The most interesting historic papers were letters penned by Napoleon, Alexander of Russia, and other foreign potentates, the Webster-Ashburton treaty signed by Queen Victoria, and a shark"s tooth sent as a treaty by the king of Samoa. Precious relics were Washington"s commission as commander-in-chief of the colonial forces, his sword, his diary, and his account books and army reports; the sash with which Lafayette bound up his wound at Brandywine; the calumet pipe which Washington smoked when seventeen years old; Benjamin Franklin"s cane; the sword of General Jackson; a waistcoat embroidered by Marie Antoinette; wampum made before the discovery of America; camp service of pewter used by Washington throughout the Revolution; Bible brought over by John Alden in the _Mayflower_; and a piece of torch carried by "Old Put" (General Israel Putnam) into the den of the wolf which he killed.
A section of one of the big trees of California was 20 feet in diameter at the top and 26 feet at the base.
The dreadful sufferings of persons imprisoned for debt in England, which led to the founding of Georgia, were recalled by a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of one of the unfortunates, issued in 1721.
There also were to be seen a page from the Plymouth records of 1620 and 1621; a land patent of 1628; the royal commission creating the common pleas court of Ma.s.sachusetts in 1696; a page from the horrible witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692; a door-knocker brought to this country in the _Mayflower_; and portraits of many historical persons.
In the War Department were shown a six-pounder bronze gun presented by Lafayette to the colonial forces; the four-pounder gun that fired the first shot in the Civil War; the rifled gun that fired the last shot; cannon used in the Mexican War; cast-iron cannon found in the Hudson River; Chinese cannon captured at Corea; cannon captured at Yorktown; boot-legs from which the starving members of the Greely Arctic expedition made soup; relics of Sir John Franklin; a wagon used by General Sherman throughout all his marches; the sacred shirt worn by Sitting Bull at the time of the ma.s.sacre of Custer and his command on the Little Big Horn.
EXHIBITS OF THE TREASURY AND POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENTS.
In the Treasury Department was represented the United States Mint in operation, besides historic medals, ancient and modern coins, including those of foreign countries, a ten-thousand gold dollar certificate and a silver certificate of the same denomination.
The eyes of the philatelists sparkled at the treasures in the Postoffice Department, which included all the issues of stamps from 1847 to 1893.
Some of the single stamps were worth thousands of dollars, and it would have required a fortune to purchase the whole collection, had it been for sale. The methods of carrying the mail were ill.u.s.trated by a representation of dogs drawing a sled over the snow and a Rocky Mountain stage-coach. It would require volumes to convey an intelligent idea of the display in the Patent Office, Interior Department, Geological Survey, Agricultural Department, and the United States Commission.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS A. EDISON.
(1847-.)]
Everybody knows that wonderful discoveries have been made in electricity, and no doubt we are close upon still greater ones. The name of Edison is connected with the marvelous achievements in this field, and there was much food for thought and speculation in the exhibits of the Electricity Building. These, while profoundly interesting, were mainly so in their hints of what are coming in the near future.
Machinery Hall was a favorite with thousands of the visitors. The exhibits were so numerous that they were divided into eighty-six cla.s.ses, grouped into:
1. Motors and apparatus for the generation and transmission of power, hydraulic and pneumatic apparatus.
2. Fire-engines, apparatus and appliances for extinguishing fire.
3. Machine tools and machines for working metals.
4. Machinery for the manufacture of textile fabrics and clothing.
5. Machines for working wood.
6. Machines and apparatus for type-setting, printing, stamping and embossing, and for making books and paper making.
7. Lithography, zincography, and color painting.
8. Photo-mechanical and other mechanical processes for ill.u.s.trating, etc.
9. Miscellaneous hand-tools, machines and apparatus used in various arts.
10. Machines for working stones, clay, and other minerals.
11. Machinery used in the preparation of foods, etc.
OTHER NOTABLE EXHIBITS.
The cost of the model of the Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, where the wearied Columbus stopped to crave food for himself and boy, was $50,000. The relics of the great explorer were numerous and of vivid interest.
Hardly less interesting was the reproduction of the Viking ship unearthed in a burial mound in Norway in 1880, the model being precisely that of the vessels in which the hardy Nors.e.m.e.n navigators crossed the Atlantic a thousand years ago. It was seventy-six feet in length, the bow ornamented with a large and finely carved dragon"s head and the stern with a dragon"s tail. Rows of embellished shields ran along the outside of the bulwarks, and all was open except a small deck fore and aft, while two water-tight compartments gave protection to the men in stormy weather. The rigging consisted of one mast with a single yard, that could be readily taken down, but there were places for immense oars, whose handling must have required tremendous muscular power.
The Agricultural Building had an almost endless variety of articles, such as cocoa, chocolate, and drugs from the Netherlands; wood pulp from Sweden; odd-looking shoes and agricultural products from Denmark and from France, the most striking of which was the Menier chocolate tower that weighed fifty tons; fertilizers and products from Uruguay; an elephant tusk seven and a half feet long; woods, wools, and feathers from the Cape of Good Hope; a Zulu six feet and seven and a half inches tall; a Canadian cheese weighing eleven tons, with other exhibits from various countries, and specimens of what are grown in most of our own States. The articles were so numerous that a list is too lengthy to be inserted in these pages.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE VIKING SHIP.
1. Appearance when discovered. 2. After restoration. 3. Rudder, shield, and dragon-head.]
The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was of such unprecedented size that its ground area was more than thirty acres, and its gallery s.p.a.ce forty-four acres. Its roof structure surpa.s.sed any ever made, and it was the largest building in the world. So vast indeed was it that it is worth our while to impress it upon our minds by several comparisons.
Any church in Chicago, which contains numerous large ones, can be placed in the vestibule of St. Peter"s at Rome, but the latter is only one-third of the size of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. The Coliseum of ancient Rome would seat 80,000 persons, but in the central hall of the Chicago building, which is a single room without a supporting column, 75,000 people could be comfortably seated, while the building itself would seat 300,000 persons. The iron and steel in the roof would build two Brooklyn bridges, and it required eleven acres of gla.s.s to provide for the skylights. In its construction 17,000,000 feet of lumber, 13,000,000 pounds of steel, and 2,000,000 pounds of iron were used, with a total cost of $1,700,000. The ground plan was twice the size of the pyramid of Cheops.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
We have recorded enough, however, to give some idea of the wealth of treasures exhibited at Chicago in 1893, and which drew visitors from all parts of the world. It is not worth while to refer at length to the display of the foreign countries, for those who had the pleasure of looking upon them will always carry their pleasant memory, while those who were deprived of the privilege can gain no adequate idea from the most extended description. The Midway Plaisance was a unique feature, with its Hungarian Orpheum, Lapland Village, Dahomey Village, the captive balloon, Chinese Village, Austrian Village, Cyclorama of the volcano of Kilauea, the Algerian and Tunisian Village, the Ferris Wheel, the never-to-be-forgotten street in Cairo, the numerous natives, and other scenes that were not always on the highest plane of morality.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE GRAND WORK BY THE STATES.
We as Americans are p.r.o.ne to forget some of the important events in our history. The memory of them fades too soon. A hundred, years must pa.s.s before our country will look upon another Columbian Exposition. That, in the nature of things, will surpa.s.s the one in 1893, as far as that surpa.s.sed the ordinary country fairs of our grandparents. When that great year--1992--comes around, none of us will be here to look upon its wonders. It seems proper, therefore, that, in dismissing the subject, we should place on record the amount contributed by each State, without which the grand success of the enterprise could never have been attained.
Alabama.................. $38,000 Nebraska................. $85,000 Arizona.................. 30,000 Nevada................... 10,000 Arkansas................. 55,000 New Hampshire............ 25,000 California............... 550,000 New Jersey............... 130,000 Colorado................. 167,000 New Mexico............... 35,000 Connecticut.............. 75,000 New York................. 600,000 Delaware................. 20,000 North Carolina........... 45,000 Florida.................. 50,000 North Dakota............. 70,000 Georgia.................. 100,000 Ohio..................... 200,000 Idaho.................... 100,000 Oklahoma................. 17,500 Illinois................. 800,000 Oregon................... 60,000 Indiana.................. 135,000 Pennsylvania............. 360,000 Iowa..................... 130,000 Rhode Island............. 57,500 Kansas................... 165,000 South Carolina........... 50,000 Kentucky................. 175,000 South Dakota............. 85,000 Louisiana................ 36,000 Tennessee................ 25,000 Maine.................... 57,000 Texas.................... 40,000 Maryland................. 60,000 Utah..................... 50,600 Ma.s.sachusetts............ 175,000 Vermont.................. 39,750 Michigan................. 275,000 Virginia................. 75,000 Minnesota................ 150,000 Washington............... 100,000 Mississippi.............. 25,000 West Virginia............ 40,000 Missouri................. 150,000 Wisconsin................ 212,000 Montana.................. 100,000 Wyoming.................. 30,000 ---------- Total................$6,060,350
The islands composing the group known under the general name of Hawaii have long been of interest to different nations, and especially to our country. A treaty was made in 1849 between Hawaii and the United States, which provided for commerce and the extradition of criminals, and in 1875 a reciprocity treaty was concluded. This gave a marked impetus to the sugar industry, which was almost wholly in the hands of foreigners.
Further treaty rights were confirmed by Congress in 1891.
David Kalakaua became king of Hawaii in 1874. He had slight ability, and was fonder of the pleasures of life than of measures for the good of his country and subjects. He was displeased to see the hold gained by foreigners in his country and their rapidly growing power. He joined with the native Legislature in its cry of "Hawaii for the Hawaiians,"
and did all he could to check the material progress of the islands.
Progressive men, however, gained control, and in 1887 Kalakaua was compelled to sign a new const.i.tution which deprived him of all but a shadow of authority. The white residents were granted the right of suffrage and closer relations were established with the United States.
While engaged in negotiating a treaty with our country Kalakaua died, in 1891, in San Francisco, and his sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him as queen. She was much of the same mould as her brother, but of a more revengeful nature. She was angered against the foreigners and the progressive party, and alert for an opportunity to strike them a fatal blow. She thought the time had come in January, 1893, when the leading party was bitterly divided over important measures. She summoned the Legislature and urged it to adopt a new const.i.tution, which took away the right of suffrage from the white residents and restored to the crown the many privileges that had been taken from it. She was so radical in her policy that her friends induced her to modify it in several respects. She was thoroughly distrusted by the white residents, who did not doubt that she would break all her promises the moment the pretext offered. Nor would they have been surprised if a general ma.s.sacre of the white inhabitants were ordered.
So deep-seated was the alarm that the American residents appealed for protection to the United States man-of-war _Boston_, which was lying in the harbor of Honolulu. The commander landed a company of marines, against the protest of the queen"s minister of foreign affairs and the governor of the island, although they were a.s.sured that no attempt would be made to interfere with their rights. In the face of this a.s.surance, a revolt took place, the monarchy was declared at an end, and a provisional government was organized, to continue until terms of union with the United States could be agreed upon.
More decided steps followed. On February 1, 1894, the government was formally placed under the protectorate of the United States, and the Stars and Stripes was hoisted over the government building by a party of marines. There was a strong sentiment in favor of annexation, and the American minister was highly pleased.
President Harrison was of the same mind, and authorized the presence on the island of troops that might be needed to protect the lives and property of Americans there, but he disavowed the protectorate. No doubt, however, he favored the movement, but thought it wise to "make haste slowly."
In a short time, a treaty was framed which was acceptable to the President. It provided that the government of Hawaii should remain as it was, the supreme power to be vested in a commissioner of the United States, with the right to veto any of the acts of the local government.
The public debt was to be a.s.sumed by the United States, while Liliuokalani was to be pensioned at the rate of $20,000 a year, and her daughter was to receive $150,000. President Harrison urged upon the Senate the ratification of the treaty, fearing that delay would induce some other power to step in and take the prize.
[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES G. BLAINE.
(1830-1893.)