THE CHICAGO FAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CHICAGO FAIR

SPIRIT OF NEW AGE

(By

T.C.L.)

It is typical of the indomitable spirit characterising Chicago that notwithstanding the parlous times through which it and the rest of the country were passing ambitious plans were laid during the depression for holding a fair to celebrate a century of progress. In 1893 Chicago held its first world’s fair in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. In those four centuries man had passed from the Renaissance through the industrial revolution into the age of machinery, and was on the threshold of a new era of science and electricity. In a little more than half a century preceding that fair man had made tremendous strides in mechanics, science and invention, medicine and chemistry, but to-day astounded mankind looks back on those 40 years to see a record of scientific achievements even greater and more startling than ever. Within this short period man has learned to fly, to talk across the air without wires, to travel in motor-cars at terrific speed, to journey by sea on fast and luxurious liners, to see many diseases conquered by advancing science, to see machines devised and working to solve the most difficult mathematical problems, and to see machines do away with labour (and creating thereby further problems). The attitude of man has also changed.' Today scientists know that nothing is impossible, that mankind is really only on the threshold of knowledge, that man has not reached a pinnacle but has merely stepped across another threshold. The Chicago Fair of to-day, described as the Century of Progress Exposition, has been “set up” (to use an expressive Americanism) to show the world the wonderful advance of science, the varying aspects of man’s development and the historical stages leading up to that development. Every exhibit which can possibly include motion of some sort is presented dynamically. Instead of long lines of idle machinery, cases of specimens, tools, relics, devices and pictures, the exhibits comprise a whole series of mechanically motivated demonstrations, almost theatrical in effect. This is especially true in the Hall of Science, where the aim is to present illustrations of the basic sciences in a way easily understandable. Fundamental principles of physics and chemistry are demonstrated by means of experiments which automatically repeat themselves for the benefit of visitors. In geology, biology, and even mathematics, dynamic representations of basic laws replace the oldfashioned type of static exhibits. .Physiology is graphically presented by means of a scientifically constructed transparent mannikin so that the onlooker may visualise the entire picture and operation of the human anatomy as though he were possessed ’of X-ray eyes. n. - In the exhibits shown in many other buildings of the Fair the utility of the' contributions of science to industry, the link between science and progress, is graphically portrayed, and scientific principles usually considered too abstract to be grasped by the layman are. made clear. Everywhere there is motion to catch the eye and interest the mind, and make doubly significant the’ contributions’ of the scientific age to man’s modem life.

Motor companies assemble their cars whilst you look on—you may select your own fancy as it is being assembled and drive it away; tyre companies show how quickly and easily it is to turn out a modern tyre and sell it in the States for from 20s to 25s of pur money (and then you begin to understand how heavily Government taxes and freight and other charges bear on the purchaser of the tyre in New Zealand); typewriters and calculating machines, full of intricate cogs and wheels, are in process of assembly; even tooth paste is mixed, filled into tubes, the labels printed and affixed, the capsules placed on, and then packed in . boxes—all automatically. Near by are machines that turn out hosiery and lingerie by the ■hundred pairs, and machines that cut out and make up men’s gaberdine and dungaree clothes by the thousand. No wonder tailors complain of the conditions and prospects. And there are hosts of other labour-saving and wonderful machines and processes.

The Fair is situate on the shores of I,ake Michigan, the eastern boundary of the city. Two years ago thj site was covered by water. Reclamation has provided an area several miles long and about half a mile wide, and the Fair is strung along the long frontage. What first strikes the visitor is the modernistic style of architecture —garish, freakish, inartistic, banal, at least that is tne first impression the mind attuned to the architectural conventions of the present receives. But this impression becomes modified, if not changed, with greater contact and intimacy. The architects have worked in planes and solids, going back to the Greece of Alcibiades for their inspiration. They have, taken to-day’s materials, and even to-morrow s, and, working by the new theorem which science has brought to architecture, have Unilt strange new structures, with utility the dominant note. Windows are not used; instead are sheer blank walls. The architects contend that with modern lighting and ventilation windows in such buildings are unnecessary. The walls, of course, are synthetic and represent the mood of marble and granite. They are splashed with coloured lights, and at night time are a never-ending source ot interest and attraction. There is no uniform cornice height in the buildings. Everything is perpendicular. The visitor. is invited to admire pylons instead of colonnades. Buttresses and trusses are emphasised, instead of being masked.- The endeavour of the architects has not been to conceal the processes by which roofs are supported and walls stabilised and to display and magnify them. The result is architectural realism in the extreme. Inside the grounds is a permanent structure, a vast; outdoor stadium with a seating capacity of 120,600. The Americans have a weakness for stadiums, built after the Grecian models, and no community is complete without this athletic adjunct. A lagoon appears in the grounds and an island has been established and connected with the mainland by three pic-i turesque bridges as well as by a tremendous span of cables hung between two towers of a “sky-ride.” These skeleton towers rise 618 ft. above the ground level. The adventurous may leave platforms 200 ft. above the ground and board a rocket car for a thrilling sky-ride between the mainland and the island. The towers, illuminated at night and surmounted by moving searchlights which send brilliant shafts far into the sky, dominate the entire exposition grounds. The question is asked, How does the Chicago Fair, compare with the Wembley Exhibition held in London in 1924-25 ? There is no comparison, any more than there is between the two countries, England and America, because the conditions are entirely different, and because,

too, even nine years mark a distinct difference in this age of rapid scientic and mechanical development. The whole lay-out scheme is also different, Wembley having been fairly square and compact and Chicago being elongated and widespread. Both have a distinctive interest and appeal, and both will go down in history as milestones in the material and scientific progress and development of mankind.