Sesquicentennial news bulletin: Sesquicentennial International Exposition

              1926
Division of Publicity
SESQUICENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION


Commemorating 150 Years of American Independence

TO EDITORS:
All material in this Bulletin is released for publication immediately unless otherwise specified.  Special descriptive articles or photographs furnished upon request.

M. F. McALEER Director of Publicity.



SESQUICENTENNIAL NEWS BULLETIN
Issued Semi-Weekly by
Sesquicentennial International Exposition
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA
June 1, 1926—December 1, 1926




Hon. W. FREELAND KENDRICK, President
ERNEST T. TRIGG, Vice President
D. C. COLLIER, Director General
G. W. B. HICKS, Executive Secretary
WILLIAM W. MATOS, Chn. Information Committee



BULLETIN No. 41. OCTOBER 21, 1925.


PRESIDENT COOLIDGE COMING TO SESQUI; WILL BE SPEAKER AT JULY 4 CELEBRATION
Gladly Accepts Invitation of Mayor Kendrick Who Plans Greatest Observance of Independence Day in History of Country; Chief Executive of Nation Will Sit in Washington's Pew in Old Christ Church; 250,000 Persons to Hear Him in Stadium.

Philadelphia, October.

President Coolidge will attend the Sesquicentennial International Exposition as the guest of the city of Philadelphia on July 3 and 4, 1926.  He will be the central figure in the most impressive celebration of Independence Day ever held in the United States.

The Nation's Chief Executive will address an audience of no less than 250,000 persons assembled in the Sesqui Stadium and his speech will be broadcast over the country.

Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, who is President of the Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association, invited President Coolidge and requested him to receive a committee of representative Philadelphians who will extend a formal invitation.



Promptly Accepts
The President's prompt acceptance reads as follows:

The White House Washington October 13, 1925.

My dear Mayor Kendrick:

The President asked me to express his appreciation of the invitation on behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia and the Sesquicentennial Association to be the guest of the city on July 3d and 4th of next year.  The President fully expects to be present at the time and to avail himself of the hospitality you extend.

As to receiving a committee desiring to extend the invitation formally, he will be glad to do so if it is felt that this will contribute anything to the effort to bring public attention to the importance and significance of the celebration.  I think you will be quite safe in assuming that the President will receive such a delegation on any day that may be convenient to your people, but suggest that it might be better, before making definite arrangements, to communicate with him.

Most sincerely yours,
EVERETT SANDERS, Secretary to the President.



Mayor Delighted
Mayor Kendrick, delighted by the communication from the White House, said: I know I will never stop for a single minute my efforts to make July 3, 4 and 5, next year, days of which the people of this great country will always be proud.

The President's acceptance convinces me that the people of the entire country will enthusiastically join in making it the greatest birthday this Nation or any other nation of the world has ever had.

In Mayor Kendrick's program for the observance of Fourth of July, which falls on Sunday, is a special morning service in Christ Church, in Second Street above Market, where many of the members of the Continental Congress worshipped during the period of the Revolution, and where Washington, while President of the United States, frequently attended service.

President and Mrs. Coolidge will occupy the pew which Washington used while he was President of the United States.



Services Throughout Nation
Special services are to be held in all the churches throughout the country at the same hour that the President will be worshipping in Old Christ Church.

On Monday, July 5, there will be a patriotic program at Independence Hall, followed by pageantry in the Stadium depicting events leading up to the birth of the nation.

It is expected that every city, town, village and hamlet in the United States will simultaneously hold an Independence Day program similar to that arranged for the Sesquicentennial city.




JUNE 1, 1926, SESQUI OPENING DATE, KENDRICK POSITIVELY ANNOUNCES
Mayor Repeats Declaration Greatest World Exposition in History Will Open on Time.

Philadelphia, October.

The Sesquicentennial International Exposition will positively open on June 1, 1926.

Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, President of the Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association, repeated this emphatic declaration at a meeting of the Executive Committee on October 16.  Ernest T. Trigg, chairman, stated the Mayor voiced the belief and purpose of every member.

I wish to state, the Mayor said, that the Exposition will positively open on June 1, 1926.  The work of construction will be carried on at full speed and we are concentrating our forces in order that everything will be in readiness to open at the designated time.


People Backing Sesqui
The prompt and generous response of the citizens of Philadelphia in oversubscribing the $3,000,000 participating bond issue in the recent campaign demonstrated in no uncertain manner the civic pride and patriotic interest that Philadelphians have in the Exposition.

The acceptance by President Coolidge of the invitation extended him by me to be present during the celebration, together with the fact that he had previously extended invitations to all foreign nations to participate, makes it a question of national honor, and Philadelphians will not prove untrue to the traditions of the city in matters of patriotic import.

Philadelphia will be host to the world during 1926 through the medium of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, which will open June 1 and close on December 1.



No Other Date In Mind
All the work that has been done by the Executive Committee and officials in connection with the Exposition has been with no other idea than that the opening date would be June 1.

The immense Sesqui Stadium is to be turned over completed to the city early in April, 1926, according to the contractors who have undertaken this vast construction project.

Contracts for the Palace of Liberal Arts and the Palace of Agriculture and Food Products were awarded with the stipulation that they shall be completed before January 1, 1926, in order not to interfere with other construction.  In fact, all construction work has been speeded up to expedite the erection of these buildings and to prepare the way for the early award of additional contracts.



Foreign Nations Know Date
Captain Asher Carter Baker, Director of Exhibits and Foreign Participation, now in Europe, has arranged for the participation of twenty-four foreign countries with the express stipulation that June 1 is to be the opening date.

American commercial attaches throughout the world, under the direction of Secretary Hoover, have advised manufacturers and other prospective exhibitors that the gates of the Exposition will surely be opened on the date first set.

To dispel even a shadow of doubt on this subject, the Mayor and the Executive Committee have again announced that Philadelphia will unquestionably open on June 1, 1926, the greatest international exposition ever held.




FIVE FAR-FAMED EXPERTS TO MAKE SESQUI MOST BEAUTIFUL EXPOSITION
Board of Design Specially Created to Decide Questions of Building and Ground Design.

Philadelphia, October.

That the Sesquicentennial International Exposition will be of surpassing beauty is assured by the creation of a Board of Design, composed of an architect, engineer, landscape architect, sculptor and color expert, all recognized as masters in their respective fields and each chosen not only because of his high professional standing, but also because of his expressed desire to have the World's Fair opening in Philadelphia on June 1, 1926, made far more attractive than any thus far held on either side of the Atlantic.

This Board, which will decide all questions affecting the aspect of buildings and grounds, will be in direct contact with the experts of the Sesquicentennial Association as well as city officials.

The appointment of the Board of Design followed a proposal sent to the Executive Committee of the Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association by Dr. Warren P. Laird, Dean of Faculty of the School of Fine Arts of the University of Pennsylvania; Paul A. Davis, 3d, and Milton B. Medary, noted architects.


Plan Proved Success
The plan adopted by the Executive Committee, of which Ernest T. Trigg is chairman, was most successfully used during the World War, under the direction of the United States Housing Bureau, in procuring the proper design and speedy production of vast and complex building projects.

The work of driving more than 900 piles for the first of the main exhibit buildings has been completed and the steel superstructure will be in place before December 1, according to the chief engineer of Austin & Company, the contractors, who, he says, are now three weeks ahead of their erection schedule.  The time limit for completion of this building is seventy-five working days.

Rapid construction plans are greatly aided by the use of standardized material brought here from Cleveland, 150 freight cars being required to transport it.  Assembling of the steel will be begun October 26.

Forms for the concrete bases and anchorages for the walls are completed and the pouring of concrete will be started this week.



To Start Second Building
Pile driving for the second exhibits palace, which also is to be completed within seventy-five working days, will be started immediately.

Each of these buildings will cover about nine acres, and contain more than 380,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Two other main exhibit buildings of considerably larger dimensions will soon be under way, according to the plans of the Board.

The site of the group of buildings for the live-stock show is now being graded, but this work on the extensive area to be occupied by the Gladway is about completed.



Jersey to Break Ground
Ground will be broken for the New Jersey State Building on November 1.  The structure will be of stone to insure permanency, as it will remain standing after the Exposition ends, as an evidence of New Jersey's friendship for its sister State, Pennsylvania.

Rapid progress is being made in the construction of sewers in the broad avenues marking the boundaries and traversing the Exposition grounds.




WOMEN WILL SHOW PROWESS IN ATHLETICS PROGRAM AT SESQUI
Proficiency in Strenuous Sports to Demonstrate They're Not in Clinging Vine Class.

Philadelphia, October.

Where is the clinging vine of the past generations?  She will not be found at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition in Philadelphia next year, for the program of women's athletic events is so extensive that it would seem as if half the women of the country will take part in stunts which would have made our Mayflower ancestors' hair stand on tiptoe.

Who can remember when croquet was the maidenly thing—to be played in billowing muslin gowns, and to be followed by afternoon tea?  Or when bicycling was considered a strenuous sport, and viewed with askance by the all-powerful They?

In this musty chapter of women's athletics belong the side-saddle (that half-way measure), and the well-groomed horse and glittering trap, a beautiful sight to be sure.  Would it not have been suicide in those days to have thought seriously of swimming the English channel?

Women's athletics have evolved from mere pastime for the leisure class to a necessity for every one.  The early apprehensions concerning injury to the muscles by harmless exercise has given place to a belief that lack of exercise means premature breakdown of the body.  Hence the required gymnasium classes in the secondary schools and the required athletics in women's colleges.  Hence the variety of health education divisions in Young Women's Christian Associations and other welfare organizations for the benefit of the girl and the woman in business.

Turn to the sporting page of any metropolitan daily and read of woman's success in the world of athletics.  Long has been the road she has traveled to reach headlines in those pages as champions in golf, in tennis, in swimming, in riding, and in a dozen other roads to beauty and health.

Women had their athletics in the early days, but they were misplaced.  They washed linesful of clothes; they scrubbed all of the floors in their homes and then sanded them; they spun their own thread and wove their own materials; they baked and brewed from sunrise to sunset; they performed labors about the farm which were suitable for strong men.  The result was that they were old before their time and it meant mental as well as physical stultification.

Women will demonstrate their prowess at the Sesqui in everything—from archery to swimming, from hockey to rhythmic dancing.

A little neglect may breed great mischief, said Poor Richard in his Almanack.  The past 150 years have taught women that a little neglect may breed ten extra years, so they sign up for gym. instead of buying chocolate nut sundaes.



AMATEUR ATHLETIC SESQUI MEET SET FOR JULY 2, 3 AND 5
These Dates will Find College Stars Throughout U. S. in Best Physical Condition.

Philadelphia, October.

All details for holding the 1926 national championship meet of the Amateur Athletic Union in this city in connection with the Sesquicentennial International Exposition have been completed by Murray Hulbert, president of the Union, and Dr. George W. Orton, director of sports of the Sesquicentennial Exposition Association.  The dates set for the meet are July 2, 3 and 5, the relay finals being held on the last-named date in connection with the Fourth of July observance of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Frederick W. Rubein, Secretary of the Amateur Athletic Union, also attended the conference between Dr. Orton and President Hulbert at the offices of the A. A. U. in New York City.

In deciding to hold the games around the Fourth of July they took cognizance of the fact that this year's meet was held on that date in San Francisco in connection with the Defense Day exercises, and it proved highly successful because of the fact that many college athletes who participated, were in the best of physical condition after an active school year, and that others who were attending nearby colleges were able to remain for the games before going to homes at distant points for their summer vacations.  In former years the games were held later in the season.


Games Held In Stadium
President Hulbert only recently returned to New York after a tour of the country, during which he addressed scores of athletic organizations affiliated with the A. A. U.  In each address he impressed upon the organizations the importance of participating in the 1926 games and holding them in the vast Sesquicentennial Stadium, as 100,000 persons can be comfortably seated and there is ample standing room for 100,000 additional if required.  The first day of the meet will be given over to deciding junior championships, and the second, July 3, to picking senior champions.  The final day will be given over to the relay championships and the decathlon.

It was decided also to lengthen the relay programme for 1926.  In addition to the regular relay championships at a quarter mile, half mile, one mile, two miles and four miles, there will be relay championships between teams made up of the best runners in the various districts of the A. A. U.  This system, it is believed, will result in the formation of some crack relay teams that had never before had the chance to run together and may result in the shattering of records.



To Have Women's Meet
The matter of holding a women's track and field meet in connection with the Sesquicentennial, and under the jurisdiction of the A. A. U. was also discussed.  The date upon which this will be held, together with a sanctioned swimming and handball championship contest, will be decided later.

At the suggestion of President Hulbert, Dr. Orton will make a special appeal to foreign athletic organizations, urging them to send representatives to the games.  Argentine, Uruguay, Chili and Brazil have already advised the officials that they will send star athletes.

The first annual football World's Series will be played during the Sesquicentennial.  All the leading college teams will take part in an elimination tournament and four elevens, representing each section of the country, will clash in the World's Series contests next November.

These games will be arranged by the Sesquicentennial Sports Committee.

The first junior world championship baseball series to be held in Philadelphia will also take place in the stadium of the Exposition in 1926 and will be held under the auspices of the American Legion.

The idea of having this junior championship decided during the Exposition is the result of a resolution adopted at the recent Legion Convention in Omaha.




ART MUSEUM READY FOR SESQUI; BIG FEATURE OF LIGHTING DISPLAY
Mayor Kendrick Says Illumination Plan Surpasses Anything of Kind Ever Projected.

Philadelphia, October.

Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, President of the Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association, is confident the magnificent Art Museum will be completed in time for The International Exposition, opening June 1, 1926.  Its cost, exclusive of furnishings and interior decorations, will be $13,700,000.

Eli K. Price, chairman of the Fairmount Park Commission's Committee in charge of this work, told the Mayor the contractors are making a great record.  Every foot of stone for the building is in the city and is being cut by gangs working twenty-four hours a day in eight-hour shifts.  Everybody is working at top speed and everybody is doing his level best, he declared.

Mr. Price also said he is confident that the approaches to the Art Museum, a series of broad stairways with ornate railings, over terraces interspersed with rocks and shrubbery, will be in readiness by next Spring, when the wonderful Washington Monument costing $250,000 and now standing at the Green Street entrance to the Park, will be moved to its new location in front of the Art Museum.

In his plea, made at a meeting of the Fairmount Park Commission, for the speeding up of work on the immense structure, Mayor Kendrick, declared that one of the memorable features of the Sesquicentennial will be the electric lighting display—the greatest ever attempted anywhere in the world.

From the rear of the Art Museum, the Mayor explained, the lighting effects will be continued down the Parkway with a distinctive display at the superbly designed and recently completed Free Library.  The illumination will be especially notable at the City Hall.  Below the tower upon which stands the bronze statue of William Penn, 550 feet above the sidewalk, there will be a pink effect with garlands of gold encircling the white marble shaft.

This unrivalled lighting spectacle will run along South Broad Street into a Court of Honor at the Sesqui grounds terminating in a dazzling colorful display with a Liberty Bell overhead.



CHILDREN ENRAPTURED WITH SESQUI MODEL OF TREASURE ISLAND
See with Own Eyes What is in Store for Them at 1926 World's Fair.

By F. Wills.

Philadelphia, October.

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, Yo, Ho, and a bottle of rum!

So sang American Sam and True Blue Sue when the vest pocket edition of Treasure Island arrived in Philadelphia from England, and they saw with their own eyes what is in store for them at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition next year.  The modern Treasure Island is much larger than the one which the English children enjoyed at the Wembley Exposition, for countless extra amusements have been added for American Sam and True Blue Sue.

The book of Treasure Island which belongs on their third shelf but is seldom there, has a very loose binding because American Sam and True Blue Sue quarreled about the amount of treasure trove Robinson Crusoe actually found, and they both wanted to prove their point at the same time.  It happened that American Sam was right, but the volume has never been the same since.  When True Blue Sue heard first that the real Treasure Island would be at the Sesqui, American Sam merely said, Shiver me timbers, and they buried the hatchet.

The sample of Treasure Island is now on view at Sesqui headquarters, and Maxwell Ayrton, Envoy from Treasure Island, is on hand to explain its wonders to the children.  As American Sam and True Blue Sue were the first there on the opening day, the Envoy gave them his undivided attention.  They didn't know what to look for at first in this tiny land of enchantment, but Ambassador Ayrton began with the entrance which resembles a port of call, fronting on an old world harbor and reached by flights of steps from the landing place.  There was a Custom House which looks exactly like the famous Kings Lynn Custom House which was built for Sir Christipher Wren.  (American Sam and True Blue Sue kept their eyes and ears open and learned lots of things they had never even heard of in school!)


Found City Square
You must know that an old English town always has a City Square with a big entrance gate in the surrounding wall.  Sure enough, American Sam and True Blue Sue found that Treasure Island had such a Square bounded by tearooms and kitchens, and by a building called The Rows, oh, ever so old exactly like a building in Hampstead, London, built in 1680 by a syndicate of Spanish merchants.  The Rows at the Sesqui will have shops upstairs and down, so that you may spend pennies for chocolate downstairs and pennies for tea upstairs.

Or tuppence!  cried American Sam, but True Blue Sue said she would like to have a shilling.

Some people are never satisfied, said American Sam.  For my part, I should like to have a crown!

What else would you expect to find in an English town?  questioned Robinson Crusoe's expert.

A Village Green!  shouted True Blue Sue, and sure enough, there it was.



Smithy There Too
A Smithy!  chimed in American Sam, and sure enough, it was there too.

But that wasn't all.  There was a thatched cottage, a home-farm, and an old Post Inn.  And most important of all, Jordan's Meeting House, which American Sam and True Blue Sue didn't understand about until Ambassador Ayrton explained that it was Penn's original meeting house.

The children jumped in glee when they heard that in the old windmill they will be met at the top of the winding stair by the miller who will put each in a sack and launch them down a spiral slide like sacks of flour, to be delivered safely at the bottom into a waiting cart.

If you want to, you may enter Treasure Island by way of the City Bridge which crosses the lagoon between the City and the Rocky Mountains.  Yes, honestly!  With The Great Divide, Red Indian encampments and a series of enchanted caves.



May Ride to Banff
American Sam wanted to know how he'll be able to get through the mountains, but the Envoy explained that the Canadian Pacific Railway will have a model engine and train of cars running right straight through to the station called Banff at the other end.

I was in Banff the summer that I was four and a half, exclaimed True Blue Sue.  It was on a lake called Louise.

No, you were four and three quarters because your birthday wasn't for three months, objected American Sam, whose marks in arithmetic were always higher than True Blue Sue's.

And now for the Island itself!  The children found it situated in the Blue Lagoon, nor was it the only attraction in that enchanting body of water.  William Penn's ship, The Welcome, was anchored there.



Lots of Little Boats
Lots of little boats will be there for you to go about in at the Real Treasure Island, Crusoe's Agent told them.  And you will never drown because you can't upset.  Or, if you prefer, you may reach the Island by flying over on a bird from Banff, and Wendy will meet you.

Actually on a bird?  queried True Blue Sue, for you see she was beginning to wonder if there were a Santa Claus.

Couldn't, decided American Sam.  You'll see—it'll be something different.

The Treasure Island Envoy shook his head sorrowfully and raised his right hand.

It is true, children, he said.  Just wait till the Sesqui and see.



Thinks Time Too Long
Oh, I can hardly wait—it's worse than Christmas!  cried True Blue Sue, so you see she was quite normal again.

Smugglers' caves and magic caves will be waiting for all explorers on the Island, and at the top of the Mountain will be a room in which a Camera Obscura may be found.  Nothing could induce the Ambassador to tell about the camera, because he was a little bit hurt about the birds.

One may get back to the mainland by way of two bridges, he said to change the subject.  One is the Bridge of Delight and the other is formed by the gangway to Noah's Ark.

Will there be a traffic cop for the animals?  asked American Sam, and the Ambassador replied that he would take the matter up with Mr. and Mrs. Noah before the Sesqui opened.



Can Talk With Crusoe
All of the people whom American Sam and True Blue Sue have met on their library shelves will be found on Treasure Island, so that American Sam will have a chance to ask Robinson Crusoe himself about the treasure trove, and True Blue Sue is going to ask Peter Pan if he is considering the question of growing up.

Guess what the mascot of the Island will be, said Ambassador Ayrton suddenly.

A drum major, ventured American Sam.

A pirate, put in True Blue Sue.

V-e-r-y good.  said the Envoy.  It will be a doll dressed like Long John Silver, with a cutlass and a bottle of rum to boot.

Hooray! cried American Sam, and turned a somersault right in the hotel.

By this time the lobby was crowded with children wanting to discuss foreign affairs with Ambassador Ayrton, so that American Sam and True Blue Sue had to leave without hearing about the White Tower and the Merry-Go-Round, and the Sorcerer's Tower and all the other things.  But they promised the Envoy that they would save their money for the Sesqui, and told him they'd meet him in the Custom House on June 1, 1926.




MODEL POST OFFICE TO SERVE MILLIONS OF SESQUI VISITORS
Telegraph, Telephone and even Radiogram Stations Also Will Be Provided.

Philadelphia, October.

The United States Post Office Department will be requested to provide a model building to facilitate the distribution, delivery and forwarding of mail at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition.

This action was decided upon by the Executive Committee following a report submitted by L. H. Kinnard, chairman of the Committee on Communications.

The report also recommended the establishment of units of the Western Union Telegraph service, Postal Telegraph-Cable service, Keystone Telephone service, Bell Telephone service and the R. C. A. Radiogram service on the Exposition grounds.

A one-story structure of not less than 4000 square feet is recommended for Post Office building.

In the Western Union offices, space will be provided for sending offices in the Administration Building, Foreign and State buildings section and in the Union railway station.

Space will also be provided for the Postal Telegraph Company to be located in the Palace of Manufactures and Industries, and additional branch offices for the convenience of exhibitors and visitors will be provided where necessary.

Telephone systems will be maintained by the Keystone and Bell companies in all the buildings and principal sections of the Exposition.

Part of the exhibit space to be devoted to the radio exhibit in the Liberal Arts Palace will be utilized as a sending and receiving station for radiogram senders and receivers.



SESQUIGRAPHS
Philadelphia, Oct..—The Mayflower Society will have at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition a replica of the cabin of the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers across the Atlantic.  A mast and sails will enhance the realism of the exhibit.  Members of the Society will impersonate the crew and passengers in plays to be presented during the Exposition.  Director-General Collier gladly granted space for the display at the request of Mrs. George Dallas Dixon, chairman of the Socety's Sesqui Committee.

Philadelphia, Oct..—Evidence that interest in the Sesquicentennial International Exposition extends from coast to coast is seen in ads of a Waterville, Maine, merchant, stating that five patrons who hold the lucky numbers will be given a trip to the World's Fair in Philadelphia, in 1926, and the announcement of a Yuma, Arizona, dealer that he will pay all the expenses of a trip to this city next year of the customer who gets the prize sales slip.

Philadelphia, Oct..—The National Association of Life Underwriters chose Atlantic City for its 1926 convention, because the 3000 delegates, with their wives and children, can board the fastest trains in the world at the seashore and reach the Sesqui city in sixty minutes.

Philadelphia, Oct..—The Woman's Board of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition held its first meeting October 16, Mrs. J. Willis Martin presiding.  About seventy-five women were present, representing leaders in the social, political and club life of the city.  Mrs. Martin read a telegram from Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, wife of the Governor of Pennsylvania, stating the Governor will appoint a woman representing Pennsylvania to co-operate with the Woman's Board.

Philadelphia, Oct..—Governor John W. Martin, of Florida, has named State Senators M. J. Wicker and Peter O. Knight, commissioners to the Sesquicentennial International Exposition.  A site for a State building will be selected next week.

Philadelphia, Oct..—Captain A. C. Baker, Director of Foreign Participation in the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, now in Europe, in a letter to Director-General Collier, states he is confident Roumania will erect a pavilion at the Exposition.