THE PAVILIONS OF THE CITY OF PARIS.--DOMESTIC AND URBAN
SANITATION.--VIEWS OF OLD PARIS.--PALACES OF THE LIBERAL ARTS AND THE
FINE ARTS.--RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION OF LABOR.


The City of Paris desired to have in the Champ de Mars a serious and
useful exhibition, so it began by paying no sort of attention to the
decorative and architectural side of its two pavilions, placed in the
centre of the upper garden between the monumental fountain and the
central dome. It was not afraid, in spite of its surroundings, to
shelter itself within the simplest of buildings in plaster, with a
decoration meagre and accentuated by the needs of construction. In fact,
the large entrance doors, all of wood, were made afterwards and applied
to the plaster, and the same may be said of all the visible woodwork;
but this lack of ingenuousness in the construction is not to be too
severely blamed, since it is a question of pavilions which are to
disappear after an existence of six months. Economical reasons are
always worthy of respect, and the modesty of the Municipal Council on
this occasion ought to be praised. But what one has a right to criticise
is the unhappy idea which placed these pavilions in such a manner as to
completely obstruct the view of the exterior porticos of the palaces and
industrial sections when one stands before the central dome in the
centre of the garden. This criticism once made, there only remains to
give expression to praise of the exhibit made by the city of Paris. Very
well arranged inside, very well considered, it possesses enormous
interest principally from the point-of-view of hygiene and the
sanitation of the city. This is a question much studied for a long time
back, and is one which marches towards a solution which promises to be
perfectly satisfactory in view of the progress already made. Wide
streets have replaced narrow alleys, air circulates freely everywhere,