The Indianapolis times. [volume], March 30, 1936, Final Home Edition, Second Section, Page PAGE 12, Image 12

About The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965

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PAGE 12
The Indianapolis Times
(A ftCßirrS-HOWAKI) 3BWBFAPKR)
rot W. HOWARD President
LUDWKLL DENNY Editor
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paper Enterprise Association.
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Audit Bureau of Circulations.
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aide of ludiana, 65 cents a month.
Phone Riley 5551
sssri -
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five LlQht Arid the
People TT(II Find
Their Own Way
_ MONDAY. MARCH 30. 1938.
TWO CENTS A MILE
■pVANIEL WILLARD, head of the B. & 0., an
nounces that his road intends to establish the
2-cent fare in June regardless of what the other
Eastern railroads, who are protesting, do about it.
Intere.ting in this connection was a talk we had
the oth.;r day with a railroad man from the West,
where the lower rates have been in effect for some
time and where real results have been shown. In
substance this is what he said:
“Investigations in our territory have shown that
of all passenger business lost to the motors, on
highway and in the air, 90 per cent has gone to the
private automobile, only 7 per cent to the bus and
3 per cent to the airplane. Hence our job has been
to fix a rate that will successfully compete with our
chief opponent—the private car. We think 2 cents
a mil? does it.
To compete, we have to consider the actual out
of-pocket cost to the private car owner, as the base.
That means just gas and oil. The psychology of the
private car owner won’t figure anything beyond that.
The fact that depreciation is working, that repairs
must be made, that new tires must be bought, and
that the car some time will have to be junked, just
doesn’t enter into the picture. The owner looks at
it this way—‘l own the car and might as w;ll use
it, unless I can go cheaper by train.’ And cheaper
means less than cost of gas and oil. Like it or not,
we have to accept that as our competitive problem."
From the point of view of railroad operation it
costs very little more to run a full passenger car
than an empty. “The difference is infinitesimal,"
said this railroad man. “It can't even be figured in
our accounting.”
Trains have to be run anyway. The crews have
to be on them. The fixed capital investment is there.
And all that. Schedules are required under the In
terstate Commerce Commission rules. So why not
a rate that will fill the empties? That’s the reason
ing that prompted the Western roads to their re
ductions, and it’s what is prompting Willard to
break away from his Eastern associates who, for
some cause or another, don’t see the light.
Anyway, as it appears to us, it’s the old story of
Marcus Loew all over again; of his practically empty
theater at $2 a head, and of the bright idea which
made Loew millions—“ More people have got a dime
than have got a dollar."
He filled his theaters by acting on that, and the
railroads may fill their trains by applying the same
general economic philosophy.
LONG LIVE THE JULEP
WRIT deeply in the folk lore of the Blue Grass
is the rule, “Once a colonel, always a colonel.”
But graven even deeper in Kentucky’s faith is
reverence for the one and only recipe for concocting
the renowned mint julep. The julep, says Kentucky,
is probably constructed only by a perfect blending of
three ingredients—gently bruised mint, crushed ice
and a liberal dose of bourbon, plus of course that
noble nosegay, the sprig of fragrant mint which
stands sentinel.
And we suspect that if all the truth were known,
a clash of these two traditions would be found at the
bottom of Gov. “Happy” Chandler's summary cash
iering of the whole kit and kaboodle of the 17,000
who claim membership in the gubernatorial guard
of iionor.
For there have been ugly rumors that some
holders of colonelcy commissions have so misread
the directions as to crush the mint and bruise the
ice; that some quartered on Manhattan Island have
gone so far as to decorate the mint sprig with a
cherry, while in the Chicago outpost some have
actually substituted applejack for bourbon. Worse
still is the report that in Hollywood they are adding
such foreign substances as orange peel and pineapple
slices.
Ex-Gov. Laffoon excused his promiscuous issuing
of commissions by saying that his colonels “adver
tised” Kentucky. Very bad advertising, suh, in the
case of those “cunnels” who sported as sidearms
frost-incrusted glasses containing the unpalatable
potions described above.
Rather than put the state to the expense of
wholesale courts-martial, perhaps Gov. Chandler de
cided it would be better to disband the whole regi
ment, and then reissue commissions to those who
prove they really know how to make a julep and
are therefore worthy of the distinction.
TOO MUCH SILENCE
Raymond clapper writes;
“While other seekers after the Republican
presidential nomination are talking, cocksure of all
the answers, Gov. Landon is holding his tongue and
studying. One question to which he is devoting
much thought is unemployment, and how industry
can absorb the labor surplus.”
That somehow is reminiscent of the “strong, si
lent man” mystery built up around another budget
balancer, while the country kept cool with Coolidge,
as it skidded toward the precipice.
We have been pleased occasionally to commend
Gov. Landon for the moderation he has shown in
his campaign lor the presidential nomination, for his
unwillingness to run in herd with other Republican
candidates, for his fairness in admitting that the
Roosevelt Administration has accomplished many
worthwhile reforms.
This intelligent campaigning technique has given
Gov. Landon such a commanding lead that we now
find on his bandwagon a clutter of political fair
weather fellows including ex-Senator Edge of New
Jersey, ex-Treasury Secretary Ogden Mills, ex-
Postmaster General Walter Brown, and the New
York and Connecticut Old Guard Republican bosses,
Charley Hilles and Henry Roraback.
It wouldn’t be fair to blame the Governor for
this crowd. They are there principally because they
think he is a winner. But they probably are also
there in part because they hope if he does win he
will play their game. And unfortunately for the
Governor, in public as well as in private life, a man
Is Judged to a great extent by the company he keeps.
We are encouraged by Mr. Clapper's assurance
that Mr. Landon is giving “much thought” to un
employment. Certainly there is no evidence that
anybody in the crowd around him has gone in for
heavy cerebration on this problem. Indeed, they are
men who were In high places when unemployment
came into being as a major national liability. And
their impotence or unwillingness ter deal with it i;
what caused the American people to drive the Re
publican Party out of power.
The “strong, silent man” act may be prudent
politics in the early phases of a nomination contest.
But the Cleveland convention draws near. And no
man has a right to ask a political party to nominate
him for the presidency until he first tells what he
thinks he could do about this and other national
problems which press for solution.
It is about time for Mr. Landon to take the public
into his confidence.
HUMAN BEINGS ARE INVOLVED
THROUGHOUT the depression, unemployment
has been worst in the heavy industries. And
those who have opposed all forms of government
policing of the labor and financial policies of busi
ness have argued that, let alone, these industries
would go after a bigger volume of business and
absorb vast numbers of the unemployed.
Vin Sweeney, writing from Pittsburgh, reports
current developments in two of the heavy industries
—steel and coal.
Steel is going after a bigger volume. Two hun
dred million dollars are being spent building new
steel plants and modernizing old plants. But the
new equipment is the type which displaces man
power and cuts labor costs. And now with steel pro
duction better than the average over the last 10
years, and getting better, an executive of the Steel
Institute says:
“It is doubtful whether the ste ’ industry, with
its rolls nearly full, can rightly be expected to ab
sorb any appreciable number of workers from the
general ranks of unemployed.”
And in the coal ir '.ustry, where in the last 10
years 100,000 miners have been displaced by ma
chines and another 100,000 by the substitution of
gas and electric power, the head of the largest coal
producing company in the world says:
“Os the present 500,000 bituminous coal miners,
at least one-half will be replaced by machinery with
in the next 10 years.”
Os course, to the extent that these industries pass
on lower production costs to consumers in the form
of lower prices, purchasing power will be increased,
consumption increased and production increased.
And new labor opportunities will be created for the
men displaced.
But a man may be a good steel mill hand or a
good coal miner, yet not at all equipped to take
advantage of these “new labor opportunities” in
other lines of activity.
To help cope with this tremendous human la
bor problem, the national Administration has es
tablished the framework of. a nation-wide unemploy
ment insurance system to give to disemployed work
ers a minimum of a few weeks’ compensation to tide
them over while they look for other jobs. But the
key to this system is state co-operation, and in only
12 states have co-operating laws been placed on the
statute books. In the other 36 states, even this
pittance of protection is withheld.
A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
T TER name is Mrs. Murphy. 'When we drove up
the lane leading to the narrow frame farm
house, she was hoeing in the garden where rows of
green were delicately stitched over the dark earth.
Ground and trees held the sheen of spring.
Mrs. Murphy’s husband is a tenant farmer now.
They had come from Missouri, a state that breeds
good farmers. The surroundings, clean as a rain
swept spruce tree, testified already to their industry.
The Missouri farm had been lost, Mrs. Murphy
told us, to the mortgage company. They had decided
on Oklahoma and here they were, and a sightly spot
she called it even if she did get a little homesick
sometimes.
The baby chickens were cute, she thought. Wom
en especially liked to see them. She had 275
hatched, and now housed in a warm place in the
barn. The white hens that roamed over the barn
yard and meadow were beginning to lay too, and
she had a few old “Domineckers” that wanted to set.
Commotion was going on in the guinea flock.
They’re always like that, Mrs. Murphy told us, “put
racking” all over the place until you can’t hear your
self think, and a great nuisance. But some seasons
city folks like breast of guinea hen on their hotel
menus, and there’d be a little money out of them
then. Other years there’s no market at all. Farmers
had to take chances; there Vas never any telling
what people might take a sudden notion to.
How about seeing the canned vegetables? We’d
like that, so she proudly displayed jars of okra,
spinach, corn, beets and peas. Then she opened a
crock of pickles and we each fished one out; their
sweet tartness was delicious to the tongue.
As we climbed out of the cool cellar into the
warm sunlight, she thrust a quart of string beans at
each of us. Her folks were tired of them anyhow.
She waved good-by; a shapeless, sturdy woman in
a gray sweater and skirt; with wind-burned skin and
uncurled hair. But she has something tender and
zestful and courageous in her face that one does not
often see in the faces of city-bred women. I hope I
get better acquainted with Mrs. Murphy. I need her
kind now.
HEARD IN CONGRESS
SENATOR RUSSELL <D., Ga.l: There are now
51 institutions asking to be allowed to secure
the great benefits of having one of these (military
training) institutions to build up young men phys
ically and spiritually and morally through the
course of training that is prescribed by these ROTC
units ... ✓
Senator Benson (F.-L., Minn.): Mr. President, I
presume the spiritual training to which the Senator
refers comes from the bayonet practice the boys
get at the schools.
# # *
SENATOR COPELAND (D., N. Y.); Mr. President,
I may never be an angel, but I want to be on
the side of the angels. I know I am on the side
of the angels when I say that the great majority
of the people of this country are in sympathy
with what w r e are trying to do for youth. ' On
the other hand, the subversive groups ... are all
on the side of doing away with the ROTC . . .
Senator Benson (F.-L., Minn.): The Senator has
made several remarks in very beautiful language
about insurrections in colleges and among college
students, and has spoken very eloquently—
Senator Copeland: Mr. Presic: .nt, I have not
said a word about insurrections in colleges. . . .
If the Senator will confine his remarks to what I
have said, I shall be well pleased.
Senator Benson: I may have misunderstood the
Senator, but I think I understand English. ... If
we want to educate Army officers, let us do it at
West Point. *
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
Squaring
the Circle
With
THE HOOSIER EDITOR
ASK any of the 200 deputy coun
ty assessors, now engaged in
finding out what you have that’s
taxable, and they’ll tell you the
whole affair is a pretty grim busi
ness.
As grim, they’ll say, as you might
gather from the replies of a woman
written on the blank list by her
when she was in a defensive state
of mind.
They follow:
Q —Dogs: male and female?
A—Ain’t got no dog.
Q—ls real estate is owned by wife,
give her name in full.
A—No, we don’t own no real es
tate. We are just poor little
creatures living as catch can.
Q —Name of husband?
A—Ain’t got no husband.
O— DO you own real estate in this
township?
A—No sir. I don’t own nothing.
I am under the city.
Q —Value of additional improve
ments made since March 1, 1935.
A—Ain’t got no improvements but
just sitting on the city.
Q—Where are such improvements
located?
A—l have not got no improve
ments any further than the city.
Under intangible personal prop
erty she listed, among other house
hold goods, one two-eyed heater.
I
nun
ONE of the big stumbling blocks,
the assessors say, is that people
insist on putting their party affilia
tion in the space reserved for poll
tax.
Another is that they disclaim all
ownership of more than one dog,
even jvhen two or three are in plain
sight playing around, to escape the
$5 tax for each additional dog over
one. When asked to explain, the
usual answer is that the dogs be
long to someone else and are just
being kept.
Also some people insist on going
over the entire list and adding
“none” after each item. This is very
hard on erasers, the assessors say.
And then the head of a house will
declare SIOO worth of property,
wearing a diamond ring and some
times a big sparkler in his tie.
The assessors say it is all in fun.
u u
“rpOBACCO ROAD,” the dusty
saga of Jeeter Lester's brood,
has just passed its 1000th perform
ance in New York. Three com
panies are on the rdad with the
play. Most Broadway critics panned
the play after its first showing,
urged it to close.
To slap back at those who said
it wouldn’t last, producers have
tacked the following line onto their
ads:
“Last four years—hurry.”
tt a u
TN 120-point headletter, than which
there should never be a blacker
bit of type, there hangs voday on
the locker of a printer in a local
composing room this strident echo
of Diogenes:
“Will the gentleman who took my
pants from my locker please return
them?”
It’s been there a couple of days.
The pants loser is thinking of get
ting out anew edition, changing
the text slightly, beginning with the
third word.
TODAY’S SCIENCE
BY DAVID DIETZ
WITH floods in the East and
dust storms in the West, the
time is ripe to read “Deserts on the
March,” by Dr. Paul B. Sears. Prof.
Sears is the head of the department
of botany at the University of Okla
homa. He writes with the skill and
wit of a top-r.otch novelist and the
dramatic fervor of one of the Old
Testament prophets.
You will find “Deserts on the
March” an exciting experience as
well as a timely warning which the
nation must heed for its own future
welfare.
Prof. Sears has approached the
national problem with the discern
ing eye of the botanist. He sees man
as part of the scheme of nature, a
discordant part bent on upsetting
the rest of the scheme. He warns us
that man has not been successful
at this in the past and will not be
in the future.
He traces the decline of ancient
civilization, notably the Maya civili
zation in this country. Then he tells
the story of how pioneers
moved across the United States,
destroying forests, destroying grass
lands, and paving the way for the
“march of the deserts.” Nature,
left alone, hems in the deserts to
the smallest possible area. But man,
by destroying forests, upsetting nat
ural watersheds and drainage areas,
plowing land that should be left
alone, and thereby inviting erosion,
permitting the destruction of grass
lands by over-grazing, and other
wise upsetting nature’s scheme, has
made it possible for the deserts to
begin to expand.
OTHER OPINION
On the Republican Platform
[Senator Bone, Democrat of Washington,
in a Speech at Denver.]
If keeping 37 pledges out of 39
nearly wiped us out, ask yoursell
what this unhappy Republican phi
losophy would have done to our
civilization had they increased the
number of pledges and executed
them. I urge you Coloradans to get
down on your knees and thank God
that Hoover and his party did not
make more pledges, for assuredly
the “carrying out” of more than
the famous 37 would have visited
upon our helpless heads punish
ment that would have made our
cup of misery overflow.
SOMETHING TO CLING TO AT LEAST!
Sir #V. mtefS
it L v J te
u * ip-
The Hoosier Forum
(Times readers are invited to express
their views in these columns, religious
controversies excluded. Make your letters
short, so all can have a chance. Limit
them to 250 words or less. Tour letter
•nust be signed, but names will be
withheld on reauest.)
tt a tt
BIGGER SHIPS BRING
CHEAPER FARES
By W. H. N.
Down they go to the sea in ships,
the French a year ago with the gi •
gantic Normandie, and now the
British with the Queen Mary. There
appears no end to the ambitious
dreams of the shipbuilders.
Thus ocean transportation is com
ing into anew era of ultra-luxury,
speed, and finesse. The competition
is keen.
No sooner had the great Queen
Mary found its way down the 15-
mile channel of the River Clyde
from Glasgow to the sea, than the
French were shouting new plans for
their Normandie.
Many tons have been added to her
superstructure, they say, so that the
Normandie still can claim the title
of the biggest ship afloat.
What does all this mean to the
sea-going traveler of modest means?
Just this. The competition for ocean
supremacy started a race for busi
ness that has effected material re
ductions in fares. Thanks to the
Normandie, the Europa and the
Watch Your Health
BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN
WiiisiM you figure the energy
that bread supplies in the
diet, you should remember that it
is primarily a carbohydrate food.
Thus, two biscuits provide 100
calories; a three-inch piece of cof
fee cakes provides 300 calories; a
large Graham muffin yields 100
calories; a six-inch waffle yields 100
calories; a large Parker House roll
makes 82 calories; a slice of raisin
bread provides 135 calories; a slice
of cinnamon toast builds 150 cal
ories; and even two slices of Melba
toast will give 100 calories.
I have described Melba toast as
a piece of bread cut so thin that
when heated it curls up with dis
gust at the condition it is in.
In considering bread, a word also
should be said about cake. Every
type of cake yields energy accord
ing to what goes into it. There are
angel food, devil food, fruit, pound,
chocolate, sponge, and white cake
with icing and coconut on the out
side.
The eggs, flour, and other in
gredients, such as sugar, flavoring,
milk, and fruit, help to build up the
food value.
Therefore, cake is not good
food, either for reducing or gain
ing weight. An average slice of
cake will provide 200 to 400 calor
ies. Because of its sweetness, it
is filling and satiating. It belongs,
like candy, toward the end of the
meal.
Gluten breads differ from others
in the manner of preparation, so j
IF YOU CAN’T ANSW
Inclose a 3-eent stamp for reply when
addressing any question of fact or in
formation to The Indianapolis Times
Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th
st. N. W.. Washington. D. C. Legal and
medical advice can not be given, nor
can extended research be undertaken.
Q —ls is true that elephants are
afraid of mice?
A—Trainers who have observed
elephants over a long period say
that this belief is a pure fallacy.
The director of the National Zoolog
ical Park at Washington, D. C.
states that elephants pay no atten
tion whatever to the numerous mice
running about the barns. Rats and
mice abound in the hay in circuses
and animal shows and the elephants
apparently pay no attention to
them. Nor is there any evidence
that elephants in the wild state ex
hibit any particular fear of mice.
A writer who had mrny years ex
perience with wild elephants in
India states that their two greatest
fears are dogs and ( human beings.
Possibly individual elephants may
\ have a feac-sf mice.
1 disapprove of what you say—and will defend
to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire.
Queen Mary, you can travel to Eu
rope for much less.
And in these terms it is easy to
appreciate the progress of ship
building.
a u
SAYS WOMEN ARE NEEDED
IN BUSINESS
By Helen W.
Consider for the moment what a
one-day “strike” of the women of
this country would do to life and
business. Actually, of course, there
is no thought of such a strike nor
any necessity for it. Hence we’ll
look at the picture theoretically as
Miss Chari Ormond Williams, presi
dent of the National Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s
Clubs, sees it.
“Nearly 500,000 women,” she
points out, “are employed by one
national telephone company alone.
Then 1,800,000 women are engaged
in manufacturing, business; nearly
2,000,000 are employed as clerks, and
more than 3,000,000 are employed in
domestic or personal service.
“The public schools, the banks,
and the stock exchanges, elevators,
stores, hotels, offices, and shops
would be forced to close, not to
mention how many men would have
difficulty in securing good break
fasts.”
In a word, the workaday world
can not function without its women.
And, in the final analysis, isn’t that
as to eliminate carbohydrate. An
average slice of gluten bread will
weigh around 20 grams, of which
anywhere from three to 20 parts
will be carbohydrate, four to 10
parts protein, and a very little
amount of fat.
tt a
OUCH a slice of bread will yield 40
calories, as compared with
65 calories yielded by a slice
of white bread, 75 calories by a slice
of whole-wheat bread, and 65 cal
ories by a slice of rye bread.
In contrast to these food values
tor breads, a slice of chocolate layer
cake will yield 205 calories, of which
38 parts will be carbohydrate and
three parts protein. A slice of pound
cake will yield 175 calories, and a
slice of sponge cake 100 calories.
Consumption of bread ir. the
United States has shown a striking
decline since 1890. This decline is
generally ascribed to the people’s
lessened need for energy. You can
realize why, with the coming of the
motor car and the use of machines
in industry, there is much less de
mand for energy foods than there
used to be.
Probably another part of the les
sened demand should be charged to
the improvements in other foods
which appeal to the appetite. Rec
ognizing this fact, bakers every
where are working on methods of
making bread not only a better food
but also one which will appeal still
more to the appetite.
ER, ASK THE TIMES!
Q —Are the five Great Lakes fresh
or salt water?
A—Fresh water.
Q —Has any Justice of the United
States Supreme Court been im
peached? What was the result?
A—Samuel Chase was impeached.
The vote in the Senate was nine
guilty, 30 not guilty; and 15 guilty
and 19 not guilty, on different
counts. Verdict: Acquittal.
Q —How should one address the
envelope of a letter to the President
of the Philippine Commonwealth?
A—His Excellency, Manual L.
Quezon, President of the I'hilippine
Commonwealth, Manila, Philippine
Islands.
Q —How many Negroes are in the
United States Army at the present
time?
A—Approximately 2945.
Q —What is the average height of
men and women in the United
States?
A—Men, about 5 feet 8 inches;
women, about 5 feet 4 inches.
just about what the women have
been trying to prove all along?
a
DECLARES INSTITUTIONS HAVE
SURPASSED MAN.
By Times Reader
In the periodic heydays of our
national prosperity, the nation as a
whole gives little attention to its
great social problems. They are
put aside until the pangs of leaner
years set in and we seek to discover
what is wrong with the huge ma
chine.
The depression has been just such
a time, and so far the solution to
our social ills remains to be found.
But perhaps no one has so sharply
diagnosed the trouble as has Dr.
Alexis Carrel, famous scientist. The
trouble, he says, is that the march
of science has left the human being
by the wayside.
This eminent thinker urges anew
type of scientist whose exclusive
function would be to study the
great social problems; to turn his
attention from development of a
material science to development of
the human being.
Man seems to have grown more
slowly than the institutions he has
created. It is high time that he
does something about catching up!
DAILY THOUGHT
Behold, I have refined thee, but
not with silver: I have chosen thee
in the furnace of affliction.—lsaiah
48:10.
AS threshing separates the wheat
from the chaff, so does afflic
tion purify virtue.—Burton.
APRIL WEATHER
(Triolet)
BY JOSEPHINE DUKE MOTLEY
I do not trust you any more;
For years, you have deceived me so.
I can’t guess what you have in store.
I do not trust you any more;
Yes, April weather, you're a bore;
You smile and then you give us
snow.
I do not trust you any more;
For years, you have deceived me so.
You’re worse than any fickle girl
Who ever dwelt on land or sea;
You flaunt your charms and toss
your curl.
You're worse than any fickle girl
For setting heads and hearts
a whirl.
Oh. April, why so heartless be?
You're worse than any fickle girl
Who ever dwelt on land or sea.
SIDE GLANCES
J|al f|3|l ii!(? * &:•& ill;
“Guess what, Magnolia—l’ve decided to buy a bottle of
wine, just to see if, we will get any calls for it.”
MARCH 30, 1936
Vagabond
from
Indiana
ERNIE PYLE
EDITOR'S NOTE—Thi roving reporter
for The Times goes where he pleases,
when he pleases, in search of odd storjea '
about this and that.
■p\ ALLAS, March 30.—It’ll be
more than three months be
fore the Texas Centennial Exposi
tion at Dallas opens, but It’s a real
show already.
It was a Sunday afternoon when
I had my eyes opened. The 200-
acre tract was gashed and piled In
mouhds like a no-man's land. Steam
shovels and riveting machines and
trucks were roaring all over the
place. More than 1000 men (and
that's just one shift) were at work.
Floodlights hung from high poles,
for the work goes on day and night.
Naked steel framework stood up red
against the Texas sky. Half-fin
ished, sprawling brick buildings
rose out of the brownish clay. High
towers, with long booms, swung
huge cement pilings into place.
n a
r pHE grounds are just a few min
utes’ drive from downtown
Dallas. They are the old State
Fairground, much enlarged. They
are immense.
If you could take a square mile,
and saw it in two. from-one comer
to the other, you'd have the Cen
tennial grounds. There are already
a lot of buildings there; old build
ings, that have been there for years.
Some of these will be torn down;
others will be remodeled.
The main entrance is to be at
the small end of the triangle. Let's
pretend we’xe going to the Fair
right now.
We go in through a great grove
of trees. Off to the left, in one
corner, is a big white building. We
can't get in there, for that's the
administration building, where the
200 men with brains are directing
the fair.
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TO the right is the auditorium.
It was already there, but they’re
remodeling it.
And stretching out right in front
of us is a big ditch, a couple of
blocks long. In a few months it'll
be a beautiful reflecting pool, with
grassy banks, and sidewalks, and
fountains, and colored lights on the
bottom—the creme de creme of the
exposition. Two immense buildings
(just being finished now) flank the
pool on either side.
From there on down, for nearly a
mile, the grounds widen out, and
scores of buildings are taking form.
Some are finished outside. Some are
half finished. Many others have
not been started.
As we move along, the “heavier
stuff will be on the left—the live
stock shows, poultry, foods, and so
on.
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BEYOND the Texas Building is
the stadium (already there). It
is an oval, banked high around the
outside with earth, and it holds
46,000 people.
And just beyond it, at the far
end of the grounds, is the race track.
It was already there, too. The
grand stand is enlarged, and in the
center of the track they’ll build a
stage 300 feet long, with a river
running in front of it, and on this
stage, three times a day, they’ll pre
sent a pageant that is to give the
whole history of Texas.
We still have left the big empty
corner over at the right, where the
grounds widen out. Well, this is
probably w’here the crowds will en
ter. It’s the Midway, the froth of
all world fairs.
This side of the Midway a wind
ing lagoon will be built, and around
it will be an amphitheater, and an
elaborate structure by the Federal
government, a Negro building (the
first at any great exposition), res
taurants and concessions.
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WITH a few minor exceptions,
every new building is a solid,
permanent thing. For the whole
grounds have been acquired by the
city and state, and will be used after
the Exposition as a very much en
larged and elaborated State Fair
Grounds.
The Centennial still is in a pretty
raw state. But when you think of
4000 men at work (it'll soon go up to
6000, and see the trucks roaring and
snorting, and see the administra
tive staff all at their desks on a
Sunday afternoon, you guess they’ll
be ready for America to come pour
ing in by June 6.
By George Clark