Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-15
FOREIGN WORKMEN AT FAIR.
Men of Many Nations Who Might Build q New
Tower of Babel for the Pike if
Such Were Wanted.

no one else on earth possibly coull
| do II with such close adherence to the
minute detail required. supply Their
full share of the tower of Babel eIe
ment at the worlds fair grounds.
| The Russian workmen. who have
! just begun their building. are distin.
guishable from all others on the
grounds by the cut of their trousers
There is enough surplus material in
! the trousers legs of these big Russians
to make a pair of brooches for an
! American. The bagging of their
! breeches i abnormal. But this does
not retard their movements. as they
hustle about in the snow laying foun-
dations for their building The cold
weather has no horrors for these hale
and healthy men from the land of rig
OrOus climates.
Away off on a hill, with Great Brit
aims building almost in the zone of
fire if the RusSO-Japanese affair
should be settled at the worlds fair
by Il contest at craftsmanship be-
tween the Russians and the Japs on the
grounds. is the site of the several
buildings being erected by men from
the kingdom of the chrysanthemum.
Little Japs. each wearing the long
coat Ornamented with the emblems
of his trade. are doing the work. II is
wonderful work, too, the timbers fer
the buildings having been hewn and
mCrtised in Japan. Net nail is used
by the carpenters. They simply put
the timbers together. Each mortise
Is snugiy cut, and the acute fit is the
marvel Of American carpenters. The
Japs work with the plane in the OPP
posite direction from that employed
by Americans; they pull the plane to-
ward them.
There are Englishmen of the import.
ed band at work on the building and
grounds of Great Britain, The old
English garden of the style of 200
years ago. which surrounds the Ken
singtGn Orangery. reproduced as the
British pavilion. j. being created by
Il landscape architect from London,
who until last summer. was chief
landscapist to the sultan of Morocco.
Frenchmen are experimenting the
laying out Of the gardens of Yer
sailes that lie in front of the Grand
Triancn. Frances national building.
the building also.
Nearly a hundred native Filipinos
are hard at work on the buildings
in the 40-acre Filipino reservation in
part of the grounds. They
have built nipa and bamboo hutS en-
tirely of native construction. and
some Of the larger structures are
rooted with bamboo and nipa by these
small men from the archipelago. One
Of the most interesting sights on the
grounds is that of these Filipinos sit
ting down amid Il heap of long bam-
boo poles. carving and scraping their
material into the proper pill
ability with the short two-edge knives.
or bolos. which they wear at their
waists in scabbarCiS. The Filipino has
no use for nails. He ties his bam-
boo rafters To the beams with Il tough
thread made of the fibre of Il Filipino
grass. and i'm case something more
secure i required he whittes peg
of bamboo and sticks it into hole in
the pole which he has cut with his
knife. He sews his nipa leaves on the
lattice work of poles with the same
thread used in tying the rafters ON.
and the needle he Uses i manufacture
ed on the spot out Of Il silver of
bamboo.
ROBERTUS LOVE.