EXPOSITION OF 1867. 
415 
ing final disposition of Wisconsin products pursuant to engage¬ 
ments witli contributors, and last of all, concisely presenting in 
tlie body of my report sucli information and suggestions as 
have appeared to be of most practical value, or as would serve 
to give some general idea of tlie great Exposition, its origin, 
progress, utilities and glories,—I may be pardoned for assum¬ 
ing that tlie experience thus acquired should also be made 
practically valuable by a clear, unreserved statement of such 
errors as, having prevented the entire success of this enterprise, 
should be carefully avoided in the future. 
In the first place, then, as the General Government had al¬ 
ready been too slow in taking measures fora national represen¬ 
tation at Paris in response to the call of the Emperor of 
France, the State should have been all the more prompt in 
responding to the national eall when it came. 
Secondly, such response should have been spirited, practical 
and thorough—not by the bare honorary appointment of a 
score of gentlemen, many of whom neither desired such ap¬ 
pointment nor had the remotest expectation of attending the 
Exposition, and none of whom, had they all so intended could 
have any recognition at Paris whatever, but rather by direct, 
business-like legislative provision for a full, ample and ex¬ 
haustive representation of the varied and superior products of 
our mines, quarries and forests, our agriculture and manufac¬ 
tories, and every other braneh of our industry. Had such ac¬ 
tion been taken in the winter of 1866 instead of waiting until 
within two weeks of the opening of the Exhibition, leaving 
to individual enterprise what only either could or ought to 
be done by the State, there might have been sent to Paris such 
a representation of our resources and industry as would have 
secured to Wisconsin most honorable and advantageous recog¬ 
nition from the entire civilized world. 
Thirdly, our State made a serious mistake in not providing 
its commissioners with some statistical document, setting forth 
in attractive form and especially in the concise and potent lan¬ 
guage of figures, the natural resources, industrial condition and 
social status of our State. A few thousand copies of such a 
pamphlet, printed in the English, French, German and Scandi- 
