Repoet of Board of General Managers. 37 



Work of the Board in 1892. 



Pursuant to a call issued by tlie chief executive officer and the secre- 

 tary, the members of the Board of G-eneral Managers and of the Judicial 

 District Coniniissions, met in conference in the Assembly parlor in the 

 Capitol at Albany, on Thursday, April 28, 1S02. By invitation, the 

 Hon. George R. Davis, directoi'-general, and Mr. F. J. Y. Skiff, cliief 

 of the department of mines and mining of the World's Columbian 

 Exposition, were also present. After a free interchange of views in 

 regard to the jjlace which New York ought to occupy at the World's 

 Fair, it was resolved that the Judicial District Commissioners, in com- 

 pany with a delegation from the Board of General Managers, should 

 visit Chicago for the purpose of studying on the ground and in con- 

 fei-ence with the exposition authorities, the conditions under which the 

 State would be recpiired to make its exhibit. The visit was made on 

 May 11, 1892, and the party spent a few days in the examination of 

 the exposition buildings and in learning from the heads of the various 

 departments facts necessary for the information of exhibitors and for 

 their own guidance in the performance of their duties. A stenographic 

 report was made of interviews held in the exposition offices with several of 

 the department chiefs, which, published in pamphlet form, was found to 

 be a most valuable repository of information in regard to the organiza- 

 tion and methods of the World's Fair. 



On the return of the visiting delegation from Chicago, a joint meet- 

 ing of the Board of General Managers and of representatives from the 

 Judicial District Commissions was held in Albany on May 17, 1892, and 

 the following address was prepared and issued : 



To the People of the State of New Tork : 



The World's Columbian Exposition has reached a stage of develop- 

 ment at which it is manifestly necessary to set forth the relations towards 

 it of the people and the State of New York. The reputation of the 

 whole country is deeply involved in the character of the exhibits which 

 the States will make in the various departments of the exposition. A 

 careful personal investigation of what has been already achieved or securely 

 pledged towards the realization of the greatest of all the displays yet 

 attempted of the fruits and achievements of modern civilization has con- 

 vinced us that the United States have nothing to fear in the comparison 

 of their products with those of the other nations of the earth. The fore- 



