OCR Text |
Show IMPENDING A F0 j J OTHERS K0W TO GAIN WEALTH j This is a story of how a comfortable 1 little fortune was spent in three weeks: It wasn't squandered, and in its way that fortune put potential wealth into the hands of more than 155,000 persons per-sons in Chicago. To begin at the beginning: When the third Chicago Land Show was beting bet-ing planned the Union and Southern Pacific railroad companies began to plan also how they could attract their share of the hundreds of thousands that Would visit the show, to their territory'- Many things were discussed the first being the idea of booths in which to display the products grown along the lines of the railoads. "That won't do," said Gerritt Fort and Charles S. Fee, passenger traffic managers of the Union and Southern Pacific railroads. "We've got to have something different this year. Last year we showed what our farmers can do. This year we want to show what all of us can do." Plan to Spend a Fortune. And right there began the plans for spending this fortune. After a dozen doz-en different suggestions had been thrashed out there was evolved the one used, that of having two moving picture palaces built into the Coliseum at Chicago and there showing stereop-ticon stereop-ticon and moving pictures not only of farm life but of town and city life along the Union and Southern Pacific lines. Twenty thousand dollars was the sum decided upon as necessary to make the display. The space at the Coliseum that was allotted to the railroads rail-roads was put in the hands of. a mov- given in the two theaters in the 22 days the Land Show was open or uu average of 23 lectures a day. Thirty different men and women from different differ-ent parts of the country sent out thu call for their particular sections; each presenting in his or her own way tfc advantages to be derived from rest '-ing '-ing there. ' , j Governor's day at the Land Sliql'i was November 28, and on that d:'y the Union-Southern Pacific companies threw open their theaters to the gov-ernors gov-ernors of ten western states, welcomed welcom-ed them there, and It was there that the messages of these slates were told to Chicago. Other distinguished visitors visit-ors were invited, and they also talked talk-ed to thousands. On the special days of the states represented at the exposition expo-sition the programs were given, as a usual tiling, in one of these theaters. Men stood at each door of the two theaters all day long with counters in their hands, and every person that entered was ticked off on the ltttlo watch-like machines they held. At the end of each day the total was taken from each and they were set back to zero again ready for the next day. In this way accurate count was kept of the 155,000 men, women and chil- dren who were told the message of the west. Message Straight to Hearts. "We found that we sent our message mes-sage straight into the hearts of the land hungry," said an official of the railroads who was present during the land show. "They came into our little lit-tle theaters with their eyes and feet i, a -,1 f' 'fsV15-" ; Y " ii -ii . ,, . ,i ' ing picture architect a specialist in the designing and building of motion picture houses and he was told to go ahead and build two of the best ones he ever planned. The result more than repaid the planners. plan-ners. When the theaters were turned over to the railroads they were fully up to expectations. The entrances to foyer of the two was from the main body of the Coliseum and the two wide doorways were brilliantly lighted with electric signs. The foyer ran the full length of the Coliseum Annex and was wide. Under foot was a soft carpet, and on the walls were scenes of farm and home life in the west. - Theaters Are Resting Place, The theaters themselves also were reached by two broad doorways each. Inside they were carpeted and fitted with comfortable wide armed opera chairs that furnished the grateful resting rest-ing place to the thousands that had been "looking around" in the big CoH-seum CoH-seum and standing about on the concrete con-crete floors until their feet ached. The walls of the theaters also were covered cov-ered with paintings of western scenes. In addition to the farm scenes were views of several of the Immense irrigation irri-gation projects, and a number of the-scenic the-scenic wonders of the world. The "cages" for the moving picture operators were ' fireproof, so that in case of accident no flame could reach out into the body of the house. The ceilings of' the two halls were beamed and paneled and the interior decorations decora-tions were equal to those of any theater thea-ter in Chicago. In the front of each room was the platform on which the lecturers stood, and to the left of this was the screen on which the pictures were thrown. This was one huge sheet without seam to mark or mar it, and the reflections cast were as clear as it was possible to make them. Five Hundred Lectures Given. Five hundred and six lectures were tired from the sights they had seen and the hard floor they had tramped. They sank down into our comfortable seats, rested their feet on our padded floor, and just listened. Then when the lights were lowered and the beautifully beautiful-ly colored stereoptlcon pictures were thrown on the screen, their eyes were rested by the soft colors of the flow-ers, flow-ers, the waving grain and the handsome hand-some homes shown them. In the mo- tion pictures they were shown the ' methods of farming, the scenic wonders won-ders of our lines, and the many cities cit-ies which we reach. Altogether, I believe be-lieve that we reached the people in this way better than we could in any other." , p- Thousands Get Literature. As the throngs passed from, the theaters the-aters after each lecture they were sent out through the front of the rooms, into a wide hallway between the auditoriums. audi-toriums. On one side of this hallway was a long counter where literature descriptive of the Union-Southern Pacific Pa-cific territory was handed them and tens of thousands also registered their , names and addresses. These will be ( turned over to the communities in the . railroads' territory for their benefit in order that they may get into direct touch with persona seeking new homes. The cost of space, fitting up and operating op-erating the two theaters was a heavy one, and at the end of the 22 days of the exposition the men behind the exhibit ex-hibit discovered that their little fortune for-tune of $20,000 had been spent . With the close of the land show 1 workmen tore out all the handsome paintings, and the chairs and other comfortable fittings, and within a few hours nothing was left except that which the railroad men wanted the memory, planted deep in the minds of tens of thousands of persons, of their part of the West and its opportunities. |