AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 23 



nected with the getting up and conducting these fairs. Thus 

 instructed, it is our matured opinion that any attempt to re-open 

 and continue the exhibition for the present year would have 

 proved a failure, and have involved an expenditure beyond any 

 of our available means; and subjected the Institute to the incubus 

 of a debt, which would have crippled us for our future annual 

 duties and responsibilities. Hence we have been anxious to 

 satisfy all those who share with us in the common disappointment 

 and sacrifices which this calamity has inflicted, that a renewal of 

 the fair, at present, would have been unwise and unsuccessful. 

 Our Board of Managers, on whom the renewed toils would have 

 devolved, did not shrink because of the time and labor and sacri- 

 fices involved, but only yielded to the conviction forced upon 

 them, that no suitable place could be obtained, and prepared for 

 the exhibition in time for success, without an expense which the 

 Institute could not sustain. 



This interruption took place so early in the exhibition, that 

 the judges had not yet decided upon the merits of any of the 

 articles for competition, except in the case of a part of the horti- 

 cultural specimens, so that, except to thes'.\ no premiums could 

 possibly be awarded. This will be a sufficient answer to those 

 who have complained that the prizes offered, all of which were 

 ready, were not distributed. It could only be done indiscrimi- 

 nately, if done at all, since merit was not yet adjudicated ; nor 

 could the managers make the awards in the absence of any report 

 from the judges, who for the most part, had not even entered upon 

 their labors, or seen the articles to be submitted to their scrutiny. 



Thus much, by way of explanation, it has been deemed proper 

 to say, as due to the numerous inventors and exhibiters who suffer 

 with us in this dire calamity. Although the American Institute 

 might proudly appeal to the public for their sympathy and co- 

 operation in this hour of trial, in view of its past history; by 

 referring to the fidelity with which they have annually fulfilled 

 their obligations and engagements, even on the occurrence of 

 untoward events, which have rendered the fair and distribution of 

 premiums a task involving us in heavy sacrifices and expenses. 



Need we refer to the memorable year 1853, when the postpone- 

 ment of the opening of the World's Fair from the 1st of May, as 

 appointed, till later in the season, rendered the opening of our 

 exhibition necessarily a bill of expense ? Our loss of nearly 

 $6,000 by that fair was anticipated, and yet we felt it our sacred 

 duty to see that American industry, thus called to compete with 



