296 



EXPOSITION, PAEIS. 



was under the charge of M. J. B. Krantz, Sen- 

 ator, Commissioner-General, who had directed 

 the construction of the industrial palace in the 

 exhibition of 1867; M. Allain-Launay was the 

 inspector of finances; M. Ladreit de Lachar- 

 rii-re had cliarge of the admissions; M. Dheu 

 edited the catalogues. The director of the 

 French section was M. Dietz-Monnin ; of the 

 foreign section, M. Berger, who had been dep- 

 uty in the same department in 1867; of the 

 agricultural section, M. Tisserand. The Mar- 

 quis de Chennevieres directed the fine-art de- 

 partment. M. de Longperier managed the his- 

 torical art exhibition. The chief of the medical 

 service was M. de Lacharriere. 



The director of the American section was 

 Governor Richard C. McCormick, who remained 

 in America until he had received and arranged 

 all the exhibits; his assistant, Mr. Pettit, who 

 is an experienced engineer and architect, had 

 charge of the American space and buildings in 

 Paris in the mean while, assisted by George 

 Pate. The American directors of sections were 

 five : of installation, Rufus M. Smith ; of ma- 

 chines, Thomas R. Pickering ; of fine arts, D. 

 Maitland Armstrong; of education, John D. 

 Philbrick; of agriculture, William McMurtrie. 

 Mr. McCormick had two secretaries, Messrs. 

 F. W. Clancy and H. W. Girard, and two at- 

 tache's from the military and naval service. A 

 squad of thirty men from the United States 

 marine corps, under the command of a couple 

 of officers, did duty as guard in the American 

 section. 



Preparations. In the allotment of space one 

 half was reserved for France, England taking 

 about one quarter of the remaining half, and 

 Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Russia bespeaking 

 the next largest portions. England was the 

 most forward of the foreign countries in ship- 

 ping the articles of her exhibits. The bales 

 and boxes from all countries were landed at 

 the seaports more rapidly than the railway 

 companies could forward them. The rough 

 weather in the spring also delayed the goods 

 which were shipped by sea. The French de- 

 partments were promptly and systematically 

 prepared from the beginning ; and those for- 

 eign exhibitors who were dilatory at first has- 

 tened their efforts before the day of opening, 

 so that on the 1st of May the exhibition showed 

 few evidences of delay or incompleteness. The 

 space originally calculated upon was increased 

 in the actual building as much as 50 per cent. 

 to meet the requirements of the unexpected 

 number of applicants. There remained a great 

 deal to be done on the buildings within a couple 

 of weeks of the opening day, and there were 

 many who doubted if the Exposition could be 

 inaugurated on the day fixed. Although all 

 was not finished nor the sections filled then 

 nor for several weeks after, still the imperfec- 

 ts were not so glaring as to injure the effect 

 the opening, or greatly disappoint the early 

 visitors. 



The Opening. The Exposition was formally 



opened by President MacMahon, after an ad' 

 dress by the Minister of Commerce, on the 1st 

 of May, 1878. Besides the foreign embassies 

 and the officials of the French Government, 

 there were present at the opening ceremo' 

 nies the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of 

 Denmark, the Duke of Aosta, ex-Queen Isa- 

 bella, and several other foreign magnates. The 

 exercises were accompanied with a great deal 

 of civic and military pomp. In spite of the 

 rainy weather, the houses of the city were 

 decked with flags and streamers, and the streets 

 were thronged with gayly attired citizens, who 

 evinced a cheerful enthusiasm in this festival of 

 their republic. M. Teisserenc de Bort, the Min- 

 ister of Commerce, in his introductory speech, 

 spoke of the palace as a symbol of the aspira- 

 tions of his country for union, concord, civili- 

 zation, and progress. He said that the idea of 

 the exhibition was conceived on the morrow 

 of the day on which the Constitution of the 

 Republic was adopted, and that, in inviting the 

 world to such a competition, the Government 

 of the Republic u indicated its tendencies and 

 the goal to which it wished thenceforth to de- 

 vote its efforts and activity. It testified its 

 faith in the stability and fertility of the insti- 

 tutions which the country had adopted. It pro- 

 claimed its confidence in the sympathies of for- 

 eign governments." In closing the address to 

 the President, he reverted thus to the same 

 ideas: "You will see that France, reassured 

 as to her future, under the eegis of a political 

 regime which is dear to her, has taken a fresh 

 start in energy and activity. You will see that 

 she works with more ardor than ever to mul- 

 tiply those creations which do honor to her 

 artisans, which embellish and render easier the 

 life of peoples, raise the moral level of society, 

 and enhance for the happiness and glory of 

 mankind the benefits of civilization." 



Buildings and Grounds. The palace of the 

 Champ de Mars, with its adjuncts, covered 

 nearly the whole width of the field, about 700 

 yards, and 600 or 700 yards of its length, the 

 remaining 300 or 400 yards being left for the 

 annexes, official buildings, etc. The main build- 

 ing was rectangular in form, instead of oval as 

 in 1867. The space included in the Exposi- 

 tion grounds in the Champ de Mars was about 

 110 acres. The main building covered 270,900 

 square yards (about 70 acres) of this, which was 

 nearly all roofed over, while about 10 acres more 

 were taken up with the annexes. (At Phila- 

 delphia all the buildings, including Memorial 

 Hall, did not cover quite 50 acres.) The gar- 

 den was in front of the main building running 

 to the river, and, including the park of the Tro- 

 cadero, which met it on the opposite side, was 

 about half a mile long and a quarter of a mile 

 broad ; this space, which was interspersed with 

 highly ornamental buildings and pavilions for 

 various purposes, was kept in the highest state 

 of cultivation. The main building was archi- 

 tecturally much superior to the building of 

 1867, and, except the Crystal Palace in Lon- 



