Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1915 — Some Marvelous Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition [ARTICLE]

Some Marvelous Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

Exhibits in Agricultural Palace at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Show Caterpillar Gaining Favor Over Lug-wheeler Tractors in Farm Machinery. An observer in the Agriculture Palace at the Panama-Pacific international Exposition at San Francisco cannot help noticing, in the display of agricultural power machinery, the almost complete supersedence of the new design of power tractor, known as the caterpillar, over the cumbersome, unstable, high-wheeled engine of a few years ago. There are few of the old models on exhibition, while the caterpillar principle has oeen applied to almost every type of engine for agricultural purposes. The caterpillar proper is a heavy *hc*-t inetal chain, varying in width riei aches to two feet according j the weight of the engine, which :a # around two heavy sprocket wheel* like a belt These wheels revolving, pass the chain about them, the lower part moving backward, with the weight of the engine resting on the broad surface of the chain be tween the two sprockets. An engine of this type can be operated on ground soft enough to mire an ordinary farm wagon. Duplicate of the Roosevelt African Shotgun. A duplicate of the shotgun which Col. Theodore Roosevelt took with him on his African trip, a gun constructed expressly for him by an American armorer, is on display at the manufacturer’s exhibit in the Manufacturer’s Palace at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco. The gun cost its illustrious owner $360, and its beautiful design, graceful lines and wonderful inlay work would justify the expenditure to any lover of fine pieces. The stock is elaborately hand carved, the barrels and lock are hand engraved, and the lock is inlaid with a hunting scene in gold. The barrels are of the finest Krupp steel. Before starting on the trip the ex-president wrote to the makers: “I really think it is the most beautiful gun I have ever seen. I am almost ashamed to take it to Africa and subject it to the rough treatment it will receive.” The left barrel is choked and the right open. It is cored to shoot either buckshot or a single ball. In a group in this Palace are displays by four of the world’s greatest manufacturers of sporting arms, which form an exhibit which attracts hundreds of sportsmen. Each display is in charge of a firearms’ expert. Pe?.ri Culture a New Industry. Among the interesting exhibits of the Japanese in the Manufacturers’ Palace at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition is a demonstration of the methods and results of pearl cultivation in the far East. The displays of this cultivated product, showing hundreds of pearls which until pearl culture was placed on a commercial basis a few years ago would have been the possessions of royalty, will delight any lover of gems, and the methods of production will prove interesting to any observer. Though pearl culture has become a thriving industry in Japan, attempts to reproduce it in other parts of the world have yielded but meager results. The successful method of propagation was evolved by the Japanese scientist Kokichi Mikimoto, who discovered a species of oyster w-hich produced the pearl on the surface of the shell. Though the finding of the oysters and inserting the nuclei, then waiting for the pearl to grow to a commercial size may seem a simple process, the fact that it has not reduced the price of the gems, even to that of the most expensive fmitations, shows that it is beset with many difficulties.

Daniel Webster's Plow at the PanamaPacific International Exposition One of the most valuable exhibits commercially, in the Agricultural Palace at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco, is an ancient plow displayed in the Massachusetts exhibit, and forming a striking contrast to the higbly-com-plex modern machinery displayed on the acreage of floor about it. The plow" owes its distinction to the circumstance that a hundred years ago Daniel Webster s youthful hands guided it along the furrows of his father’s farm near Marshfield, Mass. It was drawn by a yoke of oxen and .if the future peer of American orators and statesmen could turn an acre of sod a day he had to work from daylight to dark.