The invitations sent to other nations were courteously accepted, the
following being those that took part: The Argentine Confederation,
Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador,
Egypt, France (including Algeria), German Empire, Great Britain and her
colonies, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan,
Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Orange Free State,
Persia, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis,
Turkey, United States of Colombia, and Venezuela.

To furnish room for the display of the myriads of articles, five
principal buildings were erected, viz.: the Main Building, 1,876 feet
long and 464 feet wide; the Art Gallery or Memorial Hall, Machinery
Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The exhibition was
formally opened by President Grant, May 1st, and closed by him six
months later. The daily attendance began with about 5,000, but rose to
275,000 toward the close. The total number of visitors was some
10,000,000, and the total receipts, as officially given out, were
$3,761,598. The exhibition was a splendid success in every sense.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876.

Few people to-day understand the danger through which the country passed
in the autumn and winter of 1876. In June, the two great political
parties put their presidential tickets in the field. That of the
Republicans was Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of
New York; of the Democrats, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A.
Hendricks, of Indiana. The Independent Greenback party also nominated a
ticket, at the head of which was the venerable philanthropist, Peter
Cooper, of New York, with Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, the candidate for the
vice-presidency.

There was little difference between the platforms of the two leading
parties. The Democrats declared for _reform_ through all the methods of
the administration. The Republicans were equally loud in their calls for
the reform of every political abuse, and for the punishment of any and
all who made wrongful use of political offices. They also insisted that
the rights of the colored men should be safeguarded, and denounced the
doctrine of State sovereignty, of which there was little to be feared,
since it had been effectually killed by the war.

The Greenbackers made considerable stir. They also used the shibboleth
of reform, but put the currency question before all others. Although the