Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-03-11

houses provided Ten thousand meu
work on grounds and buildings. Only
one Of these great palaces is nearly com
pleted. and it is a characteristic Of essen
TALLY modern. alert, adaptable Chicago
that this one Is a silent tribute to this,
woman 5 golden era--the Woman's build
ing. Other palaces are half done, one
quarter done or inst begun. The hooi
Of one Is so vast that dozen United
States Capitols could be set down upon
it-"larger, ," saws Senator PETER, than
the farm used TO till in Indiana
In another is a steel arch larger than
any other erection Of a similar kind in
the world. Growing still another is &c
be a dome greater and grander than the
dome Of the Capitol or St. Peters. One
is 10 have a doorway of solid 1s-carai
gold and q companion door of solid
silver. At every step new wonders un-
fold till the visitor, stopping to kick
some mud off his boots and assure him.
self he is not III fairyland, asks if these
stupendous plans can be carried ont. il
the giant buildings can ever be finished
in time for the opening day.
In the Woman's building a map of the
grounds is hung upon the wall. A big,
strong man, muffled in a greatcoat,
stands before it, pointer in hand, ex.
planning to the visitors the landscape
and architectural designs. He is Chief
Constructor Burnham, and in this forest
of palaces. this cluster of superlatives
upon which 10000 men are working,
there does not appear to be stone, q
brick, a truss, spike, timber which
he has not before him in his minds eye.
Imstinctively the audience concludes
and whispers one to another, There is
Chicago man; see how he grasps
everything; he is master of the situa
ton" And when, a moment later, Mr..
Burnham modestly says all these build
ings win be ready for dedication next
October and for occupancy two or three
months later, there is not doubling
Thomas within sound of his voice
this masterful man, this typical Chi
cagoan, says SO, It's so.
Best of all is not the magnitude, MOI
the matchless speed with which work is
driven, nor the gold door, nor the super
lative steel arch and gilded dome-big
things we expect of Chicago. The best
is the art and the beauty of every detail,
every effect Not only is Chicago build
ing on vast scale, but she is building
with an artistic sense, in form and color,
with dignity, with impressiveness, with
every structure and every integral part
thereof perfectly adaptable to the func-
ton required of it. Art is old and Chi
cago is young; but Chicago was wise
enough to trust not to herself, but to
Gull her architects from all parts of
America and her artists from all the
schools in the world.
If jackson park in midwinter, with
buildings in embryo and mud, with the
lagoons mere morasses, with no color
yet applied and all decorative effects
still lacking. with a hundred minor
buildings not begun and an air of new
ness and confusion about everything
that is-if the Worlds fair Of February,
1892, can capture the imaginations of
skeptical visitors, what will the Worlds
fair of 1898 do, when the palaces shine
with color, with statues. with flags and
ornamentation; when innumerable less
er structures picturesquely fill out the
background, when great pier and ca
sino adorn the waters edge and steamers
and pleasure boats fill the bay, when the
banks of the lagoons present mass OF
green in vines and flowers and their
waters teen with gondolas, and when
mankind gathers there to see what good,
useful and beautiful things man hath
wrought in this worlds workshop?
My hope is that you and and all of
us will be there to see.
WALTER WELIMAN