The Book of the Fair - Chapter 9



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Chapter the Ninth:
Foreign Manufactures

From the manufactures of the United States let us turn to those of foreign 
lands, represented at the Columbian Exposition in larger volume and 
variety, of richer material and of more finished workmanship than at any 
of our great world's fairs. Among all the foreign participants the largest 
amount of space was allotted to Great Britain an her dependencies, 500,000 
square feet in all, of which the mother country appropriated more than 
three-fifths, leaving but 184,000 for what Sir Charles Dilke has termed 
the Greater Britain of her colonies. Considering that some of these 
colonies voted individually almost as much money as England herself, this 
allotment appears somewhat out of proportion, and especially in the hall 
of Manufactures, where to Great Britain is assigned 100,000 square feet 
apart from gallery room, and to all British colonies only 35,000. It is 
also worthy of note that Britain has no central pavilion, like those of 
France and Germany, in which to mass the best of her exhibits, though 
occupying one of the choicest sites in the gift of the director-general. 

The front of the British section, facing on Columbia avenue is largely 
occupied by pottery, and especially by porcelains and chinaware, all 
grouped under the heading of ceramics and mosaics. If in certain respects 
the display is inferior to that of some other European nations, as to the 
French man in elaboration of design, it is nevertheless a creditable 
exhibit, one far superior to any before collected in the British isles. 
While the years that have elapsed since the London Exhibition of 1851 have 
witnessed what may be termed a renaissance in ceramic art, of late 
manufactures have devoted themselves rather to improving the quality of 
their wares than to the production of new designs or methods of 
manipulative treatment. Still is noticed the influence of Japanese art, 
with motifs borrowed from the French and from the choicer product of 
Sevres and Dresden; but in the specimens 

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presented at the Fair we have no mere striving after effect; rather a 
chaste and subdued embellishment, with variety of detail and excellent 
workmanship. 

A prominent place in the British section is given to the exhibits of 
Doulton and company of Lambeth and Burslem, contained in a double pavilion 
connected by a dome-covered hall, with decorated panels displaying ceramic 
processes from the digging of clay to the ornamentation of a vase. Among 
them is a ewer, six feet high, of slender proportions and novel design, 
probably the largest ever fashioned of stoneware. On another more than 
four feet high are groups around its widest part representing epochs and 
incidents of English history, beginning with the Druids offering human 
sacrifices in the dark and ending with the reign of Queen Victoria. Around 
the neck are single figures of English kings and queens, from Caractacus 
to George I. On a ware vase are depicted scenes from rustic and animal 
life, and on other pieces are paintings of birds, scroll work and models 
in bas-relief. On one of the Faience vases are depicted some of the 
heroines of antiquity, as Dido, Cleopatra, Medea, Ariadne, and Lucretia. 
On a pair of vases more than five feet high are portrayed the legends of 
Perseus and Andromeda and Theseus and Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, as 
she gazes seaward from the shore of Naxos, "watching, weary, and
forsaken," calling to mind one of the most descriptive lines of Ovid: 

Reddabant nomen concava saxa tuum. 

On a tall, slender ewer are figures typical of art and music, with heads 
symbolical of epic and lyric poetry. Chief among the exhibits from the 
Burslem works of this firm are the Columbus and Diana vases, the Dante and 
Chicago vases, with numerous articles for use and ornament. Of other of 
the Doulton exhibits, in the gallery of the Manufactures building; and in 
the grounds of the British building mention will be made elsewhere. Second 
to the Doulton display, and second only, is that of the Worcester Royal 
Porcelain company, containing a large variety of specimens, and in value 
varying from one to many thousands of dollars. Among them are some 
beautiful vases tinted in ivory and ornamented with gold filigree of 
cunning workmanship. In their list of specialties are porcelains in many 
colors and patterns, including chaste and elegant designs in encrusted 
gold and Pompeiian green, with figures and statuettes in stained ivory, 
jardinieres and flower-pots, lamps and candelabra. But the most attractive 
feature is their dinner and banquet sets, the pieces ornamented with coral 
rose and gold, with lace-like edges and figures painted in delicate hues. 
On a so-called rustic table the centrepiece is encircled by a fence of 
ivory and gold, and filled in with figures suggestive of rustic life. 

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A specialty of the Coalport China company's exhibits is its reproduction 
in chalcedony of the hues of agate, as may be seen in two of its vases 
intended for Princess Christiana. In those of another company is a 
remarkable illustration of what can be accomplished in the way of 
decorative art on porcelain and china-ware. Among them is a Shakespearian 
centerpiece of more than a hundred parts, its base in Rouen green, with 
tints of ivory and gold, with figures emblematic of poetry, history, 
tragedy, and comedy, supporting a vase on which are depicted the heroines 
of Shakespeare. By one firm is displayed a fine collection of Copeland, 
Minton, and Wedgewood wares, among them specimens of the pate-sur-pate 
process, of Chinese origin, and producing the effect of cameo work, the 
decorative scheme being applied in thin layers of liquid clay before the 
vase is burned. Here also is a reproduction of the jubilee vase presented 
to Queen Victoria in 1887. By other firms are exhibits of artistic 
pottery, jet goods, tiles, and mosaics. 

Prominent among the exhibits of gold and silverware and jewelry are those 
of the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' company of London, in the line of gem 
ornaments, plate of all descriptions, cutlery, chronometers, clocks, and 
other articles, including some of the best and most recent specimens of 
English workmanship. A feature in their display is a Shakespearian casket, 
intended to illustrate the art of damaskening in connection with 
goldsmiths' work. The lid is fashioned in the form of moldings damaskened 
iron and gold, with figures typical of dramatic and literary art, 
surmounted by the crest of Shakespeare. On the body of the casket, 
contained with moldings in gold, are enameled paintings representing some 
of his most famous scenes, with a medallion bust of their author, and a 
picture of his birthplace in gold repousse. By Mappin brothers is also a 
display of silver and electro plate, and by another exhibitor one of 
historic articles, including old English, Scotch, and Irish silver plate. 
In an adjoining group are reproductions of Irish art in metal work, 
largely in the form of crosses, croziers, and shrines, copied from the 
collections of the Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College, Dublin. Of 
these there are duplicates in the Blarney Castle Village in Midway 
plaisance, each one forming a link in the history or traditions of the 
emerald isle. Here is a facsimile of the bell of Saint Patrick, said to 
have been preserved for fourteen centuries by custodians descended from 
the same family. There is also the famous Tara brooch, its face inlaid 
with ornamental designs in many varieties, resembling delicate tracery. 
This, it is related, was picked up on the seashore by the child of a poor 
Irish woman, sold for a few pence to a Drogheda watchmaker, and finally 
purchased by the academy for the sum of $1,000. Other historic brooches 
there are, one named the Dairiada, the most ancient of all the collection, 
and another, bearing the date of 1050, unearthed by the plough of a farm 
laborer. Of crosses we have the cross of Cong, made in the days of 
Turlough O'Conor, king of Erin, and placed in the abbey of Cong by 
Roderick O'Conor, the last of Ireland's monarchs. 

In the Furniture group, which included upholstery and artistic decoration, 
the centre of interest is an exact reproduction in three-quarter scale of 
the banqueting hall of Hatfield house, the seat of the Marquis of 
Salisbury, probably the best specimen extant of the Elizabethan style of 
architecture. By a London exhibitor, all the oak carvings have been 
reproduced with remarkable fidelity of detail, portraying historic 
incidents long before this ancient manor became the residence of Queen 
Elizabeth or passed into the hands of Sir Robert Cecil. From one side of 
the hall, left open for the purpose, is an unobstructed view of the 
interior, its marble floor covered in the centre with a Persian rug, on 
which are plain oaken chairs and table such as the Cecils use today. On 
the further side is an old-fashioned fireplace, bearing the date of 1637, 
with fire-irons and dogs, or andirons, to correspond, flanked with the 
mailed armor which the Cecils 

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wore in the holy war. Above all is their coat of arms, beneath which are 
represented in tapestry their ancestors who took part in the crusades. At 
one end of the hall is a minstrel gallery, with balcony of lattice work, 
and lions rampant grasping the shields on which are displayed the primal 
quarterings of the family; at the other end are large folding doors, with 
life-sized portraits of Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots. 

On a billiard table contained in this group he who is so disposed may 
expend the sum of $5,000; for such is the price of what is said to be the 
finest table that English makers have produced. Its frame of oak is richly 
carved, and on its panels are depicted sporting incidents or scenes from 
rural life. The pockets are of novel device and above it is a specimen of 
artistic metal work in the form of an electrolier, each burner fitted with 
crimson silk shade. Among other exhibits in the furniture line are dining-
room, drawing-room, and bedroom sets in the last of which the display is 
especially strong. By a Birmingham firm is exhibited a bedstead with 
canopy of solid brass, the central panel of the foot-rail containing a 
figure of liberty in full relief, and the pillars supporting vases whence 
issue flames symbolic of the Chicago fire. Of wall papers, carpets, 
curtains, stained glass, and other decorations, and especially of the 
first, exhibits are fully in keeping with the remainder of the group. 

In textile fabrics our British cousins are liberally represented, with 
about one-third of all the exhibitors included in these groups, to which 
was allotted a liberal proportion of space. While, as in other departments 
of manufacture, there were some who took umbrage at the McKinley tariff, 
all branches are here represented, and by firms of unquestioned standing. 
The silks, which were inspected by the queen before being shipped to 
Chicago, include, among other varieties, damasks and brocades, plain and 
figured satins, and velvets, embroideries, trimmings, and crapes, 
handkerchiefs, scarves, and shawls, gold and silver tissues, flowered 
silks, and mixed designs in silks and metals. As to delicacy of color, 
workmanship, and general treatment they form a good display, comparing not 
unfavorably with the French collection on the opposite side of the nave. 
Of cotton, linen, and woolen goods, of clothing and costumes, and of the 
numberless fancy articles included in these groups, it is unnecessary here 
to make other than passing mention, for the quality of such goods is known 
the world over, and nowhere better than in the United States. 

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In the group of chemical and pharmaceutical products, including druggists' 
supplies, there is a large number of exhibitors, prominent among them 
being those of the United Alkali company and of Stevenson and Howell. The 
former is a combination of manufacturers, organized in 1890, not as a 
trust but for mutual protection, first to avoid the violent fluctuations 
which, before that date, had been of frequent occurrence, and second, by 
the adoption of new or improved processes to establish a superior and more 
economic standard of working. The company has a paid up capital of $42,000,
000, and a reserve fund of $2,500,000, owns about fifty chemical, copper, 
metal, and salt works, several hundred miles of railway sidings, railroad 
wagons by the thousand, and a hundred or more of steamers and sailing 
vessels, employs an army of men, and with its valuable patent rights and 
exclusive licenses, has largely reduced the prices of many lines of goods. 
A feature in this section is a model of Windsor Castle erected in the 
booth of one of the exhibitors, a perfect facsimile in miniature, forty 
feet long and some twenty inches in height, a green baize cloth doing duty 
for the green sward which surround this ancient abode of royalty. 

Manufacturers of paints, colors, dyes, and varnishes are well represented, 
as also are those of type-writers, papers, blank books, and stationery. Of 
art metal work a single exhibit has a group of bronze replicas, including 
one of Robert Burns. In marble and stone work there are Keltic and other 
crosses, one of them a reproduction of the ancient cross of Kilkispeen, in 
the county of Kilkenny. Of glass and glassware there are two, and of 
stained glass in decoration, four exhibitors, in the line of domestic, 
civic, and ecclesiastic art. Of church furniture there are samples from 
and Exeter factory. Of hair work, coiffures, and accessories of the 
toilet, of travelling equipments of rubber and celluloid goods, of 
lighting apparatus, of heating and cooking apparatus, of vaults, safes, 
hardware, edged tools, and cutlery, and of materials of war and sporting 
implements there are one or more exhibitors in each of these groups. In 
conclusion it may be said of Britain's collection that it differs from all 
her former exhibits, for while at other expositions her display was mainly 
hardware, cutlery, and other serviceable articles, its excellence now 
consists rather in the application of art to objects of common utility, 
and as will presently be related in the fine arts themselves. 

Though in some respects a creditable exhibit, the British collection has 
been sharply criticized, and by none more so than by English critics, on 
the ground that it does not properly represent the manufacturing power and 
achievements of Great Britain. Says her commissioner, in an article 
recently published in the London Engineering, a magazine of which he is 
the editor: "While a handful of exhibitors will stand high in the 
Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building, the question naturally arises, 
why, in this great battle-ground of commerce, England has refused to push 
forward any considerable force of her manufacturing army? And why is this, 
which will be probably the most important, as it is certainly the largest 
exposition the world has seen? The answer is found partly in the fact that 
Englishmen have not realized the vast importance which the Columbian 
Exposition will have on the trade of the world in the immediate future, 
and probably for many years yet to come, and partly because the actual 
facts of the case were not brought clearly enough before the possible 
exhibitors, who care little for official circulars, and require conviction 
by personal arguments, a long and tedious process. They resent the policy 

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that has so largely helped to develop American industries and manufactures 
and to increase her wealth, ignoring the fact that in spite of tariff 
barriers the United States are by far our largest customers, and therefore 
most worthy of being studied and encouraged." 

Before proceeding further with the exhibits of European nations, let us 
see what the dependencies of Great Britain have on display in their 
several sections extending to the south and westward of the British 
division. In the Canadian section, one of the most striking of all the 
exhibits is in the form of a mammoth wheel, the component parts of which 
are circular and hand saws. To present a detailed description of Canadian 
manufactures as represented at the Fair, would be to describe those of an 
ambitious and enterprising country, but one in which this department is 
subservient to her agriculture, lumber industries, and fisheries. In her 
10,000 square feet of space Canada has a large variety of manufactures, 
but little of any one class, for here are illustrated many branches of 
industry. The cotton fabrics of the dominion, for instance, are almost 
represented by a single firm, and of other textiles the collections are 
insignificant, in quantity at least, as compared with those of the United 
States. Builders' hardware, as to their comparative importance, it may 
here be stated that the annual value of the agricultural exports of the 
dominion, is nearly $40,000,000; of lumber $24,000,000, and of the 
products of the sea about $10,000,000, while exports of manufactures 
proper are valued at less than $7,000,000, against some $42,000,000 a year 
of imports from Great Britain alone. 

Among the more interesting exhibits is a miniature representation of the 
industries introduced and fostered by the dominion government among the 
Indians of Manitoba and other provinces through the schools established in 
their midst within the past few years. Side by side with printing cases, 
work-benches, carvings, needlework, photographs and models of industrial 
schools, and specimens of drawing and penmanship, are native lodges filled 
with robes, network, woven baskets, bead-work, and illustrations of those 
simpler occupations of savage life from which the rising generation is 
departing. A large skin filled with pemican, or dried and pounded buffalo 
meat, is displayed as somewhat of a curiosity, by the Assiniboin Indians. 
Among the models is one of a native village near Bute Inlet, British 
Columbia, and another of the Ruper Land industrial school, the latter 
fashioned by an Indian boy. This school also displays a neatly printed 
pamphlet, the handiwork of its pupils, and from which a portion of this 
brief description has been derived. A few feet from the Canadian section 
is that of New South Wales, whose motto "Advance Australia," seems not 
inappropriate, when we compare her exhibits with those of other colonies. 
Taken at a disadvantage, when required to stand before the world as a 
manufacturing country, she has nevertheless a creditable display, in view 
of the infancy of this department of her industries. Large photographs of 
public buildings and scenes in and around Sydney, profusely displayed on 
the wall of her pavilion, suggest to the observer the important part which 
the metropolis plays in the material life of the colony. At one point 
suites of library and dining-room furniture made of cedar, black bean, 
honeysuckle, and other native woods, neatly carved in designs 
representative of the native flora, may be instanced as superior forms of 
manufacture, while the furs and hides of opossums, cats, bears, goats, and 

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kangaroos, gathered into another nook, point to a not unimportant branch 
of enterprise. A large stand, on which are bottles of eucalyptus oil for 
lubricating and, as some use it, for medicinal purposes, a pile of 
asphaltum blocks, a case of horseshoes, which will compare with the best 
in the American section, stationery, clothing, washing machines, and other 
miscellaneous articles testify to the ambition of New South Wales to be 
classed ere long as a manufacturing country. 

The exhibits of Hindostan are housed in a double pavilion, one part of 
which, constructed entirely of teakwood, is a specimen of Hindoo wood 
carving, as developed in the lapse of centuries. Among its contents are 
elaborately carved tables, desks, chairs, bookcases, mantels, and all the 
interior furnishings and decorations made from teak, black and sandal 
woods, executed by native workmen. In the other chamber is an exposition 
of metal-work fashioned by native artisans, including vases and ornaments 
in brass and copper, silver and gold, with enamelled work of cunning 
design. In the form of a screen to this apartment is a beautiful piece of 
embroidery, with interwoven silk, gold, and silver wire, on which is 
wrought in needlework a copy of a poem, inscribed upon the tomb of one of 
Agra's queens. 

In the pavilion of Ceylon in the form of a small Cingalese temple, is a 
collection of articles manufactured from native cabinet woods of extreme 
durability. There are also specimens of woven and hammered goods, with 
various implements for the preparation of food. In the structure known as 
the Ceylon court, between the French and German government buildings, near 
the lake shore is a fine reproduction of old time Cingalese architecture, 
of which, as also of the book in the Woman's building, where are 
illustrated the occupations and condition of the 

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female population, mention will be made in other sections of this work. 
The Jamaica pavilion is a light and cheerful structure, filled with the 
natural and manufactured products of the island. Around the main entrance 
are views of Kingston harbor, and other scenes in this new and popular 
winter resort. Among the exhibits is a case filled with delicate fans, 
decorated with shells, ferns, and bird's wings. There are also shells 
carved in the form of leaves and other articles of deft workmanship, and 
at the foot of the case are articles manufactured at the government 
penitentiary, with specimens of Jamaica beans and banana flour. 

In a choice collection of native woods one-half of each piece is polished, 
to show the beauty of its grain and its value for cabinet and ornamental 
purposes. One end of the pavilion is somewhat suggestive of a grocery, 
with small bins containing samples of starch, tapioca, vermicelli, and 
sugar. Jamaica coffee, berries, ginger, lemonade, pickles, and guava 
jelly, with salt from Turks island, within the jurisdiction of Jamaica, 
tend further to demonstrate the richness of this portion of the British 
West Indies. Specimens of old Jamaica rum are not far removed from a 
counter of wide-brimmed straw hats, the making of which is an important 
branch of industry. A neatly arranged herbarium displays the flora of the 
region, and a dozen large rolls of sole leather, a collection of common 
pottery, and a few large tortoise shells presently to be carved into 
articles of surpassing beauty, are suggestive of other pursuits of the 
native and half-breed population. 

Adjacent to the British section is the French pavilion, on the opposite of 
Columbia avenue, a handsome and tasteful edifice, its entrance near the 
clock tower, and the centre of the nave in the purest of French classic 
style, and with facade of the French renaissance, finished in white and 
gold, and rich in artistic decoration. Passing under the arched ceiling 
and between walls with figures emblematic of science, art, literature, and 
philosophy, we enter a chamber where is a rich display of tapestries and 
porcelains, rich not in number but in quality. Among the former are 
masterpieces from the Gobelin national factory, established about the 
middle of the fifteenth century, and whose tapestries are of world-wide 
repute. On one of them, named La Filleulle des Fees, measuring some twenty-
six by fourteen feet, and yet of most delicate tone and finished 
workmanship, were expended nine years of continuous work. It is valued at 
a million of francs. In another of almost equal dimensions, whose theme is 
Homer deified, four skilled workmen completed a seven years' task. There 
are 

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also Beauvais tapestries of surpassing beauty, and furniture upholstered 
with silken tapestries made at the government factories, for this is the 
national salon, and everything that it contains is the property of the 
nation. In the centre of the room is a choice collection of Sevres 
pottery, some of the pieces never before exhibited. Here is an excellent 
illustration of what has been accomplished in this direction within the 
last century, and especially within the last decade, much of it due to the 
Sevres factory which, subsidized as it is by the government, under 
government supervision, and aided by some of the foremost artificers among 
this nation of artists, has produced the best and most recent results in 
design and decorative scheme. 

Among the collection of porcelains is a large Mycenae vase by Doat, on 
which a tournament is depictured on a ground of vermiculated gold, and a 
Saigon vase by the same artist, with garlands of colored pate, with cameos 
and light green ground. A Tuscan vase is ornamented with roses on white 
ground, and of Escallier vases there are choice specimens representing 
summer and autumn, and one with theatrical masks and accessories. There 
are Persian vases by Gely, and antique Chinese vases, the latter with 
figures of birds and flowers; there is a Bullant vase with decorations of 
warlike design, and a Pompeiian vase with shapely figures of the seasons. 
There are also Lille vases, with ewers and cups of various patterns, and 
among the pieces by Bonnuit is a coffee service with flowers in enamel 
edged with gold. Of Sandoz baskets, ash-stands, and ring-stands there is a 
large collection, and of works in what is termed biscuit of porcelain 
there are reproductions of some of the most famous works of the past and 
present centuries. Finally, in a separate case, there is a groups of 
porcelains never before displayed in public, illustrating a new decorative 
method whereby the coloring is applied simultaneously with the process of 
manufacture. 

On the eastern side of the French section are collections of bronzes, 
silverware, jewelry, and gems, some in separate pavilions and others 
arranged along the outer walls. In a central position are two gilded 
bronze candelabra, with life-size figures supporting branches for 
incandescent lights, interlaced with a network of gold filigree. A 
reproduction in bronze of The Defense of the Flag represents a company of 
soldiers surrounding 

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a battery, their features and attitudes reproduced with life-like 
fidelity, and forming a portion of the group is a bronze replica of one of 
the bas-reliefs of the Arc de Triomphe reduced to one-third of the actual 
size. A striking figure is that of Charles V of Spain, taken from the 
original at Madrid. In one of the corners is reproduced a Vatican bronze 
of Augustus Caesar, and in another is La Zingara, with conventional 
tambourine and pirouette. Of Napoleon the great there are several figures 
and busts, but for Napoleon the little no place was found among this 
assemblage of the mighty dead. In Napoleon's Last Days the victor of 
Austerlitz is represented in sitting posture, a robe falling from his 
shoulders, on his knee a map of Europe, his hand resting on the country 
which owed to him her glory, and in his features an expression of 
unutterable despair. Near by are marble busts of the emperor, bronzes of 
Shakespeare and Milton, of Mars and Minerva, of the four seasons, and of 
countless other subjects and personages, real and mythical. Bearing the 
name of Gustave Dore and the date of 1877-8 is the last or one of the last 
productions of the great master, representing Bacchus, Cupids, and all the 
hosts of Pan sporting amid the shadows of leafy vines. There are also 
cabinets with decorations of chased bronze, chandeliers, candelabra, 
statuary, hall figures, vases, clocks, and articles of bric-a-brac, the 
property of royal households. 

As to silverware, it is claimed by the French that only by their 
artificers is reproduced by the 

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hand of man the handiwork of nature, through working from the inside of 
the piece and pressing on the outer side the figures fashioned by 
elaboration from approved designs. In a toilet set, for instance, 
containing twenty pieces and valued at $6,000, the smallest of these 
pieces was hammered into shape, and each one represents some natural 
object. Near to it is a coffee set of only three pieces worth, to the 
maker at least, $2,300, while of a third in plain silver, and with dull 
finish, the price is $2,600. In a banquet set of thirteen pieces the 
jardiniere is of solid silver, and in a stand for grapes the trays are 
modelled in imitation of lotus leaves. In two corner cabinets of oak, 
fashioned as receptacles for silverware, the enamelling of gold, silver, 
and cobalt was done by hand, and represents the work of an entire year. An 
ebony jewel cabinet of the renaissance pattern, also with gold and silver 
enamelling, supports a marble globe, around which curls a golden vine in 
tracery as delicate as frost work. The interior is finished in ivory, and 
on one of the drawers is an intricate design resembling a tablet, but 
which, on touching a secret spring, reveals a steel-lined safe. Twenty-
five thousand dollars is the price of this cunning piece of workmanship, 
together with a pair of lamp-stands in repousse work, finished in gold and 
gilt. The manufacture of jewelry is well represented, and in this, as in 
silverware, some of the foremost of Parisian firms have furnished an 
elaborate display. 

In ceramics there are excellent exhibits, including one intended to 
illustrate the reproduction of ancient forms, materials, and colors. In 
brick and tile work is an imitation of the famous pottery frieze of 
Persepolis, its columns and figures reduced to about one-fifth of their 
actual size, and yet large enough for a building of ordinary dimensions. 
Of vases, including one of the Alhambra pattern, there are many which even 
an expert cannot readily detect as copies. In china-ware France is seen at 
her best, as also in her display of mosaics, next to the collection of 
bronzes. 

In the line of furniture and upholstery there are exhibited some of the 
most elaborate articles of Parisian make, including Gobelin tapestries and 
the richest of drawing-room and other decorations, with sets and pieces of 
all descriptions, some of the smaller articles ranging in value from $1,
000 to $5,000. But in this section the most attractive feature is a 
reproduction of the antique furniture contained in the royal chateaux of 
the Bourbons. 

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In a corner of the pavilion opposite the clock tower is the display of 
laces and embroideries, as to the merits of which it need only be said 
that they are French. To produce a single exhibit in the form of a double 
pair of lace curtains, valued at $6.000, was the task of several hundred 
women, and of another pair of chrysanthemum design, the price is $1,500. 
For the decorative work of a parlor, fashioned in gold thread, and 
resembling that of a chamber in the castle of Rambouillet, is also 
demanded the sum of $6,000. Still another feature is the clothing 
department, where, attired in the latest Parisian costumes, are figures in 
wax representing a bridal scene, with the bride surrounded by her 
bridesmaids and receiving the finishing touches of her toilet. The 
clergyman is also there, the ushers and the audience, the best man and the 
groom awaiting his fiancee, who is about to set forth for church. 

In three compartments on the eastern gallery floor, above the French 
pavilion, with which they are connected by stairways, are the exhibits of 
silks and woolens, representing industries whose volume of production is 
little short of $200,000,000 a year. All these apartments are fashioned in 
imitation of royal salons, their walls hung with tapestries, their finish 
in cream color and gold, and the friezes decorated with floral garlands. 
In the display of silks are samples from more than forty factories, most 
of them from the looms of Lyons, and including fabrics varying in price 
from a few cents to $100 a yard. In one of the chambers is a collection of 
crapes and grenadines, gauzes, nets, and other delicate fabrics, largely 
the productions of Lyons, with her 150,000 weavers. Ecclesiastical 
vestments and decorations are the specialties of one of the exhibiting 
firms, its cases containing also prayer-books, whose text is woven in 
silk. By the union of reelers and throwsters, so-called, manufacturing 
processes are illustrated, and among their display is a gilded mulberry 
tree, 

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with cocoons hanging from its branches. Of plushes and velvets a Lyons 
firm has a rich assortment, and the ribbons of St. Etienne are so arranged 
as to resemble silken garments rather than accessories of the costume. 

Notable among the woolen groups is that of an industrial society of 
Rheims, including a complete display of domestic and foreign yarns, 
together with finished fabrics. In another collection are raw wools 
gathered from many lands and of many grades, from the finest to the 
coarsest, with dyed wools and yarns in a separate case, these forming the 
exhibits of a corporation known as the Anonymous society of wool-combers. 
Here is represented one of the great industrial organizations of the 
republic, with three establishments, a capital of $2,400,000, 2,500 
employees, and using among other raw material 350,000 fleeces of wool a 
week. Of cotton goods there are a few exhibits, and for children there is 
a chamber set apart, filled with dolls, dummies, and other figures 
fashioned in wax, wood, and metal. 

With its wealth of decoration in rich and costly tapestries, in paintings 
in oil and water colors, in statuary of bronze and marble, together with 
all the beautiful things that France has prepared for display, it is no 
wonder that the French section is one of the most attractive points in the 
hall of Manufactures and Liberal Arts. A token of the nation's interest in 
the Exposition is the group of statuary cast in bronze and placed by order 
of its government in the centre of the pavilion. In La France 
Republicaine, as the group is termed, a colossal personification of the 
republic is represented in sitting posture, her body girt with a cuirass, 
her right arm held 

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aloft, and in her left a drawn sword guarding a tablet on which are 
inscribed the rights of man. On the head is a diadem fashioned in figures 
symbolic of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and on the pedestal are 
reproduced in carvings the leading incidents of the revolution. 

To Germany was given as a place of honor one of the four sections 
surrounding the central court of the Manufactures building, the remaining 
three being allotted to Great Britain, France, and the United States. In 
this, as in other departments, Germany is seen at her best, and of the 
total of all her exhibits, six times as large and ten times more costly 
than those at the Centennial Exposition, representing every commercial and 
artistic product of her empire, a large proportion is contained in her 
pavilion fronting on Columbia avenue, built after the style of the German 
renaissance and with rich and tasteful decorative scheme. 

In a large rectangular space is reproduced the new German Reichstag, on 
the corners of which are towers surmounted by a dome, its apex in the form 
of the imperial crown, finished in burnished copper and overlaid with 
gold. In the statuary contained within are represented the foremost of 
German sculptors, their collections giving to it the appearance of an art 
repository. Among them are colossal statues of German emperors, and one in 
bronze representing Germania in the person of a female warrior, armor-clad 
and mounted on a richly caparisoned charger. In her right hand is the 
national flag, and in her left a shield, emblazoned with the imperial 
eagle. On one side is a youth with sword and laurel branch, grasping the 
bridle of the horse, and on the other the goddess of victory, proclaiming 
the glories of historic battlefields. 

Passing through wrought-iron gates of elaborate design, flanked with 
towers supported by columns of the Ionic order, and with decorated plinth 
upholding golden eagles, we come to a richly furnished chamber containing 
tokens of esteem and gratitude, and articles of presentation bestowed on 
those whom the nation loves to honor. Among them are addresses of welcome 
or congratulation, with more substantial gifts, to Wilhelm I, Friedrich 
III, and Wilhelm II, to Bismarck, Von Moltke, and the grand duke of Baden. 
There are also costly works of art, including prizes awarded by the 
present emperor to yacht clubs and in other fields of sport, with cups, 
caskets, bronzes, clocks, and articles of virtu illustrating the progress 
of industry and art as applied to such purposes. 

Adjacent to this section are the exhibits of gold and silver ware, 
jewelry, and ornaments, clocks and watches, and ceramic art, the last 
including the display of the royal porcelain factory. Prominent among 
these groups is the collective exhibit of the jewelry and precious metal 
industries of Hanau, Pforzheim, and other German centres of these branches 
of manufacture. In this collection are some fifty exhibitors, and among 
their varied assortments it would be difficult to mention any article 
pertaining to the craft that is not here on exposition. To name them 
merely, together with those contained in the adjoining groups, would 
almost fill a chapter of my work. Suffice it here to say that they form a 
complete and most valuable illustration of a line of industry which, in 

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the little Baden town of Pforzheim alone, gives work to ten thousand 
artisans, with an output of $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 a year. 

As a background to these exhibits is a portico with pillars of porcelain, 
and a huge allegorical painting on porcelain tiles, representing Germania 
surrounded by men who have won for themselves a name in the world of art. 
The central figure is of heroic size, and from her pedestal of fleecy 
clouds pronouncing a benediction upon the assembled group. In the 
foreground is Father Rhine, and above him the sculptor Peter Vischer and 
the artists, Hans Holbein, Albert Durer, and Burgmaier. Elsewhere are 
figures typical of commerce, industries, and art, with those of Guttenberg 
and of Gerhard von Rhiel, by whom were designed the lofty spires of the 
cathedral of Cologne, which forms the background of the picture. On either 
side are reproduced in a plaque of porcelain the weapons of medieval 
warfare bound in peaceful companionship by ribbons of silk. Curious are 
the twisted Saracen pillars that support the roof of the portico, to which 
there is access from stairways with wrought-iron balustrades. A bathroom 
is furnished in porcelain work of purest white, and in a dining-room the 
table is spread with porcelain work of choicest pattern. An alcove has for 
centre piece a mirror with porcelain frame of cunning workmanship, and 
above which is a plaque of Friedrich III, and in another alcove is a 
mantelpiece, with sides in the shape of human figures, and above them 
cupids upholding a medallion. On the tile paintings which partially 
inclose these alcoves Cupid appears in the role of a professor, teaching 
the birds of the air to sing and the beasts of the field to dance. There 
are also life-sized fowl and feathered songsters, and overlooking the 
entire scene is a donkey gazing with the solemn stare that only a donkey 
can assume. 

Worthy of mention is the wrought-iron fence which guards this section of 
the German exhibit, 160 feet long, 40 feet high and 22 in width, its gates 
alone with posts and top-piece weighing more than twenty tons. In the 
central gate, its massive iron bars are filled in with delicate tracery 
work, and on the top is a basket of flowers resembling, except as to 
color, those made of wax. The decorations suggest rather the work of a 
goldsmith than such as was fashioned by hammer and anvil; yet all were 
made by hand, forming a six months' task for several score of the most 
skillful artisans of Frankfort-on-the-Main. 

A centre of attraction is the Bavarian pavilion fronting on Columbia 
avenue, and forming an integral portion of the German display. It is a 
temple-like structure, with arched central portico, and roof, cornice, and 
frieze richly adorned with statuary and bas-reliefs. In the interior are 
reproduced a German dining-room of the renaissance period, an imperial 
boudoir, and the presentation room already mentioned. In the first of 
these apartments the ceiling is quaintly panelled and the walls draped 
with dark velvet tapestry, relieved by vertical sections of richly 
embroidered cloth in brighter hues. Among its furniture is a colossal 
sideboard with glass-ware of 

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rainbow pattern; on a centre table of antique fashion is a beer tankard 
three feet high, and a hand-made jewelry box of iron, while the chairs are 
such as the kaisers might have used three centuries ago. The other 
chambers are furnished in lighter style, and especially the boudoir, the 
furniture of which, once the property of Ludwig II, came from a castle in 
the Bavarian Alps, and is so richly gilded as to resemble solid gold. The 
walls are hung with tapestry of blue velvet, heavy with floral designs in 
gold, and among the mirrors is one made up of forty smaller pieces in the 
rococo fashion of the sixteenth century. 

In this pavilion also, as indicated by an inscription on the architecture, 
is a portion of the exhibits of the Bavarian art industry association, the 
remainder of which are contained in stalls or booths representing the 
various eras and phases of German life. Among them is a hunters' room of 
olden style, its walls adorned with antlers and stuffed birds, with shells 
containing the quaintest of tankards and beer-mugs, and in the centre a 
heavy oaken table and leather-seated chairs. Another apartment, 
illustrating the substantial luxury of the German renaissance period, is a 
dining-room, with oaken sideboards, cabinets, chairs, and tables of 
elaborate carving and design, with bronze busts and tall old-fashioned 
clocks, curtains of richly embroidered velvet, and wainscoting of gilded 
leather. 

Passing these southward we come to a collection of stoves and cooking 
ranges, the first including specimens in decorated porcelain and 
earthenware, ten feet or more in height and with folding doors in the 
grate. Near them is a display of bronzes, and of embossed leather work, 
raised, colored, figured, and gilded by hand, with a tanned ox hide, from 
which the hair and horns have not been removed, indicating the principal 
material of which these articles are fashioned. 

In the cutlery booths a single exhibitor has forty feet of show-cases 
containing every class of goods, from pocket knives to surgical 
instruments. In front of one of these cases is a pair of so-called ladies' 
scissors, six feet long and weighing the tenth part of a ton, with blades 
of mirror-like brightness and handles beautifully chased. There are also 
carving and other knives and forks of Brobdingnagian dimensions, 
contrasting somewhat strangely with articles intended for actual use. 
Adjacent to these are the collective exhibits of the German Engravers' 
Union, prominent among which is that of Prince Stollberg's works in the 
Hartz mountains, including breast-plates, helmets, shields, battle-axes, 
swords, and spears, such as were worn or wielded in by-gone centuries by 
German men-at-arms. 

Among the minor exhibits is one representing a steamer at sea, wrought 
entirely of needles so skillfully arranged as to resemble the sheen of 
ocean. By a Munich toy factory is displayed a huge Santa Claus wagon, with 
children grouped among its contents, and above all a figure of Santa 
Claus. Seated in front is a young girl driving a stuffed horse, and at the 
side is a St. Bernard dog. In a glass kiosk adjacent is a collection of 
toys representing in miniature all articles of daily use. A banqueting 
board, for instance, two feet long, is furnished forth for a score of 
guests, with the usual table ware, and with candelabra, wine glasses, and 
bottles of wine. Dolls there are in endless array, a toy kitchen and a toy 
stable with horses and hostler, and other exhibits from Thuringia 
factories. From the industrial museum at Nuremburg is a collection of 
scientific toys, including battleships three feet long, manned, armed, and 
equipped, with tiny ocean-going steamers, steam-engines, and electrical 
machinery. By Nuremburg firms is also displayed an assortment of drawing 
materials, mirrors, and other wares among their toy exhibits, inclosed in 
a large panoramic painting of that ancient burgh. 

In Germany the origin of ceramic arts is almost as ancient as her empire, 
and in her samples at the Fair are all descriptions of workmanship, from 
the crudest efforts of by-gone ages to the most finished products of the 
present day. There are few German industries of more importance than those 
represented by her glassware and potteries, and none perhaps to which she 
points with a more becoming pride. 

Among the exhibits of metallic wares is one of hammered copper goods, 
including crucifixes, chandeliers, and vases, some of them fashioned by 
hand out of a single piece of copper. By the manufactures of the iron 
gates, already noted, is displayed a large collection of specimens 
hammered out of iron by hand work and

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among these groups are illustrated the results of patent processes for the 
enamelling of iron goods with such perfect finish as to resemble 
porcelains and china-ware. Among them are flower-stands, inkstands, vases, 
shields, consol and card-tables, and numerous articles for table use. 

In textiles Germany is well represented, with individual exhibits so 
combined that a single group may contain the choicest products of a score 
of factories. In one of the windows, for instance, a number of firms unite 
in displaying all the processes of silk manufacture, from the cocoon to 
the completed fabric. Side by side with dress goods and trimmings are 
silks prepared for upholstery use, for neckwear, umbrellas, and parasols, 
all these from the mills of a single town. Another town makes a specialty 
of laces and embroideries, and a third has an assortment of knit goods in 
woolen, silk, and cotton. Still another excels in lace curtains, which are 
displayed on the surrounding walls in most elaborate designs. From a state 
institution at Schneeberg comes an assortment of hand-made laces; from 
Reichenau a choice display of woolens, and from Glauchau of the women's 
dress goods produced by the mills of Saxony. 

Adjacent to the German section is the Austrian pavilion, and passing 
between its massive pillars and beneath an arch surmounted by the national 
Eagles, attention is first attracted by the life-size portrait of Emperor 
Francis Joseph, woven in cotton and silk by the power loom. This is said 
to be the first work of the kind executed by machinery, and comes from a 
Vienna factory. A photograph was first enlarged on a scale of more than 
fifty to one, the image being reflected on a linen sheet. The outlines 
made from this served as the foundation for the likeness, which was 
reproduced on one hundred sheets, composed of nearly 20,000 cards, and the 
cotton and silken threads of the design drawn through millions of holes 

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punctured on the surface. An entire year was required for this task, and 
no wonder that the delicate lines and shadings of the finished portrait 
aroused the admiration of the emperor, to whom it was presented. With his 
permission it was placed on exhibition in the Austrian section as one of 
the triumphs of textile manufacture. 

As in the German section and the German village on the plaisance, so in 
the Austrian pavilion, one of the most attractive exhibits is that of art 
metal work, especially of vases, plaques, ancient armor, and imitations of 
ancient handiwork. A fine display of bronzes is made by Camerden and 
Forster, agents in New York for the manufactures. From time immemorial the 
Germanic races have excelled in this line of manufacture, giving to their 
wares a beauty and finish which is not found among those of southern 
artificers. 

But the gem of the Austrian section is the exhibit of Bohemian porcelains 
and glassware. It was at first intended to establish temporary works in 
the Midway plaisance, where could be shown all the processes of 
manufacture; but for some reason this project was abandoned, and we see 
only the results. No mere factory, however, could explain how for many 
ages this industry has descended from father to son, each generation 
patiently striving to improve on the workmanship of its predecessor. The 
display is therefore the illustrative and collective result of centuries 
of individual endeavor. All the famous factories of Bohemia have 
contributed to the exhibit of glassware, which is placed, as it should be, 
in the foreground. As a centrepiece is the tall vase, fashioned in 
imitation of onyx, and loaned for the occasion by Emperor Joseph. Side by 
side are huge punch-bowls and tiny glasses, ornamented with arabesque 
designs, and softly tinted with the hues of wax or pearl. There are entire 
services of porcelain ware, adorned with flowers and wreaths in gold and 
light blue; there are beautiful statues of clay so manufactured as to 
resemble ivory, and as a contrast 

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rose-colored pieces of Pompeiian glassware. 

Around a huge jardiniere is a group of decorated porcelain, in royal blue 
and gold, and near by are two revolving urns, towering above the head of 
the tallest visitor. The last are from Carlsbad, the free city of Bohemia, 
and the paintings wrought by hand upon their sides bespeak a love of 
freedom, representing, as they do, the signing of the magna charta and the 
declaration of independence, the taking of the Bastille, and the abolition 
of slavery. Vienna contributes the most varied assortment of fancy 
articles, together with a large collection of jewelry and gold and silver 
ware, while the entire monarchy may be said to have an interest in the 
model room, under the gallery, royally furnished and decorated. By mural 
paintings and shrubbery plants the background is made to represent a 
conservatory opening from a beautifully frescoed chamber. The gilded, 

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heavy furniture is upholstered in rich Gobelin tapestry, and included a 
grand piano in ivory and gold, and a huge Moorish clock with fret-work of 
cunning design. 

In the line of leather goods are tables, chairs, and other furniture made 
of pressed leather, wall decorations and specimens of book-binding, 
ancient and modern. A treasure guarded with jealous care is a bible bound 
in silver, its covers hand-carved and inlaid with gold and on the front a 
vine traced in topaz. 

To the Belgian section was accorded a site adjacent to the French 
pavilion, in recognition of the close geographic and commercial relations 
of the two countries. Here we have the nearest approach to a purely 
national display contained in the hall of Manufactures, for the entire 
enterprise was organized by chambers of commerce among such cities as 
Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, and other centres of commercial and 
industrial activity. From each of these bodies members were selected by 
the king, forming together the Superior Council of Industry, whose special 
duty it was to see to the choice and preparation of the various 
collections. The result is a well considered, well proportioned, and 
skillfully arranged exhibit. 

The pavilion, which is of itself a product of native skill and taste, was 
fashioned by Belgian workmen before being shipped in sections to Chicago. 
It is of the same height as the French structure, and its lofty central 
portal, draped with rich garnet portieres, forms a sightly entrance way. 
Within is a bronze statue of Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Gaef, one of the 
foremost sculptors of Bruges, more than seven feet high and cast in a 
single piece, on its left a bronze urn, and on its right a dainty 
statuette representing Innocence Tormented by Love. 

First among the exhibits are the finest of Belgian laces, including 
Valenciennes, Venetian point, Venetian guipure, duchesse, and Mechline. 
Near them are the daintiest of shawls and bridal veils, one of the latter 
made of round point lace, fifteen feet long and a dozen in width, being 
valued at $7,000, while for a lace shawl with very few feet of its 
precious surface twice that sum is demanded. Other textiles of more 
substantial character, as linens, cottons, and dress goods, though forming 
an excellent display, attract but little attention as compared with their 
costly environment. 

Ceramic wares, in the form of vases, porcelain sets, and glassware, cut, 
etched, engraved, and stained, fill other portions of the pavilion. 
Deserving of special mention is the fine display of porcelains, tableware, 
tiles, and mural decorations by a La Louviere firm. The exhibits of 
marbles is also worthy of note, including, among other pieces, a handsome 
staircase and fireplace, into which are worked eight different native 
varieties. 

Liege has long been recognized as one of the great centres for the 
manufacture of small arms, both for military and sportsmen's use, its 
collection forming a prominent feature in the Belgian section. One of the 
largest establishments has a collection not only of guns, but of 
unfinished weldings, with a view to illustrate the methods of 
manufacturing 

Page 209

Damascus and twist barrels. But to enumerate all the branches of 
manufacture represented in the 45,000 square feet allotted to the Belgian 
department would be an endless task. Prominent among them are the 
draperies, decorative panels, and paintings, and other applications of art 
to household use. A suggestive feature also is the exhibit of soft felt 
hats and sombreros, of which many millions are imported by the United 
States and Latin America. 

The vast empire of all the Russias, occupying nearly one-fifth of the land 
surface of the earth, is represented in the hall of Manufactures by some 
40,000 square feet of exhibiting space, or about one square inch to every 
two square miles of her territory. The exhibits are arranged as they 
should be, with a view to illustrate all the phases of national life, 
representing not only the luxury and civilization, but the suffering and 
semi-savagery of the empire. Thus it is with a realizing sense of the 
vastness of her dominion that we enter, for instance, the Asiatic room, 
and here compare the fabrics of Persia and Turkestan, of Khiva, Bokhara, 
and southwestern Siberia. Other sections, including those which are 
subject to the empire and those which she is striving to render subject, 
contribute to what is known as the Central Asiatic exhibition, which was 
also displayed at a former exposition held in the city of Moscow. 

The pavilion is of the ecclesiastic style of Russian seventeenth century 
architecture, with the principal entrance at the corner, in the form of a 
lofty arch surmounted by a tower, and with a smaller doorway in the centre 
of its facade, fronting on Columbia avenue. Near the main portal are two 
vases of red jasper, forwarded by the royal museum, and which it would be 
extremely difficult to duplicate, while the copies, in lapis-lazuli and 
malachite, of others in the royal palace at St. Petersburg cannot be 
readily detected from the originals. Other vases and urns of most 
intricate workmanship are contained in this collection, with statuary and 
mantelpieces, fashioned of porphyry, obsidian, jasper, malachite, and 
various ornamental stones, aglow with nature's richest hues. 

In the bronze collections, more than in any other are illustrated the 
extremes of Russian life, one group being devoted to the army and the 
government, which are virtually the same, and another to the lowly and 
suffering peasantry. In this exhibit are many pieces by the sculptor 
Lanceret, whose recent death was a loss to the empire and to art. In 
addition to these works are allegorical figures and statuettes in solid 
silver, one of them, mounted on red jasper, representing Alexander 
bestowing freedom on the serfs, and rescuing Bulgaria from the grasp of 
Turkey. 

Silverware is displayed in many rich and attractive forms, much of it 
belonging to the imperial household. The enamelled variety indicates the 
revival of an ancient process of manufacture, which is gradually being 
extended to other countries. Some of the pieces seem almost transparent, 
so delicate is the material used, the designs being added by pouring 
melted enamel into the ornamental figures. The skill required to perform 
this operation and the danger of destroying an entire piece by a single 
mistake gives to these wares their high marketable value. 

Russian furs, which form a most important article of commerce, are 
displayed in every conceivable class and form. There are stuffed animals, 
skins, and robes, with costly garments composed wholly or in part of furs, 
such as are worn by the highest officials, and by the titled dames of St. 
Petersburg and Moscow. Garments also may be seen such as the Siberian 
huntsmen wear when in chase of the bear, the sable, the otter or the seal. 
Among other exhibits are many which tend to reveal the more luxurious 
phases of Russian life. Furniture is shown, made of native woods, 
artistically carved and ornamented, with the choicest of Russian silks and 
rich sacerdotal vestments, worked with gold and silver thread upon silken 
textures. In the more homely groups of cotton and woolen goods, the 
display is also creditable, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Piotrkov being 
well represented in these branches. In a word, except for leather goods, 
the crude metals, and a few other items, the Russian exhibit is almost a 
reproduction on a smaller scale of the great fair which for centuries has 
been held at Nijni Novgorod. 

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Norway's exhibits are for the most part divided between the Manufactures 
and Fisheries buildings, but with several in each of these departments 
which are officially classified with others. The Agricultural division, 
for instance, including food and its accessories, related machinery, and 
forest products, is represented in the hall of Manufactures by the 
displays of milk-condensing companies, of makers of liqueurs, wines, and 
malt liqueurs, and of the products of wood pulp mills. Various farming 
implements are shown, and an ingenious milking apparatus operated by a 
suction pump. The exhibit of timber for house-building purposes is mainly 
confined to the pavilion itself, which is constructed of Norway pine, and 
whose facade contains some excellent specimens of native carving in 

Page 211

wood. With the exception of a few designs in simple colors at the main 
entrance, the pavilion is untouched by paint or oil, and though somewhat 
overshadowed by the loftier structure of Russia, shows to excellent 
advantage the natural beauties of Norway pine. 

An attractive feature is the collection of Norwegian birds and beasts, 
including stuffed water-fowl, polar bears and deer, mounted on stands, in 
cases, or suspended from the walls. Norwegian granites and marbles are 
displayed in the form of polished columns, fireplaces, slabs for 
wainscoting, paper weights, and smaller articles. In the centre of the 
court is a tall monument, each panel representing a different variety of 
marble, the quarrying of which is a comparatively new industry in Norway. 
At the back of the pavilion is an exhibit of a national character, 
prepared by the Norwegian Home Industrial society, and by several private 
firms which make and export the costumes characteristic of the country. 
Here may be seen, attired in their usual garb, the Norwegian wife and 
maid, the peasant and hunter, with birds and animals on every side, and 
with large photographs scattered throughout the apartment, adding to the 
realism of the display. 

To the tourist and sportsman an interesting feature is the quaint 
collection of snow-shoes, skates, sleds, and carriages; nor should we omit 
the models of locomotives, railway-cars, and steamers. One of the railway-
cars is so constructed that its wheels are adjustable to tracks of various 
widths. There are also models of the tourist steamers Venus and Mercury, 
which travelers in picturesque Norway will doubtless recognize. The snow-
shoes are of all patterns, from simple strips of wood with a strap in the 
centre, to such as are delicately inlaid with mother of pearl, while the 
skates vary in style from wooden articles with heavy steel runners which 
turn up at the toe to those of modern make, fashioned of aluminum, and 
with the lightest of blades. 

The industrial products of the peasantry are illustrated by choice 
specimens of embroidery and needlework, and by ingenious wood-carvings in 
the form of boxes, card-receivers, photograph-cases, paper-knives, spoons, 
and tankards for wine and beer. Elsewhere in the exhibits of wood and 
metal work the convivial habits of the Vikings and their descendants are 
brought into prominent notice. Among them are ancient wine-horns, 
ornamented with silver, which, on festive occasions, the guests were 
expected to empty a prodigious number of times. Native smiths have also 
reproduced in silver the massive cups of earlier days, while among 
originals is a tankard of 1683, and a wine-cup of 1790. Another relic, 
more admired than any is a crown of silver, made in the 

Page 213

seventeenth century, and worn by the brides of several generations 
descended from a prosperous peasant's family. A dozen Norwegian 
manufactures send their contributions of antique Scandinavian silverware 
and ornaments, filigree and enamel work, the exhibits of gold and 
silverware, jewelry, and other articles of personal decoration, forming 
one of the strongest features in the Norwegian section. 

On the other side of Columbia avenue are the Danish and Swiss pavilions, 
of which the former is recognized by its lofty towers and its coats of 
arms. On either side of the main entrance are bronze statues of 
Thorwaldsen and Hans Christian Andersen, near which are collections of 
personal relics commemorative of their national characters. In fact, the 
room is substantially reproduced in which the charming writer of fairy and 
other tales lived and labored for so many years. His writing desk, 
inkstand, pens, fire screen made of newspaper clippings, clock, 
spectacles, pictures, sofa, and several original manuscripts are placed as 
he loved to see them when in the flesh, bringing his personality home to 
us as never before. The entire collection was loaned by the royal museum 
of Copenhagen, which also permits the visitor to linger over many curios 
illustrating the career of the great sculptor. He is was who built the 
museum itself, which is here reproduced in miniature, together with most 
of his works of art which grace it. Side by side with the model is a case 
containing the hat which he wore at his triumphal entry into Copenhagen in 
1838, together with the medal of the order of knighthood conferred by the 
king, his favorite pipe, cigar cases, match boxes, autograph letters and 
sculptor's tools. 

The Erikson room, dedicated to the memory of the bold voyager for whom has 
been claimed the discovery of America, contains rude sketches believed to 
refer to these pre-Columbian voyages. Its furniture is a reproduction of 
that which is used in Iceland at the present time. Upon the outer walls of 
the pavilion are also pictures illustrating those stirring times in the 
northern seas, one of them representing a Danish fleet crossing the North 
sea in 860, another some primitive craft touching in 980 at a foreign 
shore, perhaps that of Rhode Island or Massachusetts. 

The main exhibits are divided into four classes, and passing through the 
chief entrance, we come first to the display of gold and silver, 
introduced by the equestrian statue of King Christian, mounted on the 
charger which for many years he rode on public occasions in Copenhagen. It 
is made of silver, the work being modelled from a photograph by Heinrich 
Hansen. Rosenberg castle, the King's summer residence, built early in the 
seventeenth century, is shown in a model of gold and silver consisting of 
1,700 separate pieces. The principal manufacturers of gold and silverware 
also make creditable display of ancient work, either as originals or 
imitations. 

Prominent among the ceramic wares are those of the royal porcelain factory 
of Copenhagen, occupying the centre of the pavilion. Among its exhibits is 
a service, in rococo style, each of its pieces with landscape decorations 
by a Danish artist, and representing in all the labor of many years. Of 
works of art in underglaze there are not a few by prominent members of the 
royal academy. 

Elsewhere in the Danish pavilion are figures and vases in terra cotta, 
with furniture of oak and walnut, wall-hangings in silk and figured 
leather. Dainty embroideries, laces, and articles of domestic decoration 
represent the women of Denmark, and the exhibition of the Danish Sloyd 
association illustrates the system of manual training in the form of 
industrial school, with specimens of printing and book-binding presented 
by leading publishers. 

Page 214

Entering the dark colored Swiss pavilion, beneath the arch which bears the 
national cross of red, the visitor finds himself surrounded by colored 
crayon pictures of the castle of Chillon, Jungfrau, Mont Blanc, Geneva, 
Lucerne, the Bernese Alps, and other romantic scenery, which serves for a 
time to draw his attention from the lower planes of industries. Soon, 
however, he observes that watches and watch-making occupy much of the 
space, Geneva, of course, making the strongest exhibit. Several of the 
firms not only display time-pieces, but every portion of their mechanism, 
an entire family of watch-makers showing how the different parts of the 
watch are distributed among the cottagers to be finally put together at 
the factory. 

Wood carving is also one of the most prominent industries of Switzerland, 
where the gables of their houses, the framework of their doors and 
windows, and the interiors of their residences are rich with sculptured 
ornamentations. The natural taste and skill in this direction, developed 
by many centuries of practice and by the efforts of industrial societies, 
is now the source of a good revenue, many large firms exporting such 
articles of virtu to European and foreign lands. Forty of these houses 
make exhibitions in the Swiss section, and about twice that number of 
watch-makers and manufactures of scientific instruments and music-boxes. 

At the main entrance of the Italian pavilion, with its dress of cream and 
gold, is a bronze statue of a lion and his prey, flanked by the famous 
group of "The Wrestlers," and near by a figure of Augustus Caesar, and 
tile paintings by Achille Mollica. Throughout this section statuary is 
scattered in lavish profusion, and the life-like beauty of the creations 
in pure marble is further enhanced by the hangings of heavy velvet which 
form the chief accessories to the exhibits themselves. Among them is a 
Psyche from the studio of Rossa, and images of Rebecca, Esther, and 
Margherita by one of the few real artists who are also dealers in works of 
art. Columbus, bent and feeble, is taking his last view of land, and in a 
somewhat daring combination of marble and bronze is the figure of a female 
slave, the head, arms, and feet of metal, and the drapery of two varieties 
of marble so artistically blended that they appear to be cut from a single 
block. Worthy of note also are those which depict the eager fresh delight 
of a group of children, for the first time absorbed in the marvels of the 
stage, in contrast with which are the figures of a little girl, first with 
a live bird in her hand and then with its body, the face and attitude 
symbolic of joy and sorrow. 

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In the northern portion of the pavilion are the wooden carvings, not a few 
of them second only to those in marble. On a large panel of Italian 
walnut, for instance, are groups of cupids, flowers, and birds of most 
artistic execution. The famous carvings are massive and handsomely 
decorated sideboards, cabinets, settees and mantels. Among others worthy 
of note are the decorative carvings and figure delineations of Francesco 
Toso, of Venice, whose death occurred in Chicago while earnestly striving 
to make the entire exhibit worthy of Italian art and workmanship. Toso was 
partial to dark-hued woods, and his negroes in ebony will not be soon 
forgotten; neither will his cupids, having as background garlands of 
flowers. His masterpiece, however, consists of the figures of Marguerite 
and Mephistopheles, carved from opposite sides of the same block of wood, 
their life-like forms reflected in a mirror, so that they seem to be 
walking together. Other carvings from wood are in the shape of guitar 
players, gondoliers, punchinellos, etc., illustrative of the gay and 
grotesque. Still another group represents a score of old-time Italian 
servants, and there are several specimens in which the wood is so stained 
as to resemble bronze. 

Glassware, ceramics, mosaics, inlaid work, and cameos are represented in 
forms for which Italy has ever been famous. The majolica ware of Naples, 
the Byzantine mosaics, the Venetian glass, and furniture of all designs 
inlaid with ivory, are liberally displayed. Of choicest texture and 
tracery are the Venetian laces, the manufacture of which, under the 
patronage of the queen, has within recent years, revived a long dormant 
industry. In the case which contains the cameos is a royal shell with over 
fifty figures carved upon it, among them members of the royal family of 
England. Coral jewelry, embossed leather work, carvings in tortoise shell, 
and bronzes reproducing many famous pieces of statuary, with replicas of 
Pompeiian utensils and ornaments, are among the attractions over which the 
fair pilgrim is apt to linger. 

Adjacent to the Italian division, and in the southwestern corner of the 
Manufactures building, are the sections allotted to Spain and certain of 
her old-time dependencies. The Spanish pavilion, with its gloomy arches, 
its massive pillars, its pink ceilings and richly fretted ornamentations, 
is an impressive structure, reproducing some of the more salient features 
of the cathedral of Cordova. A collection of religious images, tall 
candelabra and embroidered tapestries in which are recognized the features 
of the pope and the queen-regent of Spain, further tend to create an 
atmosphere of church and state. At one of the entrances is a court 
inclosed with rich specimens of stained glass and mosaics, with a 
background of gilded moldings. 

Barcelona plays an important part with her exhibits of glass and mosaic 
work, of rugs and blankets, and other manufactured products of that 
historic city, still one of the industrial centres of Spain, especially in 
the production of textile fabrics. Here was held in 1892 an exposition of 
industrial arts, designed principally to illustrate the technical skill of 
Spanish working-men, and the best of the exhibits there collected were 
forwarded to the World's Fair, forming the bulk of the display in the 
Spanish section. There are silks of antique pattern, swords, ceramic wares 
and tiles, carvings in metal, chemical soaps, cordage, and a small 
collection of Spanish books. One of the most monumental works contributed 
by the editors and publishers of Spain is the Spanish and South-American 
directory. There are also some unique bindings in leather, metal, and 
wood. Of special interest to women are the point d'Alencon, Chantilly and 
other laces, and the photograph of the infanta Eulalia, taken in Barcelona 
many years ago. 

The small area originally granted to Portugal was transferred to Italy; 
but in the exhibits of her former New World empire of Brazil, as also in 
those of the Argentine republic, a portion of the ancient Spanish vice-
royalty of Buenos Aires, we have sufficient evidence that primitive 
systems of 

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manufacture are being rapidly superseded by modern methods and machinery. 

In connection with the Brazilian section, it may here be mentioned that 
her appropriation of $600,000 exceeded, with one or two exceptions, that 
of any European power, and that this amount has been well expended is 
nowhere more apparent than in her department of manufactures. Here in 
truth is one of the surprises in which the Exposition abounds; for by 
many, even of the more cultured class of visitors, men well informed as to 
the agricultural and mineral wealth of the young republic, little was 
expected in this direction except for a slender display of textile 
fabrics, the fashioning of basket work and of household utensils from clay 
and cocoanut shells, with preparations of tapioca, manioc, chocolate, dye-
stuffs, and india-rubber, with perhaps a few hammocks of fine material and 
workmanship; for to Brazilian Indians is attributed by some the invention 
of these articles of modern comfort. But entering this section, the first 
thing noticed is a choice collection of ceramics, mosaics and wall-papers 
from Rio Janeiro, and the states of St. Paulo and Bahia, with saddles 
richly embroidered in gold and velvet, with inlaid wood-work, and massive 
ebony furniture. The Columbian era is illustrated in the manufactures 
division. Government is represented by the guns and models of cannon sent 
from the naval arsenal at Pernambuco, and by the uniformed dummies of 
officers, musicians, and privates. 

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The display of the Argentine republic serves also to counteract the 
prevailing idea that for the most part it is a country of pampas Indians, 
who scour the plains in search of cattle and ostriches, ever on the look-
out for scattered settlements and wandering settlers. True, in her fine 
art gallery, installed in this section, is a painting which represents a 
foray of savages upon a defenseless village; but such scenes are merely 
incidental, as are those in which the leading roles are played by gauchos 
or half-breeds of Spanish and Indian blood, who tend cattle, capture wild 
horses, protect the frontiers, and wage constant war against the savages 
of the pampas. 

But although long Indian spears and bolas or lassos with iron balls at the 
ends play a small part in the Argentine exhibits, they are merely 
accessories to the real display of modern industrial life. All the world 
knows that the republic stands well in primary manufactures of leather, 
hair, wool, and meats; but here are also paintings of no small merit, with 
mosaics, bronze figures, delicate wines, liqueurs, chemicals, perfumes, 
billiard tables, and other articles which show that the Argentinians are 
not merely an agricultural and pastoral nation. A form of industry, which 
is neatly represented and is quietly developing into considerable 
importance is the manufacture of oils from peanuts, grapes, and flaxseed, 
the last in the form of what is commonly know as linseed oil. The country 
is well adapted to the raising of grapes and barley, and the influence of 
the Italian, French, Spanish, English, and German elements is seen in the 
rapidly increasing production of wine and beer, as is fully illustrated in 
these exhibits. Concentrating her exhibits in this section, the republic 
also presents specimens of government printing in the way of bank notes 
and postage stamps, a large frame near by containing the title pages of 
various literary and musical works issued by publishing houses within 
recent years. Here also are cases filled with the fancy work made by 
orphans under the care of the state and the religious orders. 

In Mexico's division is fairly represented her industrial progress within 
recent years, now that the successive administrations of President Diaz 
have put an end to revolutions, or predatory raids in guise of revolution, 
which followed the acquisition of independence. Her section is enclosed by 
a glass partition, on one side of which are specimens of wood carving from 
old Spanish churches, most of them representing sixteenth century art. On 
the opposite side are several pieces of primitive artillery, such as were 
used in the days of Cortes, side by side with models of some of the last 
pieces of ordnance cast at the national foundry, and among other historic 
articles near by is one of the swords of Cortes. In a small picture 
gallery are portraits representing the military and civic leaders to whom 
the republic has accorded places of honor. 

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The display of manufactures consists mainly of pottery, bronze, onyx, 
artificial flowers, and textile wares, including, among others, cordage 
and hammocks fashioned of heniquen fibre, the sisal of modern commerce. 
Specimens of bronze work and cotton goods of native manufacture represent 
two of the new industries of the southern portion of the republic. The 
clay pottery and the artificial flowers are largely the handiwork of the 
Mexican Indian, who is a deft, though untrained modeller, and possesses in 
an eminent degree the faculty of imitation. So also with the groups of 
onyx, whether in slabs or fashioned into such articles as scarf and shawl-
pins, watch-charms, paper-weights, and plaques for the decoration of 
walls, on the last of which are painted figures typical of Mexican life. 
Of embroideries, laces, and other delicate fabrics there is a collection 
which will not suffer by comparison with those of European make. 

Somewhat in contrast are the exhibits of Turkey and Bulgaria, the former 
consisting of a single display of oriental rugs, while the latter has 
furnished well selected specimens, not only of her manufactures, but of 
her 

Page 219

agriculture and her national costumes, those of the peasantry in their gay 
attire, and those of her soldiery and civic officials. Of wheat in the 
sheaf and in the kernel, of barley, sesame, and other food-plants there 
are many fine samples in her neat pavilion. Here also are attar of roses, 
wines, tobacco, silk, and hand-made textiles, including an embroidered 
carpet with 500 square feet in area, and in a single piece, while finely 
wrought harness and wood carvings, with the tall candles made for 
cathedrals and religious ceremonials, and a hundred other articles 
illustrate some form of industry or national life. 

South of the Ceylonese section is the toy-like pavilion of Korea, for even 
the so-called hermit kingdom, though yet secluding herself from the 
influences of western civilization, has sent commissioners and an exhibit 
to the World's Fair. Of these commissioners in their flowing silken robes 
and tall Korean hats, one is the minister to the United States, resident 
in Washington, and another the secretary of the American legation at Scoul 
[Seoul] or Seyool, the capital of the Kingdom. It was to the latter that 
the king intrusted the twenty-five or more tons of exhibits, most of them 
taken from the royal palace, which illustrate the customs and industries 
of this strange and isolated nation, whose monarch, ministers, and people 
have probably more confidence in the United States than they have in any 
of the foreign powers. The collection includes a variety of silken 
garments especially made for the queen's ladies, and embroidered screens, 
mats and hangings give the visitor an idea of the interior decoration of 
the palace. A sedan chair, such as is used by the nobles, is not unlike 
some of those in the Midway plaisance, but provided with a wheel about 
four feet in diameter, over which is a seat. Except on level ground, 
however, the chair is borne on the shoulders of servants, six at each end. 
There are also specimens of the paper manufactured by the Koreans, varying 
in grade from the tough substance used to carpet floors and roof houses to 
that which is as fine and glossy as silk. The Koreans are extremely 
jealous as to the secret processes by which they produce these fabrics. 
They claim, moreover, to have taught the Japanese what they know of the 
manufacture of pottery, or rather that their southern neighbors have 
forcibly carried away their artisans and their secrets. Among the most 
interesting of the curios are specimens of the ancient pottery, known as 
Satsuma ware, the manufacture of which is now a lost art. The pieces still 
possessed by the nation are priceless treasures, kept as heirlooms from 
one generation to another. A bowl, belonging to the king, and more than 
500 years old, is of a greenish color, delicate texture, and richly 
polished and decorated on the outside. Korea also presents an exhibit of 
her medicines, and is especially proud of the ginseng root, said to be 
worth almost its weight in gold, and especially esteemed by the Chinese as 
a curative for disorders arising from the use of polluted water. The 
curing of tiger skins in which the natives are experts, also forms a 
considerable source of industrial revenue. Of minerals and metals there is 
a large collection, and among miscellaneous articles are carpenters' 
tools, cabinets, lacquer-work, tobacco-boxes, vessels of brass and 
pottery, grains, nuts, seeds, kite-reels, chess-boards, candle-sticks, 
hairpins, and entire suits of clothing for men and women, showing the 
national dress of the common people, and of those of high degree. An 
interesting feature is a group of brass cannon made in the tenth century, 
about the size of a small howitzer, but with barrels wrought in modern 
style. 

Between the Argentinian and Mexican exhibits is the richly carved, gilded, 
and colored pavilion in which were housed, at the Paris Exposition of 1889 
the exhibits of Siam, and reproducing the garden house of the Siamese 
king. Although only twenty-six feet square, it is one of the most unique 
and attractive structures in the 

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Manufactures hall. The floor is considerably elevated above the dais upon 
which it stands, is approached by two ornate stairways, and open on all 
sides, its sharp gables and slender pillars, being painted red and yellow, 
and decorated with pieces of glass and broken pottery. As remarked by a 
spectator, the structure resembles nothing so much as a large piece of 
jewelry, one of the settings of which is a pair of elephant's tusks, 
flanking one of the entrances, and curving gracefully from the floor to 
the sides of the pavilion for a distance of nine and a half feet. These 
were taken from a domesticated animal, and are among the largest in the 
world. Here also is a display of gongs, drums, guitars, violins, chimes of 
bells, harmonicas, and zithers, with models of Siamese houses, carved from 
wood beneath the projecting eaves, these, with the models of native boats, 
suggesting the city of Bangkok with her cumbersome river craft, and the 
half nautical life of her common people, for among the Siamese as with the 
Chinese, there are many families who live entirely in boats. Within and 
without the pavilion, are depictured in photographs the royal family with 
scenes characteristic of Bangkok. 

A remarkable piece of workmanship is a series of figures representing 
Buddha in different attitudes, all carved from solid tusks of ivory, and 
framed in an intricate floral design. That the stories told of the rich 
deposits of gems on the banks of the rivers and streams of Siam are not 
unfounded may be inferred from the collection of rings, bracelets, toilet-
sets, and trays, the framework of which is gold, and the decorative 
diamonds, sapphires, garnets, amethysts, emeralds, and rubies. Of articles 
made of the precious metals none are more elaborate or richly wrought than 
rice and betel-nut dishes for domestic use, and the bowls which the 
Siamese engraved with the figures of animals, from which are named the 
Siamese cycles, each of a dozen years. Among the wealth of illustrative 
material may also be mentioned mattings, screens, priestly fans, made of 
the leaves of the sacred poh tree, rich embroideries, silks and satins, 
sets of Siamese money, beautiful caskets of filigree and mother of pearl, 
samples of chipped meats such as are eaten by the royal family, and plain 
specimens of native cloths, with models of looms and spindles. Finally, 
there are skins of the tiger, leopard, deer, buffalo, otter, armadillo, 
python, rabbit, rhinoceros, and other animals illustrating the fauna of 
Siam. 

Persian industries and Persian life are seen to better advantage in the 
Midway plaisance than in the small oriental pavilion adjacent to the 
Spanish section. Here, however, is a collection of native rugs and carpets 
such as was never seen before outside of Persia. For one of pure silk with 
fifty-six square feet of surface, maroon and dark blue in color, and 
richly embroidered with flowers and figures of birds, $15,000 is the price 
demanded. A Bokhara rug, with rich Oriental red ground, an India Cashmere 
rug, in green and red, with light-colored carpets of mixed Angora wool and 
silk, and a Sarmarcand carpet from Central Asia, are a few of the fabrics 
which cover the floor and walls of the Persian pavilion. 

In the southeastern corner of the Manufactures hall is the Chinese 
exhibit, consisting of ivory carvings, silk fabrics, embroideries, 
porcelain ware, bamboo screens and fans, mattings, fire crackers 

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and other miscellaneous articles. On account of the partial rupture of 
friendly relations with the United States caused by the exclusion act, 
China has sent us, not a representative national display, but rather one 
gathered together by a few wealthy Chinese who have business interests in 
this country. In the booth of a Canton merchant its wooden enclosure is 
decorated in the fashion peculiar to the Chinese, and fastened to it are 
tiny carvings of joss-houses, pagodas, dwellings, and shops, from the 
windows and doors of which protrude the most grotesque of figures. Gold, 
red, and green are the most prominent of the decorative colors. Within are 
some wonderful carvings in ivory and sandal wood, beautiful silk 
embroideries for screens and dresses, ebony furniture gilded or inlaid, 
ebony or ivory boxes, and richly enamelled vases, one of the last made for 
the emperor Ching Tai, of the Ming dynasty, about four centuries ago. Side 
by side with a portrait of the merchant, is that of Lee Hung Chang, 
viceroy and statesman. In adjoining booths two other merchants display 
their specialties in ceramic wares and mattings. 

Of the $630,000 appropriated by the Japanese government, a considerable 
portion was expended on her exhibits in the hall of Manufactures, adjacent 
to the Austrian section; and here is sufficient evidence of the growing 
commercial intercourse between that country and the United States. Already 
the trade between the two countries exceeds forty-four millions a year in 
Mexican silver dollars, of which the exports from Japan 

Page 222

constitute over three-fourths; more than a quarter of her foreign, and 
nearly half of her total export trade, being with the United States. Among 
the main articles of export are porcelains, textile fabrics, metal, and 
lacquered wares, all of which are liberally represented at the Fair. The 
display is, however, less unique than at the Centennial Exposition, when 
for the first time was presented a complete collection of the native 
manufactures of Japan. Then is was that a great demand was originated for 
Japanese articles, especially in the way of ornamentations, one that even 
now is observable in many American branches of artistic manufacture. As a 
result, the simple characteristics of earlier Japanese work have become 
somewhat vulgarized; for the restless commercial spirit has seized upon 
Japanese and American alike, and lowered the former standard. Nevertheless 
there are many specimens representing the purest results of Japanese 
handicraft, so that the visitor may judge for himself as to the 
genuineness of what they have been taught to believe were true samples of 
Japanese skill and taste. 

Among the best are the porcelains, of which a number of manufacturers have 
contributed beautiful specimens, some avowed imitations of the Chinese 
school, but, as is claimed, not fashioned merely from commercial 
considerations. Besides dishes, vases, and other articles, such as are 
usually composed of this material, there are busts and figures of Kaga 
porcelain, neatly molded and skillfully painted. The portrayal of figures 
in porcelain is something new to Japanese art, and a feature of additional 
interest is that the pieces represent with considerable fidelity of 
delineation, such personages as Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, and Grant. 
By a secret process the gold and colors used are so absorbed as to be 
virtually embodied in the work. 

Another variety is the cloisonne ware with its metallic enamelling, of 
which there are two vases more than eight feet high, and among the finest 
examples of Japanese art. The process of manufacture requires no little 
patience and skill, for the enamelling often requires several 
applications, and the pieces are thoroughly polished after each firing. 
Upon these vases are elaborate designs representing the four seasons, and 
such political events as the threatened annexation of Korea by China or 
Russia. Flowers, birds, snow scenes, eagles and domestic fowl, are 
interwoven in intricate fashion, while the chrysanthemum and kiri 
blossoms, national symbols of Japan, appear between the rising sun and the 
American flag, indicative of the cordial relations existing between the 
two nations. On the stand of keyaki wood, on which they are mounted, are 
reproduced in carvings seventy distinct varieties of flowering plants. 

Mounted on a pedestal at the northern end of the section is a marvel of 
imitative workmanship in the form of an iron eagle, two feet in height and 
five between the tips of the wings, each feather, of which there are 
several thousands, being separately traced, and containing as many as a 
thousand lines,. Here was a five years' continuous task, and in order to 
make a perfect model, the artist secured two eagles, one of which he 
stuffed, keeping the other alive that he might watch its movements. Among 
the carvings in bronze, the most noticeable are those which show the 
native falcon in a dozen lifelike forms, and suggest the sport derived by 
the ancient daimyos of Japan. Of carvings in wood, there are many 
specimens, one of the most striking of which is a model of the famous 
pagoda at Kyoto, known as Yasaka, and destroyed by fire many years ago. 
The original was a piece of hand carving in wood, as is the model, the 
latter requiring the services of thirty-seven skilled workmen for an 
entire year. 

Most of the articles in wood and ivory carvings are of ingenious design, 
in striking contrast, as are the 

Page 223

ceramic wares and mosaics, with the crudity of much of the workmanship now 
palmed upon the public as of Japanese production. An attempt to check this 
imposition has been made by the government art school in Tokyo, from which 
many delicate carvings have been sent to the Fair. In the line of 
decorative metal work, also, the government illustrates the skill of 
native artificers with specimens of artistic handicraft from leaders in 
that specialty. There is, for example, a rich piece of chisel work in the 
form of a plaque, made of a mixture of gold, silver, iron, and copper, 
upon which figures are engraved representing a flock of herons, with 
effects of light and shade unknown to western artists. As a rule, Tokyo 
furnishes the best of artists and artisans, which, by the way, in Japan 
and the east, are much more nearly synonymous terms than in the United 
States. Lacquered wares are seen in quaint and beautiful forms, and there 
are gold boxes covered with wrought flowers and butterflies, writing-cases 
covered with marine views, toilet sets, fans, tables, and an endless 
variety of useful and ornamental articles in such profusion as to forbid a 
description in detail. 

Of silks, embroideries, tapestries and ornamental needlework there is a 
choice display, and especially is this exhibit an illustration of the 
facility with which the Japanese adopt the best features of the products 
of other nations. Many years ago, one of the most skillful weavers in 
Japan was so impressed with the beauties of the French Gobelin tapestries 
that he commenced to copy them for the benefit of his countrymen. 
Competent judges of his work, as seen at the Fair, now assert that the 
texture of these tapestries is finer and more durable than that of the 
true Gobelin, while there are now depicted scenes from national life with 
an accuracy of detail beyond the best efforts of western masters. The 
principal work represents one of the religious celebrations held annually 
at Nikko; a temple with surrounding structures and foliage, and a 
procession of some 1,500 figures, the entire scene, as to architecture, 
costume, perspective, and atmospheric effects, as clearly presented as 
though depicted on canvas. Upon rich velvets are also views of the eastern 
empire, interior sections of Japanese houses, and other specimens of art 
in which the work of the dyer, the artist, and the manufacturer seem 
merged in one. In embroideries and pieces of pictorial needlework many are 
almost as ambitious, but, although the results are usually more gorgeous 
than in the products of the loom, they fall short of them in artistic 
qualities. 

In the Japanese pavilion there are specimens of nearly every class of 
manufacture, from the art works which we have noticed to toys, walking 
sticks, paints, dyes, varnishes, drugs, and stationery. But the chief 
interest centres in the articles which tend to beautify the interior of 
homes, or to ornament their pleasure grounds. No feature in the exhibit 
attracts more attention than the model Japanese house, with its screen, 
its light and simple furniture, its silk drapings, lacquer and gilt 
ornaments, vases, and household implements and decorations. Here are real 

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Japanese apartments furnished by the most competent of native artists, so 
that those who would see for themselves the homes of the wealthier 
Japanese can find no better opportunity than is here afforded them. 

In addition to the home and foreign manufactures already described are 
certain collections classed under that department, but housed in separate 
buildings, either through lack of space or for other reasons that need not 
here be mentioned. These are the Shoe and Leather, the Merchant Tailors', 
and the Krupp exhibits. The Shoe and Leather building is a plain, 
substantial, two-story structure, suggestive of an eastern factory, and as 
it would seem, somewhat out of place in its location by the lake front, 
near the convent of La Rabida. Of the $100,000 subscribed for the erection 
of this edifice and the organization of its exhibits, about sixty percent 
was contributed by the New England states, largely by Massachusetts. Of 
the total exhibiting space, 15,000 square feet in the centre of the 
building were allotted to foreign participants, mainly to France and 
Russia, both of which nations have furnished an elaborate display. On the 
ground floor, in addition to foreign exhibits, are collections of leather 
and leathern goods. The galleries are filled with the best and most recent 
machinery, some of it in operation, for the manufacture of various grades 
of shoes; and there is a model factory in running order, with a capacity 
of a thousand pairs a day. 

Among the more striking exhibits on the ground floor are the largest horse 
and alligator skins that have ever been tanned, each thirteen feet in 
length, and mounted with the head of the animal from which it was taken. 
California has a structure of walrus hide, inlaid with many varieties of 
leather; Mexico, a unique display of furs and skins, and the central 
figure of the Brazilian group is a mammoth globe, covered with samples of 
rough leather. There are calf skins almost as soft as silk, kangaroo 
skins, an elephant's hide with a surface of more than 300 square feet, and 
cases filled with chameleon, lizard, and anaconda skins from Latin America 
and Asia. On the walls are displayed the horns of animals which furnish 
the raw material of the leather industries; of stuffed specimens there are 
enough to stock a museum, and here and there are niches filled with such 
curios as a milk bag of goat-skin from Jerusalem, a water bat from Jaffa, 
and the head of an Amazonian India, with bones removed, leaving only the 
shrunken flesh and cuticle. But of the primary descriptions of leather, 
one of the finest specimens is in the form of a belt 200 feet long and 
twelve in width. In belting and sole leather, New York, Pennsylvania, 
California, and Ohio are especially prominent, the American Oak Leather 
company, of Cincinnati, furnishing a striking example of the uses to which 
the heavy grades may be put, in its pavilion of grained leather, closely 
resembling black oak and mahogany. 

But footwear leads all the other classes, the factories of America 
competing with those of France in 

Page 226

the finer grades. There are shoes made of alligator skin, of buffalo, and 
horse hide; there are heavy Russian boots, with wooden soles, and solid 
spiked shoes from Switzerland; there are dainty kid shoes of many buttons, 
and satin slippers from Spain, with numberless varieties and grades from 
France and the United States. Of morocco and dongola goods France and 
Germany have each a choice collection, while the United States excels in 
patent and enamel shoes. On the walls are several hundred water colors, 
representing the various styles of footwear used by the leading races of 
the world for three or four thousand years, with cases filled with models 
adapted to all climes and nationalities. Among them are velvet-lined shoes 
for dainty Burmese ladies; shoes with turtles' claws protruding from the 
toes, such as are worn by the African savage; the huge wooden clogs that 
the Dutchman wears; pattens with stilts attached for Japanese tea pickers; 
embroidered shoes with toes upturned for the Chinaman and Korean, and 
shoes lined and tipped with fur for Swedes and Russians, the scented 
jeweled slipper of the harem favorite, and the sandal of the Egyptian 
water carrier; all these with footwear for every people under the sun, 
from the Eskimo to the Patagonian, and from the Laplander to the Persian. 

In decorative leather work the Russian exhibits contain some remarkable 
specimens. Harness leather in black, buff, and russet colors, is shown in 
a variety of forms by most of the participating countries, and from Cape 
Town comes a collection of trappings used by the Boers, together with a 
number of leather ornaments culled from Zulu territory. There are Chinese 
swords, with carved or stamped leather hilts; Moorish scimetars and 
Soudanese swords and daggers decorated with leather; Zulu shields of 
rhinoceros hide, and leather war belts from Abyssinia studded with 
precious stones and scarred with the marks of battle. 

South of the Illinois state building is a miniature reproduction of the 
Acropolis, with the orthodox porticos in front and rear, and with broad 
stairways leading to the water's edge. Approaching this classic structure, 
the visitor inquires as to its uses, expecting perhaps to find there a 
collection of works of art, and probably the 

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last that he thinks of is the purpose to which it is put, for here is the 
Exposition home of the merchant tailors of the United States. Entering 
this pavilion, of which the interior is finished in cream and gold, and 
with appropriate mural decorations, we read on the panels of the rotunda 
the following biblical inscriptions; "And they sewed figs leaves together, 
and made themselves aprons." "Unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God 
make coats of skins, and clothed them." 

On the dome above, supported by Corinthian pillars, are paintings 
representing the evolution of the tailor's art, beginning with Adam and 
Eve, in primitive attire, and then the barbarian, somewhat more advanced 
in costume, followed by the Egyptian, the Greek, the citizen of the 
renaissance period, and of the era of Louis XIV-XVI, and so on up to 
modern styles of dress. In one of the mural paintings is the scene in a 
tailor shop of by-gone days, so graphically depicted by Charles Durand. 

Surrounding this circular court, laid in light colored mosaic, are rooms 
designed for business purposes or friendly meetings; but the tailor's 
pavilion is not merely a resort for members of the craft with their 
friends and families, for here are many typical exhibits, including, as an 
illustration of the perseverance and ingenuity of olden days, a colored 
cloth, hand stitched, and made of nearly 6,000 pieces of tailors' goods. 
Neither stitch nor seam is in sight, and to complete this remarkable 
specimen of workmanship was the eight years' task of its artificer. On 
wire frames and wax dummies are displayed the styles of costume prevalent 
in social court, and military circles. Here, for instance, are the tailor-
made trappings of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting; the liveries of her 
coachmen, and the uniform of General Miles, with business, dress, and 
other suits, reversible garments, and costumes decorated with devices 
suggested by the Columbian anniversary. 

On the lake shore, south of the convent of La Rabida, is a castle-like 
structure, with towers at either end, typical of the Fatherland, and on 
its eastern side a tower decorated with the shields and coats-of-arms of 
the several German states. Here is the exhibits of guns and missiles, 
mammoth and miniature, manufactured at the Essen works of Friedrich Krupp. 
Extending along the western wall of the pavilion are sixteen monster guns, 
with their cavernous muzzles pointed lakeward. The giant of the group, 
protruding from the centre of the array, was installed in its position 
after

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an eventful journey, attended by special envoys, and hauled through 
several states on a car made specially for the purpose. 

In this weapon it would almost appear that the limit of size and carrying 
capacity had been reached; yet many a time before has this been vainly 
predicted. To say that the gun will throw as a projectile for a distance 
of twelve miles a solid ton of metal, that to start this missile on its 
way requires a quarter of a ton of powder, that the gun itself weighs 101 
tons, affords but a feeble description of the great leviathan of war. From 
the floor of the building we look upward at an angle of forty-five degrees 
and then can see only its under surface, supported on a carriage of 
massive and complex design, and around it the steam and electric 
appliances whereby is brought into play its awful potency for destruction. 

Around the great guns are their projectiles, by the side of which are 
thick plates of armor, torn like folds of paper. Beneath the monster 
weapon, the largest in existence, is a tiny gun which has seen service in 
the hands of an African bushman, and near by are the smallest of mountain 
howitzers, such as may almost be carried by a man, and are often strapped 
to the backs of mules. 

The eastern portion of the building is devoted to such exhibits as the 
prow, rudder, shaft, screw, and other metallic portions of a modern 
steamer, with a shaft ninety feet long and three in thickness. There are 
also steel driving-wheels for locomotives, and protective plates for the 
bows and sterns of merchant vessels. In a word there are few articles of 
steel, whether pressed or forged, such as are used for protective 
purposes, which have not a place in the collection, for in these works are 
more largely produced the means of defense than the enginery of 
destruction. On the walls are photographs and paints of the Essen factory, 
and in the office are models of the ancestral home of the Krupps, and of 
the monument erected in honor of the late Alfred Krupp through the 
voluntary contributions of officials and workmen. In the centre of the 
pavilion are the so called glacier fountains, cooling the atmosphere, and 
serving as a relief to their sombre environment. 

Finally there is a wrought-iron balcony, designed and executed by citizens 
of Dusseldorf, from which is an excellent view of the building and its 
contents. 

World's Fair Miscellany

Of the 16,500,000 feet of lumber consumed in the hall of Manufactures and 
Liberal Arts, more than 3,000,000 feet were for the flooring and 
underpinning, and the foundations of the girders, the remaining being 
principally used for the galleries. All of it came from the northwest, 
except 4,000,000 feet of southern pine. The main floor is two inches 
thick, and the floor of the galleries one inch. Both were so constructed 
as to withstand five times the pressure to which they would probably be 
subjected, mainly with a view to prevent the vibration apt to occur in a 
less solid building. No danger is apprehended from tornadoes, every pillar 
in and under the building having a separate foundation, so that it is 
prepared for the fiercest storm to which the land is subject. 

For lighting the Manufactures building there are used five electroliers, 
suspended longitudinally 60 feet from the roof, and 140 feet from the 
floor, the central one fitted with 102 powerful arc lights, and the others 
with 78 lights, each of 2,000 candle power, making in all 414 arc lights 
and 828,000 candle power. There are additional lights for the aisles, 
loggias, galleries, and inner spaces, supplementing the main system and 
giving stronger emphasis to the grand proportions of the building. For the 
great search-light on the northwest corner, already mentioned, it is 
claimed that a newspaper can be read by its light at a distance of eight 
miles. The apparatus, which is eight and a half feet in height, includes a 
mirror, ground and polished on both sides, and a lamp operated by electric 
motors placed under the platform. 

Around the edge of the main semi-circular roof is a promenade, nearly a 
mile in length, reached by elevators running to a platform beneath, from 
which a stairway leads to the roof. Here the city of the Fair and of 
Chicago may be viewed from a height of 240 feet 

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and on a clear day the cities on the opposite side of Lake Michigan are 
distinctly visible. 

The work of installing the exhibits in the Manufactures building was 
finally completed on the 17th of June, on the evening of which day a 
reception was held, with formalities suitable to the occasion. For two 
years the chief of this department, James Allison, labored without ceasing 
to insure its success, finally "presenting, under one roof," as he says, 
"in a congruous, comprehensive and representative series of exhibits, the 
results achieved in most of the great divisions of human industry and 
ingenuity." 

The following regulations, framed by Mr. Allison, and approved by the 
director-general, apply also to other departments of the Exposition, in 
addition to the general regulations already mentioned. Exhibitors must be 
producers or manufacturers of the materials or finished goods intended for 
exhibition. All applications must be accompanied by a suitable diagram, on 
a stipulated scale, explaining the plan and distribution of the exhibits. 
No fire, inflammable oils, or other combustible materials would be allowed 
within the building. All designs for pavilions or other structures, and 
for platforms, cases, and partitions were subject to approval by the 
director-general; platforms to be not more than seven inches, and counters 
two feet ten inches above the floor, with railings two feet six inches 
above the platforms, all to be kept within the space assigned to the 
exhibition. Signs must be so placed as not to obstruct the light or view, 
or uniform design, and must not be made of inflammable materials. 

In one of the cases in the Tiffany pavilion is an interesting collection 
of precious and other stones, including the largest rock crystal found on 
this continent, and an engraved diamond, the only one in the United 
States, the cutting of which was performed at intervals extending over 
five years. The display of gems in this pavilion includes about 10,000 
diamonds, and of pearls an unknown quantity, the latter valued at little 
short of $400,000. There is also a complete assortment of precious and 
other stones, such as are used in the lapidarian art, from their crude 
state as contained in the matrix to perfectly cut and polished gems. At 
times are shown in practical operation the processes of cutting and 
polishing diamonds. 

To the groups in the American section, consisting of woolen goods and 
mixed textiles, contained in square black cases of unsightly aspect, and 
contrasting somewhat sharply with the tasteful foreign pavilions on the 
opposite side of the nave, was given the name of the Undertaker's section 
of the Manufactures department. 

Of gas stoves, apparatus, and fittings, there is a large display, though 
not so large as was anticipated, for it was the original intention to 
erect a separate building for the purpose. Two Chicago firms have an 
elaborate collection, including the latest devices in the way of burners 
for heating or manufacturing purposes, so constructed that gas and air 
form a clear blue flame of great power. There are also instantaneous 
heaters, of American make, attached to bath tub and other fixtures, and 
heating water to the boiling point in the briefest space of time. 

The exhibit of shirts in the clothing group is mainly by New York 
manufacturers and the Zions Cooperative Union of Utah. On this class of 
work sewing-girls in the eastern states average only some $5 a week, much 
of it being done by charitable institutions, while the shirt-makers of 
Utah can earn from $8 to $10 weekly.