Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-26
WILL THE FAIR
DO ANY GOOD?
If So, What?-Infuence and Effects
of the Panama-Pacific Exposi-
tion, "the Hundred Million
Dollar Show"
By REV. DAVID M. STEELE, D. D.

here OF how things used 70 be done, but only
the story OF what is being done today This
show Is celebrating live events, not glorify-
ing past memories. It Is not boasting even
OF recent achievement, but only of present.
II is this that makes it Of chief moment TO
the world; not TO the world Of yesterday, but
TO the world OF today. Here are on display
the latest products Of all kinds Of human in
genuity-and only the present mode and
vogue Of all OF these.
And that first point merges into this sec
ond; the fact that this exhibition is meant
to represent the results of the past decade
only, in the material progress Of civilization.
Under the rules. every exhibit that is en-
tered in hope OF an award for merit must
be a product or a process OF the last ten
years. What have you done since the
Worlds Fair at st. Louis? That is the chal-
lenge every exhibitor must meet. And the
answer is in wireless telegraphy, in radum,
the automobile, aeropanes, high tension cur
rents, transcontinental telephony, the con-
quest of the soil, university extension, Sc
lective breeding, sanitation, safety devices,
social service. And thirdly. the illumination
is great main feature.
But What Is 1t All For7
What is a worlds fair for, anyway? To
attempt an answer to this question is
the difference between description and dis
cussion, between mere superficial observation
and some closer scrutiny, between enjoyment
of q spectacle and that kind of analysis that
asks its reason for existence and inquiries
whether not there is justification for its
cost of creation. For the cost of this is no
wise inconsiderable The whole thing at San
Francisco is commonly spoken of boastfully
as the Hundred Million Dollar Show" I
suppose 1t is all that-and more-depending,
of course, how you begin to count and
where you are content to stop. conserva-
tive estimate of the total expenditure for the
production puts the figure at $4,000 900, in
cluding, of course, all the foreign as well as
other buildings the exhibits they contain.
the amusement concessions and the cost of
installation of all things in the eleven pal
aces, in which alone there are more than
fifty miles of aises dividing the depart
ments. To see these it is estimated that TO-
O00, 900 admissions will be ground in
through the turning wheels of the ten gate
stiles before they close finally.
What is it all for? And does it pay? 1t
has been a matter of civic pride on San
Francisco's part that no financial aid has
been asked Of the National Government, this
being the first case of this kind on record.
But where can the return possibly come
from? And, If it does not come at all, is the
claim justified that the vast educational
value of this exposition will more than offset
the cost? This is the point most frequently
emphasized. This, therefore. is the point
that demands some critique. 1t is here there
come out many illustrations of our propen-
sity as a people. Are we right or wrong in
estimating everything by mass, in trying to
learn by crowd pedagogy and in our hope
of gaining social, moral and all other kinds
of uplift by the convention method?
The Most for the Money
Seventy Thousand Exhibits? Yes. Well
and good, If any one could, or If every one
did, look at one upon an average out of a
thousand. The unpleasant fact is that it Is
not the palaces at all containing these that
are most patronized but what even the boot
black at the st. Francis Hotel had enough
discernment to describe to me as "That
Lousy Zone" Here troop the people, the
millions. the myriads, day after day. to the
sound Of the hippant frivolty of the barker
and the tout and in sight of side shows that
are crude beyond all credence.
1.-THE Tower of Jewels! also shouts the
advertiser. "It is 535 feet high. hung with
100000 crystal prism novagems, a greater
single work of art than all the art works of
Greece put together" That is true, if one
is content to supersede entirely the quality
of abiding endurance in the particle by the
temporary effulgence for the moment of a
| tout ensemble. am not That is the crown
| ing effect of our people in all their passing
| of judgments. They leave out entirely the
| element Of time. Grasping so eagerly for the
| thing that is ephemeral, they shout: Look!
We have attained. We have arrived" When,
as a matter of fact, on the morrow, all the
/ A..
| SHOWS of yesterday The heightenng OF
standards? By beholding what they mistake
for reality in tawdry imitation? This is what
they do in worshiping displays Of things that
are but reproductions. II one likes paste
diamonds tinsel trappings. papier mache
| statuary, stucco structures, in twentieth-cen-
| tury, near medieval architecture; II he finds
enjoyment in opera bouffe entertainment and
edihoation in the fictitious and unreal, then
| Of course, here is the most for his money
But. If this is all. well. then, is 1t cheap OF
| dear at the price7
Get Wise Quick
Il is reported that s22 conventions and con-
| crosses have chosen San Francisco as theiT
meeting place for 1915 These cover a wide
range of subjects. and II has been estimated
that the attendance from delegates and theil
families and friends interested in these alone
will reach a million But is this herding 10.
gether Of masses OF people an Improvement
on, or even a ht substitute for, individual
endeavor by each one alone OF this million
In any OF all Of eight hundred and twenty.
two iines2 Such people win not have dome
the exposition; they win be done by It, They
will be done out. trying TO see things OF
which there are too many; they viii be de.
luded by mistaking their JOY for their duty
they will be self-deceived through estimat