Chapter 47

Determine at the earliest day practicable what the view of this board is as to what part women are to take in the exposition. That subject can not be too promptly considered or decided upon. You are to plan the scope of women's work in this exposition. Give the representation of women's work in this exposition a national or international character. If of an international character, will this board undertake to select the people who are to go abroad to represent the women of this country in appealing to the women of other countries? * * * It is a matter of supreme consequence that the women of the country shall be represented in a manner that will be approved by themselves at least. * * * I think it rests with you to formulate plan and scope, and transmit that formulated plan and scope to this Commission, to be approved by the Commission and approved by the local company, as a part of the programme of this exposition. It was the intention when this board was appointed to get together a body of representative women from all over the United States, and that this body when assembled would become a directing force along general lines. In the matter of women's work there is no limit. You exercise "general supervisory control." I would say that, in pursuance of authority granted the board of lady managers, that this board adopt resolutions stating that no woman shall be appointed to represent the exposition by either the National Commission or the local company until the name of such representative shall have been submitted to and ratified by this board of lady managers. You will find in talking with this company a keen anxiety to quickly adopt any suggestions that will bring about success in any line. Claim whatever you think in the form of a rule, assert your right to approve or confirm if you please everyone appointed to push this woman's work anywhere. In regard to a building, say what you want; submit your plans to this Commission; place your wants in the form of a resolution to be approved by the Commission and the local company; the approval will carry with it the expense. We will regard any expenditure which you may make as "legitimate exposition work"--commissioners to go abroad, or whatever it may be.

There is a large amount of money available for this exposition. It has been handled with the utmost care, skill, and excessive prudence by the company, but that shows merely a good, sound economical management; however, there is ample means, means that will unquestionably apply to meet every want.

At the session on November 20 the committee named to prepare resolutions to be presented through the National Commission to the Exposition Company offered the following, which were adopted, and copies forwarded to the Commission and company:

First. The board of lady managers respectfully call the attention of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company to the act approved March 3, 1901, under which act this board has the power to appoint one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as may have been produced in whole or in part by women. The board of lady managers decline to accept the amendment of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company to this act of Congress expressed in a resolution of the executive committee of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, as follows: "To nominate one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as shall have been produced in whole or in part by female labor."

Second. The board protests against the appointment, without its authority, of any representative at home or abroad connected with work for which this board is responsible.

Third. That the board of lady managers select, with the approval of the local company, two of its members to awaken interest in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company among women in other countries.

Fourth. That the president of this board be authorized, at her discretion, to appoint committees to visit each State to enlist the cooperation of the women in securing the proper representation of woman's work at the exposition in St. Louis; and in furtherance that the governor of each State be formally requested to name two women on the State commission.

Fifth. That the local company be requested to appropriate $50,000 for the erection of a woman's building on the fair grounds to be used after the close of the exposition as a hall of philanthropy.

Sixth. The board of lady managers request the directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company to provide money to meet the current expenses of this board. They are further requested to notify this board in writing of the amount appropriated for this purpose. It is the sense of this board that an allowance of 5 cents per mile and $10 per diem be allowed; the per diem to cover the time from the day of departure until the day of return.

Seventh. That the board of lady managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, acting in harmony with the local committees appointed by the president of this board, shall have supervisory control of the entertainments of all women's organizations desiring to hold meetings in the building that will be appropriated to the use of this board.

Respectfully submitted.

Mrs. JAMES L. BLAIR, _President_. Mrs. RICHARD W. KNOTT, _Chairman_.

To the copy of the above resolutions which was sent to the National Commission, President Carter replied as follows:

St. Louis, U.S.A., _November 29, 1902._

Dear Madam: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of a set of resolutions adopted by the board of lady managers at their meeting in New York City on November 20, 1902.

You are informed that the resolutions have been transmitted with proper recommendations to the local company for consideration You are also informed that correction of objectionable rule in the "rules and regulations governing the system of awards," to which reference is made in the first subdivision of the resolutions, has been made. The rule referred to, as corrected, will embrace the word "appoint" instead of "nominate."

You are also informed that the Commission deems it inexpedient to apply to Congress for an appropriation to aid in the construction of the proposed hall of philanthropy. The Commission does not wish to be understood as being opposed to this commendable enterprise, but instead favors the proposition. The disinclination to appeal to Congress for aid arises from an understanding with the company and leading members of committees of Congress, that no further appropriation would be sought from the General Government in connection with the fair.

After a conference with the president and the secretary of the Exposition Company, the Commission is gratified to be able to inform you of the disposition of those officers to consult the board of lady managers with reference to the appointment of all persons intended to in any manner represent the board or its work in the exploitation of the exposition at home or abroad. We are also able to convey to you the assurance which has been conveyed to the Commission by President Francis, that it is the disposition of the Exposition Company to furnish the board of lady managers adequate and comfortable accommodations upon the grounds controlled by the company. The president of the company will communicate with your honorable board with reference to this and other subjects referred to in the resolutions.

You are informed that, agreeable to an arrangement made nearly twelve months ago, the accounts of the board of lady managers will be paid direct by the Exposition Company. It is desirable that your board should transmit all accounts direct to Mr. W.B. Stevens, secretary of the Exposition Company, by whom all settlements will be made.

Yours, very truly,

Thos. H. Carter, _President._

Mrs. Apolline M. Blair, _President Board of Lady Managers, St. Louis, Mo._

This meeting adjourned subject to the call of the president.

The next meeting of the board of lady managers was called by the president, Mrs. Blair, at the Murray Hill Hotel, New York City, N.Y., February 16, 1903, at which time a letter was read that had been received by the president of the board from the Exposition Company, in which an offer was made to the board, for its exclusive use, of one of the permanent buildings to be erected for the Washington University (and subsequently to be used by it as a Hall of Physics), to be known during the exposition period as the "Building of the Board of Lady Managers." This structure appealed specially to the members of the board, from the fact that it had been endowed by a woman, Mrs. Eliza Eads How, of St. Louis, and the offer was accepted. The building was finished about the middle of April, 1904, and thereafter remained the headquarters of the board during the term of the exposition. While it was not perfectly adapted for a woman's building, they made it as attractive as possible, and it served for their entertaining and occupancy far better than had been anticipated. Upon motion, it was decided that the furnishing of the building for the board of lady managers be under the supervision of the president of the board.

On February 16, 1903, a communication was received from Mr. Corwin H. Spencer, first vice-president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, stating that $3,000 had been appropriated by the executive committee of the Exposition Company for the use of the board of lady managers.

Although the members of the board were not only willing, but anxious, to settle upon some definite line of action, the vagueness of their powers outlined by the members of the Commission, together with the obstacle presented by the lack of funds, had caused them to be most conservative in action; without the positive assurance of financial aid they were not in a position to decide definitely upon a plan of future work. This condition led to the appointment by the president, Mrs. Blair, of two committees, one known as the "committee to confer with the National Commission on matters pertaining to the board of lady managers," and which consisted of Miss Lavinia H. Egan, chairman, Mrs. Finis P. Ernest, Mrs. Helen Boice-Hunsicker, and Mrs. William E. Andrews; and the second, known as a "committee on woman's work," consisting of Mrs. Mary Phelps Montgomery, chairman, Mrs. John M. Holcombe, Mrs. Daniel Manning, and Mrs. Edward L. Buchwalter. Both of these committees were to confer with the National Commission and the latter committee with the local company.

Upon motion, duly seconded and carried, the meeting adjourned, to meet in St. Louis April 29, 1903.

A reception was given by the board of lady managers to the president-general, officers, and members of the Daughters of the American Revolution of the Twelfth Continental Congress, at the New Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., on February 26, 1903. The committee consisted of Mrs. Horton, chairman, Mrs. Holcombe, Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Andrews, Mrs. Moores, Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Hunsicker, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Hanger. Invitations were extended to the President of the United States and his Cabinet, Diplomatic Corps, officers of the Army and Navy, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Government Board, the National Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and officials connected with the exposition resident in Washington. The Exposition Company was most generous in allowing $600 for the cost of this reception. The two committees appointed to confer with the National Commission and local company on matters pertaining to the board of lady managers, met at the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, March 11, 1903, and were admitted to a conference with the National Commission on that day. The subject in regard to the work and duties of the board was reopened by the following questions:

First. What special work does the Commission desire the board to perform before the opening of the exposition?

Second. What service will the Commission require from the board between the opening and closing of the exposition?

to which Senator Carter replied as follows:

The plan and scope of your work must first be determined, and, in an advisory or suggestive sense only, I venture to submit for your consideration a plan and scope which would require your board--

First. To make due preparation for the intelligent selection of one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as may have been produced in whole or in part by female labor.

Second. To advise the Commission from time to time as to the desired extent and the appropriate manner of woman's participation in the ceremonies incident to the dedication, opening, and conduct of the exposition.

Third. To confer and advise with the officers and chiefs of the exposition on the progress being made from time to time in exciting the interest and enlisting the cooperation of women in the several departments, and to appoint all committees necessary to carry out the purpose, and to procure information on the extent of woman's participation in the exposition.

Fourth. To encourage the presentation of exhibits by women by correspondence, advertising, or such other means as the company may approve.

Fifth. To collect statistics of women's work in connection with the exposition for publication.

Sixth. To encourage, by correspondence or otherwise, attendance at the exposition of societies and associations of women and the holding of conventions, congresses, and other meetings of women.

Seventh. To maintain within the grounds during the period of the exposition an organization for the relief of women and children who may be found in need of aid, comfort, or special protection.

Eighth. To receive and officially entertain women when requested so to do by the Exposition Company and the Commission.

Ninth. To commission members of the board or others, with the approval of the Commission and the company, to travel in the interest of the exposition, either at home or abroad.

Tenth. To provide for the constant attendance, in rotation, of at least three members of the board at the exposition grounds from April 30 to December 1, 1904.

Eleventh. To issue bulletins from time to time as the company and the Commission may approve, for the special information of women and the exploitation of their contributions to the success of the exposition.

These suggestions may be supplemented by others, and some of them may be disregarded by you entirely. They will, however, serve to convey to you the views of the Commission on the general range of work you can, if you wish, undertake to perform, subject only to the limitation that you submit your plan when agreed upon to the Commission and the company for consideration and approval, to the end that harmony may prevail.

Let us not at any time lose track of this one important fact, that the exposition will be enormously expensive at best, and that it does not befit us to look up ways and means of expending money exclusively but to have some regard for the income of the Exposition Company. Widespread and indiscriminate entertainment of societies will be quite impossible. Within the scope of your work there should be some committee or subdivision of the board to begin at once to ascertain what different societies, organizations, and women's congresses could be assembled here, and then bring them in within the scope of your work for submission to the company. We will gladly submit to the company a plan for the disposal of matters that will involve a reasonable limit of entertainment, and have means placed at your disposal for correspondence, exploitation, and entertainment. Your committees ought to be at work now and continue diligently at work until the exposition gates open. After that you will have ample work to do in connection with carrying out the projects you will have previously originated.

The meeting set for April 29 was called by the president of the board one day earlier, and the members met in the Administration Building, exposition grounds, April 28, 1903.

The announcement of the death on February 27, 1903, of Mrs. Washington A. Roebling, the member of the board from New Jersey, was read and received with regret, and a committee was appointed to draft suitable resolutions, to be spread upon the minutes of the board.

On that day the following rules and regulations were adopted by the board, a copy being submitted to the National Commission and subsequently approved by that body on April 29, 1903, and by the Exposition Company January 12, 1904.

Rules and Regulations.

No. 1. _Meetings._--All the meetings of the board shall be held in the city of St. Louis. The regular meetings shall be held at such times as may be designated by a majority vote of the board. Special meetings shall be subject to call of the president of the board, the president of the National Commission, or written request of five members of the board. The president shall convene the board in accordance with the terms of the request.

No. 2. _Officers._--The officers of the board shall consist of a president, eight vice-presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer.

No. 3. _Duties of officers._--The president shall preside at all meetings of the board and shall sign all requisitions for funds to be advanced to the treasurer, and examine and approve all accounts to be paid by the treasurer.

No. 4. _Duties of vice-presidents._--In the absence of the president the vice-presidents shall preside alternately from session to session, in the order of their official designation.

No. 5. _Duties of secretary._--The secretary shall keep a correct record of the proceedings of the board, and shall attend to the giving or serving of all notices of meetings. She shall conduct the official correspondence of the board of lady managers, and shall perform such other duties as the board may assign to her. She shall notify all committees of their appointments, and also the work assigned to them. Previous to each meeting she shall make out an order of business for the chair, and also a list of standing and special committees. She shall make her headquarters in the city of St. Louis.

No. 6. _Duties of treasurer._--The treasurer shall have the care and custody of all funds coming into the possession of the board, and shall disburse the same only upon order of the board and the approval of its president. At each regular meeting of the board she shall render an itemized statement of all receipts and disbursements from the date of the last report, and shall whenever directed by the board deposit the unexpended balance with the treasurer of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company.

No. 7. _Quorum._--Nine members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

No. 8. _Executive committee._--The board shall elect an executive committee of seven members. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to devise plans relative to the work within the legal jurisdiction of the board and submit, from time to time, recommendations to the board for consideration and action with the view of making arrangements to appropriate committees. The executive committee shall elect its own chairman and secretary.

No. 9. _Standing committees._--The following standing committees shall be constituted and shall be elected by ballot, unless otherwise specifically provided therein: First, a committee on rules; second, a committee on work; third, a committee on awards; fourth, exposition rotating committee; fifth, an auditing committee.

No. 10. _Committee on rules._--The committee on rules shall consist of three members, and shall prepare and present to the board such amendments to the rules and regulations as may from time to time be found necessary.

No. 11. _Committee on work._--The committee on work shall consist of five members, and shall prepare and present to the executive committee a plan covering the scope of woman's work.

No. 12. _Committee on awards._--The committee on awards shall consist of three members, whose duty it shall be to collect and report to the board such information as will enable the board to execute intelligently the provision of section 6 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901.

No. 13. _The exposition rotating committee._--A committee of six members of the board, to be designated by the executive committee, shall be in attendance at the exposition from April 30 to December 1, 1904, in the discharge of such duties as may be prescribed by the National Commission, or may arise from time to time within that period, and appropriately require consideration and action of such committee. Four members of each committee shall be appointed at the end of each calendar month, beginning May 31, 1904. The appointments shall be so made that no member shall serve more than two consecutive months.

No. 14. _Auditing committee._--The auditing committee shall consist of three members, elected by the board, and shall examine and audit the accounts of the treasurer, and present to the board a written report concerning each settlement, which shall be made promptly upon the receipt of the treasurer's itemized statement required by rule 6.

No. 15. _Special committees._--Special committees may be appointed by direction of the board to consider matters not included within the jurisdiction of any committee provided for herein.

No. 16. _Amendments._--These rules and regulations may be amended at any regular meeting of the board by a two-thirds vote of the members present, written notice of proposed amendment having been given at least one day in advance of action thereon.

No. 17. _Order of business._--Reading of the minutes; reports of standing committees; reports of special committees; unfinished business; new business; adjournment. This order of business may be suspended at any regular meeting by two-thirds vote of the members present.

No. 18. Roberts's Rules of Order shall govern the proceedings of this board.