The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-05-13

ures, each containing native village from
some far-away land or some strange and
extraordinary mechanical device or pro.
cess. Right in the center of this cosmo-
politan thoroughfare, along which enc
may hear a score of languages spcken,
stands a structure which is without doubt
to this exposition what the Eiffel tower
was TO the PARTS show. Doubtless Won
have alb reed descriptions and seen pictures
of this revolving monster. You have noted
the figures which were given to help you
to q conception Of it's immensely. But de-
scriptiens, pictures and dimensions all
fail Of their purpose. The only way in
which one may comprehend the vastness,
the almost weird weHderfulness of this
construction Is tessee 1t. Overshadowing
everything else IN that part of the Worlds
fair region, it grows and grows as one ap.
proaches nearer. Finally 1T appalls and
oyerwhelms. One wonders at first how
any man could have been crazy enough to
put Tp such monster, or where he found
the capital with which 10 do II. Evidently
the Chicago papers took the same view OF
the enterprise, for 1t is not long since they
were writing up Ferris as man who had
wheels in his head.
But Mr.. Ferris isn't crazy, any more
than M. Eifd was crazy when he built his
great tower. Ferris appears to be an &C.
complished engineer, and when his won
derf1l structure Is completed, which will
be in couple Of weeks, he may have the
laugh On the doubbers and sneerers who
have made sport of him. I have noticed
that even those people VINO pretend to
think this daring engineer little crazy
say they wouldn't miss ride on his wheel
II 1t were to cost them $40 instead of one OF
two. The genesis Of this great wheel
may be found at Atlantic City and other
eastern summer resorts There the hori-
zontal merry-go-roands, which charged a
nickel ride, earned fortunes for their
owners Some one changed the form and
stood the nerry-go-round vertically, and
made anotheR fortune out of the nickels
which dropped into his box. These sea-
side wheels are sixty or seventy feet high.
and even at these modest figures the alti-
tude is SO great that women and even men
shudder at the thought Of riding round it,
though finally fascinated into doing so.
The Worlds fair vertical merry-go-round
carries one not sixty or seventy but $50
feet from earth. Each of the thirty-six
cars is nearly as big as Pullman sleeping
coach and will carry sixty passengers.
Imagine If you can the spectacle this
mammoth structure viii make revolving
through the air day and night; during the
day visible fifteen miles away, and at
night to be seen forty miles as a huge
moving circle of electric lights.
OF course monster Like this will catch
the crowds. 1t is not as tall as the Eiffel
tower was, bat ii has life and motion,
which the tower had not. From the engi-
neerang standpoint the wheel is greater
marvel than the tower. 1t is the engineer
ing wonder of this fair, and in month it
will be the telk of the country. Great
numbers Of people may not be willing to
pay 80 each for a ride upon it, but as long
as he has IT In his power to taxa as many
passenger each trip as ars ordinarily car
ried by half dozen railway trains to-
gether, all we'll loaded, Mr. Ferris will
probably be able to carry the people at 81
head, or even 80 cents, and still get rich.
The marvellous plaisance is full of such
curiosities. One may ride at the speed of
100 miles an hour, toboggan on real snow
or skate on real ice in July, ascend the
tower of Babel, make tour of the world
and spend all his money in week. Is it
not a great place?
WALTER WELLMAN.