After Four Centuries the Worlds's Fair (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from After Four Centuries the Worlds's Fair Two years ago the United States, as a representative nation of the New World, began to consider the propriety of celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, by inviting the nations of the Old World to visit her shores. The closing decade of the most remarkable century in the Christian era, coinciding with the anniversary of an event unequaled in the history of this sphere, suggested the uniting of all mankind in a celebration of peace. The land where necessity and courage had fostered industry and wealth, presented a fitting scene for such a gathering. Columbia, the youngest among the continents of the civilized world, should act the part of hostess at the celebration of her four hundredth birthday, by extending to the world an invitation to commemorate the event in a display of the material evidences of the progress of the human family. And such a commemoration should be called the Worlds Columbian Exposition. Action By Congress. The result of the popular demand for such a celebration was an Act of Congress, approved by the President of the United States, April 25, 1890, which declares that "it is fit and appropriate that the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America be commemorated by an exhibition of the resources of the United States of America, their development, and of the progress of civilization in the New World." The Act further declares that "such an exhibition should be of a national and international character, so that not only the people of our Union, and this Continent, but those of all nations, as well, can participate, and should, therefore, have the sanction of the Congress of the United States." To carry out this purpose the Act provides "that an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and product of the soil, mine and sea shall be inaugurated in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two, in the City of Chicago, in the State of Illinois." A Commission is provided for, consisting of two Commissioners and two Alternates from each State and Territory, and the District of Columbia, and eight Commissioners and eight Alternates at large, all of whom have been commissioned by the President of the United States. This Commission and a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, under the title of the Worlds Columbian Exposition, are charged jointly with the task of making all needful preparations for the Exposition and conducting it to a successful termination. The Commission is composed of representative citizens of various States and Territories composing the United States, while the Directory of the Illinois Corporation embraces some of the wealthiest, best known and most successful business and professional man in the City of Chicago. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.