Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-23

| Der1lY' therefore, tine only SaIe, Sdne
and truly progressive place in the
| United States for this exposition is
Richmond"
NEW ORLEANS PURSE
New Orleans lacks a saving sense of
humor: and worse than that, it is too
sordid-ft bows down and worships the
almighty gate receipts. The 'popula-
tion" of which 1t speaks so unconVinc-
ingly is merely source of revenue for
a show that is to confer benefit on no
body except the shopkeepers of New
Orleans. 1t is expected by New Orleans
that this population will swarm into
the city as they would swarm to a
| Mardi Gras carniVal-because 1t costs
only $3.50 as against $3.50 to see
something better and different in San
Francisco and San Diego. Nothing per
manent is promised by New Orleans
for all that is possible in the 1000-mile
radius of New Orleans has been ac-
complished, and to make an exposition
/ of the obvious and the immutable is
merely iteration as tiresome as it is
damnable. The Panama canal is merely
an excuse for holding worlds fair"
in New Orleans--a means of enriching
New Orleans at the cost of those mil
lions who live within a radius of 1900
miles" of the Crescent city. No one
except a citizen of New Orleans will in
sist that this is a noble purpose or one
that could in the slightest degree con-
serve the national veal, sustain the ma
tional honor, or promote the national
| prosperity.
sIDEsHOWING WARES
Census figures are as adjustable to
theories of economies as scriptural quo
tations are to polemics. 1t is easy to
! argue that the permanent value of an
exposition is greater in a sparsely set
tied territory than in congested cen
ters" of population, as it Is to demon
strate that the only valid reason why
New Orleans should have an exposition
is because more people can spend their
money in that city than would care to
pay railroad fare for the higher priv
iege of spending it in San Francisco
or San Diego. This is the parochial
way of looking at the matter. A
worlds fair" based on the number of
people who will pass the gate" be-
cause they live within $3.50 radius
of the city whore the fair is to be held
is logical" only from the point of view
of the man in the box office. A worlds
fair" conducted on this principle is as
much a private enterprise as any of its
midway" sideshows The Exhibits"
at such worlds fair" are merely 50
many attractions" The miles of
showcases and the piles of merchandise
on display serve no other purpose than
special advertising for the owners of
the goods. The machinery halls" of
these "expositions" are only another
phase of the Ferris wheel novelty out
on "the pike" or just around the corner
from the Streets of Cairo" There is
no profit in all this save the immediate
and transient profit accruing to the
business of the city, and possibly to
some of the exhibitors" whose sam
pies" thus displayed induce sales to
some of the people who happened to
visit the show. A worlds fair" of this
kind is no more than a gigantic win
dow display, a monster back page ad-
vertisement in the national magazine;
a Sunday supplement for the commerce
and industry of the country.
CALIFORNIA EXPOSITIONS
1t is not on this principle that San
| Francisco and San Diego are bidding
for the attention of the world. The
chief object of the eXpositions in San
| Francisco is to equalize that popula-
tion which the publicity agent of the
New Orleans exposition sets such store
by in his reasons why it should spend its
surplus money in New Orleans. Accord
! ing to this New Orleans estimate there
are too many people in that 1500-mile
radius" The area seems to be over
crowded 1t will be the purpose of the
Panama-Pacific exposition to assist in
| relieving this congestion by showing
the advantages and opportunities of
California and the northern Pacific
| states; it will be the province of the
Panama California exposition to exploit
and make plain the resources and pos
sibiities of the southwest and the
! Spanish American republics of Mexico
| Central and South America. These
matters cannot be adequately set forth
| in worlds fair in New Orleans
! The management of that enterprise
would be too busily engaged in pro-
viding attractions" for that $3.50
population within radius of 1900
miles of the Crescent city" The space
allotted to California, Oregon, Wash
ington and the southwest, inclusive of
| the new states of Arizona and New
Mexico, would be limited by the over
whelming demands of foreign "conces-
! sions" seeking to advertise the wares
| of Germany, France, italy and other
competitors with American industry.
| The reclamation and irrigation pro-
! jects of the arid southwest would be
crowded into an out of the way corner
of the Pontchartrain swamp tract to
companion the meager exhibits of Tib-
ct and Manchura. Only the bizarre
and curious features of the Latin
| American countries would be admitted
as novel adjuncts of the New Orleans
midway" In brief, the eye of the
New Orleans fair promoters would be
single to those things which might
serve to amuse and impoverish the co.
100000 persons who live within 1900
miles of New Orleans and can afford
to pay only $3.50 railroad fare for the
privilege of spending the remainder of
their savings in support of the con
cessions' stockaded inside the Pont-
chartrain reservations and for the en-
richment of the tradesmen of the Mardi
Gras metropolis.
The purpose of the proposed worlds
fair" at New Orleans is temporary and
ephemeral; the intention of the expo
sition in San Francisco and San Diego
is permanent and of national import
ance. No benefit will accrue to any
section of the United States or the
South American countries, to Mexico
or Central America, by the preliminary
work of advertising and building the
New Orleans exposition; vast interest
will be melted by the preparations for
the expositions in San Francisco and
San Diego, an interest that will cul-
inmate in the gathering of hundreds
of thousands of people to investigate
the advantages and opportunities of a
great region now only opening to the
enterprise and energy of mankind.
lunFnEMnEMT TIA nj ATT