Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1914-10-15
OPEN CANAL AND
THE EXPOSITION
OPENING OF SAN DIEGO EXPO.
SITION THREE MONTHS
AWAY

lnree mOnCnS from OcCODer HTSL tHe
San Diego Exposition will be opened
to the world. On this day occurs the
formal opening of the Panama Canal
whose completion is to be celebrated
by the two expositions at San Fran
cisco and San Diego. No other event
has been marked by two celebrations
of this sort, and no other event has
been of such prime importance to the
country which is celebrating. The
striking feature of the expositions is
that they are celebrations not alone of
something which is completed and
gone on, but rather of something
which is ahead; they might be consid-
cred as heralding the mightier growth
of the West through presenting to the
world the opportunities the West Of
fers.
Europe today is plunged in the
greatest war Of all time, and in 1915
will not receive the 100000 American
tourists who have gone there each
year. Since those tourists cannot go
to Europe they are coming beyond a
doubt to the West coast, and here
they will see sights beside which those
of Europe, and Asia, and Africa
amount to little. No other country in
the world has The majestic harmony
of sea and canyons and mountains and
forests and valleys beneath the clear
blue sky of the American West.
But it is more than a scenic tour.
1t is a voyage of discovery for the
men of the East who know nothing
of the opportunity that is awaiting
them on the coast. They know vag-
uely that the Canal will bring the
West coast much nearer the older
cities of the East and across the At
lantic. They do not realize that the
hinterland of the west coast is going
to be opened up to industry and COM
merce for the reason that the rail-
roads from the coast will carry traffic
from the East over the mountains,
and from the back country out to the
coast and back to the East again.
The great service Of the Exposi-
tions will be to bring people through
the West country. It will be to show
them what the West country offers in
the way of agricultural development.
That is the prime reason for the
emphasis which the San Diego Ex-
position is laying upon its agricul-
tural features-the most important
agricultural exhibit which has ever
been held. Visitors to the worlds
fairs of former years saw. farming
machinery standing idle in q great
hall of machinery, and paid little at
tention to it because they could not
understand it fully. At San Diego
they will see this machinery, but it
will be at work in tract sown to var
ious grains and grasses, moving up
and down the rows, performing just
the same service it is supposed to per-
form on the great farms Of the West.
Of such an exhibit they will have an
understanding.
Similar in spirit as showing old
things in new form is the display Of
the Southern Counties, whose scitrus
orchard lies along the Alameda d.
rectly across from the model inten-
sive farm. Instead Of seeing great
stack of oranges and lemons and
grapefruit, the visitor will see the
citrus fruits growing on the trees. He
will be able to smell the fragrance of
the blooms. He will discover that the
orange really grows on tree instead
of growing in the crate in which he
has always seen it in the fruit dis
plays back East.
Adjoining this citrus orchard is the
tea plantation which has been brought
to San Diego from Ceylon. The 200
tea plants are in charge of Singalese
nurseryman, and throughout 1915 the
natives will cultivate the trees and
strip from them the commercial tea
leaves, turning them over to the girls
who will cure them and prepare them
for serving to visitors in the pavilion
at the center of the plantation. The
progress made in the two months dur
ing which they have been growing at
San Diego, indicates that Sir Thomas
Lipton's experiment has been success.
ful anu that tea Of good commercial
value can be grown in the Southwest.