The Panama Pacific International Exposition 1915

PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION these same facts to others. An exposition located in the midst of things and in the latest moment of time, made efficient by contemporaneousness, participated in, as a fact, by more nations than any other, is such an extraordinary opportunity as has never occurred, and because of the peculiar conjunc- tion of circumstances, may never occur again. Therefore, it is an inestimable boon to the manufacturer. Are these considerations beyond the mark of the manu- facturer weighing the value of an exhibit at the Panama- Pacific International Exposition? If so, it is only because he fails to see that all business is in the midst of invincible cur- rents, and that the wise mariner guides himself accordingly, marking his individual chart and sailing with the wind rather than to hazard all against it. But we may narrow the circle to the United States alone. Probably 275,000 manu- facturing establishments are interested in the coming Expo- sition. Six million and a half wage-earners depend upon the success of these establishments, and nearly one hundred mil- lions of customers wait upon a showing of their manufac- tured goods. Ten years will have elapsed since the St. Louis Exposition, long enough almost, by the law of reduction, to charge off the machinery of every plant in the country; long enough to present not only a new condition of manufacture but an inconceivable array of new competitive articles. These facts alone would indicate the imperative duty, from the standpoint of good business, of an exhibit. And the figures presented forcefully show the local op- portunity. Beginning in New England, manufacturing power may be said to diminish steadily to the Pacific Coast country where the Exposition is located. Population in this region is more rapidly advancing than in the Atlantic re- gion. Here, too, there is great natural wealth with which to buy. Building operations, irrigation development, city building, are marvelously active. The market is here, and the way to sell goods is to show them—in the market. Add to this a people who joy in the full life, projecting great enterprises, making money and spending it freely, and the opportunity of the manufacturer is enhanced by the ease [ 14 ]