LOUISIANA-PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 



Denmark. Traveling libraries are being fitted 

 out by the Government. These go to small libra- 

 ries, and from them to the surrounding villages. 



Russia. Theodor Pavienko, a publisher of 

 Vladivostok, Siberia, has given 100,000 rubles to 

 open public libraries. 



Australia. New libraries are organized with 

 the usual Government aid under the municipal- 

 ities act. Books for these libraries are furnished 

 up to the limit of 200 by the Government. 



Asia. In April, 1901, was issued Vol. I, No. 

 1, of the Toheki, official organ of the Kansai 

 Bunko Kyokai or \Vestem Library Association 

 (of Japan), with an interesting table of contents. 



A public library of Chinese books was founded 

 at Shanghai by Mr. Loo in 1901. 



LOUISIANA. (See under UNITED STATES.) 



LOUISIANA-PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 

 In 1889 the St. Louis Republic of May 12, in dis- 

 cussing centennial celebrations of great events 

 in the history of the United States, said: "In 

 the United States of 1903 all the present Terri- 

 tories of the Purchase will be States, and they 

 will be represented with the whole union here in 

 St. Louis at this centennial of the birth of the 

 nation begotten by Jefferson when he wrote the 

 Declaration of Independence. If 1776 declared 

 our independence of the world, 1803 achieved it, 

 and the States of the Louisiana Purchase should 

 join in making this Western centennial the great- 

 est of all." Discussion continued in various 

 journals, until on June 7, 1896, David R. Francis, 

 at the annual meeting of the Business Men's 

 League, said : " St. Louis is the gateway of that 

 great territory [Louisiana Purchase], and she 

 should celebrate its centennial in 1901 by a great 

 international exposition, second to none ever held 

 in the world." The agitation thus begun contin- 

 ued, and on Feb. 5, 1898, a bill was introduced in 

 Congress providing for the holding of an interna- 

 tional exposition in St. Louis in 1903, in com- 

 memoration of the Louisiana Purchase. A meet- 

 ing of the Missouri Historical Society in Septem- 

 ber resulted in the appointment of a Committee 

 of Fifty, who arranged with the Governor of 

 Missouri for a convention to which the govern- 

 ors of all the States and Territories in the Louisi- 

 ana Territory were invited to send delegates. 

 This convention met on Jan. 10, 1899, in St. 

 Louis, and 14 Louisiana-Purchase States and Ter- 

 ritories were represented. Resolutions were 

 adopted favoring an international exposition to 

 be held in St. Louis in 1903 to commemorate the 

 centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. An Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, with David R. Francis as its 

 chairman to take charge of the plans, was au- 

 thorized, and it was decided to invite the United 

 States Government to participate in the exposi- 

 tion and financially assist in promoting it. The 

 Executive Committee determined upon a plan for 

 raising $5,000,000 by popular subscription, and 

 asking $5,000,000 from St. Louis and $5,000,000 

 more from the United States. The Executive 

 Committee, with increased membership, was then 

 reorganized with Pierre Chouteau as chairman of 

 the General Committee; David R. Francis chair- 

 man of the Executive Committee, and committees 

 as follows: Finance, Legal, and Legislative, of 

 which W. H. Thompson, James L. Blair, and F. 

 W. Lehmann were respectively chairman. A 

 bill providing an appropriation of $5,000,000 by 

 Congress for the exposition was framed, and it 

 was introduced in the House by Representative 

 Joy, of St. Louis, and in the Senate by Senator 

 Cockrell. In April an act to incorporate the 

 Exposition Company became a law. A mass- 

 meeting of citizens of St. Louis, held on April 22, 



elicited subscription pledges to the amount of 

 $4,244,670, and thereafter much activity was dis- 

 played in securing additional subscriptions until 

 $10,000,000 were procured, of which $1,000,000 

 came from the State and $5,000,000 from the mu- 

 nicipality of St. Louis. This had its effect upon 

 Congress, and the sundry civil bill passed on June 

 4, 1900, containing an amendment promising sup- 

 port and $5,000,1)00 conditional on $10,000,000 

 being raised by St. Louis. On Feb. 9, 1901, the 

 Louisiana-Purchase Exposition bill passed the 

 lower house of Congress, and on March 3 the 

 Senate took favorable action, and the bill was 

 at once signed by the President. A National 

 Commission consisting of Thomas H. Carter, 

 Montana, President; Martin H. Glynn, New 

 York, Vice-President ; John M. Thurston, Ne- 

 braska; William Lindsay, Kentucky; George W. 

 McBride, Oregon; Frederick A. Betts, Connecti- 

 cut; John M. Allen, Mississippi; John F. Miller, 

 Indiana; Philip D. Scott, Arkansas; and Joseph 

 Flory, Secretary, was appointed by President 

 Mclvinley on March 12. The Louisiana-Purchase 

 Exposition Company was incorporated with an 

 authorized capital of $6,000,000, and at its first 

 meeting, held on May 2, the following officers 

 were elected: President, David R. Francis; First 

 Vice-President, Corwin H. Spencer; Second Vice- 

 President, Samuel M. Kennard; Third Vice-Pres- 

 ident, Daniel M. Honser; Fourth Vice-President, 

 Cyrus P. Walbridge; Fifth Vice-President, Seth 

 W. Codd; Sixth Vice-President, Charles H. Hut- 

 tig ; Seventh Vice-President, August Gehner ; 

 Eighth Vice-President, Pierre Chouteau; Treas- 

 urer, William H. Thompson; and Secretary, Wal- 

 ter B. Stevens. Also, the following committees 

 were appointed: Executive, Press and Publicity, 

 Ways and Means, Transportation, Finance, 

 Grounds and Buildings, Concessions, Insurance, 

 and Foreign Relations. The selection of a site 

 was immediately considered, and the municipal 

 authorities authorized the use of the city parks. 

 Seven proposed localities were inspected, and on 

 June 25, 1901, the directors unanimously ap- 

 proved the Executive Committee's selection of 

 Forest Park, and announced the decision, which 

 was approved by the National Commission two 

 days later. The announcement of the following 

 Commission of Architects and Committee on 

 Grounds was then made: Isaac S. Taylor, Chair- 

 man and Director of Works; Widman. Walsh, 

 and Boisselier, St. Louis; Barnett, Haynes, and 

 Barnett, St. Louis; Eames and Young, St. Louis; 

 Van Brunt and Howe, Kansas City; Carrere and 

 Hastings, New York; Cass Gilbert, New York; 

 Walker and Kimball, Omaha and Boston; Theo- 

 dore C. Link, St. Louis. With equal promptness 

 chiefs of the different divisions were appointed 

 as follow: Director, Frederick J. V. Skiff; Edu- 

 cation. Howard J. Rogers; Art, Halsey C. Ives; 

 Liberal Arts, John A. Ockerson; Manufacture, 

 Milan H. Hulbert; Machinery, Thomas M. 

 Moore; Electricity, W. E. Goldsborough ; Agri- 

 culture and Acting Chief of Horticulture, Fred- 

 erick W. Taylor; Fish and Game, Tarleton H. 

 Bean ; Mines and Metallurgy, Chief, J. A. Holmes; 

 Honorary Chief. David T. Day; Transportation, 

 W. A. Smith; Social Economy, Howard J. Rogers. 

 A Division of Exploitation was organized, and 

 commissioners were sent to foreign countries for 

 the purpose of creating an interest in the exposi- 

 tion and securing exhibits. This commission 

 consists of Thomas W. Cridler, Europe; John 

 Barrett, Oriental Countries ; Vittorio Zeg^io. 

 Italy; Jose' de Olivares, Argentina, Bolivia. Chile, 

 Paraguay, Uruguay; John Taylor Lewis, IIr.ix.il: 

 Ernest H. Wands, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and 



