CONGRESS. (EXPOSITIONS.) 



21T 



State exhibits of a most generous character will 

 be made by Mexico and Brazil ; they have received 

 satisfactory assurances that Canada will come 

 in force, making an exhibit representative of 

 the wonderful resources of the large domain 

 which lies upon the north. Upon these assur- 

 ances our people have taken up the matter with 

 so much energy that within thirty days the sum 

 of a million and a half of dollars was raised to 

 carry it on, a sum to be supplemented by one 

 million more. The General Assembly of the State 

 of New York, with the approval of Gov. Roose- 

 velt, has added three hundred thousand more, so 

 that there is to-day the equivalent of $1,800,000 

 ready to be devoted to the purposes of this ex- 

 position. 



" And now, Mr. Speaker, we come here not ask- 

 ing Congress for one dollar for an appropriation 

 to carry on or to pay the expenses of this exposi- 

 tion. We propose to pay for that ourselves. We 

 simply want Congress to make it possible for 

 the United States to put up an exhibit of its own, 

 as Brazil and Mexico have practically promised 

 to do. We ask only that Congress shall treat us 

 as she treated Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, 

 Nashville, Omaha, and other cities in which ex- 

 positions have been held; that the Government 

 may send us a splendid exhibit, showing the mag- 

 nificent growth and progress of the world's great 

 republic during the nineteenth century. 



"Mr. Speaker, the idea of this exposition had 

 its inception when the great cataract of Niagara 

 was successfully harnessed so that its tremendous 

 water power could be converted into electric 

 power. Our purpose is to demonstrate to the 

 world, and especially to the Western Hemisphere, 

 that Niagara Falls is not only capable of, but 

 now is developing, a power greater than is known 

 elsewhere in the whole world, and we desire to 

 make this exposition a celebration of that event, 

 surely one of the greatest that has happened in 

 the history of the world. In such an endeavor 

 Congress ought cheerfully and gladly to have this 

 country participate, and by a generous appro- 

 priation to aid us in fittingly illustrating the 

 marvelous development of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere during the present century by a complete 

 and satisfactory display of the arts, industries, 

 and manufactures and the products of the soil, 

 of the mines, and of the sea." 



The text of the act is as follows : 



" Whereas, It is desirable to encourage the 

 holding of a pan-American exposition on the 

 Niagara frontier, within the county of Erie or 

 Niagara, in the State of New York, in the year 

 1901, to fittingly illustrate the marvelous devel- 

 opment of the Western Hemisphere during the 

 nineteenth century, by a display of the arts, in- 

 dustries, manufactures, and products of the soil, 

 mines, and sea; and 



" Whereas, The proposed pan- American exposi- 

 tion, being confined to the Western Hemisphere, 

 and being held in the near vicinity of the great 

 Niagara cataract, within a day's journey of which 

 reside 40,000,000 people, would unquestionably be 

 of vast benefit to the commercial interests not 

 only of this country but of the entire hemisphere, 

 and should therefore have the sanction of the 

 Congress of the United States; and 



" Whereas, Satisfactory assurances have al- 

 ready been given by the diplomatic representa- 

 tives of Canada, Mexico, the Central and South 

 American republics, and most of the States of 

 the United States that these countries and States 

 will make unique, interesting, and instructive 

 exhibits peculiarly illustrative of their material 

 progress during the century about to close; and 



" Whereas, No exposition of a similar character 

 as that proposed has ever been held in the great 

 State of New York; and 



" Whereas, The Pan-American Exposition Com- 

 pany has undertaken to hold such exposition, 

 beginning on the first day of May, 1001, and 

 closing on the first day of November, 1901; there- 

 fore, 



" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 

 Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Conoress assembled, That all articles that shall 

 be imported from foreign countries for the sole 

 purpose of exhibition at said exposition upon 

 which there shall be a tariff or customs duty shall 

 be admitted free of payment of duty, customs 

 fees, or charges, under such regulation as the 

 Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; but 

 it shall be lawful at any time during the exposi- 

 tion to sell for delivery at the close thereof any 

 goods or property imported for or actually on 

 exhibition in the exposition buildings, or on the 

 grounds, subject to such regulation for the se- 

 curity of the revenue and for the collection of 

 import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury 

 shall prescribe: Provided, That all such articles 

 when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the 

 United States shall be subject to the duty, if any, 

 imposed upon such articles by the revenue laws 

 in force at the date of importation, and all penal- 

 ties prescribed by law shall be applied and en- 

 forced against the persons who may be guilty of 

 any illegal sale or withdrawal : And provided fur- 

 ther, That all necessary expenses incurred in 

 carrying out the provisions of this section, in- 

 cluding salaries of customs officials in charge of 

 imported articles, shall be paid to the Treasury 

 of the United States by the Pan-American Ex- 

 position Company, under regulations to be pre- 

 scribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 



" SEC. 2. That there shall be exhibited at said 

 exposition by the Government of the United 

 States, from its executive departments, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution and National Museum, the 

 United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 

 the Department of Labor, and the Bureau of the 

 American Republics, such articles and material 

 as illustrate the function and administrative fac- 

 ulty of the Government in time of peace, and its 

 resources as a war power, and its relations to 

 other American republics, tending to demonstrate 

 the nature of our institutions and their adaption 

 to the wants of the people. And to secure a com- 

 plete and harmonious arrangement of such Gov- 

 ernment exhibit, a board of management shall 

 be created, to be charged with the selection, pur- 

 chase, preparation, transportation, arrangement,, 

 safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of such arti- 

 cles and materials as the heads of the several 

 departments and the secretary of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution, the Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries, the Commissioner of Labor, and the 

 director of the Bureau of the American Republics 

 may respectively decide shall be embraced in said 

 Government exhibit. 



"The President may also designate additional 

 articles for exhibition. Such board shall be com- 

 posed of one person to be named by the head of 

 each executive department, one by the head of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and National Muse- 

 um, one by the head of the United States Com- 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries, one by the Com- 

 missioner of Labor, and one by the director of the 

 Bureau of the American Republics. The Presi- 

 dent shall name one of said persons so detailed 

 as chairman, and the board itself shall appoint 

 its secretary, disbursing officer, and such other 

 officers as it may deem necessary. The members' 



