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Show A SPENDING A FORTUNE TO TELL ' ! OTHERS HOW TO GAIN WEALTH Thli Is a itorjr of how a comfortable Utile fortune u pent In three w-k: It waep't iquandered, and In-iu way that fortune put potential wealth Into the handa of more than 105,000 persona per-sona In Chicago. To begin at the beginning: When the third Chicago Land Show wiw tx-lng tx-lng planned th Union aud Southern Pacific railroad coiupaclea began 10 plan uImo how they could attract their share of the hundred of thoutiunda that would vlxltthe show, to their territory. ter-ritory. Many thlnga were dlHcusaed the first being the Idea of bootha In which to display the product a grown along the lines of the ralloa.U. "That wou't do," aald Oerrltt Port and Charlea 8. Fee, paanenger trafflc loanagera of the Union and Southern Taclflo railroads. "We'te got to have j something different thla year. Last year wo showed what our farmera ran do. Thla year we want to show what all of us can do." Plan to Spend a Fortune. And right there began the plans for spending thla fortune. After a doz-, doz-, en different suggestions had been ! ran bed out there was evolved the one used, that of having two moving picture palaces built Into the CoIUeum at Chicago and there showing stereop-tlcon stereop-tlcon and moving pictures not only f 1 1 farm life b.uj of town and city life I ' along the Union and Southern I'aclflc 1 1 Unei . TVenty thousand' 3oTTafs "was the 1 j sum decided upon M necesHary to : make the display. The s(ace at the I ; Coliseum that was allotted to the rail-I rail-I j roads was put In the bands of a mov- given in the two theaters In the 22 days the Land Show was open or an average of 23 lectures a day. Thirty different men and women from different differ-ent parts of the country sent out the call for their particular sections; each presenting In bis or ber own way the advantages to be dorived from residing resid-ing there. Governor's day at the Land Shov was November 8, and on that day the Union-Southern Pacific companlea threw open their theaters to tho gov-ernora gov-ernora of ten western statea, welcomed welcom-ed them there, and It waa there that the messages of these aiates 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 thing, In one of these theaters. Men stood at each door of the two theaters all day long with countera In their hands, and every person that entered was ticked off on the little watch-like machines they held. At the end of each day the total was taken from each and they were set back to rero again ready for the next day.. In this way accurate count waa kept of the 155,000 men, women and children chil-dren who were told the message of. the wes? r Message Straight to Hearts! j "W found that we sent our mea-nnge mea-nnge straight into the hearts of the land fiungfy," said an official -of the railroads who waa present during the land show. "They came into our little lit-tle theaters with their eyes aud feet I. T : r- - - .. rHrrnl III III B; i Hi 1 IFil FnT?v uPtI ic ll m- .- --7i Ing picture architect a specialist In the designing and building of motion picture booses and he was told to go ahead and build two of the best ones he ever planned. ' The result mure 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 waa 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 borne life In the west. Theater 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 bad 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 wonders of the world. The "cages" for the moving picture operators were fireproof, so that In rase of accident no flame could reach out Into the body of the house. The ceilings of the two balls 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 wss the screen on which the pictures i were thrown. This was one huge shet without seam to mark or mar It, and I the reflections cast were as clear & it I was possible to make them. I Five Hundred Lectures Given. j Five hundred and six lectures were tired from the sights they had seen and the hard floor they bad tramped. They sank down Into our comfortable seats, rosted 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 flowers, flow-ers, the waving grain and the handsome hand-some homes shown them. In the motion mo-tion pictures tbey were shown the methods of farming, the scenic wonders won-ders of our lines, and the many cities cit-ies which we reach. Altngether, I believe be-lieve that we reached the people la this way better than we could la any other." t , 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 waa 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 tbelr benefit in order that they may get Into direct touch with persona seeking new homes. The cost of space, fitting np and operating op-erating the two theatera 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 120,000 bad been spent With the close of the land show 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 Us opportunities. |