Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission | Page 3

plants, all in accordance with plans to be approved by the board of
public improvements, and all to be done subject to the inspection of the
park commissioner, and to his entire satisfaction and approval.
SEC. 4. The corporation or association aforesaid shall, within six
months after the approval of 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