| Show W h FIE I 1 I 1 ft A m e n cd bioc le sn t 0 j 9 f ap 4 A 9 VA 1 4 A sh mc OF T 0 all 7 fi 1121 0 y xo i ra t P 17 V 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON of every week is young americas day at the 1934 centura of progress exposition I 1 la 7 chica chicago go for that Is the day when boys and M A girls under the a age ge ot of twelve are admitted to 4 the grounds for a nickel and the concessionaires W 6 make a special price to the youngsters and does err young america take tahe advantage of the opportunity rz 1 I 1 1 for seeing at this small cost the modern version of the greatest show on earth lie ile w 1 evl ln and she does indeed 1 0 they come by the scores by the hundreds by the thousands S they pour through the various entrances and s scatter CS tier to all parts of the exposition grounds there to see all the ll 11 wonders of modern science and industry and invention which H I 1 L iu Is spread before them and to enjoy all the different forms of amusement indulged in when youth takes a holiday this day j the world is very much their oyster and they know it I 1 if you happen to visit the alie fair on a thursday and in tile the midst of these juvenile crowds find yourself saying 1 I know there were this many children in the world where do they all come from k ponder or a moment upon this statement the st sight you may be seeing N I 1 Is as nothing compared to the sight which you would have seen at th the 71 J 11 fair it if you had been there on thursday may hay 31 1934 aye that was a L lay the like of it has probably never been seen before and may never be seen again 10 it was the first childrens day of the 1934 1034 fair the chicago chicag go schools had been closed for the occasion to the youthful part of chicago Chi cagos is three and a third millions were added several thousand more from the outlying COOL cook county towns from other counties near by and even from points in indiana wisconsin and michigan over boys and girls over half a million pushing sholam shoil ng wriggling whooping super charged with energy units of young humanity V descended upon the fair they broke last years one day attendance record of made on september 4 1933 they broke all one day attendance NA N I 1 records of any fair anywhere with the exception of the record of on chicago day at the worlds columbian ey position exposition ion of 01 1893 that thing they broke but another story early on tile the morning of that historic ma may v 31 they began streaming toward the fair grounds massed from rail to rail on lite painted bridges they moved forward slowly but unceasingly toward the turnstiles turn stiles naif half an hour before the time to open the gates they were packed tight about the seven entrances from outlying parts of the city came the news that street cars gl L trains and busses were jammed beyond capacity alth ith young youngsters bound for tile the fair immediately orders were sent out summoning all exposition policemen oft off duty to report at once five hundred exposition employees were sworn in as special of officers acers mean every moment saw the crowds outside the gates growing denser and denser UP cp from the In illIng mob rose a strange strang ge variety of cries we want in binl I 1 le lets t got go hey stop your shovan lay off youse guys I 1 look out ya va nearly jammed me in the eye nith that lollipop hey that lee ice cream bar Is celtin and all down my bacal oh ive dropped the sack with my lunch la in it stop quit your crow crowd din ln stop it I 1 tell you 1 bewildered batemen tried in vain rain to hold bold them back the turnstiles turn stiles click fast elou enough b to let them through A hurry up call was sent for city policemen then tor for more in the administration building telephones were ringing wildly incessantly from box offices came word of exhausted ticket supplies of turn stiles out of cOromis commission slon and of guards trying vainly to maintain an orderly flow of eager youngsters through the gates then came caine the news new that the crowds were becoming absolutely unmanageable they were forcing their way through the bervice entrances through which supplies are brought brou glit into the grounds thy ther were beginning to scale the walls they were dropping down inside by the hundreds and para lazing the bus traffic which runs just inside the western walls officials of the fair realized that so something must be done quickly in order to avoid injury to the youngsters jammed outside the gates ga tes let em all in freel free I 1 was the order flashed out all gates gales including the service entrances were thrown wide open and then tho tha deluge attempts to coin appropriate similes for the sight which followed failed one observer ver said ilke a swarm of hungry locusts another compared it to the stampede of a ast herd berd of texas steers the surge came up and across the cause ways in a spectacle seldom it ever seen be before forc certainly never seen before in at an Amerl Amer learl cai e ltv city declared one eyewitness eye witness can you visualize a crowd of people there are only 13 american cities have more than a population of 0 Oo tind and in the largest of 0 these the density of 0 poev Is 18 less than to the square mile or acres now the century of 0 progress grounds comprise less than acres of available walking space pour people into that amount of fit space and blat do you get A crowd of course yes yea the fair was crowded on may 31 it would have been crowded even if the horde ot of youngsters had bad been evenly distributed about the lie grou ground ludi which they tey they ft streamed reamed down the avenue of flags in an endless procession of 0 closely packed humanity to which only the milling crowds nt at forty second and broadway in new york and state and madison in chicago are comparable from the terraces of the hall of science as far as the eye could see these thousands of boys find and girls were moving north and south so close together that tile the streets themselves seemed to be moving so steady was the stream of young visitors across the bridges over the lagoon that solid lines of policemen were stretched across the approaches to prevent the weight of too many from endangering erid the structures over on the enchanted island the part of the on enchanted island the part of the fair air most popular with young america the co congestion n became so great that it was necessary to establish and enforce a one way traffic rule the eager youngsters massed ten deep around some of the amusement centers and from 25 to 50 ia deep around others some ot of thern them spent most of their day standing in line waiting for a chance to ride on the ferris wheel or roller coaster or slide down a synthetic 1 c mountain moun tala but it if many of them were 1 intent upon such pleasures there were thousands of others who wiio jammed the exhibit buildings until every aisle was packed solidly with a slow thron throng it was in some of these buildings that oth other er things besides records were broken in justice to young america however it must be stated that officials in charge of the hall of science one of the principal points of attraction say that the crowd there was wag mainly an orderly 0 one and ad more easily handled than an adult crowd 0 of the same size cut but sightseeing their only activity there was the matter of eating and drinking to be taken care of early in the day it was announced that bottles of milk would be distributed free it was and it vanished like a light summer shower on the faco face of the S sahara ahara desert in the struggles around the booths where it was distributed some of the bottles w ere broken and this caused the only serious injuries of the day a few minor cuts from the shattered bottles so go the milk disappeared as did hundreds hundred of thousands of hot dog and hamburger sandwiches thousands of gallons of ice cream and of soft drinks and hurry up calls for fresh supplies were sent out throughout the day and there was left behind all over the grounds a trail of discarded milk bottles and pop bottles A force of extra workmen called into service to gather up tile the abandoned glassware the papers the boles boies and other trash which was ankle deep in places soon gave up hope of bf picking up all these things one at a time so they brought shovels and scooped the debris s into rows and they were scooping far far into the night by the middle of the afternoon tile the surging crowds through the entrances had died down to a thin trick trickle le all over the grounds tired young abera heedless of keep ott oft the grass signs were stretched out in every available spot of shade the hot sun had wilted most of 0 them and overcome some these were rushed to tile the lios hos filial maintained by the fair given a bath and made to rest for awhile lifeguards in canoes au an fintor boats were kept busy patrolling the T 1 your name little girl and where do you live A travelers aid society worker talking to one of the 1400 children who were lost in the crowds 2 this Is how the avenue of flags looked during most of the day when children invaded the fair grounds 3 guards and other employees of the fair formed human chains in an effort to restrain the children awaiting their turn to get in lagoon to see to it that no venturesome youn youngster 9 tumbled in but they stop many of thorn them from doffing shoes anil and stockings and splashing hot tired feet in the cool water any more than guards on shore could stop others from jumping into pools and fountains in various stages of dress and undress refreshed by such interludes they nere ere on off again to join the mob still milling everywhere through the grounds as individuals in couples in groups chaperoned by harassed teachers trying in vain to keep track of their charges one teacher solved the problem by using lengths 0 of f string to tie IG 10 ot of them together wrist to wrist As s she led the way through the grounds they trailed along behind her like the tail of ef a kite that la Is until they attempted to spread out in the midst of the crowd then tangle Is a mild word to describe the resulting situation she lose any of her little nock flock however but there were plenty of lost children that day 1100 of them to be exact fourteen hundred vibo became separated from parents or teachers or companions cut but thanks to a clearing house maintained by the travelers aid society all of the lost were found eventually urged by the public address system to seek their stray charges at tile the socie tys headquarters anxious parents and teachers stood in line for hours until policemen or fair attendants pushed their way through the crowd with their weeping charges older children clio knew where they lived were given carfare and sent seaf home younger ones were comforted by the young women in charge of the clearing house and an harassed staff ot of overworked volunteer olun teer assI assistants stauts by the time evening came and the thousands of 0 att winkling inkling lights which adorn the buildings of the fair were nere being reflected in the waters of the lagoon an at anny my of weary youngsters was trudging its way to the exit by 9 the shrill clamor which had echoed throughout the buildings all day was dying down to a murmur there etero ere still thousands of children in the grounds after the hie spectacle of the those grounds ground seemed strangely deserted by midnight all of 0 them had bad gone except tor for ga unfortunate youngsters who were still unclaimed at the clearing house but by in the morning the very last of these had been returned safely home homa and policemen fair attendants concessionaires car conductors exposition yes and teachers and parents too heaved the bigl biggest gest esit high of relief in their lives the record breaking first childrens day at the 1931 fall fair mas as ocr 0 by western newspaper Nw union |
