CHAPTER IV.

THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE EXPOSITION.

Nearly a Quarter of a Million People Present— President Cleveland Presses the Magic Electric Button at
Noon, May 1, 1893, and tne Monster Allis Engine in Machinery Hall is Set in Motion Amidst the
Booming of Cannon, the Blowing of Trumpets, the Ringing of Bells, the Unfurling of Hags and
the Vociferations of the Multitude— The White Palaces Abloom and Ablaze with Color— Twenty
Thousand Flags are Unfurled— Half a Hundred Foreign Emblems Cheered by the People Who
Live Under Them— The Orchestra Play the National Hymn and Thousands of Patriotic Men and
Women Join in the Chorus— The Spectacle as Seen From the Administration Building— President
Cleveland's Address

AY i, 1893, was the greatest and grandest day in the his-
tory of Chicago — and an interesting and important one
to the world — for it was the day of the official opening
of the World's Columbian Exposition. As Columbus
achieved success only after peril and disappointment,
so the Exposition which was to honor the four hun-
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by the
noble navigator attained completeness only after many
months of internecine conflicts and misunderstandings,
and long-continued tempestuousness of weather never
before, experienced throughout the great city upon the
waters of Lake Michigan. It was not expected that
the Exposition would reach perfection of readiness at
exactly the day set for the opening exercises, even if
the winter's storms of winds and rains and snows had been less destructive and
severe, because no great exposition has been strictly complete in all its depart-
ments upon its opening day. As the fashionable party woman disdains to be-
come the first arrival at the house of her entertainer, so the experienced exhib-
itor at all great expositions hangs back until some less punctilious or more heed-
less one opens the installation ball.

But notwithstanding the "winter of their discontent," the Exposition authori-
ties were so well aware of the proximity to completeness of their great show that
President Cleveland was invited to come to Chicago and press the magic button
which should make the enormous Allis engine throb, and say to the world that he
had officially opened their Columbian Exposition. This the President of the United
States did at 12 o'clock (Meridian), on Monday, May i, 1893, m the presence of
nearly a quarter of a million of people, amidst the unfurling of thousands of flags,

COMMISSIONERS WORLD'S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION.

1. ALEXANDER B. ANDREWS,
North Carolina.

6. WM. MclNTYHE,

South Dakota.

7. ARCHELAUS M. COCHHAN,

Texas.
12. RICHARD MANSFIELD WHITE,

New Mexico.
18. OTHNEIL BEESON,

Oklahoma.

2. THOS. B. KEOGH,

North Carolina.
5. MERRITT H. DAY,

South Dakota.
8. JOHN T. DICKINSON,

Texas.
11. THOMAS 0. GCTIERRES,

New Mexico.
14. FRANK R. GAMMON,
Oklahoma.

8. R. B. RICKETTS,

Penney Ivania*
1. JOHN W. WOODSIDE,
Pennsylvania.

9. GEORGE F. Co ATS,

Arizona.
10. WM. K. MEADE,

A rizona.

15. FREDERICK J. KIESEL,
Utah.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 157.

the sounding of trumpets, the booming of cannon and the vociferations of the vast
multitude.

To be strictly correct, at precisely 12:08 o'clock President Cleveland stepped
forward and placed his finger on the golden key. The white-coated sailor stand-
ing at the main mast before the Presidental box tugged madly at the rope which
bound the mighty flag in place. Slowly it fell and the wind swept its silken folds out
over the seething mass of people below. They hailed it with wild cheers, and at the
sign other flags leaped and blossomed from the thousand masts. At the right the
crimson and gold of Spain fluttered beneath the gorgeous caravel. At the left
the flag of the great Columbus fell from the folds which bound it. Down the long
white roof line of Machinery Hall ran a sudden burst of crimson flame. From every
tower and parapet fell and fluttered some brilliant ensign. The white palaces were
abloom and ablaze with color. Citizens of half a hundred nations looked upward
and cheered the flag of their devotion.

At the instant the drapery fell from the golden figure of the "Republic,"
backed by the classic peristyle, she stood forth in radiant beauty welcoming the
world. From the electric fountains jets of water shot a hundred feet into the air,
the mist falling upon the upturned faces of the cheering crowd. But above their
cheers came the deep thunder of the guns fired from the white and gold hull of the
Michigan lying in the harbor. Steam whistles filled the air with a shrill din and the
deep chiming of far-off bells added to the uproar. President Cleveland bowed and
smiled and shook hands with Director-General Davis. The orchestra struck up
the strain of the national hymn, and with one voice 10,000 human beings in the throng
before the platform carried the swelling chorus.

The Duke of Veragua stepped forward and congratulated the Director-Gen-
eral and the people broke into a tremendous shout. Back from the post of honor
the guests slowly passed, the thunder of the guns over the lake still coming to their
ears. Gondolas and launches, laden with flags, shot and skimmed over the waters
like things alive. In a hundred directions the great crowd surged at once. Like a
torrent released from a dam which holds it, it beat and broke. On every hand the
White City was crowned with flags, running the gamut of color, but above the
splendor of imperial banners the starry folds of "Old Glory" rose and fell, dearer
to every patriotic eye than all the rest. Men pressed about the Presidential box
and tore pieces of cloth from its sides as mementoes of the occasion. Ladies
crushed into the jam were lifted over the rail and hurried to places of safety. The
strain was over. The Columbian Exposition had been opened to the world.

When the President touched the golden key on the table in front of him, that
act opened an electric current, in a wire circuit 3,000 feet in length, which connected
the key with the minute temporary motors placed at the Allis engine and the
Worthington pump for the occasion. The subsequent process was a little different
at these two places.

At the Allis engine the wire passed through a beautiful-mounted box of
polished oak, a foot square, containing an electro-automatic engine-stop. As the
key was touched the electric current energized a magnet within the box; the magnet

158 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

attracted its armature; and the movement of the armature released a trigger, and
set off a coiled spring inclosed in a brass drum. The recoil of the spring revolved
the axis of the drum and a sprocket-wheel on the outside of the box. The
sprocket-wheel was connected by a brass drive-chain with the sprocket-wheel that
opened the throttle, and in less than a second after the President touched the but-
ton these sprocket-wheels had made a dozen revolutions, the throttle had been
thrown open, and the ponderous fly-wheel of the engine slowly awoke to life and
began to turn.

So it was at the pumping-station. When the President touched the key a
magnet connected with an electric valve was energized. The armature was at-
tracted to the magnet and at the same time operated a miniature steam chest on a
miniature cylinder. This admitted steam through a pipe no larger than a pipe-
stem into one end of the miniature cylinder, and when the piston moved it opened
the throttle of the great machine. The steam rushed into the great cylinders, and
the immense pump, fifty feet high, gave a sigh and began to heave its enormous
burden of 15,000,000 gallons of water a day.

The life and motion of the Allis engine and the Worthington pump were
contagious. In Machinery Hall at least thirty great engines, as if they had heard
the ringing of the gong on the electro-automatic engine-stop, started up into life
with a roar and thrashed the air with their immense fly-wheels like a cyclone. So
in the pumping station, the Worthington vertical was joined instantly by the Worth-
ington horizontal and the Worthington triple expansion, the three together, puff-
ing and groaning, forcing water into the great mains at the rate of 40,000,000 gallons
a day.

What President Cleveland really touched was a key similar to that seen on
nearly all telegraphic instruments. There is this difference, however, that the
ordinary key is made of brass and the push is made of hard rubber, while the key
that played such an important part in the ceremonies of the opening day is made
of gold and has a button of ivory. The reason for this is that it was manufactured
for this express purpose by E. S. Greeley & Co., of New York, who only loaned it
for one day, and who expect to treasure it as a souvenir of the occasion.

The key is mounted on a three-tiered pedestal, which measures 24x18 inches
at the bottom of 16x10 inches at the top. The horizontal surfaces of the pedestal
are covered with blue, in honor of the United States, and its vertical surfaces with
golden yellow plush, in honor of Spain. On the side of the lowest tier, in silver
figures, is seen "1492-1893."

The spectacle, as seen from the roof of the Administration Building, was
grand and enlivening. As early as 9 o'clock two thousand people had crowded be-
fore the circular platform on which the Presidental party was to sit. A drizzling
rain was falling and the streets were heavy with yellow mud. Wagons piled high
with ferns and palms were pushing their way through the crowd. Stretching their
long lines diagonally from either end of the great platform troops were drawn up
at present arms. By 10 o'clock the Iowa State band of sixty musicians in gay uni-
form, plodded their way through the mud and disappeared in the direction of the

DUKE OF VERAGUA.

160 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

State Building. The water had been let into the MacMonnies fountain, and the
dolphins and sea horses were afloat once more in their native element. Against
the gray, gloomy skies the white palaces stood out in burnished beauty. On every
roof men, looking from the ground like ants, were climbing about, pulling up the
thousand flags and banners in readiness for the touch of the President's finger
which would give them to the breeze.

With every moment the crowd grew. Looking down upon it 250 feet above
the earth, the hats and upturned faces, varied here and there by the bright bonnets
of the women, seemed like the constantly changing facets of a kaleidoscope. Over
the green waters of the white-walled basin electric launches pushed their way.
About them the white-winged gulls soared and circled. Now and then a gaudy
gondola shot by. Slowly the platform filled, and as the members of the diplo-
matic corps, in their gaudy costumes, and the army officers, in all the glory of gold
and crimson and black, took their places, the scene from above was a brilliant
one.

At 10:30 o'clock, as if by providential interference, the clouds suddenly lifted
and a golden gleam of sunshine fell upon the pure white beauty of the peristyle.
The crowd, by this time numbering 25,000 people, greeted the sun with a cheer.
Suddenly from the west forty Indian chiefs, led by Rain-in-the-Face, in all the bar-
baric splendor of red and yellow, pressed their way through the crowd. Again the
expectant and impatient crowd struck up a cheer.

Far down on the projecting platform where the seats of the Presidental party
were placed, men were laying Turkish rugs and preparing the last decorations.
With the coming of the sunlight the waterproof which had covered the table upon
which rested the golden key was removed. Mounted on a pillow of blue and crimson
velvet the magical golden emblem rested upon the folds of a flag. Men, pressing
closely about the circumference of the platform, saw it as it glistened and greeted
it with a cheer. All about the high columns and the jutting ledges of the east front
of the Administration Building, men and women climbed and dangled in dangerous
and exposed positions. From the little jets in the basin of the MacMonnies foun-
tain water spouted into the air. The sky began to clear and great sweeps of sap-
phire stood ravishingly out against the prevailing clouds of gray; and on all the
buildings, high upon pillar and parapet, human beings swarmed.

The following is the address of the President upon opening the Fair:

I am here to join my fellow-citizens in the congratulations which befit this
occasion. Surrounded by the stupendous results of American enterprise and
activity, and in view of magnificent evidences of American skill and intelligence,
we need not fear that these congratulations will be exaggerated. We stand today
in the presence of the oldest nations of the world and point to the great achieve-
ments we here exhibit, asking no allowance on the score of youth.

The enthusiasm with which we contemplate our work intensifies the warmth
of the greeting we extend to those who have come from foreign lands to illustrate
with us the growth and progress of human endeavor in the direction of a higher
civilization.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 161

We who believe that popular education and the stimulation of the best im-
pulses of our citizens lead the way to a realization of the proud national destiny
which our faith promises, gladly welcome the opportunity here afforded us to see the
results accomplished by efforts which have been exerted longer than ours in the
field of man's improvement, while in appreciative return we exhibit the unparalleled
advancement and wonderful accomplishments of a young nation, and present the
triumphs of a vigorous, self-reliant and independent people. We have built these
splendid edifices, but we have also built the magnificent fabric of a popular govern-
ment, whose grand proportions are seen throughout the world. We have made
and here gathered together objects of use and beauty, the products of American
skill and invention. We have also made men who rule themselves.

It is an exalted mission in which we and our guests from other lands are en-
gaged, and we co-operate in the inauguration of an enterprise devoted to human
enlightenment; and in the undertaking we here enter upon we exemplify in the
noblest sense the brotherhood of nations.

Let us hold fast to the meaning that underlies this ceremony, and let us not
lose the impressiveness of this moment. As by a touch the machinery that gives
life to this vast Exposition is now set in motion, so at the same instant let our hopes
and aspirations awaken forces which in all time to come shall influence the welfare,
the dignity, and the freedom of mankind.

[The President then touched the key before him.]

THE KEY WHICH PRESIDENT CLEVELAND TOUCHEU

ED. PINAUD'S PERFUMERY PAVILION, MANUFACTURES BUILDING.