Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

The PRESIDENT AND AUDITING COMMITTEE, Board of Lady Managers, Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

It has been said that "an exposition should be as broad and comprehensive as the efforts of mankind." In all human activities in recent years advancement has been so marvelously rapid that important expositions might be held from time to time in which would be included nothing but inventions, discoveries, and accomplishments that belong to the intervening epoch-making periods.

That all nations take a deep interest in world's fairs is made manifest by the large attendance of people from all parts of the globe. It is self-evident that they appreciate the fact that most beneficial results may be derived by all, not only by means of the practical and tangible demonstration and comparison of objects assembled, but through the opportunity afforded for interchange of thought so conspicuously made available to advanced thinkers and workers. And it is hoped and believed that in its own time and in its own way each exposition will accomplish much for the good of both men and women of every country.

It would seem from the division of work as shown at the exposition by the Filipinos and the Indian tribes that women have not only, from the remotest times of which we have record, originated and practiced most of the industrial arts, but, among primitive nations, they still continue to ply the same occupations. The exhibits showed that the work of the men was still that of the hunter and trapper, while the Filipino woman who sat on the floor making cotton cloth, would indicate that it had fallen to the share of women not only to fashion garments, but the material from which they were made. And was not the stick which she so deftly handled, upon which she wound her thread to carry the woof to and fro transversely across the warp of her hand-woven fabric, the forerunner of the swiftly moving shuttle of today? And if the primitive woman still makes garments from the skins which the hunter brings home, and cooks the game which he shoots or traps, and has originated the method of cooking other articles of food, has she not earned for herself the right to be termed the first "home maker?" It is true the home originally had to be maintained by force of arms, but when this necessity no longer existed, and man, "the protector," had time to examine this woman-made home, he put his ingenuity to work to aid in the increased demands large households made upon women and invented and applied machinery to do the heavy tasks that had theretofore been done by them. He found it a vastly remunerative occupation, and promptly removed her work of spinning, weaving, dyeing, and even the making of every kind of garment, and the preparation of foods, to his factories.

Women did not take kindly to the innovation at first—their occupations were gone—but, with their usual adaptability, they immediately invented new ones. They now had time and opportunity to acquire education, enter the professions, and prepare themselves to take their equal place by the side of men.

President Francis, in his address on opening day, said of the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition:

So thoroughly does it represent the world's civilization that if all man's other works were, by some unspeakable catastrophe, blotted out the records here established by the assembled nations would afford all necessary standards for the rebuilding of our entire civilization.

And at this great exposition, by the elimination of the special woman's department, the exhibits of woman's work for the first time in this country stood solely and independently by the side of the exhibits by men, and the industrial equality and the value of the contributions to the industries, sciences, and arts of both were judged by the same standards. Let no concern, therefore, be felt as to the future advancement of women. Their strength and powers have been tested, and the new era upon which they entered but a few years ago under the leadership of the women of America is now so far advanced for the women of all nations in every country that their undeniable right to education and training is being acknowledged, their consequent recognition as a factor for increased usefulness is being accorded, and their development is swift, their progress sure.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition is passing into the realm wherein lies forgetfulness; its beauties are even now fading from the memories of its millions of visitors. The buildings have been razed, and the broad acres it covered have been laid waste; the labor of years, the result of thought, perseverance, patience, energy, and untiring application on the part of hundreds of its promoters and workers, already seems as intangible as a dream. But the things for which those buildings stood, the intellectual, moral, and material prosperity which they expressed are real, lasting, and glorious. These are permanently recorded in history. And forming an important part of these records is the work of woman.

The board of lady managers of this vast world's fair earnestly hopes that at every future exposition woman may be accorded that dignified position that she has so splendidly earned by her own endeavors, and that each time a résumé of her work achieved is recorded new fields of usefulness may be found added thereto. No fear need be entertained that she will not always demonstrate that she does contribute her full share toward the progress and prosperity of nations and the uplifting of humanity.