FOETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, 1881-1883. 885 



mission for deciding said result; and that before any report could be made by said 

 Committee on Printing upon the resolution referred to them, the then pending ses- 

 sion of Congress expired, leaving the resolution for printing extra copies unacted 

 upon by the House. 



That at the expiration of said session the message and accompanying documents 

 were in the hands of the Public Printer, by reference of said Committee on Printing, 

 for the purpose of having estimates made of the cost of printing under the resolu- 

 tion; and that not having been referred to the Public Printer by proper authority 

 under the order of the House of February 9, 1877, to be printed as a public docu- 

 ment, the Public Printer did not have such message and accompanying documents 

 printed, but turned them over to the chairman of the board during the summer of 

 that year, who caused them to be retransmitted to Congress at the ensuing session. 

 No action, so far as your memorialist is aware, has ever been taken since that time 

 looking to the prmting of said papers. 



In submitting the report of the board to Congress on February 9, 1877, the Presi- 

 dent of the United States said : 



"The labors performed by the members of the board, as evinced by the volumi- 

 nous mass of information found in the various papers from the officers charged with 

 their preparation, have been in the highest degree commendable; and believing that 

 the publication of these papers will form an interesting memorial of the greatest of 

 international exhibitions, and of the centennial anniversary of the independence of 

 our country, I recommend that they be printed in a suitable form for distribution 

 and preservation." 



In his annual message of December 3, 1877, the President said : 



' ' The board on behalf of the United States Executive Departments at the Inter- 

 national Exhibition of 1876 has concluded its labors. The final report of the board 

 was transmitted to Congress by the President near the close of the last session. As 

 these papers are understood to contain interesting and valuable information, and will 

 constitute the only report emanating from the Government ^ on the subject of the 

 Exhibition, I invite attention to the matter, and recommend that the report be pub- 

 lished for general information." 



In consideration of which, your memorialist prays that said message and accom- 

 panying documents be now transmitted to the Public Printer, to be printed in 

 accordance with the order of the House of Representatives of February 9, 1877. 



And your memorialist will ever pray, etc. 



S. C. Lyford, 

 Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel United States Army, Late Clutirman, and 

 Representative War Department, International Exhibition, 1876, etc. 



"With the assistance of Mr. W. A. DeCaindry, late secretary of the board on the 

 United States Executive Departments, I have given the entire manuscript and its 

 accompanying illustrations a careful examination; and with the concurrence of Colo- 

 nel Lyford, late chairman, I have taken out quite a considerable amount of matter 

 which appeared to us to be irrelevant. We have also concluded to recommend the 

 entire omission of the series of photographic views, as involving very great cost 

 without any commensurate advantage. We have, however, retained the figures 

 illustrating the text, and which, if reproduced by the photo-engraving process, will 

 cost but a very small amount. 



It had been originally contemplated to publish this report in quarto, but with the 

 omission of the large photographic views, the octavo form seems to be the more 



'The report of the Centennial Commission connected with the International 

 Exhibition, 1876, has since been printed by Congress, but does not include the 

 details of the governmental participation. 



