Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-25

portant part OF the exhibit, and con-
sists OF alternate planks Of fir and hem
lock. The idea is to test the compare
tive wearing ability Of these two i'm
portant woods. The roof is covered
with red cedar shingles. of which 25.-
600 carloads are shipped from mills To-
every year
Another purpose OF the genius who
designed this building is to show the
growth of forest. And this is done
of different ages and sizes inscribed:
SEE HOW NATURE DOES 1T
HOW LONG 1T LASTS
Everybody knows that every year Of
a trees life a ring is formed and that
the age of a tree can be ascertained by
counting the rings, but that Is not an
easy task in the case of these forest
giants Nevertheless an opportunity Is
given the student upon four varieties
of trunks-white fir, red fir, red CEDAR
and western Misunderstanding from Is
to sos years Of age The latter tree had
been standing two centuries when Co
lumbus started upon his voyage. The
6o3 rings can be counted In cross sec
ton more than seven feet In diameter.
A red cedar IT'S years old is forty-e1ght
inches in diameter. The youngest tree,
nineteen years Of age, is about the size
of the ordinary shade trees In our
cities.
The japanese Building.
The Japanese building is beautiful
piece of architecture and is filled with
ar elaborate display of the wares of that
enterpr!sing nation, but they are all Tor
sale. and the shelves and show cases
have been emptied and refflled several
times already. Every morning process
sion of -drays comes out from the frelght
houses in town laden with packing cases
Il. f1,N
building. AS many as 10 cases have
been delivered there in single day'
and the deliveries are repeated regular
ly, which shows how thriving business
the exhibitors are doing. The records OF
the custom house show imports valued at
millions of dollars. which are beng sold
on the grounds and shipped to every
part of the United States.
The other foreign exhibits are unim-
portant and entirely commercial.
The Hawaiian building, which was
erected by a congressional appropriation:
contains an epitome of the resources and
industries of those islands, and is worthy
of careful study. In the center is MODEL
of the territorial capital, formerly the
royal palace, twenty-five by thirty feet
in size, of two stories and a mansard
roof. 1t is built entirely Of raw sugar
from the Eva plantation, near Homo
terial. The frame, of. course, is wood,
and the sugar is laid upon panels OF
gauzez wire, being first melted into
thick strip and then plastered inside and
out with ordinary trowel, Ire the
walls of room. Watchmen are employ
ed upon every side to protect it, and a
man goes around every morning with
bucket of strip and trowel to touch
up the walls, because people will PICK on
pieces of sugar with their fingers-this
mischief is not done by children, but by
adults
II haven't seen child touch the walls
for several days. said one of the guards.
but I have to call down forty or fifty
women every day.
To advertise one of the most extensive
and profitable industries Of the Hawaiian
Islands the commissioners are serving
canned pineapple to the public daily.
They do not give it away. but charge 10
cents dish, which covers the cost of
shipment of the fruit. Seven or eight
hundred people come daily, and Ha-
waiian pineappies are winning a reputa-
ton Last year 100000 cases of twenty
four cans to the case were put up in the
islands and shipped to the United States
and Europe.
Aim Of the Exposition.
The exposition is a fair illustration Of
the resources. and products Of the Pa
cif1c northwest, and particularly OF Alas
ka. but I shall have to save the ALASKA
building for another letter. One marveis
at the tales he hears of the growth and
development of this section. and one Of
the most important objects Of the ex-
position is to furnish convincing proof
of the facts. This is done beyond per-
adventure in the buildings devoted to
Washington. Oregon and California. par
ticutsrly, ana in the. exhibits from the
neighboring states. There is NO boast
too bold. no assertion too broad, to be
sustained by the contents of the state
buildings. and If the people of the east
could all come here and see and hear
what this exposition has to teach In the
way OF. history. geography and economics
they. would have higher respect for the
western slope of the Rocky mountains.
and might possibly feel less confidence
in their own superiority.
More than 100000 people have come to
Seattle to live since gold was discovered
in the Klondike. The population Of this
city in 1880 was 1881 people, and it has
since been growing at. the rate of 10000
people year. Only about 80 per cent
of the Inhabitants of the Pacific north
west were born here. More than half
of them crossed the mountains from the
eastern and central states. Iowa has
more sons in Washington and Oregon
today than New York. Pennsylvania,
Ohio or any of the states on the eastern
side of the Mississippi.
You find representatives, however. from
every section of the country, and the
number from the south is surprising.