Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-19
WORLDS FAIR GOSSIP.
Preparations Being Made for the Crowd.
Cheap Admission-Notes.
ISnaciaI Corrnsnnndanca1

Cheap Admission--Notes.
Especial Correspondencel
CHICAGO, May 26.-There are more build
ings going up in Chicago today than for
any two spring seasons since the activity
in the building trade that was necessitated
by the big fire. Particularly noticeable is
this on the South Side of the city and along
the great arteries that lead to the vicinity
of the Worlds fair grounds. For mile af-
ter mile there is hardly block in which
one does not encounter big piles of bricks,
heaps of sand and tubs brimming full with
lime or mortar, while the air is filled with
the scrape, scrape of the briclllayers trow-
ell and the echoes of the carpenters ham
mer. All this is by way of preparation for
the great event of two years hence.
On Cottage Grove avenue, which will be
the leading cable car thoroughfare to the
exposition, the rustic cottages that have
stood for years amid groves of trees, al
most hidden from sight by wealth of
foliage, are giving way to apartment build
ings four, five, six, eight and ten stories in
height. These signs of the times are a
guarantee that there will be shelter under
a roof for everybody that comes to Chicago
in 1893, even though they come in their hun
dreds of thousands on single day. In Phil
adelphia, in 1876, it was no unusual thing
to see hundreds of country visitors who
could not afford to stop at the high priced
hotels, and had failed in the effort to find
rooms within their means, catching what
sleep they could o. nights in Fairmount
and the smaller parks, and even on door
steps and in doorways. There will be no
necessity for such scenes as this to be dupli-
Gated in Chicago.
lam not talking now about the capacity
of the hotels, concerning which the depart
ment of promotion and publicity has lately
been doing some elaborate figuring and
bringing forth some startling statistics,
but of places within the reach of the
masses and of the masses purses, where a
man who wants to bring his wife, and may
be his little ones, can be assured of at least
place where they can rest their weary
bones and sleep the sleep of the just after
a hard day of sightseeing, without haying
to spend weeks earnings for the accom-
mediation. BY and by the card and sign
painters whose artistic genius is devoted
to getting out the old familiar legends,
Furnished Rooms" and "Rooms to Let,n
will reap harvest, and the apartment
buildings, large and small, now going up
on the avenues in question will be abun-
dainty decorated with notices to the way
farer that within he or she can find rest,
while boarding house keepers and landIa-.
dies will blossom out like rose bush under
the influence of genial June sun. There
are plenty of parks in Chicago with nice
soft green lawns and comfortable benches
in abundance but it will not be necessary
to turn them into sleeping quarters in 1881
1t is understood that the idea of twenty
five cent rate of admission to the grounds
is gaining new adherents in the board of
directors with each successive day. This
is as it should be. 1t was originally in
tended to charge a round half dollar for
the little square of engraved pasteboard
that will enable the holder to view all the
wonders of the Nineteenth century, but
the arguments and reasonings of those who
believe that there will be just as much
money in the long run (and probably a
good deal more) by placing the admission
charge at one-half that figure have carried
weight, and although no definite action
has yet been had, it is taken for granted
that twenty-five cent rate will prevail.
AS Inventor Edison said to some of the
officials the other day in that jerky, blunt
style that he has, so per cent of the attend
ance will come from the poorer classes,
and these cannot afford to pay half dol
lar every time they want to pass through
the gates. Crowds are what is wanted,
and crowds-tremendou crowds-the ex-
position will have to have if the account
books are to make good showing, and
twenty-five cent rate would bring them.
Under the able dictatorship of Professor
Putnam, of Harvard university, the de-
partment of ethnology of the exposition
promises to contain one of the most i'm
portant collections that has ever been
brought together in the world. The Har
ward professor is an eminent authority on
this science, and he will give pretty much
his entire time for the next two years to
his department Not only are antiquities
of this country to be thoroughly illus
trated, but advantage is being taken of sew
eral important expeditions which will
shortly leave for foreign lands
HENRY M. HUNT.