MADAM PRESIDENT: I have this day received by deposit from the Government loan the sum of $100,000, made available to the board of lady managers by special act of Congress. This sum will be held by me subject to draft of the treasurer of the board of lady managers, countersigned by the president of the board of lady managers.
Very respectfully, W.H. THOMPSON, Treasurer.
To Mrs. DANIEL MANNING, President Board of Lady Managers.
The following is the provision made in the urgent deficiency bill, which was passed on February 18, 1904, which secured to the board of lady managers a sum sufficient to enable them to meet any obligations which they might assume in the conduct of their participation in the affairs of the exposition:
Provided, That of said sums $100,000 shall be paid by said Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company to, or on the order of, the board of lady managers of said exposition for such purposes as said board of lady managers shall approve, and at such times as said board of lady managers shall request the same.
FINAL REPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE.
Immediately after the election of Mrs. Daniel Manning to the presidency of the board of lady managers, on December 16, 1903, a new legislative committee was appointed to succeed the one that had been created by Mrs. James L. Blair, the former president. The committee was composed of Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Coleman, and Mrs. Buchwalter, chairman, and instructed to endeavor to procure from Congress an appropriation of $100,000 for the use of the board, in order that it might be enabled to perform in a proper manner the purposes for which it had been brought into existence.
It had become evident that the Exposition Company would require a much larger amount of money than was then at its command in order to inaugurate and successfully continue the World's Fair. The men who had engineered the magnificent undertaking to this point in its development reasoned that, as they had already expended a sum far beyond that ever given any other similar project, they might not find a ready response to a request for further gifts. They were so confident of ultimate success, however, that they did not hesitate to ask Congress for a loan of $4,500,000 in order to conduct the affairs of the exposition.
The legislative committee of the board of lady managers appealed to the Exposition Company and asked that the company add to the amount of the loan for which it desired to negotiate the further sum of $100,000, to be set apart for the exclusive use of the board of lady managers. Receiving the promise that this fund should be included, the members of the legislative committee went to Washington to aid in every way in their power the passage of the bill providing for said loan.
Upon the arrival of the committee in Washington, on January 5, the members found they had undertaken what eventually proved to be a most arduous task against great odds. They found the most deep-seated, persistent opposition to granting another dollar to the fair, and were told President Francis had been advised to defer his trip to Washington until the latter part of January, as it would be hazardous to attempt the passage of the bill until the strong feeling against it then existing had abated. Many members of Congress strongly advised the legislative committee to ask for a special appropriation, but it had been agreed that one appropriation should cover the requirements of both boards.