The Coolidge examiner., 1935-06-28
Prepsrea BY National Geographic society.

Prepared BY National Geographic Society.
Washington. u. c.--WNU Service.
u ECENTLY jury In Wash
X lngton. ID. c.. had 10 be quar-
tered four In room I'm
hotel because of the influx of vlsl-
tors To the nations capital. The
spring lure OF the city brings thou
ands of travellers who swell the
ranks OF the normal transient pop
ulatiOn.
Washington always has been
popular convention city. Indeed.
conventions here never cease. This
or that national group seems al
ways In session. The year around
one sees crowds OF men and women
wearing badges. carrying banners,
following bands. touring the city
Ia hIg buses which naunt streamers
telling who the pilgrims are and
where they came from.
In vacation time school children
by the hundreds OF thousands flock
here from all over the Union. re.
mindful OF that chlldren's crusade
Of ancient days. They crowd the
clty's more than 20 hotels. It's COO
eating places. and miles OF room
ing houses. Some visitors bring
tents or come by automobile and
roost on the commons beside the
Potomac. known as the Tourist
Camp grounds
More than 800 national associa-
tions have offices here. representing
every Interest. from the Chamber
of Commerce of the United States
and the American Federation OF
Labor 10 the Gamers and Dyers and
Cleaners.
For lack Of garage space. II Is
estimated that 10000 cars park In
the streets all night every night.
But huge motor travel IL nothing
compared with the crowds that
come by rail. All counted. OF least
FIVE million visitors a year see the
capital An 1O.05OOO0 travellers use
the Union station annually. more
than three times as many as all the
whites in the United States when
the city was laid out.
National Museum 10 immense.
Nobody has seen everything In
the national museum. Nobody
could There Is too much. To see
its 100000 different specimens
at the rate OF one thing a minute.
working eight hours day-would
take more than "a years.
Because nobody could see all.
only some OF the most interesting
things are set out for public exhI-
bItlon. These include fine examples
Of different kinds OF animals. we'll
known historical objects. pictures,
weapons. inventions. vehicles. and
series Of specimens OF various kinds
that have interest and attraction.
Properly arranged and labeled, each
tells its own story. This exhibit is
so organized that visitors In simply
walking through the halls may gain
n concrete impression OF endless
subjects foreign to everyday life.
Nearly two million persons each
year visit the halls.
The most popular single object to-
day Is the Spirit OF st. Louis, the
plane flown by Col. Charles A. Lind
bergh In his lonely voyage on the
first nonstop flight from New York
TO Paris. on May 20 and 81, 1927.
Second In popular interest is the
costume collection. especially the
gowns OF mistresses of the White
House. beginning with that of Mrs
Washington and extending without
break through the succeeding Presi-
denotes.
Natural History Exhibits.
In the Natural History hall, the
groups of large animals collected
by the Roosevelt African expedI-
ton are the most popular exhibit.
Lions, water buffalo, zebras, and
others, arranged In llfelike manner,
with the vegetation Of their native
haunts as background, show the
types of mammals met on that his
toric hunt. Thousands of other
specimens, large and small, from
this same expedition repose in moth
proof storage cabinets In the mu-
scum laboratories. where they are
the basis of scientific research.
In the fossil halls Is the skeleton
Of huge dinosaur, an extinct rep
tile of the CretaceOus period, a
specimen 50 feet long, and so ar
ranged that visitors may walk be-
meath 1t, and so gain a clearer idea
of It's vast size. Such skeletons
are found embedded In stone, so
that the bones need to be chiseled
out carefully by hand. With this
great beast appear many other fos-
sils OF bizarre and unusual type
One hall shows only minerals.
Here is the original nugget that
started the gold rush to California
In 1849, a bit of metal smaller than
ones fngerHail, but one of great
historic Importance.
A great collection Of coins and
medals begun by the Treasury de-