REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 155 



these should lie used as a nucleus, and that additional space be secured 

 for the erection of other buddings. Application was made to the board 

 of public affairs, which granted the use of Washington Park on the east, 

 and ol certain streets bordering the Miami Canal on. the west. In this 

 way floor space aggregating 400,000 square feet, with 142,500 additional 

 feel of wall space, was secured in the heart of the city. To place the 

 project on a sound financial basis a guaranty fund of $1,050,000 was 

 raised among the citizens of Cincinnati. 



The movement was indorsed by the city councils of Cincinnati, Co\ - 

 ington, and Newport, and by the Ohio State legislature, which author- 

 ized the appointment of honorary commissioners, voted a small sum of 

 money for State representation, and directed the governor, in behalf of 

 the State, to invite " the assistance and co-operation of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, our sister States, and especially the Central States of West Vir- 

 ginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Michi- 

 gan, and that they be requested to appoint five honorary commissioners 

 each to assist in the organization and carrying on of this Centennial Ex- 

 position." These States passed formal resolutions of acceptance and 

 appointed honorary commissioners, but, as a rule, little was attempted 

 in the way of preparing State exhibits. 



Copies of the resolutions extending an invitation to the Federal Gov- 

 ernment were sent to the President and to Congress; and after con- 

 siderable delay the initiative was taken by the Appropriations Committee 

 of the House of Representatives, the chairman of which addressed let- 

 ters to the heads of the several Departments with a view to ascertaining 

 what could be done, and the amount of money needed by each for mak- 

 ing a suitable display. This correspondence resulted in the draughting 

 of a bill by members of said committee, which, after slight, amendment, 

 passed both Houses of Congress and received the President's signature. 

 The bill as passed read as follows: 



A \ ACT making an appropriation to enable tlio several Executive Departments of the Government 

 and the Bureau of Agriculture and the Smith.soniau Institution, including the National Museum 

 and Commission of Fish ami Fisheries, to participate in the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Val 

 ley ami Central States, to lie held at Cincinnati, Ohio, from July fourth to October twenty seventh, 

 eighteen hundred ami eighty-eight. 



Whereas the States which comprise the Northwest Territory and the adjaceul 

 States will hold at Cincinnati, Ohio, from July fourth to October twenty-seventh, 

 eighteen hundred and eighty- eight, a centennial exposition commemorative of the 

 organization of the Northwest Territory under the ordinance of seventeen hundred 

 and eighty-seven, in which exposition all the States and Territories of the United 

 Statesand theGeneralGoverninenl have been invited to participate, the object being 

 in said exposition to I present a panorama of the nation's resources and present state of 



progressive development, hy an exhibition of the products of agriculture, of the 

 various industries and line arts: also tint results of advancement made in the sciences; 

 the whole illustrating the opportunities secured to and the possibilities winch wail 

 upon the citizens of this Republic : and 



Whereas the citizens of the Ohio Valley and the several States adjacent thereto 

 have made Bui table and adequate preparation and arrangements for holding said ex- 

 position, and are desirous, and it being lit and proper, thai the several Executive 

 Departments of the Government, the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian 



