34 — 
THF WORLD’S PAIRS 
The conditions vary with every day, 
and if therefore the matter is left open or 
unsettled for any length of time, endless 
complications, law suits and other dia- 
asters ensue, At Vienna, many tradesmen 
found ruin, instand of profit, in contracting 
for the exhibition, from this very reaaon, 
Similar objectiona can be made to the 
work of the Commiaaiona. In federal 
conntries like the German Empire or the 
United Statea, there is usually a Central 
Commission named, with as many sub- 
commissions, as there are sovereign 
countries or States. As the General- 
Direction of the exhibition reserves the 
right of action on many questions of 
detail, there is often a lengthy four- 
handed correspondance going on be- 
tween the exhibitor, the sub-commission, 
the central-commission and the director- 
general. In the official bureaux, letters 
are usually copied by band, and this be- 
comes also one of the principal causes of 
delay. Here at least the remedy would be 
easy by ineans of a general introduction 
of the copying-press. 
It often takes months and months before 
the exhibitor can obtain any decisive 
answer, and as he is a business man, for 
whom time is money, the delay not only 
often doubles and trebles the expense of