Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 19

Yours, very truly,

CHAS. W. KNAPP, _Member Board of Arbitration_.

Hon. JOHN M. THURSTON, _Member Arbitration Board, National Commission._

On November 12, 1904, the Commission addressed the following communication to the President of the Exposition Company, forbidding the use of the signature of the president of the Commission to any certificate of award until the matter at issue was determined.

NOVEMBER 12, 1904.

SIR: Your letter of November 8 received and contents noted. The statements contained therein as to what occurred in your office on the 19th of October in your interview with Mr. Betts, Mr.

Miller, and the writer do not accord with the distinct recollection or understanding of any of the three parties mentioned.

I am glad to know that our communications will hereafter be in writing, that these misunderstandings may be avoided. The National Commission is in entire accord with this position, and we will try and observe our part of this understanding.

The informal conferences between the members of the National Commission and representatives of your company seem to have resulted in no definite understanding, and the Commission therefore insists that arbitration be had to determine the true effect and meaning of section 6 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, as affecting the rights and duties of the National Commission to approve or not approve the awards.

In the meantime and until this question is determined the Commission can not authorize the use of its president's signature on any certificate of award.

In any arrangement preliminary to the settlement of this controversy the writer will be pleased to confer with your arbitration committee at any time.

Very respectfully,

JOHN M. ALLEN, Acting President.

Hon. D.R. FRANCIS, President Exposition Company, Building.

After many futile efforts to reach an agreement as to the subject-matter to be submitted for arbitration, it became obvious to the Commission that it was the intention of the Exposition Company to ignore the right of the Commission to finally consider or approve the awards of the superior jury. Under these circ.u.mstances the president of the Commission was directed, on November 22, 1904, by resolution, to forward to the president of the Exposition Company a communication summing up the controversy and stating clearly the stand taken by the Commission.

The communication is as follows:

St. Louis, November 22, 1904.

Sir: To the end that an understanding may be reached as to issues involved in correspondence between your company and the National Commission, extending from the month of May, 1904, almost to the present date, relative to the appointment of jurors and the awarding of premiums, it appears desirable and necessary that the law and the facts be briefly stated and the relative position of your company and the Commission clearly defined.

In so far as applicable to the subjects referred to, section 6 of the act of Congress making an appropriation for the exposition, and for other purposes, approved March 3, 1901, reads as follows:

"That the allotment of s.p.a.ce for exhibitors, cla.s.sification of exhibits, plan and scope of the exposition, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall all be done and performed by the said Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject, however, to the approval of the Commission created by section two of this act."

Under and in conformity with the provisions of law above cited, certain general and special rules and regulations providing for an international jury and governing the system of making awards were submitted by the company and approved by the Commission in the year 1903.

The general rules applicable read as follows:

ARTICLE XXII.

AWARDS.

SECTION 1. The system of awards will be compet.i.tive. The merit of exhibits as determined by the jury of awards will be manifested by the issuance of diplomas, which will be divided into four cla.s.ses--a grand prize, a gold medal, a silver medal, and a bronze medal.

SEC. 2. No exhibit can be excluded from compet.i.tion for award without the consent of the president of the Exposition Company after a review of the reasons or motives by competent authorities hereafter to be provided.

SEC. 3. In a fixed ratio to the number of exhibits, but reserving to the citizens of the United States approximately 60 per cent of the jury members.h.i.+p, the construction of the international jury will be based upon a predetermined number of judges allotted to each group of the cla.s.sification and upon the number and importance of the exhibits in such group.

SEC. 4. A chairman of the group jury will be elected by his colleagues in each group, this chairman to become, by right of his position, a member of the department jury, which department jury shall in turn elect its chairman, who shall thereupon become a member of the superior jury.

SEC. 5. Special rules and regulations governing the system of making awards and determining the extent to which foreign countries may have representation on the juries, will be hereafter promulgated.

SEC. 6. Allotment of s.p.a.ce for exhibitors, the cla.s.sification of exhibits, the appointment of all judges and examiners for the exposition, and the awarding of premiums, if any, shall be done and performed by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, subject, however, to the approval of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission.

The special rules provide for the appointment of three graded juries, designated as, first, the general organization of group juries; second, department juries, and, third, the superior jury.

At the conclusion of the recital of the manner of selecting the jurors a paragraph in section 3 of the rules provides that "all the above nominations shall be made not later than August 1, 1904, except that nominations made to fill vacancies may be made at any subsequent time."

In conclusion, the section last referred to reads as follows:

"The nominations of group jurors and alternates, when approved by the president of the exposition, shall be transmitted to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission for approval of that body.

"These nominations having been considered and confirmed by the authorities as provided by section 6 of the act of Congress relating to the approval of the awarding of premiums, the appointment of the international jury shall be made in accordance with section 6 of Article XXII of the official rules and regulations of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company."

Section 6 of the aforesaid special rules provides that--

"The work of the group juries shall begin September 1, 1904, and shall be completed not later than twenty days thereafter."

Section 15 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The superior jury shall determine finally and fully the awards to be made to exhibitors and collaborators in all cases that are formally presented for its consideration."

Section 16 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The work of the superior jury shall be completed on October 15, 1904, and, as soon as practicable thereafter, formal public announcement of the awards shall be made. A final complete list of awards shall be published by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of the act of Congress, and section 6, Article XXII, of the rules and regulations."

Sec. 27 of the special rules and regulations provides that--

"The diplomas or certificates of award for exhibitors shall be signed by the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, the secretary of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, the director of exhibits, and the chief of the department to which the exhibit pertains."

The foregoing rules clearly required the submission of the names of all proposed jurors to the Commission for its approval or disapproval prior to August 1, 1904, except as to nominations to fill vacancies.

Realizing the necessity for the exercise of great care on the part of the Commission in the discharge of its duties in the premises, and the necessity for ample time for investigation as to the fitness of persons and their willingness to serve as jurors of awards, the Commission addressed you a letter under date of May 18, 1904, reading as follows:

"SIR: Inasmuch as objections may be urged to the appointment of certain persons upon juries of awards, it is the intention of the National Commission to give public notice, allowing reasonable time for the filing of any objections that may be offered to the appointment of any individual on a jury. As this proceeding will necessarily consume time, it is desirable that the names of persons proposed for the respective juries be transmitted to the Commission from time to time, as the respective groups are completed by the company. It is believed that final action can be reached in a more orderly and satisfactory manner by taking up the names proposed for each jury separately rather than to have the entire members.h.i.+p of all the juries submitted for consideration simultaneously.

Yours, very respectfully,

THOS. H. CARTER, _President."_

Our files do not show any recognition of this communication by your company. A short time thereafter the Commission was unofficially advised that certain jurors had been selected by the company and were actually exercising the functions of judges and examiners without notice to or approval by the Commission, and on the 23d of May, 1905, this fact was duly called to your attention by letter. Some time later the director of exhibits appeared before the Commission and admitted that certain examiners and jurors had been selected, without reference to the Commission, to pa.s.s upon exhibits of a perishable character. In three communications, each bearing the date of June 3, 1904, you transmitted the names of the jurors referred to, and in the light of the explanations made by the director of exhibits and in your communications, the Commission, with many misgivings as to the regularity of the proceedings and solely to avoid embarra.s.sment to the exhibitors and to the company, approved the names submitted as of the date of their selection by the company.

Aside from the few jurors thus irregularly selected for emergency work, no jurors were nominated or submitted to the Commission as required by the rules and regulations prior to August 1.