The St. Louis Republic. [volume], May 01, 1904, The Sunday Magazine, Image 68

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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IT needs no prophetic insight t. pn TO?
lict tint tin- Loui-iana Puniu-. JCy3S
exposition nt St. Louis will Ik- tit. &
last great xvorl.l's fair in many decadi -.
perlups generations All the logic ! circumstances
points to this fact ami if f"r n other reason there
is nunc held in years to come it will proKibly be
so because the present fair lias set so high a standard
. tlut the task of .itt. lining it will lc ililVu-nlt and tlut
y of surpassing n will lie xx-cll-nigh impossible
Those who concede tli.it the Colnmbi.in exposition
was the greatest in history and greater tlun.inv th.it
luxe followed luxe U-cn free to admit th.it. judging
from the mere scct.ich at St.
l.oui. it gave pninii-t of eclipsing
Chicago's masterpiece Xou that
they luvc seen tin.- Si Louis effort
in us completeness they acknowledge
tlut the promise ha- N-cii fulfilled
And this has not 1 vn the testimony
freely given by those who live in S
Louis or those who would lie prone natur
ally to a most generous estimate of it:
great cntcqirise. Many loyal Chieagoans. who
hid resolutely made up their minds that the
lair of 1S0.5 va- the last word on the subject and
the model of international cxjm-itions for all
nine luxe come toSt. Louis, seen and been conquered
"Mere bigness" was the presumptuous prejudg
ment of many who had heard of the immensity of the
site but liad not seen how artfully the splendid distances
of its twelve hundred and forty acres lud lecn covered
with huge palaces and masterpieces of architecture,
and a lnrsh wilderr.es of landscape made to blossom
and bloom with the choicest conceptions of the land
scape architects
Licking the splendid water effects, the Kick-ground
of alternately angry and smiling marine -cenes. tliat
formed so large a jiart of the cliarm the Chicago fair
had for its million- f visitors. St Louis has removed
mountains of her sujhtiIuous wild natural scenery on
tin- exjiosition site in Forest park. Ilis built canals
for the water effect-, which eetn to le demaudi-d in
a fair, ami -till lack.- nothing in the natural scencrx
to supplement the Ivautie- tlut artifice lia- wrought
in the laml-cae f the fair
A- the focal point of the main picture of the
St Loui- e.NjKvsition they were bound to dc-ign
something tint should pnive a more entrancing
sight thin Chic, go's beautiful "Court of Honor"
Tint they luxe done so in the splendid lay-out on
the summit of Art hill the lvholdcr xvho xicxx
tlut magnificent conception must admit
Standing "n ihemainax-enucof thecxjiosition at
the north end of the ('rami KiMiiof the lagiKin.s nm
look up to the crest of an eighty-foot hill xvhcreoti
stands the climax of the exposition sjicctaclc
Hashing in the sunlight, which makes a rninliow of
jewel- of their crystal xvatcrs. three cascailes. the
largest exer made by man. jwiur their combined Hood
of ninety thousand gallons a minute from the foun
tains whence they issue to the Grand Kisin lieloxv.
These cascade lloxv in three streams, the main fall
from a sculptured fountain in front of Festival hall,
xx Inch is the exact center of the picture, and the txx-o
side cascades from the txxin pavilions of decorative
design which are the terminals; of the wide semi
circular sweep of the "Colonnade of States." The
latter consists of fourteen units, each of which contain-
a statue symliolical of one of the fourteen states
caned out of the Louisiana Purcluse territory, of the
ariu!tinn of which the exposition is the centennial
commemoration.
Of circular architecture, and xxith a dome vaster
even than tlut of St. Peter's in Rome, which called
forth Hymn's miit1 rlujsoIy. Fcstix-al liall is the
point from xvhich all the axenues of the exjiositton
radiate as the rilrs of a lady's fan To this slupe all
of the huge ivory palace- of the exposition, in the main
picture at least, conform. Each of them has in its
centera break swerving at either end to a point nearer
the center of the picture. This Is productive of one
of tlie pleasant features in a day- xx-alk of nb-ervation
of tlH- grounds and buildings as the vistas are in
creased, ami the i-itor is treated to a constant suc-(,-.
.n of snqirises in the architecture and treatment
i f 'In ground
in hi eT- -itioii that represents a total out lav of
t,- n lt-"i .1 liar- it i- i) .t an ea-x- task to enumerate
Helmut Fo Wdls
the prune feature- Where the mere item of sculpture
represent- an c.endmire of a lulf-million dollar
ami the choice-t products of the American sculptors'
art, it is still more difficult to say xvh.it is the most
lvautiful thing on the grounds. The visitor
xvho attempts to "do' the fairinalimil.il
tune xvill lie much in the jiosiiion of
tlu traditional American tourist who
makes the grand tour of continental
Europe xxith his x-alise
in one Kind and a
watch in the
other, timing
his stay in
each gal
I c r v ,
h i il in.
anv nth' r
In r i!i't
f- -rt x acrt -
ai'il pt riups n. ur xvill i.. '. r
' rid'- fair, tin i-itor li-i -
h'-w txxelxc humlreil m.l
xxhsi'Ii is the an-.i "f niaiix .
fjy .
wr-i. -- -vx
ifeisl -rk,
fry
Or.
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;s-S2f I-; .;
S..uWL i-Af
- j. - WiX. l i . f T lil --
J- I
"-,Trr .:.:iu r
;.U
feature- nlu. Ii shou'J lv classed ex-en as
"'
r
r;
fevSrtSS
"TSSSiTy
JiS'ii?'rC5- ,t
, . - -.Ac
i
!.'- '..: --'
's- " :
1--J
Statuo
of
Victory
in
NnnuLcturc'
Duiiclin
by
M. Totictti
lnving allotted just so much time to each rcprsitory
of the xx-orks of the masters.
EumH cttstom-liouml Asia, tlie Antipotlfs. axage
Africa, the L'nited Stati-s ami tlie wholi- world hax-e
combined to venfv tlie design ition of thi- exjM-ition
as a real xx-orld's fair With tifty-four foreign gowrn
ments from the four 'purler- ..i tin- glol- forty-four
of the great -mmon'M-iltlis in tin t'tiion and
ex'ery on- of iir ju p ---s-ii m- po'in-i tluir treas
ures of exhibit into !; l.p'.fSt Li 'in- .i, tin v m ' er
large and populous itx cm appear like a plan, u h. re
there is m. room to -iar
The St Louis norld'- fair may be s.u'd to In- 'he
fax-ored child of the l'nited States government in -he
family of international expositions held in the I'm, d
States No request to tl- gox-crnment f. r an! has , . ,.r
gone unheeded, and today the national govrmm. nt i
interested in the fair to the extent of more millions
than this government or any other gox-crnment Kis . er
Iicfore inxestcil in a like cnterprL-e Tlie goverotn nt
lias gone into the exhibit features of the exposition to
an extent commensurate xxith its inx-estment in m 'nc-v
The splendid gox-crnment building. tKit on its proud
position on the hill at the head of the main or transx erse
ax'enue of the exposition commands a sweeping iex
of the exposition grounds looking xx-est. is but mu of
many things that represent the United States goern
ment on the grounds While this building xx-ill contain
exhibits more complete than liax-c ex er liven made bx the
government and representing exery department of the
government, many special exhibits featuring ier
tain lines of gox eminent activity lux e U-en made
One of these is the fisheries of the I'mteil
States, a Iix-e exhibit contained in a Ivautiful
tisheries pavilion within the -ludoxx of the
government building Another L- the exhibit of
big guns, shoxx-ing the great disapearing car
nages of the coast defense ordnance A model
Indian school with a hundred native humIs
(xvhich illustrates the methods of making good
Indians out of .he last generation of poor Lo) a
model farm, outdoor forest rv exhibit. Indian exhibit
cox-enng forty acres, plant map of lixe acres shoxxtng
the L'nited States map in plants, and a score ot other
interesting features shoxv tlut the national governin. nr
has contributed to the fair K'sides the import .nt
item of its actual money N-iiefactions.
Those xvho Iiave gone through the grind of an ml r
national exposition lefore and xvho take their xxon.U-rs
as a matter of course, and enthusiasm ox-er them as a
quantity inseparable from the success of these fairs
state tlut the rix-alry displayed Iietween exhibiting
nations at the St. Louis fair never fails to ev ite
xx-onder in a man xvho lus knoxx-n hoxv cut and .In. .1
exhibits hax-e lieen at other fairs They explain it t
the theory tlut the exhibitors realise tlut tin t
Louis exposition will In.' the death song of the -w m
xxithin their Iix-es at least, and tlut they intend
improx-e this last opportunity to show their xx.in it
cotnH'tition to the K-st adxantage
Aside from the l.-autiful foreign pavilinns. xxln. Ii
xxith their bright gardens surrounding thein dot iht
landscape of the exiHi-ition. those xxiio Ieliexe 'h..
exhibit palaces xxere made to look at inside as well i
out. xxill see proof in the great interiors tlut the xx.t! I is
interested in the St Louis xxorld's fair From m.-r
the seven seas of the earth luxv come ships I ..!. n
xxith the cargix-s of exhibiting nations, xxith St L. -n
as their common destination The tt-d allotment a
exhibit sjiace to foreign nations i- about fortx
per cent, of the xvhole area Uln-n tt is remem!
tliat the sjiace at St. Louis is forty per cent gn .
titan tlut at Chicago it xxill lie unnecessary to -
that the foreign representation at St Louts is -ciently
complete
1
The venial setting of tlie ix-ory palaces ami pax T
on the xxorld's fair grounds xvill instantly strik
visitor xv!k Ilis an exe for color, and when i.i
sprightly spring sunshine of this- southern city In
how xxell tin- green ami the soft ix-ory tints !'
in a Iiartnonioiis color scheme he xvi'l not mis
water tlut In- tlhiitght a necessary adjunct t..anx;i
that xvould pretend to the lieauty the Chk-ago !
ThnuiglHmt tlie exosition this - mhinat .
alxx-ays apjurent. Looking ::p fror,- - l loxvcr T x.l
xvhich nearly all the exhibit ml s stand '
thx" tops of forest trees, xvlm ' hax-e stood
jiark since the day xvtten tlie kind ycs
xxith the towers, domes, minarets and st
miniature Jerusalem. Japan's group of O
ions. Germany'- stately replica of the c ..
lottenburg. and the group of tin i t'i.
oil the plate " ' stat. s T' '-
tin lov. r 1. -. .' 'In r
the . otil'.l -i
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