POLITICAL NOTES: In Philadelphia

Last week it was announced that Liberty bell will ring out across the land, its mellow notes carried by radio, ringing in the New Year, 1926, the 150th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Proud and smiling also will be Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, who is not only ruler of the ancient city of Philadelphia but also Director of Philadelphia’s SesquiCentennial International Exposition. Already he is exclaiming:

“There is no doubt of the success of this affair. President Coolidge has officially accepted the invitation to be present, and both the city and the state stand back of it.”

Philadelphia knows what it means to celebrate anniversaries of the Declaration of Independence, for in 1876 she celebrated the 100th anniversary and now she is preparing to show what 50 years more have done.

Some 670 acres have been set aside in the southern part of the city, and a $2,000,000 stadium is already two-thirds erected on the ground; 24 nations and many states will be represented. Citizens have subscribed $3,000,000 for the affair and the state has appropriated $750,000; seven or eight other states will erect buildings costing $75,000 to $150,000, and the three Pacific Coast states are planning a joint exhibit and building costing $1,500,000. Mayor Kendrick announced that 170 organizations of many kinds had already arranged to hold their annual sessions at the seat of the exhibition. The official opening is scheduled for June 1. The closing date has not yet been decided on, but it will probably be before cold weather since heating arrangements are not planned in the great buildings.

By comparison the chief world’s fairs and expositions have been as follows:

COST (IN MILLIONS) ACREAGE DATE ATTENDANCE (IN MILLIONS)

Victoria & Albert (London) $ 1 19 1851 6

Centennial (Philadelphia) 10 236 1876 10

Columbian (Chicago) 40 600 1893 27

International(Paris) 20 336 1900 50

Pan-American (Buffalo) 10 350 1901 ?

Louisiana Purchase (St. Louis) 50 1,000 1904 21

Exposition (Brussels) ? 200 1910 13

Panama-Pacific (San Francisco) 50 635 1915 18

Empire (Wembley) 60 216 1924 ?