St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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16 IGNATIAN like the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and if the wonderful figures of 350,000 visitors in a single day can convince us, it shows how much a war can benefit such an undertaking, and we may be sure that the year 1915 will loom up with epochal greatness in the long roll-call of cen- turies, for while the demon of war swept over the battle- fields of Europe, plundering every evidence of human achievement in its bloody path, a staggering blow was being dealt in behalf of civilization by an Exposition held on the western shores of a nation over which the Dove of Peace still lingered-a proclamation to the world that happiness and peaceful pursuits still swayed the hearts of men. W iiliam T. Szefeigert. 377 ww -hw! 1 -1 'E ak .AF-QF-2,-,f . ,. jf'Q4-i55ELQiEfQs-rvqi ' 3-55, - . f-' -.f t -. F5 f :e'l.'a.-v fi1,Haf:i. f . fs'-F ' if V: ss- ' '-F- 5 bib:--','..ui-:I-. ... 'rss - - .-a -if':-vfshef 5,,..,Ef.-zivl:-C -v .'-mm-,A .f ,,,--. V -f qi.--ss..-,.,+-41.1- 111 5+-4, - 1 . ' 'Tryp 1 fig.--..-i 3 . w..,.:-mf-,I,..f--,rt?-ver'-..'5-:vw ' - - ,

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THE WAR AND THE EXPOSITION 15 classed as a comparative failure. Where was the foreign attendance then? So we see that the war which at iirst cast a doubtful outlook on the Fair's future has turned out to be one of its greatest advantages and benefits. The construction of the Exposition was the only possible feature which could have been endangered by the European war, but fortunately the buildings were 90 per cent. completed at the outbreak of hostilities, and hence we must all agree that the Exposition owes a great part of its success to the benefits derived from the European war. But now there is an altogether different phase of this question, namely, the non-participation of Germany and Eng- land. This is a question which has caused many unthinking people to believe that the war has affected the Exposition in this way, but this is an unjustifiable mistake. As to Germany, her diplomats and newspapers made no secret of the fact that she was playing for tariff concessions from our Government, just as England and France did at the St. Louis Exposition, and when she failed to get them it was too late to officially exhibit, and, consequently, her non-participation is due to a mistake in diplomacy and not the war, as many people think. Regarding England, it is a well-known fact that she re- fused to participate because of the attitude of the United States on the tolls question, although Sir Edward Grey, Min- ister of Foreign Affairs, stated that England's non-participa- tion was owing to financial conditions. Furthermore, the Exposition did not include these nations among the partici- pants, even before the declaration of the war in Europe. At any rate, both England and Germany are well represented by individual exhibitors, and as the ultimate end of the Ex- position is educational, these business-like exhibits are the kind We need. It will be seen from the foregoing arguments how im- possible it is for a war in Europe to affect an undertaking

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where Milan in King Pride of the Western World, thy glorious day As the bright summer passes, fades away. All too short-lived thy beauty, famed, expires As Winter cools great Sol's eternal fires. VVhi1e Europe's millions battle without cease, Thy swelling domes are monuments of peaceg Degenerate, our Old World brethren die, Though Progress thy domains personify. Here 'neath these roofs' and domes' majestic span Here are thy conquests, O all conquering man! E'en dread Electra bears the ruler's chain, Fit servant to thy dominant hand and braing Comes at thy call to turn aside the night, Or speed the tireless engine with her might. Now swiftly treads the sky's uncertain lane To bear thy messages across the mainq Now lends her strength to save the failing breath Or e'en becomes the monitor of death. lfVithin these walls great locomotives stand, VVith harnessed steam to rise at thy command: Beneath its Wheels the spell of distance fails, As drives its bulk along the singing rails. Look toward the bay where yonder vessel great Moves through the waters of the Golden Gate! Prisoned within her giant sides of steel The steam god struggling, drives her pointed keel Ruled by thy Will, untiring still he slaves To work the domination of the waves.