Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

Total admissions during the entire period
of the exposition ………………….. 20,066,537
Total paid admissions during the entire
period of the exposition ……………. 12,804,616

The total attendance and the paid admissions at the exposition do not compare favorably with those of the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Columbian Exposition was conducted during a period of great financial depression, while the St. Louis Exposition was held during a period of remarkable prosperity. The Government aid extended to the latter was far greater in every respect than was given the former.

The method of advertising the exposition adopted by the company was a subject of constant and almost universal criticism, and complaints were made to the Commission and in the public press that exploitation of the fair was inadequate. On every possible occasion members of the Commission personally brought the matter to the attention of the exposition officials and suggested that steps be taken to give the enterprise wider publicity.

The Commission received communications and personal visits almost daily from persons interested in the success of the exposition, urging that some official action be taken to improve the existing advertising arrangements. So insistent became the demand for greater publicity that the president of the Commission addressed the following letter to the Exposition Company, suggesting the importance of properly advertising the exposition throughout the country.

JULY 20, 1904.

DEAR SIR: By direction of the National Commission, I respectfully call your attention to the apparent need for an extension and enlargement of the publicity feature of the exposition.

The zeal and efficiency of the press of the city of St. Louis has demonstrated what may be done in the creation of active interest by enlightened exploitation through the public press. Within the range of the general circulation of the papers published in this city all features of the fair have been made known; but, unhappily, the journals of this city, like those of all other cities, enjoy general circulation only in a limited area. Beyond the line of the special influence of the local press the extensive proportions and interesting details of the fair do not appear to the Commission to have been made known to the general public, to the extent or in the manner calculated to inspire the interest and secure the attendance warranted by the extraordinary merits of the great educational force here installed. In the opinion of the Commission this delinquency does not arise from any lack of devotion to the public welfare by the press of the country at large.

The munificent recognition of the fair by the General Government attracted national attention. The invitation extended by the President of the United States, under authority of law, to the nations of the earth to participate in the exposition, supplemented by the cordial cooperation of our diplomatic and consular representatives abroad, secured the most extensive foreign participation ever accorded to any like undertaking. Moved thereto by the example of the National Government, the States, Territories, and dependencies of the United States joined in the exposition with unparalleled generosity and enthusiasm. The groups of palatial buildings erected by the foreign governments and by the States and minor subdivisions of our country, together with the exhibits installed in the exhibition palaces provided by the company, bear the amplest testimony of their earnest desire to make the exposition a pronounced success. The splendid exhibit installed here by the government of the Philippine Islands rises to the proportions of an exposition on its own account.

The buildings are completed, the exhibits are installed, and the exposition has been in progress for substantially three-sevenths of its allotted period. The faith of the management in the merits of the exposition has been justified by the approving judgment of all who have entered the gates; but the daily attendance has been far short of what it should be from any point of view.

Unhappily, the magnificent proportions and the numberless attractions of the exposition do not seem to be fully understood by the masses of the people throughout the United States, whence attendance must be chiefly expected. The results obtained from the territory commanded by the press of St. Louis warrants the belief that the unsatisfactory conditions prevailing would be overcome if the country at large could be adequately advised of what is to be seen, learned, and enjoyed within these grounds.