settlement and 
development. 

One of the most interesting exhibits is a mammoth terrestrial globe, 
probably the largest in existence, and yet with all the accuracy of 
delineation that science and mechanism can bestow. The glove is 63 feet in 
circumference, 20 in diameter, 1250 in superficial area, and mounted as it 
is on a star-shaped structure which serves as a pedestal, 15 feet above 
the floor, over-tops the surrounding exhibits. On its face oceans and 
continents are reproduced on a scale of one and three-quarter inches to a 
degree, measured at the equator. The boundaries of all the countries of 
earth, their surfaces and subdivisions, the sites of 

Page 119

the larger cities, the limits of ocean and of inland seas, and the courses 
of rivers and streams are portrayed in skillfully shaded colors and with 
singular fidelity. Parallels and meridians are also indicated, with zone 
and isothermal lines, with the principal steamship lines, and with the 
course of the great discoverer clearly traced, on the first of his New 
World voyages. 

Suspended from the structure beneath are maps of Washington, Idaho, 
Montana, Wyoming, and the two Dakotas, the last admitted among the 
sisterhood of states. Entrance is afforded through several doorways, 
beneath a drapery of flags, in the artistic blending of which is no 
combination of the colors of rival nations. An interior stairway in the 
chamber formed by the pedestal leads to a balcony around the base of the 
glove, which rests on a horizontal axis, and not as the earth revolves in 
space, thus permitting a clearer view of the surface, which is lighted by 
electricity. At the lower axis, within the antarctic zone, where there is 
nothing to be depicted save for the shadowy outlines of Graham's land, is 
the apparatus for turning the glove concealed under a huge design 
representing the seal of the land office. Through an ingenious device the 
interior may be lighted by electricity, giving to the outer surface a 
novel and pleasing effect. 

In the space devoted to the Census bureau may be seen in actual operation 
the Hollerith tabulating machine, with employees of this department 
assigned for special duty, by whom the visitor, whose curiosity may so 
incline, may place on record his age, size, nationality, birthplace, and 
such other details as come within the province of the census taker. There 
is also a collection of charts and maps, showing the resources of every 
section of the United States and their adaptation to various branches of 
industry, with a long array of statistics more voluminous than reliable. 

To the visitor whose tastes or faculties incline to invention the 
northwest portion of the Federal building is one of the most attractive 
spots in the home of the Fair; for here in a long array of glass cases are 
the models of the patent office, containing not only the leading 
inventions of recent date, but a historic collection, illustrating the 
progress of the world in this direction and especially the progress of the 
United States. And not alone to the man of science but to the casual 
visitor are these among the most interesting of all the Exposition groups, 
for never was gathered so rare a collection of curiosities. Here, for 
instance, the farmer may study the various stages of invention whereby has 
been evolved the modern reaping machine, up to the latest device of the 
McCormick pattern, and this he may compare with one of ancient Gallic 
construction, such as the [Oedric] or Helvetic may have used when 
disturbed at their task by the approach of Caesar's legionaries. 

From nearly a quarter of a million of models and specimens little more 
than 2,500 were selected for representation at the Fair; and these have 
been chosen with care and judgment, with a view to their practical or 
scientific value, and excluding all mere ingenious toys or such as would 
give to the display an element of the ludicrous and grotesque. To cull 
these exhibits from the huge collection of the patent office was a two 
years' task for three of its most expert 

Page 120

examiners, and, as the result, they have given us, within moderate limits, 
a collection which illustrates, in a series of object lessons, the history 
of human invention, almost from the days when the father and mother of the 
human race invented for themselves their rude and scant apparel. 

Among the exhibits of telegraphy is displayed the first huge, unwieldy 
instrument for which a patent was issued, and with it, in order of date, 
all the principal improvements, culminating in what appears to us the well-
nigh perfect instrument of today. In similar fashion is reproduced the 
history of telephones, beginning with the Bell telephone in 1876. And so 
with printing presses; we have first an exact reproduction of the one 
which Guttenberg put together near the middle of the fifteenth century; 
then come the more recent types of hand-presses; then cylinder presses, 
with all their ramifications; then, in progressive series, the web 
perfecting presses, and finally the Hoe press of latest pattern, such as 
furnishes the breakfast tables of New York with their relish of news and 
scandal at the rate of seventy thousand an hour. 

Somewhat to his surprise the average visitor will learn that the first 
type-writing machine, its patent signed by President Andrew Jackson, was 
invented in 1829 by one William Burt, who sold for $75 his rights for the 
New England states, the purchaser demanding the return of his money on the 
ground that the machine was unsalable. The model on exhibition is a 
reproduction of the original, which was burned in 1836. Though a 
cumbersome structure it worked fairly well, and failed only because the 
world was not yet ready for such an invention. There are others of later 
and slightly improved design, including the first one of the Remington 
pattern, manufactured in 1874, and thence proceeding through various 
gradations up to the typewriter of today. 

Of sewing machines there are more than a hundred models, including the 
originals of the Greenough machine of 1842, and the Howe machine of 1846, 
the latter with an antiquated fly-wheel and long-toothed plate on which 
the cloth was held, the latter feature being partially reproduced in the 
most recent of all the models, one used for sewing on looped fabrics a 
woven lining. From the earliest machines to those of recent make are 
displayed the gradual improvements in each, the latter for all the 
processes known to the seamstress' art. Among the spinning machines are 
models of the ancient distaff and spindle, of the spinning wheel of 
colonial days, of the spinning-jenny that Hargreaves fashioned, and the 
water-frame that Arkwright invented, thence traced in unbroken series to 
the self-acting machinery which gluts the market with an over-production 
of textile fabrics. And so with the looms, the most powerful of modern 
apparatus standing side by side in contrast with those which wove the 
wefts of ancient Egypt and of Rome. 

Of agricultural implements there is a complete and varied display, 
beginning with such as the Assyrians 

Page 121

used, and including the most primitive of ploughs, shaped like a crooked 
stick. Here also is the first fashioned with cast-iron board, invented in 
1797, but finding little favor with agriculturists, who believed it would 
poison the soil and kill their crops. Among those of recent make is a 
sulky gang-plough of the fin de siecle pattern, with numberless levers and 
springs, for which a patent was issued in 1892. Reapers, mowers, and 
harrows, seeders and planters, there are in abundance, with the first of 
what may be termed modern reapers, invented in 1799, one of 1825, and the 
prototype of the present McCormick reaper, manufactured in 1831. 

Of steam engines there are more than two hundred varieties, and of engines 
for propulsion on river, ocean, and lake, nearly three hundred. Among the 
former is a model of Hero's globe, said to have been turned by steam more 
than two thousand years ago, with those of the engines invented by Papin 
and Savery, Newcomen and Watt, of the locomotives built by Trevethick and 
Stevenson, with others that have become historic, down to the Ericsson 
models, and the cylinders and drivers of the steam leviathan constructed 
by Vanclair in 1891. Of electric motors the first is that of Joseph Henry, 
invented in 1835, and near it the original model of Faradya's induction 
coil, which furnished the keynote to further progress in electricity. A 
feature of the group in Davenport's motor of 1837, which failed only 
because there were as yet no dynamos for the production of electric 
currents. Side by side with Page's motor, used in 1854 on a locomotive 
running between Washington and Baltimore, are the inventions of Morse, 
Houston, Edison, and others known to the world of science. Telegraphs and 
telephones, electric lamps, and other of the manifold uses to which 
electricity is applied are exhibited in all varieties. 

Was is represented as a science by several hundred models of ordnance and 
other fire-arms. There are cannon of many patterns, from the wooden tubes 
of the Chinese to rapid-firing Hotchkiss guns, with the Dahlgren gun 
which, three decades ago, was among the most destructive of war's 
enginery. In the display of small-arms are models of the first invented, 
including a pyrotechnic hand weapon and the hand culverin of the middle 
ages, fired by a slow match. Next to them is a match-lock of the Columbian 
era and a wheel-lock of sixteenth century pattern, with curiously 
lacquered barrel, the wheel resting on a spiral spring, wound up with a 
key, and at the touch of the trigger revolving so rapidly as to emit a 
shower of sparks from a flint in contact with its circumference. This 
weapon was used by the Germans in 1555. Near it is the needle-gun which 
figured so prominently in the war of 1870. There are breech-loaders, 
muzzle-loaders, and hammerless fowling-pieces, with the original Henry 
rifle, on which all other magazine rifles are largely improvements, and 

Page 122

there is the first Colt's revolver for which a patent was applied. All 
these and many other specimens are contained in a large glass case, at one 
end of which is an old-fashioned weapon in the form of a wooden tube 
covered with bamboo; at the other a Crag-Jorgensen rifle, patented in 
1893. 

Of other models, as of boot, shoe, and screw-making machines, wood-
turning, wood-working, and wood-sawing machines, wire and sheet-metal 
working machines, fire escapes and ladders, bridges, gates, and fences, 
threshing machines, knitting and netting machines, and laundry apparatus, 
of these and many others I need only give passing mention. 

Near the northwest corner of the Government building are the quarters of 
the Geological survey, in the windows of which are photographic 
transparencies representing objects of historic interest. Under them are 
topographical and relief maps of every section of the United States, 
together with a collection of instruments used in the various surveys. 
Elsewhere are models in plaster of Paris representing the entire surface 
of the earth and the waters beneath the earth, with their underlying 
strata, to the greatest depths at which soundings have been taken. Of 
special value are those which present to us, as the result of many years 
of study and research, the geographical features of our own country. Here 
are reproduced in miniature its mountains and valleys, its lakes and 
rivers, its deserts and swamps, its cities and towns, and even its 
railroads, all with a minuteness and perfection of detail such as could 
never be embodied in mere verbal or graphic delineation. 

In the geological and mineral groups are no less clearly revealed the 
strata of our rock formulations, and the secrets that for unnumbered aeons 
lay buried within. Of metals, minerals, crystals, and precious stones of 
commercial or scientific value, there is one of the most complete 
collections extant, with fossils and the flora of geology, especially its 
coal flora, depicting more plainly than on written page the legend of the 
rocks. There are sections of turquoise, several pounds in weight, 
extracted from the mines of New Mexico; there are garnets of phenomenal 
dimensions in crystalline form; there are crystals that cannot be readily 
detected from diamonds, taken from the clay strata of Herkimer county, New 
York, and there is a large and varied assortment of crystals of the 
calcite, cryolite, and other varieties. Of specimens and formations not 
included in the display there are illustrations in the form of paintings, 
maps and photographs, and as a further supplement to the exhibits are 
those of the National Museum, devoted mainly to physical geology. 

In the various exhibits is represented the entire work of the survey, 
whether in the field or in the office, elucidating by carefully selected 
specimens the geology and mineralogy of the United States. The fossil 
collections are so arranged as to show their original locations and their 
order in the geological column. Prominent among them is the huge skeleton 
of an antediluvian pachyderm, fourteen feet long and eleven in height, 
unearthed in what are known as the badlands of Dakota. Elsewhere is a 
fossil horn more than four feet in length taken from a mollusk of the 
ammonite family, with other ammonite and trilobite specimens, entire or in 
parts. There is also a large group of the coral-building crustacea 
commonly known as stone lilies, so called on account of their close 
resemblance to water lilies. 

By the bureau of Indian affairs, as a branch of the Interior department, a 
building was erected near the Krupp pavilion and the convent of La Rabida, 
reproducing, as far as possible, the reservation boarding-school, the 
walls of its chambers decorated with articles of Indian manufacture, and 
the windows partly composed of transparencies depicturing Indian customs 
and modes of life, with collections of photographs for similar purposes 
and portraits of prominent chieftains. There are workshops, school, 
sitting and dining rooms, dormitories, and kitchen, with apartments for 
employees, and here may be seen, under charge of instructors, boys and 
girls, studying or reciting, working at trades, or preparing their meals, 
all as though actually living on reservations, with specimens of their 
self-taught industries compared with those of civilized nations, and with 
the methods adopted and the results accomplished. The pupils and teachers 
were selected from a large number of Indian schools, not only government 
schools, but such as are conducted by the several religious denominations, 
each furnishing its quota, and giving place to others after a brief 
sojourn. Thus are extended to a large number of Indian boys and girls the 
educational advantages of the Fair, and to visitors a complete exposition 
of the training afforded by government and other agencies at widely 
scattered points. 

Page 123

Finally should be mentioned in connection with the department of the 
Interior, its Alaskan exhibit, housed in the norther gallery of the 
Government building, one fully illustrating the resources of that much 
abused territory, and more than justifying the well-known remark that 
Seward made, some few years after its purchase. "What, Mr. Seward," asked 
one of his admirers, "do you consider the crowing act of your political 
career?" "The purchase of Alaska," he replied, "but it will take the 
people a generation to find it out." And now that a generation has well-
nigh passed away, the people are beginning to realize her natural wealth, 
not only in land and pelagic peltry, but in fisheries, forests, and mines, 
the first making good the decreasing output of the Columbia river 
canneries, the second with timber of many varieties and in unlimited 
supply, the third containing, in addition to valuable placers, gold-
bearing quartz-veins, which may yet go far to reestablish the equilibrium 
in the value of the precious metals. 

For more than a year G. T. Emmons, as special agent, was engaged in 
preparing this display, and as the result has presented a most attractive 
and interesting collection, including many curiosities never before given 
to the public. Among them is a war canoe, grotesquely painted, the sleds 
of the Thlinkeet and other tribes, their trophies and totem poles, and 
there is the most complete assortment of furs ever placed on exhibition. 
In the Thlinkeet, or as the government spells the work, Tlingit 
collection, are exhibits of rare interest to the casual visitor no less 
than to the ethnologist. In one case is the most complete assortment of 
furs ever placed on exposition; in another a collection of festival and 
ceremonial pipes; in a third of head-dresses, robes, and blankets; in a 
fourth of weapons and household and fishing implements; in a fifth, of 
charms and ornaments. Adjoining them are cases containing the household 
and fishing implements and clothing of the Eskimos. As specimens of 
Alaskan timber, there are sections of spruce, cedar, alder, and hemlock. 
The mineral group includes a piece of quartz from the Treadwell gold mine 
on Douglas island, with gilded bars representing in facsimile its output 
of $676,226 for 1892. Finally, there are studies of Alaska in graphic art, 
in a collection loaned by T. J. Richardson. 

In the main gallery are displayed, as may be read on its canvas signs, the 
resources, industries, commerce, and customs of Mexico, Central and South 
America, and the West Indies. Here is the picture gallery of the Federal 
pavilion, where may be studied, in a series of excellent illustrations, 
the more striking physical features, the farms and factories, the traffic 
and means of communication, the cities, homes, and home-life of many 
nations, with portraits of their more eminent men. In cases containing 
textile and other fabrics are copies of a work entitled the Special 
Exposition Bulletin, issued by the bureau of American republics, and, as 
it states, showing how Latin American markets may be reached by 
manufacturers. Among other curiosities are facsimiles of the Peruvian, 
Bolivian, and Argentinian declarations of independence and a collection of 
paintings in water color by an Amayara Indian of Bolivia. Elsewhere are 
llamas, guanacos, and burros, the last in a mounted group, side by side 
with a pack-mule and a yoke of oxen. A relief map of Central and South 
America shows the proposed line of an Intercontinental railroad and of 
existing railway and steamship lines, with a vertical scale of about one 
inch to the mile and a horizontal scale of an inch to twenty-five miles, 
measured on the equator. 

Descending from the gallery, whence we found an excellent view of the 
departments below, and especially of the rotunda, with its mural 
decorations, let us enter the Fisheries branch, for which, with the aid of 
an appropriation of $89,000, preparations were begun in the spring of 
1891. Collections were placed in a building rented by the Fish commission 
in Washington, and a corps of assistants was employed in preparing the 
exhibits for packing. In December 1892 eight car-loads were housed in the 
federal building, and before the middle of March twelve additional car-
loads were landed in Chicago. In the closing days of the latter month the 
work of installation was begun, and by the first of May completed. As the 
result we have a most interesting and instructive display, occupying 15,
000 square feet in the northern corridor and the naves adjacent, between 
the spaces allotted to the departments of the Interior and Agriculture. 

Says the manager of the Fisheries department: "The object of our exhibits 
is to illustrate the functions, methods, and operations of the United 
States fish commission in its three divisions of scientific inquiry, 
fisheries, and pisciculture." The collections are largely drawn from the 
fisheries section of the national museum, where most of them were 
deposited by the commission, after doing duty at former expositions; but 
much of the material is the property of the museum itself. 

As illustrations of the scientific work of the commission, there are 
models and photographs of its aerological stations for marine exploration 
and of its vessels, the Albatross, Fish Hawk, and Grampus. Together with 
apparatus for deep-sea soundings and thermometers and salimometers for 
physical observations are sectional 

Page 124

charts of ocean's bed, relief models of submarine continental slopes, and 
specimens, dried or in alcohol, of mollusks, polypi, and other denizens of 
surface and deep waters, including corals and foraminifera, crinoidea, 
star-fish, and sea-urchins, the last of which is classes as an edible 
specimen, though one would prefer to have fresh on table the lobsters, 
crabs, shrimps, or oysters that form a part of the collection. Of seines, 
trawls, towing-nets, dredges, sieves, and other such articles as were used 
in making and preserving this collection, there is also a plentiful 
display. Nor should we omit the groups which show the development of 
pisciculture as a branch of economic science. 

The division of fisheries is subdivided into objects or groups of 
specimens, apparatus, illustrations, and statistics. In the first are 
included, among other mammals, the common and bottle-nosed dolphin, the 
grampus, porpoise, and sperm-whale, the common and fur-seal, and the sea-
lion, the last three mounted on frames and the others in the forms of 
casts. Of reptilia and batrachians there are the alligator, or rather his 
skin; turtles, green, soft-shelled, snap, and spotted; tortoises of 
several descriptions, and snakes and frogs, some in the form of painted 
casts and others represented by their shells. But most of the fish exhibit 
proper is to be found in the annex of the Fisheries building, the living 
specimens in its aquaria and others in various forms of illustration. Of 
these a description will be given in connection with the Fisheries 
department. 

Under the heading of apparatus are classed fishing vessels of all 
descriptions, from a steam-whaler to a skin or bark canoe. Of the smaller 
craft there are many actual reproductions, and of the larger, models and 
pictures, with improved and recent types, their instruments of navigation, 
their rigging and equipments. For the taking of fish there are casting and 
towing nets, trawls and dredges, the lines, rods, reels, flies, floats, 
and sinkers of the angler and the deep-sea fisherman; and the spears and 
lances, or missile weapons used in whaling and sealing, or by Indian 
tribes, as the Aleuts and Eskimoes for supplying themselves with food. 
Among the collection of rods is one valued at $2,000, manufactured by the 
New York firm of Abbey & Imbrie for the Queen's Jubilee Exposition, as a 
specimen of the most finished workmanship. It is mounted in gold, engraved 
with designs of artistic merit, in it butt a topaz which cost $1,200, and 
its reel of solid gold, with handle of agate. 

In addition to the models, casts and pictures already mentioned, the 
Fisheries department is further illustrated by a collection of many 
hundreds of color-sketches, paintings, and enlarged photographs, 
representing 

Page 125

not only classes and specimens, but the dwellings of fishermen, their mode 
of life, and the villages and towns supported mainly by this industry. 
Statistics are presented in the form of charts and in the publications of 
the Fish commission, beginning with its organization in 1871. Those who 
incline to this class of literature will find here no lack of material; 
for in one of the cases are some twenty volumes of Annual Report, each of 
nearly 1,000 pages, ten volumes of its Annual Bulletin, with 5,000 pages 
in all, the quarto series in connection with the tenth census, and special 
treatises and reports on scientific investigation and research. 

As an example of what has been accomplished in the way of pisciculture, it 
will be seen on one of the charts in this section that, between 1872 and 
1892, the commission distributed 2,732,486,387 fish. Of the economic value 
of its work a single instance must here suffice. In 1880 some 29,000,000 
shad were distributed among the inland waters of the United States and 
more than 5,000,000 were caught, while for 1890 the take was little short 
of 13,000,000; yet for the former year the catch was valued at nearly $1,
000,000 and for the latter at about $800,000, showing a decrease of 69 
percent in price in relation to volume of production, and with an actual 
reduction of 40 percent in retail markets, thus brining this favorite food-
fish within reach of the most slender purse. 

Among the exhibits are all the apparatus for collecting, preserving, and 
hatching ova, and for the preservation of fish in various stages of 
growth, including such as are or have been used, not only by the 
commission, but at other piscicultural stations in our own and foreign 
lands, thus affording a practical illustration of the science from its 
very inception. Of hatching houses there are many models, with pictures on 
a scale representing their structural design, their methods and 
appliances, together with floating stations in actual operation. In a 
word, fish propagation may here be studied, whether from a commercial or 
scientific point of view, extending over the entire region between Maine 
and Oregon, and thence southward to the state of Missouri. 

Methods and results are further illustrated by figures in clay, showing 
the mode of capturing shad and cod, and by a chart the system of 
collecting their eggs. The growth of fish reared by the commission, as the 
trout, white-fish, carp, tench, gold-fish, bass, and many others, is 
indicated by painted casts. In another group are ova in various stages of 
development, with specimens, preserved in brine and alcohol, from the 
smallest of fry to the full-grown fish. In still another are models and 
photographs of water-ways, showing how fish are assisted in passing the 
obstructions of river and stream, with other appliances for their 
protection. 

As with the Fisheries, so with the Agricultural department of the 
government display, it is intended to illustrate the functions, scope, and 
methods, with the results achieved in each of its subdivisions. While 
largely of a scientific and educational character, as are most of the 
government exhibits, it is not entirely so, and few there are among the 
more intelligent class of observers who fail to recognize its attractive 
and artistic features. 

Entering from the central rotunda our national hall of agriculture, veiled 
by a screen of symbolic and most tasteful design, the visitor finds 
abundant evidence that the $150,000 and 23,000 feet of space appropriated 
for its purposes have been utilized to good advantage. Under the personal 
supervision of Edward Willits, assistant secretary of his department at 
Washington and chairman of the government board of control, there have 
been gathered and installed probably the most complete and yet the most 
compact collections every brought together. An agricultural display like 
that of the main Agricultural department of the Fair, it was not intended 
to be. Nevertheless there are choice exhibits of cereals, cotton, tobacco, 
and wool, procured by agents specially appointed for their task, mainly 
with a view to illustrate the effect of soil and climate on the several 
products on view. Samples of wheat, barley, oats, rye, corn, and 
buckwheat, culled from every section of the United States, are accompanied 
with sufficient data to afford a comparison of each variety and to 
indicate the most suitable habitat for each. Of cotton there are numerous 
specimens, carefully chosen and skillfully arranged, showing how this 
industry has been and yet may be improved. Tobacco is shown in every form 
and variety in which it is raised, and among other exhibits is one in 
bulk, as removed from the hogshead which contained it. Samples of wool, 
including many foreign descriptions, are 

Page 126

placed in large glass jars, and beside them are fleeces in pyramidal form. 
Thus the wool-grower or wool-merchant may compare the relative merits of 
nearly all merchantable classes and grades. 

The bureau of Animal Industry has furnished an excellent display, happily 
combining the scientific with the popular. Sides of beef and an entire hog 
in papier mache illustrate the process of dressing and preparing for 
market. The spread of pleuro-pneumonia, the world over, is traced on a 
globe, where its progress is indicated before and after it reached our 
shores. The method of inspecting pork to detect the presence of trichina 
is shown by men detailed for that purpose. Of pathological specimens in 
alcohol there is a large collection, and the diseases of domestic animals 
may be studied in the forms of models, together with such of the bacteria 
as are destructive to brute and human life. In other models are displayed 
some of the most recent patterns of cattle cars and vessels, constructed 
with due consideration for the care of live-stock in transit. There are 
also horse-shoes on exhibition, showing approved and faulty methods of 
shoeing and the manner in which are shod the champions of the turf. 

In another section of the Agricultural department are exhibits of 
practical chemistry, with a working laboratory showing the most recent 
appliances for the analysis of food constituents, for detecting 
adulterations, and other useful purposes. The cultivation of sugar-beets 
and the manufacture of beet-sugar are features of interest, and the 
machinery and apparatus used in this connection are models of their kind. 

In the Botanical division is a herbarium case, where are mounted and 
labeled specimens of most of the plants indigenous to the United States, 
and in bottles a large collection of medicinal plants. There is also a 
comparative display of grasses, whether serving for food or for 
manufacturing purposes, and outdoor groups of such plants are found in the 
desert regions of the southwestern states. In this connection may be 
mentioned the Entomological collection in which are included injurious 
species of insects, insect-destroying substances and apparatus, systematic 
and biological classes, appliances and methods for collecting and rearing 
insects, and illustrations and maps. By models are illustrated the 
depredations wrought by insects on varius species of plants, and that with 
such fidelity of detail that the spectator might suppose himself looking 
on the plant itself. In a heap of corn are shown the ravages of the boll-
worm and other pests, in the potato, tomato, tobacco, and other plants 
those of the insects called by their name. Finally there is a choice 
exhibit of mounted specimens, including South American varieties, their 
brilliant colors blended in most artistic fashion. 

Of fruit there is a large collection in the shape of wax models, and here 
is an excellent opportunity for the comparison of different species and 
specimens, such as are adapted to the various fruit-growing regions of the 
United States. Side by side with these groups are several hundred kinds of 
nuts, indigenous, transplanted, and foreign, from the Florida cocoanut to 
the almond and Persian walnut - more commonly termed the English walnut - 
of California. In the so-called division of Microscopy is a large 
collection of edible and poisonous fungi, with mushrooms displayed in life-
like coloring. Here are illustrated the operations of the administrative 
department in connection with experiment stations, the workings of the 
stations themselves being displayed in the main Agricultural department of 
the Fair, and described in that connection. 

In the Forestry section are the tops of the long-leafed or southern pitch-
pine, with its trunks and seedlings in various stages of growth, and with 
its several products, including all grades of crude and refined 

Page 127

turpentine and rosins, the specimens arranged in columnar form 
representing a section of the tree. Suspended from the trees are the 
various tools employed in this industry. There are also native and foreign 
finishing woods in a pagoda containing columns of such woods, handsomely 
carved and veneered, and there is a large octagonal column filled with 
seeds from the various trees indigenous to the United States, around its 
broad and terraced base a group of living conifers. Another attractive 
feature is a series of monographs, framed with sections cut from the 
trunks of various species, and illustrated by means of botanical 
specimens, with maps and photomicrographs showing geographical 
distribution. In the form of screens are more than two hundred specimens 
of botanic forest growth, in conjunction with as many sections of the 
trees among which they are found, and also with charts of distribution and 
annotations of interest. 

In the herbarium is a complete collection, including more than 200 
specimens, of the leaves and timber of all trees of commercial value 
indigenous to the United States. An instructive exhibit is in the form of 
large square cases, their framework of elm, birch, cherry, maple, oak, 
spruce, ash, cypress, walnut, and hickory, and inclosing polished panels, 
fashioned of native varieties. A small pavilion is set apart for railroad 
ties, of wood and metal, the Central Pacific sending one of red fir and 
the Southern Pacific one of black redwood, to show how they have been 
preserved in serviceable condition after the hard usage of a quarter of a 
century. But perhaps the most unique exhibit of all, and one that is 
specially appropriate to this year of Columbian celebrations, is a disk of 
highly polished wood containing a series of rings which reveal, as clearly 
as on written page, that, in the Columbian era, the tree of which it is a 
section must have been a seedling, all unconscious of the great future 
which lay before it. On each series, indicating a decade's growth, are 
described the leading historic events of the corresponding period. 

Still another interesting exhibit among the Forestry groups is a model of 
a recently invented machine for the planting of trees, whereby as many as 
35,000 cuttings have been planted on unbroken prairie-land in a single 
day. The timber tests conducted by the Forestry department are also shown, 
with the methods of applying strains. In the corner occupied by the office 
of fibre investigations are arranged in boxes sisal and other hemps, flax, 
jute, ramie, and the fibres of the pineapple. Among the exhibits of hemp 
are twines and cordage, and among those of flax, the straw in its natural 
state, as well as dressed and manufactured, with a spinning-wheel more 
than a century old. Finally in the section of vegetable pathology are 
illustrated in models or actual specimens, such fungous diseases as the 
pear blight, and the mildew of the grape, with materials and methods for 
their extermination. 

In the division of ornithology and mammalogy are shown the economic 
relations of birds and mammals to agriculture, with their geographic 
distribution. Here, for the first time, are displayed the collections 
gathered in the Death Valley expedition of 1891, under the direction of 
this bureau. The groups are skillfully mounted and arranged, and among 
them is one representing the fauna and flora of a mountain slope, as seen 
by him who climbs the mountain's side. 

For those whose tastes incline to this class of literature there is a 
complete collection of the publications of the Agricultural department, 
with statistical chart and maps relating to all the agricultural products 
of the United States, including their distribution and their prices for a 
series of years. 

Of the Naval exhibit some description may here be added to the slight 
mention already made of this interesting feature. In the model Illinois, 
whereby this department is represented, we have somewhat of a novelty in 
naval architecture - a vessel of war whose hull, from berth to main deck, 
is of brick and concrete, covered with a coating of cement, and resting on 
a foundation of piles. The ship is armed, manned, and equipped, and there 
are quarters and mess-rooms for officers and men, with drill and dress 
parade, all in such realistic fashion that, by the uninitiated , the 
vessel might easily be mistaken for an iron-clad moored alongside the 
wharf in front of the government plaza. 

The Illinois is a model of our coast-line battleships of the latest 
pattern, such vessels as the Oregon and Massachusetts. She is 350 feet in 
length, with a beam of 70 feet, and were she an actual man-of-war, would 
be of about 10,000 tons, with engines of 9,000 horse-power and a speed of 
some 18 knots an hour. Her full complement of officers and men would be 
about 450, those now on board belonging to the marine corps and the war-
ship Michigan. As to her armament, there are first of all, on the main 
deck, fore and aft armorplated turrets, with thirteen-inch breech-loading 
guns, almost as harmless as those which the Chinese used in the fifteenth 
century, and made, like theirs, of wood, wrapped and covered with cement. 
Pointing fore and aft are six-inch breech-loading rifles, mounted in 
sponsons projecting above water line. On the excursion deck the batteries 
consist of eight-inch also mounted in turrets. The armament includes, 
besides, Gatling and other rapid-firing guns, in all some fifty pieces of 
ordnance, large and small, and with six torpedo tubes. The lighter cannon 
are of real workmanship, and were forwarded from the naval gun factory 
with carriages and equipments as though for actual service. From the 
forward section of the upper deck rises a hollow iron tower, or as it is 
termed, a military mast, around which, at the forward end of the bridge, 
is the chart house, and above it platforms, or tops, for sharpshooters and 
quick-firing guns. Above the tower is a flagstaff for signaling purposes. 
In the conning tower, where is the commander's station in time of action, 
are electric and other appliances, as call-bells and speaking-tubes such 
as are needed for handling a ship to the best advantage. On either side of 
the bridge are hung the boats, eleven in number, with two steam launches, 
all of which are real and serviceable 

Page 128

craft. The starboard side is protected by a torpedo netting of spars, 
which at times is displayed in actual operation, as also are the several 
uses of electric lights for naval purposes. 

But for a view of the most interesting exhibits on board the Illinois we 
must descend to her lower deck, where, between the sailors' and officers' 
quarters in the fore and aft compartments, a large space is devoted to a 
hydrographic display, illustrating the process of marine surveying and 
deep sea soundings, to that of the naval academy, to the departments of 
the surgeon-general and paymaster, and to a collection of such engines, 
apparatus, and tools as are commonly used on board our vessels of war. 
Beneath the forward turret is the magazine from which ammunition is 
hoisted by hydraulic power, and almost under the vessel's bow is a railed 
inclosure where those who are curious as to such processes may watch at 
leisure the loading of torpedoes. On this deck also are the mess-rooms, 
the store-rooms, and the cook's galley, men and officers living as though 
on actual service and under similar discipline. Finally there are 
portraits of naval heroes from the days of Paul Jones to those of Admiral 
Porter, and there are models of war-vessels of all ages and descriptions, 
from the war-canoe of the savage and the trireme of the Greek to the 
wooden three-deckers that fought at Trafalgar and the steel-clad cruisers 
of our own white squadron. 

The builder of the Illinois was the naval architect, F. W. Grogan, and to 
Commodore R. W. Meade of the navy department is due the project of a naval 
exhibit. On the decks of this model is an opportunity for the visitor who 
dwells remote from seaport towns to study the organism of the navy now in 
course of construction, and intended to give to the United States her 
proper rank among the maritime powers of the world. As yet we have merely 
the nucleus of a navy, and that consisting almost entirely of the iron and 
steel-plated cruisers, coast-defense, and line-of-battle ships constructed 
within recent years; for, in the relics of the civil war - a few small 
armored vessels and antiquated specimens of naval architecture - we had 
nothing on which to rely in case of need. To no purpose could the treasury 
surplus have been better applied than in providing such means of 
protection for our commerce and our coasts, and few there are who will 
grudge the expense of adding to our navy, though at an average cost of 
some $3,000,000 each, at least two or three vessels a year, such as those 
represented by the Illinois . Doubtless the ship of which she is a model 
would, on occasion, render a good account of herself; but as yet there is 
not in the entire fleet a single man-of-war that would be a match for the 
first-class ironclads of England, Italy, or France. 

A short distance inland from the wharf where lies the Illinois is the camp 
of the marine corps, whose location is revealed by the letters of U. S. M. 
C. worked in botanic device on the strip of lawn in front of its neat and 
orderly array of tents. In addition to guard service on board the 
Illinois, it is their duty to protect certain of the exhibits in the 
Government building, and especially the more valuable public documents, 
some of them among the most precious of our national heirlooms. 

Of the live-saving station, adjacent to the camp, brief mention has been 
made in connection with Exposition management. Within or in front of this 
two-story structure are life-boats and other appliances for the rescue of 
those whom accident overtakes in lake or waterway. Among them is a 
beautiful specimen of such craft, built of mahogany and in air-tight 
compartments. To one side of the building is attached the first life car 
ever used on our Atlantic seaboard, whereby, from the wreck of the 
Ayrshire on the New Jersey coast, in 1850, were rescued her crew and 
passengers, all save one, who, fearing to wait his turn, clung to the 
outside of the car and was washed away. Here also are the mortar and 
cannon-ball used to cast on board the life-line, the latter found, a 
quarter of 

Page 129

a century later, in the hold of the vessel. Both have become historic and 
form a part of the collection loaned by the Smithsonian institution, where 
is their home. The life-saving station is one of the Fair buildings, small 
though it be, that is intended for permanent use. Near it is a lighthouse 
of modern design, with framework of steel and about 100 feet in height. 
Its revolving light is of the first magnitude and with the most powerful 
of reflectors. After the close of the Fair it was to be taken apart in 
sections and shipped to the mouth of the Columbia river, a point more 
dreaded by mariners than any other on the Pacific coast. Next to the 
lighthouse, on the government esplanade, are the three small wooden 
buildings in which is contained the naval observatory, with its equatorial 
and transit telescopes, and an interesting collection of chronometers that 
have seen hard service in Arctic and other lands. Of such as are of 
historic interest mention is made under the heading of World's Fair 
Miscellany. Here, under the direction of F. T. Gardner, a time-ball is 
made to drop from the flag-staff of the Federal building precisely at noon 
by Washington time, or at about eleven o'clock as time is in Chicago. 

To this group of minor departments belongs also the Weather bureau, 
classed under the agricultural section of the government exhibits. 
Thoroughly equipped and with the most approved and recent of 
meteorological instruments, it is almost a reproduction of the system in 
use at the national capital. From cipher telegrams, announcing weather 
conditions throughout the United States and Canada, forecasts are made by 
the officers precisely as in Washington. In the upper story of this neat 
and unpretentious building, short lectures are delivered on meteorology, 
illustrated by a stereopticon, and here may be had lithographic weather 
maps prepared each day from the current reports, on the back of which are 
described the elementary processes in the science of weather forecasting. 
On the roof is a shelter-house containing the thermometers, the apparatus 
for recording rainfall and sunshine, and the flagstaffs for the display of 
wind and weather signals. 

From the national administration let us turn to the administration of the 
Fair, though in the latter department there are no exhibits, properly so-
called, except for the building itself, which has justly been termed -the 
crown of the Exposition palaces. When, by a member of a foreign legation, 
the remark was made, already quoted in these pages, that "the Chicago 
buildings are what we expected to see in Paris, and those of the Paris 
Exhibition what we should have expected to see in Chicago," his meaning 
was probably somewhat as follows. In Paris, the home of art, the 
architects of the last of her great World's Fairs gave little more than 
commonplace effects, with an eye rather to convenience than structural 
beauty, while Chicago, the acknowledged type of industrial progress, but 
where as her rivals said, art found no abiding place, has far outstripped 
the Parisian display in artistic and scenic design. From the latter was 
expected, at least by foreign visitors, merely the colossal and 
utilitarian style of treatment developed by the exigencies of modern 
exhibitions; there was found instead the most refined and harmonious of 
decorative forms, evolved on such a scale and with such skill and taste as 
in its entirety has never been witnessed in Exposition architecture. 

While in the five great structures that surround the main court we have 
the most striking of all the architectural effects, nowhere do we find 
among them more perfect elaboration and harmony of composition than in the 
Administration buildings. Yet in none of the larger edifices were there 
structural problems more difficult of solution; for, adjacent as it is 
with the railroad terminus, here is the principal entrance-way to the 
grounds, and through its porches, through its spacious and majestic 
interior, the visitor may pass into the fullness of glory revealed by the 
city of the Fair. 

Covering an area in the form of a square, whose side is 260 feet, the 
first floor consists in part of four exterior pavilions in the form of 

Page 131

wings, of equal size, one at each angle of the square, and in the centre 
of their facades a wide recess, where are the grand entrances, flanked 
with emblematic statuary. These are of the Doric order, with flat terraced 
roofs, surrounded with balustrades, and adorned with statuary at their 
outer corners. In the interior of the building is a rotunda of octagonal 
shape, forming the principal motif of the plan, its arched walls 
surmounted with a frieze nearly thirty feet wide, and covered with 
sculptures in low relief. Within this hall neither nave nor transept 
interferes with the unity of the composition, nor is there anything to 
obstruct the view from the floor to the overhanging dome. 

On the second story the octagonal structure rises above the pavilions, 
standing forth boldly against the sky, and asserting itself as the 
dominating feature of the design. With a height of some fifty feet, this 
story is of the Ionic order, and with an open colonnade on each of its 
faces, the pillars of which are forty feet high and four in diameter. 
Above the pavilion, and resting on the floor of the gallery in which the 
story ends, are domes flanked with the heroic statuary in which the 
artists of the Fair delight. From this floor rises the base of the central 
dome, which is thence continued in soaring lines to the apex, towering far 
above the loftiest of the adjacent temples, its gilded surface displaying, 
for a radius of two-score miles, the location of this monumental vestibule 
of the Exposition. 

In structure this dome resembles, as I have said, that of the Invalides, 
but is more than forty feet higher, and more than fifty above that of the 
national capitol. In diameter it is larger than any that have yet been 
fashioned, with the single exception of the dome of St. Peter's. Within it 
is an interior dome, nearly 100 feet less in altitude, and at its apex an 
opening fifty feet wide, through which the vault above appears like the 
concave arch of another sky. Thus light is admitted to the great rotunda, 
while its inner ceiling is not so lofty as to impair the architectural 
effect. 

The Administration hall was intrusted to Richard M. Hunt, with whom in 
former years were associated, as pupils or assistants, several of the Fair 
artificers. Says one who has made a thorough study of his design, and of 
the plans of which all the main buildings were formulated: "In his 
decorative treatment of the problems thus evolved Mr. Hunt has exercised a 
fine spirit of scholarly reserve. The architectural language employed is 
simple and stately, and the composition as a whole is so free from 
complications, its structural articulations are so frankly accentuated, 
that it is easy to read, and, being read, cannot fail to surprise the most 
unaccustomed mind with a distinct and veritable architectural impression. 
We have said that this edifice was intended to introduce the visitors to 
the Exposition into a new world. As they emerge from its east archway and 
enter the court, they must, if possible, receive a memorable impression of 
architectural harmony on a vast scale. To this end the forums, basilicas, 
and baths of the Roman empire, the villas and gardens of the princes of 
the Italian renaissance, the royal court-yards of the palaces of France 
and Spain, must yield to the architects, 'in that new world which is the 
old,' their rich inheritance of ordered 

Page 132

beauty, to make possible the creation of a bright picture of civic 
splendor such as this great function of modern civilization would seem to 
require." 

The decorative features of the Administration building are no less worthy 
of commendation than is the building itself. Far up on the frescoed walls 
and between the grand arches of the rotunda, are panels on which are 
imprinted in gilt letters the names of the principal countries represented 
at the Exposition. Above the arches and the carved moulding which 
surmounts them are inscribed on other panels some of the great discoveries 
and events of the past and present centuries, with the names of prominent 
discoverers and inventors, on a higher border of moulding, over a row of 
small latticed windows. Above these are portrayed in plaster medallions 
the various types of women, among the leading nations of earth. Near the 
summit of the interior dome are groups of statuary, in each of which the 
central figure is a woman in the act of crowning with a wreath one to whom 
honor is due. Over one of these figures are the letters W. C. E., and in 
front of it, in kneeling posture, the typical exponents of science, 
industry, literature, and art. 

But it is on the outer dome that one of the youngest of the Exposition 
artists, though a medallist of the Paris Exposition and the American Art 
Association has given us the gem of the decorative scheme. While the 
largest of all the decorative paintings of the Fair, so perfect is its 
execution that, as with the Fair itself, its monumental proportions are 
veiled by its symmetry of design. Here Apollo sits enthroned, and before 
him kneels a warrior on whom he is conferring the wreath of victory. 
Others are ascending the broad stairway of this Olympian dais, and around 
the entire vault extend in unbroken procession the favored representatives 
of the peaceful arts. Over a model of the Parthenon, drawn by four winged 
steeds, female figures are raising the canopy of its amphitheatre. 

Of sculpture there are twenty-eight groups in all, with many single 
figures and bas-reliefs. On the sides of and above the entrance-ways are 
those which represent the four elements - earth, air, water, and fire - 
and at the corner pavilions, such as are typical of patriotism, religion, 
charity, diligence, and other qualities and tendencies of the human race, 
with special regard to American characteristics. Flanking the cupolas at 
the base of the dome are groups allegorical of the highest development 
attained by man, whether in culture, industry, or commerce, science or 
art, peace or war. In these are winged 

Page 133

female figures, with boys proclaiming in trumpet tones the symbolic 
language of the theme. Thus is also relieved the severity of the 
structural design. 

As to the several branches of the administration bureau, with their 
various functions and operations, little remains to be added to that which 
has already been said in this connection. Here, during the formative 
period of the Exposition, were the headquarters of its various 
departments, afterward removed to the rooms set apart for them in the home 
of the Fair, the post-office, for instance, being now in the Government 
building, and so with the rest. Nevertheless there are features still 
remaining that are worthy of passing mention. First of all there is a 
branch of the bank of the Northern Trust Company of Chicago, for the care 
of deposits, the purchase and sale of foreign and domestic exchange, and 
for telegraphic and cable transfers. This was established at the 
solicitation of President Higinbotham, soon after the suspension of the 
Exposition branch of the Chemical National bank, on which occasion the 
entire sum deposited by exhibitors, amounting to some $75,000, was made 
good the directors and their associates. "The good name of Chicago," said 
the president, "cannot afford to be smirched by such a small matter as $75,
000. If the sum were ten times that amount, it would be raised by the 
business men of the city." 

On the ground floor of the southeast pavilion are the offices of the 
Western Union and Postal telegraph companies, and on other floors are, in 
the order named, those of the Board of Lady Managers, the National 
Commission and the committee on ceremonies. In the northeast pavilion are 
the quarters of the custom-house, the secretary of installation, the 
World's Columbian Exposition, the director-general and the department of 
awards. A third pavilion, in the southwest corner, is set apart for 
express companies, for the branch bank and the vaults of its safety 
deposits, for the department of Foreign Affairs, and the offices of the 
Columbian guard. The remaining pavilion is largely devoted to the press; 
and here also are the rooms of the department of Publicity and Promotion, 
and of the official catalogue and directory. In describing the wonders of 
the Exposition, some of the ablest pens are busied, representing nearly 
all our states and territories, with many foreign lands, and forming 
probably the largest gathering of correspondents ever seen. By the middle 
of June, Great Britain and her colonies had nearly two-score 
correspondents on the ground, among them those of the London Times, 
Morning Post, Art Journal, Graphic, Illustrated London News, Pall Mass 
Gazette and other metropolitan journals. There were also representatives 
from minor English cities, from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, from Canada, 
Australia, and Hindostan. To Germany fifty members of her press sent home 
their descriptions from a city whose denizens of German parentage 
outnumber all other nationalities. France had sixteen correspondents, 
Austria about as many, and Italy more than twice that number. Other 
European countries had several men in the field, all save the one whose 
acquisition of her New World empire the Fair was intended to celebrate, 
Spain being represented by a single correspondent, that of the Madrid 
publication, La Union Catholica. Add to this the descriptive matter 
scattered broadcast throughout the world by the department of Publicity 
and Promotion, and it will be seen that if the Exposition should prove a 
failure, a financial failure, that is, for an artistic failure it cannot 
be - it will not be for lack of advertising. No wonder that from an 
average of some $10,000 or $12,000 for the month of May, the gate receipts 
increased to more than $50,000 a day before the end of June. 

World's Fair Miscellany

The cost of the federal building was about $325,000, or a little more than 
$2 per square foot of floor area. As the appropriation was $400,000, there 
remained a bal