Board of Control and Management OF THE United States Government Exhibit. MR. EDWIN WILLITS, Chairman. SEVELLON A. BROWN, Chief Clerk of the Department of State, to represent that department. ALLURED B. NETTLETON, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, to represent the Treasury Department. MAJOR CLIFTON COMLY, U. S. A., to represent the War Department. CAPTAIN R. W. MEADE, U. S. N., to represent the Navy Department. A. D. HAZEN, Third Assistant Postmaster-General, to represent the Post Office Department. HORACE A. TAYLOR, Commissioner of Railroads, to represent the Department of the Interior. ELIJAH C. FOSTER, General Agent of the Department of Justice, to represent that department. EDWIN WILLITS, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, to represent the Department of Agriculture. PROFESSOR G. BROWN GOODE, Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution, to represent that institution and the National Museum. J. W. COLLINS, Assistant-in-Charge Division of Fisheries, to represent the United States Fish Commission. 24 357 ACT OF CONGRESS CREATING THE World's Columbian Commission An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the dis- The Act of covery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the product of the soil, WHEREAS, 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; and, WHEREAS, 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; therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and products 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, as hereinafter provided. SEC. 2. That a Commission, to consist of two Commissioners from each State and Territory of the United States and from the District of Columbia and eight Commissioners-at-Large, is hereby constituted to be designated as the World's Columbian Commission. SEC. 3. That said Commissioners, two from each State and Territory, shall be appointed within thirty days from the passage of this act by the President of the United States, on the nomination of the Governors of the States and Territories, respectively, and by the President eight Commissioners-at-Large and two from the District of Columbia; and in the same manner and within the same time there shall be appointed two alternate Commissioners from each State and Territory of the United States Congress. Congress. The Act of and the District of Columbia and eight alternate Commissioners-at-Large, who shall assume and perform the duties of such Commissioner or Commissioners as may be unable to attend the meetings of the said Commission; and in such nominations and appointments each of the two leading political parties shall be equally represented. Vacancies in the Commission. nominated by the Governors of the several States and Territories, respectively, and also vacancies in the Commission-at-Large and from the District of Columbia may be filled in the same manner and under the same conditions as provided herein for their original appointment. SEC. 4. That the Secretary of State of the United States shall, immediately after the passage of this act, notify the Governors of the several States and Territories, respectively, thereof and request such nominations to be made. The Commissioners so appointed shall be called together by the Secretary of State of the United States in the City of Chicago, by notice to the Commissioners, as soon as convenient after the appointment of said Commissioners, and within thirty days thereafter. The said Commissioners, at said first meeting, shall organize by the elec'tion of such officers and the appointment of such Committees as they may deem expedient, and for this purpose the Commissioners present at said meeting shall constitute a quorum. SEC. 5. That said Commission be empowered in its discretion o accept for the purposes of the World's Columbian Exposition such site as may be selected and offered and such plans and specifications of buildings to be erected for such purpose at the expense of and tendered by the corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, known as "The World's Exposition of eighteen hundred and ninety-two:" Provided, That said site so tendered and the buildings proposed to be erected thereon shall be deemed by said Commission adequate to the purposes of said Exposition: And provided, That said Commission shall be satisfied that the said corporation has an actual bona fide and valid subscription to its capital stock which will secure the payment of at least five millions of dollars, of which not less than five hundred thousand dollars shall have been paid in, and that the further sum of five million dollars, making in all ten million dollars, will be provided by said corporation in ample time for its needful use during the prosecution of the work for the complete preparation for said Exposition. SEC. 6. That the said Commission shall allot space for exhibitors, prepare a classification of exhibits, determine the plan and scope of the Exposition, and shall appoint all judges and examiners for the Exposition, award all premiums, if any, and generally have charge of all intercourse with the exhibitors and the representatives of foreign nations. And said Commission is authorized and required to appoint a Board of Lady Managers of such number and to perform such duties as may be prescribed by said Commission. Said Board may appoint one or more mem Congress bers of all committees authorized to award prizes for exhibits which may The Act of be produced in whole or in part by female labor. SEC. 7. That after the plans for said Exposition shall be prepared by said corporation and approved by said Commission, the rules and regulations of said corporation governing rates for entrance and admission fees, or otherwise affecting the rights, privileges, or interests of the exhibitors or of the public, shall be fixed or established by said corporation, subject, however, to such modification, if any, as may be imposed by a majority of said Commissioners. SEC. 8. That the President is hereby empowered and directed to hold a naval review in New York Harbor, in April, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and to extend to foreign nations an invitation to send ships of war to join the United States Navy in rendezvous at Hampton Roads and proceed thence to said review. SEC. 9. That said Commission shall provide for the dedication of the buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition in said City of Chicago on the twelfth day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, with appropriate ceremonies, and said Exposition shall be open to visitors not later than the first day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and shall be closed at such time as the Commission may determine, but not later than the thirtieth day of October thereafter. SEC. 10. That whenever the President of the United States shall be notified by the Commission that provision has been made for grounds and buildings for the uses herein provided for, and there has also been filed with him by the said corporation, known as "The World's Exposition of eighteen hundred and ninety-two," satisfactory proof that a sum not less than ten million dollars, to be used and expended for the purposes of the Exposition herein authorized, has in fact been raised or provided for by subscription or other legally binding means, he shall be authorized, through the Department of State, to make proclamation of the same, setting forth the time at which the Exposition will open and close, and the place at which it will be held; and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations copies of the same, together with such regulations as may be adopted by the Commission, for publication in their respective countries, and he shall, in behalf of the Government and people, invite foreign nations to take part in the said Exposition and appoint representatives thereto. SEC. II. That all articles which shall be imported from foreign countries for the sole purpose of exhibition at said Exposition, upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, shall be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees, or charges under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; but it shall be lawful at any time during the exhibition to sell for delivery at the close of the Exposi |