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scattered improvements had been made, have now become the granaries of the world, and new homes for hundreds of thousands of industrious and active people have been created. This increase is shown not only in numbers and in wealth, but in purchasing power, in taste, and in demand. As already noted, the most conspicuous growth has been in the farming population, i.e., men who have gone out from every country in the world, to take up homes, and to bring into cultivation the wild lands of the West, and have themselves developed into independence or comparative wealth.

In 1879 the United States exported 150,501,506 bushels of wheat. In 1899, twenty years after, the amount supplied was 222,618,420 bushels.

This enhanced foreign supply, to which must be added the new demand in the home market, has been drawn from the communities now under consideration, wheat having gone out of cultivation in many of the older States, which have, in turn, become dependent upon the new West for their breadstuffs. Even a still larger proportion of the maize, of meat of every kind, and of minerals, whether exported or consumed, have been drawn from the same area. In like manner, a considerable portion of the growth in the export of raw cotton has come either from the States under discussion, or from others, which, like Texas, are immediately tributary to the same centres.

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Even this does not exhaust the commercial capabilities which have been considered, thus far, in their relation to domestic production and European consumption. Four great railway Four great railway systems have penetrated into Mexico, with which the relations of this great middle West are scarcely less close than with their own neighbouring States. The growth of population in Mexico has gone on at a rate continually increasing. Having been able, after many vicissitudes to command good government and stability, it has bounded forward at a rate seldom witnessed in a southern climate. like manner, the relations of Canada, with its large and steady growth, have become more and more important as her development has gone on in Manitoba and the North-West territories. Here, again, the railway systems have established connections which, even the formal presence of the much-dreaded custom house, cannot break. Thus the North American continent has tended, all the time, to become a centralised, single commercial fact, in which boundary lines between countries play only a small part. With the enormous commercial

activity of the United States, the fact remains that the ports on the Atlantic seaboard are not holding their own, relatively, to the remainder of the country, a fact due, in the main, to the rapid growth which is going on in the West and South, in other words, in the valley of the Mississippi.

The territorial development of the United States has now extended to the West Indies. Cuba, hitherto only imperfectly developed, is certain to be opened up within the next few years. With a stable government of its own, in close relation to and under the protection of the United States, and with the assured destiny of absorption into the Union, its possibilities of growth in population and wealth cannot be exaggerated. In like manner, Porto Rico bids fair to grow with scarcely less certainty, and to become a good market for manufactured products, and a source of supply for sugar and other food products. The relations of Central America to the great population which is to hold its own distinctive exhibition in 1904, are also becoming closer each year.

South America, with its natural and rapid growth, is turning its attention, more and more, in the same direction, the expansion of the United States enhancing its value as a market for the absorption of manufactured products, and as a magnet which must still further attract both trade and population. Then, it is impossible to overlook the fact that relations with the whole of the South American continent, as well as with Asia, will be promoted by the completion, now assured, of the Panama Canal, by the direct intervention of the Government of the United States.

Turning to the question of imports from foreign countries into the United States alone, with one exception the lowest figure reached since 1880 and the present time was in 1898, when they fell to 616,049,654 dols. Within two years, i.e., in the year 1900, they had increased to 849,941,184-until then the high water-mark of its history. That year's trade in English products was also a record one. Both these totals have largely increased since 1900. A large proportion of this was due to the demand created in the middle West, by reason of its prosperity, enhanced consuming power, and rapid advance in taste. All this merely serves to show that, in spite of the spread of mechanical industry in the United States, and the rapid development of national resources, the United States still remains, for foreign countries, the best, as it is far the largest and most profitable single market in the world

for the sale of imported manufactured products.

All these changes have brought into existence an entirely new constituency which is profoundly interested in international exhibitions, so that it will be possible in 1904 to reach a large number who have not heretofore come under the great educating influence accompanying foreign trade. It will thus be possible next year to draw the representatives of twenty millions of busy people, desirous of seeing and studying the latest developmenis of art, science, and industry, and anxious to do their part in the world's work, all of whom will have come upon the scene in America since the inception of the Columbian Exhibition.

All these facts, considered in connection with the rapidly shifting panorama of commercial development, make it incumbent upon peoples, as well as individuals, to study with care their surroundings. It will probably be found that the future of markets for products made in other countries, still lies largely in the United States-a result much more fully assured than the fear that rapid expansion in other parts of the world will seriously interfere with that delicate adjustment of the balances in which the industries of the world are weighed.

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It is only natural that the preparations for celebrating an event of this importance should be made on a scale hitherto unknown. long as the peoples of the world make their commercial appeals through the medium of these successors of the fairs of the Middle Ages, it is inevitable that each new one must be larger than any predecessor. The effect of this is certain to make the work of organising and carrying it on so great that they will become more and more rare. It this case, the Government of the United States has contributed 5,000,000 dols. directly to the Exhibition, and will expend nearly two millions in addition in making exhibits from the almost infinite number of scientific bureaus included in its various departments. The City of St. Louis contributed 5,000,000 dols., raised from an issue of municipal bonds, authorised by a vote of its people; a third sum of 5,000,000 dols. was raised by a local company, organised for the purpose, and into the hands of which has been given the management of details with a nominal oversight on the part of a United States Commission. When, as in this case, the Government contributes money to an exhibition, it makes severe rules and conditions in order that it may place upon local bodies

the full responsibility for carrying out the work.

The State of Missouri has contributed 1,000,000 dols. to pay for an exhibit of its institutions and its industries, while every other State and Territory in the Union has made liberal arrangements for participation. In two or three of them the rigidity of their constitutions made it impossible for them to appropriate public money to be expended outside their boundaries, so their citizens have taken up subscriptions to ensure this result. Every State will erect a building as a headquarters for its own people. In most cases they reproduce the country houses of some of their worthies of earlier days, or their capitols. In some instances, notably that of the State of Washington, which will be built of immense trees on end, they will represent the most important of the local industries and so become part of the exhibits. These State structures will be grouped together on high ground, from which it will be possible to obtain a general view of the exhibit and foreign buildings. Each State will have one or more days when its people will be expected to attend in great numbers, a policy which is carried further by the assignment of special days for churches, industries, social and professional organisations. This will even be extended, in a few instances, to individuals.

Every important foreign country has accepted the invitation of the United States to take part, and in nearly all cases, a special pavilion will be erected as a rallying point for its people. With the exception of Switzerland, no European country has failed to respond favourably to the invitation, as even Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey will be included in the sixty foreign countries which will be represented officially. The great foreign exhibits will, naturally, come from Great Britain, Germany and France, between whom there has been a strong, friendly rivalry. Each of these countries has made a more liberal provision for representation than at any previous exhibition. Asia will show its peculiar industries more completely than ever before, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Ceylon having arranged to erect separate buildings for themselves, and to be represented in nearly all the great buildings devoted to exhibits.

Canada, New Zealand, most of the South African Colonies and Egypt have appointed commissioners, while the Commonwealth of Australia will most certainly make official

exhibits-arrangements for which have hitherto been delayed by the prolonged droughts. One of the most conspicuous exhibits will be an outdoor exhibit of the Philippines covering thirty acres of ground. Mexico and every conntry in South and Central America will take part.

The City of St. Louis, within the corporate limits of which all these department and government buildings, covering about 150 acres, will stand, has long been the Metropolis of the Louisiana Purchase. It has grown, until, with a population which numbered three years ago 575,000, it occupies the fourth rank in American cities. It is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, is the terminus of twenty-six separate railways, a central commanding market for grain and cotton, and one of the busiest of manufacturing centres, in many lines of industry. Its people are busy, conservative, own, to an unusual degree, the houses they live in, and manifest much public spirit. Its merchants and traders reach every part of the country, but especially to all the immense district within the Purchase, and the many States to the east a'ong the Mississipi and Ohio rivers. Their activities are felt as determining factors in the business and life of something like twentyfour States. But development has gone on all along the line of human effort. Its people have not given themselves over wholly to the making of money. They are active and foremost in developing the religious, educational, social, and the charitable features which contribute so much to the life of a great city. Churches, hospitals, schools, provision for the dependent and defective, are everything that could be expected in a restless and enterprising community. Its people are so hospitable, that probably three-fourths of its homes, of every order, will be thrown open at some time for the free entertainment of guests during the progress of this latest of world's fairs.

The site chosen lies for the most part in Forest Park, a well-timbered tract of 1,300 acres, all within the limits of the city; about one-half of this will be occupied, the remainder, making up the 1,200 acres necessary, being private property. Included within the latter are the grounds of the Washington University, about 110 acres in extent, with the use of the buildings, only just completed. In requital for this privilege the management will erect permanent structures for the use of the University.

Few business ventures are more elaborate,

or require more care in organisation, than one of these modern world's fairs, so that the task is far from being a simple one. In the United States, it is first necessary so to develop the public spirit of the city in which the exhibition is to be held as to command the support of its commercial interests. It is they who must not only furnish the money necessary to lay the foundations to give the scheme a standing place, but from their ranks must be drawn the men who are to manage it in all its various features. In this case, 5,000,000 dols. was raised by local subscriptions in order to meet the demands fixed by the Government, which took its own method of testing the credit and sufficiency of guarantors, the principal of whom were required to give additional assurances as to the trustworthiness of all the subscribers-from whose ranks was chosen a board of directors, 93 in number. These were divided into many committees, each having some special work, and at their head was placed an executive committee upon which the responsibility has mainly fallen.

It was determined at an early stage that the business should be conducted without the usual Director-General, but that the supreme authority should be vested in the president, the executive committee, and four paid officials known as a director of works, to whom the preparation of the grounds and the architecture should be confided; a director of exhibits, who should have full charge of everything relating to the classification and the receipt of exhibits from every part of the world; a director of exploitation, whose function it was to procure legislative or official acceptance of the invitation to take part, from the States and territories of the Union and from foreign countries; and a director of concessions, who had put upon him the duty of arranging for the side shows and attractions which have become such important elements in the modern exhibition. These directors not only have their special duties, but act as advisers or a sort of Cabinet to the President, in deciding matters of policy. Each of these divisions is divided into departments of which there are about twenty-five in all, managed in each case by a paid chief and qualified assistants. For the most part, directors and chiefs have been chosen from those who have acquired technical experience in the management of previous exhibitions, some of them having had official relations with that held in Philadelphia in 1876. In the main, however, they have been drawn from those who carried on the work at Chicago, in 1893.

The buildings of Washington University, used for administrative purposes, house a working staff of nearly 400 persons, of whom about onethird are typewriter operators.

In perfecting the organisation, it has been. necessary for the various committees, often accompanied by prominent men of St. Louis, to visit the capitals of the various States, some of them more than fifteen hundred miles away, there to explain before the Legislatures the features of the exhibition, and to solicit cooperation. This has been done less from the necessity of making appeal in this way than for the more important task of letting the public everywhere know of the preparations under weigh.

In fact the publicity has been not the least important of the features requiring study, organisation, and the utmost care. It was the first necessity to enlist the support of the Press which was done through the various bodies representing it in every branch. They resolved neither to ask nor accept a money return in requital of the effort they proposed to make, but to treat the Exhibition in all its branches and phases, as a matter of purely popular interest. It is not necessary here to expose tricks, said to be inherent in all trades, but it may be asserted with safety that nothing which can form a part of the diverse interests of a great people has been overlooked. There is no State or city for which special news matter has not been prepared; no correspondents, however humble, have been neglected; no feature likely to have a human interest has been overlooked; and no fear of iteration has been allowed to enter into account. The American newspaper writer may be a modest and retiring person when he is seeking news for his paper from individuals, but in his organised efforts to promote a public policy it may be said with truth, that he is little prone to hide his light under a bushel.

One of the most important branches of the exploitation effort was that relating to foreign countries, which naturally were reached, in the first instance, through diplomatic channels. The Government of the United States, after the event had been proclaimed by the President, sent its official invitation, through its ambassadors and ministers, to every country in the world, and issued instructions to all its consular representatives, in order to impress upon them the importance of letting each commercial community know that the Exhibition would be held, and what would be its character and aims. But, as this was not deemed sufficient,

commissioners were sent into every quarter of the world under the auspices of the management. In some cases they went from one country to another, now here, now there, but always active in seeing public, responsible officials, leading business men, probable exhibitors and the conductors of the Press. In the United Kingdom, France and Germany, a special commissioner gave his entire attention to a single country. Between these there was a certain amount of friendly rivalry, as to which should secure the earliest and most complete recognition of the Exhibition in the Press. In the last named feature Great Britain has surpassed all the other countries of Europe together, while in the amount of money to be expended and in the variety of exhibits, France and Germany will follow Great Britain in the order mentioned.

It is not extravagant to say that the St. Louis Exhibition has had, during the past three years, something of the character of a new government, recognised as such in every quarter of the globe. Without any formal diplomatic position of its own, its representatives have, nevertheless, gone up and down into the palaces of kings, and the chancelleries of the world, have had the aid of all the ambassadors and consuls of the United States, and, in addition, have been able to command access without pay, to the newspapers, wherever, in our free modern life, these useful educational agents have found development. Within another year this new and vigorous entity will have vanished into nothingness, its representatives will have returned to their own occupations, and, with one exception, its elaborate palaces will soon thereafter be turned over to wrecking companies for dismantlement.

The Exhibition itself will be the latest step in an evolution not alone from all its predecessors since that marvellous structure in glass which housed so many curious articles and showed the world so many secrets in Hydepark in 1851-but from that larger course of development which began in the fairs incident. to a very early stage in modern commerce. It is interesting to see how the exhibit classifications of an earlier day have remained without serious change beyond that of mere size-now deemed so important. The mechanical devices, formerly shown in the corner of a single building, will now find house and show-room in enormous temporary structures known respectively as the manufactures, the machinery, the liberal arts, the varied industries, the

transportation, and the electricity buildings, with their hundred acres of covered floor space. The Educational Group will not only find room in a building bearing the name of education; but in the Art Building, the Building for Congresses and Conventions, the Physical Culture Building, and the United States Government Building. What may be termed the natural group will be seen in the special buildings-some of them of almost abnormal size-devoted to fisheries, mines and metallurgy, agriculture, horticulture, and forestry, while gardens will be shown in almost endless variety. Games, both ancient and modern, will have a ground of their own, while great races will be run under the auspices of the management.

Classified under the fifteen departments of education, arts, liberal arts, manufactures, machinery, electricity, transportation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, mines and metallurgy, fish and game, anthropology, social economy, physical culture, each branch of human effort, so far as it can be represented in the form of an object lesson, will be visible, all the countries of the world alongside of each other, each showing its products in its own way. It may be presumed that no country in the world will consent to put anything to the front but what it deems its best. No Government, company, or individual, will be charged for the space which an exhibit will occupy; no duty will be charged for any article intended for display or judgment, and carefully devised systems of internal transportation will enable visitors to see all these accumulated fruits of industry with as little exertion as possible.

Religious, scientific, professional, social and business organisations in almost endless variety, will meet within the grounds sometime during the summer and autumn, nearly two hundred conventions having already been arranged. In addition, amusements of all forms, known and new, will be provided for both children and adults. It would be an almost endless task to enumerate in detail the manifold attractions to be displayed, facilities for which have to be provided. An attempt will be made to show the world in epitome, how it lives, thinks, works, and acts. It seems a wonderful task, and it is, perhaps, not too much to say that the very ability to get together such an aggregation; to raise from thousands of quarters, and to expend the 50,000,000 dols. necessary; to erect for use during a single season, buildings of great size

and cost, and of decided architectural merit, will tend to make the general scheme of this Fair, itself the one distinctive feature.

It may not be amiss to say that the bringing together from all the world musical organizations which shall improve the popular taste, without catering too much to its demands, will not be the least of the difficulties which have had to be overcome. The cost of this feature will aggregate a hundred thousand pounds, so expended that the principal countries will be represented by their leading musical organisations the best they can furnish. It is confidently predicted that the music to be heard at St. Louis next year will exercise a direct, far-reaching influence upon the development of this art in America, as it will everywhere else, by the encouragement thus given to the best the world knows.

The leading element in a great exhibition, in America, as elsewhere, is, and must continue to be, education and art. There is no expectation of a direct profit. All this enormous effort is merely the result of an overflow of energy and public spirit. It is not even certain that it is an immediate material advantage for the city which devotes so much money to its organisation. But it is recognised as a conspicuous element in public taste and the development of variety in industry; most important of all, it brings the peoples of the world into closer relations, and sets a new landmark in the history of mankind as a whole. Too much should not be expected of them. If the dream was once fondly indulged that they would destroy war, this should be succeeded by the reality that they do really tend to promote peace. They are not subjects for rhapsody, but should be seriously considered as gatherings, both social and commercial, to which all peoples of the world come in order to compare notes, and to teach and to learn new lessons. During the past fifty years, this influence, working in co-operation with the achievements of science, and the marvellous advance in material well-being, has made every museum and library cosmopolitan, so that whatever each nation or people may say or endeavour to think, mere nationality fails to satisfy, and, indeed, can no longer do so. While such wholesome results follow, no effort can be too

great and no reasonable expenditure too heavy. They have the aim, perhaps unconscious in their organisers and promoters, of breaking down these frowning barriers, both economic and militant, which tend to raise themselves anew at every frontier.

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