Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition CommissionLouisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
History
Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis, Mo.)
Any person holding a pass may be required to prove his identity
by signature or otherwise.
All passes will be issued subject to the conditions printed
thereon.
All passes issued in conflict with the foregoing rules and
regulations shall be recalled and canceled.
The Exposition Company shall furnish the National Commission a
complete list of all card passes and a statement of all other
passes issued prior to July 1, classified as to departments,
divisions, and bureaus, as accurately as may be done from the
books of the company, and hereafter the company shall keep an
accurate record by departments, divisions, and bureaus, showing
all passes issued by each under the foregoing rules, and shall
furnish a copy of such record to the National Commission with
each monthly financial statement, and such statement shall
contain a list of all card passes issued during the month to
which the financial report refers.
Prior to the approval of the rules and regulations governing free
admissions to the exposition grounds, the president of the Exposition
Company exercised a free hand in the distribution of passes.
On April 30, and during the month of May, 1904, of the 1,841,275 total
admissions only 667,772 were paid admissions, thus making the free
admissions substantially two-thirds of the total.
In June, 1904, the total admissions were 2,448,519, and of this number
1,382,865 were paid.
In July an improvement occurred. Of the 2,498,265 admissions during that
month, 1,514,743 were paid. Thenceforward less than one-half of the
total admissions were free. But notwithstanding the effort to check this
abuse it was indulged to such an extent that the final totals make a
remarkable showing, as follows:
Total admissions during the entire period
of the exposition ....................... 20,066,537
Total paid admissions during the entire
period of the exposition ................ 12,804,616
The total attendance and the paid admissions at the exposition do not
compare favorably with those of the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The
Columbian Exposition was conducted during a period of great financial
depression, while the St. Louis Exposition was held during a period of
remarkable prosperity. The Government aid extended to the latter was far
greater in every respect than was given the former.
The method of advertising the exposition adopted by the company was a
subject of constant and almost universal criticism, and complaints were
made to the Commission and in the public press that exploitation of the
fair was inadequate. On every possible occasion members of the
Commission personally brought the matter to the attention of the
exposition officials and suggested that steps be taken to give the
enterprise wider publicity.
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