Chapter 54

When the committee was first created it asked for a letter of instruction from the exposition board. This letter was received together with a list of women's organizations which had been compiled in the office of the Exposition Company. Communications were at once sent to each of these associations, also to others selected by the committee, in all more than fifty. In addition to extending an invitation to hold its meeting at St. Louis during the World's Fair, each organization was told that a place of meeting would be provided, and that all possible aid would be given in making preliminary arrangements by a board of information which would be ready to supply any assistance necessary in preparing for the meeting.

Up to this time it had been hoped that it would be possible to inaugurate a series of meetings of women's associations which would be congresses in more than name. The committee, however, was confronted with the serious limitation of no treasury from which to draw. At the last meeting of the board during the incumbency of the first president, a committee had been appointed with Mrs. Manning as chairman, which was to ask Congress for $100,000 for the use of the board of lady managers. It was hoped that this matter might be brought to the attention of Congress at the special session in the fall of 1903, but the delay caused by the necessity of electing a new president retarded all the work of the board. Upon the election of Mrs. Manning to the presidency a new legislative committee was appointed which, unfortunately, was not able to report the success of its mission of securing the appropriation until March 1, 1904, by which time all the organizations had perfected their plans for that year, in consequence of which all idea of congresses was reluctantly abandoned.

In the meantime responses were received from many of the larger organizations, some of which said that experience had shown that the interest of their stated meetings suffered when they were held where there were so many counter attractions as were offered by a great exposition; others did not respond at all. Of those who accepted and held meetings in St. Louis in the season of 1904, were the various fraternal organizations of women, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Mothers' Congress, the International Council, Council of Jewish Women, the Daughters of the American Revolution, National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the P.E.O.'s, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Women's Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.

All the meetings which were held at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition were largely attended and noted for the enthusiasm of the members and the great interest taken in the objects represented by the respective organizations.

Respectfully submitted. C.B. BUCHWALTER. M.M. ANDREWS. F.M. HANGER.

Pursuant to adjournment, on March 5, 1904, a meeting of the board of lady managers was called by the president for April 28, 1904, to enable the members to be present at the opening exercises of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which were to take place on April 30 of that year.

The board was in session until May 9, during which time many matters of importance were considered. Letters were read from organizations, reports received from chairmen of committees, and jurors appointed. On May 6 a resolution, presented by Mrs. Holcombe and amended by Miss Egan, was adopted, by which the president of the board was made active chairman of the executive, entertainment, and ceremonies committees, and full plans were made for the conduct of the affairs of the board during the coming months of the exposition period.

Twenty-one of the twenty-two members were present, and on the morning of April 30 the board met and proceeded in a body to the Administration Building, where they joined the president and directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, the members of the National Commission, and representatives from foreign countries, and, entering carriages, were driven to the Peace Monument, where seats were reserved for them. After the close of the interesting exercises officially opening the exposition, 5,000 invited guests adjourned to the Varied Industries Building, where luncheon was served. After a brilliant display of fireworks in the evening at the Stadium, the board of lady managers entertained a distinguished company at dinner, which closed the festivities of opening day.

The following is the final report of the committee on entertainment and ceremonies:

The board of lady managers took possession of their new building which had been completed and furnished and was ready for occupancy at the time they arrived in St. Louis for the meeting, April 28, which was the first to be held in their own house, and afforded them the earliest opportunity to see the structure and the result of the work that had been done in preparing and furnishing it for their use.

The first entertainment given by them was in honor of the president and members of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, on the evening of April 30, the official opening day of the exposition. Invited to meet them was the representative of the President of the United States, Secretary Taft, the president of the Exposition Company and Mrs. Francis, the directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and their wives, the governors of the States represented at the opening exercises and their wives, the Senators, and Members of the House, representing the two bodies of Congress, and other distinguished visitors and citizens. It was a most brilliant and interesting gathering, and not only rounded out the opening day with satisfaction to all, but inaugurated the series of entertainments that were to be afterwards given in the building of the board of lady managers.

In the argument of President Francis before the appropriation committee, in January, 1903, when asking Congress to make the additional loan, he said:

"We are the nation's hosts, as we understand it. We propose to entertain distinguished people from every section of the globe. * * * Bear in mind we are entertaining the guests of the Government, we think we are benefiting the commerce of the country; we think we are doing a patriotic service in commemorating a great event and bringing all classes into closer relations, cementing the ties that bind the different sections of the nation, affording our people opportunity to see something of the people and customs and the resources of our possessions, and, on the other hand, affording opportunity to those people to become acquainted with this great country."

At the meeting of the board on March 2, 1904, after the board of lady managers had obtained the appropriation from Congress that placed it within its power to meet the requirements of its position, President Francis was asked what he thought would be the pleasure of the executive committee that the board do with the funds so obtained, as no expression had been received from the company as to what special duty it was anxious, or would like, to have the board perform, to which President Francis replied, that he "had not given the matter thought, but that the board would want to do some entertaining; that the ladies were well adapted to that; they were experienced in that sort of thing and knew how to go about it. That he did not see much they could do with the money aside from entertaining."

And thus the board of lady managers authoritatively took its place in the great exposition, in the complex mechanism of which it was but a single factor, and assumed the responsibility of doing its share of the entertaining on behalf of women at the exposition.

What form of government is there at the present time that is not dependent upon the household of the executive and the homes of the officials for the social success of an administration? An exposition on the enormous scale of that which existed in St. Louis partook in its management for the time being of the nature of a government; an executive and official household was an essential and important factor because the representatives of all nations were to be entertained. As in this World's Fair, the highest recognition was given to women, it was but reasonable that women should be appointed to take the place set apart for them, and to perform such duties as would be assigned to them in any well-regulated government, and upon the broadest scale, their province being that of national hostesses, their privilege to extend a generous and far-reaching hospitality to all official dignitaries from home and abroad who visited the exposition.

Among the social events occurring at the building of the board of lady managers, the following is a list of the more prominent ones held during the exposition period:

Dinner to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, April 30; reception tendered to Mrs. Francis, wife of the president of the Exposition Company, May 9; reception to officers of Army and Navy, present in and around St. Louis at that time, May 18; luncheon to General Federation of Women's Clubs, May 19; luncheon to Miss Roosevelt, May 31; tea to Musical Federation, June 2; dinner to Prince Pu Lun, the official representative to the exposition of the Empress An of China, June 10; reception to foreign representatives at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, June 17; reception to P.E.O.'s, June 18; reception to governors, and State and Territorial commissioners at the exposition, June 24; dinner to Governor Odell, of New York, and Mrs. Odell, June 28; visit of Cardinal Satolli, July 1; reception to Mrs. Charles Mercer Hall, July 12; reception to Civic Federation, July 12; reception to members of Interparliamentary Union, at which time the building was draped with the flags of all nations, and the national airs of the different countries represented were played by the orchestra, September 12; reception to Mrs. Sarah S. Platt Decker, president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, September 19; reception to members of the Congress of Arts and Sciences, September 20; reception to members of the American Bar Association and Congress of Lawyers and Jurists, September 30; reception to the president, Mrs. Augustine Smythe, and officers and members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, October 7; reception to the president, Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, and officers and members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, October 11; reception to the governor of Connecticut and his staff, October 13; tea to hostesses of State and Territorial buildings, October 14; reception to the president, Mrs. Herbert Claiborne, and members National Society Colonial Dames of America, October 20; an informal dance, October 25; reception to meet the president and members of the Wednesday Club, of St. Louis, October 29; reception to meet the members of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, November 3; reception to meet the president and members of the Woman's Club of St. Louis, November 7; informal dance, November 9; dinner to President Francis, November 12; reception to Forest Park University students, November 14; informal dance, November 18; reception to Prince Fushimi, the official representative to the exposition of the Mikado of Japan, November 22; dinner to Jefferson Guards, Thanksgiving Day, November 24; final reception of the board of lady managers on what was known as "Francis Day," in honor of the president of the exposition, when the board of lady managers kept informal "open house" and entertained all who called on this, the last day of the exposition, December 1.

The members of the board met their obligations with acceptable dignity, offering cordial hospitality to all the important bodies meeting within the exposition grounds. Their building was the social center around which gathered the national and international representatives of governments and organizations, until more than 25,000 persons received specific invitation to their official entertainments. And whether the hospitality was extended to His Eminence, the emissary of the Pope, or whether it was a reception to His Imperial Highness, the representative of the Mikado of Japan, or a dinner to the envoy of Empress An, of China, or to the governor of a State and his staff, or to the members of the National Commission, or the officials of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, all were welcomed with genuine cordiality, the board of lady managers never failing to remember their responsibility and that they were representing the nation and serving their country by thus doing their share in affording an opportunity for all nationalities to become acquainted with each other and with our social customs as demonstrated at the exposition.

Respectfully submitted. M. MARGARETTA MANNING, _Chairman_. FANNIE LOWERY PORTER, BELLE L. EVEREST, JOSEPHINE SULLIVAN, SALENA V. ERNEST, M.K. DE YOUNG, KATHARINE PRATT HORTON, HELEN BOICE-HUNSICKER, AMELIA VON MAYHOFF, _Members of Committee_.

The ninth meeting of the board was called September 20, 1904. This was a special meeting called for the purpose of reconfirming the departmental jurors as is set forth in the final report of the chairman of the committee on awards.

An exposition must of necessity prove educational. The director of exhibits of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition said "The opportunity afforded for study and comparison of the various productions of human genius and activity classified and shown in detail, the finished product beside the methods and processes by which articles are produced, the vast systems of machinery in operation, and the skilled artisans occupied in difficult and intricate employments or native industries, representing accurately and in detail the latest development of the various arts and manufactures, makes it possible for not only the student to acquire knowledge, but each exhibitor may learn something from every other exhibitor in his class which may be to his advantage, and which may lead to the improvement of that which he produces, whether it be in the domain of art or manufacture, at home or abroad. The measure of the value of an international exposition is determined by the number of important countries represented by exhibits, the characteristics and comprehensive nature of these exhibits, or the excellence in quality according to the standards of the countries from which they come. That an exposition affords the greatest opportunity that manufacturers and producers of a nation have to increase their export trade by displaying their samples and products before the eyes of foreign people whose markets they seek. Exhibitors are commercial and noncommercial." The commercial exhibitor has as his chief object the advertisement of his business and consequent increase in the sale of his goods by means of his display and the possible receipt of an award which may prove valuable in future exploitation of his products. The noncommercial exhibitor has but the moral satisfaction of receiving the tangible assurance of the excellence of his work as represented by the award.

Though woman's work enters into almost all manufactured articles, its proportion in some is very small, and at the Columbian Exposition, where it was estimated that women had a share in nearly 350 industries, it was finally agreed between the board of control and the board of lady managers that the best method upon which to base the proportion of women on the juries would be to give them representation according to the amount of work done by women on articles to be judged in each department of the classification. This was a very satisfactory arrangement to that board, inasmuch as the manufacturers exhibiting were asked on the application blanks furnished them when they applied for space: "Was the work upon this exhibit done wholly or in part by women?" An affirmative answer entitled the board of lady managers to membership on the jury of awards, giving them a majority in any department where women were especially active, and a minority, or total exclusion, where she had contributed little or nothing to the department, which would seem a most equitable method.

The impossibility of ascertaining these facts greatly affected the right of representation of the board of lady managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition on the juries of awards.

President Francis, in his address to the board on March 2, 1904, spoke on this subject as follows:

I wish to say again--I think I have made this statement to you before--that when we started the organization of the exposition the question of separate fields of exhibit of competition was suggested and advanced, but the stronger view was presented as we believed by the stronger women, that there should be no contest between individual members of the different sexes, but that the work of each should be shown--that if women had not arrived at that stage and made that advancement which permitted them to compete with men's work, they had advanced but little. Therefore we did not think of making any separate classification for the exhibitions of women's work--they came in under the same classification as men. On most of the lines of work upon which women have entered, they are holding their own, if not in every instance.

While there was formerly something to be said on each side of the question of separate exhibits, the extent to which women now enter into all departments of industrial and professional activities, renders it not only difficult, but in some instances almost impossible, to make a separate exhibit of the part they perform. It is true, if women were to-day eliminated from the employments in which they are now engaged and relegated to those of forty years ago, the exhibits of the nature of man's work would be in no wise affected, and women have not sufficiently taken the initiative (from lack of capital and adverse competition), in establishing large manufacturing plants to be enabled by these means to make exhibits on similar lines; but where women now work by the side of, and the quality of their mental and manual labor competes satisfactorily with that of men, it is now her right to receive unqualified recognition and consideration as an economic factor, and her work should not only be accorded the consideration and respect it deserves, but insure to her the receipt of equal compensation for equal services performed.

It is to be regretted that the example of other expositions was not followed in requiring manufacturers to indicate by means of some device placed upon their exhibit what proportion or percentage was "in whole or part the work of women," and it is urged that this be done in all future expositions, large and small, that all who are interested in this matter may ascertain the facts, and that the record of the kind of industries in which women share, and which portion of them they perform, may be available at all times as statistical information.

In selecting the jurors it is desirable and necessary that the most careful discrimination be used, in order to secure the best and most skillful women to represent each special department, and those well versed in the requisite technical knowledge.

At the meeting of the board of lady managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held April 29, 1903, the following resolution was offered by Mrs. Daniel Manning, and accepted by the board:

_Resolved_, First, it shall be the duty of the committee on awards of the board of lady managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, through its chairman or otherwise, to ascertain definitely in regard to every exhibit in the exposition, whether or not the labor of women was employed in its production.

Second, it shall be the duty of this committee to take any and all action to secure and appoint competent jurors of awards in every class and group of the classification where woman's labor has been engaged in the production of any articles exhibited therein.

A copy of this resolution, under date of May 2, was sent to the secretary of the local company, and the following reply received:

ST. LOUIS, _May 26, 1903_.

MADAM PRESIDENT: I am directed by President Francis to inform you that the resolutions adopted by the board at a called meeting on May 2, 1903, with reference to participation in the award system, has been reported upon by the director of exhibits, Mr. Skiff, who states that his division has taken notice of the resolution, and will, in due time, prepare a list of those exhibits which are in whole or in part the labor of women.

Respectfully, W.B. STEVENS, _Secretary_.

At a meeting of the board, held in the Administration Building March 1, 1904, in response to a call by the president for a report from the committee on awards, Mrs. Hanger, chairman of the committee, said:

This committee was named by Mrs. Manning after our last meeting, as follows: Mrs. Hanger, Mrs. Knott, Miss Egan, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Hunsicker. I happened to be here in January, and asked Miss Egan to go with me to see Mr. Skiff. We waited two or three hours and saw Mr. Skiff about fifteen minutes. It had been said there were 200 jurors to be appointed, and we would only have the appointing of 35 or 40 of them. He assured us that the lists could not be made out as the exhibits were not installed. He gave us some instructions in regard to the selection of jurors, saying that they must stand for intellectual ability; it did not matter how many people applied for appointment, we must be governed by that.

I had a letter from Mrs. Manning suggesting that I try again. I wrote to Mr. Stevens and he communicated with Mr. Skiff, and later repeated to me the same thing. We have had quite a number of names suggested, and I have written to the other members of the committee asking them to come here as soon as the exhibits are in place. I hope we can hold that meeting very early, but until after that meeting I do not feel that we have anything to report.

In response to questions from members of the board as to whether Mr. Skiff was to be understood to mean that there were but 35 or 40 things to be exhibited at the exposition which were made in whole or in part by women, Mrs. Hanger said that Mr. Skiff said the board "would only have the appointing of 35 or 40 women--that it was a matter of expense and that they must assist in keeping it down."

This decision was a source of great disappointment to the board, as it has been shown most conclusively that scarcely anything is manufactured that women do not at least share in the production or process of its manufacture. The act of Congress stated that there should be appointed by this board a member of every jury judging "any work that may have been produced in whole or in part by female labor," and the members were averse to an abridgment of the authority vested in them by the wording of the act.