The Coolidge examiner., 1936-08-28

Washington d. C.-WNU Service.
.TEXAS tips its ten-gallon stet-
son to a stream of visitors
for whom Dallas is a re-
ception committee, and inau-
gurates the first United States ex-
position in the worlds bumper crop
for 1886. After the Texas Centennial
the veteran exposition fan may as
we'll start packing for jaunts to
Cleveland, Ohio, and Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Although this is the first worlds
fair in Texas, the United States has
been a happy hunting ground for
elaborate expositions. Philadelphia,
Chicago and San Diego have each
had two. st. Louis had one. New
York and San Francisco have both
set the date for their second, 1889.
Such celebrations are becoming
the accepted sort of birthday party
for important national anniversa-
ries. The Philadelphia Centennial in
1876 brought the worlds activities
in miniature to the front door of Il
nation just one hundred years in
dependent. The Columbian Expo
sition in Chicago in 1893 was in
tended to show Columbus that he
hadn't seen the half of it when he
discovered America 400 years be-
fore. In 1907 the effectiveness of
English colonization of this country
was displayed by the jamestown
(Virginia) Tercentenary. The young
nations first wavering westward
steps were recalled in the Louisiana
Purchase Centennial in st. Louis in
1904, and Portland (Oregon) cele-
bration of the Lewis and Clark eX-
pedition's hundredth anniversary in
1905.
The South contributed to the
country'S fair festivities with the
Cotton States exposition at Atlanta
in 1895, the Tennessee Centennial
exposition at Nashville in 1897, and
in the South Carolina Interstate and
West Indian exposition at Charles
ton in 1902. Seattle was 'at home"
for an exposition in honor of Alaska,
the Yukon and the Pacific coast in
1909.
By that time the United States
had acquired the worlds fair habit,
and would have one at the slightest
provocation. When the Panama
canal was opened in 1914, no one
wanted to wait a hundred years for
the event to simmer down into a
centennial; so that formality was
waived, and the occasion itself was
celebrated with important exposi-
tions both in San Francisco and in
San Diego.
Began Again After the War
The general enthusiasm for fairs
was dampened somewhat, after
1916, by the World war, which ap-
peared to destroy mans appetite
for the arts and industries of civili-
zation. Then Philadelphia gave it's
second performance, the Sesquicen-
tennial in 1926. Chicago followed
suit in 1888 with it's own hundredth
birthday party to which everyone
was invited, and to which everyone
went and then went back the follow.
ing year. In 1885 the San Diego ex-
position was announced along with
centennial celebrations in Arkansas,
Wisconsin,, and Springfield, Mass.
The past century might well be
called the Exposition Era, for il
has witnessed the sudden gaudy
sprouting of the worlds fair from
the ancient family tree of the tradi-
tional trade fair. This new and
dazzling era began in 1851 with
that grand-daddy of fairs in the
modern manner, the London Crys-
tai Palace exhibition, officially
opened by Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert. Since then, many
crowned heads and presidents have
seized such opportunities to com
bine official business with seeing
the sights.
After London started the world S
fair fever. it spread through Eu-
rope and North America with
amazing rapidity, with isolated
cases cropping up all over the world
from Melbourne, Australia, to Sc
vile, Spain. Within IS years Paris
has had seven important expositionS
and reports another planned for
1887, establishing a world record
for worlds fairs. London follows,
with a score of five. 1t is often diff.
cult to decide whether a busy in.
dustrial exposition or a big centen.
NAL celebration is worlds fair.
There are few set rules for play.
ing the exposition game, although
an international agreement on the
subject has been discussed and
standing committees exist in most
European countries. Almost any oc.
casion now is considered legitimate
excuse for a worlds fair. Rio de
Janeiro staged one to celebrate the
centenary of Brazilian independ
ence in 1922, Antwerp to commemo
rate Belgium's century of inde
pendence in 1880, and Brussels il