ed of fifteen Members of the Senate. On the 21st of
April, 1890, a bill was pending in the Senate appropriating $1,500,000
from the treasury of the United States to pay the expense of
representing the government of the United States in an exposition
in Chicago, in 1893. I made a speech in defense of the appropriation
and stated the benefits of such an exposition as shown by the one
in London and two in Paris that I had attended. While the receipts
at the gates for attendance did not in either case cover the expense,
yet the benefits derived greatly exceeded all expenses and left
great buildings of permanent value, such as the Crystal Palace at
Sydenham, and still more valuable buildings at Paris. I referred
to the centennial exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, and to the
innumerable state, county and city fairs in all parts of the United
States, all of which were of great value to the places where held.
These gatherings had revolutionized the social habits and greatly
improved the manners and intelligence of our people, and are likely
to increase in number in the future. The bill passed, but not
without serious opposition, and upon terms extremely onerous to
Chicago.

This course of opposition continued until August, 1892. The people
of Chicago had raised the enormous sum of $11,000,000 without the
certainty of any return. All nations had been invited, and were
preparing to be represented at this exposition. The attention of
mankind was excited by the enterprise of a city only fifty years
old, of more than a million inhabitants, erecting more and greater
buildings than had ever been constructed for such a purpose. The
United States had not contributed to the general expense, but had
appropriated a sum sufficient to provide for its own buildings in
its own way, precisely on the footing of foreign powers. It became
necessary to borrow more money, and Congress was requested to loan
the exposition the sum of $5,000,000, to be refunded out of receipts,
in the same proportion as to other stockholders. This was declined,
but it was enacted that the United States would coin $2,500,000 in
silver, and pay the exposition that coin. Whether this was done
because silver bullion could be purchased for about $1,500,000
sufficient to coin $2,500,000, or to make a discrimination against
the fair, I do not know. On the 5th of August, 1892, I expressed
my opposition to this measure. Both Houses were remaining in
session to