Evening star., 1921-11-12
LIGHTING DISPLAY .
| IS THRILLING SIGHT
Crowd of $4,000 Cheers
When President Harding
Throws Switch. q
il
NIGHT TURNED INTO DAY
Brilliant Illumination Unsurpassed
at Any Previous cele-
bration.
NIGHT TURNED INTO DAY

Armistice night and the eve before
the assembling here of world dele
gates to consider means of reducing
the agencies of war gave Washington
last night a twofold cause for cele-
bration which found it's expression
in a great illumination display OIL
the Mall and immediate vicinity of
the Pan-American building, where
the Limitation Of armament confer
|ences are to be held.
President Harding at o'clock
threw a switch which converted this
part of the national capital into d
veritable fairyland of light. Fifty
of brilliance never approached by any
of the illumination displae s of in
|augural or other celebrations. :
An arch of jewels at 18th and 4
streets, illuminated banners and
Roman lamps throwing colorful shaS-
ows along 18th street, the great
dome of the Capitol standing ouI
against the rays of an artificial all
rora and searchlights playing upon
the Washington Monument stood out
in the picture, which caused the Pres
ident to remark, This is beautiful.
Given Great Ovation.
The President and Mrs. Harding and
the Vice President and Mrs. Coolidge
received an ovation when they
reached the platform in front of the
Pan-American building. where uhe
switch that suddenly turned night
into day was located. After greeting
Cuno H. Rudolph, president of the
board of Commissioners; Howard 5.
Reside. chairman of the illumination
committee of the citizens committee
on the arms conference. and w
Darcy Ryan. in charge of i!lumina-
he chief
| further ceremony. pressed the button
| that set the sky aglow.
At the same instant, presidential
salute of twenty-one guns was start
ed by four 15-centimeter French
guns stationed at the base of Wash
| ington Monument. With the first
gun, red light beams followed the
smoke as ii rose in the air alongside
| the monument. White light beams
followed the smoke of the second gun
and blue the third-the national col
ors then being displayed on the smoke
| clouds. This scheme was repeated
until the twenty-one guns had been
| fired From the first gun searchlieht
rays played from the four windows
| at the top of the Monument.
| The arch at 18th and B streets.
standing as the threshold to the Pan
American building, was the Jewefeh
| obelisks IS feet high. with a jeweled
necklace, S612 feet long, suspended
| between them, this portal was set
a-sparkle as thirty searchlights were
| turned upon it. Thirty thousand No.
gaEem Jewels flashed out a myriad OF
| brilliant colors.
| Flags in Sunburst.
! In the center of the necklace was
| a large sunburst, into which had been
woven the flags and coats-of-arms OF
the nations participating in the arma-
ment conference. T.
Seventeenth street leading tc this
archway was Illuminated for four
blocks with rows OF Tour burner .sa
| Pan-American. D. A. r. and Red Cross
buildings stood illuminated banuer
standards. They were heraldic ban
ners. each with a different motif.
| The portal, Illuminated banners and
Roman lamps were designed by J.
Woodley Gosling, decorative engineer
| Of the General Electric Illuminating
Engineering Laboratory, while the
| construction work was done by j. w.
Shaffer. construction engineer Oh the
The lighting constituted a s250,ooo
(; disnlay, due to the loan by the ARMY
and Navy of more than SZoV'ooV OF
! property and equipment the ac!uaf
net outlay was in the nelghoorhooo VI
$4,000.
! Crowd Gatheres mt Pm.
| Shortly a1leT u SioSh tiS
snaces opposite the Pan-American
building began to fill with what eaad cary
i gave promise of being a record,
| breaking crowd. Soon it appeared
that this part of WashingtGn ah,! t;,;vam must st
be the destination of every citlZen OF
the capital. People came literally by
thousands. but it was good-natured
crowd. and the police had no difhculty
| in holding it inside the park spaces.
The President and his party re
mained only few minutes. The
crowd fingered to listen to patriotic
music played by the Army band. AS the
| immense assemblage slowly disband-
ed, the streets of downtown Wash
, ington became as crowded as they
were on Armistice night-three years
ago. Two persons out of every five
wore a Flanders poppy, and nearly
/ every one the national colors in cele-
bration of the event. Hotels and res
taurants were crowded until a late
hour.
The festival of light will be re-
peated tonight beginning at 7.i5
o'clock.