The City of Domes | Page 5

less than twenty-five years.
Nevertheless, in December, 1906, within nine months of the disaster, a meeting was held in the shack that served for the St. Francis Hotel, and the Pacific Ocean Exposition Company was incorporated.
In three years the city recovered sufficiently to hold a week's festival, the Portola, and to make it a success.
Two days afterward, in October, 1909, Mr. Hale gave a dinner to a small group of business men, and told of what had been done toward preparing for the Exposition. They agreed to help.
Shortly afterward a meeting was held at the Merchants' Exchange. It was decided that an effort should at once be made to raise the money and to rouse the people of San Francisco to the importance of the project of holding the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.
As many as twenty-five hundred letters were sent to business men, asking if they favored the idea of holding an exposition. Out of about eight hundred replies only seven were opposed. Presently there were signs of enthusiasm, reflected in the newspapers.
A committee of six representative business men was appointed and the announcement was made that the committee should be glad to hear from anyone in the city who had suggestions or grievances. It was determined that every San Franciscan should have his day in court.
Later the committee of six appointed a foundation committee of two hundred, representing a wide variety of interests.
The committee of two hundred chose a committee of three from outside their number.
The committee of three chose from among the two hundred a directorate of thirty. The thirty became the directorate of a new corporation, made in 1910, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company.

Financing

The Panama-Pacific Company two local millionaires, W. H. Crocker and W. B. Bourn, started financially with twenty-five thousand dollars each. They established the maximum individual subscription. They also secured forty subscriptions of twenty-five thousand dollars each. Then followed the call for a mass meeting. Before the meeting was held the business men of the city were thoroughly canvassed. The Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific together subscribed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. There were many other large subscriptions from public-service organizations.
On the afternoon of the meeting there was a crowd in the Merchants' Exchange Board Room. The announcement of the subscriptions created enthusiasm. In two hours the amount ran up to more than four million dollars. During the next few years they were increased to about $6,500,000.
Meanwhile, the State voted a tax levy of five million dollars, and San Francisco voted a bond and issue of the same amount, and by an act of the Legislature, in special session, the counties were authorized to levy a small tax for county Participation, amounting, in estimate, to about three million dollars.

Recognition From Congress

Next came the task of securing from Congress official recognition of San Francisco as the site of the International Exposition in celebration of the Panama Canal.
Headquarters were established in Washington. Presently serious opposition developed. Emissaries went from San Francisco to Washington singly and in delegations. Stress was laid on San Francisco's purpose not to ask for an appropriation from the national government. There were several cities in competition - Boston, Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans. New Orleans proved the most formidable rival. It relied on the strength of of a united Democracy and of the solid South.
In the hearings before the Congressional Committee it was made plain that the decision would go to the city with the best financial showing. As soon as the decision was announced New Orleans entered into generous cooperation with San Francisco.
The Exposition was on the way.

Naming the President.

The offer of the presidency of the Exposition Company was made to a well-known business man of San Francisco, C. C. Moore. Besides being able and energetic, he was agreeable to the factions created by the graft prosecution of a half dozen years before. Like the board of directors, he was to serve without salary. He stipulated that in the conduct of the work there should be no patronage. With the directors he entered into an a agreement that all appointments should be made for merit alone.

Choosing the Site

The choice of site was difficult. The sites most favored were Lake Merced, Golden Gate Park and Harbor View. Lake Merced was opposed as inaccessible for the transportation both of building materials and of people, and, through its inland position, as an unwise choice for an Exposition on the Pacific Coast, in its nature supposed to be maritime. The use of the park, it was argued, would desecrate the peoples recreation ground and entail a heavy cost in leveling and in restoring.
Harbor View and the Presidio had several advantages. It was level. It was within two miles or walking distance of nearly half the city's inhabitants. It stood on the