CHAPTER IV.

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
The Selection of Hon. Walter Fearn as Chief— A Difficult Task at First— Mr. Fearn's Own Conceptions of the Duties Imposed Upon Him— None Doubted T\it the Gallant Diplomatist Was Equal to the Task— His Brilliant Achievements are Reflected in Every Portion of Jackson Park— Sketch of Walter Fearn— Soldier, Scholar, Traveler and Gentleman— One of the Most Elegant and Fas- cinating Americans at Home and Abroad.
rERHAPS the most unpromising affiliation at first was from distant countries, especially from a number whose govern- ments have experienced occasional strained relations not long before. It was, therefore, and for other reasons, that Hon. Walter Fearn was selected as chief of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and much of the success that has resulted from the assemblage of more than half a hundred nations and exhibits of the mechanism and other handiwork must be at- tributed to the diplomatic knowledge and statesmanship of Walker Fearn. There is no more polished gentleman in the United States and few men of more rare attainments. Mr- Fearn's own conception of the demands upon him is best reflected in the following contribution: The purpose of the Department of Foreign affairs of the Columbian Expo- sition has been, and is, to> encourage and stimulate by the best and most effective methods the participation of foreign nations in the great international episode which is to mark the close of the nineteenth century.
To accomplish this a regular and systematic correspondence has been estab- lished, which now extends throughout the habitable globe, and embraces names distinguished in science, literature, art and commerce.
From the very first it was felt that the most difficult task was the removal of the strong and universal prejudice, often amounting to positive resentment, caused by our own exclusve fiscal policy. However opinions may honestly differ as to the practical wisdom of protection or free trade, there can be but one touching the effect of a prohibitive policy upon a great international assemblage of artists and handicraftsmen, whose logical condition is an appeal, consciously or uncon- sciously, to what has been termed the inalienable right of every human being to buy and sell in the best market.
How far this cause has operated unfavorably it is of course impossible to say, but we may confidently predict, even now, a more complete, brilliant and instruct-
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ive display of the world's work than has ever before been gathered together — a display which may teach us how much we have to learn from the highly culti- vated nations of the Old World, notwithstanding our own unrivaled progress in the acquisition of wealth and power.
While it has been our duty to lighten the labors of the Director General and assist our co-workers of the various departments in everything connected with the representation of foreign countries, it has also been our pleasing task to minister to the wants of the foreign ministers themselves, furnishing them with all requisite information and welcoming them with the cordiality shared by our whole commu- nity. WALKER FEARN.
Walker Fearn was born in Huntsville, Ala., descending from a long line of Virginian ancestors. His grandfather, John W. Walker, for whom he was named, was president of the convention which framed the constitution preceding Ala- bama's admission as a State of the Union. Walker Fearn entered Yale College in 1849 and graduated with honor three years later. Having read law with the late Justice Campbell, he was admitted to the bar on his twenty-fifth birthday and soon entered into active practice, but in 1853 began his varied experience in foreign lands by accepting a post of secretary of legation at Brussels, subsequently occupy- ing the same position in Mexico. In 1861 he was one of the Confederate commis- sioners to the European powers, and returned to Charleston under the fire of the blockading fleet.
Entering the Southern army, Mr. Fearn was at first assigned to the staff of General Joseph E. Johnson, then commanding in Virginia. In 1863 he was again employed in the diplomatic service, first in Europe with Colonel L. Q. C. Lamar, afterward Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and then to Mexico with General William Preston. His final military service was as Adjutant General of the trans-Mississippi department under General Kirby Smith, and here the close of hostilities found him. After his marriage with Miss Hewitt, of Kentucky, in 1866, Mr. Fearn devoted himself to the practice of law in New Orleans, and held the professorship of modern languages in the University of Louisiana until 1884, when he visited Europe as Commissioner of the New Orleans exposition. He was ap- pointed by President Cleveland Minister to Greece, Roumania and Servia and dis- charged the duties of his office with marked ability. By his experience and ac- quaintance abroad he was pre-eminently fitted for the management of the department which the Director General invited him, and his administration of the office has added to his already high reputation as a scholar and diplomat.
All the other chiefs at times during the progress of the work were more or less engaged in planning — to the best of their knowledge and ability — for those suc- cesses that crowned their efforts, descriptions of which will appear in other chap- ters.
HISTORY OF THE WORDL'S FAIR.
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