The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-26
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
washington, d. @.
~AMERICA,S MAKING"

New York City. Oct. 23.-Much has
been said and written about what goes
into the Great American Melting Pot.
But what comes out of it? What has
America gained by reason Of its
strange mixture of different rationale
ties?
The answer to this question will be
given in an interesting way when an
exposition entitled Americas Max
ing is held in the Seventy-first Street
Armory in New York from October 20
to NoVembew II, in which thirty-two
different nationalities will show, by
means of exhibits and pageantry, the
various important features each has
contributed to the making Of America.
Visitors will be able to see how the
nation has grown much like a huge
and intricate patchwork quilt from
pieces presented by peoples from every
section OF the globe-hoW, for exam
pie, it derived its laws from the Eng
fish. it's first free elementary school
from the Dutch, its creameries from
the Danes, its native music from the
Negroes and it's architecture from all
parts and periods of the Old World.
The exhibits are to be arranged in
picturesque booths around the sides of
the vast armory drill hall. They will
include historic objects, arts and
crafts, sculpture, painting. actual
photographs still and moving models
I
ing devices, with largo scenic effects
in the foreground, as for instance, a
panoramic view showing the settle
ment of the southwest by Spanish col
onists.
Pageantry features wiIIbe staged ev-
cry afternoon and evening on the great
drill floor. These will include spec
| tacles. tableaux. pantomimes. plays,
! musical concerts, singing contests,
gymnastic drills, folk dancing and
toll A
teristic contributions of different ma
tional groups-as, for example, the
settlement of Fort Amsterdam by the
Dutch coIonists, the old town meet
ings of the English. the eisteddfods
or singing festivals of the Welsh. In
addition to these individual national
features, there will be a great opening
pageant, THE Foundations Laid" and
| a grand finale, "All America"
Lanes Idea.
1t was the late Franklin K. Lane,
former secretary of the interior, who
thought of the idea. He believed tina .
such an exposition would give each
national group a fuller conception of
its own share in the nations upbuild-
| ing, that it would tend to promote still
| closer American union, and point the
way by which we might further enrich
our national life. over a million per-
sons, including thousands of school
children, thirty-tWo national commit
tees and an executive committee con-
| slsting of John H. Finley, William L.
| Ettinger, Mrs. H. Edward Drier, w.
| H. Walbridge and Joseph Hartisan'
are now engaged IN carrying out MI.
Lanes idea, under the auspices of the
New York state and city departments
OF education.
Some of the best foreign artistic tai
| ent in the country has been employed
to plan the exhibit booths, while the
4u in
| hands of a well known New YORK
architect, Howard Greenley. In de-
scribing this scheme, Mr.. Greenley
| said:
81 have conceived a vast temple,
whose roof is & soaring arch OF green
and gold a canopy Of foliage remln1s-
J cent of constant growth and OF renas-
| cence. The four pillars OF this tenn
pie in their majestic dimensions are
as the pillars of the state, defylng dis
| turbance and significant of the prom
| Use of liberty, cooperation, opportun-
ity and liberation, each thanked by
| lambert brasier wherein the fires-of
| faith glow eternally. The flag-that
! far-reaching and enveloping symbol of
| protection-flings its panoply about
these pillars"
For several months past, each of
the thirty-two national groups partici-
pating in the exposition has had an
! expert research staff at work tracing
it's various claims in America. The
material assembled by these experts
forms the basis of the exhibits and
pageants.
The English will have the largest
and most important display of gifts.
They will emphasize their contribu-
| lions of law, political structure, Ian
| gVage and education. They will show
US how our popular Colonial" form
of architecture is but an adaptation of
the English Georgian; how most of
| our furniture is made from patterns
originated by the old English cabinet
makers-Adam, Windsor and Shera
! ton-how our principal sports. chill
dren's games, social customs and holt
| day celebrations are of English origin.
! The Irish, who modestly declare that
, leadership is their outstanding con-
! tribution to America, are completing
the erection Of mipiature mountain.
rising from a lake, to show many of
the exploits of men of their race.
Hollands submarine, the steel in
dustry as represented by Farrell. rail-
road trestles illustrating Irish labor
and wealth of other detail will be
shown.
The setting for the French exhibit
is to be a room in an early French
mansion of New Orleans, entered thru
a row of columns reminiscent of the
architecture of that time. French
windows in the rear wall will open
on balconies enclosed in the familiar
| wrought-ircn ratings introduced by
| the French, and thru these windows
will be seen New Orleans of those
early days, wharves piled with cotton
and sugar, and negroes at work.
| This will be a back-drop realistically
lighted.
French Exhibit.
Inside the room will be many re-
| minders of what America owes to its
French citizens. There will be CLOTH
ing. jewelry, printed and woven silks.
costumes, tapestries, carpets, pottery
and other objects of French design.
Other specimens will point out that
the French discovered the lead de-
posits of Missouri in 1919, that they
successfully manufactured lgranulated
sugar for the first time and perfected