EXPOSITION, TRANS-MISSISSIPPI AND INTERNATIONAL. 



249 



17. New York : Arrival of Major-Gen. Wesley 

 Merritt, U. S. A., from his trip to the Philippine 

 Islands. 



18. New York : Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, ac- 

 cepts the resignation of its pastor, the Rev. Lyman 

 Abbott, D. D. 



20. Kansas City: Samuel Gompers re-elected Pres- 

 ident of the American Federation of Labor. Wash- 

 ington : The President returns to the White House 

 from his Southern tour. 



21. Crete: Prince George, of Greece, arrives to 

 assume control of the island. Spain : Serious ill- 

 ness of Sagasta, and a ministerial crisis. 



22. New York : Dinner of the Canadian Society, 

 with speeches favoring an Anglo-American League. 



24. Navy : Retirement of Admiral Francis M. 

 Buuce from the active list, on account of age. 



26. Philippine Islands : Spaniards forced by the 

 insurgents to evacuate the city of Iloilo, the last 

 post held by them; American gunboats sent to 

 take charge. 



27. Havana: The dangerous classes of the city 

 become unruly in view of the approaching Spanish 

 evacuation ; American soldiers detailed to preserve 

 ordei'. New York: Annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Chemical Society. 



29. South Africa: A dangerous state of affairs 

 exists in the Transvaal between the Boers and Uit- 

 landers (mainly English). 



80. India : Arrival at Bombay of the new Viceroy, 

 Lord Curzon, with his American bride, Lady Cur- 

 zon (nee Leiter) ; they are received with great cere- 

 mony. 



31. Austria-Hungary : Expiration of the interna- 

 tional treaty. Havana: Preparations completed for 

 raising the American flag over the city on New 

 Year's Day, 1899. 



New York : Gov.-Elect Roosevelt takes the oath 

 of office at Albany. 



EXPOSITION, TRANS-MISSISSIPPI AND 

 INTERNATIONAL. Since the World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, four im- 

 portant interstate expositions that were international 

 in character have been held in the United States. 

 They were the Californian Midwinter International 

 Exposition, held in San Francisco in 1894 (see 

 " Annual Cyclopedia " for 1894, p. 91) ; the Cotton 

 States and International Exposition, held in Atlan- 

 ta, Ga., in 1895 (see " Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1895, 

 p. 269) ; the Tennessee Centennial and International 

 Exposition, held in Nashville in 1897 (see " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1897, p. 756) ; and the Trans- 

 Mississippi and International Exposition, held in 

 Omaha from June 1 to Oct. 31, 1898, and of these 

 the last-named was the largest and most successful. 



Organization. The beginning of the Exposi- 

 tion may be said to date from the meeting of the 

 Trans-Mississippi Congress, held in Omaha in No- 

 vember, 1895. On Nov. 27, 1895, the Hon. Wil- 

 liam J. Bryan presented the following resolution 

 before the Congress : 



" Whereas, we believe that an exposition of all the 

 products, industries, and civilization of the States 

 west of the Mississippi river, made at some central 

 gateway where the world can behold the wonderful 

 capabilities of these great wealth-producing States, 

 would be of great value, not only to the Trans-Mis- 

 sippi States but to all the home seekers in the world ; 

 therefore Resolved, That the United States Congress 

 be requested to take such steps as may be necessary 

 to hold a Trans-Mississippi exposition at Omaha, 

 during the months of August, September, and Oc- 

 tober, 1898, and that the representatives of such 

 States and Territories in Congress be requested to 

 favor such an appropriation as is usual in such 

 cases to assist in carrying out this enterprise." 



It was adopted unanimously, and after the ad- 



journment of the Congress the proposition was 

 thoroughly canvassed in Omaha, resulting in the 

 publication of a call for a meeting to be held in the 

 Commercial Club on Jan. 18, 1896. The Trans- 

 Mississippi and International Exposition was then 

 organized and articles of incorporation adopted. 

 The latter provided that the capital stock should 

 be $1,000,000, issued in shares of $10 each, and that 

 the life of the Exposition should be from June 1 to 

 Nov. 1, 1898. The following officers were chosen : 

 President, Gurdon W. Wattles; Vice- President, 

 Jacob E. Markel ; Treasurer, Herman Kountze ; and 

 Secretary, John A. Wakefield. Agitation was at 

 once begun to secure national aid, and for that pur- 

 pose bills were introduced in both the House and 

 the Senate asking for an appropriation of $250,000, 

 such appropriation to be available only after a like 

 amount of the capital stock of the exposition had 

 been obtained. Meanwhile, the local canvass for 

 subscriptions had been energetically carried on, so 

 that in November, 1896, the amount promised 

 reached $330,000. This sum being sufficient to 

 warrant the beginning of building operations, a 

 meeting of the stockholders was held on Dec. 1, 

 when it was decided to divide the work of the Ex- 

 position into seven departments, the heads of which 

 should constitute the executive committee, who 

 should have the active management of the affairs 

 of the association. The officers elected were as fol- 

 low : President, Gurdon W. Wattles : Resident 

 Vice-President, Alvin Saunders; Treasurer. Her- 

 man Kountze ; and Secretary, John A. Wakefield. 

 Executive committees : Chairman and Manager of 

 Department of Ways and Means, Zachary T. Lind- 

 sey ; Manager of Department of Publicity, Edward 

 Rosewater; Manager of Department of Promotion, 

 Gilbert M. Hitchcock ; Manager of Department of 

 Buildings and Grounds, Freeman P. Kirkendall ; 

 Manager of Department of Exhibits, Edward E. 

 Bruce ; Manager of Department of Concessions and 

 Privileges, Abram L. Reed ; and Manager of De- 



Crtment of Transportation, William N. Babcock. 

 ,ter the departments of publicity and promotion 

 were consolidated under the management of Edward 

 Rosewater. The organization was then completed 

 by the appointment of a vice-president by each of 

 the 24 governors of the Trans-Mississippi States. 

 The success of the enterprise seemed assured, and 

 as the requirements of the bill providing for Govern- 

 ment appropriation were satisfied, the Secretary of 

 State notified foreign governments of the inter- 

 national character of the Exposition, and invited 

 them to participate. The failure of President Cleve- 

 land to sign the sundry civil bill containing the 

 Government appropriation which had been cut 

 down to $200,000 was a source of some disappoint- 

 ment, and delayed work on the Government Build- 

 ing until the passage of the bill by the extra session 

 of Congress called for by President McKinley. 

 Meanwhile, local subscriptions had increased until 

 the amount of $420,000 had been promised, and 

 later the State of Nebraska and Douglas County 

 each appropriated $100,000. Aid from various State 

 legislatures was also received as follows : Illinois. 

 $45,000; Iowa, $35,000 ; Montana, $15,000; Utah, 

 $8,500 ; and New Mexico, $1,500. Among Eastern 

 States the following sums were appropriated by 

 their respective legislatures : Georgia, $10,000 ; New 

 York, $7.500; Massachusetts, $6,000; and Ohio, 

 $3,000. The Kansas Legislature refused to appro- 

 priate any money, but the people themselves made 

 contributions equivalent to nearly $30,000. and the 

 following amounts may be credited to the people 

 representing their respective States: Minnesota, 

 $20,000 ; Montana, $15,000 ; and Wisconsin, $12,000. 

 Location. The site chosen was on the north 

 side of Omaha, within the city limits. The area 



