The department of exhibits. The department of works. The department of promotion. The department of general service. The department of concessions. Comptroller's department. Secretary's department. Other activities are being handled by a group of technical assistants to the general manager. These, with the approach of the opening day of the exposition, will develop into individual departments. A group of committees of corporation trustees and citizens provide an eminent advisory organization to the paid staff. FINANCES The attached statement is submitted to show our financial condition as of November 30, 1931. The guaranteed gold-note issue, secured by 40 per cent of the gate receipts in the authorized amount of $10,000,000 is guaranteed as to its payment by $12,176,000 individual guarantees from leading Chicago business men. All expenditures are under budget control and no commitments are made unless funds are on hand or in sight with which to meet such commitments. The attached statement does not include any expenditures contemplated by various companies for the construction of their own special buildings and pavilions. Buildings now erected or in course of erection may be regarded as a kind of revolving fund. Ninety-three companies have contracted for space, about 80 per cent of which has already been paid for, thus releasing invested funds for use again. From other associations of industry and leading corporations of the Nation have come additional assurances of support in the matter of renting space. General administrative.. Total.... Disposition of above income: Cash on hand and in banks___ Funds held by trustee for members of Chicago World's Security deposited as collateral to performance bond issue to South Park Commissioners__ Preexposition expenditures $7, 049, 051. 06 1, 182, 117. 19 1, 157, 810. 60 628, 646. 14 256, 249. 98 $617, 491. 41 SOUTH PARK COMMISSION ASSISTANCE The South Park commissioners have given us full cooperation in all matters under their authority. The extension to Northerly Island as part of the permanent park system is progressing. Construction of the bulkhead to inclose the new section of the island is being completed. Plans and specifications to provide for the filling in of the island extension have been issued by the South Park for bids. This will add 12 acres to the ground area to be used for the exposition and will complete a second lagoon of equal area to the one formed by Northerly Island. Stone from the south end of the existing island and from off the bulkhead inclosing the lagoon has been transferred to the bulkhead east of the electrical group, raising the bulkhead in this area from plus 4 feet and 5 feet to plus 8 feet and 10 feet, thereby giving more thorough protection to the electrical group and other structures which will eventually be placed in this area, all without cost to A Century of Progress. The South Park Commission has also cooperated in connection with obtaining free fill for points about the grounds, and have arranged the Century of Progress road project, so that this construction could proceed at the convenience of the exposition. CONSTRUCTION Individual buildings are turned over to one of the members of the architectural commission for study and design, following which the department of works prepares the detailed plans and specifications. The commission, composed of Messrs. Harvey Wiley Corbett, Ralph_Walker, and Raymond Hood, of New York; Paul Cret, of Philadelphia; Arthur Brown of San Francisco; and Hubert Burnham, Edward Bennett, and John Holabird, of Chicago, has been at work for three years on the problem presented to modern society by the introduction of new materials and the necessity of meeting new purposes in buildings. No attempt will be made, as was the case in 1893, to repeat the models left by the architects of ancient Greece or Rome or the Middle Ages. The buildings will have a beauty of their own, but it will be a new beauty.. They will suggest to builders of the future opportunities in the use of new materials. The administration building has been entirely completed and presents a type of building which could be manufactured in the same manner as a Ford car, shipped in box cars to any section of the world and erected with a monkey wrench, a screw driver, and a hammer, and directly attacks the high cost of rent in this and in other countries. The special features on display in the administration building, such as models and pictures in the exhibit hall, the Diorama studio, the miniature science exhibits, the trustees' room, and the lighting laboratory have created great public interest. The Fort Dearborn replica, the earliest Chicago settlement, was opened to the public May 16, 1931, and since that time has attracted much attention. Paid attendance to date at 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children, numbers 112,148, of which 55 per cent has been from outside metropolitan Chicago. The travel and transport building is now being used as an experimental laboratory for study of new types of booth spacing, heights, color and lighting effects, and floor construction. The dome of the transportation building incloses one of the largest areas ever before inclosed by man. This has been accomplished at a very moderate expense by the application of the suspension bridge principle, by which the roof is suspended by cables supported by columns outside of the building. The success of this experiment demonstrates the possibility of inclosing any area which it is desired to have covered in such a manner as to leave the inclosed space without columns to interfere with the view. The hall of science is under construction. One of the show features of the grounds, it will rise from colored terraces, two stories and a mezzanine in height. In its court will be a huge rostrum decorated with bas relief ornaments. At one corner of the building will rise a 176-foot tower fitted with a carillon. In a picturesque setting on Northerly Island, directly across the lagoon from the hall of science, is now rising the electrical group. This group, 1,200 feet long and 300 feet wide, will comprise three units-a radio building; a communications building, devoted to exhibits of the telephone and telegraph; and an electrical building in which the generation, distribution, and utilization of electricity will be portrayed. The steelwork on this group is practically completed and a start has been made on the inclosure, for which a fire-resistant material, embellished with a metallic paint, is being used. Each building will be full of suggestions as to the use of new materials and as to the manner of meeting new requirements in building. The exhibition buildings will be illuminated by artificial light exclusively, thus giving constant control at all times of the volume and intensity of light. These buildings will be practically without windows, but ventilation will be positive through the application of scientific studies by ventilating engineers. Road construction required by agreement with the South Park Commission has been practically completed. The drive along the lake shore will be closed to public travel upon construction of a fence around the entire exposition site. It was therefore necessary for A Century of Progress to construct a roadway to carry such traffic along the western edge of the area being used by it. From Sixteenth Street to Thirty-ninth Street a pavement 84 feet in width has been finished, leaving some widening to be done at a later date. Utilities created a vast problem. These studies on sewerage, water supply, electrical service, gas service, roads, walks, etc., have now reached a point where plans and specifications are in preparation for installation next spring. The city of Chicago has granted the privilege to the corporation of taking its water supply from the city tunnels and plans are being prepared for a pumping station and connections at the Park Row shaft to the tunnels supplying the water from Lake Michigan. The privilege of connecting the sanitary sewer system of the exhibition area to the sewer system of Chicago has been given. This cooperation facilitates carrying out projects for water and sanitary sewers both expeditiously and economically. FOREIGN PARTICIPATION In spite of the adverse conditions, much progress has been made in securing foreign participation. Official acceptances have now been received from France, Greece, China, Guatemala, Ecuador, Persia, and Honduras. Mexico, Japan, and Lithuania have accepted in principle. Large committees are working on the subject in Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Hungary. Finland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Spain, Austria, Colombia, and Peru are actively considering the matter of participation. Regulations governing foreign participation were prepared in conformity with the agreements of the convention relating to international exhibitions at Paris and have been approved by a commission of that body. Several trips to European capitals have been made by the staff of the London office, where it was found that great interest is shown. Dr. David Kinley, president emeritus of the University of Illinois, undertook to visit China and Japan as the emissary of the exposition, but unfortunately was unable to complete his mission at that time. If Doctor Kinley's health permits, it is anticipated that he will make another visit to these countries during the next few months. Mr. Charles S. Peterson, vice president of the exposition, has recently returned from Mexico where much interest was aroused among the officials of the Mexican Government in partipation. Mr. Carlos Contreras, architect, and head of the planning commission of the Mexican Government was recently sent as a representative by the Mexican Government to make a tentative selection of a site for the Mexican building and has just returned to Mexico following an inspection of the exposition grounds. Dr. William Montgomery McGovern of Northwestern University is now in Turkey and Persia on behalf of the exposition. His efforts have resulted in offers from the Turkish and Persian Governments of the loan to the exposition of remarkable collections of art objects. A great deal of interest has been shown in A Century of Progress by Central and South American countries, and an official representative of the exposition is now en route to those nations to renew, on behalf of the President of the exposition, President Hoover's invitation to these countries to take part in the exposition. Mr. Representatives of the French Government have shown interest in the section of the exposition known as "Old Europe" and also in the science exhibits. Paul Cret, of the exposition architectural commission, has been designated by the French Government to collaborate with French architects in the design of their buildings. Three and one-half acres have been set aside in "Old Europe" for French use, and a space is being reserved next to the hall of science on which France plans to erect a building to house French science exhibits. In view of the interest shown in the science exhibits a section has been set aside in the hall of science so that other nations may secure space for nationa sections if they desire. FEDERAL PARTICIPATION Investigations and reports have been completed covering such legislation as is necessary for carrying out the project; for instance, customs regulations, patents and copyrights, immigration, etc. Bills are now pending in Congress to cover an exhibit of the United States Government. STATE PARTICIPATION The people of every State in the Union were invited to participate in the exposition through formal invitations addressed to the governors of the States in January, 1931. This invitation was followed by personal calls on the chief executive of each State by representatives of the exposition. These representatives were instructed to furnish any information requested, in order that State commissions might be created, decision expedited, and commitments received as early as possible. No intrusion on the part of the exposition was made into the deliberations of the State legislatures. Favorable action has been taken in the Territories. Hawaii has passed a bi for an appropriation and appointed a commission. Alaska also has made a.. appropriation. The Governor of Porto Rico has appointed a commission, and the last advice from the Philippine Islands is that their legislature is considering favorable participation. Commissions from the following States have visited the exposition and made favorable reports: The decision to have a States building to house all State exhibits, rather than separate State pavilions, has met with unanimous approval. EXHIBITS Basic science. In 1893, during the Columbian Exposition, light rays left the star Arcturus to travel toward the earth at 186,000 miles a second for 40 years. On June 1, 1933, these rays will be bi ght to focus on a photo-electric cell by the 40-inch telescope of the Yerkes Observatory at Williams Bay, Wis. The impact of the light on the cell, amplified, will send out the impulses to throw the switches opening the exhibits of the pure sciences. These will form the centerpiece of the exposition. museums, and industrial laboratories, there will be standing phenomena in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, With the aid of universities, presented some of the out and geology. These will set forth the main principles of these sciences, to mark many of the important stages in their development, and to lead up to some of their more important applications. In mathematics, for example, the visitor will see the manner in which this science is used in the navigation of a ship, in the problem of electrical communication, and in other engineering applications. By this the visitor will be impressed by the central position which mathematics holds as a method or tool employed by all the other sciences. Chemistry will be shown as a fundamental science dealing with the transformations of matter and the laws which formulate these transformations. It is also proposed to demonstrate the tools and methods of chemistry by which our natural resources are developed and transformed into the necessities of life. Exhibits of medical science at A Century of Progress will visualize simply, yet dramatically, the tremendous strides made during the past century in the causes, detection, treatment, and prevention of human and animal diseases. Each display will be so planned as to be interesting and educational not alone to the physician and medical scientist but to the layman as well. Across the lagoon from the hall of science, in the electrical group, will be displayed the manner in which man has used the discoveries of the scientist for his comfort, convenience, and acquisition of knowledge. The highly developed service of telephone communication and the story of the telegraph and its contribution to human progress in the last century will be portrayed in the communications building. The electrical industry will demonstrate in the electrical building its manifold problems of generation, distribution, and utilization. The Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. has already assigned and stationed in Chicago to plan its exhibits one of the three men responsible for the general use of the steam turbine. The radio building will be devoted to a collective scientific exhibit, visualizing the tremendous strides made in radio since its discovery. It will include representative types of apparatus used from the early days of Marconi up to the present time, so that step by step, the progress and development of this communications art to its present high service of entertainment and education through broadcasting will be traced. The Radio Corporation of America already has done much work toward the collection of historical exhibits for museum purposes. That transportation is a strong right hand of science and commerce will be shown in its own section. The huge dome of the travel and transport building will house exhibits of the earliest and latest methods of travel in the various fields. The adjoining sections will present the drama of the railroad, the waterway, the highway, and the air. The General Motors Co., instead of taking space within the travel and transport building, has elected to erect a building of its own, one which the president of the Chevrolet Co., who signed the contract for General Motors, has announced would involve an expenditure of $1,000,000 for the building alone. The Chrysler Co. has also signed a contract, not yet made public, for its own building. The type of exhibits to be made in these buildings is in strict harmony with announced exposition scheme of exhibits. In the general exhibits group each building is to be devoted exclusively to a particular industry. Plans for the group have been prepared and construction will go forward in 1932. The size of these buildings will depend upon the amount of space taken by the industries or interests for which the building is erected. The agricultural group is being planned along lines similar to the general exhibits group. Several special buildings, similar to the General Motors Building mentioned above, are under negotiation and may add to the space available for exhibits. Sharp will be the contrast between the drab quarters of a century ago, as shown in Fort Dearborn, and the modern housing group across the way. Eight dwelling houses, a 3-story apartment house, and a general-exhibits hall are planned. The Associated Tile Manufacturers have signed an application to construct a tile house, and the Chicago Lumber Institute has applied for a permit to construct a frame house. Other houses in the group will be used to show various types of building construction; in addition, the houses will be so designed as to cover the small-house field and to show types adapted to different living conditions. The exhibit hall will provide space in which building materials, as well as related industries, may be shown. Space will be provided in the hall for exhibits of municipal and sanitary engineering, in addition to city planning and small-house design. The social sciences will be portrayed in a special building. A committee of the Social Science Research Council has been working with the exposition some |