Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 92

The first appropriation received was from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and was for the sum of $3,000 for incidental expenses. On February 18, 1904, the appropriation of $100,000 for the use of the board was made by Congress, at which time the real responsibilities of the treasurer began.

Her duties were fully defined in rule 6 of the rules and regulations adopted by the board, and the custody of all funds was placed in her hands to be disbursed "only upon order of the board and the approval of its president."

Regular itemized statements were rendered to the board at each regular meeting showing receipts and expenditures. These accounts were each time fully set forth and always found to be absolutely correct and clearly rendered.

At the meeting called for June 9, 1905, Mrs. Coleman read her last report, the following being the final summary of all funds received and disbursed on behalf of the board of lady managers:

REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION FROM MARCH 17, 1903, TO JUNE 10, 1905.

Receipts: Received from Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, by appropriation of February 16, 1903 ................................... $3,000.00 Received from appropriation of Congress, by act of February 18, 1904 .................................................... 100,000.00 Received interest on $100,000 account .................................. 1,502.29 -------------- 104,502.29 Disburs.e.m.e.nts: Tinting walls, staining floors, heating apparatus, wiring for bells, awnings, screens, and plumbing-- From $100,000 ............................ $2,263.32 From $3,000 .............................. 64.30 ----------- $2,327.62 Furniture, china, linen, freight, and packing charges-- From $100,000 ............................ 11,692.65 From $3,000 .............................. 652.25 ----------- 12,344.90 Mileage and per diem, board meetings and rotating committees, paid from all sources ..................... 30,272.76 Entertainment, all sources .............................. 10,672.85 Stationery, engraving, and printing ..................... 5,906.15 Postage and telegrams ................................... 1,196.94 Telephones .............................................. 281.24 Clerical and household force expenses ................... 5,096.17 Office incidentals ...................................... 274.14 House incidentals ....................................... 1,007.84 Other incidentals ....................................... 2,255.77 Model playground ........................................ 5,100.00 Miscellaneous expenses, resolution June 10, 1905, in payment ............................................... 2,000.00 ----------- Total disburs.e.m.e.nts ................................... 78,736.38 Less returned from incidental account ................... 900.75 ----------- Grand total of all disburs.e.m.e.nts to June 10, 1905 ..... 77,835.63 Balance in hands of treasurer June 10, 1905 ............... 26,666.66 ----------- 104,502.29 =========== Amount brought forward from the treasurer's report as balance in hands of treasurer June 10, 1905, which is the amount to be returned to the Exposition Company by the board of lady managers, from all funds ......................................................... 26,666.66 To the above amount to be returned to the Exposition Company by the board of lady managers, as a credit, is to be added the sum paid to the company in cash on December 14, 1904, for furniture and articles purchased by the members of the board, amounting to ....... 2,150.00 ----------- Making the total amount returned to the Exposition Company from all sources ................................................... 28,816.66

Mrs. WILLIAM H. COLEMAN, _Treasurer._

The auditing committee, composed of Mrs. William E. Andrews, chairman, Mrs. Mary Phelps Montgomery, and Mrs. Finis P. Ernest, was elected by the board of lady managers March 4, 1904, for the purpose of examining and auditing the accounts of the treasurer, Mrs. William H. Coleman.

The committee met at stated intervals and examined the vouchers and checks numbered 1 to 253, inclusive, and reported that these were found to be correct, and accounted fully for all moneys received by the treasurer to that date, and this report was accepted.

The exposition closed on December 1, and the auditing committee was not again called until the time for rendering a final account of the funds of the board. At this time the absence of the chairman, Mrs. Andrews, and Mrs. Montgomery necessitated the appointment of two other members to fill said vacancies, in order to audit the bills contracted by the board from November 1, 1904, to June 10, 1905. Mrs. Hanger and Mrs. Knott were thereupon elected. Mrs. Montgomery arriving later, Mrs. Hanger withdrew from the committee, leaving the membership--Mrs. Ernest, chairman, Mrs.

Montgomery, and Mrs. Knott--all present.

On June 12 and subsequently this committee met and examined the vouchers and checks from November 1, 1904, to June 10, 1905, inclusive, and found the accounts between the above-mentioned dates to be correct.

Total receipts: From Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company ..................... $3,000.00 From appropriation by Congress ................................. 100,000.00 Total interest received on above $100,000 account .............. 1,502.29 ----------- 104,502.29 Total expended from $3,000 ............................ $3,000.00 Total expended from $100,000 .......................... 74,146.83 Total amount interest expended as per resolution of June 10 ............................................. 688.80 ----------- Total expenditures ............................... 77,835.63 Balance on hand from interest .............. $813.49 Balance on hand from $100,000 appropriation 25,853.17 ----------- 26,666.66 Balance on hand from all sources ................................... 104,502.29

A certified public accountant has been engaged to prepare a cla.s.sified summary of all receipts and disburs.e.m.e.nts, and we refer to the figures of his report for details and totals, which we hereby approve and accept as final.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 17th day of June, 1905.

SALENA V. ERNEST, MARY PHELPS MONTGOMERY, JENNIE GILLMORE KNOTT, _Members Auditing Committee._

NEW YORK, _June 16, 1905._

In accordance with your instructions, I have made an examination of your treasurer's accounts from March 17, 1903, to June 10, 1905, and herewith submit to you my report thereon.

All vouchers covering the disburs.e.m.e.nts from the appropriation made by Congress of $100,000 are in due form and properly approved and attested, vouchers being on file for all amounts paid, each voucher containing a "paid" check signed by the treasurer and countersigned by the president, excepting a few, which, in the ordinary course of business, have not as yet been presented at bank for payment.

All disburs.e.m.e.nts from the $3,000 received from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and from the interest received from banks have been made by treasurer's check and all have been approved by the president of the board. The total disburs.e.m.e.nts and receipts to June 10 are as follows:

Total amount received by the treasurer to June 10, 1905: From Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company ........................ $3,000.00 From Congress ..................................................... 100,000.00 Interest received from banks ...................................... 1,502.29 ----------- Total received from all sources to June 10, 1905 ................ 104,502.29 =========== Total amount disbursed by treasurer to June 10, 1905: From the $3,000 received from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company ......................................................... 3,000.00 From the appropriation from Congress .............................. 74,146.83 From the interest received from banks ............................. 688.80 ----------- Total disbursed from all sources to June 10, 1905 ............... 77,835.63 =========== Balance in hands of treasurer on June 10, 1905: From the $100.000 appropriation from Congress ..................... 25,853.17 From interest received from banks ................................. 813.49 ----------- Balance in hands of treasurer June 10, 1905 ..................... 26,666.66

Respectfully submitted.

JOHN PROUD, _Certified Public Accountant._

The PRESIDENT AND AUDITING COMMITTEE, _Board of Lady Managers, Louisiana Purchase Exposition._

It has been said that "an exposition should be as broad and comprehensive as the efforts of mankind." In all human activities in recent years advancement has been so marvelously rapid that important expositions might be held from time to time in which would be included nothing but inventions, discoveries, and accomplishments that belong to the intervening epoch-making periods.

That all nations take a deep interest in world's fairs is made manifest by the large attendance of people from all parts of the globe. It is self-evident that they appreciate the fact that most beneficial results may be derived by all, not only by means of the practical and tangible demonstration and comparison of objects a.s.sembled, but through the opportunity afforded for interchange of thought so conspicuously made available to advanced thinkers and workers. And it is hoped and believed that in its own time and in its own way each exposition will accomplish much for the good of both men and women of every country.

It would seem from the division of work as shown at the exposition by the Filipinos and the Indian tribes that women have not only, from the remotest times of which we have record, originated and practiced most of the industrial arts, but, among primitive nations, they still continue to ply the same occupations. The exhibits showed that the work of the men was still that of the hunter and trapper, while the Filipino woman who sat on the floor making cotton cloth, would indicate that it had fallen to the share of women not only to fashion garments, but the material from which they were made. And was not the stick which she so deftly handled, upon which she wound her thread to carry the woof to and fro transversely across the warp of her hand-woven fabric, the forerunner of the swiftly moving shuttle of today? And if the primitive woman still makes garments from the skins which the hunter brings home, and cooks the game which he shoots or traps, and has originated the method of cooking other articles of food, has she not earned for herself the right to be termed the first "home maker?" It is true the home originally had to be maintained by force of arms, but when this necessity no longer existed, and man, "the protector," had time to examine this woman-made home, he put his ingenuity to work to aid in the increased demands large households made upon women and invented and applied machinery to do the heavy tasks that had theretofore been done by them. He found it a vastly remunerative occupation, and promptly removed her work of spinning, weaving, dyeing, and even the making of every kind of garment, and the preparation of foods, to his factories.

Women did not take kindly to the innovation at first--their occupations were gone--but, with their usual adaptability, they immediately invented new ones. They now had time and opportunity to acquire education, enter the professions, and prepare themselves to take their equal place by the side of men.

President Francis, in his address on opening day, said of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition:

So thoroughly does it represent the world's civilization that if all man's other works were, by some unspeakable catastrophe, blotted out the records here established by the a.s.sembled nations would afford all necessary standards for the rebuilding of our entire civilization.

And at this great exposition, by the elimination of the special woman's department, the exhibits of woman's work for the first time in this country stood solely and independently by the side of the exhibits by men, and the industrial equality and the value of the contributions to the industries, sciences, and arts of both were judged by the same standards. Let no concern, therefore, be felt as to the future advancement of women. Their strength and powers have been tested, and the new era upon which they entered but a few years ago under the leadership of the women of America is now so far advanced for the women of all nations in every country that their undeniable right to education and training is being acknowledged, their consequent recognition as a factor for increased usefulness is being accorded, and their development is swift, their progress sure.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition is pa.s.sing into the realm wherein lies forgetfulness; its beauties are even now fading from the memories of its millions of visitors. The buildings have been razed, and the broad acres it covered have been laid waste; the labor of years, the result of thought, perseverance, patience, energy, and untiring application on the part of hundreds of its promoters and workers, already seems as intangible as a dream. But the things for which those buildings stood, the intellectual, moral, and material prosperity which they expressed are real, lasting, and glorious. These are permanently recorded in history. And forming an important part of these records is the work of woman.

The board of lady managers of this vast world's fair earnestly hopes that at every future exposition woman may be accorded that dignified position that she has so splendidly earned by her own endeavors, and that each time a resume of her work achieved is recorded new fields of usefulness may be found added thereto. No fear need be entertained that she will not always demonstrate that she does contribute her full share toward the progress and prosperity of nations and the uplifting of humanity.