The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-04
ANOTHER B|G FAIR FOR THE FAR WEST Seattle is Planning for a Show
 in 1909 CITIZENS RAISE S650,000 This Amount Was Subscribed in One Day and People Are Jubilant.
 AIaska-Yukon-Pac acific
 Exposition.
CITIZENS RAISE S65O,O0O
BY WILLIS BRINDLEY.

BY WILLIS BRlNDLEY.
 Seattle, October 2S.- Special. )-This is about the proudest town in America to- day. The citizens haven't got through shaking hands with themselves You see, on October ?, 100000 people raised by vol untary subscription $65OOOO for a fair which is to be held here in 1909, the Alas ka-Y Yukon-Pacifc exposition.
 Just sit down and figure that out for minute. Two hundred thousand is in in six hundred and fifty thousand three times and then some. Three dollars for every man, woman and child in Seattle. If you had been the father of four chil- dren, your share, counting the wife, would have been $1S Think of spending SIS for something that is still three years away. The people with the big families didn't have to come forward so layshly, how ever, for wealthy bachelors and rich cor porations wrote ornate checks for large amounts, and the poor man gave what he pleased.
 You see, up to the time that the money was raised, the exposition idea was about all there was to the fair. corporation had been organized on May 6, but the corporation had no money. It was de- cided that all the money the city needed to raise (half a million dollars) should be raised in one day Why not hurry and have it over with? Will II. Parry, chair man of the ways and means committee, undertook to manage the canvass, and de- clared Everybody Helps," the slogan.
 Was Strenuous Day.
 On October ? the soliciting committees set out, and were met at every side with open arms. At noon, every whistle in town blew for twenty minutes, and hun dreds of people packed the elevators of the Alaska building in a wild scramble to get to the exposition offices on the fifteenth floor with their subscriptions. Altogether, 1t was mighty strenuous day, but when the sun set 1t was found that it had been tremendously profitable. 1 The city had raised quarter more than was asked. The fair started with $650 | GOO in the treasury instead of $500,000. The | people would have given an even million i if so much had been necessary. It is certain now that the fair is going to be big. certainly lots bigger than any | thing since that at St. Louis, which, | you will remember was altogether too | big, It is also going to be clean and | wholesome, comprehensive and compactly arranged Preparation for it will cost not less than $l00O0,OOO.
 It is going, primarily, to tell people l about Alaska. Seattle has kindly feel l ing for Alaska, and properly enough, for | Alaskan trade has done much to make | Seattle a city of 100000 people, where new skyserapers are started nearly every day. Seattle has handled since the Klondike rush. $lSO,OO0,O0O worth of Alaska | gold. Do you remember how much Uncle Sam paid for Alaska? $72OO,OOo Yep, cash. Bargain, eh? We'll I should cer-
 
 | that laid the golden egg all right, but he wasn't fool enough to kill it, and the goose is laying yet.
 Rich Coal and Copper Deposits.
 Besides the gold, there are wonderfully rich deposits of coal and copper in Alas lia, together with petroleum, asbestos. lead, graphite, silver, uranium, tin, mar ! ble, gypsum and zine. Quite recently 1t has been found that grasses and the | hardier grains grow well in the north land, even beyond the arctic circle and q new field of agricultural endeavor is opening. All this and more will be shown at Seattle in 1909, in q building constructed especially for the purpose. | Look out for the Alaska building when you come to the fair.
 Across the Pacific from America lie | Asia and Oceanca, the two equaling in area three times that of the United States, and boastng @ population prob- | ably ten times as great. Imagine nearly l a billion people. This billion people, if the plans of the promoters of the Alaska | Yukon-Pacific exposition don't go astray, 1 will be regular customers of Uncle Sam after 1909 At present they trade with him some. but not enough, and Americans buy rice and curios and few other things, but not nearly enough. The west ern worlds fair will aim to bring to- gether eastern and western buyers and sellers through the medium of exhibits l of the wares of each. It promises tn be a tremendous achievement, worth in it. self many times what the far will cost 1 in money and effort.
 States Will Take Part.
 Several European countries will take !, advantage of the opportunity to display | the riches of their dependencies in the | Pacific. These include Great Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands Besides New Zealand and Australia will probably want to have separate displays and China, Japan and Asiatic Russia are sure to be represented. On the American 1 side, the Dominion of Canada, Mexico and the republics of Central and South Ameri- ca will be included in the list of ex- hibtors.
 State participation In the western ex- hibtion is sure to be more general than in any other international fair ever held at the edge of the continent. The west ern states profited hugely in the fair held in 1905 at Portland, and all will strive to make even better showing at Seattle. l The exposition's commissioner has been promised participation in every state which he has visited, and the outlook | is extremely cheerful
 The federal government, always a gen erous patron of exhibitions, is expected to outshine previous efforts by collecting a great educational exhibition and building proper structures to house 1t. The bring | ing together of the people at national fairs has always been recognized by men prominent in public life as one of the | finest influences possible to provide and but little opposition to an appropriation on s1,OOO,000 is expected to develop. In the exhibit which Uncle Sam is expected | to make. special attention will be given | to the displays from the Philippine | Islands and the northern possessions. The Alaskan people are enthusiastic over the 1 exposition, and will help the government agents in every possible way.
 One of the first steps taken by the eX- position management was the selection of u site. The location picked. the grounds of the University of Washington, is ideal that it would be shame not to utilize it for a great exposition. There are 355 acres of the plot that will be used for the fair. The land slopes gent | ly from an elevation of 150 feet to the