CAN YOU SEE STRAIGHT?

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 212, 6 September 1924, Page 11

CAN YOU SEE STRAIGHT?

ALBERT PARK FLAGPOLE TEST! CONSIDERABLY OUT Or PLUMB ! JIAN WITH A LEVEL IN HIS EYES. Half the 'buildings in Chicago are out of plumb; not quite so much as the leaning tower at Pisa, but sufficiently , to matter. This peculiarity of Chicago's tall buildings is accounted for by the i fact that the place is built over a I i strata of sand, or rather it may be said ' to float on sand. And the want of pluirtbness was discovered accidentally by a man who, while kept waiting in an upstairs office, amused himself 'by looking out of the window. As his eye -wandered past the edge of the window he noticed with a start that the upright line of the wall of the building opposite jdid not coincide with that of the window janfb. This led to an investigation, and it was found that nine out j of ten of the Chicago •buildings were just a little 'bit askew. One was reminded of this occurrence this morning when looking from high ground on the west of Queen Street, j across Albert Park to where the conspicuous tower of the new Arts Building of the University rises out of the intervening greenery. At a certain spot the sides of the tower and the tall flagpole that stands in Albert Park are ■brought very close together and if you observe them carefully you will notice that the flagpole must be considerably out of plunrb. Making a rough guess one would say that the top must lean over nearly four feet when compared with the base. Mast and arm are of iron and must weigh a considerable amount, tout as the mast is pretty solidly set in concrete, it is to be presumed that there is not much fear thai, the cant will be accentuated. Probably, like the famous tower at Pisa, the pole has come to rest in what the layman would consider an impossible position. As a matter of fact many , famous buildings besides the Chicago skyscrapers are a bit out of line, the glorious spire of Salisbury Cathedral ■being something like two feet out of plumb. Talking to an old builder about things being askew a "Star" reporter was told that to the well-trained tradesman any deviation from the upright or the horizontal would be apparent automatically. "I myself, for instance," he said, "cannot bear to see anything out of plumb without feeling irritated. A tradesman is so used to things being square and true that any departure strikes him immediately. Walking down the street the other day I came to one of those "keep-your-city-clean" wire-baskets lianging against a telegraph pole. It was hung ' awry, and I could not pass it vfthout hanging it square on the hooks. It is the same when Igo home. If the frontdoor mat is not square with the opening of the doorway I mechanically straighten it up. And even at table I cannot get over the habitj When the table cloth is laid, if the crease down Hie middle does not lie in the same line as the length, of the table'l mechanically pull it straight. And that led to a disaster one night. There was some sort of ornamental thing in the middle, and as it was out of square I went to straighten it as usual,-and pulled over some of the table decorations, much to the chagrin of the "womenfolk." He went pn to explain that the same natural instinct of the eye for the square and plumb also made him conscious of any irregularity in circles -or ovals. Many people are not blessed, or tormented with this wonderful accuracy of the eye. No better proof of this can be seen than the different ways people cut bread. Men like the "Star" informant will invariably cut a loaf strictly I at right angles to the line of length, and I right to the last crust the slices will be , I neatly square and regular. Another ! i individual with, a wobbly sort of mind I will hack junks off the loaf, and never ['by any chance cut two slices of the same thickness. To the person with a I straight eye the "skew cut" loaf is an I abomination, but the lob-sided person sees nothing amiss. j