The Book of the Fair - Chapter 8



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Chapter the Eighth:
Manufactures of the United States

Greatest of all the exhibits of the Fair are the palaces which contain 
them, forming of themselves a display more superb and imposing than any of 
their contents. Viewed from a distance sufficient to display their sky-
lines, as in their entirety they only can be viewed to advantage, these 
temples of industry present a dazzling spectacle. As seen from the waters 
of the lake, and especially at eventide, when their long array of columns 
and porticos, their lofty towers and stately domes, mirrored in the 
waters, stand forth against a glowing sky, they are in truth a revelation 
surpassed only by the inspired vision of him by whom was beheld the city 
not made with hands. 

If of mammoth proportions, these halls of the great display are not only 
so arranged as to present to the best advantage their manifold contents, 
but such is the harmony of their general effect, and such their wealth of 
decoration, that the observer soon forgets their hugeness. While few of 
the structures are intended to endure, they will none the less be 
criticized, at least as to style and formative qualities. Buildings in 
their proper sense they do not pretend to be, such as was the great palace 
of iron and glass constructed for the London exhibition of 1851, and at 
its present location at Sydenham still the delight of holiday multitudes. 
The latter was a permanent edifice and intended so to be; but in the 
elaborate decoration of the Chicago Exposition we have what may be termed 
so many architectural screen, surrounding the framework of wood and iron 
which of itself would be incapable of the heroic dignity of expression 
presented by the city of the Fair. 

Not only for its size, but for its severely classical style, its grandeur 
of motif, and its unity of composition, its peristyle of fluted columns, 
nearly a mile in length, but relieved by hundreds of symbolical figures, 
its four great portals one in the middle of each facade, fashioned like 
triumphal arches, its corner pavilions, with their spacious entrance ways, 
of themselves temples of art - for these and other features the hall of 
Manufactures and Liberal Arts is one of the most marvellous among all the 
marvels of modern architecture. To say that this is the largest building 
ever erected for exposition purposes; that it is 1,687 feet in length and 
787 in breadth; that from the floor to the ridge of the roof is 236 feet; 
that is has more than forty acres of exhibiting space; that through it 
extend longitudinally and laterally two avenue 50 feet in width; that is 
has thirty main stairways, each 12 feet wide; that around it and within it 
is a gallery 50 feet wide, with smaller galleries innumerable, from which 
vantage point may be conveniently 

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viewed almost at a glance its rich and varied display - all this would not 
enable the reader to form an adequate conception of the monumental edifice 
in which are housed many thousands of exhibits, representing the 
industrial and liberal arts of the civilized nations of earth. 

With this huge palace of industry no point of comparison can be taken, for 
nothing of the kind exists. Nor does it help us to know that, in its 
construction there were used 1,260 carloads or 16,500,000 feet of lumber, 
nearly 200 tons of nails, several thousand tons of iron and steel, and 60 
tons of paint; that the sky-lights alone cover a space of eleven acres, 
and consumed 65 carloads of glass, with eleven additional carloads for the 
900 large windows which the building contains. Perhaps of its dimensions 
no better idea can be given that to state that on its site could be 
erected about 500 residences, each with a lot of 25 by 100 feet, capable 
of accommodating in all at least 5,000 persons, and that with far less 
crowding than is felt in the more crowded portions of Chicago. In the 
construction and placing of the arched steel trusses which uphold the vast 
semicircular roof of the main hall, unsupported by a single column, was 
accomplished one of the greatest engineering feats of the age. There are 
twenty in all, apart from those at the ends and corners, with a total 
weight of 6,500 tons, each fourteen feet wide at the floor, ten at the 
apex, and with a span from base to base of 732 feet. To handle these huge 
girders a special appliance was contrived in the shape of an immense 
traveller or derrick, which was even more of a marvel than the girders 
themselves. This was probably the largest machine of the kind ever 
constructed, 300 feet long by 50 in width, with a central height identical 
with that of the roof, and with arms or extensions, 70 feet in length. 
Thus the workmen were enabled to place the girders in position, the 
derrick running the entire length of the building, on a track supported by 
piles, with six carriages, each with as many sets of wheels. No wonder 
that this feat called forth the admiration of European engineers, that it 
was the subject of universal comment among the scientists and scientific 
journals of the world, by most of whom failure had been predicted. 

The central hall itself, with its clear story windows and its roof of iron 
and glass, is a structure nearly twelve acres in extent, compassed by a 
spacious system of nave and aisles and galleries, the first more than a 
hundred feet in width. Of its floor a portion is occupied by exhibits, 
presently to be described, the remainder set apart for such gatherings as 
were assembled at the dedication and opening ceremonies. 

During the eighteen months or less that the building was in process of 
construction, beginning with August, 1891, from 500 to 700 men were 
employed; nor was there at any time the slightest difficulty in procuring 
either labor or material, notwithstanding the hazard and dimensions of the 
work. Everything was done in stable and substantial fashion, so that the 
fiercest of winter storms did not tear to pieces any portion of the 
unfinished edifice. If here and there was an appearance of instability or 
frailness, it was only an appearance, and never was task more thoroughly 
and conscientiously performed. The preparation of the site was of itself a 
labor of no ordinary magnitude. In some parts it was merely a swamp; in 
others a sand-dune. Into the marsh there were driven 3,500 piles to a 
depth of 35 feet, and in the sandy portion eight or ten feet of soil must 
be cleared away before a foundation was reached. Elsewhere was made what 
is termed in builders' phrase a spread foundation, formed by digging large 
square holes and filling them with heavy timbers laid cross-wise to the 
surface. Thus only could be secured the solid base on which is reared this 
temple of industry and art. 

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In the construction of this edifice were presented new problems not only 
in mechanical engineering but in architectural treatment; and first of all 
how to extend along the lake shore the wall of a structure more than two 
furlongs and a half in length, without dwarfing the adjacent buildings and 
impairing the landscape effect of the grounds. It was the original idea of 
its architect, George B. Post, to use a portion of his allotted area as 
courts or gardens, inclosed within the rectangular walls of the main 
fabric, and adorned with fountains and kiosks. But to do so would be to 
waste many acres of exhibiting space, and as the application for that 
space showed that even if used to the best advantage it would be all 
insufficient, the first design was abandoned. Then it was that the plan 
was adopted of forming in the interior the largest open nave that was ever 
constructed, yet one to which the graceful curve of the arches supporting 
the mountainous roof would impart a symmetrical appearance, making it an 
artistic no less than a mechanical feature of the Exposition. 

By many the artificer of the Manufactures building has been accused of 
poverty of design, for between the central arches and corner pavilions he 
gives no intermediate accentuations, nothing to relieve the long array of 
two-storied columns and fluted archways. But to break with domes or towers 
its strictly classical lines would have been to sacrifice truth and unity 
for the sake of the picturesque, and even had this been done, it would 
have failed to give to these immense walls of architecture the symmetry 
that can only be given by a just correspondence of parts. Taking for his 
unit of measurement a length of twenty-five feet, the architect included 
in his plan this interminable series of bays, fifty-eight on the longer 
fronts and twenty-two on the shorter, preserving his facades unbroken, 
except for the central and corner arcades. 

In the central pavilions has been reproduced, on a larger scale, the 
triple triumphal arch of the days of Constantine, and in the corner 
pavilions, at the turn of their corners and on each face of their angles 
the single arch of Trajan, the latter with double Corinthian columns. The 
entablatures are in horizontal form, with lofty attic, and in front of the 
piers are columns more than sixty feet in height, also of the Corinthian 
order, and resembling those depictured in the temple of Jove the Restorer. 
In these lofty and pedestaled columns, standing boldy forth from the 
otherwise unbroken surface of the facades, we have the only strong 
perpendicular lines in the entire edifice. 

Says on of the architects: "It is evident that within his classic Roman 
frame Mr. Post has desired, in his detail of decoration, to bring his 
design into sympathy with modern civilizations; for we shall see that the 
luxury of Napoleon III affects the sculpture of his spandrels and panels, 
and that nearly all the ornament bears traces of the influence of the 
latest French Renaissance and the last Paris Exposition. Moreover, in 
order to relieve his design from the serious expression imposed upon it by 
the grandeur of his leading motives, he makes a very proper concession to 
the festive and holiday aspect which should pervade the place by planting 
permanent standards and gonfalons on his triumphal arches, and by 
decorating his battlements with banner staffs and bunting." 

"It may be proper, before leaving the consideration of the largest of 
these buildings, to look back upon Mr. Post's immense facades, and to ask 
whether, if they had been treated with the variety, contrast, and balance 
of motives customary in the works of the renaissance, if they had been 
broken by towers and companiles, or tormented by gabled pavilions, they 
would not have presented a somewhat confused and incoherent aspect, 

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wanting in apparent unity of thought, and resembling rather a combination 
of many buildings of various uses than a single building of one use; and 
further, whether the simplicity of treatment which he has preferred has 
not resulted in a composition having architectural qualities which, 
instead of confusing and puzzling the mind, can be read, understood, and 
remembered with pleasure. The civilization of our time owes a debt of 
gratitude to any architect who, in the midst of the temptations which 
beset us to force effects of beauty by affectations and mannerisms, dares 
to make his work at once strong, simple and elegant." 

While simple in plan, too much so perhaps to suit the taste of the average 
sight-seer, the hall of the Manufactures is richly adorned with decorative 
paintings. On one of the domes of the northern portal is depicted the 
genius of electricity, wielding the thunderbolt, and by female figures are 
illustrated the various branches of electrical science. Thus the dynamo is 
represented by a woman seated on a magnet, and at her feet, a belt and 
revolving wheel; at a Morse instrument is the personification of the 
telegraph; an arc-light is held aloft by a female form on bended knee, and 
the telephone is symbolized by a figure holding a tube to her ear, and 
around her the tape of the indicator. On the opposite dome is a group 
representing the abundance of land and sea. On the arches of the pavilion 
in the centre of the east facade are typified by stalwart artisans, with 
all the accessories of their 

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craft, wood-carving, stone-cutting, forging, and machinery, and by female 
figures, steel-working, building, and ceramic arts, the last by a stately 
damsel with vase and brush, in drapery of blue and white. 

In one of the domes of the southern entrance iron-working is symbolized by 
a sturdy representative of his craft, and ornament, design, and the 
textile arts by female figures, between which boys are waving branches of 
palms and lamps of antique pattern, their smoke curling in wreaths against 
an opalescent sky. In the other dome, women seated on the balustrade, in 
drapery of purple, green, and blue, represent the goldsmith's craft, and 
the decorative, textile, and other arts. In the western pavilion are also 
figures typical of decoration and design, with vases connected by festoons 
of flowers and vines, and in the opposite dome, forms symbolic of metal-
working. In the corner pavilions are depicted the arts of peace and war, 
of music and the chase, while education is represented by a gathering of 
students, some rendering homage to Pallas Athene, and others engaged in 
the more sensible task of study or critical analysis. 

As to the scope of the exhibits, it may first of all be stated that they 
include almost as many participants as were represented in the entire 
Centennial Fair, excluding from the latter the single department of 
agriculture. In thirty-five groups of unusual size, divided into more than 
two hundred classes, and in some of the classes from one to three-score 
collections, are displayed the choicest products of man's handiwork, aided 
by the best and most recent of modern machinery in all the forms and 
patterns that have taxed the ingenuity of the human race. Never before has 
such an opportunity been presented of comparing the relative progress of 
manufacturing industries among European, American, and Asiatic nations, 
together with their inventive genius, whether in the direction of labor-
saving appliances or of improvements in quality and design. 

The Manufactures department does not contain, as too often has been the 
case in former expositions, merely a huge collection of warehouse 
commodities; it is rather a comprehensive display of the choicest 
specimens culled from the manufactured products of all the nations, with 
the allotments of space among many thousands of participants reduced to a 
minimum, that justice might be done to the greatest number and room 
afforded for all the most worthy exhibits. As to classification, it was 
proposed by the chief of the department "to secure such perfection of 
detail and such logical, consistent, and harmonious combination in the 
arrangement of the several classes and groups as will secure a display 
which will be both instructive and artistic, appealing to the intelligent 
and aesthetic sense of each observer." 

In few departments of the great World's Fair has more of interest been 
aroused than in this rich and varied display, representing the progressive 
industries of our own and foreign lands. Here are not only the choicest 
products of American and European factories, but those of nations which, 
though as yet making little use of mechanical appliances, are in some 
respects superior to either. Here may be compared the silks of China and 
Japan, their porcelains, their lacquer and wood work, their bronze and 
copper work, with those 

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which France and England produce. Here also may be noted the cruder 
products of countries whose manufacturing industries are yet in their 
infancy, such countries as Zanzibar and the Orange Free State, as 
Madagascar, Korea, and Siam. 

As an indication of the worldwide participation in this department, it may 
be mentioned that the room requested for the accommodation of single 
industries would, if granted, have covered more than half of its forty 
acres of flooring. When it is remembered that here are represented many 
hundreds of industries, it will be seen that in the allotment of space 
alone the managers had before them a task of no slight difficulty. But a 
still more arduous task was that of placing under a single roof all these 
numberless specimens of human ingenuity, while avoiding needless 
duplication and amplitude. This was indeed a problem which tested the 
skill and patience of the management. Nevertheless it was accomplished, 
and here we have by far the most ample and valuable illustration of 
industrial progress ever beheld by man, the greatest triumph that has ever 
been recorded in the history of the useful arts. 

In this palace of magnificent distances, the visitor, notwithstanding the 
skillful grouping of its contents, finds himself somewhat at a 
disadvantage in comparing the classes of exhibits as arranged under varius 
nationalities. Thus to compare the textile fabrics of Persia with those of 
the United States, he must walk more than a third of a mile, for they are 
in groups diagonally opposite, the former near the southwestern corner, 
and the latter in the northwestern portion of the building. Starting, let 
us say, from the American collection, he must traverse almost the entire 
length of Columbia avenue, as is termed the main longitudinal nave which, 
together with the transverse nave, intersecting it at right angles, 
divides the ground floor into four equal sections. Thence, into a lateral 
aisle near the southern portal, he turns to the right, and after passing 
the pavilions of Italy and Spain, finds himself at length in front of the 
Persian booth. 

Except for a chamber in the southeast corner of the building, devoted to 
the liberal arts, the entire ground floor, together with two of the 
gallery sections, is occupied by the department of manufactures. Before 
making the tour of its thirty acres of exhibits, which, for the purposes 
of the sight-seer is almost equivalent to a tour of the world, let us 
glance for a brief moment at the plan of installation and the space 
allotted to home and foreign participants. First of all this space was 
divided into sixteen sections, lettered in alphabetical order, and each 
section into four numbered blocks, except for those marked A, I, H, and Q, 
which contain only three blocks. The exhibits are arranged in classified 
groups, and the location of each is indicated, not as in the 
classification list, but by one or more of the letters between A, and Q, 
and one or more numbers between one and four. Thus furs and fur clothing, 
marked group 105 on the list, are installed in section G, block one; some 
groups as that of furniture, 

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upholstery, and artistic decorations, occupying blocks in several 
sections. To the exhibits of the United States was allotted nearly one-
third of the total exhibiting space, and yet but little more than ten 
percent of the space applied for. To foreign powers assignments were in 
proportion to the scope and character of their display. Encircling the 
building on all its four sides are the minor compartments of officials, 
restaurateurs, and others, to whom concessions were granted. 

Entering through any of the numerous portals, we presently find ourselves 
at the spot where Columbia avenue is intercepted by the transverse nave, 
each fifty feet in width. Here, in the centre of the great circular court 
which surround the point of intersection, flanked by the exhibits of the 
United States, of Germany, Great Britain, and France, the first thing that 
strikes the eye is a clock tower of elaborate design, 40 feet square at 
the base and 125 in height, with four entrance ways, separated by corner 
pavilions. From one of these pavilions, stairways lead to the third floor, 
with access by ladders to the clock floor above. The clock, which serves a 
the official timepiece of the department, is worked by electricity, with 
dials seven feet in diameter, and above it, on still another floor, is a 
chime of bells, set in motion by its machinery, and whose music may be 
heard afar over the waters of the White City, the bells being set in 
motion by its machinery and by a keyboard in the jewelry section, with 
which it is connected by electric wires. 

From the central court, the 

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exhibits of the United States extend along the entire northeast quarter of 
the building, and thence westward in a narrower section along the northern 
side, in addition to about 100,000 square feet of the gallery floor. 
Though condensed, as I have said, into one-tenth of the room applied for, 
this is by far the largest and best display of home industries ever made 
by any country, and only by this process of condensation could the 
management secure a choice and yet complete collection, one that would 
bear comparison with the most select of foreign groups, and would not 
completely dwarf their more compact exhibits. While duplications of the 
same product were in a measure inevitable, they have as far as possible 
been avoided, and it is not on account of wearisome repetition that the 
visitor turns aside to the foreign pavilions on the opposite side of the 
nave, where he passes rapidly from one species of fabric to another. By 
certain foreign critics it has been alleged that in symmetry, variety, and 
skillful blending of groups, the exhibits of the United States compare 
unfavorably with their own; that their setting is faulty, and their 
environment unattractive. But it should be remembered that they cover many 
times the space allotted to any foreign participant, and with specimens 
many times as numerous, thus forbidding the individual characteristics and 
more rapid transition of their European neighbors. Moreover, not a single 
dollar of government funds has been expended on our own display, while by 
Germany, France, and other powers, a part of their liberal appropriations 
was devoted to the unification of their exhibits, another portion to the 
pavilions which contain them, and still another to the selection by 
experts of such articles as would most creditably 

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represent the progress of the nation and the exhibitor. 

If in certain classes of products our exhibits are excelled by those of 
foreign lands, our silks for instance by those of France, and our 
porcelains and cut-glass ware by those of Austria and Bohemia, this is 
more than atoned for by excellence in other directions. While in the 
foreign pavilions are many beautiful objects for the eye to rest upon, 
such as are well worthy of a place in homes of refinement and culture, and 
especially in the home of the Fair, we have in our own section the very 
embodiment of industrial progress, the substance of material prosperity. 
The visitor whose purpose is not merely to be amused, or to study art 
alone, whether on canvas, in statuary, or in its application to works of 
common utility, will, if he reads aright the lessons of an exposition 
intended to display the relative and individual development of the 
nations, find in the American booths much that is of absorbing interest, 
both from an industrial and artistic point of view. 

Opposite the northeast section of the central court is a cream-colored 
pavilion decorated in gold, in front of it a tall fluted column with Doric 
capital, at the base of which is the inscription, Exhibits of the United 
States of America. Here are some of the most costly groups on exhibition - 
those of the New York jewelry firm of Tiffany and company and the Gorham 
Manufacturing company. In the arches of the pavilion are 

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panels on which, among other illustrations, are the London workshop and 
salesroom of a silversmith of the seventeenth century, the patron saint of 
the craft. In the spandrels between these panels are medallions in relief 
of famous designers and silversmiths, from Holbein and Michael Angelo to 
Paul Revere. The floor of marble mosaic is divided into sections by cases 
of mahogany and glass, filled with samples of the company's work, electric 
lights being extended around the columns which support the roof, and 
grouped beneath the ceiling above a silver statue of Columbus. Designed in 
clay by Bartholdi, and modelled in plaster of Paris, the statue was case 
in solid silver, the oxidized form of the metal being used for finishing, 
to give more life-like coloring, with play of light and shade. In this 
figure, somewhat more than six feet high and probably the largest statue 
ever fashioned in silver, were used 36,000 ounces of the metal, as nearly 
pure as its purposes would permit. On the handles of silver table 
utensils, some of them inlaid with gold, are portrayed in bas-relief of 
clear and simple design, the leading events in the life of the great 
discoverer, beginning with his appeals to the courts at Granada, and 
including among other incidents his departure from Palos, his landing, his 
second voyage, his captivity, and his death. 

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As to the remainder of this display, which includes many articles for 
household use, for presentation, ornament, and other purposes, among the 
silver tea service sets is one valued at $20,000, in 64 pieces, all with 
similar motif of design; near it is one of Japanese pattern, and a cupid 
set, so named on account of its design in cupids and natural flowers in 
repousse work. In contrast with a delicate rose-water vase, on which night 
is represented by a sleeping figure of the god of love, and morn by his 
awaking in a bower of morning glories, is the tray and punch-bowl 
presented by the citizens of Detroit to the cruiser of that name, the 
former presenting in bas-relief a view of the city. There is a dinner 
service set of oxidized silver of the Louis XVI pattern, one fashioned 
after the classic models of the first empire, and a Du Bery toilet set of 
the period of Louis XV. There is the century vase displayed at the 
Centennial Exposition, its design typical of the progress and prosperity 
of America from the time of the discovery, and there is a yacht cup of 
tinted and iridescent nautilus shell, covered with a network of gold and 
precious stones. 

Of cut and engraved glass there are numerous specimens, one representing a 
new process in which glass of various colors is blown into a framework of 
silver or silver gilt, producing the effect of jewels, crystals, and 
precious stones. Of decorated glass and enamelled wares there are many and 
multiform articles, the first including tankards, pitchers, punch-bowls, 
jardinieres, vases, and fruit dishes, and the second ornamental or toilet 
pieces, some of them of gold or silver, on which the enamelled paintings 
are set in rich but softly blended colors. Of Rookwood pottery, among the 
finest of ceramic ware, the specimens vary in shade from the lightest 
yellow to the darkest brown, a framework of silver displaying their tints 
in strong relief. In ecclesiastic metal work there is a large altar cross, 
heavily plated with gold and set with crystals, malachite, and precious 
stones, an alms basin and communion set of similar workmanship and design, 
a lecturn with figures of the evangelists, and a sanctuary lamp with 
angels bearing sacred emblems and on whose wings are richly jewelled 
crowns. Finally there is a paschal candlestick, eleven feet high and of 
gothic pattern, whose future home will be in St. Patrick's cathedral, New 
York City. Of electro-plated goods there is a large assortment, such 
articles being made of nickel silver and finished with nicety and care 
before receiving their coating of the precious metal. 

In the same pavilion, separated from the Gorham exhibits by a partition, 
is the collection of Tiffany & Company; and it is generally conceded that 
both these firms have more than fulfilled the condition on which was 
assigned to them one of the places of honor - that they should furnish a 
display which would do credit to the nation and to themselves. The 
exhibits of the latter are valued at about $2,000,000, and include more 
than 1,000 pieces, most of them, except for articles of historic interest, 
prepared especially for the purpose. The so-called million-dollar case is 
well worthy of its appellation, for here is a collection of gems, singly 
and in 

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combination, such as seldom before was gathered in so small a space. Among 
the diamonds is one which, as it revolves above the remainder of the group 
on the golden rod which supports it, attracts almost as much attention as 
did the famous koh-i-noor at the London Exhibition of 1851. Somewhat 
larger than 125 carats, and represents the sum of $100,000. 

But to many a still more attractive exhibit is a group of necklaces, 
valued at $335,000, composed of pearls of the purest water, and containing 
some of the largest and richest specimens in existence, one of them almost 
as valuable as that which Phillip II of Spain presented to his daughter, 
Elizabeth of Austria. In another necklace are 42 brilliants, and in still 
another 550 rose diamonds, the latter with festoons and pendants, after 
the fashion of the Portuguese. There are also tiara necklaces, in 
aquamarine and topaz, each with nearly 2,000 diamonds, and representing 
what would seem the perfection of the jeweler's art. For a corsage 
ornament, the design of which is a network of maidenhair ferns, there were 
used 300 diamonds and 125 pearls. In another ornament, fashioned in the 
shape of a Spanish epaulette, and closely resembling in design a piece of 
old Spanish lace, are 1,000 diamonds, as many emeralds, and several yellow 
sapphires of brilliant lustre. A girdle of woven gold in arabesque style 
contains some 20 large canary diamonds of an average weight of 25 carats, 
and occupying a prominent place in the exhibits is a reproduction of the 
diamond collar worn by Marie Antoinette, from a portrait by Dronait in the 
South Kensington museum in London. 

Other tiaras there are with wreaths of pearls and precious stones. In the 
centre of a diamond sun is a star sapphire of richest color, encircled 
with rubies, and with a serpent entwined amid the solar rays. A gold and 
diamond aigrette is set in a pear-shaped Peruvian emerald, its pattern 
suggested by the sea-urchin. Of floral designs there are several beautiful 
specimens, among them a Narcissus brooch, its stem of gold, its leaves of 
diamonds, and its flower of yellow sapphire, set at its outer edge with 
rubies. Another design is in the form of a spray of moss roses, with 
flowers of sapphires and petals of diamonds, and leaves and stems of 
demantodis. 

Perhaps the most scholarly feature of the display is the exhaustive study 
here represented of the earlier artistic productions of European and 
Asiatic countries, as of Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Russia, Hindostan, 
Egypt, and Japan, all these and other styles, some of them belonging to 
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, being either reproduces or 
suggested. Another feature is the careful and minute attention to detail, 
as in the Spanish 

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epaulette or shoulder ornament, where threads of lace are perfectly 
imitated, the ribbons grouped at the top, the entire ornament forming one 
mass of precious stones. So with the brooches, set with diamonds and 
colored with precious stones, simulating in miniature the fashionable 
bonnets of the first empire. 

In the groups of fancy articles is almost everything that can be 
reproduced or ornamented with precious metals and precious stones, from a 
match-box to a magazine rifle, including frogs, toads, and reptiles, 
shaped as bonbonnieres and studded with turquoise and topaz. Prominent 
among them is a so-called incense-burner, but suggestive rather of the 
incense of tobacco, in the form of a rattlesnake coiled around the neck of 
a duck, both of life size and modelled from nature. The body of the snake 
is of silver, its rattles of pearls, and its scales of Queensland opals. 
At the corner of the pavilion stands a Pueblo vase, its design suggested 
by the pottery of the ancient cliff dwellers. At the top is a frieze of 
magnolias, and in a combination of silver, gold, nickel, copper, and 
enamel work are reproduced some of the characteristic flora of the 
southwest. A silver dinner service set of Indian chrysanthemum pattern 
contains 600 pieces, and a toilet table of the style of Louis XVI is 
fashioned of South American amaranth. Among other articles of historic 
interest is a collection of trophies, with prize and love cups, including 
the challenge cup of the steam yacht club, and one on which is portrayed 
in repousse work a tiger hunt in a Bengal jungle. 

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By the Glass and Decorating company, bearing the name of the Tiffany firm, 
but occupying a distinct and separate field, are displayed, in the 
northern section of the pavilion, many modes and specimens of decorative 
work, including such as are intended for sanctuary use. In one of the 
chambers is represented the interior of a chapel in chaste and impressive 
design. In the vestibule is a statue of the virgin, amid altar lamps and 
richly jewelled vestments, and on stained glass windows are depicted the 
descent from the cross and other scriptural figures and groups, among them 
a reproduction of one of Bocatelli's masterpieces. The altar is of solid 
marble; in front of it are symbols of the evangelists wrought in pearl, 
and upholding the arch in its rear are columns of Venetian mosaic. The 
cross is resplendent with jewels, and on either side are golden 
candlesticks studded with precious stones. The door of the tabernacle is 
covered with gold filigree, gems, and mother of pearl. In other rooms are 
articles of furniture, drapery, and tapestry, many of them of novel design 
and elaborate workmanship, grouped with a view to symphony of color, the 
effect of which is further increased by rays of gold and emerald reflected 
from the ceiling. 

East of the Tiffany and Gorham pavilion, and with a frontage on the 
central transverse nave, is the display of New England manufacturing 
jewellers, representing the collective exhibits of twenty-nine firms, and 
with individual exhibits by a few of the larger establishments. These are 
contained in a tier of cases of polished oak with plate-glass panels, an 
arch of oak in picturesque design extending over the aisle. For the most 
part the articles are such as are produced in their several lines of 
trade, and not as at the Centennial Exposition specially made for the 
purpose, the space being equally divided among the exhibitors, and the 
groups arranged with a view to harmony of effect. With one exception all 
the collections are from Providence, Rhode island, and though small in 
size they are choice in quality, many of them representing special lines 
of goods in the production of which single individuals or individual firms 
have millions of dollars invested, one for instance making a specialty of 
rings, another of watch chains, and another of trays in various patterns. 
While singly such exhibits would not be of special value, together they 
form a most interesting display, illustrating as they do the remarkable 
progress in this direction since the date of the Centennial Fair. 

Returning to Columbia avenue, we find, adjacent to the Tiffany and Gorham 
edifice toward the north, the neat and tasteful structure of the Meriden 
Britannia company, its rich brown hues of rosewood contrasting 

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somewhat sharply with the cream and gold of the latter. In shape it is 
octagonal, its sides, except for the one which contains the portico, 
consisting of plate-glass windows, resting on a curved base, divided by 
double Corinthian columns, and surmounted by low domes, the domical 
treatment culminating above the roof. Passing between rich draperies into 
a pavilion some thirty feet in diameter, its woodwork of ivory and gold, 
with easy chairs and carpet of light blue velvet, we find at the entrance 
a centrepiece of elaborate workmanship, its base of silver molded with 
gold and with bands of gold and chrysanthemum. Above this are portrayed in 
relief scenes of Indian life, with men on horseback chasing a herd of 
buffalo, a deer lying prostrate among a group of braves and children, and 
a floral design extending to the top, where is the figure of a warrior 
mounted on a plunging and frightened steed, with spear outstretched above 
a crouching panther. In an octagonal case, resting on a pedestal of ivory 
and gold, are many specimens of novel pattern. Next to it is the company's 
office, near which is a triplicate mirror, the central glass with scroll 
work and flat mold frame, and those at the side with a heavy framework of 
oxidized silver. At the other side of the pavilion is a large mahogany 
chest, lines with chamois leather, and containing several hundred pieces 
of the Savoy pattern, many of novel and original design. 

Turning to the display windows we find in one adjoining the portico a 
decorated vase with blossoms, flowers, and leaves of chrysanthemum. At its 
base, where also are rich designs in flowers and fruits, silver buffaloes 
are pawing the ground, as though challenging each other to combat. The 
body of the vessel is richly ornamented, and on its branching arms, the 
spaces between filled in with scroll work, are seated an Indian maiden 

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and boy. On either side of this centrepiece are trumpets and trophies in 
silver and gilt for presentation purposes, the largest of the latter 
including a bicycle cup, with costumed rider at his wheel, a yacht cup 
with vessels sailing through a silver sea, and a race cup, with oarsmen in 
uniform, and with golden oars in hand. In the next window the centrepieces 
are a punch-bowl, with goblets, ladle, and tray, their design skillfully 
blended in silver and gilt, and a large coffee urn encircled with columns 
which support its outer perforated rim, above it being a circular top with 
engraved and polished bands. Here and in other windows are flowerbowls, 
cake-baskets, liqueur sets, tea sets, writing tables, waiters and trays, 
chafing dishes, fern bowls, and scores of other articles. Finally, on a 
curved and velvet covered surface in the northern window, is almost every 
kind of flat table ware in use at the present day. 

Other attractive exhibits in the line of silver-plated ware are those of 
the Pairpoint Manufacturing company, contained in their white pavilion 
reproducing in miniature a Grecian temple of the Ionic order, with the 
Erectheum as the motif of the design. As to pattern, workmanship, and 
elaboration of decorative features, their collection forms a most 
creditable display. Worthy of note are their massive silver epergnes, one 
of them five feet high, their gold tea-sets, their silver lamps, with 
decorations suggestive of the colonial period, their trays and table-ware, 
all of them richly enamelled. Pleasing in effect is the Royal Flemish 
ware, tastefully illumined, and no less admired are the prize cups with 
their rich ornamentation; the gold and silver goblets, nut bowls, and a 
variety of other articles, the makers of which are favored with a location 
in close proximity to some of the most famous firms of the old world. 

In the line of silver and plated ware, jewelry, diamonds and watches, 
Missouri is represented by the 

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exhibit of the Mermod and Jaccard company of St. Louis. For this, the 
pioneer firm in supplying first-class goods to the country west of the 
Missouri, it is claimed that the jewelry trade of the west has been 
revolutionized through its operations. Be this as it may, there can be no 
question as to the quality of workmanship displayed in its handsome 
pavilion, furnished, draped, and equipped so as to represent the historic 
era with which the earlier annals of St. Louis are connected. So also with 
the exhibits, specially prepared for the occasion, and designed after the 
finest specimens of French art work, from the days of Louis IX, after whom 
the city was named, to those of Louis XV, in whose reign it was founded. 

Among other creditable exhibits included in this group are those of the 
Manhattan Plate company of Lyons, New York, of a Bridgeport company, whose 
specialties are in the line of silver inlaid spoons and forks, and of gold 
and silver plated table ware, and of a Waterbury firm whose goods are for 
similar uses. Nor should we omit what Chicago has to show us, one of her 
exhibitors displaying Catholic church decorations, and another, plated 
ware in gold and silver, and silver plate. Two Cincinnati companies also 
display church ornaments; from Boston and Newark are minor exhibits; from 
Freeport, Illinois, are specimens of silver filigree goods, and from Buena 
Vista, Colorado, come roses fashioned of purest silver. 

Adjacent to the prominent jewelry pavilions and separated by a transverse 
nave is the department of horology, its exhibits classed, with slight 
exceptions, in a single group. Here is one of the most interesting 
features of the Fair, a collection of historic and antique watches, loaned 
for its present use by Evan Roberts of Manchester, England, to the 
American Waltham Watch company. Of sixteenth century watches there is one 
made by Jeubi of Paris for Queen Elizabeth; there is the hour-striking 
timepiece which Calvin carried, the watch with seconds hand on its dial, 
by which Bunyan marked the slow flight of time in Bedford jail, and that 
which on a February day of 1554, recorded all too quickly the approaching 
hour of the doom of Lady Jane Grey. 

The oldest of the seventeenth century specimens is a metal-cased alarum 
watch fashioned, about the year 1610, by David Ramsey of London for the 
monarch whom his detractors dubbed the wisest fool in Christendom. Next to 
it are those of Oliver Cromwell and his Latin secretary, the blind author 
of the Paradise Lost, who learned by touch the hour of the day from raised 
points on the dial of his timepiece. An astronomical watch, with shell 
enamelled case was the property of Sir Isaac Newton, and at its side is 
the cyclometer used by George III to measure the distance covered by his 
carriage. In a triple metal case, bearing the date of 1771, is the watch 
of Robert Burns, the shell-cased watch of William of Orange, and 

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the silver-case timepiece presented by Lord Nelson to Captain Rose, 
completing the treasures purchase by their owner from the Roskell 
collection at Liverpool, where for more than a century had been their 
home. 

Of antique watches there are more than 600 specimens, several belonging to 
the sixteenth, many to the seventeenth, and the remainder to the 
eighteenth centuries. Here the horologist may linger over a collection of 
curiosities second only in interest to the one already described. On the 
dial of a skull watch of early seventeenth century make is an engraving of 
the day of judgment. Of eighteenth century watches there is the first one 
made with lever escapement, and not a few have gold or gold and enamelled 
cases, set with rubies, turquoise, and pearls. To the same period belong 
several cylinder musical watches, the first made with gold hair-spring, 
one of the first with detached lever, the only one made by the hand of 
woman, with leathern cover and enamelled dial, a chronometer watch 
belonging to the king of Spain, and a verge timepiece with the inscription 
on its inner case, "Louis XIV, mort in MVCCXV." 

The exhibits proper of the Waltham Watch company consist of their various 
articles of manufacture, and except for a model of their works were not 
specially prepared for the occasion. For the most part it is restricted to 
watch movements, of which there are more than 2,000 varieties, the company 
having ceased to manufacture, as in former years, the completed timepiece. 
There is, however, a handsome piece of mechanism in the form of a watch 
made of quartz and agate, except for the wheels, which are made of the 
usual watch materials. It is valued at $1,700, and can be illumined by 
electricity so as to reveal the workings of every part. Along two sides of 
the pavilion is a range of machinery in motion, demonstrating the 
advancement made in the methods of watch manufacture from the days of the 
Centennial Exhibition to the present time. 

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The company claim to be the originators of what is known as the American 
system of watch manufacture, whereby machinery is used for the work which 
was formerly done by hand. To illustrate the progress in this direction, 
the machines here in operation are similar in construction, but run with a 
minimum of operatives. There was formerly, for instance, one operator for 
each machine, where now is a combination of four machines in charge of one 
person, who can take care of six of these combinations, doing the work of 
twenty-four persons, and in many respects doing it better. Another machine 
is of different plan, and instead of handling the work from one to the 
other, turns round and brings the completed work to the operator, then is 
re-filled and starts on its round again. In all these machines it has been 
demonstrated that they can perform the work of that part of a watch which 
requires the utmost delicacy of touch, and which it was though until 
recently could only be done by hand. 

Another illustration of progress in the manufacture of American watches 
within the past few years is furnished by the Waterbury Watch company, 
whose pavilion, with its Moorish outlines and colonial coloring, is one of 
the landmarks of the horological section. In the interior are displayed to 
excellent advantage the various products of the factory. In hectagon 
cases, with revolving centres, at the bottom of each of the towers are 
shown gold-filled watches in various colors; likewise a large collection 
of silver and nickel cased watches, of which there are between four and 
five thousand. With much taste if also arranged a variety of plain and 
colored enamelled dials. But the crowning feature of the display, and 
forming one of the principal attractions of the Manufactures building, is 
the famous Century clock, which stands in the rear of the pavilion. It is 
contained in a large case of black walnut, polished and adorned with 
figures representing American history from the days of Columbus. 

To the pavilion of the Self-winding Clock company of New York was assigned 
a liberal space in the horology department. Here is another remarkable 
clock, by which are controlled all others in the Exposition, together with 
the thousands of clocks elsewhere connected with the company's time 
service. At about eleven by Chicago time, the hour of noon in the city of 
Washington, is rung each day on a chime of bells 

Page 156

at a signal from the naval observatory at the national capital. Electric 
chiming apparatus and clocks also give forth their music at intervals. 
There are so-called programme clocks by which signals are given for 
starting trains and for ringing bells at stated intervals where needed, as 
in school and college class rooms. There are other time-keeping and time-
transmitting devices of cunning mechanism, and on the walls of the 
pavilion are scores of self-winding clocks, their construction and 
workings displayed in a single time-piece wound up once a minute. By Sir 
Isaac Newton it was said that the secret of perpetual motion would some 
day be discovered by a fool. Let the clock men and the electricity men 
look to their laurels. 

Of other companies and firms in this department my limited space forbids 
other than passing mention. The Ansonia and Geneva Clock companies of 
Chicago, the Cyclo Clock and Non-Magnetic Watch companies of New York, and 
the Keystone Watch-case company of Philadelphia have all furnished 
creditable exhibits. Nor should we omit the Philadelphia firm of H. Muhr & 
Sons, among whose display of watch-cases is the largest gold thimble ever 
made, and at its side, the smallest silver thimble, fitted for Liliputian 
fingers. In some of the exhibits, as also in the jewelry section are 
specimens of regalia, including the uniforms, vestments, and badges 
pertaining to military, benevolent, and secret civic orders affording a 
very interesting display. By the Henderson Ames company, for instance, are 
represented on dummies the uniforms of hussars, of the masonic order, of 
the knights of Pythias, the Eastern star and shrine, and the daughters of 
Rebecca, the last in robes of purple and gold. 

Of cottons, lines, and other vegetable fibres, all classed under a single 
group, and forming with silks and woolen goods in the groups adjacent the 
main display of textile fabrics, there are sixty-six exhibitors. Beginning 
with yarns and twines, the cotton collection includes all the usual 
classes and grades, the New England factories contributing the bulk of the 
display, though Philadelphia mills are liberally represented. Apart from 
that city Pennsylvania has but a single exhibit. Of New York mills there 
are three, one producing printed cottons, another cotton lace curtains, 
and a third miscellaneous articles. The south and west have each but one 
exhibit, the former from Trion, Georgia, and the latter from Chicago. 

Page 157

While to the casual visitor our textile fabrics are not the most 
attractive features of the American section, there are several booths 
before which the passer-by is apt to linger. To the more thoughtful 
observer, not only to the cotton manufacturer or merchant, but to all who 
love to note and study the industrial progress of the United States, there 
is much of interest in these plain unpretentious groups, where, as I have 
said, the ornamental has in a measure been sacrificed to the utilitarian. 
Here is represented in this direction the outcome of a century's growth, 
for about on hundred years ago was erected in Rhode Island the first of 
New England cotton mills. Here we have almost the inception of American 
manufactures; for apart from such as were intended solely for domestic 
use, little was accomplished in this direction until more than a decade 
after the close of the revolutionary war. Saw-mills, grist-mills, and 
tanneries there were, and during the later colonial period iron was 
largely produced in New England and other districts; but the restrictive 
policy of the mother country, almost as rigid as that which lost to Spain 
her New World empire, choked many a promising branch of enterprise. For 
years after independence was achieved, agriculture and stock-raising were 
the mainstay of the young and struggling states, impoverished by one of 
the most cruel wars recorded on the page of history. 

In the closing years of the eighteenth century, the United States, which 
in 1892 produced cotton fabrics worth hundred of millions of dollars, were 
but just beginning to work their raw produce with machinery, of which 
models had been secretly obtained from England in evasion of her penal 
statutes. In 1800 the little Rhode Island factory still represented alone 
this branch of industry, using but a few thousand pounds a year of cotton 
yarn; but in the following decade remarkable progress was made. In 1806 
there were fifteen mills at work, twelve in Rhode Island, two in 
Massachusetts, and one in Connecticut, consuming in all a yearly total of 
300,000 pounds of yarn. By 1810 the number of factories had increased to 
nearly one hundred, with more than 70,000 spindles in operation, and five 
years later the consumption of raw cotton had increased to 90,000 bales, 
with and invested capital of $40,000,000 and 100,000 operatives, of whom 
ninety percent were women and children. The duty on imported cottons was 
27 percent, and for many years remained at about that rate, the volume of 
manufacture increasing rapidly until the civil war. After the close of 
that episode the output continued to increase, though with some 
fluctuations, especially after the financial crisis of 1873. For 1890 the 
cotton crop of the United States exceeded 3,600,000,000 pounds, of which 
more than two-thirds was exported, less than 1,200,000,000 being used by 
New England and other mills. Great Britain was our principal customer, 
taking nearly one-half the entire crop; but sending us in return, 
notwithstanding our protective tariff, a larger quantity of manufactured 
cottons than we ourselves export to all foreign lands. Such in brief is 
the history of one of the leading industries of the United States, 
representing as illustrated at the Fair, an annual production of $350,000,
000 or more of fabrics made entirely of cotton, or with but slight 
admixture of other substances. As to the possibilities of this industry, 
it need only here be mentioned that at the opening of the civil war the 
manufacture of cotton had realized for British mill-owners 

Page 158

a profit of $5,000,000,000, almost entirely from raw materials imported 
from the United States. 

Of silks there are manufactured in the United States more than in any 
country in the world, with the single exception of France, which produces 
nearly one-third of the total supply of silken fabrics. Early in the 
seventeenth century raw silk was produced to a small extent in Virginia, 
and it was largely with a view to encourage this industry that James I 
published his famous Counterblast against tobacco, urging instead the 
cultivation of silk, offering bounties for its production, and making 
compulsory the planting of mulberry trees. But all in vain. The colonists 
would neither toil nor spin to please their monarch, but to make money for 
themselves, and that which made the most money was tobacco. It was not 
until more than a century later that the first package of colonial silk 
was taken to England by the founder of the state of Georgia, and there 
fashioned into a dress for Queen Caroline. In 1750 a small factory was 
built in Savannah for the reeling of silk, and for twenty years afterward 
exports averaged some 500 pounds a year. The little that was produced 
during the revolutionary era passed into domestic use, and after the close 
of the war sericulture vanished from the land, soon however to be renewed 
on a larger scale. 

In 1810 skein and spool silks were first made by steam power, and two or 
three decades later the production of raw and manufactured silks become 
one of our leading industries. Largely through the efforts of one Peter S. 
Duponceau societies were formed, books were published, and new machinery 
introduced; public interest was aroused, and the subject brought before 
the attention of congress. Presently the interest developed into 
enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm into mania, followed by wide-spread ruin 
and collapse. Thus cuttings of the Chinese mulberry, introduced for their 
rapid growth and abundant foliage, were worth in 1839 more than their 
weight in silver, in the following year they were unsalable. Meanwhile, 
however, manufactures were steadily increasing, the raw product being 
largely imported from China and southern Europe. For a time they were 
mainly restricted to sewing-silk, dress-trimmings, and ribbons, and it was 
not until 1855 that the first spun silk was made. During the war this 
industry grew apace, fostered by a protective duty on fabrics and the free 
admission of material, Paterson, New Jersey, alone having nearly fifty 
factories, with many 

Page 159

others in the middle and New England states. At the Centennial Exposition 
the home display of dress silks, in many colors and designs, rivalled, and 
as some would have it, excelled the French exhibits. For 1876 our 
production of silk goods was valued at about $20,000,000; by 1880 it had 
increased to $34,500,000, and for 1892 was probably not less than $60,000,
000. Nevertheless we continue to import very largely of foreign silks; for 
that a dress should be cut from home-made silk, or contain even home-made 
trimmings or home-made buttons is something that the world of fashion has 
not yet learned to tolerate. 

Of the progress made within recent years in quality no less than quantity, 
we have sufficient evidence in the exhibits of silk and silken fabrics 
contained in the hall of Manufactures. While of smaller size than its 
adjacent sections devoted to cotton and woolen goods, this collection is 
grouped in more artistic fashion and is no less comprehensive than either. 
Beginning with raw silk as reeled from the cocoons, we have the thread in 
skeins or on spools. There are plain and figures silks, woven and printed, 
with satins, velvets and serges, ribbons of many patterns, trimmings, 
bindings and braids, crapes and gauzes, cravats and scarfs, handkerchiefs 
and hosiery, laces and veils, and whatever else is made or partly made of 
silk contributing to the display. 

More than forty exhibitors are represented in this collection, some by a 
single line of goods, as dress-silks, trimmings, or ribbons, and others by 
several lines. Of these nearly one-half are New York manufacturers, whose 
wares consist largely of dress-silks, ribbons, and trimmings. Paterson, 
still termed the Lyons of America, has but three exhibits, one each for 
its dress silks, ribbons, and braids, with four others in New Jersey for 
similar classes of goods, mill-owners showing a disposition to remove to 
New York where skilled labor is more abundant. Four Philadelphia and as 
many Chicago firms represent various kinds of fabrics, as do the 
Connecticut and Massachusetts factories, which complete the list. 

By a Chicago company an exhibit is made beginning with the egg of the silk-
worm, the worm itself, the moth, and the cocoon, and thence passing 
through various stages to the finished fabric. Another interesting display 
is in the form of a railroad train, conducted of eight thousand spools of 
silk, its wheels in black, the bell of its locomotive in gold, while from 
the smoke-stack floss silk issues in colors shaded from black to white. By 
other Chicago factories, and by several New England mills, are creditable 
exhibits of dress goods, serges, hosiery, braids, linings, mittens, and 
other miscellaneous articles. 

The exhibits classed under the headings of "woven and felted goods of wool 
and mixtures of wool" form one of the largest groups in the hall of 
Manufactures, with 110 exhibitors, and with additional exhibits in the 
gallery, to be mentioned later in this connection. Included in this 
section are woolen yarns, blankets, robes, and rugs, doeskins, cassimeres, 
and broadcloth, cloakings, flannels, and dress goods for men and women; 
these are all of wool, but some of them repeated in other classes in the 
form of worsted goods or admixtures of wool and cotton. There are felt 
goods in many varieties, from women's hats to rubber shoe linings; and 
there is a large assortment of small wares, as bindings, beltings, and 
braids, fringes 

Page 160

and gimps, cords and tassels, dress trimmings and embroideries. 

Of the products of New England factories, or of the mills of Pennsylvania 
or New York, it is unnecessary here to made other than passing mention, 
for since the earlier years of the present century these mills have 
supplied, as still they do, the bulk of our woolen fabrics. By one of the 
Rhode Island establishments are displayed, with many improvements and 
additions, some of the same classes of goods that were made when the mill 
was opened in 1801, while a New York mill shows the progress achieved in 
quality of fabrics since it was first set running in 1836, when our entire 
production of woolens was less than is now manufactured in many a New 
England town. Apart from New Jersey and the states and sections mentioned, 
our woolen industries are but scantily represented at the Fair, through 
lack of space rather than from indifference. The Pacific west, for 
instance, with a score at least of mills and an output valued at several 
million dollars a year, has only two small exhibits, one each from Denver 
and Oregon City. The nearer west is somewhat better represented, Wisconsin 
having four exhibits and Illinois three, with one each for Minnesota, 
Michigan, Mississippi, Indiana, and Ohio. The entire south has but a 
single display, that of a factory at Charlottesville, Virginia, working 
mainly on goods for military and civic uniforms, by which were made the 
coat cloths of the Columbian guards. 

Thus it will be seen that our woolen industries are spreading throughout 
the west, though probably not one-third of its mills are represented at 
the Fair. If as yet they do not compete largely with eastern mills, they 
threaten to do so at no distant day. Wisconsin, for instance, has an 
excellent display of yarns and fabrics, while the blankets, robes, and 
shawls of Minneapolis factory are rich in color, soft of texture, and as 
to face and finish will bear comparison with those of eastern make. Among 
the communities of the Pacific coast, with their more expensive labor and 
fuel, the pressure of eastern competition is more severely felt than in 
mid-continental states. Of their enormous wool-clip, not more than one-
fourth is utilized by local factories, and still, as in former years, they 
are content to pay freight on the remaining three-fourths, together with 
the refuse which it contains, repurchasing perchance a considerable 
portion in the shape of finished fabrics, with all the added charges of 
manufacture, commission, and carriage. 

Notwithstanding over-production and glutted markets the woolen industries 
of the United States have developed within recent years with a steady and 
permanent growth. From $300,000,000 in 1880 the value of output increased 
to about $400,000,000 in 1892, and against 180,000 operatives in the 
former year there were probably 250,000 in the latter, 

Page 161

this being the largest number employed in any branch of manufacture, 
except for cottons and ready-made clothing. Meanwhile a considerable 
decrease in the number of factories indicates a growing concentration 
among the larger establishments; nor is this to be wondered at when we 
consider that even under the most favorable circumstances our woolen mills 
do not return on an average more than six percent on the invested capital, 
and that in seasons of extreme depression they must either be closed or 
run at a loss. 

Of ready-made clothing our home manufactures represent an annual valuation 
of more than $300,000,000 and a distribution in wages of about $70,000,
000. As to what has been accomplished in this direction, specimens may be 
seen in the clothing and costume section of the textile groups, though in 
common with some other classes of textiles, as jute and ramie fabrics, 
laces, embroideries and trimmings, including also oil-cloths and articles 
made of asbestos, most of these exhibits are contained on the gallery 
floor. A somewhat remarkable display is that of a so-called Sanitary 
Woolen System company, for those wares, in the line of knit-goods and 
hosiery, it is claimed that precautions as to materials, process and 
pattern guard against danger to bodily health. 

The remaining space in the northeastern quarter of the Manufactures 
building is devoted to exhibits of furniture and interior decorations, gas 
and lamp fixtures, wall papers, enamelled ware, sanitary, heating, and 
cooking apparatus, refrigerators and cutlery. The decorations of wall and 
ceiling, the draperies of bed and mantel, the artistic treatment of doors 
and windows, halls and staircases, are object lessons which the home-
loving world, especially the female portion thereof, is not slow to 
comprehend, and perhaps no portion of the Fair exhibits is examined with 
closer criticism. In some of these pavilions there is nothing to indicate 
that their contents have been arranged with a view to securing purchases; 
they rather resemble boudoirs in which silk and satin draperies and 
canopies draw attention from the more solid specimens of workmanship. This 
may be noticed in the exhibits of several firms whose specialties are in 
the line of metallic 

Page 163

bedsteads, prominent among which is that of the Whitcomb factory, while 
others are filled with goods intended merely for personal or other 
ornament, as with a New York firm which makes an elaborate display of 
flags and banners, church vestments and regalia. 

Elsewhere in this section is an example of the subdivision of the business 
of interior furnishing and decoration. First there are makers and 
importers of barbers' supplies, one of the firms providing elaborate 
furniture in this line. Others there are whose specialties are saloon and 
billiard fixtures, a New York company showing a complete bar-room, with 
floor of tiling, walls lined with mirrors, and a rich array of glass ware 
on the side boards. A Chicago firm has a choice display of billiard and 
saloon furniture, and the Brunswick-Balke-Collender company, has, in 
addition to its costly tables and apparatus, a collection of ivory in its 
natural state, including two immense Zanzibar tusks, and the cavernous 
skull of the elephant from which they were taken. Among other specialties 
there is a pavilion in which are displayed the cactus in its several 
stages of growth, together with the articles made therefrom, as tables, 
stands, easels, frames, mantels, music racks, inkstands, napkin-rings, and 
canes. 

It is not unusual in these days for housekeepers to discard woolen or 
other carpets, rugs, and textile hangings, covering their floors and walls 
with the parquetry goods now largely manufactured in this country. To a 
certain extent these goods are recommended by physicians for use in 
floors, wainscotings, walls, and ceilings, on the ground that pure, clean 
woods do not convey impurities and disease germs, nor aggravate troubles 
of the throat and lungs. One of the most extensive manufactures of this 
line of goods is a Philadelphia firm, whose pavilion is a striking display 
of elaborate and rich designs in inlaid woods. As a centre for the 
manufacture of general household furniture, Grand Rapids has a well 
deserved reputation, and among the best exhibitions is that of one of its 
furniture companies, while among the largest is the collection of a 
Chicago firm. 

Of lighting apparatus there are many varieties and designs, from coach 
lamps to massive chandeliers and candelabra, brass and iron lamps for use 
in private dwellings and pleasure grounds, and all the modern appliances 
evolved through the discovery of electricity as a lighting agency. These 
are displayed in dozens of pavilions, prominent among which is that of the 
Rochester Lamp company, opposite the French section. Among its collection 
of metal and porcelain lamps, covered by airy shades of silk and lace, is 
the one for which was awarded a medal at the Paris Exposition of 1889; but 
even this does not compare with a score of others. Near one corner a huge 
buffalo's head is overshadowed by a large lamp of exquisite workmanship. 
Another attractive display shows the roof and sides of the pavilion 
constructed of richly colored stained glass. 

Another attractive pavilion is that of five prominent members of the 
National Wall Paper company, containing such perfect imitations of laces 
and silks, tilings, antique metal work, medallions, and reproductions of 
statuary, that it would seem as though the paper manufacturer herein had 
seemingly usurped a portion of the domain of art. The pavilion itself, 
which is of the renaissance order, is a rich combination of lincrusta 
walton, ivory, and gold. Through a 

Page 164

central court the visitor enters the chambers opening from it, one of them 
decorated in the empire style in papers, machine and hand made, and with 
silk hangings, which harmonize best with their effect. In another room is 
an exhibit of satin-surfaced pressed papers, elaborate in Italian and 
French designs, with leather wall papers, embracing lacquered metal, ivory 
and canvas-faced metalized hangings; hand-printed chintz damask and 
tapestry papers, and a complete collection of lincrusta walton. In a third 
are broad friezes ornamented with wisteria vines, lilacs, and wild roses, 
the woodwork being finished in ivory and gold. Here and in adjacent booths 
are also specimens of pressed and leather papers, and with some beautiful 
specimens of wall papers, especially in satin damasks. Among the notable 
illustrations of block printing is an allegorical design, specially 
prepared by the well-known decorative artist Walter Crane. 

We will now turn to the more utilitarian department toward the south and 
east of the Manufactures hall, where he who is building a house will find 
the best and most modern apparatus for flushing, plumbing, and other 
sanitary purposes. Here also are appliances for securing and even 
temperature, for perfect ventilation, and for avoiding danger from sewer 
gas. Flushing is accomplished in a score of different methods. Of kitchen 
and bathroom fittings there are tubs and sinks of soapstone, porcelain, 
and tin, and in parlor and other furniture there are many beautiful 
specimens of enamelled wares. 

The large space devoted to stoves, furnaces, ranges, steam and other 
heating appliances indicates the magnitude of these classes of 
manufactures. Here also are shown the various stoves and ranges which burn 
gas and petroleum, as well as gas logs, the last coming largely into use. 
The Michigan Stove company has in the shape of a pavilion a mammoth stove, 
forming one of the most unique exhibitions on the floor. In contrast to 
this, and as an historic curiosity, is a little square stove, loaned 

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from a private Chicago collection and said to have been used in 1693 at 
the first convent established in Quebec. A Milwaukee company has a sample 
of the first Stewart stove, made in 1838, and almost as primitive in 
pattern. A Chicago firm has provided for itself headquarters of tasteful 
design, and near by are such old friends as the acorn and gold coin 
stoves, while a St. Louis factory, producing the less familiar buck 
stoves, throws open a resting place whose invitation is difficult to 
resist. To the left of their pavilion is a fireplace of 1776, with ashes 
upon the hearth, and a swinging crane within; to the right is one of the 
first stoves made in 1846, and between these ancient specimens is the 
finished product of 1893. In the special line of radiators a Chicago 
company has the largest display, exhibiting over 160 styles. Adjoining 
this display of stoves and furnaces, hot-air and steam apparatus, and 
everything else suggestive of heat, are those which apply to ice and the 
preservative qualities of cold. Here every appliance is at hand, from the 
plain ice box to the complicated refrigerator with half a dozen walls. 
Miniature specimens, pretty enough for a piece of household furniture, 
stand side by side with mammoth structures for the preservation of meat 
and beer. Muskegon is the headquarters of the establishment which produces 
the Alaska brand, and a striking exhibit it makes under its refrigerator 
pavilion. Elsewhere it is plainly demonstrated that Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, and Illinois have taken the lead in this line of exhibits. 

To describe the exhibits of vaults, safes, hardware, edge tools, and 
cutlery, would be to write a bulky catalogue of familiar articles, in the 
manufacture of which, however, there are almost daily improvements. The 
Oliver Ames and other companies have displays in their special lines which 
are interesting to the casual observer no less than to the farming 
community. Manufacturers and dealers in mechanics' tools, in screws, 
shears, knives, hammers, and razors may here observe how necessary it is 
for them to concentrate their energies within sharply defined limits. In 
cutlery a razor company, of Worcester, Massachusetts, fills a large case 
with superior specimens of its goods, arranged round a mammoth wheel 
formed of razors. There are specimens of check and spring locks which will 
close a door without slamming; there are appliances for locking a window, 
whether open or closed, and in the line of general hardware there are 
exhibits without number. 

Among the cases and pavilions filled with small firearms of American make, 
the Remington booth presents an imposing aspect, its elaborate central 
display flanked with stacks 

Page 167

of rifles. Opposite is the exhibit of Smith and Wesson, their cases 
containing nearly 200 beautifully finished revolvers representing the 
various styles manufactured. In one of these cases all the weapons have 
pearl handles, some of them being artistically engraved and inlaid with 
gold. The exhibit also includes specimens of the firm's regular output, 
with a practical illustration of the process of manufacture in parts, and 
the various tests to which they are submitted. The various styles of 
revolvers are fashioned into the design of a wheel, above which are two 
finely constructed rifles, and the different portions of the mechanisms 
are worked into the border of the figure. There are also men in attendance 
whose duty it is to demonstrate the superiority of the Winchester and 
Spencer repeating arms. 

Beyond this section and in the extreme northeastern corner of the 
building, are the wire goods, ranging from a strand as fine as silk to 
massive bridge ropes and submarine cables. The exhibit of a Trenton 
company is on an imposing scale, illustrating connection with such 
undertakings as the construction of bridges, cable railways, and various 
submarine lines. A specimen of the street cable used in New York, one and 
a half inches in diameter, is wound on a frame, and there are four 
sections of the wires used in the Brooklyn bridge. Coils of submarine 
cables, and all apparatus pertaining to such systems as are mentioned 
above, form a foreground to a painting of the New York and Brooklyn 
bridge, whose builder lost his life in its construction. Upon a stand in 
front of the bridge is the model of a ship with tackle of wire. 

Opposite this exhibit is a lofty tower of Columbian aspect, surmounted by 
an eagle, its base formed of coils of cable wire, above which is an 
octagonal glass case with iron, steel, and copper wire of all kinds, and 
the concave roof supported by metal pillars. This tower calls attention to 
the exhibit of telegraph, telephone, and cable wires, wires for baling 
hay, for binding books, and for clothes lines, wire fencing, watch, clock, 
eye glass, and furniture springs, brush and umbrella wire, and wire of 
iron, copper and steel, flat, square, and round. The various stages of 
manufacture are also illustrated, from the crude metal to the finished 
article. In the line of wire matting, another company has a large exhibit 
of figures and a neat illustration, claiming that it is putting a broad 
band 

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of its wire goods around the globe. Wire screens for doors and windows are 
the specialty of a Maine firm, while a Massachusetts company presents in 
the walls of its pavilion a new description of wire cloth, which appears 
better fitted for an artists studio than for a common use. It is made of 
fine steel wire, and covered with a chemically prepared solution, varying 
in thickness from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch. For this fabric 
it is claimed that it may be as easily stitched as canvas, that it 
withstands a temperature of 230 degrees before igniting, that it is frost 
and rain proof, resists a pressure of 100 pounds to the square inch 
without fracture, and being a non-conductor, renders a building warmer in 
winter and cooler in summer. It is certainly a beautiful fabric in 
appearance, as rich and delicate as the finest stained glass. 

One of the oldest manufactures of wire goods in America shows samples of 
what is claimed to be the first wire netting made in the United States by 
power machinery, and exposed for more than twenty-five years in the open 
air; also woven fencing used nearly as long, and about 100 descriptions of 
their wire cloth, branded as gold, silver, brass, copper, galvanized, and 
pearl. In the dome of the Horticultural building is a wire summer house 
from the same hands, ornamental fences, gates, flower stands, and chairs, 
while at the terminal railroad station are about three miles of its woven 
fencing inclosing and dividing the railroad platforms. There has been used 
by the Exposition, under the glass roofs of various buildings, a large 
quantity of wire netting to prevent glass from falling which might 
accidentally become dislodged. 

Westward from the wire display toward Columbia avenue is a section devoted 
to exhibits of scales, weights, and measures; also a collection of water 
meters, near which is a rustic pavilion of petrified wood from Arizona. 
Within are sections of the trees, cut through in all directions so as to 
furnish slabs for tables, parlor ornaments, and cabinet specimens. 
Situated in Apache county, Arizona, and known as Chalcedony park, there 
are large deposits of petrified tree sections, interblending with agate, 
jasper, jade, calcite, and amethyst. They are usually found projecting 
from volcanic ash and lava, which is covered with sandstone to the depth 
of from twenty to thirty feet, and lie exposed in gulches and basins where 
water has worn away the sandstone. Petrification possibly resulted from 
the trees being submerged by hot geysers bearing silicon in solution. 
While the quantity of material found is great, the sound sections are 
limited, as the substance is only three degrees softer than a diamond, 
making costly machinery necessary to cut and polish it, the wood is rare 
and expensive. 

Chemicals, perfumery and toilet articles are grouped in the vicinity, the 
soap dealers having an elaborate display. A much advertised space with a 
picture of the boat named after it which crossed from New York to the 
Azores in the summer of 1892, with the boat itself fourteen feet long, and 
two feet depth of hold. A Chicago firm has an imitation in soap of 
Brooklyn bridge, some thirty feet long and weighing 1,500 pounds, with 
vehicles and pedestrians crossing in long procession, and beneath a vessel 
plowing the waters of East river. 

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Crossing Columbia avenue we enter the section of glass and glassware, 
ceramics and mosaics, a somewhat meagre exhibit, considering the 
importance of these industries. Pittsburgh manufacturers of pressed and 
blown ware make one of the largest displays, not only of white glassware 
but of mirrors. In cut glass, manufacturers of New York and Ohio 
illustrate in artistic fashion the beauty of the finer grades, when 
tastefully arranged. In the space allotted to the United States Potters' 
association is, with one exception, a complete exposition of the ceramic 
industries of the country, including both the manufacture and the 
decoration of ware, that exception being the Rookwood pottery, of 
Cincinnati, which has a place in the jewelry section. The enclosing walls 
and columns are made of fire clay, the former being of a warm yellow and 
brown, and the latter of a malachite green. The potter's wheel, the fiery 
dragon, flaming torches and other symbolic decorations constitute 
appropriate settings for the vases, tilings, and pieces of ornamental 
faience which have given to this pottery more than a national reputation. 
The clays used at these works are from neighboring deposits in the Ohio 
Valley, and in the collective exhibits made by the association this 
locality furnishes many of the most beautiful articles. Establishments 
from New England, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, Colorado, and elsewhere, indicate the broad membership of the 
association. Among other costly and beautiful specimens may be mentioned 
the Lord Calvert vase, Louis XIV clock cases, Pompadour dinner sets, 
Pompeiian vases, pieces of majolica ware, toilet sets and jardinieres of 
Italian, Egyptian, Grecian, Japanese, and Persian designs. In one corner 
of this section are all the substances used in the manufacture of the 
several wares, including blocks of fire and ball clay, washed kaolin, fine 
silica, ground feldspar in bottles, squares of fired clay and feldspar, 
feldspar in the rough, and all other crude and partially prepared 
materials. 

A Philadelphia firm claims to possess the art of restoring and 
redecorating anything in the line of china, bisque, glassware, and 
statuary, and in support of its assertion has photographs of various 
mutilated wares, and beside them the articles restored to their pristine 
form. Near by are tasteful displays of mosaics, colored tilings, terra 
cotta vases and architectural pieces, the structural design erected by 
several hydraulic brick companies, and the heroic figures cast by the 
American Bronze company. Such well known bronze statues as that of 
Lincoln, the state soldiers and sailors monument at Indianapolis, and the 
Columbus statue on the Lake front at Chicago, were cast by 

Page 170

this company, as also was the silver figure of justic for the state of 
Montana. A facsimile of the Chicago statue by Howard Kretschmar stands at 
this point, where many stop to judge for themselves as to the justness of 
the criticism pronounced on the original. Among other objects of interest 
shown this company are the death masks of Lincoln, fondly treasured by his 
friend and sculptor Leonard W. Volk, of Chicago. 

In the small but compact pavilion of the hydraulic-press brick companies, 
a dozen manufactures are represented, the parent organization being a 
Chicago enterprise, with numerous branches throughout the United States. 

In the midst of paints, gildings, enamels, varnishes, and the like, is 
probably the last place where one would look for a collection of curios; 
yet it is not probably that anywhere can be found a better assortment of 
fossil gums than the one in the pavilion of a Chicago varnish company. The 
exudation of trees which have perished thousands of years ago is the basis 
of nearly all varnish, especially the finer grades, these so-called fossil 
gums, being dug from the earth mainly in New Zealand and eastern Africa. 
Some twenty-five years this museum of copal has been collecting, and many 
of the specimens are valuable for their size, beauty, and rarity. In one 
large piece especially, the interior construction is so plainly traceable 
that one seems to be gazing into an amber cave, supported by fantastic 
pillars and walls, and disappearing far in the distance. Other specimens 
contain small globules of water, or preserved insects probably caught in 
the viscid substances ages ago. There is also an odd-looking, tailless 
bird, the kiwi, mounted on a pedestal, and looking abroad from amidst the 
masses of copal, as though he were flitting along his native shores in New 
Zealand. 

Varnishes and paintings are displayed in an adjoining pavilion. To show 
the purity of their goods, the manufactures have a series of slabs upon 
which are painted in colors the seals of several states of the republic. 
The most delicate tints or decorations can be distinguished through the 
coats of varnish as clearly as though the surface were covered with a film 
of the finest glass. A Detroit firm has also an excellent exhibit in this 
line of manufactures. Along the front of their pavilion is arranged a 
museum of copals and other gums from Zanzibar, New Zealand, and Batavia, 
in the natural state, and ground or bleached. Two curious carvings 
represent the tatooed features of Maoris, fashioned in copal by a Maori 
artist. At one side of the entrance is a tower, whose base is formed of 
gums, as taken from the earth, and it superstructure of the finished 
products of the factory. There are also various designs in cherry, birch, 
ash, mahogany, maple, butternut, and walnut, treated with the hard oil 
finish of which the company makes a specialty. 

Page 171

It is impossible here to enumerate the countless varieties displayed even 
by leading houses in this class of manufactures. They include all the 
grades ranging from heavy paints and varnishes for structural decoration 
to paints so delicate that they may be laid upon plush without destroying 
the nap, or on silk and satin without detracting from their lustre. 

Adjacent to this section is the display of American furs, whose site will 
not be readily mistaken, for here among polar and black bears, among 
crouching panthers and leopards, richly robed female figures pose as 
dummies within the pavilions, or in the flesh move with admiring gaze from 
one exhibit to another. 

A Chicago firm presents among other articles a robe made of 62,000 pieces 
of golden otter and seal skin, which represents the labor of one man and 
three girls for an entire year. It is valued at $5,000. The dummies in 
this pavilion are clad in the furs of the beaver, fox, ermine, sable, 
mink, otter, and seal, one of the mink cloaks being priced at $2,500, and 
one of seal and otter at $2,000. Other firms have adopted the museum 
method of display, but in minor degree as compared with a New York 
collection. From the roof of a San Francisco pavilion, for instance, is 
suspended a canoe in which sits the figure of an Indian seal-catcher, with 
a polar bear on either side, and a grizzly bear beneath. In a New York 
pavilion a polar bear carries the flag and holds the post of honor, with a 
leopard and other animals grouped around him. By an Albany firm a special 
exhibit is made of the process of dressing and dyeing seal skins, with the 
several stages practically illustrated, from the rough and salted skin to 
the finished article. 

The northwest corner of the Manufactures building is largely devoted to 
exhibits of an architectural character, including granite shafts, 
monuments, globes, staircases, massive iron gates and fences, and soda 
water fountains, some of which form structures of themselves. The most 
massive exhibits are by Massachusetts 

Page 172

and Vermont companies. An elaborate iron gateway forms the background to 
the display of ornamental metal work made by a Chicago firm, and at its 
foot is a richly wrought metallic fireplace of metal, decorated with 
figures in imitation of ancient hammered work. 

A consolidation was affected of all the firms by which were operated for 
many years the numerous stone quarries in the neighborhood of a little 
Vermont town. At Millstone hill alone more than seventy acres of granite 
have been uncovered, the quarrying of which gives employment to a thousand 
men. One of its quarries, eight acres in extent, is said to be the largest 
in the world from which is extracted granite suitable for monuments, the 
blocks being transported by rail, and taken in hand by 1500 masons, with 
the aid of lathes, column cutters, and polishing machines. If all the 
Vermont plants engaged in the finishing of this material were combined on 
a single site, they would occupy a space nearly twice as large as the 
entire area of the Manufactures building. 

Before taking leave of these groups, mention may be made of several 
exhibits of passing interest. A Chicago company, for instance, has 
fashioned its painted pails and other hollow ware in the form of a huge 
American flag, the rows of plain white and red forming the stripes, while 
the stars and their field are represented by a mass of blue pails on which 
constellations are depicted. Behind this are shown various kinds of shoes 
for four-footed animals, and every variety of nail required to fasten 
them. Notable among these latter exhibits is one of an expert as to the 
best methods of shoeing horses, illustrating the advancement of the craft 
during the past half century, and showing the evil effects upon the hoof 
and leg of shoes improperly made or nailed. Another company shows 
different nails from those, little larger than a pin, used for the 
favorites of the turf, to the great, spike-like nail required to fasten 
the shoes of the draught horse. For this purpose Swedish iron has been 
found, by repeated experiment, to be superior to other kinds, on account 
of its ductility and fineness of texture. 

In order to complete our survey of the manufactures of the United States, 
we must ascend to the northeastern galleries, where is a miscellaneous 
array of exhibits, including such articles as typewriters, letter files, 
oil cloths, carpets, and upholstered goods; sewing machines and dress 
cutting apparatus, clothing, laces, trimmings, embroideries, and 
artificial 

Page 173

flowers; hair goods and accessories of the toilet; articles of rubber, 
gutta percha and celluloid; and toys and fancy articles, the latter 
including toilet cases and novelties made from aluminum, white metal, and 
brass. Here also the manufactures of staine glass make an excellent 
exhibit, though represented almost entirely by Chicago houses, the 
backgrounds of their pavilions containing some fine effects, suggestive of 
rich cathedral windows. 

A choice display is that of the sewing machine companies, the pavilion of 
one of them resembling rather a marble palace than a structure devoted to 
business enterprise. On either side of the passage way is a large and 
richly furnished chamber, one for the various grades of machines, and the 
other for illustrating the many kinds of work which these machines will 
accomplish by an expert operator. A broad stairway leads to the floor 
above, where are several apartments decorated with their choicest needle 
work, the walls adorned with tapestries and silk embroideries, some in 
frames and others hanging from the frieze. On one side of the reception 
hall is the dining room, upon the table of which is a massive silver 
service, its pieces resting on samples of linen work. Of a chamber on the 
opposite side, the decorations are of a more delicate character; but 
perhaps the most interesting feature in the collection is that it 
represents only two years of organized and well directed labor aided by 
labor saving machinery, while in the Manufactures hall are single 
specimens of hand-made goods on which have been expended months and years 
of toil. 

Of typewriters, stationery, and miscellaneous articles, from ideal 
fountain pens to ideal corsets and gloves, the display is infinite, and by 
no mean unattractive. In the pagoda of a Cincinnati company is an 
elaborate collection of playing cards. A Boston firm has a pyramid of ice 
and roller skates; a Philadelphia firm, a globe and pillars of curled 
hair, dyed in the brightest of hues; and a New York insurance company 
represents in a gilded pyramid and globe the amount of its assets in gold. 
All these and countless other exhibits are contained in the northeastern 
galleries. 

In this connection may be mentioned the exhibit of the Illinois Iron and 
Bolt company, consisting of copying presses and stands, the former inlaid 
with pearl, and of most finished workmanship. 

Elsewhere on the gallery floor are exhibits of curtain fixtures, oil 
cloths, antique furniture, ceramics and needle work, representing the 
conveniences and luxuries of life in such attractive form that it is 
difficult to draw a dividing line between them. They form together an 
elaborate display and cannot here be described in detail. A Newark company 
has constructed its entire pavilion from the different grades of spring 
shade rollers which it manufactures at its several works. Philadelphia 
firms reveal the artistic possibilities of oil cloths and linoleums, and 
prove that the Quaker city has a claim to recognition as one of the 
leading centres in this department. In this group are also included 
mineral fabrics of wire, glass, and asbestos. 

Toward the southern end of the gallery is the pavilion of a New York firm, 
of somewhat remarkable appearance, but so constructed as to be in harmony 
with its contents. On either side of the main entrance are 

Page 174

worm-eaten panels, taken from the choir stalls of Italian churches, nearly 
three centuries old, and at the further end is a clock of massive 
proportions with choice specimens of English wood-carvings, once the 
property of the earl of Pembroke. The exterior of the pavilion is in 
keeping with the special lines which it exhibits, including antique 
furniture and Gobelin tapestries, with a chamber furnished in rich but 
simple style, and with a varied assortment of cabinets, desks, candelabra, 
harpsichords, and tapestries. Among them is a gilded and decorated 
harpsichord of Louis XV pattern; an antique cabinet of the same period, 
and empire desk with side candelabra, and other curiosities, some of them 
rare specimens of carving, gilding, and inlaying. Of the fabrics, the 
rarest is the Diana tapestry, woven in Brussels at the workshop of Antoine 
Goubels, from a design by Du Breuil, and fashioned during the early 
portions of the seventeenth century for Cardinal Berberini. 

Adjoining the manufactures exhibits in the northeastern galleries, are 
several sections which, though classed under liberal arts, are for the 
most part so distinctly commercial in character, that they may be briefly 
described at this point. In a division designated commerce, trade, and 
banking, for instance, are check punchers and money changers, methods of 
automatic store service, and the exhibit already noticed of the New York 
insurance company, while a Boston firm illustrates the modern systems of 
wires, cables, and pneumatic devices by which cash and packages are 
conveyed in large mercantile establishments. Beyond these are patent 
devices for sashes, blinds, doors, staircases, roofs, and street curbs, 
brought within the domain of liberal arts by being classified under such 
heads as construction of roads, constructive architecture, and plans and 
models of public buildings and dwelling houses. Of this nature also are 
the displays of manufacturing druggists and pharmacists, of medicines, 
mineral waters, and foods for infants and invalids, 

Page 175

Among these classes are likewise the instruments of the physician, 
surgeon, and dentist, with trusses and artificial limbs, casts and 
apparatus used in the treatment of spinal difficulties, porous plasters, 
artificial teeth, electric dental instruments, and such as are used in the 
diagnosis of diseases. 

Thus in as brief space as the nature of the subject will permit, I have 
described the condition and somewhat of the progress and development of 
home manufactures as represented at the Fair. In truth it is a marvellous 
development that has been made within little more than a hundred years, 
for the history of our manufactures beings with the history of the 
republic, and not until after the revolutionary war did they gain any 
permanent foothold. Material there was of excellent quality, and in 
boundless supply. Plains and valleys were well adapted to the raw staples 
needed for textile fabrics; forests were filled with valuable woods; the 
mountain sides with marbles, slates, and building stones; of coal and iron 
the supply was unlimited, and water-power was well distributed throughout 
the Atlantic slope. Yet, as in all new countries, progress in this 
direction was slow, and notwithstanding all the advantages, at the close 
of the eighteenth century the new republic had barely outgrown the 
restrictive policy of the mother country, and for many years later ranked 
only in the second class among manufacturing nations. 

While for the first half of the present century there are no very reliable 
data, it is probably that n 1810 the total value of United States 
manufactures did not exceed $50,000,000. Thenceforth, though with some 
fluctuations, remarkable progress was made, especially as to cotton 
fabrics, to which the war of 1812 gave additional impetus, so that by 1825 
New England alone had nearly 400 factories at work. For 1850, when first 
we have access to official sources of information, the total value of all 
manufactures was stated at a little over $1,000,000, this amount being 
doubled in 1860, and more than quadrupled in 1870. For the decade ending 
with 1880 the gain was in smaller proportion, with an increase of only 
twenty-five percent in output and with no considerable increase in the 
number of establishments. Under the cumulative growth of power appliances, 
the volume of production has been largely augmented within recent years, 
and with a corresponding addition to the number of operatives. For 1892 
our manufactures may be appropriately stated at $7,500,000,000, giving 
employment directly to 3,500,000 persons, and supporting indirectly at 
least four times that number, or more than one-fifth of the entire 
population of the republic. 

To improvements in machinery and methods, more than to increase of 
population or legislative enactments, is due such phenomenal growth; and 
in this direction the republic has played well her part. Just as in 
England the cotton-gin and carpet-loom revolutionized those branches of 
handicraft, so have American inventions been adopted, 

Page 176

however unwillingly, by European manufacturers, especially in the use of 
appliances for interchangeable parts. Meantime, with our almost perfect 
mechanisms, we are constantly increasing the quantity and improving the 
quality of our products, while gaining for those products a world-wide 
repute. Thus it is, for instance, that with a thorough subdivision of 
labor, fire-arms of intricate pattern can be produced at the rate of 200 a 
year for each of the workmen employed. So also the prices of clocks and 
watches have been reduced to a small percentage of their former cost, 
watches made in part by machinery being manufactured at the rate of three 
a week, while a Swiss maker requires more than a week to fashion a single 
timepiece. Of certain lines of silk goods, as ribbons and handkerchiefs, 
we manufacture largely for export, with the aid of compound looms; and of 
dress goods our swift-moving looms produce nearly twice as much as those 
of European design. In these and countless other instances the cost of 
production has been largely diminished, with a steady increase in the 
output of plant and factory. 

As to the social aspect of these industries, all cause for anxiety in this 
direction has long since disappeared. Certain it is that in manufacturing 
cities, with their diversity of occupations, employment is more readily 
obtained than in those which depend mainly on agriculture, commerce, or 
mining, and that at wages from twice to four times larger than are paid in 
European countries. In New York alone at least $130,000,000 are 
distributed yearly, and in Philadelphia almost as much, among hundreds of 
thousands of operatives. 

Page 177

In the latter city, as in New England towns, many of the operatives own 
the dwellings which they occupy, two or three members of a family often 
engaging in separate branches of labor, and earning more than sufficient 
for its support. Nowhere is there such poverty, and nowhere, except 
perhaps in New York, such overcrowding as in London, Paris, and other 
European centres. In a community whose mainstay is its factories and 
workshops, more money falls into the hands of the people, and is by them 
invested or distributed among the channels of trade than in a purely 
commercial city with ten times its volume of business. Thus the profits 
accruing from the industries of the community are largely retained within 
the community itself, and represented in permanent improvements or other 
substantial forms of realized wealth. No nation, it has been often 
remarked, ever became really great without manufactures. Assuredly we 
shall not ourselves be found wanting as a nation in that element of 
greatness, for with less than a three-gold gain in population, our 
manufactures have increased from seven to eight fold within forty years, 
and with improved methods and machinery constantly adding to their volume, 
who shall forecast the story which another two-score of years will tell? 

World's Fair Miscellany

In dealing with the varied and conflicting interests represented in the 
Exposition, it was almost inevitable that the management should become 
involved in entanglements. No point at issue created more complications 
with foreign commissioners than their right to sell duplicates of their 
exhibits, and no incident threatened more serious consequences than the 
forcible invasion of the Russian section of the Manufactures building by 
custom house officers, in civilian garb, and the seizure of one of its 
exhibits, together with its custodian, on the charge that goods were being 
sold in bond. The Russian commissioners, protesting angrily against this 
summary method of dealing with the matter, covered up their exhibits and 
threatened to withdraw entirely from the Exposition unless a satisfactory 
apology was forthcoming. Thereupon Director-general Davis, though the 
offending parties were the government and not the Fair officials, admitted 
the discourtesy, and the head of the customs service at Jackson park 
ordered his men in future to refrain from examining the goods of foreign 
commissioners, except in their presence. Thus the disaffection ended, 
though for a time threatening to spread to the officials of other foreign 
countries. This was not the first incident of the kind; for a few weeks 
before, a commissioner from Paraguay had suffered arrest at the hands of a 
Columbian guard. Finally the director-general issued a manifesto, 
doubtless preventing more serious consequences, forbidding the arrest or 
interference with foreign commissioners. 

In justice to government and Fair officials, it should be stated that many 
foreign countries sent to the Exposition large quantities of goods which 
were entered as exhibits but were intended for sale. Thus, for a time, was 
avoided the payment of customs duties; but several complications arose 
from the attempt to dispose of such merchandise, for under regulations 
prescribed by the secretary of the 

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treasury, this could only be done by having the goods canceled as 
exhibits, transferred to the government warehouse on the grounds, and 
there appraised and the duty paid. Duplicates of samples could thus be 
placed in bond, sold at any time, and delivered at the close of the Fair. 
During the month of May the only exhibit in the Russian section of the 
Manufactures building was a placard with the following inscription. 
"Russian exhibit delayed by the ice in the Baltic sea." So also was 
deferred the installations of the Norwegian and Danish collections; but 
Russia was particularly unfortunate in this regard. By January, 1893, her 
pavilion had been completed in St. Petersburg and accepted by the 
government, after which it was taken to pieces, and with most of the 
exhibits and some twenty Russian carpenters placed on board three steamers 
bound for the United States. For an entire month they were frozen in near 
Labava, amid the ice of the Baltic sea, and two of them seriously injured. 
It was not until the last of March that they reached Copenhagen, and not 
until May that the carpenters, afterward largely reinforced, began work to 
erect their pavilion. Then, attired in red blouses, black vests, leather 
belts, heavy brogans, and caps with patent leather visors, they set to 
work with a will, though supplied only with what seemed the most old-
fashioned of implements, the saws, for example, being kept taut by 
twisting a hempen rope between crude wooden frames. Nevertheless the 
pavilion rose apace, and was dedicated on the 29th of May, the coronation 
day of the tsar, though not formally opened until some three weeks later. 

Austria's exhibit was the first to be completely installed in the 
Manufactures building, and was thrown open to the public on the 3rd day of 
May. 

The royal porcelain factory of Copenhagen, whose exhibits are mentioned in 
the text, was founded in 1779 by Christian VII, and until 1867 was managed 
in the king's name. During this period splendid sets of porcelain were 
fashioned at its kilns, of which the palaces of Copenhagen, especially 
Rosenberg castle, contain some valuable samples. 

In the British section are some interesting specimens of knit goods made 
by hand, among them hosiery such as is worn by the Scottish clans. Near by 
are woolen shawls made in Shetland, one of them a two-ply fabric and a 
remarkable piece of workmanship. 

In connection with the exhibit of Jamaica, the most important of the 
British possession in the West Indies, it may be stated that this island 
has about 3,000,000 acres of land available for cultivation. Of this area 
nearly two-thirds are in the possession of individuals or trusts. No less 
than 660,000 persons, most of whom would, in other countries and under 
other circumstances be included in the laboring classes, own the small 
tracts which supply them with the means of a livelihood. The main reasons 
for this condition of affairs are the facilities for acquiring land, 
cheapness of living, and low rates of wages, with attendant scarcity of 
labor. Jamaica's pretensions as a health resort are here represented, for 
it is claimed that the island is well adapted to the cure of bronchitis, 
catarrh, consumption, Bright's disease, rheumatism, dyspepsia, and nervous 
prostration. 

Several of the higher class of Chinese merchants are represented at 
Manufactures hall, among them Chun Quan Kee, a wealthy and travelled 
Chinaman, who makes the largest exhibit of merchandise and whose 
headquarters are in Canton. 

Although Korea presents the smallest exhibit of any foreign nation, there 
are few which attract more attention. It is the only one ever prepared by 
that country for such purposes, and the importance which the so-called 
hermit kingdom attached to it appears from the fact that she appointed as 
her royal commissioner an official whose rank corresponds with that of an 
assistant secretary of state. 

Probably no exhibit in all the Exposition was installed at such expense of 
money, time, and labor as the great gun which stands in the Krupp 
building. The massive hoisting apparatus whereby it was lifted from the 
steamer which carried it to Baltimore was specially manufactured for the 
purpose in the Krupp works at Essen. The car which brought it to Chicago 
was composed of two iron trucks, weighing 64,000 pounds, under each of 
which were sixteen wheels. As the journey was made westward toward the 
Fair, the bridges and culverts over which the train was to pass were 
carefully inspected, and in some cases strengthened, for the gross weight 
of car and gun was 225 tons. Along the line of route, and at Jackson park, 
crowds were gathered to witness the progress of the monster piece of 
ordnance, which finally reached its destination a fortnight before the 
formal opening of the Exposition. In the structure of walrus hide which 
California exhibits in the Shoe and Leather building, as mentioned in the 
text, no piece is less than two inches thick. It is said that two years 
and a half were required for the tanning process, which was conducted at a 
San Francisco establishment, the walrus from which the hides were taken 
being killed in the Arctic Ocean, in July, 1888.