Class TT-]<^J Book r\%, . PROPOSED PANAMA CANAL EXPOSITION 1915. Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions, ''^ House of Representatives, ^ Tuesday^ January 10^ 1911. The committee this day met at 10.15 o'clock a. m., Hon. William A. Rodenberg (chairman) presiding. The Chairman. The committee will be in order. Gentlemen of the committee, there are two bills pending before this committee relating to a proposed exj)Osition to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915. One of these bills was introduced by Mr. Kahn on December 6, 1909. and provides for the location of the exposition at San Francisco. The other bill was introduced on December 14, 1910, by Mr. Estopinal, and fixes the location of the exposition at New Orleans. This meeting has been called for the purpose of giving these gentlemen a hearing on their respective bills, and inasmuch as Mr. Kahn's bill antedates that of Mr. Estopinal, he is entitled to be heard first. The committee will be glad to hear from Mr, Kahn. STATEMENT OF HON. JULIUS KAHN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CON- GRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Mr. Kahn. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, it is true that on December 6. 1909, I introduced H. R. 12285, providing for the celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal by an international exposition at San Francisco. The bill provides for the appropriation of $5,000,000. In the early part of 1910 the citizens of San Francisco held a mass meeting in the Merchants' Exchange and within two hours subscribed among themselves $4,089,000. It became evident to the directors of the exposition company that every dollar that would be required to finance the exposition at San Fran- cisco could be raised in that community and throughout the State of California. Within a short period after this mass meeting $7,500,000 had been raised by subscriptions from the people of San Francisco, and I may say that every dollar of that is collectible and can be secured hj the exposition company whenever the exposition company is ready to call upon the subscribers for it. Subsequently the legislature met in extra session, and the people of the State of California were given an opportunity to raise $5,000,000 by direct taxation, which was provided for in a constitu- tional amendment which was submitted to the people of the State on the 8th of last November, and by a vote of 5 to 1 every county in the State, with the exception of two, having voted for it, it was adopted by the people of that State. Another constitutional amend- ment allowed the city of San Francisco to bond itself for $5,000,000 for this exposition, and that also was carried in the State by a vote of 5 to 1, and subsequently the city of San Francisco, at a special 73172—11 1 ' 2 PROPOSED PANAMA CANAX, EXPOSITION, 1915. .^ ^ \ A/ "^ . r^ Ov^V ~(> election, by a vote of 20 to 1, agreed to bond itself to the amoun-^ o^ $5,000,000. So that we have in all $17,500,000 for the purposes of the exposition at San Francisco. In view of that financial backing we feel that we do not desire a dollar from the Government of the United States. We do not desire to have you consider this bill at all. We ask that it be allowed to die upon your files. The Chairman. We will now proceed with the hearing on H. E. 29362, introduced by Mr. Estopinal. STATEMENT OF HON. ALBERT ESTOPINAL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. Mr. Estopinal. Mr. Chairman, this is the bill introduced by my- self on the 14th of December providing for an exposition at New Orleans. This bill calls for an appropriation of $1,000,000, but it is for Government buildings. We have raised a sufficient amount to produce an exposition in New Orleans. By a constitutional amend- ment we have raised six and one-half millions, and we have now sub- scribed over $2,000,000 besides. The agreement that was entered into, and in which my friend, Mr. Kahn, acquiesced, or, rather, he proposed it himself, was that each of these two cities produce seven and one-half millions. We have done that. We went before the Committee on Foreign Affairs with Mr. Kahn, but we were forced there. We believed that this committee was the committee that had jurisdiction in the matter of expositions. Therefore we have prepared a bill and introduced it, and we have now a large delegation from Louisiana who desire to be heard upon this proposition. We have the governor of the State, the mayor of the city of New Orleans, and a large delegation of merchants and business men of our State, who will now present the case to this committee. The first speaker to be introduced will be the governor of the State, Gov. Sanders, who will explain our position. [Applause.] STATEMENT OF HON. J. Y. SANDERS, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. Gov. Sanders. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, we have come before you to-day to urge a favorable report by your -committee on the bill introduced last December by Gen. Estopinal. Some time ago, in this very room, there was a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee which we had the pleasure of attending and mak- ing our position as clear as we could to that committee under the 'Circumstances. I remember upon that occasion when we were argu- ing the claims of New Orleans for this exposition we had up here the entire State and city governments, the lieutenant governor, and the senate, the speaker, and the membership of the house, the gov- ernor of the State, the mayor of the city, and practically all of the city officials. We stated at that time, Mr. Chairman, that while we did not know as to whether that was the proper committee for us to present our claims to, yet we came because we had been invited to come, and it was no trouble at all for us in Louisiana to come to Washington; and we stated we would be glad to come back to be present at any other committee hearings whenever the time and the PROPOSED PANAMA CANAL. EXPOSITION, 1915. 3 occasion arose. So, Mr. Chairman, we are back here to-day appear- ing before your committee, which we think to be the proper com- mittee, with at least 150 of the men of Louisiana foremost in her professional, banking, commercial, agricultural, and political life. It was absolutely no trouble for us to come to Washington, and it will be absolutely no trouble for the people of the United States to come to New Orleans should we get the exposition. We are so close to the center of population, we are so close to the great centers of where the people of this Union reside, that it is no trouble for us to come to you or for you to come to us. The question of whether an exposition ought to be held is one which I think ought to be discussed for just a moment. When Co- lumbus sailed the waters of the western sea, it was not done to dis- cover America, but a western passage to the Indies, and when the genius and the money of the American people by the digging of the Panama Canal makes true the dream of Columbus, then it does strike me that, when this most stupendous undertaking in all the files of time is accomplished, when, by the genius of our people, the sweat, the blood, and the money of this country of ours shall have caused the waters of the Atlantic to meet and mingle with those of the Pacific; when the western passage shall have been discovered, it looks to me like this Nation ought to celebrate that event. Why ought we to celebrate it, Mr. Chairman? Because there is not any feat of man of which history records any evidence at all that approaches it in its stupendous importance to the human race. Therefore, when a people shall have done a deed of that kind, it is meet and proper that some celebration of such an event should be had. What form should this celebration take? We, in Louisiana, be- lieve that it ought to take the form of a great international exposi- of this tion ; and why ? We believe that the digging and the opening canal necessarily will bring the peoples of the earth together at some central point where commodity and produce and idea can be ex- changed one with the other, to celebrate with a world's fair. We believe this because we take it that this canal was primarily built for commerce and not for war ; we take it that the American people put their very being behind this undertaking in order to make it possible that the peoples of the earth might more readily trade their surplus commodities one with the other. We do not believe that the idea that was in the American mind when this undertaking was had was war or glory or conquest, save the war that is carried on for the world's commerce, save the glory that may be had when one nation excels another in its products and its commodities, save the conquest that may be had by us of the markets of the earth. We believe that that canal has been dug for commercial purposes, and believing that, we think that the proper way that the completion thereof should be celebrated is by having an exposition which will tend to create and make commerce for you and for me.