EVENT AND COMMENT
St. Louis Exposition
An event which stands prominently before us is the Exposition to be held in St. Louis in the summer of 1903. Its double purpose is to portray civilization in its most advanced state and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase—the historic transaction whereby the United States purchased from France the territory lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
The ground area of the proposed fair is nearly 1200 acres and the appropriation, raised by the united efforts of the city of St. Louis, the State of Missouri, and the national government, will reach thirty millions of dollars.
The principal departments are Education, Art, Manufacture, Machinery, Liberal Arts, Electricity, Transportation, Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Mining and Metallurgy, Fish and Game, Anthropology, and Physical Culture. Each of these is to be represented by a building and the whole group will be arranged in a symmetrical fan-shaped figure.
Through the center of this, extending from what we might term the handle to the outer arc, will be a boulevard six hundred feet in width. Where this intersects the circumference, some sixty feet above the general level of the grounds, will be the Art Palace. It is to be a permanent building and will cost at least one million dollars.
As much as possible the exhibits will show the process of manufacture and development of the articles displayed. Raw materials also will occupy a prominent place. St. Louis is the commercial center of the Mississippi Valley—one of the world’s great areas of production.
The Louisiana Exposition as planned should be most convincing that the United States has well utilized the territory purchased in 1803.