FARMERS' CONGRESS. 



257 



Kinley arrived in Omaha on Tuesday attended by a 

 brilliant suite, including Secretaries Gage, Smith, 

 Bliss, and Wilson; Gens. Miles, Sumner, and Gree- 

 ly; and ministers from the Argentine Republic, 

 Brazil, China, and Korea, as well as other Govern- 

 ment officials. He was escorted to the Omaha 

 Club, where apartments had been provided for him, 

 and on Wednesday was conducted, with visiting 

 guests, to the Exposition grounds. W T hen in their 

 itinerary the Plaza was reached more than 75,000 

 people were gathered to greet the President. After 

 mi invocation by Rev. John McQuoid, Mr. Wattles 

 presented President McKinley, who spoke eloquent- 

 ly, and on that occasion first indicated his opinion 

 in regard to the acquisition of new territory, say- 

 ing: ''Shall we deny to ourselves what the rest of 

 the world so freely and so justly accord to us? 

 The men who endured in the short but decisive 

 struggle its hardships, its privations, whether in 

 field or camp, on ship or in the siege, and planned 

 and achieved its victories, will never tolerate im- 

 peachment, either direct or indirect, of those who 

 won a peace whose great gain to civilization is yet 

 unknown and unwritten." 



lie was followed by Postmaster-General Smith, 

 ai'ter which the other members of the Cabinet and 

 Gen. Miles were informally introduced. The tour 

 of the grounds was continued, and after a luncheon 

 the Government Building was reached, where a 

 short reception was held, and then the Indian en- 

 campment was visited, where a sham battle was 

 given specially in honor of the visit of the Great 

 Father. There were no public ceremonies on the 

 remaining days of the week, although an unusually 

 large attendance was had, and many distinguished 

 persons visited the Exposition as guests of the au- 

 thorities. 



Receipts. The total receipts of the Exposition 

 from all sources up to Dec. 1 were $1,924.077.69, of 

 which amount the gate receipts were $801.575.47 

 and the receipts from concessions $306,365.45. The 

 money on hand, Dec. 1, after the payment of 75 per 

 cent, dividends to those stockholders who had paid 

 up their subscriptions in full was $115,853.79, a suf- 

 ficient amount to return to all stockholders the re- 

 maining 25 per cent, subscribed by them. This 

 financial result is unparalleled in the history of 

 expositions. 



Literary and Artistic Features. The Exposi- 

 tion authorities have appropriated $10,000 for the 

 compilation and publication of an authorized illus- 



trated history of the Exposition. During its life 

 illustrated circulars were issued from time to time 

 giving information of the principal features. The 

 "Omaha Bee," whose editor, Edward Rosewater, 

 was foremost in giving publicity to the Exposition, 

 published two special illustrated numbers, giving a 

 complete history of the fair; the first, on the open- 

 ing day. June 1, and the second on the President's 

 Day, Oct. 12. The larger magazines all gave ac- 

 counts of the Exposition, accompanied with illus- 

 trations made by Mr. F. A. Rinehart, the official 

 photographer. The photographs that illustrate the 

 present article were taken by Mr. J. B. Morrey, who 

 was connected with the Government Building, and 

 to whose courtesy we are indebted for their use. 



Greater America Exposition. Soon after the 

 close of the Exposition the desirability of holding 

 during 1899 a Greater America Exposition was 

 discussed. Accordingly a meeting was held on Dec. 

 15, when in sympathy with the statement included 

 in the following petition, a permanent organization 

 was affected. 



" In view of the extension of the domain of the 

 United States, which has ci'eated an irresistible pop- 

 ular demand for information concerning the people 

 and resources of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the 

 Philippine Islands, and as the grounds and build- 

 ings devoted to the recent Trans-Mississippi Expo- 

 sition are eminently adapted for an exposition 

 illustrative of the manners, habits, and industrial 

 capacity of the people of those countries, the under- 

 signed citizens of Nebraska earnestly favor the pro- 

 posed Greater America Exposition at Omaha in 

 1899, and respectfully urge our representatives in 

 Congress to procure the necessary legislation for the 

 recognition and participation of the United States 

 Government and such national aid as may be 

 deemed essential to it's success." 



Subscriptions exceeding $100,000 were received, 

 and a committee was named to draft a form of gov- 

 ernment and to secure the incorporation of the 

 stockholders of the new exposition. The committee 

 was as follows : Edward Rosewater, W. S. Popple- 

 ton, Herman Kountze, Herman Cohen, Frank Mur- 

 phy, Charles W. Wilhelm, P. E. Her, Thomas Kil- 

 patrick, George A. Joslyn, J. H. Millard. Edward 

 W. Nash, F. J. Coates, 'William R. Bennett. Dud- 

 ley Smith, G. M. Hitchcock, T. P. Cartwright, 

 N. A. Kuhn. Frederick Pattenrath, Samuel Gam- 

 ble, George W. Kelley, J. J. Brown, J. H. Dumont, 

 W. F. White, George P. Bemis, and Samuel Burns. 



F 



FARMERS' CONGRESS. More than a thou- 

 sand delegates, who had been appointed and com- 

 missioned by the Governors of the several States 

 and Territories as members of the Farmers' National 

 Congress of the United States, convened in the 

 auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce in its 

 eighteenth annual session, at Fort Worth, Texas, 

 Dec. 6, 1898. The Congress was in session four 

 days. At 10 o'clock the Congress was called to 

 order by ex-President Benjamin F. Clayton, who 

 introduced the Hon. William D. Hoard, of Wiscon- 

 sin, the president-elect. The permanent officers of 

 the organization are as follow: President, Hon. 

 William D. Hoard; Vice-Presidents, F. L. Max- 

 well, of Louisiana, and C. A. Wieting, of New 

 York; Secretary, John M. Stahl, of Chicago, 111.; 

 Assistant Secretaries. D. 0. Lively, of Texas, George 

 A Stockwell,of Rhode Island, and A.H. Dunlap, of 

 Michigan; Treasurer, N. G. Spaulding, of New 

 York; Executive Committee, Benjamin F. Clay- 

 VOL. xxxvin. 17 A 



ton, of Iowa, T. E. Orr, of Pennsylvania, H. E. 

 Heath, of Nebraska. When the Congress had been 

 called to order Bishop A. C. Garrett, of Dallas, 

 offered prayer. 



The Hon. John F. Henderson, acting mayor of 

 Fort Worth, then welcomed the delegates in behalf 

 of the city. 



The Hon. Charles A. Culbertson, Governor of the 

 State, extended a welcome in behalf of Texas. The 

 addresses of the ,mayor and the Governor were 

 responded to by Secretary Stahl and ex-President 

 Clayton. 



The president of the Congress in the course of 

 his annual address said : " I congratulate you on 

 the increased hope arid encouragement that has 

 come to the homes of the great mass of American 

 farmers the past year. In almost every branch 

 except cotton farming there has been a manifest 

 improvement in prices. Let us hope that our 

 brethren of the cotton field have gained something 



