Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/66

 54 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The exposition as an educational institution. For a student of German municipal institutions the exposition presented a com- pact, concrete exhibit of inestimable worth. It was a lens which focused all municipal activities. It was a rich mine, but one which yielded its treasures only after hard labor. A worthy catalogue would have cost much more time and trouble than were represented by the name-and-number book which was issued as the official catalogue. Many difficulties had to be overcome in the preparation and presentation of such abstractions as city government and municipal activities, and it should probably not cause surprise that so many problems were left unsolved. Plans, statistical tables, and graphic charts formed perforce the bulk of the exhibits. Instead of making use of revolving stands and other such appliances, the directors hung everything on the walls as in a picture gallery. The demand for space was thus so great that many possibly very important charts and tables were quite out of reach. Very few indeed were the exhibits accompanied by explanations even approaching adequacy. An exception was afforded by Breslau, whose exhibits in the various sections were of uniform excellence, and usually accompanied by explanatory literature. The department of public works (Tiefbauamt) of Frankfurt a. M. also had a carefully prepared exhibit. Relations and proportions should have received more attention. As a mat- ter of fact, there was a lack of common understanding among the municipalities, so that some were exhibiting the whole field of their activities, as nearly as might be, while others were exhibiting only their newest, or their best, attainments. Seeing the various exhibits in their relations to each other doubtless afforded much instruction to the exhibiting communities themselves. After all, the undertaking was quite novel, and had no precedent which it could follow. A beginning has been made, and that by no means a discreditable beginning. Any second municipal exposition to be successful would have to adopt the many excellences of this first one. The material collected and presented was, when studied out, full of suggestions and rich in content.

To atone for the shortcomings of the cataloguing and to make the exposition of more educational value, the directors arranged