Second Year

STATES & CITIES

Early one morning in Denver last week, President Ralph Budd of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., Manufacturer Edward Gowan Budd (no kin), many a Burlington and Budd technician, 20 newshawks and one burro boarded Burlington's silvery new high-speed Diesel-powered train. A full third of the way across the continent in Chicago that day, A Century of Progress was opening for its second year. Clackety-clack--streamlined, shovel-nosed Zephyr slid out of the Denver yards at 6.05 a. m. While passengers settled themselves in its three articulated compartments. Zephyr picked up speed. For a while she did not venture over 75 m. p. h. At the last minute a defective armature bearing had had to be replaced, by airplane, from Omaha. Then somebody inadvertently slammed a door on a wire leading to the air condenser, which was repaired while the train coasted down a 20 mi. incline. These vexations overcome, Zephyr began to show her heels--80, 90, 100, 110, 112.5 m.p.h. In the rear solarium some coffee spilled as the train rocketed around curves at 90 m. p. h. Twice "Zeph," the burro, toppled over. Folk turned out by the cheering thousands in 164 dust-bitten western towns through which Zephyr flashed. Two thousand five hundred constables, legionaries, volunteer citizens, railway men guarded 1,689 grade crossings. All Burlington traffic was sidetracked, all spring switches spiked down. Breaking railroad records by the score, Zephyr skimmed non-stop over the 401 mi. between Denver and Harvard, Neb. at an average of 79.7 m. p. h., bettering the world mark of London Midland & Scottish Ry.'s Royal Scot (401 mi., London to Glasgow at 56 m. p. h.). At 7:10 p. m. Zephyr broke the official finish-line tape at Chicago's Halsted Street. Without stopping she had traveled 1,015 mi. in 13 hr. 5 min. at an average of 77.6 m. p. h., on $16 worth of crude oil.* If Messrs. Budd had planned on getting to the Fair that day from Denver on one of Burlington's regular flyers, they would have had to entrain on the Aristocrat the afternoon before. Half an hour later, after appearing briefly on the stage of the Fair pageant Wings of a Century, history-making Zephyr shuttled over to the Fair's Travel & Transport Building for a summer's exhibition before being put in regular service between Kansas City and Omaha. She was a notable visitor the opening day-- but not the first. That honor went to one Martin Svendsen, 19, at 9 a. m. He had been waiting at the gates 24 hr. for it. First official visitor was rotund Flyer Roscoe Turner bringing greetings from the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. William Randolph Hearst had inspected the plant, repaired, repainted and 90% new in exhibits, three days before (see p. 38). Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. of General Motors had marshaled 300 scientists, industrialists and economists for a grand neotechnic forum (see p. 54). But the Big Man at the new Fair's first day was neither Illinois' Governor Horner who conducted the inaugural ceremonies, nor Chicago's Mayor Kelly, who made appropriate welcoming remarks, nor Edward F. Dunne, onetime Governor of Illinois, whom President Roosevelt had appointed the Fair's new U. S. Commissioner, nor the President himself, whose talking picture image addressed the first night gathering and switched on the lights. The Big Man was Henry Ford. Last year Mr. Ford snubbed the Fair entirely, left to Chrysler, General Motors et al. the job of representing the U. S. automobile industry. This year the Ford Building dwarfs its competitors' exhibits, cost $,.000,000, included the world's largest photomural (600 ft. by 20 ft.), an outdoor show called "Roadways of the World," performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra four hours a day for twelve weeks. Lean, gaunt Henry Ford was on hand in shirtsleeves the opening day to whip his spectacle into working order. He noticed a 10-year-old peering at the mechanical exhibits, volunteered to conduct him and other moppets through the place. "Mr. Ford," interrupted an officious secretary, "you're not going to get any place today, going like this. We can give these boys some books which will give them all the statistics." "I'll give the statistics myself," snapped Mr. Ford. "The boys come first. . . . What did you say, Geoffrey?" Fair visitors found all last year's good non-commercial exhibits repeated, some new ones added. Among the new commercials were John R. Thompson Co. (restaurants), with a big pier into the Lagoon on which there was free dancing; Standard Oil, with a big free animal show; Swift & Co., which had hired the Chicago Symphony to play every day for ten weeks. One of the difficulties about Fair-going last year was that a visitor had to do his long-distance tramping with a bottle in his pocket if he expected any refreshment stronger than beer. There are no saloons at the new Fair, but plenty of hard liquor is served with "meals." Hiram Walker had a big whale-backed building inside which an exhibition distillery was humming. Most of last year's real fun was to be had in the ribald Streets of Paris and in the Belgian and Midget Villages. Last week's Fair vistors found no dearth of villages--American Colonial. Old English, Spanish, German Black Forest, Mexican, Dutch, Italian, Tunisian, Swiss, Irish, Oases, Shanghai. All Villages were run by U. S. citizens. The Midway had been moved to the Island. The side, peep-and girl-shows which opened many a rural eye last year were back in reduced numbers. Again the Fair tried to keep them as clean as possible. Again the promoters hoped to make them as racy as possible. Sally Rand had been taken up by the movies, and the Fair's general manager, Major Lenox Riley Lohr, had not encouraged any more fan dancing. But one carnival man was planning an act in which his girls used just a few roses. To see the nation's biggest show, 155,000 people clicked through the turnstiles the first day, 35,000 more than the first day last year. Already 5,000,000 future admissions had been sold. The Fair Administration hoped to play host to 3,.000,000 before Oct. 31. With all guaranteed bonds to be retired by June 1, a big second year would make A Century of Progress the first world's fair ever to make real monev.

*A steam locomotive would have used $225 worth of coal for the trip.

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