Chapter 13

The informal conferences between the members of the National Commission and representatives of your company seem to have resulted in no definite understanding, and the Commission therefore insists that arbitration be had to determine the true effect and meaning of section 6 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, as affecting the rights and duties of the National Commission to approve or not approve the awards.

In the meantime and until this question is determined the Commission can not authorize the use of its president's signature on any certificate of award.

In any arrangement preliminary to the settlement of this controversy the writer will be pleased to confer with your arbitration committee at any time.

Very respectfully,

JOHN M. ALLEN, Acting President.

Hon. D.R. FRANCIS, President Exposition Company, Building.

After many futile efforts to reach an agreement as to the subject-matter to be submitted for arbitration, it became obvious to the Commission that it was the intention of the Exposition Company to ignore the right of the Commission to finally consider or approve the awards of the superior jury. Under these circumstances the president of the Commission was directed, on November 22, 1904, by resolution, to forward to the president of the Exposition Company a communication summing up the controversy and stating clearly the stand taken by the Commission.

The communication is as follows:

St. Louis, November 22, 1904.

Sir: To the end that an understanding may be reached as to issues involved in correspondence between your company and the National Commission, extending from the month of May, 1904, almost to the present date, relative to the appointment of jurors and the awarding of premiums, it appears desirable and necessary that the law and the facts be briefly stated and the relative position of your company and the Commission clearly defined.

In so far as applicable to the subjects referred to, section 6 of the act of Congress making an appropriation for the exposition, and for other purposes, approved March 3, 1901, reads as follows:

"That the allotment of space for exhibitors, classification of exhibits, plan and scope of the exposition, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall all be done and performed by the said Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject, however, to the approval of the Commission created by section two of this act."

Under and in conformity with the provisions of law above cited, certain general and special rules and regulations providing for an international jury and governing the system of making awards were submitted by the company and approved by the Commission in the year 1903.

The general rules applicable read as follows:

ARTICLE XXII.

AWARDS.

SECTION 1. The system of awards will be competitive. The merit of exhibits as determined by the jury of awards will be manifested by the issuance of diplomas, which will be divided into four classes--a grand prize, a gold medal, a silver medal, and a bronze medal.

SEC. 2. No exhibit can be excluded from competition for award without the consent of the president of the Exposition Company after a review of the reasons or motives by competent authorities hereafter to be provided.

SEC. 3. In a fixed ratio to the number of exhibits, but reserving to the citizens of the United States approximately 60 per cent of the jury membership, the construction of the international jury will be based upon a predetermined number of judges allotted to each group of the classification and upon the number and importance of the exhibits in such group.

SEC. 4. A chairman of the group jury will be elected by his colleagues in each group, this chairman to become, by right of his position, a member of the department jury, which department jury shall in turn elect its chairman, who shall thereupon become a member of the superior jury.

SEC. 5. Special rules and regulations governing the system of making awards and determining the extent to which foreign countries may have representation on the juries, will be hereafter promulgated.

SEC. 6. Allotment of space for exhibitors, the classification of exhibits, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall be done and performed by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject, however, to the approval of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission.

The special rules provide for the appointment of three graded juries, designated as, first, the general organization of group juries; second, department juries, and, third, the superior jury.

At the conclusion of the recital of the manner of selecting the jurors a paragraph in section 3 of the rules provides that "all the above nominations shall be made not later than August 1, 1904, except that nominations made to fill vacancies may be made at any subsequent time."

In conclusion, the section last referred to reads as follows:

"The nominations of group jurors and alternates, when approved by the president of the exposition, shall be transmitted to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission for approval of that body.

"These nominations having been considered and confirmed by the authorities as provided by section 6 of the act of Congress relating to the approval of the awarding of premiums, the appointment of the international jury shall be made in accordance with section 6 of Article XXII of the official rules and regulations of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company."

Section 6 of the aforesaid special rules provides that--

"The work of the group juries shall begin September 1, 1904, and shall be completed not later than twenty days thereafter."

Section 15 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The superior jury shall determine finally and fully the awards to be made to exhibitors and collaborators in all cases that are formally presented for its consideration."

Section 16 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The work of the superior jury shall be completed on October 15, 1904, and, as soon as practicable thereafter, formal public announcement of the awards shall be made. A final complete list of awards shall be published by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of the act of Congress, and section 6, Article XXII, of the rules and regulations."

Sec. 27 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The diplomas or certificates of award for exhibitors shall be signed by the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, the secretary of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, the director of exhibits, and the chief of the department to which the exhibit pertains."

The foregoing rules clearly required the submission of the names of all proposed jurors to the Commission for its approval or disapproval prior to August 1, 1904, except as to nominations to fill vacancies.

Realizing the necessity for the exercise of great care on the part of the Commission in the discharge of its duties in the premises, and the necessity for ample time for investigation as to the fitness of persons and their willingness to serve as jurors of awards, the Commission addressed you a letter under date of May 18, 1904, reading as follows:

"SIR: Inasmuch as objections may be urged to the appointment of certain persons upon juries of awards, it is the intention of the National Commission to give public notice, allowing reasonable time for the filing of any objections that may be offered to the appointment of any individual on a jury. As this proceeding will necessarily consume time, it is desirable that the names of persons proposed for the respective juries be transmitted to the Commission from time to time, as the respective groups are completed by the company. It is believed that final action can be reached in a more orderly and satisfactory manner by taking up the names proposed for each jury separately rather than to have the entire membership of all the juries submitted for consideration simultaneously.

Yours, very respectfully,

THOS. H. CARTER, _President."_

Our files do not show any recognition of this communication by your company. A short time thereafter the Commission was unofficially advised that certain jurors had been selected by the company and were actually exercising the functions of judges and examiners without notice to or approval by the Commission, and on the 23d of May, 1905, this fact was duly called to your attention by letter. Some time later the director of exhibits appeared before the Commission and admitted that certain examiners and jurors had been selected, without reference to the Commission, to pass upon exhibits of a perishable character. In three communications, each bearing the date of June 3, 1904, you transmitted the names of the jurors referred to, and in the light of the explanations made by the director of exhibits and in your communications, the Commission, with many misgivings as to the regularity of the proceedings and solely to avoid embarrassment to the exhibitors and to the company, approved the names submitted as of the date of their selection by the company.

Aside from the few jurors thus irregularly selected for emergency work, no jurors were nominated or submitted to the Commission as required by the rules and regulations prior to August 1.

The first list of group jurors was transmitted in your communication bearing date of August 10, delivered to the Commission about August 15, and the last list was transmitted to this Commission on October 27.

The respective dates of your letter transmitting nominations of group jurors and the respective dates of the receipt of the same by the Commission are as follows:

|------------|------------- | | | Date of | Date same | letters of | letters | Exposition | received | Company. | by National | | Commission. ------------------------------|------------|------------- _Department._ | | | | Education and Social Economy | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 6 | Oct. 3 Art Department | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Aug. 23 | Aug. 26 | Aug. 26 | Aug. 28 | Aug. 27 | Aug. 29 Liberal Arts | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 Manufactures | Aug. 25 | Aug. 29 Machinery | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Aug. 16 | Aug. 20 | Corrected list | Oct. 18. | Sept. 7 | Sept. 10 Electricity | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 9 | Transportation | Aug. 9 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 8 | Oct. 3 Horticulture | June 3 | June 6 | Aug. 18 | Aug. 19 | Aug. 23 | Aug. 24 Agriculture | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Aug. 13 | Aug. 22 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 3 | Sept. 2 | Do. Fish and game | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 | do | Sept. 3 Mines and metallurgy | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 6 | Oct. 3 | Sept. 13 | Oct. 27 | Corrected list | Oct. 18. Anthropology | Aug. 10 | Aug. 15 Physical culture | do | Do. Livestock | Aug. 4 | Aug. 19 | Aug. 11 | Aug. 18 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 14 Poultry | Sept. 26 | Oct. 3 Dogs and pigeons | Oct. 17 | Oct. 27 Rabbits | Oct. 22 | Do. | | _Country._ | | | | Austria | Aug. 12 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 7 | Sept. 12 Argentine | Aug. 23 | Aug. 26 Brazil | Aug. 17 | Aug. 22 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 Belgium | Aug. 12 | Aug. 15 Bulgaria | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 Ceylon | Aug. 12 | Aug. 15 China | do | Do. | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 Cuba | Aug. 12 | Aug. 15 Egypt | Aug. 14 | Aug. 18 France | Aug. 12 | Aug. 15 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 12 Germany | Aug. 24 | Aug. 26 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 12 | Sept. 4 | Do. Guatemala | do | Do. Great Britain | Aug. 12 | Aug. 18 | Aug. 24 | Aug. 26 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 12 Hungary | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 | Aug. 16 | Sept. 18 Holland | Sept. 8 | Sept. 15 Haiti | do | Sept. 12 India | Aug. 24 | Aug. 26 Italy | Aug. 12 | Aug. 18 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 | Aug. 26 | Aug. 30 | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 | Sept. 7 | Sept. 12 | Sept. 16 | Sept. 17 Japan | Aug. 23 | Aug. 26 | Sept. 7 | Sept. 8 Monaco | Sept. 2 | Sept. 12 Mexico | Aug. 12 | Aug. 18 | Sept. 6 | Sept. 12 Netherlands | Aug. 23 | Aug. 26 Nicaragua | do | Do. Porto Rico | Aug. 26 | Aug. 30 Portugal | Aug. 24 | Aug. 22 Russia | Aug. 31 | Sept. 1 Sweden | Aug. 12 | Aug. 19 | Sept. 3 | Sept. 13 Siam | Aug. 12 | Aug. 18 Venezuela | Aug. 16 | Do. | Sept. 1 | Sept. 2 ------------------------------|------------|-------------

On the morning of October 3 thirteen letters of transmittal signed by you, bearing dates between August 31 and September 27, were delivered to the Commission, inclosing twenty nominations to fill vacancies in group juries, and on October 6 the secretary of the superior jury delivered to the Commission what purported to be a corrected list of group jurors who had actually served. Thereafter, in your letters of October 17, 22, and 24, delivered to the Commission on October 27, you transmitted what you assume to be "a roster of those who served as group jurors in the various departments of the exposition."

This last series of names transmitted by you does not agree with the list delivered by the secretary of the superior jury on October 6, but by checking and comparison we find that the several lists delivered to the Commission between October 3 and October 27 show the names of over sixty persons who served as group jurors without having been submitted to the Commission for approval, and these have not been approved. Other names appear on the lists referred to which were originally approved by the Commission for service in one group who were, without notice to the Commission, assigned to service in other groups. Upon this point it is believed by the Commission that the names should have been resubmitted for approval in order to make the appointments valid, it being evident that the Commission might regard a person as a competent judge of live stock, but incompetent to pass upon the merits of a mineral exhibit or of electrical appliances.

It is obvious from the foregoing record that the rules were not observed by the Exposition Company in the nomination of jurors, and it is further clear that through the failure of the company to observe the rules the Commission was in all instances deprived of opportunity to give notice or to take reasonable time to make proper investigation as to the fitness of nominees, and their willingness to serve, and in many cases no opportunity whatever was allowed for the purposes indicated, and, finally, as to a large number of the jurors, the Commission was not advised of their selection until they had exercised their functions and departed from the grounds.

Disregard of the rules and regulations in this behalf not only defeated the purpose of the law in providing for the exercise of the powers of approval or disapproval on the part of the Commission, but left insufficient time for notice to the persons appointed to enable them to appear and discharge their duties within the allotted period, and in consequence a large number of those approved by the Commission on short notice, being unable to appear within the time stated, were set aside by the company and substitutes named, of whose competency the company could not, in the nature of things, be advised, and of whom the Commission had no knowledge whatever.

Notwithstanding the violation of the rules, and manifest irregularity in the formation of the group juries, we understand you to inform us that the power of approval or disapproval of awards vested in the National Commission by section 6 of the act of Congress shall not be exercised as to any award made in connection with the exposition. To the end that there may be no misunderstanding upon this point, the following quotation from your letter to the acting president of the Commission under date of November 8 is incorporated:

"I desire to state emphatically that at no time have I ever told you, or said anything that would justify you in believing, that the Exposition Company accept the contention that the National Commission has the right to approve or disapprove the awards of the superior jury before they are final. * * * That neither the Exposition Company nor the National Commission had the right to review the awards or overturn them."

The Commission understands your contention to be that the judgment of the superior jury is not only final but conclusive, and that the rule under which this contention is made operates to nullify the language of the act of Congress, which provides that "The awarding of premiums, if any, shall be done and performed by said Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject to the approval of the Commission created by this act." Even if such construction could be accepted as plausibly tenable, which the Commission denies, it could only be so regarded by virtue of previous conformity to the rules providing for the nomination of jurors by the company and their approval by the Commission. To commit the Commission to the approval of the conclusions reached by jurors, with whose selection they had nothing whatever to do, can not be accepted as even a colorable compliance with the law. The Commission holds that the judgment of the superior jury is final in so far as the juries are concerned, but that above and beyond the superior jury the Exposition Company and the National Commission have certain statutory duties to perform which they could neither delegate nor ignore.

The files of the National Commission are to-day encumbered with complaints and affidavits which amply vindicate the wisdom of the law in providing for final approval of awards before their promulgation. It is not the intention to here assume that any charge of fraud or misconduct on the part of any person connected with the awarding of premiums has been established, but the fact must be stated that reputable persons have filed charges with the Commission in the form of affidavits and otherwise, alleging such grave misconduct on the part of certain persons who acted in connection with the awards as to bring about an unavoidable necessity for a reasonable investigation before final approval is given to the acts of the persons charged with fraud and misconduct.

The value of each award is dependent upon the credit to which the action of the juries, the company, and the Commission may be entitled at every step from the beginning of the examination to the final approval of the award.

At an informal conference in the course of an attempt to reach a basis for action, three members of the Commission suggested to your executive board the propriety of submitting for the approval of the board of arbitration the following:

First. The awards, as made by the superior jury, are final and binding upon the Exposition Company and the National Commission, unless the same are impeached for fraud, or unless misconduct, amounting to fraud, is proved.

Second. The lists of awards, as made by the superior jury, are to be transmitted to the Exposition Company, and certificates of award shall be authorized by said company; and thereafter said lists are to be transmitted to the National Commission and certificates of award authorized by said Commission, all without further question or investigation, unless the said awards are impeached for fraud or misconduct, as hereinbefore stated.

Third. No complaint or protest as to any of said awards will be received or considered either by the Exposition Company or the National Commission unless the same is made in writing over the signature of some competing exhibitor and substantiated by affidavits or other sworn testimony establishing a prima facie case of such fraud or misconduct in procuring or making of said award.