Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission | Page 3

this ordinance by the mayor, file its written acceptance thereof with the city register, and make its selection of the park to be used as aforesaid; and said corporation or association shall also, within the same time, file its bond in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, with good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the mayor and council, conditioned for a full compliance with and performance of all the terms, requirements, and conditions of this ordinance. Said board of public improvements shall have the right, however, at any time before the opening of said fair or exposition, if it deems it necessary in the interest of the city, to require an additional bond in such amount as it may believe to be proper, whereupon said corporation or company shall give such bond with sureties to be approved in like manner, and said corporation or association shall have no authority to open or hold any fair or exposition upon the site so selected, and no machinery or improvements of any kind shall be removed from the premises of said world's fair site until said bond in the sum so demanded shall have been so filed and approved.
Approved May 16, 1901.
Considerable correspondence ensued between the Commission and the Exposition Company in reference to the proposed site, the Commission particularly insisting upon an adequate water supply and proper drainage and grading of the property. On June 28, 1901, the site was formally approved by the Commission and, according to section 9 of the act authorizing the exposition, the President of the United States was duly notified.
Prior to August 15, 1901, the National Commission having ascertained that due provision had been made for grounds and buildings for the uses contemplated by the act of Congress, so certified to the President of the United States, who did thereafter, to wit, on the 20th day of August, 1901, in behalf of the Government and the people, invite foreign nations to take part in said exposition, and to appoint representatives thereto, the President's proclamation reading as follows:
Whereas notice has been given me by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, in accordance with the provisions of section 9 of the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1901, entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, forest, and sea in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri," that provision has been made for grounds and buildings for the uses provided for in the said act of Congress:
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said act, do hereby declare and proclaim that such international exhibition will be opened in the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, not later than the first day of May, nineteen hundred and three, and will be closed not later than the first day of December thereafter. And in the name of the Government and of the people of the United States, I do hereby invite all the nations of the earth to take part in the commemoration of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, an event of great interest to the United States and of abiding effect on their development, by appointing representatives and sending such exhibits to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their industries, and their progress in civilization.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of August, one thousand nine hundred and one, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-sixth.
[SEAL.]
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
By the President: JOHN HAY, Secretary of State.
At a meeting of the Commission held on October 15, 1901, the following resolution relative to the lamented death of President McKinley was unanimously adopted by the Commission:
Resolution.
Since this Commission last convened the President of the United States has met a tragic death.
The manner of his death was a blow at republican institutions and felt by every patriotic American as aimed at himself. It can truly be said that of all our Presidents William McKinley was the best beloved; no section of the country held him as an alien to it. Partisan differences never led to partisan hatred of him; party faction did not touch him. Nearly half the people differed with him on public questions, but his opponents accorded to him the same honesty of purpose which he always accorded to them. He was the President of the whole people, and was received by them as such with the honors due