360 
PARIS UNIVERSAL 
in the movement, but the shortness of the time allowed for 
preparation stood seriously in the way of success and could 
not be overcome. Hundreds of ingenious mechanics, and 
many heavy manufacturers, miners and others, who would 
have cheerfully placed their products and inventions at the 
disposal of the Commission, were debarred from so doing by 
the impossibility of getting them ready before the first of Jan¬ 
uary, at which time it was imperative that every thing should 
be in New York. 
Still another circumstance brought embarrassment: the 
limit of time for making application for space in the Palace of 
Exposition had been long since passed, and not a foot of space 
would now be granted by the Imperial Commission. Fortu¬ 
nately, however, acting in the name of the State Agricultural 
Society, I had secured a liberal amount of room for such con¬ 
tributions as at least ought to be sent to Paris, and the 
Government was kind enough to allow an assignment of this 
space to the State Commission, and thus that obstacle was re¬ 
moved. This application for space had been such as to induce 
the belief that there could be no possibility, within so short a 
time, of securing contributions enough to crowd it, and accord¬ 
ingly several articles of considerable bulk, such as plows, har¬ 
rows, grain seeders, sorghum mills, shingle machines, wagons, 
iron safes, sash and doors, and threshing machines were en¬ 
gaged of mnufacturers who could forward them on short notice 
and were anxious to do so; but then, at the last moment 
orders came from the United States Agent, at.New York, to 
accept nothing of much bulk, as the American Department 
was likely to be overcrowded; and thus many valuable con¬ 
tributions were reluctantly ruled out. 
Scarcely less trying than these was the fact lhat neither the 
Board of Trade nor yet the Legislature, upon which the duty 
properly devolved, had made any provision whatever for 
meeting the necessary expenses of handling, transportation, 
cartage, &c., to New York and thence to Paris, in case any of 
them—as many of them were likely to—should arrive at the 
seaboard too late for the government vessel assigned to that 
