, has been an example to the whole country of
national devotion, which has been of great advantage to the
exposition management; your gratuitous and earnest effort has
been a means of making the exposition favorably known throughout
this country, at least. Your expenses have been very light--I
believe, up to this time, less than $20,000, in the neighborhood
of $20,000--which, considering the long distances traveled, and
the number of meetings, is a trifling sum in comparison with
what has been spent by similar boards of former expositions.

As you are aware, the act of Congress, under which both the
Commission and your board find warrant for existence, granted to
the local company an appropriation of $5,000,000 for the
purposes of giving this exposition. We have probably in moments
of inconsiderate feeling been too prone to find fault--I speak
of the Commission, not of the ladies--prone to find fault with
the people here who have been doing the best they could. There
has been a disposition to assume the control, to the exclusion
of outside agencies; and this is but natural because it is
inseparable--or is in evidence with reference to all official
places in our Government--in fact, it has been noticed that a
man, who is ordinarily indolent, when placed in power will
become very energetic in this respect.

The Exposition Company has assumed a full measure of the
responsibilities--and possibly some of our responsibilities as
well--for which we have not been duly grateful. Nevertheless, we
are not inclined to blame these people, because they have
contributed very largely and generously of local means to aid
this enterprise, which leads them to the desire to supervise
each and every detail in connection with this work. This desire
to assume full responsibility is possibly responsible for the
failure to assign to the ladies any particular work, and is also
responsible for the curtailing of the jurisdiction of the
National Commission. As the work progresses, however, I think
that the company realizes the necessity of drawing upon all the
forces available to make the exposition a success.

This Commission had a long and pleasant interview with the
president of the exposition, at which time he brought out a
desire for cooperation and assistance that had not yet been
manifest