98
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
gives to small states, whose commissioners have but little to do, the power of having an additional juror, who can go to any jury and give his vote for any purpose he may think proper; whilst another and more important commissioner, from having great occupation, can never exercise this function. This is one evil only, but another must be very apparent : no man can be an expert in all the classes of a great exhibition; therefore it is wrong to give any one the right to act where he is otherwise incompetent.
The fewer the classes or groups into which an exhibition is divided, the greater will be the necessity for forming sectional juries, and this necessitates a more liberal representation than that pointed out above, in Rule V., where, in order to remedy some of the defects noticed, and especially the one most prominent, it should be arranged that twenty-five exhibitors should entitle a nation to one juror ; fifty to two jurors ; and one hundred to three jurors ; after that, one per hundred would be sufficient.
The operations of the Vienna juries began on the 16th of June : that is to say, six weeks after the ceremonial of the opening took place. It was laid down as a sine qua non (Rule XIX.) that they were to terminate on the last day of July. Practically, they only finished a day or two before the announcement of the prizes, on the 18th of August. Experience has shown that the sooner the labors of the juries are begun and finished, the better, because, to the exhibitors who have been so fortunate as to obtain the prizes, it is of the greatest importance that they shall have the longest time possible to benefit by the publicity which the Exhibition gives. Therefore the jury work ought not to begin later than one month after the opening day, and should not be allowed to exceed six weeks’ time.
Whatever prizes are offered in an International Exhibition, their relative values ought to be strictly defined and adhered to. This certainly was not the case at the Vienna Exhibition. An attempt was made to define them in Rule XXII., and the juries gave their awards accordingly, and where an exhibitor showed progress and good taste they awarded him the two medals, and thus in the same way for meritorious work combined with good taste, they gave the medal for Merit and