harmonized architecturally and sculpturally to their pedestals and
location that the entire facade should be seen for their proper
appreciation.



From Generation to Generation
Palace of Varied Industries



In the portals on the south side of the group of palaces, facing the
Avenue of Palms, we have again the beauteous old Spanish doorways in
plateresque design, with niches filled with modern sculpture. The portal
of the Palace of Varied Industries, copied from a famous prototype in
the old hospice of Santa Cruz, in Toledo, Spain, was assigned to Ralph
Stackpole. He is a sculptor who delights to honor the laborer and the
craftsman and has supplied the figures for niches and keystone space and
the tympanum and secondary groups in the portal of Varied Industries
with evident affection. He treats the subject of labor with dignity,
according it respect and not sentimentality. In this secondary or
crowning group, a strong young man is taking the burden of labor from
the shoulders of the last generation - an old workman, bowed but still
hale and vigorous. There is a sense of responsibility and earnestness in
the group, but complete confidence and power. It might well have been
feared that these rugged types of American life might ill accord with
the ancient ornate doorway. But the decorative proprieties have been
thoroughly sustained.