It will be some time before the Golden Gate International Exposition management can know whether or not the underwriters will get their guarantees back in full or in part. Yet if you were an underwriter whose business was drawn mostly from the Western states, you could probably look right now at your balance sheets and realize that in stimulation of the whole economy, your exposition "risk" has paid splendid dividends and been more than justified in a personalized way.

As an educational, a cultural, and an entertainment agency the fair has accomplished more than it set out to do. It would be difficult to find a corporal's guard out of the ten and a half million attendance who left the island with the conviction that the visit had not been one of mental and spirit-lifting gain.

Aside from opening up the horizons of people's viewpoints, the fair rolled up indisputable facts and figures proving that it stimulated business tremendously.

Indeed, California's world's fair was an outstanding success. So, with the blackout in effect on Treasure Island, let's examine the men and policies behind that success, and then consider the future.

Early in June of this year Charles H. Strub, former San Francisco sports promoter (Seals baseball team) and more recently manager of the Santa Anita horse racing park which he'd organized in 1934, was appointed Managing Director to serve without salary. His personality and dynamic plans brought harmony to the working staff, which quickly staged a "Summer Re-opening" and recaptured the flagging interest in the fair. All through the summer and fall months, big-name personalities of radio, screen, and entertainment worlds were booked on Treasure Island and played before S.R.O. crowds. Attendance spurted and the goose hung high.

No man was more entitled to enjoy the feeling of "a job well done" when, on midnight, October 29, taps were sounded by the Thirtieth Infantry and the 1939 span of the fair was ended.

Modestly, Mr. Strub reviewed the work for "California's" reporter:

"The Golden Gate International Exposition merits the success which it has had and of which it may be well proud," he said. "Early in June, when I was solicited by the Board of Management to take over the duties of Managing Director, I found Treasure Island truly a treasure island–a man-made island of four hundred acres, beautifully landscaped, with artistic architecture, with lighting effects which will undoubtedly result in Treasure Island's taking its place in history as the most beautifully illuminated of all world's fairs, with one of the most superb displays of fine arts ever assembled, with exhibits that would be a credit any world's fair. I found Treasure Island a fantasy of form and color excluding all suggestion of a workaday existence.

"Wholly convinced that a world's fair should present to the public the best in the field of entertainment, we were successful in presenting as free attractions innumerable great artists.

"Mine was an exacting job, perhaps, but a most interesting and gratifying one. The exposition could not have met with success but for the whole-hearted enthusiasm and coöperation of the entire personnel.

"To take the five 'Forgotten men'–James B. Black, Colbert Coldwell, J.W. Mailliard, Jr., Atholl McBean, and Philip Patchen–who so generously, without compensation, gave up three years of their busy lives to the exposition, and to Leland W. Cutler, who assumed the responsibilities of president of the exposition, California and San Francisco in particular, owe a deep debt of gratitude."

And now what of Treasure Island's future? The island, created by state and federal funds, was leased by the exposition from the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco also leased to Pan American Airways, for a ten-year period, the building known as the Hall of Transportation, office space on the third floor of the Administration Building, and docking privileges in the lagoon for the clippers. Pan American will therefore take over more space in the Administration Building and will continue to operate its trans-Pacific flying service from Treasure Island, with sailings for China and (as soon as the CAA permission is granted) New Zealand.

As to the rest of the island, everything will be razed excepting the Administration, Air Transportation, and Fine Arts building, the latter being ready for remodeling as a permanent airport maintenance structure. Plans for the conversion of the island into a close-in terminal airport, with departures by all major air lines for north, south, and east, are now being pushed by the Aviation Committee of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with city officials.

Businessmen travelers queried on the future use of the island regard the terminal airport plan as a great improvement over the present connections. The Mills Field airport would not be less important, for its heavy investment in maintenance facilities will always be required, while its location, in conjunction with that of Oakland Airport, will conquer the fog hazard in fulfilling all-year departure schedules.

Yes, we've had a great fair – great despite its wavering start, and greater still in its accomplishments in the face of comparisons with the New York fair, which was forced to curtail its staffs and reduce the scope of its objectives.

The air transport industry reaps a fine benefit. No one has been the loser, for the impact of the modern ideas spread by the fair will more than replay the actual investments of those courageous businessmen underwriters who not only backed the project in the first place but "saw it through" at a time when less hardy individuals would have withdrawn support and been content with a mediocre fair instead of a roundly successful one.