98

Herald May 27

IT WAS A JOLLY TIME.

PUBLISHERS MEET AT A BANQUET.

Men Who Induce Advertisers to Part With
Hard Cash Enjoy a Feast--Major Handy
Creates a Sensation by Being
Serious on the Fair.

Publishers of most papers have differed
about big and little things during the week
--about the size of the Sunday paper and
kindred subjects. They agreed last night
to one thing--that the banquet closing the
convention was the jolliest affair of the kind
held under the auspices of the Publishers'
association.

The banquet at Kinsley's was well attended.
No one doubted that it would be
otherwise. There is generally fun at a
banquet, and publishers love fun almost as
much as they dote on advertisers.

Last night's banquet was sensational in
on respect--Moses P. Handy was serious.
Of course, at time he was jocose, too, for
" 'tis the nature of the baste," as he says
himself. But for the most part he was
serious. This innovation had a startling
effect on the assembly. The diners
looked keenly at Major Handy. No, there
was nothing wrong with him and he was in
earnest. he was serious, and it was all because
of his devotedness to the world's fair.

The time had come, declared the major,
when adverse criticism of the attendance
at the world's fair should be
squelched. Then he proceeded to do
the squelching himself in sledge-hammer
fashion. He knew, he said, that he was
talking to a big audience, for he
recognized that he was speaking, through
the editors, to the hundreds of thousands
whom they represented. On the principle
that if you give a dog a bad name it is likely
to stick with him, the story about the apathy
of the people toward the fair would be hurtful
beyond measure if not nailed in time.

Rap at Carping Critics.

He begged to remind carping critics
that the Chicago fair differed from
all others ever held in this, that in
the case of the Paris, London, Melbourne,
Glasgow, and Dublin expositions
and all others the people were not allowed
as much as a peep at the buildings until the
formal opening day. In the case of the fair
at Jackson park the experience was just
the reverse. Long before the opening day
he people began visiting the park.

"As a matter of fact, nothing of surmise
about it, and mind you," continued Mr. Handy,
"500,000 was taken in for admission to the
grounds before the opening day. Facts and
figures speak for themselves, and anyone
who doubts what I have said can easily
satisfy himself as to the accuracy of my
statement on this head.

"Just reflect for a moment, gentlemen,
and consider what the contrast between our
exposition and the others I have spoken of
in this respect means. Why, in the case of
these the curiosity of the people was worked
up to the highest pitch, with the result that
a perfect human flood swept into them the
first few weeks after they opened. Now
there is another consideration. What I
have said must not be taken as an admission
that our admissions suffer by comparison
with those of any exposition ever
held on earth. Our attendance under
more favorable conditions of weather
would have been larger. Our attendance
if the gates had been sealed tight until the
opening day would have been immensely
larger; but take the facts as they stand and
what do they show? That the attendance
since May 1 has been greater than the
attendance at any of the previous world's
fairs held." [Loud cheering.]