Evening star., 1935-05-26
By Mareery Rice.
MONG the important eXh


IA fair. which opens at San Diego
4 A next Wednesday, May 20, un-
der the name of the California
Pacific International Exposition, is
that experienced and enthusiastic pa
tron of fairs and exhibits, the Fed
eral Government.
Several carloads OF material left
Washington for the fair two weeks
ago, followed by the handful of Off
cials who supervised its preparation
here. This group. headed by Joseph
w. Hiscox, Federal commissioner for
the fair, is in San Diego now, check
ing up on the arrival of exhibits and
seeing to it that they are set up in
their proper places and arranged to
the best advantage.
Heralded by its sponsors as "A
Pageant of Achievement" the exposi-
ton which will open on the West
Coast this week is designed to present
in colorful form a picture OF the past,
present and future attainmentS OF
civilization. Its managers have tried
to present their material in manner
which will give to the whole affair
an atmosphere Of action, life and mo-
ton. For, they say, although many
expositions have been content to tell
a story through use of inanimate
displays, this is an age OF color, action
and speed, and these factors are IN
diSpenSable to a show OF the size and
splendor of this one.
Exhibits of industry and commerce
will depict mans progress not only
from the point of what has been done,
but how it has been done, according
to the sponsors of the fair.
THE Palace of Electricity will reveal
- through graphic exhibits the
changes which have come into human
life since the elements were first
harneSsed and put to work. The trans
portation section will portray the story
of travel from the days of the Span
ish OK cart to the modern mediums
of present-day travel. There trans
portation styles of tomorrow will stand
side by side with vehicles long since
fallen into disuse.
One of the exposition buildings,
acclaimed as one of the best examples
of Spanish renaissance architecture
in America, is devoted to the science
of man, with anthropologica exhibits
depicting his physical and cultural
development. In an equally beautiful
building of Spanish design are as
sembled art treasures representing COL
lections in this country and abroad.
A natural gulch running through
the fair grounds has become roar
ing mining camp of the gold rush
days. There are shacks of the forty
miners, built with timber actually used
in construction of the colorful towns
of that period. On one of the houses
is the same door which opened to the
cabin in which Bret Harte wrote many
of his famous tales. There are replicas
of the bars over which hardy miners
gulped their fiery beverages, and when
the fair opens Wednesday the town
wifi "a briStling with forty-ninerS,
their womenfolk, and all the storied
characters who made up the popula-
ton of just such settlements when
they were the civilization of the West
Air and water shows are on the
schedule. On one occasion more than
a thousand airplanes will fly over the
exposition, according to the plans of
officials. Ships of the United States
Fleet will be in the harbor during the
Summer, as we'll as vessels of number
of foreign countries.
At the north end of the grounds
there has been built reproduction of
a Taos Indian village and there will be
typical villages" of European coun-
tries. Numbers of commercial and
industrial firms are participating.
There will be art and commodities
from Mexico, products and relics of
South America, unusual items from
japan and old and new features from
China. A pageant of manufacturing
progress will offer exhibits from Aus
tralia and New Zealand. From the
Fills and other picturesque Pacific
islands will come new features.
In line with the general theme Of
action and life are the Governments
exhibits. Eighteen executive depart
ments and other agencies have sent
material. 1t ranges from elaborate
mechanical displays to simple maps
and pictures, giving cross-section of
the various types of services the divi-
sions OF Government are rendering.
ONE of the most impressive exhibits
~ of the group, and indeed of the
entire fair, is that Of the Federal
Housing Administration. This agency,
which devotes most of its time to per-
suading people to modernize, improve,
repair or build houses as an aid to
employment and recovery, has seized
this opportunity to show lot OF
people Just how its program can be
carried out. The exhibit will be in
two parts, 'Modernization Magic" and
"Modeltown." The first part will con-
sist of a group of dilapidated and
poorly designed buildings, which in
the space of about 10 minutes will be
changed before the very eyes Of the
spectators into highly modernized
structures. There will be about 80
miniature buildings in the group and
the before" and after" moderniZa-
ton phases will afford a striking con-