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59TH CONGRESS, 1st SESSION DECEMBER 4, 1905—JUNE 30, 1906 SENATE DOCUMENTS VOL. 14, 1906
SENATE: 59TH CONGRESS: 1st Session DOCUMENT No. 202 FINAL REPORT OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION 1906 FEBRUARY 8, 1906 READ, REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITIONS, AND ORDERED TO BE PRINTED WASHINGTON, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1906
CONTENTS.
Letters of transmittal Final report Centennial Day Diplomatic Day State Day Appendices: Report on Accounts and Statement of Receipts and Disbursements Disposal of Salvage Reports of Foreign Countries Reports of States, Territories, and Districts Report of Board of Lady Managers Statement of Expenditures
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State submitting the final report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, furnished in pursuance of section 11 of the "Act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory," etc., approved March 3, 1901.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT. THE WHITE HOUSE, February 8, 1906.
* * * * *
The PRESIDENT:
The undersigned, Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President the final report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, presented, as required by section 11 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri."
Respectfully submitted.
ELIHU ROOT. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 5, 1906.
FINAL REPORT OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION.
As required by section 11 of an act of Congress entitled "An act to provide for the celebrating of the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufacturers, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and the sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri," approved March 3, 1901, this final report is here presented:
In the early part of the year 1900 the citizens of St. Louis inaugurated a movement looking to the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory by an international exposition. A temporary organization having been effected, the subject was presented to Congress through a committee of citizens appointed for that purpose. Congress conditionally approved the enterprise by enacting a law which in substance provided that the Government would extend the required aid to the proposed exposition, providing the petitioners would furnish assurance that the sum of $10,000,000 had been raised for and on account of inaugurating and carrying forward an exposition at the city of St. Louis, Mo., in the year 1903, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.
Prior to March 3, 1901, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, then consisting of an association of persons, furnished the Secretary of the Treasury proof to his satisfaction that said sum of $10,000,000 had been raised for the purpose indicated. Thereupon the act hereinbefore cited was passed and duly approved by the President.
Including the appropriation made by the act of Congress, the sum of $15,000,000 was provided for the exposition, as follows:
Donated by the city of St. Louis ...................... $5,000,000 Subscription to the capital stock of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company ......................... 5,000,000 Appropriated by Congress, through the act aforesaid ... 5,000,000
On April 1, 1901, in accordance with section 2 of the act of Congress, the President appointed a nonpartisan commission, consisting of nine members, known and designated as the "Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission," the names of the appointees and the States in which they resided being as follows:
JOHN M. THURSTON Nebraska. THOMAS H. CARTER Montana. WILLIAM LINDSAY Kentucky. GEORGE W. MCBRIDE Oregon. FREDERICK A. BETTS Connecticut. JOHN M. ALLEN Mississippi. MARTIN H. GLYNN New York. JOHN F. MILLER Indiana. PHILIP D. SCOTT Arkansas.
The name of the Commission being somewhat lengthy it became known and was referred to in the law and proceedings throughout as "The National Commission."
Pursuant to a call by the Secretary of State, the members of the Commission met at the Southern Hotel, in the city of St. Louis, on April 23, 1901, and adjourned until the following day, when organization was perfected.
Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, was elected president; Martin H. Glynn, of New York, vice-president, and Mr. Joseph Flory, of St. Louis, Mo., secretary.
The following committees were appointed:
Executive. THOMAS H. CARTER. JOHN F. MILLER. PHILIP D. SCOTT. JOHN M. ALLEN. FREDERICK A. BETTS.
Judiciary. WILLIAM LINDSAY. JOHN M. THURSTON. GEORGE W. MCBRIDE.
Plan and Scope. GEORGE W. MCBRIDE. FREDERICK A. BETTS. WILLIAM LINDSAY. MARTIN H. GLYNN. JOHN F. MILLER.
Members of Board of Arbitration. JOHN M. THURSTON. JOHN M. ALLEN.
Auditing. JOHN F. MILLER. PHILIP D. SCOTT. JOHN M. THURSTON.
Insurance. THOMAS H. CARTER. MARTIN H. GLYNN. FREDERICK A. BETTS.
Ceremonies. THOMAS H. CARTER. JOHN M. ALLEN. JOHN M. THURSTON. WILLIAM LINDSAY.
Mr. Claude Hough, of Sedalia, Mo., was appointed official stenographer of the Commission on May 6, 1901, and has capably and efficiently served in that capacity throughout.
The organization of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company was not formally perfected until about a month after the first meeting of the National Commission, when the association which had theretofore existed under that name was duly organized and became an incorporated company under and in conformity with the laws of the State of Missouri. In the meantime informal conferences were held between the Commission and the prospective officers of the company in reference to a site for the exposition.
The municipal assembly of the city of St. Louis enacted an ordinance authorizing the use of a portion of Forest Park as a site for the exposition, as follows:
An ordinance authorizing the use of either O'Fallon Park or Carondelet Park or a portion of Forest Park as a site for the world's fair, to be held in commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase.
Be it ordained by the municipal assembly of the city of St. Louis as follows:
SECTION 1. The corporation or association formed to manage and conduct the world's fair or exposition in commemoration of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, when organized or incorporated in accordance with the law, is hereby granted the privilege of using either O'Fallon Park or Carondelet Park or that portion of Forest Park lying west of the line described as follows, to wit: Beginning at the intersection of the south line of Forest Park with the north line of Clayton road, and running thence in a northerly direction along the west line of the Concourse drive two thousand five hundred fifty feet; thence in a northerly direction to the east end of the large lake, a distance of twelve hundred feet; thence northwesterly direction about two thousand feet to the intersection of the south line of Lindell avenue, with the west line of De Baliviere avenue produced southwardly, for and as a site for said world's fair or exposition, reserving, however, unto the city of St. Louis all regulation and control of any of the sites above described, together with all right to excises and licenses.
SEC. 2. The board of public improvements shall at all times, beginning with the selection of the site out of the three sites above referred to, until the close of said world's fair or exposition, and until the complete restoration of said site as hereinafter provided, have the power to provide such regulations, conditions, and requirements as it may deem necessary to protect the interests of the city with respect to the construction of all sewers, drains, and conduits of any kind, and the laying of water pipes or fixtures; and the plans and specifications for the construction of the foregoing work shall be subject to the approval of the board of public improvements, and no such work of any kind shall be done without such approval by the board. All such sewers, drains, conduits, pipes, and fixtures shall become and be the property of the city.
SEC. 3. Within six months after the close of said fair or exposition, the corporation or association aforesaid shall clear the park, or in the event of the selection of Forest Park, the part thereof above described, of all tramways and railway tracks, rubbish and debris, and of all buildings, sheds, pavilions, towers, and other structures of every kind, and shall within twelve months after the close of such fair or exposition, fully restore the park selected as a site, or in the case of Forest Park, that portion thereof above-described, by doing all necessary grading, the restoration and repair, or the formation of all walks and roads, the planting of trees, the placing of sod and the planting of shrubs and plants, all in accordance with plans to be approved by the board of public improvements, and all to be done subject to the inspection of the park commissioner, and to his entire satisfaction and approval.
SEC. 4. The corporation or association aforesaid shall, within six months after the approval of this ordinance by the mayor, file its written acceptance thereof with the city register, and make its selection of the park to be used as aforesaid; and said corporation or association shall also, within the same time, file its bond in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, with good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the mayor and council, conditioned for a full compliance with and performance of all the terms, requirements, and conditions of this ordinance. Said board of public improvements shall have the right, however, at any time before the opening of said fair or exposition, if it deems it necessary in the interest of the city, to require an additional bond in such amount as it may believe to be proper, whereupon said corporation or company shall give such bond with sureties to be approved in like manner, and said corporation or association shall have no authority to open or hold any fair or exposition upon the site so selected, and no machinery or improvements of any kind shall be removed from the premises of said world's fair site until said bond in the sum so demanded shall have been so filed and approved.
Approved May 16, 1901.
Considerable correspondence ensued between the Commission and the Exposition Company in reference to the proposed site, the Commission particularly insisting upon an adequate water supply and proper drainage and grading of the property. On June 28, 1901, the site was formally approved by the Commission and, according to section 9 of the act authorizing the exposition, the President of the United States was duly notified.
Prior to August 15, 1901, the National Commission having ascertained that due provision had been made for grounds and buildings for the uses contemplated by the act of Congress, so certified to the President of the United States, who did thereafter, to wit, on the 20th day of August, 1901, in behalf of the Government and the people, invite foreign nations to take part in said exposition, and to appoint representatives thereto, the President's proclamation reading as follows:
Whereas notice has been given me by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, in accordance with the provisions of section 9 of the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1901, entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri," that provision has been made for grounds and buildings for the uses provided for in the said act of Congress:
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said act, do hereby declare and proclaim that such international exhibition will be opened in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, not later than the first day of May, nineteen hundred and three, and will be closed not later than the first day of December thereafter. And in the name of the Government and of the people of the United States, I do hereby invite all the nations of the earth to take part in the commemoration of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, an event of great interest to the United States and of abiding effect on their development, by appointing representatives and sending such exhibits to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their industries, and their progress in civilization.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of August, one thousand nine hundred and one, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-sixth.
[SEAL.]
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
By the President: JOHN HAY, Secretary of State.
At a meeting of the Commission held on October 15, 1901, the following resolution relative to the lamented death of President McKinley was unanimously adopted by the Commission:
Resolution.
Since this Commission last convened the President of the United States has met a tragic death.
The manner of his death was a blow at republican institutions and felt by every patriotic American as aimed at himself. It can truly be said that of all our Presidents William McKinley was the best beloved; no section of the country held him as an alien to it. Partisan differences never led to partisan hatred of him; party faction did not touch him. Nearly half the people differed with him on public questions, but his opponents accorded to him the same honesty of purpose which he always accorded to them. He was the President of the whole people, and was received by them as such with the honors due his great office and his splendid manhood, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Lakes to the Gulf. Pure of life, lofty of purpose, and patriotic in every endeavor, he was the highest type of our American citizenship.
The prayers of an united people were wafted on high to spare our President, but "God's will, not ours" was done, and the pain of personal grief was felt in every American home.
Resolved by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission,
First. That in the death of President McKinley, the United States have lost a President who fulfilled the best ideals of the Republic.
Second. That in every walk of life, in peace and in war, in private and in public station, he was faithful to every trust and did his duty as God gave him light to see it.
Third. That these resolutions be spread upon our record and a copy thereof sent, with an expression of our tenderest sympathy, to Mrs. McKinley.
Certain rules and regulations governing foreign exhibitors, which had been formulated by President Carter of the Commission and President Francis of the Exposition Company at a meeting held in Chicago, Ill., on August 14, 1901, were approved by the National Commission on October 15, 1901. The rules are as follows:
Adopted under, and in pursuance of an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled,
"An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States, by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of Saint Louis, in the State of Missouri,"
approved March 3, 1901, a copy of which said act is hereunto attached. As provided by law the Louisiana Purchase Exposition will be held in the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, U.S.A., and will be opened on the 30th day of April, A.D. 1903, and will be closed on the 1st day of December of that year. The exposition will be closed on Sundays.
This exposition will embrace an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea. It will be held to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States from France.
The exposition will be international in character, as contemplated by section 9 of the act of Congress, which reads as follows:
"That whenever the President of the United States shall be notified by the National Commission that provision has been made for grounds and buildings for the uses herein provided for, he shall be authorized to make proclamation of the same, through the Department of State, setting forth the time at which said exposition will be held, and the purposes thereof, and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations copies thereof, together with such regulations as may be adopted by the Commission, for publication in their respective countries, and he shall in behalf of the Government and the people invite foreign nations to take part in the said exposition and appoint representatives thereto."
Rules and regulations have been adopted by the National Commission to be communicated to the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations for publication in their respective countries as follows:
ARTICLE 1. All communications relating to the exposition should be addressed to Hon. David R. Francis, president of the Exposition Company, St. Louis, U.S.A.
ART. 2. All applications for space for buildings must be filed with the company on or before July 1, 1902.
ART. 3. Applications for space for exhibits in the buildings of the Exposition Company must be filed on or before the respective dates following, to wit:
(A) For machinery and mechanical appliances intended for exhibition, in operation, October 1, 1902.
(B) For machinery and mechanical appliances not intended for exhibition, in operation, November 1, 1902.
(C) For works of art, natural and manufactured, products, and all productions not herein expressly classified, December 1, 1902.
ART. 4. Applications for special concessions to individuals, associations, or corporations, December 1, 1902.
All applications must be in writing and should be presented on forms which will be furnished by the Exposition Company.
ART. 5. No charge will be made for space allotted for buildings or exhibits of foreign governments. Allotments of space to exhibitors from countries whose governments have appointed commissioners to the exposition will be made by or through such commissioners.
ART. 6. No exhibit shall be removed in whole or in part until the close of the exposition.
Immediately after the close of the exposition exhibitors shall remove their effects and complete such removal before January 1, 1904.
ART. 7. Exhibits from foreign countries will be admitted free of customs duties, as provided in the law and the regulations of the Treasury Department.
ART. 8. The Exposition Company may from time to time, with the approval of the National Commission, promulgate a classification and such additional rules and regulations, not in conflict with the law or regulations herein announced, as may be necessary to facilitate the success of the exposition and to serve the interest of exhibitors.
On October 15, 1901, the Commission was notified that the Exposition Company had, by a resolution dated October 8, 1901, of which the Secretary of the Treasury had been duly notified, authorized the Commission to disburse the sum of $10,000 per annum for contingent expenses, in accordance with the act of Congress therein referred to. Following is a copy of the resolution:
Resolved, That the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission be, and is hereby, authorized to disburse out of the $5,000,000 appropriated under the provisions of the act approved March 3, 1901, in aid of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the sum of $10,000 annually for contingent expenses of said Commission under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and upon vouchers to be approved by him.
D.R. FRANCIS.
Attest: W.B. STEVENS, Secretary.
The question of appointing a board of lady managers, authorized by section 6 of the act of Congress, was considered by the National Commission and the Exposition Company at a meeting held on October 16, 1901.
After giving the matter due and careful consideration, the Commission and the company decided to create a board of lady managers of 21 members. The membership of the board was subsequently increased to 24. The names of the board of lady managers are as follows:
Miss Helen Miller Gould. Mrs. John A. McCall. Mrs. John M. Holcombe. Miss Anna L. Dawes. Mrs. W.E. Andrews. Mrs. Helen-Boice Hunsicker. Mrs. James L. Blair. Mrs. Fannie L. Porter. Mrs. Frederick M. Hanger. Mrs. Jennie Gilmore Knott. Mrs. Emily Warren Roebling. Mrs. M.H. De Young. Mrs. Belle L. Everest. Mrs. Margaret P. Daly. Mrs. W.H. Coleman. Mrs. C.B. Buchwalter. Mrs. Louis D. Frost. Mrs. Finis P. Ernst. Mrs. Mary Phelps Montgomery. Mrs. John Miller Horton. Mrs. Annie McLean Moores. Mrs. A.L. Von Mayhoff. Mrs. Daniel Manning. Mrs. James Edmund Sullivan. Miss Lavinia H. Egan.
Rules and regulations for the classification of exhibits at the exposition, which had been presented for the consideration of the Commission by the Exposition Company, and which had been discussed at length, were finally approved on October 17, 1901, and the Exposition Company was notified of that fact.
The matter of formulating rules and regulations for the government of the exposition was one of the first questions to be considered by the Commission. The matter was taken up at the various meetings of the Commission, and conferences were held with the officers of the Exposition Company from time to time. The Commission contended that in the event of a disagreement between the representative of any foreign government and the Exposition Company the representative of such foreign government should be allowed to refer the matter to the National Commission for joint consideration and adjustment with the company. With that end in view the Commission insisted that the following provision should be incorporated in the rules and regulations governing the exposition:
Should disagreement arise between the Exposition Company and the representative of any Government, State, Territory, or District, such representative shall have the privilege, under such rules of procedure as the National Commission may from time to time promulgate, of referring the matter in disagreement between such representative and the company to the National Commission for joint consideration and adjustment with the company.
The company objected to the insertion of this clause.
Thereupon the Commission and the company agreed to submit the matter in dispute to arbitration, in accordance with law. The Commission notified the company that the members of the arbitration board appointed by the Commission were prepared to meet the arbitrators of the company when such last-named arbitrators should be appointed. But owing to the fact that the arbitrators on behalf of the company had not yet been appointed, it was impossible at the time to submit the matter in controversy to arbitration.
In November, 1901, it became evident that the success of the exposition demanded the immediate promulgation of the rules and regulations for the guidance of intending competitors. The Exposition Company communicated with the National Commission to that effect and requested that it be allowed to promulgate the rules and regulations so far as agreed upon, and that the matter in dispute should be left to subsequent arbitration. On November 22, 1901, the Commission consented to the promulgation of the rules and regulations, so far as modified, with the understanding that the provision in dispute, hereinbefore stated, should thereafter be incorporated and given due publicity, provided it was adopted by the board of arbitration. On December 1, 1901, the rules and regulations were published, and a copy thereof, as approved by the National Commission, is as follows:
An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States, by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea, in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, approved March 3, 1901, a copy of which said act is hereto attached.
As provided by law, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition will be held in the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, U.S.A., and will be opened on the 30th day of April, A.D. 1903, and will be closed on the 1st day of December of that year. The exposition will be closed on Sundays.
This exposition will embrace an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea. It will be held to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States from France.
The exposition will be international in character, as contemplated by section 9 of the act of Congress, which reads as follows:
"That whenever the President of the United States shall be notified by the National Commission that provision has been made for grounds and buildings, for the uses herein provided for, he shall be authorized to make proclamation of the same, through the Department of State, setting forth the time at which said exposition will be held, and the purposes thereof, and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations copies thereof, together with such regulations as may be adopted by the Commission, for publication in their respective countries, and he shall, in behalf of the Government and the people, invite foreign nations to take part in the said exposition and to appoint representatives thereto."
Rules and Regulations.
The following general rules and regulations are promulgated by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, having been approved by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission:
ARTICLE I.
SECTION I. Under a proclamation of the President of the United States, signed August 20, 1901, all nations and peoples are invited to and may participate in this exposition.
SEC. II. The site of the exposition will be the west portion of Forest Park and adjacent territory, and will comprise, approximately, 1,000 acres.
SEC. III. The executive of the exposition is the president of the board of directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company. There are four principal executive divisions presided over by the following officers: Director of exhibits, director of exploitation, director of works, director of concessions and admissions.
Under the officers subordinate departments for the supervision of exhibits, of construction, and of maintenance may be created, each department having its individual chief.
SEC. IV. The bureau of transportation shall have entire charge of all matters relating to the transportation of passengers and freight to and from the exposition grounds from all parts of the world. It will quote rates and classifications, remedy delays, and be constituted in such a manner as to extend practical assistance and information to all exhibitors and the public at large. This bureau has for its chief officer a traffic manager, who will report direct to the president.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION I. For the development of the exposition to the full extent of the general plan as outlined, provision will be made for the installation and care of exhibits, and for the construction of exhibition palaces, ample and adequate to the theoretical and physical scope of the exposition.
SEC. II. For the purposes of installation and review of exhibits a classification has been adopted. The classification heretofore adopted has been divided into a number of departments, each of which is again divided into groups and subdivided into classes. Under this scope and plan the exposition will be constructed, the installation perfected, and the system of awards conducted. In conformity therewith the following exhibit departments are created: Department A—Education; Department B—Art; Department C—Liberal Arts; Department D—Manufactures; Department E—Machinery; Department F—Electricity; Department G—Transportation; Department H—Agriculture; Department J—Horticulture; Department K—Forestry; Department L—Mines and Metallurgy; Department M—Fish and Game; Department N—Anthropology; Department O—Social Economy; Department P—Physical Culture.
Exhibits shall be classified into 15 departments, in 144 groups, and in 807 classes.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION I. The directors of the four executive divisions, and the chief of the different departments thereunder, may promulgate special rules and regulations governing the more minute and technical details of the operation of the respective departments.
SEC. II. The director of exhibits shall have general charge of the installation of all exhibits and the control and management of the same.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION I. The general classification is hereby made a part of these rules and regulations.
SEC. II. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company reserves the right, subject to the approval of the Commission, to amend or correct the classification at any time before the opening of the exposition by giving thirty days' public notice.
ARTICLE V.
SECTION I. The price of admission will be 50 cents.
SEC. II. While the broadest construction will be placed upon the rights of exhibitors and their agents to free admission to the grounds for the purpose of caring for their respective exhibits, it is intended to restrict these courtesies within reasonable limits.
ARTICLE VI.
SECTION I. No charge will be made for space allotted for exhibits.
SEC. II. No charge will be made for space allotted for buildings of foreign governments, or the United States Government, or of the State, Territorial, or District governments of the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
SECTION I. Exhibitors of manufactured articles must be the manufacturers or producers thereof.
SEC. II. The country where an exhibit is produced, and not the citizenship of the exhibitor, will determine the nationality of an exhibit.
SEC. III. Each foreign nation participating in the exposition will be accorded an official representative, to be accredited to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, through the Secretary of State of the United States, or otherwise.
SEC. IV. Allotment of space to exhibitors from countries where governments have appointed official representatives to the exposition will be made by or through such representatives.
SEC. V. While it is expected, as far as possible, to confine negotiations in the United States to the official representatives of the respective States, Territories, and Districts, the right is reserved to confer directly with individuals.
ARTICLE VIII.
SECTION I. All applications for space for buildings must be filed on or before July 1, 1902.
SEC. II. Application for space for exhibits in the buildings of the exposition must be filed on or before the respective dates following, to wit:
(a) For machinery and mechanical appliances intended for exhibition in operation October 1, 1902.
(b) For machinery and mechanical appliances not intended for exhibition in operation, November 1, 1902.
(c) For works of art, natural and manufactured products not herein expressly classified, December 1, 1902.
(d) For special concessions to individuals, associations, or corporations, December 1, 1902.
SEC. III. All applications for space must be in writing, addressed to the president of the exposition, and should be presented on forms which will be furnished by the Exposition Company.
SEC. IV. Each application for space for exhibits must be accompanied by a sketch, drawn to a scale of one-fourth of an inch to the foot, showing the ground floor plan, and, if possible, the front elevation and general outlines. These installation plans and schemes must receive the indorsement of the chief of the department in which the exhibit is to be located, and the approval of the director of exhibits, and must conform to the general architectural design for the treatment of the interior of the building as prepared by the director of works.
SEC. V. Permits for space will not be transferable, and exhibitors will be confined to such exhibits as are specified in their applications.
ARTICLE IX.
SECTION I. All communications relating to the exposition should be addressed to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, St. Louis, U.S.A.
SEC. II. All packages containing exhibits must be addressed to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.
SEC. III. Direction labels will be furnished by the Exposition Company to be attached to each package. This label must be filled out so as to convey the following information:
(a) The department in which the exhibit is to be installed.
(b) The country, State, or Territory from which the package is consigned.
(c) The name and address of the exhibitor and the total number of packages sent by such exhibitor.
SEC. IV. In boxing or casing any material intended for exhibition, screws should be employed in preference to nails or steel hoops, and packages should be addressed on two or more sides. Each package should contain a list of the goods therein.
SEC. V. Consignments intended for different buildings should be in separate packages, and not be included in the same box, crate, or barrel.
SEC. VI. Freight and express charges and all charges appertaining to the transportation of material belonging to individuals, such as exhibits, building material, concession material and supplies, etc., must be prepaid at the point of shipment, and the goods delivered at the exposition clear of all charges of any description incident to the transportation.
ARTICLE X.
SECTION I. If no authorized person is at hand to take charge of an exhibit within reasonable time after its arrival at the exposition buildings said exhibit will be removed and stored at the cost and risk of whosoever it may concern.
SEC. II. The installation of heavy articles, requiring foundation, may, by special agreement with the director of works, begin as soon as the progress of the construction of the buildings will permit.
SEC. III. No exhibits shall be removed in whole or in part until the close of the exposition.
SEC. IV. Immediately after the close of the exposition exhibitors shall remove their exhibits and construction, and complete such removal before March 1, 1904. Any exhibit or material not removed on March 1, 1904, will be considered to have been abandoned by the exhibitor, and will be subject to removal at the cost of the exhibitors, or to such disposition by the Exposition Company as may be deemed advisable.
ARTICLE XI.
SECTION I. All show cases, cabinets, shelving, counters, etc., required in the installation of an exhibit, must be provided at the expense of the exhibitor, and all countershafts, steam pulleys, belting, etc., and all compressed-air connections, and all water and sewerage connections must be paid for by the person applying for the same.
SEC. II. All decorations and designs to be constructed in connection with the installation must conform to the rules and regulations promulgated by the director of exhibits, and receive the approval of the chief of the department interested.
SEC. III. No exhibitor will be permitted to install an exhibit so as to obstruct the light or occasion any inconvenience to or disadvantageously affect the display of other exhibitors.
SEC. IV. The flooring of an exposition building must not be cut or removed, or its foundation disturbed, and no part of the construction of a building shall be employed for installation purposes, except upon the recommendation of the director of exhibits, approved by the director of works.
SEC. V. Special rules regulating the height of platforms, partitions, rails, cases, cabinets, counters, and any special trophy or feature will be issued by the chiefs of the different departments, with the approval of the director of exhibits.
SEC. VI. All designs for the treatment of exhibition spaces must be in accordance with the foregoing limitations. The material used for covering counters, screens, partitions, or floors will be subject to the approval of the director of exhibits, upon the recommendation of the chiefs of the department, and must be in accordance with the general color scheme of the director of works.
SEC. VII. Special rules and regulations in addition to and not in conflict with the general rules and regulations of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company may be promulgated by the different departments.
ARTICLE XII.
SECTION I. All articles which shall be imported from foreign countries for the sole purpose of exhibition at said exposition, upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, will be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees, or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe under an act of the Congress providing for the exposition.
SEC. II. It will be lawful at any time during the exposition to sell for delivery at the close thereof any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings or on the grounds, subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duty as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe. Such articles when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the United States will be subject to the duty, if any, imposed upon such articles by the revenue laws in force at the date of the importation, and all penalties prescribed by the laws of the United States will be applied and enforced against such articles and against the person who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal.
SEC. III. Such arrangements will be made with the Government of the United States as will permit the transportation of foreign exhibits in bond direct to the exposition grounds, which will be designated as a United States bonded warehouse.
ARTICLE XIII.
SECTION I. While the Exposition Company will provide every, possible protection for exhibits and for the property of exhibitors, it will not be responsible in any case for loss by fire, accident, vandalism, or theft, through which objects placed upon exhibition may suffer, whatever may be the cause or the amount of the damage.
SEC. II. Any object or article of a dangerous or detrimental character, or that is incompatible with the object or decorum of the exposition or the comfort or safety of the public, will be refused admission to the grounds or removed from any building or any part of the grounds upon the recommendation of the director of exhibits, approved by the president.
SEC. III. Articles that are in any way dangerous or offensive, also patent medicines, nostrums, and empirical preparations whose ingredients are concealed, will not be admitted to the exposition. The director of exhibits, with the approval of the president, has the authority to order the removal of any article he may consider dangerous, detrimental to, or incompatible with the object or decorum of the exposition or the comfort and safety of the public.
SEC. IV. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company will carry no insurance on exhibits, but favorable terms will be secured by the Exposition Company under which exhibitors may insure their own goods in responsible companies.
ARTICLE XIV.
SECTION I. Advertisement by means of posters, prints, handbills, etc., will not be permitted within the exposition grounds except upon the recommendation of the proper authorities, approved by the president of the Exposition Company, and then to a restricted degree only.
SEC. II. Exhibitors' business cards and brief descriptive circulars only may be conveniently placed within such exhibition space for distribution; but the right is reserved to the chief of the department, upon the approval of the director of exhibits, to restrict or discontinue this privilege whenever it is carried to excess or becomes an annoyance.
ARTICLE XV.
SECTION I. Exhibitors will be held responsible for the cleanliness of their exhibits and the space surrounding same.
SEC. II. All exhibits must be in complete order each day at least thirty minutes before the buildings are open to the public. No janitor or other work of this character will be permitted during the hours the buildings are open to the public. In case of failure on the part of any exhibitor to observe these rules, the chief of the department, with the approval of the director of exhibits, may adopt such means to enforce the same as circumstances may suggest.
ARTICLE XVI.
SECTION I. No crates, barrels, or packing cases will be permitted to remain upon the exhibition space after their contents have been removed, except upon the recommendation of the chief of the department where the exhibit is installed, approved by the director of exhibits.
SEC. II. The Exposition Company will provide a storage warehouse for crates, barrels, and packing cases, under a reasonable schedule of charges based upon those levied by similar warehouses, which it will be optional for exhibitors to use.
SEC. III. Facilities for the conveyance of empty crates, barrels, or packing cases to storage places will be provided at a moderate price.
ARTICLE XVII.
SECTION I. No exhibit or object upon exhibition may be sketched, copied, or reproduced in any way whatever without the permission of the exhibitor, approved by the director of exhibits, except that the president of the company may give such permission.
ARTICLE XVIII.
SECTION I. Exhibitors desiring to contract for service of electricity, steam, compressed air, power from shafting, gas, or water, must make application to the chief of the department in which their exhibits are installed. No application for service will be entertained unless made upon a blank furnished by the director of works, which may be obtained from a chief of a department, and when an application for service has been approved by the director of exhibits the contract will be executed on the part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company by the director of works on terms and conditions that will be stated in each case. The director of exhibits and the director of works, in their discretion, are authorized to furnish gratuitously to exhibitors a limited amount of power for the operation of machines and processes. The character of the exhibit requiring power for its operation will have much to do with determining the amount of power that will be furnished gratuitously.
ARTICLE XIX.
SECTION I. Concessions may be granted for private exhibitions for which a charge for admission may be made; for restaurants, for places of amusement, for merchandising, and for other purposes not incompatible with the scope and dignity of the exposition, under terms and conditions to be determined upon by the proper authorities in each case.
ARTICLE XX.
SECTION I. An official catalogue of all exhibits will be published in English by the Exposition Company. Foreign governments and the governments of the States, Territories, and Districts of the United States, making a collective exhibit, may publish separate catalogues of their own exhibits when recommended by the director of exhibits to the president and approved by him.
SEC. II. The sale of catalogues is reserved exclusively by the Exposition Company.
ARTICLE XXI.
SECTION I. The Exposition Company will organize, equip, and maintain an efficient police system for the protection of property and the preservation of peace and good order.
SEC. II. The exposition will maintain a corps of janitors and scavengers, whose duty it will be to properly care for and clean the roadways, approaches, paths, etc., in general of the exposition and the aisles within the exhibit buildings; but their duties and responsibilities will not extend to exhibit spaces, to the subsidiary aisles, or to the buildings of foreign or domestic governments or individuals.
SEC. III. Exhibitors may employ watchmen and janitors of their choice to guard and care for their material during the hours the exposition is open to the public. Such watchmen will be subject to the rules and regulations governing employees of the exposition; but no exhibitor will be permitted to employ attendants for service of this character except upon the written consent of the chief of the department, approved by the director of exhibits.
SEC. IV. Each country, commission, organization, corporation and individual, by becoming an exhibitor, agrees to conform to all the rules and regulations established for the government and conduct of the exposition.
ARTICLE XXII.
AWARDS.
SECTION I The system of awards will be competitive. The merit of exhibits as determined by the jury of awards will be manifested by the issuance of diplomas, which will be divided into four classes; a grand prize, a gold medal, a silver medal, and a bronze medal.
SEC. II. No exhibit can be excluded from competition for award without the consent of the president of the Exposition Company, after a review of the reasons or motives by competent authorities hereafter to be provided.
SEC. III. In a fixed ratio to the number of exhibits, but reserving to the citizens of the United States approximately 60 per cent of the jury membership, the construction of the international jury will be based upon a predetermined number of judges allotted to each group of the classification and upon the number and importance of the exhibits in such group.
SEC. IV. A chairman of the group jury will be elected by his colleagues in each group, this chairman to become, by right of his position, a member of the department jury, which department jury shall in turn elect its chairman, who shall thereupon become a member of the superior jury.
SEC. V. Special rules and regulations governing the system of making awards and determining the extent to which foreign countries may have representation on the juries will be hereafter promulgated.
SEC. VI. Allotment of space for exhibitors, the classification of exhibits, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall be done and performed by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject, however, to the approval of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission.
DAVID R. FRANCIS, President.
Attest: WALTER B. STEVENS, Secretary.
On February 7, 1902, the Commission, subject to the approval of the Exposition Company, which approval was thereafter given, adopted the following general rules, prescribing the general scope of the duties to be performed by the board of lady managers, to wit:
First. To appoint one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as may have been produced in whole or in part by female labor.
Second. To exercise general supervisory control over such features of the exposition as may be specially devoted to woman's work.
Third. To take part in the ceremonies connected with the dedication of the buildings of the exposition, and in all official functions in which women may be invited to participate, and in other official functions upon the request of the company and the Commission.
Fourth. To elect such officers, appoint such committees, and to make and promulgate such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary for the efficient discharge of the duties aforesaid; provided, that said board shall not make any expenditures nor incur any financial obligation except under authority previously obtained from the company and the Commission.
The members of the board of lady managers voluntarily proposed to serve without compensation, and in view of such proposal, at a conference between the Commission and the president of the Exposition Company, it was decided to remunerate them for their traveling and other expenses while attending meetings of the board by an allowance of 5 cents per mile for travel and a per diem allowance of $6 in lieu of subsistence during the sessions of the board.
It was decided, also, that the membership of the board be increased to a maximum of 24 members.
Early in 1902 it became evident that it would be necessary to postpone the exposition for one year, and the Exposition Company consequently notified Congress to that effect.
In the act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, and for other purposes, approved June 28, 1902, provision was made for the postponement of the Exposition until 1904 in terms as follows:
Provided, further: That sections eight and twelve of an act entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of Saint Louis, in the State of Missouri," approved March third, nineteen hundred and one, be, and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:
SEC. 8. That said Commission shall provide for the dedication of the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in said city of Saint Louis not later than the thirtieth day of April, nineteen hundred and three, with appropriate ceremonies, and thereafter said exposition shall be opened to visitors at such time as may be designated by said company, subject to the approval of said Commission, not later than the first day of May, nineteen hundred and four, and shall be closed at such time as the National Commission may determine, subject to the approval of said company, but not later than the first day of December thereafter.
SEC. 12. That the National Commission hereby authorized shall cease to exist on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and five.
On July 1, 1902 the following proclamation, announcing the postponement of the exposition, was issued by the President of the United States:
Whereas the President on August 20, 1901, issued his proclamation stating that he has been advised by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, pursuant to the provisions of section 9 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri," that provision had been made for grounds and buildings for the uses specified in the said mentioned act of Congress;
Whereas it was declared and proclaimed by the President in his aforesaid proclamation that such international exhibition would be opened in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, not later than the 1st day of May, 1903, and be closed not later than the 1st day of December thereafter;
And whereas section 8 of the act of Congress approved June 28, 1902, entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, and for other purposes," fixes a subsequent date for the holding of the said international exhibition, and specifically states that said Commission shall provide for the dedication of the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in said city of St. Louis not later than the 30th day of April, 1903, with appropriate ceremonies, and thereafter said exposition shall be opened to visitors at such time as may be designated by said company, subject to the approval of said Commission, not later than the 1st day of May, 1904, and shall be closed at such time as the National Commission may determine, subject to the approval of said company, but not later than the 1st day of December thereafter;
Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby declare and proclaim the aforesaid provision of law to the end that it may definitely and formally be known that such international exhibition will be opened in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, not later than May 1, 1904, and will be closed not later than December 1 of that year.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington the 1st day of July, 1902, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-sixth.
[SEAL.]
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
By the President: DAVID J. HILL, Acting Secretary of State.
On April 30, 1903, the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition were dedicated in the city of St. Louis under the direction of the Commission.
PROGRAMME
CENTENNIAL DAY, APRIL 30, 1903.
GRAND MARSHAL, MAJ. GEN. HENRY C. CORBIN, UNITED STATES ARMY. * * * * *
At 10 o'clock a.m. the freedom of the city was tendered to the President of the United States by the mayor of St. Louis.
The military parade, composed of United States troops and the National Guard in attendance, assembled under direction of the grand marshal and moved from the junction of Grand avenue and Lindell boulevard promptly at half-past 10 o'clock, preceded by the President of the United States and official guests in carriages, through Forest Park to the exposition grounds, where the Presidential salute was fired, and the parade was reviewed by the President of the United States.
At 1.30 p.m. a grand band concert took place, the doors of the Liberal Arts Building, where the dedication exercises were held, were thrown open, and the audience seated under direction of the guards and ushers.
Promptly at 2 o'clock the assembly was called to order by Hon. David R. Francis, president of the Exposition Company, and the following programme was carried out:
First. Invocation by his eminence Cardinal James Gibbons, as follows:
We pray Thee, O God of might, wisdom, and justice, through Whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with the Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of the United States, that his Administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides, by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion, by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy, and by restraining vice and immorality.
By the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress and shine forth in all their proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge, and may perpetuate to us the blessings of equal liberty.
We pray for his excellency, the governor of this State, for the members of the legislature, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled by Thy powerful protection to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.
We pray for the president and directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, that their arduous labors may be crowned with success, and may redound to the greater growth and development of this flourishing city on the banks of the Father of Waters.
May this vast territory which was peacefully acquired a hundred years ago be for all time to come the tranquil and happy abode of millions of enlightened, God-fearing, and industrious people engaged in the various pursuits and avocations of life. As this new domain was added to our possessions without sanguinary strife, so may its soil never be stained by bloodshed in any foreign or domestic warfare.
May this commemorative exposition to which the family of nations are generously contributing their treasures of art and industry bind together the governments of the earth in closer ties of fellowship and good will, and of social and commercial intercourse. May it hasten the dawn of the reign of the Prince of Peace, when national conflicts will be adjusted, not by hostile armies, but by permanent courts of arbitration.
May this international exposition, inaugurated in the interests of people and commerce, help to break down the walls of dissension, of jealousy, and prejudice that divides race from race, nation from nation, and people from people, by proclaiming aloud the sublime gospel truth that we are all children of the same God, brothers and sisters of the same Lord Jesus Christ, and that we are all aspiring to a glorious inheritance in the everlasting kingdom of our common Father.
Second. Address by Mr. Thomas H. Carter, of the National Commission, president of the day.
One hundred years ago to-day the Government of the United States acquired sovereignty over the vast territory west of the Mississippi River, which has since been known to the geographical nomenclature of the world as the "Louisiana Purchase." Beyond the river the boundaries and the resources of the territory were ill defined and but vaguely comprehended. The purchase price of $15,000,000 was pronounced exorbitant, the free navigation of the Mississippi being the only part of the property deemed worthy of serious consideration. The transaction was regarded by many as a violation of the Constitution and a menace to our form of government. The grave doubts of president Jefferson were only resolved into action by his patriotic desire for national supremacy over the river and his prophetic faith in the possibilities of the mysterious country beyond it. The revelations of a century most amply justified his faith.
When the treaty of cession was concluded, President Jefferson represented less than 6,000,000 people. During these ceremonies, President Roosevelt, the Executive of over 80,000,000 of freemen, will dedicate the buildings.
The magical story of local development puts to shame the creations of fiction. The contented and prosperous inhabitants of the Louisiana Purchase to-day substantially equal in numbers three times the total population of the United States in 1800. The conquest of space, forests, streams, and deserts and the founding of cities and States in waste places within this territory mark an advance unsurpassed in the history of human endeavor.
In conformity with a special act of Congress, the President has invited all the nations to cooperate with us in properly commemorating the masterful achievements of a century in this new country.
It is fitting that the celebration should be international, for you will in vain attempt to name a civilized country whose sons and daughters have not contributed to the glorious triumphs of peace recorded here. In vain will you seek a more cosmopolitan and at the same time a more homogeneous population than that of the Louisiana territory. The purchase facilitated by the exigencies of European war, and made in a season of darkness and peril, has proven a boon not only to the grantor and the grantee, but to humanity at large, for here the nations have commingled, and the brotherhood of man has become a demonstrated possibility.
As a means of giving expression to the universal appreciation of what has been accomplished for humanity within this field during the century, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was organized under authority of an act of Congress. With the aid of the United States Government and the city of St. Louis, the Exposition Company, through its officers, agents, and employees, has erected the majestic exposition buildings whose massive proportions and classical outlines excite the wonder and admiration of the vast multitude assembled within and about their walls.
To everyone present is accorded the privilege of assisting in the dedication of these buildings to their intended use. The President of the United States honors us by being present to extend his greetings and to voice the approving sentiments of his countrymen.
Moved by a broad and generous spirit, the nations of the earth, from the empire of most ancient origin to the republic of twentieth-century creation, dignifies the occasion by the presence of their accredited representatives. Our home folks from all the States, Territories, and districts betoken by their numbers and enthusiasm the interest of the body of the people in the exposition and the great historic event it is intended to commemorate.
In the name of the National Commission, directed by Congress to provide for the dedication ceremonies, I extend to you all a cordial welcome, and as responsive to this inspiring scene of peace and generous feeling, I call upon the chorus to favor us with Beethoven's Creation hymn.
Those best informed will, by unanimous consent, yield to Hon. David R. Francis, president of the company, the highest measure of praise for the organization of the exposition and the construction of the buildings he will now present to the President of the United States for dedication.
Third. Grand chorus: "The Heavens Proclaiming."
Fourth. Presentation of the buildings by Hon. David R. Francis, president of the Exposition Company:
The people of the Louisiana Purchase are proud of their membership in the Federal Union.
They are grateful for the benefits that have flowed from a life under the enduring institutions framed by the founders of the Republic. They congratulate their brethren on the position our country occupies among the nations of the earth, and felicitate themselves on the part they have performed toward raising it to its present prestige and power.
They felt it a patriotic duty to fittingly commemorate the completion of the first century of their connection with the American Republic, and the rounding out of an important epoch in the life of the Republic. In the discharge of that duty this exposition was conceived. The inhabitants of the fourteen States and two Territories comprised within the purchase selected St. Louis as the scene of the celebration.
The people of this city, grateful for the honor conferred, promptly accepted it and cheerfully assumed the immense responsibility it entailed. The century just closed, unequaled as it was in every line of progress, furnishes no more striking evidence of the advance of civilization than the development of the Louisiana territory. A celebration in such an age and in such a country, to be fit, should be upon a scale in keeping with the best and the highest, and should be planned upon lines broad enough to take in every people and every clime.
A scheme so ambitious in its inception naturally had comparatively few advocates and encountered many antagonists and more doubters. It could not be accomplished without the recognition and the aid of the General Government, which, for a time, it seemed impossible to enlist. It was decided that the amount required to launch an undertaking so comprehensive should be the same as that paid for the empire which Jefferson purchased—$15,000,000. The Congress said to St. Louis, "When you have secured two-thirds of that sum, we will provide the remaining third." The conditions were accepted and fulfilled.
After three years of struggle the sinews had been secured—the first step accomplished. Two years have since elapsed. During that period the work has been pushed in every State and Territory and possession of the United States, and in every civilized country on the earth. The disappointments experienced and the obstacles encountered have but served to spur to renewed effort those who, from the inception of the movement, had determined to carry it to a successful consummation.
The further encouragement of the General Government on the provision for its own exhibit, the cooperation of 41 States and Territories and possessions of the United States, the pledged participation of 32 foreign countries are the results of vigorous domestic and foreign exploitation. That, and what you behold here to-day in physical shape, we submit as the product of five years of labor, nearly four of which were devoted to propaganda and appeal and organization.
The plan and scope, comprehensive as they were in the beginning, have never diminished at any stage of the progress; rather have they been amplified and enlarged.
St. Louis, with an ever-widening sense of the responsibility, and an ever-growing appreciation of the opportunity, has, up to this moment, risen to the full measure of the duty assumed. The management of the exposition has never despaired, but with a realizing sense of the mighty task it has undertaken, and mindful of the limitations of human capabilities, with singleness of purpose and with personal sacrifice for which it neither asks nor deserves credit, has striven to meet the expectations of those whose trust it holds.
The Exposition Company makes its acknowledgments to those faithful and efficient officials whose intelligent service have contributed so much toward bringing the enterprise to its present stage. The company expresses its obligation to the artists and artisans who have reared these graceful and majestic structures and whose labors have been inspired more by pride in the end to be achieved than by hope of material reward.
The Universal Exposition of 1904, when the date of opening rolls around one year from to-day, will, with its buildings completed, its exhibits installed, be thoroughly prepared to receive the millions of visitors who will enter its gates. The distinguished assemblage which honors us with its presence to-day can come nearer forming an adequate conception of the scope of the work by personal inspection than through the writings or illustrations of authors and designers, however great their talent may be.
To the President of the United States, to the accomplished representatives of foreign countries, to the chief executives of the sovereign States, to the Senators and Representatives of the National Congress, to the great concourse of visitors here congregated, we extend greeting. If you are pleased with what has been accomplished, your approval is abundant reward for the labor we have performed.
We bear in mind and trust you do not overlook that this celebration is of no section, but of the entire country. It is our hope and our expectation that every section and every commonwealth, and in fact, every community, will cherish a proprietary interest and lend hopeful aid to this undertaking, to the end that it may prove as nearly as may be commensurate with the country and the century whose achievement and advancement it is designed to commemorate.
The beautiful picture whose outlines you now behold will, to adopt the simile of the chief designer, when completed, compose a song that will reverberate around the globe.
And now, Mr. President, it is my pleasing privilege and high honor to present to you for dedication the buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. May a high standard of citizenship and broader humanity and the mission of the country whose worthy representative you are be sustained and fostered and promoted by the uses to which these structures are devoted. May the happiness of mankind be advanced and broadened by the lofty purposes that inspired this undertaking and moved our own and sister countries to unite in its accomplishment.
Fifth. Dedication address by the President of the United States:
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: At the outset of my address let me recall to the minds of my hearers that the soil upon which we stand, before it was ours was successively the possession of two mighty empires—Spain and France—whose sons made a deathless record of heroism in the early annals of the New World.
No history of the Western country can be written without paying heed to the wonderful part played therein in the early days by the soldiers, missionaries, explorers, and traders who did their work for the honor of the proud banners of France and Castile.
While the settlers of English-speaking stock and those of Dutch, German, and Scandinavian origin, who were associated with them, were still clinging close to the eastern seaboard, the pioneers of Spain and of France had penetrated deep into the hitherto unknown wildness of the West and had wandered far and wide within the boundaries of what is now our mighty country. The very cities themselves—St. Louis, New Orleans, Santa Fe, N. Mex.—bear witness by their titles to the nationalities of their founders. It was not until the Revolution had begun that the English-speaking settlers pushed west across the Alleghanies, and not until a century ago that they entered in to possess the land upon which we now stand.
We have met here to-day to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the event which more than any other, after the foundation of the Government, and always excepting its preservation, determined the character of our national life—determined that we should be a great expanding nation instead of relatively a small and stationary one.
Of course, it was not with the Louisiana Purchase that our career of expansion began. In the middle of the Revolutionary war the Illinois region, including the present States of Illinois and Indiana, was added to our domain by force of arms, as a sequel to the adventurous expedition of George Rogers Clark and his frontier riflemen.
Later the treaties of Jay and Pinckney materially extended our real boundaries to the west. But none of these events was of so striking a character as to fix the popular imagination. The old thirteen colonies had always claimed that their rights stretched westward to the Mississippi, and vague and unreal though these claims were until made good by conquest, settlement, and diplomacy, they still served to give the impression that the earliest westward movements of our people were little more than the filling in of already existing national boundaries.
But there could be no illusion about the acquisition of the vast territory beyond the Mississippi, stretching westward to the Pacific, which in that day was known as Louisiana. This immense region was admittedly the territory of a foreign power, of a European kingdom. None of our people had ever laid claim to a foot of it. Its acquisition could in no sense be treated as rounding out any existing claims. When we acquired it, we made evident once for all that consciously and of set purpose we had embarked on a career of expansion; that we had taken our place among those daring and hardy nations who risk much with the hope and desire of winning high position among the great powers of the earth. As is so often the case in nature the law of development of a living organism showed itself in its actual workings to be wiser than the wisdom of the wisest.
This work of expansion was by far the greatest work of our people during the years that intervened between the adoption of the Constitution and the outbreak of the civil war. There were other questions of real moment and importance, and there were many which at the time seemed such to those engaged in answering them; but the greatest feat of our forefathers of those generations was the deed of the men, who with pack train or wagon train, on horseback, on foot, or by boat upon the waters pushed the frontier ever westward across the continent.
Never before had the world seen the kind of national expansion which gave our people all that part of the American continent lying west of the thirteen original States—the greatest landmark in which was the Louisiana Purchase. Our triumph in this process of expansion was indissolubly bound up with the success of our peculiar kind of Federal Government, and this success has been so complete that because of its very completeness we now sometimes fail to appreciate not only the all importance but the tremendous difficulty of the problem with which our nation was originally faced.
When our forefathers joined to call into being this nation, they undertook a task for which there was but little encouraging precedent. The development of civilization from the earliest period seemed to show the truth of two propositions: In the first place, it had always proved exceedingly difficult to secure both freedom and strength in any Government; and in the second place, it had always proved well-nigh impossible for a nation to expand without either breaking up or becoming a centralized tyranny. With the success of our effort to combine a strong and efficient national union, able to put down disorder at home and to maintain our honor and interest abroad, I have not now to deal. This success was signal and all important, but it was by no means unprecedented in the same sense that our type of expansion was unprecedented.
The history of Rome and of Greece illustrates very well the two types of expansion which had taken place in ancient times, and which had been universally accepted as the only possible types up to the period when, as a nation, we ourselves began to take possession of this continent. The Grecian states performed remarkable feats of colonization, but each colony as soon as created became entirely independent of the mother state, and in after years was almost as apt to prove its enemy as its friend. Local self-government, local independence was secured, but only by the absolute sacrifice of anything resembling national unity.
In consequence, the Greek world, for all its wonderful brilliancy and extraordinary artistic, literary, and philosophical development, which has made all mankind its debtor for the ages, was yet wholly unable to withstand a formidable foreign foe, save spasmodically. As soon as powerful permanent empires arose on its outskirts, the Greek states in the neighborhood of such empires fell under their sway. National power and greatness were completely sacrificed to local liberty.
With Rome the exact opposite occurred. The imperial city rose to absolute dominion over all the people of Italy, and then expanded her rule over the entire civilized world, by a process which kept the nation strong and united, but gave no room whatever for local liberty and self-government. All other cities and countries were subject to Rome. In consequence, this great and masterful race of warriors, rulers, road builders, and administrators stamped their indelible impress upon all the after life of our race, and yet let an over-centralization eat out the vitals of their empire until it became an empty shell, so that when the barbarians came they destroyed only what had already become worthless to the world.
The underlying viciousness of each type of expansion was plain enough, and the remedy now seems simple enough. But when the fathers of the Republic first formulated the Constitution under which we live, this remedy was untried, and no one could foretell how it would work. They themselves began the experiment almost immediately by adding new States to the original thirteen. Excellent people in the East viewed this initial expansion of the country with great alarm. Exactly as during the colonial period many good people in the mother country thought it highly important that settlers should be kept out of the Ohio Valley in the interest of the fur companies, so after we had become a nation many good people on the Atlantic coast felt grave apprehension lest they might somehow be hurt by the westward growth of the nation.
These good people shook their heads over the formation of States in the fertile Ohio Valley, which now forms part of the heart of our nation, and they declared that the destruction of the Republic had been accomplished when through the Louisiana Purchase we acquired nearly half of what is now that same Republic's present territory. Nor was their feeling unnatural. Only the adventurous and the farseeing can be expected heartily to welcome the process of expansion, for a nation which expands is a nation which is entering upon a great career, and with greatness there must of necessity come perils which daunt all save the most stout-hearted.
We expand by carving the wilderness into Territories, and out of these Territories building new States when once they had received as permanent settlers a sufficient number of our own people. Being a practical nation, we have never tried to force on any section of our new territory an unsuitable form of government merely because it was suitable for another section under different conditions. Of the territory covered by the Louisiana Purchase, a portion was given statehood within a few years. Another portion has not been admitted to statehood, although a century has elapsed, although doubtless it soon will be. In each case we showed the practical governmental genius of our race by devising methods suitable to meet the actual existing needs, not by insisting upon the application of some abstract shibboleth to all our new possessions alike, no matter how incongruous this application might sometimes be.
Over by far the major part of the territory, however, our people spread in such numbers during the course of the nineteenth century that we were able to build up State after State, each with exactly the same complete local independence in all matters affecting purely its own domestic interests as in any of the original thirteen States, each owing the same absolute fealty to the Union of all the States which each of the original thirteen States also owes, and, finally, each having the same proportional right to its share in shaping and directing the common policy of the Union which is possessed by any other State, whether of the original thirteen or not.
This process now seems to us part of the natural order of things, but it was wholly unknown until our own people devised it. It seems to us a mere matter of course, a matter of elementary right and justice, that in the deliberations of the national representative bodies the representatives of a State which came into the Union but yesterday stand on a footing of exact and entire equality with those of the commonwealth whose sons once signed the Declaration of Independence.
But this way of looking at the matter is purely modern and in its origin purely American. When Washington, during his Presidency, saw new States come into the Union on a footing of complete equality with the old, every European nation which had colonies still administered them as dependencies, and every other mother country treated the colonists not as a self-governing equal, but as a subject.
The process which we began has since been followed by all the great people who were capable both of expansion and of self-government, and now the world accepts it as the natural process, as the rule; but a century and a quarter ago it was not merely exceptional—it was unknown.
This, then, is the great historic significance of the movement of continental expansion, in which the Louisiana Purchase was the most striking single achievement. It stands out in marked relief even among the feats of a nation of pioneers, a nation whose people have, from the beginning, been picked out by a process of natural selection from among the most enterprising individuals of the nations of western Europe.
The acquisition of the territory is a credit to the broad and far-sighted statesmanship of the great statesmen to whom it was immediately due, and, above all, to the aggressive and masterful character of the hardy pioneer folk to whose restless energy these statesmen gave expression and direction, whom they followed rather than led. The history of the land comprised within the limits of the Purchase is an epitome of the entire history of our people. Within these limits we have gradually built up State after State, until now they many times over surpass in wealth, in population, and in many-sided development the original thirteen States as they were when their delegates met in the Continental Congress.
The people of these States have shown themselves mighty in war with their fellow-man and mighty in strength to tame the rugged wilderness. They could not thus have conquered the forest, the prairie, the mountain and the desert, had they not possessed the great fighting virtues, the qualities which enable a people to overcome the forces of hostile men and hostile nature.
On the other hand they could not have used aright their conquest had they not in addition possessed the qualities of self-mastery and self-restraint, the power of acting in combination with their fellows, the power of yielding obedience to the law and of building up an orderly civilization. Courage and hardihood are indispensable virtues in a people, but the people which possess no others can never rise high in the scale either of power or of culture. Great peoples must have in addition the governmental capacity which comes only when individuals fully recognize their duties to one another and to the whole body politic and are able to join together in feats of constructive statesmanship and of honest and effective administration.
The old pioneer days are gone with their roughness and their hardship, their incredible toil and their wild, half-savage romance. But the need for the pioneer virtues remains the same as ever. The peculiar frontier conditions have vanished; but the manliness and stalwart hardihood of the frontiersman can be given even freer scope under the conditions surrounding the complex industrialism of the present day.
In this great region acquired for our people under the presidency of Jefferson, this region stretching from the Gulf to the Canadian border, from the Mississippi to the Rockies, the material and social progress has been so vast that alike for weal and for woe, the people share the opportunities and bear the burdens common to the entire civilized world. The problems before us are fundamentally the same east and west of the Mississippi, in the new States and in the old, and exactly the same qualities are required for their successful solution.
We meet here to-day to commemorate a great event, an event which marks an era in statesmanship no less than in pioneering. It is fitting that we should pay our homage in words; but we must in honor make our words good by deeds. We have every right to take a just pride in the great deeds of our forefathers; but we show ourselves unworthy to be their descendants if we make what they did an excuse for our lying supine instead of an incentive to the effort to show ourselves, by our acts, worthy of them. In the administration of city, State, and nation, in the management of our home life and conduct of our business and social relations, we are bound to show certain high and fine qualities of character under penalty of seeing the whole heart of our civilization eaten out while the body still lives.
We justly pride ourselves on our marvelous material prosperity, and such prosperity must exist in order to establish a foundation upon which a higher life can be built; but unless we do in very fact build this higher life thereon, the material prosperity itself will go but for very little. Now, in 1903, in the altered conditions, we must meet the changed and changing problems with the spirit shown by the men who in 1803 and in subsequent years, gained, explored, conquered, and settled this vast territory, then a desert, now filled with thriving and populous States.
The old days were great because the men who lived in them had mighty qualities; and we must make the new days great by showing the same qualities. We must insist upon courage and resolution, upon hardihood, tenacity, and fertility in resource; we must insist upon the strong virile virtues; and we must insist no less upon the virtues of self-restraint, self-mastery, regard for the rights of others; we must show our abhorrence of cruelty, brutality, and corruption, in public and private life alike.
If we come short in any of these qualities we shall measurably fail; and if, as I believe we surely shall, we develop these qualities in the future to an even greater degree than in the past, then in the century now beginning we shall make of this Republic the freest and most orderly, the most just and most mighty nation which has ever come forth from the womb of time.
Sixth. Grand chorus: "Unfold Ye Portals."
Seventh. Address by Hon. Grover Cleveland:
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The impressiveness of this occasion is greatly enhanced by reason of an atmosphere of prophecy's fulfillment which surrounds it. The thought is in our minds that we are amid awe-inspiring surroundings, where we may see and feel things foretold a century ago. We are here in recognition of the one hundredth anniversary of an event which doubled the area of the young American nation, and dedicated a new and wide domain of American progress and achievement. The treaty whose completion we to-day commemorate was itself a prophecy of our youthful nation's mighty growth and development. At its birth prophets in waiting joyously foretold the happiness which its future promised. He who was the chief actor in the United States in its negotiations, as he signed the perfected instrument, thus declared its effect and far-reaching consequences: "The instrument which we have just signed will cause no tears to be shed. It prepares ages of happiness for innumerable generations of human creatures. The Mississippi and the Missouri will see them succeed one another, truly worthy of the regard and care of Providence in the bosom of equality under just laws, freed from the errors of superstition and the scourges of bad government."
He who represented the nation with whom we negotiated, when he afterwards gave to the world his account of the transactions, declared: "The consequences of the cession of Louisiana will extend to the most distant posterity. It interests vast regions that will become by their civilization and power the rivals of Europe before another century commences," and warmed to enthusiasm by the developments already in view and greater ones promised, he added: "Who can contemplate without vivid emotion this spectacle of the happiness of the present generation and the certain pledges of the prosperity of numberless generations that will follow? At these magnificent prospects the heart beats with joy in the breasts of those who were permitted to see the dawn of these bright days, and who are assured that so many happy presages will be accomplished."
There was another prophet, greater than all—prophet and priest—who, higher up the mountain than others, heard more distinctly the voice of destiny, whose heart and soul were full of prophecy and whose every faculty was tense and strong as he wrought for our nation's advancement and for the peace and contentment of his fellow-countryman. From the fullness of gratitude and joy, he thus wrote to one who had assisted in the consummation of this great treaty:
"For myself and my country, I thank you for the aid you have given in it; and I congratulate you on having lived to give these aids in a transaction replete with blessings to unborn millions of men, and which will mark the face of a portion of the globe so extensive as that which now composes the United States of America;" and when, as President, he gave notice in a message to Congress of the actual occupancy by the Government of its new acquisition, he happily presaged the future and gave assurance of his complete faith and confidence in the beneficent result of our nation's extensions, in these words: "On this important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate interests of our western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and security of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories so extensive and fertile and to our citizens new brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government, I offer Congress and our country my sincere congratulations."
Our prophets do not live forever. They are not here to see how stupendously the growth and development of the American nation, or the domain newly acquired in their day, have, during a short century, outrun their anticipations and predictions.
Almost within the limits of the territory gained by the Louisiana purchase, we have already carved out twelve great States, leaving still a large residue whose occupants are even now loudly clamoring for statehood.
Instead of the 50,000 white settlers who occupied this domain in 1803, it now contains 15,000,000 of industrious, enterprising, intelligent Americans, constituting about one-fifth of the population of all our States; and these are defiantly contesting for premiership in wealth and material success with the oldest of our States, and are their equals in every phase of advanced intelligence and refined civilization.
The States which composed the Union when its possessions were so greatly extended have since that time seen the center of the nation's population carried more than 500 miles westward by the swift and constant current of settlement toward this new domain; and the citizens of these States have been flocking thither, "new brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government," in multitudes greater than even Jefferson would have dared to foretell.
I shall not enter the field of statistics for the purpose of giving details of the development of the territory acquired under the treaty we commemorate. I have referred to such development in some of its general features by way of suggesting how distinctly the century just ended gives assurance of a startling and superabundant final fulfillment of the prophecies of its beginners.
The supreme importance of the Louisiana purchase and its value as a national accomplishment, when seen in the incidents of its short history and in the light of its present and prospective effects, and judged solely by its palpable and independent merits, can not be better characterized than by the adoption of the following language from the pen of a brilliant American historian: "The annexation of Louisiana was an event so portentious as to defy measurement. It gave a new face to politics and ranked in historical importance next to the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the Constitution, events of which it was the logical outcome. But as a matter of diplomacy it was unparalleled because it cost almost nothing."
How fitting on every ground it is that the centennial of this stupendous event should be joyously and appropriately celebrated; and that it should be celebrated here in the most populous of the States created from the territory which the Louisiana purchase gave to us. And how in keeping it is with the character of this acquisition and with its purpose and mission that our celebration should not waste itself on the pomp and pageantry that belongs to the triumphs and spoils of war, or to the rapacious dispossessions of ruthless conquest. Every feature of our celebration should remind us that we memorialize a peaceful acquisition of territory for truly American uses and purposes; and we should rejoice not only because this acquisition immediately gave peace and contentment to the spirited and determined American settlers who demanded an outlet of trade to the sea, but also because it provided homes and means of livelihood for the millions of new Americans whose coming tread fell upon the ears of the expectant fathers of the Republic, and whose stout hearts and brawny arms wrought the miracles which our celebration should interpret.
We are here at this hour to dedicate beautiful and stately edifices to the purposes of our commemoration, but as we do this let us remember that the soil whereon we stand was a century ago dedicated to the genius of American industry and thrift. For every reason, nothing could be more appropriate as an important part of the centennial commemoration we have undertaken than the gathering together on this spot of the things that are characteristic of American effort and which tell the story of American achievement; and how happily will this be supplemented and crowned by the generous, magnanimous, and instructive contributions from other and older lands, which, standing side by side with our exhibits, shall manifest the high and friendly regard our Republic has gained among the governments of the earth, and shall demonstrate how greatly advancing civilization has fostered and stimulated the brotherhood of nations.
I can not, however, rid myself of the feeling that the inspiration and value attending such an exposition may be anticipated and increased if on this dedicatory occasion we promote appropriate reflections by a retrospection of some of the incidents which accompanied the event we celebrate.
We all know that long before the negotiations of the treaty of 1803 our Government had a keen appreciation of the importance to American settlers in the valley of the Mississippi of an arrangement permitting their products to be deposited and exported at the entrance of that river to the sea. It will be remembered that this need of our settlers had been met in a limited and not altogether secure manner by a treaty with Spain, allowing such deposits and exports to be made at the city of New Orleans. This privilege was entirely withdrawn in October, 1792, the territory appurtenant to such privilege having been in the meantime transferred to France. The situation thus created was extremely delicate. There was presented to the Government on the one hand the injury to western settlers through the loss of their trading outlet, and on the other the perplexing question of affording them relief by means of diplomatic agreement, or in some other method. The abandonment of our settlers to their disheartening fate was of course not contemplated.
It can not be denied that the conditions plainly pointed to cautious and deliberate negotiations as the way of prudence and safety. It very soon became apparent, however, that delay and too much deliberation did not suit the temper and spirit of sturdy Americans chafing under a sense of wrong and convinced that they were entitled to prompt assistance. The inhabitants of our territory bounding on the east side of the Mississippi, in a memorial addressed to the President, Senate, and House of Representatives, after reciting their discouraging conditions and expressing their faith in the Government's disposition to extend the necessary aid, closed their memorial with these significant words: "And so far as may depend on ourselves, we tender to our country our lives and fortunes in support of such measures as Congress may deem necessary to vindicate the honor and protect the interests of the United States."
The settlers in the States "west of the Allegheny Mountains" also, in a memorial to the Government, clearly indicated their impatience and readiness for extreme action, declared that prompt and decisive measures were necessary, and referred to the maxim that protection and allegiance are reciprocal as being particularly applicable to their situation. They concluded their statement with these solemn words: "Without interfering in the measures that have been adopted to bring about the amicable arrangement of a difference which has grown out of the gratuitous violation of a solemn treaty, they desire that the United States may explicitly understand that their condition is critical; that the delay of a single season would be ruinous to their country, and that an imperious necessity may consequently oblige them, if they receive no aid, to adopt themselves the measures that may appear to them calculated to protect their commerce, even though those measures should produce consequences unfavorable to the harmony of the Confederacy."
These representations emphasized the apprehension of those charged with governmental affairs that the course of deliberate caution and waiting, which up to that time had appeared to be the only one permissible, might be insufficient to meet the situation, and that whatever the result might be, a more pronounced position and more urgent action should be entered upon. President Jefferson wrote to a friend on the 1st of February, 1803: "Our circumstances are so imperious as to admit of no delay as to our course, and the use of the Mississippi so indispensible that we can not hesitate one moment to hazard our existence for its maintenance." He appointed an additional envoy to cooperate with our representative already at the French capital in an attempt to obtain a concession that would cure the difficulty, and, in a communication to him, after referring to the excitement caused by the withdrawal of the right of deposit, he thus characterizes the condition which he believed confronted the nation: "On the event of this mission depend the future destinies of this Republic. If we can not by a purchase of the country insure to ourselves a course of perpetual peace and friendship of all nations, then, as war can not be far distant, it behooves us immediately to be preparing for that course, though not hastening it."
I have not recited these details for the purpose of claiming that this accelerated speed and advanced position on the part of our Government had any important effect in hastening final results. I have thought it not amiss, however, to call attention to the fact that a century ago the people of this country were not seeking to gain governmental benefit by clandestine approach and cunning pretense, but were apt to plainly present their wants and grievances, and to openly demand such consideration and care from the General Government as was their due under the mandate of popular rule, and that in making their demands they relied on the mutual obligation of the relationship between the governed and those invested with authority, and invoked the reciprocity in political duty which enjoins that for the people's obedience and support of government, there shall be given in exchange, by the Government to the people, defense of their personal rights and the assurance that in safety and peace they shall surely reap the fruits of their enterprise and labor. |
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