“I am commissioned by all who are or have been Directors to make, in their name, public recognition of the invaluable services of our President, Harlow N. Higinbotham. We all recognize his incessant labor, his zeal and loyalty, from the first organization of the Board, but more especially from the date of his official relations until the present time. He is still our President.
“Possibly in some respects I have more intimate knowledge of the magnitude of his labors than other members of the Board, on account of the close relations of our official positions; but we all know that during the lifetime of the Exposition proper the cares and responsibilities of his office were almost beyond human endurance. He brought to the work all his mental and physical strength, his integrity of character, and all the elements of a generous manhood. His work did not close with the Exposition. He was charged with the settlement and adjustment of a large proportion of the varied claims made against the Exposition. These labors have been especially annoying and perplexing.
“But the end of all his and our special work is rapidly approaching. Within a reasonable time we shall be able, as a corporation, to surrender back to the people the trust confided to us, with the hope that all the people will give us the credit of having assumed and honestly discharged a public duty and great public trust.
“And now, President Higinbotham, in behalf of your friends of the Directory, I present this testimonial. I repeat the inscription engraved thereon as the better expression of the earnest appreciation by your friends, of your unswerving fidelity to official duty:
“‘By this testimonial, the Directors record their thorough appreciation of the untiring labors, and unselfish devotion to official duty, of their President, Harlow N. Higinbotham—a souvenir of pleasant associations, abiding friendships, and of the inspiration, administration, and glorious ending of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.’”
In closing this chapter of his life we must, for the moment, pass over a quarter-century to that May-day of 1918 when Daniel Chester French’s statue of the Republic was dedicated in Jackson Park as a memorial of the Exposition. To reproduce in bronze of heroic size this figure, which had dominated the Court of Honor in 1893, the last residue of Exposition funds was used, Mr. Higinbotham having successfully resisted numerous efforts to spend the money less fitly. All the members of the old Board of Directors who were alive and in Chicago surrounded its president as his little grand-daughters, Florence Crane and Priscilla Higinbotham, unveiled the monument, and portions of the “Columbian Ode” were read by its author.
Mr. Higinbotham made the following address, which happened to be his last public utterance:
“It is my pleasure to deliver into the care and keeping of the South Park Commissioners this statue. It has been created as a memorial of the Exposition held here a quarter of a century ago to celebrate the Four-hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of America by Columbus. The Discovery and the celebration four hundred years later, in which the peoples of the earth so generously united, are landmarks, milestones, on the highway of civilization.
“This statue is intended to commemorate both events, and is in such form as to do them the highest honor. It is made of purest metal. It is of heroic size, thus indicating that the events it commemorates were notable. It is in the image of a woman, typifying purity, strength, motherhood. Thus it suggests those qualities that in all the ages have commanded love and respect.
“I cannot allow this last opportunity to speak of the World’s Columbian Exposition to pass without paying tribute to its high purpose, its beauty and beneficent influence. It sprang into being under circumstances and conditions that made it akin to a miracle. A new city in a far country was responsible for its conception, creation, and administration. Its magnificence caused the world to wonder and almost worship. Its Court of Honor will be remembered as worthy of a place beside the most beautiful creations of man. It won the smile of the world and had the blessing and benediction of the Divine. Its author did not live to witness its grandeur. The ‘Columbian Ode’ said of him: