The war revived many old fairs and led to the es tablishing of new ones. In 1916 the Lyons Fair was opened to "replace that of Leipzig." It was attended by 1342 firms of different nationalities among whom were four Canadian but not one American. The amount of business done exceeded $10,000,000. In 1917, the number of exhibitors increased to 2614, and there were 33 American firms represented. The vol ume of business increased to $36,000,000, not includ ing that done thru catalogs in the United States Bu reau, which alone reached $42,000,000. The third fair, held in 1918, was a still greater success. A per manent exhibition palace has been built.
The Bordeaux Sample Fair is becoming a fair for goods sold or produced in the French colonies. The Paris Fair, revived in 1916, is limited to French in dustry. The Utrecht Fair in Holland has become a permanent institution.
The British Industries Fair is administered by the Board of Trade and "admission to it is restricted to bona fide buyers for home and oversea markets." The Glasgow Industries Fair is limited to domestic producers of chemicals, foodstuffs, cardboard, shoes, hosiery, and textiles. Gottenborg, in Sweden, opened its first fair in 1918.
10. Expositions.—The fairs just discussed must not be confused with expositions. The fundamental difference between them is that at the fair only busi ness men meet IN bile the expositions appeal prin cipally to consumers. The international exposition is expensive and its commercial value is doubtful. It is, therefore, not likely to remain an important factor in foreign trade. The trade fair, restricted to a lim ited range of articles, is likely to take its place.
11. Permanent exhibits.—Of more importance is the permanent exhibit. This may display the goods of the country or only of a section. Barcelona maintains textile exhibits ; there were also export exhibits in Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig. The ex hibits of the California Development Association in San Francisco, and the Deseret Museum in Salt Lake City are some domestic examples.
The object of the exhibit may be to acquaint for eign buyers with the products of the country. The French Commercial Museum in Tunis, the exhibit of Dutch East India products in New York, the Mex ican exhibit in St. Louis, and the Mexican exhibits maintained in connection with their consulates, the Brazilian textile exhibit in Buenos Aires, the Hun garian exhibits in Albanian cities are of this char acter. The Japanese have recently established a
number of such exhibits in South American cities. Fifty English manufacturers have combined in bold ing periodic exhibits of their goods in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, apparently with satisfactory results.
The exhibit may be one of foreign products to allow the home manufacturers to acquaint themselves with the products of their competitors in foreign markets. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce maintains traveling exhibits and also a permanent ex hibit of goods sold in foreign markets in connection with its office in New York. The English Board of Trade, previous to the war, had a permanent exhibit of over 13,000 samples of German and Austrian goods and a library of some 10,000 German catalogs.
Business men who are asked to support these ex hibits can hardly epect to receive immediate or direct returns on their investment. Promoters of such ex hibits sometimes undertake active selling campaigns for their subscribers but do not often meet with suc cess. The number of articles represented in an ex hibit is usually too large to make it possible for one man or small group of men to sell them effectively. The management of the exhibit will ordinarily do well to limit itself to keeping it up to date, distributing catalogs to interested visitors and giving information and advice.
12. The commercial the commercial museum no attempt is made to close sales. The ex hibits are for the purpose of disseminating informa tion. Frequently a foreign trade bureau is an ad junct of the museum and provides business men with guidance in difficult problems.
In this country the only commercial museum worth mentioning is the Philadelphia Commercial Museum. This institution, supported by the city of Philadel phia, the State of Pennsylvania, and by private sub scription, ranks as the best museum in the world. Among the purely educational work may be men tioned the lectures which are sent out by the lecture bureau to schools thruout the state. These lectures deal with various countries or with certain industries and are illustrated by lantern slides furnished by the museum. Attractive cabinets containing samples of the principal raw articles of commerce are sold to high schools and colleges for a nominal price.