WEST SHORE.
147
PORTLAND'S GREAT EXPOSITION.
The second annual exposition of the North Pacific Industrial Association
has now been open more than three weeks and has been visited by thousands
of people, not only from every section of the northwest, but from every state
in the union. It is the finest, most attractive, largest, and best managed
fair ever held on the Pacific coast, being far superior to the Me
chanics' Fair now in progress in San Francisco, which was
formerly the leading institution of JL the kind in the
west. Portland has stepped fair- ALf JnS. ly to Uie front
with an exposition that entirely xl;fllllV eclipses
anything ever seen on the f J V coast,
or that will probably be seen ml " HiiA.flV else
where for a long time to
come. The metropolis
of the most rapidly de
veloping and richest
in natural resourc
es of any region
in the United
States, the
commercial
and finan'
cial cen
ter sec
ond only
in import'
ance to San
Francisco, and
making strides that
will enable it to chal
lenge even that great city
ere many years, it is pre-eml
nently the place where the products
and resources of the magnificent conn'
try surrounding it should be gathered for
display. Realising this, several of the most
enterprising and public-spirited citizens three
years ago organized this association, and with infinite
labor, persistence and skill, brought the enterprise to
a successful issue last year, by giving an exposition that
fairly astonished every person who visited it This year they have done even better.
Profiting by the experience gained and having been able to make perfect their original
plans, they have succeeded in accomplishing far more than was before possible. To the
enthusiastic president, Mr. Frank Dekum, the indefatigable superintend'
ent, Mr. E. W. Allen, and the able and energetic gentlemen composing
the board of directors, are due the thanks of their fellow citizens.
an enterprise can only properly be considered a public one, since
chief benefits are conferred upon the city and country It represents,
become an important factor in influencing the growth of all kinds
iness and Industry, and the development of the country. Every ind.
vidua! who depends upon the continued or increased prosperity of the fcS
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great exposition, and should not only give it all the support in his power
to render, but should appreciate the unrequited labors of the gentlemen
who are so successfully conducting it.
Then has been for many years a feeling of hostility toward Portland
by the residents of other localities, growing out of the mistaken Idea
that the interests of the country and city were not Identical, and that
the business men of the latter were oppressing those of the former.
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This erroneous idea is rapidly passing away, and with it the very unfortun
ate conditions that have resulted from it. Long ago the business men of
this city realized that its growth and welfare depended upon Hie prosperity
of the country for hundreds of miles around it, and to promote this they
have taken active steps. They have spent thousands of dollars annually in
maintaining a board of immigration and disseminating Information, the
benefit of which has Inured in a greater degree to outside towns and coun
ties than to the city itself; they have taken an active part in providing
transportation facilities for even the more distant sections; they have sup
plied capital for Industries in hundreds of places; they have done all that
could be done to secure the opening of the Columbia river to continuous
navigation, though it is only recently that certain interested localities have
recognized that fact; they have in many other ways shown a willingness to
invest money for the development of the country, and to take a leading part
in that work, often against the opposition of those to be the most directly
benented by it, and now they have established tills magnificent exposi
tion, where every section of the northwest can have an opportunity
to display its products and resources and advertise its advan
tages to the thousands of visitors who are in search of knowl
edge on these subjects. The drawing closer of the bonds
of fellowship and mutual Interest and helpfulness is
already having its effect everywhere, rational
ism is disappearing. Railroads are binding
all sections together with bands of steel,
and the good of one Is rapidly becom
ing the good of all. Portland is
dally growing prouder of the
magnificent region of which
she is the commercial center,
and the people of that region
are cherishing a more kindly
feeling toward her. They glory in
their metropolis. They point with
pride to her wonderful prosperity, her
rapid growth, her financial solidity, and
her great railroad facilities, the most com-
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plete and extensive on the Paclflo coast. In all this they begin to feel a pro
prietary interest, and that the splendor of their metropolis reflects oredlt upon
themselves, as, indeed, it does, since it is founded upon them, and without
them would speedily fade. This feeling of mutual regard and fraternal help
fulness is to be the key note of progress in the future. It was sounded In the
recent organization of the Oregon Board of Commerce, and is again being
struck In the movement by the press to secure an adequate representation of
the state at the World's Columbian Exposition, and it should be sharp and
clear another season when the time shall come for again oiwnlng the doors of
Portland's great exposition.
One la impressed first upon entering Uie building and making s superficial
examination with the general beauty and attractiveness of the whole, the re
sult of the special adaptation of the structure to the purpose, and the great ar
tistic taste, care and expense lavished upon the interior fittings and the vari
ous ezbibita, both by the managers of Die exposition and the Individual ex
hibitors. This pleasing of Die artistic sense In large effects, reaches Its high
est point In the music hall, where the eye rents upon a scene of beauty wher
ever It may turn, and where nothing unharmonlous can be descried. The
gruat electric tower, with its 2,500 dazzling lights, presents a spectacle both