DUE TO EXPOSITION
Henry E. Reed Tells How Railroad Convention Was Won.
AIR PAID THE EXPENSES
luring 1904 and 1905 One Hundred   Thousand  Dollars Was Spent   in Exploiting the Exposition.
Henry B. Reed, secretary of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, yesterday submitted the following statement to The Oregonian for publication:
"The Oregonian of Monday, July 9, contained, on the ninth page, a article entitled 'Northwest's Debt, to Railroad Men,' the same being in general a story of the help given to the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition by the American Association of Traveling Passenger Agents. The article contains many erroneous statements, and I will be thankful to you if you will publish the following as the correct story of how the association came to hold the meeting of 1905 in Portland. Herein credit will be given to whom credit is justly due:
"When the division of exploitation of the Lewis and Clark Exposition was organized it set about to secure for 190i and
1905 as many conventions as could possibly be got. The American Association of Traveling Passenger Agents was invited, and the work of bringing that important body of men to Portland was begun in the Fall of 1903 by the Exposition, assisted by such energetic local traveling passenger agents as M. J. Roche, James W. Casey and W. C. Seachrest. It was at first thought best to bring the convention to Portland in 1904, so that the Exposition might have the advantage of a year's advance publicity from the traveling passenger agents. The City of Mexico was, however, chosen for the 1904 meeting, with the tacit understanding that Portland should be the meeting place in 1905.
"Immediately after the adjournment of the meeting of 1903 at New Orleans, to come together again at the City of Mexico in 1904, the exploitation division set about to assure the 1905 session for Portland. With this object in view, the names of all members of the association, numbering over 1000 on the active and honorary lists, was obtained through the courtesy of Messrs. Roche, Casey and Seachrest. To these members the exploitation division sent, at various times, upward of 20,000 pieces of printed matter concerning the Exposition and the Pacific Northwest. In addition, I sent, over my own signature, a personal letter to each member of the association respectfully urging him to vote to bring the association meeting to Portland in 1905. So generous and prompt was the response to this appeal that I was able to announce in The Oregonian early in January, 1904, that the American Association of Traveling Passenger Agents was a fixture for Portland for 1905. In the article in The Oregonian of July 9 the statement is made that the Portland Commercial Club began in April, 1904, the work of bringing the association to Portland, and that, following out said plan, it circularized the individual members, etc. So you will see, by a slight comparison of dates, that what the Commercial Club set out to perform in April, 1904, had been done most effectually more than three months previously by the exploitation division of the Exposition.
"Letter writing and circularizing are about as effective in promoting an exposition as in selling goods. They are adjuncts, not primary forces. Therefore, In securing conventions for 1905 the Exposition did not depend on letters and circulars, but adopted the more effective policy of sending, its agents direct to the convention, and through those agents, inviting the conventions it desired. Thus it came that W. J. Roche and James W. Casey and their associates were the agents of the Exposition in the matter of securing the American Association of Traveling Passenger Agents for Portland in 1905. They went to New Orleans in 1903 determined to bring the 1904 meeting here. The City of Mexico won out for reasons that they could not help, and in 1904 they went to the City of Mexico and came home triumphantly with the convention for 1905. In carrying on this work these gentlemen incurred certain incidental expenses, for which they were properly reimbursed. For their expenses the Exposition Company appropriated $200 in 1903 and the Chamber of Commerce $200. In 1904 the Exposition appropriated $200 and the Chamber of Commerce $100. T am not advised that any other local organization but the Chamber of Commerce made an appropriation jointly with the exposition management to secure the Traveling Passenger Agents for Portland. Perhaps I may be mistaken. If I am, the organizations that made the appropriations will doubtless be glad to set me aright by furnishing the Oregonian the dates when the appropriations were made and the amounts thereof.
"It may be of interest to our Portland people to be informed, even at this late date, that prior to the middle of April, 1904, the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition had been sufficiently exploited to have secured for itself an appropriation of $500,000 from the Government of the United States; an appropriation of $450,000 from the state of Oregon; subscriptions of $417,000 from the citizens of Portland, and the participation of practically every state that made an exhibit in 1905. For the work of exploiting this exposition, the Pacific Northwest and the city of Portland the Exposition Company spent upward of $130,000, most of which was distributed in 1904 and 1905. In view of this considerable expenditure for exploitation and publicity the stockholders of the Exposition Company have
Northwest were brought here by tha use of their money, and to be given fair credit therefor.
"If at any time The Oregonian, or any one else should desire authentic information respecting any feature of the Exposition of 1905, or the securing of the various conventions, I shall be pleased to furnish the same impartially and give the full measure of credit to all to whom credit is due. I have the official records and can furnish the information at first hand. These records date back to 1895 and are the only complete records in existence."