Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-15

Foreign labor Is imperative for the
time being, and that is in the foreign
building section of the worlds fair
grounds at st. Louis.
Workmen of more than half a dozen
nationalities are now engaged in con
struction work on foreign govern
ment buildings. They have not come
to America to be naturaliZed and re-
main here. They have come for the
special purpose of assisting in the
construction of their national build
| ngs, and when that work il done
they viii return to their homes. These
men are simply away from home on
job. 1t is a job that brings them
across the seas and places them
amongst unfamiliar people and sur
roundings, and undoubtedly the job
vas much sought after by the various
artisans who were lucky enough to
get such employment.
If a tower of Babel were to be built
l. feature for the worlds fair pike,
t would be easy TO find the workmen
right here on the grounds to do the
job. There would be sufficient con-
fusion of tongues before the compile
| ton Of the tower to leave il in the
shape that is known to history.
| The contractor Of the tower of
| Babel would need only TO go up the
hillside TO get Japanese workmen of
wonderful skill-carpenters and join
ers whose work evokes Explanations
| of wonder from Americans; big Rus
| sian metal-workers and woodwork
ers. with voices as gruff as the bOreal
blasts that blow along the Siberian
Nilds; hardy Belgian mechanics who
talk French "a il i spoken on the
iousetops of modern BruXelles; Ger
man. English and Spanish-tOngued
men. the latter from Brazil. With an
ddmiXture of the pure Chinese and a
savoring of the Swedish lingo, this
confusion OF tongues would be like
unto that Cf bible times-and both the
Swedes and the Chinese are here on
the ground.
\ great deal of the work on the re-
production Of the Castle of Chariot
tenburg, the German national build
ing. was done by Germans from Ger
many. The German language was
heard in and on that building at all
times, i'm its fatherIand of fervidity of
expression; and when at last the cas-
tie Gil the hill was completed and
there was Il characteristic German
celebration thereof, with the break
ing of bottle of wine on the rafterS.
Us at the launching of ship. there
were speeches in German by German
contractors and also one by Il Ger
man carpenter. Emperor William
himself supervised the plans for this |
building; though he was not present |
at the launching. it may not be neces-
sary To state.
Just i'm front of the administration
building, Il little to the right. as one |
faces the main features of the expo |
sition. there is going up an odd looking |
structure which attracts much atten- |
ton. Its immensely Of size il the |
subject of much comment vt first.
when only long section of steel
arches covered with curved lumber
had been put up, people likened the
structure to an immense railroad |
tunnel above ground. Then another
long section Of covered arches was put
up. and between these two section |
running transversely. Now on top of
this middle section * being built !
big dome-like tower, also of steel |
construction.
\ man walking along there few
DAYS ago heard some of the workmen |
on this building call 10 each other in
French.
"Ah. this is the French building.
he explained to his companion. who /
thanked him for the information.
The man who understood French I
then engaged one of the wOrkmen in !
conversation ami found he was \
Belgian from Brussels. This structure |
of steel arches and girders is Belgi- |
um's national building. The steel
work was rolled and put together i'll |
sections at Brussels. Workmen from /
that city came over TO set up the build |
ing. They are sturdy fellows capable
of withstanding rigorous climate.
The unusually cold weather of the |
latter part of January and early Feb
ruary found the Belgians hard at |
work ON their building. and for only |
two or three days. when the wind was
strong and snow was deep. did they |
retire from their tall tower. One can
not but wonder how il happens that
some of these men are not blown from |
their lefty perches. but they seem tn
cling to the cold steel with the ten
acity of flies to Il ceiling.
just east of the Belgians there are
some workmen from another far quar- |
ter of the earth. They are construct J
ing queer looking house. Its cor
nice corners turn up like the tip-tilted
nose of pretty schoolgirl. and there
are curves enough in its roof to sup
ply Il contemporary chorus girl with |
qualifications for the first row. This |
il the Chinese Pavilion. pagcda
structure which shows unmisja i<able
signs of being most delightfully."- at
tractive building. Its architecture is
purely Chinese. therein il is different
from any other building on the
grounds.
If the entire exposition had been
hnilf i'm the Chinese stXle." remarked