Historical Sketch. 635 



buildings will resist the wear of the elements for a long time if kept 

 painted, and the project was possible. The grandeur of the court 

 whose fame had been carried to every corner of the earth, would have 

 attracted visitors by the thousands and have been a scene of beauty 

 and inspiration worth every trouble to preserve it. The deliberations 

 of the exposition and park officials on the subject were cut abruptly by 

 the spirit of vandalism which broke out in South Chicago in the winter 

 of 1893-1894, and one after another the structures inclosing the court 

 were destroyed by incendiary hres. 



The great exposition has become history. Its record is incomparably 

 above any that has preceded it, and it has set a standard difficult to 

 attain by its successors. It will be known as the crowning industrial 

 achievement of the close of the nineteenth century, and it attests not 

 only the courage, genius and progress of the city which built it, but 

 also of the whole American people who sustained and supported it. 



