208 



FARMERS' CONGRESS. 



The United States Building. This stood on 

 the Quai d'Orsay on the Seine, in the Street of 

 Nations, between the Turkish and the Austrian 



Savilions. It had a frontage of 85 feet and a 

 epth of 90 feet, and the top of the dome was 

 160 feet from the ground. One of its character- 

 istic features was a classic porch, which opened 

 on the Seine, in front of which was an equestrian 

 statue of Washington, the joint production of the 

 American sculptors Daniel C. French and Edward 

 C. Potter, which was the gift of the women of the 

 United States to France. Its total height was 22 

 feet, and its weight 8,200 pounds. It was the 

 first bronze statue sent to Europe from the United 

 States. On the vaulted roof of the pylon overhead 

 was a quadriga representing Liberty on the Car 

 of Progress, while a magnificent eagle, with wings 

 extended, surmounted the dome. While the United 

 States Building was regarded as an architectural 

 success, still its unfortunate surroundings so 

 dwarfed it that the effect expected was not real- 

 ized. The building was formally turned over to 

 the authorities on May 12, when Commissioner- 

 Ueneral Peck, surrounded by the members of the 

 United States Commission, welcomed the Commis- 

 sioner General of the Exposition, M. Picard, while 

 Sousa's band played the Marseillaise. M. Picard 

 was then conducted by Mr. Peck to the center of 

 the rotunda, where a brief formal address was 

 made, after which he presented the Commissioner 



General of the exposition with a gold key and 

 pendant, representing the pavilion, as a souvenir, 

 ;md a suitable response was made by M. Picard. 

 A general reception was held, during which an 

 interesting feature was the playing of American 

 airs by Sousa's band. 



Literature. One of the conspicuous American 

 features was the publication of the Paris Exposi- 

 tion edition of the New York Times, beginning on 

 May 31 and ending on Oct. 31. It was under the 

 supervision of Frank M. White, managing editor, 

 assisted by Edward Insley and a staff of associate 

 editors and reporters. The paper was printed on 

 a Goss straight-line press, from type set on Mc-r- 

 genthaler linotype machines, in the American Pub- 

 lishers' Building on the grounds. It appeared 

 every afternoon, at 4 o'clock. For those who desire 

 information in detail, it would be well to consult 

 the file of the daily edition of the New York Times. 

 Special industries may be found described in the 

 various trade journals, some of which, as the 

 Scientific American, contained illustrations. Pic- 

 torially, the Paris Exposition has been treated in 

 a volume entitled The Parisian Dream City (St. 

 Louis, 1900). The reports of the commissioners 

 from the United States will be published by the 

 Government, and special reports of the transac- 

 tions of the various congresses will ultimately find 

 their way into print, as they did in the case of the 

 Columbian Exposition of 1893. 



F 



FARMERS' CONGRESS. The twentieth an- 

 nual session of the Farmers' National Congress 

 was opened at Colorado Springs, Col., Aug. 21. 

 It completed its business in three days, holding 

 three sessions each day. About 800 delegates 

 were in attendance. The leading agricultural 

 States were well represented, but the attendance 

 from New England and the extreme South was 

 not so large as was anticipated. At no other an- 

 nual meeting has the congress attended so strictly 

 to the business before it ; all excursions and other 

 diversions were postponed until the business of 

 the meeting was completed. The meeting was 

 notable for the earnestness of the delegates and 

 the care with which they considered all proposed 

 action. 



The meeting was called to order by the Hon. 

 R. G. F. Candage, of Massachusetts, first vice- 

 president and acting president, the president, 

 Hon. William D. Hoard, of Wisconsin, having re- 

 signed. Prayer was offered by the Rev. M. H. 

 Fish, of Colorado Springs. Addresses of welcome 

 were made by Mr. Gilbert McClurg, secretary of 

 the Chamber of Commerce of Colorado Springs; 

 Hon. J. S. Robinson, Mayor of Colorado Springs; 

 and Hon. Charles S. Thomas, Governor of Colo- 

 rado. Responses were made by Mr. John M. 

 Stahl, secretary of the congress; the Hon. Benja- 

 min F. Clayton, chairman of the Executive Com- 

 mittee; and the Hon. J. H. Worst, president of 

 North Dakota Agricultural College. 



Mr. McClurg presented figures showing the con- 

 tribution of Colorado to the wealth of the nation, 

 specially from its mines, and to the work the 

 State was doing for the education of its people and 

 for the advancement of its agriculture. Mayor 

 Robinson said: "Three fourths of the youth in 

 our higher schools of learning come from the 

 farm. It is true also that the large majority of 

 the men who lead in public affairs and in business 

 in our large cities and in the larger arena .of 

 national affairs were born and reared in the 



country. It is undoubtedly true that country life 

 and environment conduce to physical strength, 

 intellectual power, and moral sanity, and upon 

 these qualities rest the greatness and stability of 

 human institutions. The farms, too, are schools 

 of patriotism. The large cities of our country are 

 our storm centers." Gov. Thomas said : " Did you 

 ever stop to consider that the time has come in 

 a few short years when the domain of agriculture 

 has been extended even to the Western seaboard, 

 and the waste places of the land have become the 

 garden spot and the granary of the world? True 

 it is, it was the love of gold and the search for 

 the brilliant metals that brought man out into 

 this Western country, but it is the farmer who 

 remained and developed the resources that have 

 made most of our wealth. The farmers took a 

 waste tract of land and have made of it an em- 

 pire." 



Secretary Stahl called attention to the fact that 

 it was our large exports of farm products, so far 

 exceeding the exports of all other products, that 

 had made the balance of trade so largely in our 

 favor that we had become a creditor nation; but 

 he hoped farmers would not forget that true na- 

 tional wealth was in the character of the people 

 rather than in money at home or favorable bal- 

 ances abroad. "History shows," he said, "and 

 especially the history of this nation shows, that 

 the source of true national wealth, as of all indi- 

 vidual worth, is in the homely home, where God 

 is honored, the Bible is read, and children are 

 taught industry, economy, sobriety, and purity: 

 the home directed by that best thing mortal that 

 Almighty God has placed on this earth a pure 

 and tender woman whose titles of love and honor 

 are wife and mother." Mr. Clayton spoke very 

 briefly, contenting himself with pointing out how 

 well Colorado Springs had fulfilled all its pledges 

 to the congress and paying some well-deserved 

 compliments to that city. President Worst de- 

 plored the rush of young people from the farm to 



