The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-07-06
MILLIONS FOR
ONE MANS IDEA
Expositions Made More
Beautiful at Small Cost
by Use of Staff.
LEO BONET INVENTOR
Made Casts and Put Them Out
In Weather to Prove Its
Durability.

X a. LEO
New York. who first introduced stan
as a construction material for expo
sition buildings and statuary in the
United States. has been a factor in the
building OF the Jamestown exposition.
Mr.. Bonet. through his suggestion that
staff be used in the construction of
the Columbian exposition at Chicago.
may be credited with having saved
about $20.00O.000 TO the builders OF
the several expeditions that have been
held in this country since 1898. The
late Colonel Sellers of Missouri was a
suggester of schemes with millions in
them" This mans suggestion really
PANIED out the millions.
Born in France, Mr.. Bonet came to
the United States twenty years ago
and became an American citizen. In
1891, when the first great American
exposition since the Philadelphia Cen
tennial was in embryo. Mr.. Bonet went
to Chicago The problem of creating
an architectural display with the maxi
mum OF magnif1cence at the minimum
Of expense was under discussion. Wood.
glass and tin were chiefly used at
| Philadelphia, resulting in structures
more useful than beautiful. Mr.. Bonet
proposed to the Chicago exposition
builders that staff be employed as the
] principal constructive material for out
side finish and ornamentation. At first
/ his suggestion was not very seriously
considered. The Frenchman was told
that staff was not sufficiently durable;
that, like the tabled wings of Icarus.
it couldn't stand sun heat and hard
whacks.' and other wear and tear of
weather. To disprove this notion, Mr..
Bonet made some staff figures and set
them on top of the Rookery building
in Chicago, exposed to a winter of
rough weather. The next spring 1t
was discovered that the staff had stood
the storm. After due consideration,
staff was adopted, and the Columbian
exposition thereby saved s4.500.oo in
addition TO the achievement of the
most beautiful exposition ever held up
to that year. Since then every expo
sition has been built chiefly OF wood
and staff. saving in each instance mil
lions OF dollars. Had these worlds
fairs been built OF steel and stone the
cost would have been enormously
greater and the time required in con-
struction would have been doubled
For temporary buildings staff Is now
/.
Paint sticks to staff tenaciously and
the material is capable Of treatment To
any color scheme desired. The bewil-
dering beauty of expeditions, in tint
and hue is due to a combination OF
plaster of paris, hemp and dextrine-
component elements of stan-and the
pigments which protect and beautify
it's surface. Not only in the buildings
themselves, but in their artistic orna-
: mentation of frieze and cornice and IN
the statuary that embellishes the
grounds, is staff now employed.
At the Jamestown exposition. or
Sewen's Point, six miles from Norfolk
another radical departure in the con
struction of exposition buildings is
taken. Heretofore every great exposi
ton in this country has been built onl!
for temporary use. Most of the build
ings at Sewelrs Point are to be perma
nent. Accordingly, the quantity o.
staff used will be comparatively small
The exposition site is on the shore o
Hampton Roads. that famous sea-wa,
and summer resort region. 1t is be
lieved that after the exposition Their
! will be a demand for the various
buildings, to be used as hotels, clu1
: houses and summer residences.
Much staff, however, will be used il
{ the exposition features that are neces
7 sarily temporary, such as the statuary
: the arches, the bridges and the exhibit
booths and decorations. The gran
. group of government buildings will b
constructed of staff.