Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York Alternates. Charles P. Kimball (resigned, 1875). CHAS. H. HASKELL, Portland. William Prescott Smith (died, John W. Davis (resigned, 1872). James T. Earle(resigned, 1875). 1873). JOHN H. B. LATROBE, Balti- SAMUEL M. SHOEMAKER, Balti more. 7. Wiley Edmands (resigned, 1872). GEORGE B. LORING, Salem. O. C. FRENCH, Jackson. JOHN MCNEIL, St. Louis. JOSEPH P. WOOLMAN, Helena. HENRY S. MOODY, Omaha. ter. more. WILLIAM B. SPOONER, Boston. CLAUDIUS B. GRANT, Houghton. E. D. Frost (resigned, 1872). PATRICK A. LARGEY, Virginia R. W. FURNAS, Brownsville. ORESTES CLEVELAND, Jersey JOHN G. STEVENS, Trenton. ELDRIDGE W. LITTLE, Santa STEPHEN B. ELKINS, Washing- John V. L. Pruyn (resigned, Charles H. Marshall (resigned, States and Territories. Utah. Vermont. Virginia. MIDDLETON GOLDSMITH, Rut- HENRY CHASE, Lyndon. Walter W. Wood (resigned, Edmund R. Bagwell (died, F. W. M. HOLLIDAY, Win- M. P. HANDY, Richmond. Washington Territory ELWOOD EVANS, Olympia. ALEXANDER S. ABERNETHY, 1872-76. The officers and standing committees, at the time of the Exhibition, were as follows: OFFICERS: President.-JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, Connecticut. VICE-PRESIDENTS: First.-THOMAS H. COLDWELL, Tennessee. Second.-MIDDLETON GOLDSMITH, Vermont. Third.-W. W. McCoy, Nevada. Fourth.-F. W. M. HOLLIDAY, Virginia. Fifth.-ROBERT MALLORY, Kentucky. Sixth.-JOHN A. MARTIN, Kansas. Director-General.-ALFRED T. GOSHORN, Ohio. Secretary.-JOHN L. CAMPBELL, Indiana. Counsellor and Solicitor.-JOHN L. SHOEMAKER, Philadelphia. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. DANIEL J. MORRELL, Pennsylvania. ALFRED T. GOSHORN, Ohio. C. P. KIMBALL, New York. J. T. BERNARD, Florida. Mines and Mining. W. W. McCoy, Nevada. Fisheries and Fish Culture. M. GOLDSMITH, Vermont. J. W. VIRTUE, Oregon. C. F. CLARKSON, Iowa. J. C. CHEW, Texas. S. L. SPINK, Dakota. BENJ. P. KOOSER, California. 115 CREATION OF THE CENTENNIAL BOARD OF When the Commission had organized, it found itself confronted by Finances. serious difficulties, the gravest of which was its entire want of money. The Act of Congress creating it had not even provided for the meeting of its members, whom it required to travel from every portion of the country to Philadelphia: it had distinctly stipulated "that no compensation for services shall be paid to the Commissioners or other officers provided by this Act from the Treasury of the United States; and the United States shall not be liable for any expenses attending such Exhibition, or by reason of the same."* The cost of the meeting and organization of the Commission had been provided by the city of Philadelphia, whose Councils appropriated to the local Oct. 26, 1871. committee the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for that purpose. The Commission perceived the impropriety of allowing a body created for the conduct of a national celebration to become a burden upon the hospitality of a single city. They further discovered that the Act of Congress made no satisfactory provision enabling them to raise capital for the preparation of the Exhibition. They were aware of the popular disposition to discredit any enterprise involving the expenditure of public moneys; and they were convinced that popular subscriptions. would be more readily forthcoming if the stockholders were empowered to elect the disbursers of the funds. They accordingly declined to assume any responsibility for the financial management of the Exhibition, and intrusted to their Executive Committee the creation of * See Section 7 of the Act, Appendix C, page 102. Finances. 1872. an auxiliary body who should take charge of the raising and expenditure of money. After the adjournment of the first session of the Commission, the March-April, Executive Committee held a session, during which " they were aided in their deliberations by the counsel of several members of the Commission, not members of the Committee, and of many of the foremost citizens of the city [of Philadelphia], whose advice was sought and secured."* As the result of these conferences, and in order "to give the people of the whole country equal opportunity to contribute funds for Centennial purposes, place the enterprise upon a fair business footing, and to enable those who furnish the means to have a voice in the management, with a share of the risks and profits, it was concluded to apply to Congress for the charter of a corporation to be called the Centennial Board of Finance,' which should have power, under the direction of the Centennial Commission, to raise ten millions of dollars upon the sale of stock, and upon which corporation should be devolved all the duties and powers necessary to conduct the work to a successful issue." The Executive Committee, accordingly, submitted to Congress the form of an Act embodying the provisions indicated, this form having previously been sent to each Commissioner, with a request that he should name for corporators "prominent business men of his State or Territory, of marked purity and intelligence, which names, or so far as they were furnished in time, were inserted in the bill; but Congress"-so continues the Report of the Executive. Committee "substituted other names for corporators when the bill came before it." The Act, as amended, passed both Houses of * See Report of the Executive Committee, May 23, 1872. See last reference. The names of the corporators inserted by Congress are printed in the Act approved June 1, 1872, Appendix C, page 103. Those named by the Executive Committee, on the nomination of the Centennial Commissioners, were as follows: Alabama.-Robert M. Patton, Levi W. Lawler, John Reid, John W. Durr, Joseph H. Bradley, David P. Lewis, James Fitts, G. T. McAfee. Arizona.-Levi Bashford, C. T. Hayden. Arkansas.-Frederick Kramer, Charles Miller, H. P. Coolidge. California.-William Alvord, Thomas H. Selby, Peter Donahoe, Tyler Curtis, Richard Ogden, Claus Sprekles, John Bidwell, Charles Maclay, Edgar Mills, William C. Ralston, A. S. Hallidie, Milton S. Latham, D. Jarrett White. Colorado.-Edward M. McCook, Jerome B. Chaffee, James Archer, Henry M. Teller, George M. Chillcott, William Gilpin. Connecticut.-Ward Cheney, Charles Parker, Charles Benedict, Nathaniel Wheeler, John W. Slater, Eli Whitney. Dakota.-C. Thompson, S. B. Stough, Albert Smith. Delaware.-Job A. Jackson, Washington Jones, Edward Betts, Joshua T. Heald, John W. Evans, Abraham Shannon, James H. Russell, John Ponder. |