Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission. Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
upon the value of the physical property they were singularly lacking in enterprise when they did not come forward with higher bids. The amount realized was the highest bid made for the property.
Twelfth. That the Chicago House Wrecking Company, through undue advantage, obtained inside information as to the extent and value of the property to be sold, and thereby to the material injury of the United States secured a contract with the Exposition Company insuring a profit of more than $1,000,000.
Answer. The Chicago House Wrecking Company obtained no information that was not accessible to and obtainable by any other bidder.
Very respectfully,
WALTER B. STEVENS,
Secretary.
Hon. THOMAS H. CARTER,
_President National Commission,
Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
ST. LOUIS, March 7, 1905.
MY DEAR SENATOR: I send herewith, by direction of the executive committee, a reply to the letter from the Commission of February 28. President Francis is absent from the city, having gone last week to New Orleans. I think I should add something from my personal knowledge. Mr. Richey is well known to me, and has been for years. He must have been badly misinformed to have made such allegations as are contained in the letter. I have all of the minutes of the various meetings and a collection of correspondence which go to show that many of these allegations are without foundation. Some of them, I can see, are inferences drawn from misstatements of the facts and from misunderstandings of the real situation.
I have never so much as heard an intimation that any director of the company, or anyone else who knew of the transactions, protested against the sale or adversely criticised the amount realized. On the other hand, the general impression among directors and on the part of the public seems to be that the Exposition Company realized more than was to be expected. The salvage of the World's Fair in Chicago sold for $80,000, that of Omaha for $37,500, and that of Buffalo for $67,000.
Before the exposition closed the management had begun to dispose of salvage in a small way, but the results were very discouraging. It looked much as if the property of this exposition would go as had that of previous expositions, for a very small fraction of the cost. At one time the directors of the company thought it might be necessary to organize a company and carry the salvage through a series of years in order to realize on it. But the best that could be figured from such a course was from $300,000 to $350,000 for the same property sold to the Chicago House Wrecking Company for $450,000.
The only persons who raised any question about the sale and the amount realized were two disappointed bidders. These bidders were given all of the time they asked. They were furnished information in reply to their inquiries. They could not be given lists of the property of the exposition because, after careful consideration of such lists, it was deemed inadvisable by the exposition to attempt a sale on that basis. It was the conclusion that more could be realized by selling all right and title to the physical property of the exposition. I believe that more was realized than would have been obtained on bids if an inventory had been furnished.
The Chicago House Wrecking Company was doing business on the grounds during the exposition and previous thereto. The officers of that company have been in the wrecking business for years. Looking forward to the time, they saved, as I happened to learn, clippings from the newspapers showing contracts let by the exposition; also clippings showing purchases of various kinds. In fact, for months they were gathering through outside sources all the information they could as to the character of the company's property. In this way they obtained their information as to this property. They were given no list from the company. They were given no advantage over other bidders. I know it to be a fact that the Exposition Company did all in its power to induce other bidders to come from other cities, and stimulated competition. The correspondence and telegrams passing through my hands show this. There was a great deal of property that the exposition had the use of and did not own. This applied to fire apparatus, to electric switch boards, to machinery, to street sweepers, to watering carts, and to a great variety of things that were of utility and were loaned by the manufacturers or dealers, who wished to have them in service for the advertising to be gained thereby.
The city is claiming, under the ordinance from which I have quoted in the other letter, the piping on that part of the ground included in Forest Park, and only to-day wrote asking to know when this pipe could be taken up by the city.
It will afford me pleasure to answer any inquiry or to forward to you any document relating to this salvage matter which you may desire to see.
Can you advise me how long you expect to remain in Washington?
Very truly, yours,
WALTER B. STEVENS,
Secretary.
Hon. THOMAS H. CARTER,
President National Commission, Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Having been elected a Senator of the United States from the State of Montana, Mr. Thomas H. Carter, president of the Commission, resigned his office as member of the Commission on March 9, 1905. At a meeting of the Commission held on March 20, 1905, the following letter was received from Mr. Carter, and his resignation as president of the Commission was duly accepted:
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 1905.
GENTLEMEN: Finding that my duties as United States Senator, assumed on the 4th of this month, will so far require my attention as to render it difficult to longer continue a member of the Commission, I have determined to hand my resignation to the president, and preliminary thereto I respectfully resign the position of president of the Commission.
In tendering my resignation I can not refrain from expressing to the Commission jointly, and to the members separately, my grateful appreciation of the unfailing confidence and cordial support with which I have been favored at all times by the members of the Commission, without exception.
It is questionable whether any like body of men, selected from the country at large, has ever acted more harmoniously in the discharge of any public duty.
With deep regret, and only from a sense of duty, I sever my
relations with the Commission, and in doing so wish each of my
associates on the Commission long life and prosperity.
Respectfully submitted.
THOS. H. CARTER.
The honorable LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION,
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Carter also addressed a letter to the President of the United States, tendering his resignation as a member of the Commission, which reads as follows:
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 1905.
SIR: My election to the Senate of the United States from the State of Montana imposes upon me duties which render it quite impracticable for me to devote the time and attention necessary to a proper discharge of my duties as a member of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission. I therefore respectfully tender you my resignation as a member of the Commission, and in doing so I thank you sincerely for the cordial and unfailing support and consideration you have always extended to me as a member of that body.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOS. H. CARTER.
The PRESIDENT,
Washington, D.C.
Mr. John M. Thurston was thereupon unanimously elected to succeed Mr.
Carter as president of the Commission.
At this meeting Mr. John D. Waite, of Lewistown, Mont., recently appointed by President Roosevelt as a member of the Commission to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Carter, appeared and took his place on the Commission.
At the same meeting the secretary of the Exposition Company requested the privilege of making a